HORRORS OF SIBERIAN EXILE.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3805, 9 March 1881, Page 2

HORRORS OF SIBERIAN EXILE.

The Koeslti Courier, Moscow, publishes the following intelligence from Yenesaisk, a town in mid-Siberia: —" ' Agaia politii cal exiles are arriving,' is the word in everyone's mouth. Nine have just arrived ; of these six were exiled fronqu^ Moscow by Count Albedinsky, and are under orders to proceed further inland. For the moment they are exposed to our murderous climate. 'We have no Eiercy to expect—we are forgotten,' they say to thn people. Having lost all hope of returning to Russia, they are in a most . desponding state. Only yesterday a girl attempted the third time to commit suicide by eating lucifer matches. She was saved by a prompt application of remedies; but will rescue always be at hand ? We Siberians have seen many exiles during our lile, but we have never seen such grief, such tears, such hope* lessness, as presented by these nine exiles, who do not know their crime, who do not know how long they are exiled for, and who muse not write a word in their letters about their condition. A common convict knows what he is transported for; his term of imprisonment is told him by his gaoler. These wretched political prisoners know nothing. They are left in dark anxiety aod despair. These are not the only sufferers. From Kirensk writes a political prisoner:—' We are nine here— all exiles; one of our number has just been sent away. His wife, Mdme. Beliefl> remains in the hospital, mad. The exile of her husband further into the wilds of Siberia drove her out of her mind.' From another place, a political exile writes:—' The arrival of a fresh exile from Russia has completely unhinged me. I work as smith, receiving a shilling a day; When I earn nothing I live on potatoes and onions. When I work in the field I often think of the luxurious days of my childhood, when I bad no thought of labor/ At" JBalagnsk, an exile, who wa3 once secretary to the Odessa Corporation, keeps himself from starvation by carrying about water at so much the bucket. His wife is at Ekaterinoslaff, and his children are scattered about .Russia. 'Everywhere at Balagusk,' one writes, 'may be seen anguish, and what is worse, almost* actual starvation. At Popitch the exiles have no money to live on. At Belack there is a student glad to earn 15s a month. At Verknoyarsk twelve exiles live huddled together in a tent. These are often without food.'"