Chapter VII. Restriction of Peasant Rights in the Eighteenth Century

The first such decree of the Russian government was a decree on December 10, 1763, - “we were pleased with the Little Russian Commonwealth that, having left our homes for the sake of our own and the general good, we moved so often from place to place that we were not able to put in place the slightest firmness in our house-building.” Thus, being idle, they expose themselves to extreme ruin and beggary, without preserving the full rights of their liberties, which were approved for them by our ancestors; for even in 1742, by a published decree, that free transition was confirmed by him, according to the force of that very decree, the Little Russian people should continue to enjoy such a free transition on the basis of their Little Russian rights..... But to our extreme regret we see that our Little Russian people are not using their rights in free transition, as if they were not free from them. the above-prescribed disorder® and misery®. For the sake of having mercy on them towards their own, I will protect and protect them from this and for the restoration of their goodness and peace, we most mercifully command that Little Russian Commonwealth people, who, since the publication of this decree of ours, are in settlements, in agriculture, in work or service, to abide in peace according to their own desires, without any expulsion and without extremely rocky, diverse and own