After the revolt had been extinguished, many of the nobles themselves generously took up the cause of humanity and freedom for their oppressed slaves. Still, although much sympathy for them Avas generally excited, and their cause was openly and frequently discussed, yet the nineteenth century began without any thing having actually been done for their relief. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, that they lost all patience, and that in 1802 they again rose in revolt under " Poor Conrad," or as he was called at Riga, the " Lettish Buonaparte." They were again subdued, but the sanguinary termination of the insurrection had filled every mind with terror and dismay. The writings of Merkel and others had, meanwhile, attracted the attention of other countries, to the bondage in which the original inhabitants of the Baltic provinces were sunk. The Russian throne was occupied by a beneficent and humane ruler ; the time was in every respect favourable ; and the cry for a thorough and permanent improvement in the condition of the serfs, became louder and louder. After many fruitless meetings of the nobility, and deputations from them to the emperor, the matter was at last taken in hand by Alexander himself. He appointed a committee at St. Petersburg, under his own superintendence and that of his chancellor Kotshubey ; and in the year 1804 an imperial edict was issued, which materially changed and improved the condition of the peasantry of Livonia and Esthonia.
Courland remained in the same condition as before, until the year 1817, when, by the energy and praiseworthy exertions of the governor of the provinces. General Paulucci, Courland also was brought under the influence of the new law, and the Emperor Alexander received, at Mitau, the thanks of the nobility and peasantry of Courland.
The serfs were not, however, at once placed in the possession of their liberty. Fourteen years of a state of transition were to prepare them for a slow and gradual emancipation. The whole enslaved population of the country was divided into certain classes according to ages, and every year a fourteenth of each class, a fourteenth of the boys, a fourteenth of the men, a fourteenth of the old men, &c ., were emancipated. In 1831 the emancipation was completed. The year 1817 was taken as the normal year, by which future years were to be governed; that is, the labours performed by the peasants for their masters during that year were set down in each estate as a
392 SLAVERY OF THE ESTHONIANS AND LETTES.
measure for their future labours. Inventories were taken on each state, in which were set down the number of horses, cows^ agricultural instruments, &c., belonging: to each ^'GesindeJ' These things were declared to be fixtures on the "GesindCy' and were to be delivered to the farmer on entering upon liis farm, and to be returned again at the expiration of the lease. The punishment which the master might inflict, as well as the labour he might exact, were distinctly fixed, and tribunals of the peasants themselves were established. The condition of the peasant of the Baltic provinces is now ^bout as follows :
He is no longer bound to the soil, but may, after half-a-year's notice given to his lord, quit the estate. In the same way his lord may, after half-a-year's notice, force the peasant to leave the place of his birth. This alteration can be but a small benefit to the serf. His situation must become quite intolerable, before he resolves on leaving the spot on which he was born, and where he has passed all the days of his Hfe, the home of his fathers, his I'elations, and his friends, to take advantage of his right of self-exile. Besides, a noble has always a hundred ways by which, if he wishes it, he can detain the peasant. Difficult as it is for him to gain subsistence, he is continually needing little helps and loans from his landlord, of which payment can at any time be suddenly demanded in such a manner as to make his departure impossible.
Though the right which the peasant has thus obtained, is so fi-equently us'eless to liim, the counter-right of his master, of banishing him from his native place, is very often turned against him. Formerly a noble could not by any means get rid of his serfs ; and whenever they were in want, he was forced to support and maintain them. At present, the moment a peasant becomes useless or burdensome, it is easy to dismiss him ; on account of which the serfs, in some parts of the provinces, would not accept of the emancipation offered, and bitterly lamented the freedom, as it was called, which was forced upon them. The Lette often mournfully complains, that he has lost a father, and kept a master, and his lord now often refuses the little requests of his peasants, saying, " You know you are not my children now!'