Letter from Smith, R. Pearsall & Stepniak, Sergius to Smith, R. Pearsall. London, England; Jan 1890
- Title
- Letter from Smith, R. Pearsall & Stepniak, Sergius to Smith, R. Pearsall. London, England; Jan 1890
- Date Created
- 2 January 1890
- Format
- 2 pages on 1 sheet
- Language(s)
- English
- Source
- Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies
- Sabato Morais Collection, Box 5, Folder 6
- Has Format
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3rr1q643/manifest.json
- Link to Colenda
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3rr1q643
- Provenance
- Transfer of Custody from the Hebrew Education Society, 10 March 1913.
- Is Format Of
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx5FF6_1.xml
- content
-
London, England,
January 2nd, 1890.
My dear Brother:-
I drove over to Stepniak's yesterday. Your newspaper reports, and reading your letter, cheered him immensely.
He is starting a paper to condense, and systematically present the current Russian story. He will write you fully.
His brother-in-law was seized and kept in prison four years, with no word of his family--no court--no trial--and then sent to Siberia, where his wife joined him. He knew not if she and their child were alive till she came to him, when he broke down in hysterics. The strain of no word for four years, and then meeting, was to much for her, and she is, they fear, doomed to die after the reunion!
It is too harrowing even to hear about.
R. Pearsall Smith.
13 Grove Gardens, St. John's Wood,
London, England,
January 15th, 1890.
Dear Mr. Smith:-
I was delighted with the visit of your brother, Mr. Pearsall Smith, and with the good news he brought me from your part of the world. I am very glad to tell you, that, here in England, a similar society has been started, headed by Dr. R. Spence Watson, of Newcastle, one of the most influential men in the North of Eng-land, and of which I hope you will hear before long.
Quite recently I was told of another similar society projected spontaneously by several leading men in London. The thing is in the air. The public conscience of the civilized world is awakening to the feeling that there are outrages against humanity, against which every human being has a right to protest. This feeling is strong here, but, "from what I hear, it must be [...] glowing in your country; and it seems to me that it rests with those who have our cause particularly to heart, to convert it into a new and per-manent factor in the struggle for Russia's freedom.
I am too far away, and I know too little of American life, to give you any practical suggestion. The present movement of spirits in favor of oppressed Russia has been rightly called "Kennan's Movement." He has created it, and he is quite the man to carry it on, and to direct it into a practical channel.
I will only say that I fully agree, and heartily sympathise, with what I understand to be the next step he advises to make: In the speech reported in the cutting you sent me he said he "favored making a fight for bringing to end the evils he" had described, suggesting, as the fittest weapon for this fight---"the founda-tion of a newspaper in London."
Stepniak, 2.
I will frankly confess that, to me, it seems that "making fight" is the very thing the Americans must look forward to if they want the present great movement to bring great and permanent Re-sults.
I do not, for one moment, admit the idea of any form of inter-ference in the fighting which is going on upon the Russian soil. There are responsibilities which foreigners cannot, and have no right to, assume. But, the exercise of free-speech is so unpre-scribable and pure, in itself, and the idea of freedom so undoubt-edly good and right, and beneficial, that no blame, and no sort of moral [...] responsibility can be attached to assisting those who want to exercise that right, and popularize these ideas. The joining hands with that section of the Russian patriots who without making any appeal to violence try to spread among their countrymen the ideas of freedom, and bringing home to these evuls and disgrace of the present despo-tism, the Americans would be guilty of no encroachment upon the su-preme right of Russians to settle their own affairs.
Such is my feeling upon the matter. I do not know whether you go so far, or, if you do, whether you think it possible to carry along with you the American public opinion. In any case I would strongly recommend to you not to narrow your work to the mere pro-test against the ill treatment of political exiles. The great crime of the Russian Government is that there are po-litical exiles, men and women, who have committed no offence what-ever, who are only guilty of holding certain political opinions, and who are condemned, without even the formality of a trial, to what is practically a slow death. The outrages to which these per-sons are occasionally submitted are revolting, and it is right and good that you should protest against them with all the power of your indignation. But, is it not more revolting still that these hundreds and thousands of good and honest citizens should be put at the mercy of these brutal gaelers and officials, deprived of their rights, and condemned to a life of miseries?
It is against the absence of any guaranty of personal freedom, security, inviolability of domicile, against the unbridled despotism of the irresponsible administration, against the despotic sys-tem, which is a disgrace to our country, that the free Americans ought to protest.
There are many other things upon which I would like to speak to you, but it is not very convenient to converse at such a distance.
You tell me that I must come over to lecture in the States. I should like to, but it is not so very easily arranged. I am think-ing about it, however, and am lecturing here as often as I can af-ford, to acquire the necessary practice. I have written about the costumes and album you have asked. Hoping to hear from you, Yours, very sincerely, Sergius Stepniak. - Identifier
- p3rr1q643
- identifier
- SMBx5FF6_1
Part of Letter from Smith, R. Pearsall & Stepniak, Sergius to Smith, R. Pearsall. London, England; Jan 1890
Smith, R. Pearsall and Stepniak, Sergius, “Letter from Smith, R. Pearsall & Stepniak, Sergius to Smith, R. Pearsall. London, England; Jan 1890”, Sabato Morais Digital Repository, accessed October 18, 2024, https://judaicadhpenn.org/legacyprojects/s/morais/item/89954