We hardly see why this country should subscribe to relieve
Russian famine. The Empire is quite rich enough to tak e care of its own people, and the authorities, to do them jus- tice, are quite ready to do it. No subscription would clear away the two grand obstacles in their path. One of these is the corruption prevalent among the officials, who even in famine-time cannot be trusted not to keep back portions of the sums assigned for relief; and the other is the terrible diffi- culty of distribution. The spaces are so vast, the country roads so bad, the destruction of animals for want of fodder so extensive, that the rye cannot be transported to the more remote, and therefore more suffering, villages. The Govern- ment does its utmost to find useful work in road-making, bridge-building, and the like, and so to concentrate the distress in accessible places ; but the peasantry hate this plan, because they want to sow their own fields, which are far off, and because the plan does nothing to relieve the women and children. They insist, therefore, it is said, that the Czar shall keep them alive in their villages, and without (public) work.
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