On the anniversary of his accession to the throne, February 18 (March 2), 1864, the Emperor published an ukase extending the liberation of the serfs to Poland. The measure provided for the handing over to the peasants in fee simple the land which up to that time they had cultivated on behalf of their lords. The scheme was in all respects save one the same as that which had been propounded by the so-called National Government; but whereas the latter had proposed to indemnify the proprietor from the general revenues of the country, the Russian Government undertook to buy the land at sixteen and two-thirds years’ purchase, and to recoup themselves by special taxation. The landlord was to retain his own domain, always the most fertile part of the property—corresponding to a sort of home farm on a gigantic scale, with its houses, farm buildings, etc. The Polish landlords were, of course, furious and declared that they would all be ruined. There were in rough numbers some five thousand principal owners, and there were in addition thirty Russian _majorats_ (properties entailed upon the eldest son) which were equally concerned in the change. One of the representatives of the latter properties said to me cynically: “Nous sommes tous ruinés. Eh bien! tant mieux, puisqu’il y aura plus de cinq mille de ces sacrés Polonais qui le seront bien plus que nous.” These Russian _majorats_ were the rewards of services rendered against the Poles. One main principle which the Government had in view was to reward those peasants who did not join in the insurrection, at the expense of the landlords and the middle-class who were its heart and soul. The Polish peasant looked upon the landlord as his natural enemy—a tyrant of whom to be rid would be Paradise. He therefore was entirely pro-Russian, though he might not dare to declare himself. Keeping in mind this spirit, there were not lacking pessimists who declared that so soon as the ex-serf should find himself his own master, with nothing over him but the Russian Government, his views would be altered. With rebellion born in his blood, he would join the other camp, and be as bitter in enmity as he had been warm in a friendship which for him spelt hope. In time the benefactor would degenerate into the tax-gatherer, and the metamorphosis would be hateful and of ill omen. The measure was framed upon a report by General Miliutin, who was sent on a special mission to gather information upon the spot; and the pamphleteering defence of the plan was entrusted to that very able penman and special pleader, M. Katakazy, to whom I have already alluded as the writer of Prince Gortchakoff’s three answers to Lord Russell. His work on this occasion was a masterpiece both in what it said and in what it held back.