No. 377.
Mr. Schuyler to Mr. Fish.
Legation of
the United States,
St
Petersburg, April 6, 1872.
(Received April 25.)
No. 171.]
Sir: In my dispatch No. 168, of March 30, I
informed you of the proposed emigration to America of the Mennonite
colonies in South Russia.
I have since been able to see Mr. de Westmann, and informed him of the
application we had received, and said that, as I had no desire even
[Page 490]
to seem to entice away His
Majesty’s subjects without his knowledge, I would tell him that I had
already communicated this application to my Government. I said, further,
that though I had no instructions on the subject, I should be glad to
know the feeling of the imperial government with regard to this proposed
emigration. Mr. de Westmann replied that he was then unable to answer
me, but I judged from what he said that he was opposed to making any
exemption from the obligation of military service in favor of the
Mennonites or other persons.
The same evening Mr. de Westmann met me at a small party, and told me
that he had reported our conversation to the chancellor, and that the
government could not say what they would do until they had received a
petition from the Mennonites themselves, asking for permission to
emigrate; that then they would reply either “yes” or “no.” Mr. de
Westmann added that the chancellor thanked me for my communication, and
fully appreciated the spirit which prompted me to make it.
I understand that the British embassador has had a similar conversation
with Prince Gortchaeoff on the subject.
I am informed that the Bulgarian colonists in Bessarabia have presented a
petition to be allowed to return to Turkey, and that this is now a
subject of negotiation between the Turkish and the imperial
governments.
I have the honor to inclose to you herewith, as of interest, an article
from the Russian World of yesterday, which takes the ground that it is
better for Russia to allow the Mennonites to emigrate than to make them
an exception to the general laws of the empire.
I have, &c.,
EUGENE SCHUYLER,
Chargé d’Affaires ad
int.
[Inclosure 1 in No.
171.—Translation.]
[From the Russian World of March
24, (April 5,) 1872.]
We are informed that at the present time there is a strong movement
in the Men-nonite colonies of the government of Taurid, and
especially in the districts of Ber-diansk and Melitopol. The
Mennonites wish to emigrate in a body. There are reports that they
have already declared this intention, through their deputies, to the
American consuls in Odessa and Berdinausk, and that the question now
consists only in whether they shall emigrate to the United States or
to Canada. The cause of this hardly probable movement, which
threatens to depopulate the richest lands and settlements in the
south of Russia, is the approaching necessity of the colonists
performing military service, from which they have been hitherto
exempt.
It is a great pity that tens of thousands of Mennonites cannot
reconcile themselves to the new order of things which now exists
throughout the whole of Europe. It is, however, vastly better for
Russia to deprive herself of these inhabitants than to infringe the
principle of the equality of all her subjects in their obligations
toward the state. It is strange for the Mennonites to insist on the
privileges which were given to them at the time of their
colonization, and confirmed by letters-patent. Treaties are always
written forever, but time runs on, the position of affairs changes,
alters the relations that existed at the conclusion of the treaties,
and thus destroys the treaties. Without this circumstance there
would be a full and perfect stand-still in the world.
If the government consents to the exemption of the Mennonites and
other German colonists from military service, it should immediately
dissolve the commission for establishing new regulations for
military service. This commission will then have nothing to do. By
admitting the right of the colonists to exemption from military
service, it so much the more admits the right to the same exemption
of the Russian nobility, mercantile class, &c, &c. Charters
were granted to all by one the selfsame power, and have the same
force.
It is better to lose the Mennonites than to introduce into the state
the inequality of rights, and that, too, in favor of foreigners, and
not of the native population.
