GOVERNING RUSSIA'S PROVINCES 269sky wholeheartedly approved of these efforts. Large-scale migration of
Russian peasants from Europe, however, could not be expected until
the state either resettled its own peasants or allowed freedom of move-
ment to the serfs. The former occurred in a limited way as a result of
the reforms of Count P. Kiselev; the latter had to wait until after the
Emancipation. In the meantime, Speransky decided to take all possible
advantage of the one permanent source of Siberia's population: the
exile system. Although he realized that it was a very poor substitute
for large scale free migration, he believed that greater benefit would
come to the state and the exiles themselves if better rules were provided
for the latter's settlement on the land. One of the statutes of 1822
(PSZ 29,128) dealt with this question.
A few highlights of this law are worth noting. The children of exiles,
for example, automatically became state peasants and inherited none
of their parents' legal disabilities.^1 Individuals whose punishment was
limited to ordinary exile and criminals who had been released from
forced labor without right to return to European Russia, had to join an
existing village community of settled peasants. 2 The absorption of
exiles into the settled population was made easier by a series of provi-
sions such as tax exemptions.^3 Unfortunately, the results were not too
good, for Speransky had based his rules on the number of exiles en-
tering Siberia in the early 1820's, i.e. about 2000 persons a year. Soon,
however, their number grew enormously as a result of the new policy
of sending to Siberia petty criminals, chronic vagrants, and the old
soldiers of fortress garrisons. These new categories swelled the number
of exiles into the tens of thousands, and their gradual and normal
assimilation into the local population became impossible.
Similar economic considerations led to a new and better organiza-
tion for the Cossacks. The Cossacks acted as a border guard and police
force; they usually were part-time soldiers and part-time peasants. The
law of 1822 attempted to pave the way for their gradual transformation
into full time husbandmen or regular peasants. Except for a minority
to be garrisoned in or near the larger towns and engaged almost
exclusively in police work, the Cossacks were freed from most of their
military obligations. They were thus given an opportunity of devoting
all their time and effort to agriculture (PSZ 29,131). Eventually, the
administration of these settled Cossacks was to be assimilated to that of
the regular peasantry.
1 PSZ 29,128, par. 262.
2 PSZ 29,128, par. 401.
3 PSZ 29,128, pars. 345, 346, 347, 350-393.