Three great reforms deserve special mention--the
emancipation of the serfs, the radical reorganization of the civil and
criminal courts, and a great extension of local self-government.
By the emancipation decree of 1861, which had been carefully prepared by
liberal-minded officials in conjunction with local committees of the
landed proprietors, the millions of serfs, who had been habitually
bought and sold with the estates on which they were settled, and who had
known no law except the arbitrary will of their masters, were
transformed suddenly into a class of free and independent citizens! Next
came the reorganization of the judicial administration, by which a
similar beneficent change was effected. In the old times the civil and
criminal tribunals had been hotbeds of bribery and corruption to such an
extent that a satirical author had once ventured to write a comedy with
the significant title, "An Unheard-of Wonder; or, The Honest Clerk of
Court!" Now they were thoroughly cleansed, and during some half a dozen
years, when I traveled about the country in search of information, I
never heard of a Judge suspected of taking bribes. The lawsuits, which
were previously liable to be prolonged for a lifetime, were curtailed by
simplifying the procedure; trial by jury was introduced for criminal
cases; and the condition of the prisoners was greatly improved both
materially and morally.
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