ABSTRACT
Russia, despotic and semi-barbaric, is par excellence the land of the Whip and the Rod, the Russians from time immemorial having been governed by the lash. Corporal punishment, in various forms, by rod and stick or whip, is freely and indiscriminately applied to offenders of every description. A rod is still the chief instrument in the hands of the municipal and police authorities, and even the officials themselves are not exempt from such discipline. Neither age nor sex is a safeguard against being beaten like a dog, and the poor peasant may be sent to the next police station, although it may be twenty or thirty miles away, with a note to the superintendent requesting that functionary to supply the bearer with so many lashes at sight; and such a note is always certain to be duly honoured, the number of stripes being frequently given with liberal interest. The police take full advantage of the arbitrary power vested in their hands, and even subordinate officials, who have no proper legal authority to beat, kick, and cuff the poorer classes without mercy, often do so; and a beating, whether administered by the properly authorised official or not, is, as a Russian proverb says, always a beating.
