But the death of Nicholas and the coronation of Alexander II. wrought a change for the exiles.  Nicholas began his reign with an act of severity; Alexander followed his ascension with one of clemency.  By imperial ukase he pardoned the exiles of 1825, restored them to their civil and political rights, and permitted their return to Europe.  As the fathers were legally dead when sent into exile, the children born to them in Siberia were illegitimate in the eye of the law and could not even bear their own family name.  Properly they belonged to the government, and inherited their father’s exile in not being permitted to go to Europe.  The ukase removed all these disabilities and gave the children full authority to succeed to their father’s hereditary titles and social and political rights.

These exiles lived in different parts of Siberia, but chiefly in the governments of Irkutsk and Yeneseisk.  But the thirty years of the reign of Nicholas were not uneventful.  Death removed some of the unfortunates.  Others had dwelt so long in Siberia that they did not wish to return to a society where they would be strangers.  Some who were unmarried at the time of their exile had acquired families in Siberia, and thus fastened themselves to the country.  Not more than half of those living at the time of Alexander’s coronation availed themselves of his permission to return to Russia.  The princes Trubetskoi and Volbonskoi hesitated for some time, but finally concluded to return.  Both died in Europe quite recently.  Their departure was regretted by many persons in Irkutsk, as their absence was quite a loss to society.  I heard some curious reminiscences concerning the Prince Volbonskoi.  It was said that his wife and children, with the servants, were the occupants of the large and elegant house, the prince living in a small building in the court yard.  He had a farm near the town and sold the various crops to his wife.  Both the princes paid great attention to educating their children and fitting them for ultimate social position in Europe.

While in Irkutsk I saw one of the Decembrists who had grown quite wealthy as a wine merchant.  Another of these exiles was mentioned, but I did not meet him.  Another resided at Selenginsk, a third near Verkne Udinsk, and a fourth near Lake Baikal.  There are several at other points, but I believe the whole number of the Decembrists now in Siberia is less than a dozen.  Forty-two years have brought them to the brink of the grave, and very soon the active spirits of that unhappy revolt will have passed away.

The other political exiles in Siberia are almost entirely Poles.  Every insurrection in Poland adds to the population of Asiatic Russia, and accomplishes very little else.  The revolt of 1831 was prolific in this particular, and so was that of 1863.  Revolutions in Poland have been utterly hopeless of success since the downfall and division of the kingdom, but the Poles remain undaunted.