On March 5, 1861, he issued his manifesto
making the serfs free! He had struggled long to make some satisfactory
previous arrangement; his motto now became: Emancipation first,
arrangement afterward. Thus was the result of the great struggle
decided.
NIKOLAI TURGENIEFF
In 1857 the Emperor Alexander II first raised the question of
emancipation, and declared it was time for it to be accomplished. As
might have been expected, the idea of emancipation met with great
opposition from different sides. Yet the opposition was directed not so
much against the personal emancipation of the serfs as against the
appropriation to them, when liberated, of the land they held. The
proprietors, assembled in different committees which were established
all over the empire to discuss the matter, ended even by giving up their
right of possession in the person of the serf, and, mentioning only
their right to the land occupied by the peasants, claimed pecuniary
indemnities if that land were delivered to them.
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