Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - III. The Land Laws of Finland
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ignoring the previous rights of the peasants. He
obtained from this committee a declaration that the
landlords had the full rights of property, with the
exemption from taxes (the so-called frälse) which they
claimed; and with regard to their manors (which are
known as säterier) some further privileges in the matter
of taxation were granted. Those peasants who could
furnish valid proofs that their farms were proprietary
peasant farms, preserved their rights. Three senators,
who were members of the committee, further
recommended that the present tenants should be allowed
to keep their original rights for their lifetime.
Nicholas I., who had now ascended the throne, decided,
however, that the estates were to be the absolute
property of the landlord, even when originally they
had only been granted for a term of years; but
that, on the other hand, the peasants should retain
their old rights for ten years, that is till 1837. The
peasants continued a restive opposition, refusing to
sign contracts, and working badly when called upon
to work for their masters. Their labour, as a means
of paying dues, had lost two-thirds or three-quarters
of its ordinary value. Hundreds of farms were
deserted, so that the tyranny of the nobles did not
even benefit themselves. The movement was a
curiously exact repetition of what we have seen before
in other countries, where the peasants, by a change
in social and economic conditions, have lost their
rights in the soil, and sometimes lost their liberty
with it.
In the more liberal days of Alexander II., when
the Finnish Estates were once more convened in Diet,
this matter was, of course, one of the prominent
questions of the hour. The Emperor would not adopt the
course recommended by the Finance Committee as
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