She was accompanied by two of the men of her family.  They did not speak English, but they were men of strong practical sense and business capacity, with the odd combination in their character of that exaggerated perception of honorable dealing which we are accustomed to call chivalric.  They had, too, a grave dignity and composure of bearing which would have befitted Spanish hidalgos, and beside which our pert, sociable American manner and slangy talk were sadly belittled.  These men (for I had a reason in making particular inquiries concerning them) were in private life loyal friends, good citizens, affectionate husbands and fathers—­in a word, Christian men, honest from the marrow to the outside.

Now to the strange part of my story, revolting enough to our republican ears.  This lady and her people, in the country to which they belong, are held in a subjection to which that of the Russian serf was comparative freedom.  They are held legally as the slaves not of individuals, but of the government, which has absolute power over their persons, lives and property.  Its manner of exercising that power is, however, peculiar.  They are compelled to live within certain enclosures.  Each enclosure is ruled by a man of the dominant race, usually of the lower class, who, as a rule, gains the place by bribing the officer of government who has charge of these people.  The authority of this man within the limits of the enclosure is literally as autocratic as that of the Russian czar.  He distributes the rations intended by the government for the support of these people, or such part of them as he thinks fit, retaining whatever amount he chooses for himself.  There is nothing to restrain him in these robberies.  In consequence, the funds set aside by the government for the support of its wretched dependants are stolen so constantly by the officers at the capital and the petty tyrants of the separate enclosures that the miserable creatures almost yearly starve and freeze to death from want.  Their resource would be, of course, as they are in a civilized country, to work at trades, to farm, etc.  But this is not permitted to them.  Another petty officer is appointed in each enclosure to barter goods for the game or peltry which they bring in or crops that they manage to raise.  He fixes his own price for both his goods and theirs, and cheats them by wholesale at his leisure.  There is no appeal:  they are absolutely forbidden to trade with any other person.  The men of my friend’s family—­educated men and shrewd in business as any merchant of Philadelphia—­when at home were liable to imprisonment and a fine of five hundred dollars if they bought from or sold to any other person than this one man.  They are, too, taught no trade or profession.  Each enclosure has its appointed blacksmith, carpenter, etc. of the dominant class, who, naturally, will not share their profits by teaching their trade to the others.