Chapter 11 11 Passing by (Russia) Herzen

Once I went from the country to Moscow and stayed two days in a certain provincial town.The next morning I was visited by the wife of a farmer who had come here to do business from our property.She was extremely anxious: her husband had been in prison for six months, and she heard the news that he was about to be sentenced.I questioned the case; the crime he committed was not serious. I once knew a deputy president of the court, who was the most righteous man in the world, and at the same time a great monster; I went straight to the criminal court to find him; the court was not yet in session; Glasses, sitting alone looking at the frighteningly thick dossier.I hadn't seen him for three years, and he was glad to see me, not because we were particularly fond of each other, but because it was always nice to see familiar faces after a long absence.I told him my reasons, and he ordered the files to be called; the verdict was ready, but I drew his attention to certain mitigating circumstances, and he agreed to the possibility of a lighter sentence.After thanking him, I couldn't help shaking his hand in a friendly way and saying: Vladimir.Yakovlevich, if I hadn't come and asked you to read the files again, wouldn't the peasants have been punished too severely?

What can I do, old man, replied the old man, pushing his blue spectacles to his brow, I have a good conscience; I never read the whole file, and never signed the conviction, but I must confess that I am afraid to seek relief. The reason for the case is like being afraid of fire. Well, you cannot be accused of being too lenient, nor of being too eager to exonerate the accused. completely opposite.I have served this court for nearly twenty years, and yet I cannot help but shudder whenever I am asked to sign a severe sentence. So why don't you like the mitigating plot? This would involve too much involvement; you new recruits will of course just pick and choose you. You have worked in some ministry if you want to, but you probably haven't handled any cases; you don't know anything about it.Would you like to delve into our archives, even the files of the last two years, it will be useful in the future, you will learn not only the law of procedure but also people.You'll learn what it's like to find an excuse and what it involves.

I appreciate your kind advice, but it is impossible to go through two shelves of files before I move to live in your archives for a few months. Please explain now what makes me sick Don't understand the question, that's why you should hate the mitigating plot.Is it too troublesome, or does each case have to be considered in detail, and there is not enough time? God, forgive me my sins, but man, do you think I am a Turk or a Jacobin for being lazy (note that the Jacobins were blamed for everything earlier, But all the credit for accusing them of laziness belongs to Vladimir Yakovlevich) to add to a poor man's misfortune; I tell you too much is involved.

That's all you need to say, and I'm willing to admit that I'm unforgivably dull, but I still don't understand what you mean. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.You really, take any case and look for mitigating circumstances, and go from one to another, and from another to a third, and it turns out that there is not a single guilty person at all.What's the matter? That's even better. So according to you, no matter what you touch your head, it's fine.That's fine in a cannibalistic place like Philadelphia, but in a well-ordered society, how can the guilty be allowed to go unpunished?

【Note】A city in the eastern United States. But if you can justify him yourself, what kind of a guilty man is he? Well, but anyone can be acquitted if they're smart.Is this why I was put here?I'm old-fashioned, my job is to do it in a disciplined manner, and what if it's not good to leave it alone?Obviously someone stole something, he was a thief, but this is what he did because he was hungry, why his mother was sick, why his father died when he was three years old, and he has been begging for food since then, he is used to wandering, anyway, there is no end to it; Does that leave the thief unpunished?No, buddy, please don’t be angry if you have a confession and physical evidence.Because of this, these mitigating circumstances are a sharp knife for me, they prevent me from clearly understanding the case.

You know, now that I've had experience and I'm used to it, but at first it was, to tell you the truth, pretty damning, a bad temper.At night, when I thought about the case in my mind, I thought about it and thought about it, and then I had nothing else to say: not guilty.It's like making things difficult on purpose, and I can't sleep all the time; logically, why should I worry about it? It's neither a relative nor a friend, but such a tramp, a villain, and a fugitive. It's strange to say, but it really hurts .Acquit the one, acquit the other, but there's a third what's the point, I haven't dishonored myself in office, and I'll keep my name pure to the grave.Besides, what would the boss say? Always acquitted, like a fool, and I feel sorry for myself.I thought it over and over again, and finally stopped looking for reasons to mitigate the case.Our duties are difficult and complicated. It is no different from civil courts that have proved the power of attorney, written the deed, examined the will, recognized the serf redemption certificate, and can sleep peacefully when we turn back.But here, thinking that there was a man named Yerimi who was standing here and talking two weeks ago, but now he is on the road to Vladimir[Note]; the same is true for a man named Agulina, and you I know, this one felt very pitiful when I was walking.Do you understand now?

[Note] refers to the meaning of exile.The exiles from Tsarist Russia traveled from Moscow to Siberia via the city of Vladimir. Got it, got it, the kindest and most respectable Vladimir.Yakovlevich.Goodbye, I will never forget this conversation. Please don't talk such nonsense in Petersburg, brother, what will the Minister or some great man say? Oh, no, no, don't worry, I don't say anything to the great people.