Here we speak of the great uprising with bated
breath, but we, alas! know that it must come one day--very soon--and
Finland will be the first to endeavor to break her bonds--and the Baron
Oberg the first to fall."
For nearly an hour I sat with him, surprised to find how, although his
exterior was so harsh and uncouth, yet his heart really bled for the
poor starving people he was so constantly forced to oppress.
"I have ruined this town of Abo," he declared, quite frankly. "To my
own knowledge five hundred innocent persons have gone to prison, and
another two hundred have been exiled to Siberia. Yet what I have done is
only at direct orders from Helsingfors--orders that are stern, pitiless
and unjust. Men have been torn from their families and sent to the
mines, women have been arrested for no offense and shipped off to
Saghalien, and mere children have been cast into prison on charges of
political conspiracy with their elders--in order to Russify the
province! Only," he added anxiously, "I trust you will never repeat what
I tell you.
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