THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

hts, must be regarded with great astonishment by the authorities. And that the Area Administrative Office and the church council, blinded by their ill-will, only seek to harm us, and disguise all conferences, resolutions and orders with a veneer of goodwill and [good] intentions, is evident. At the October 11, 1862, conference in the Area Administrative Office attended by the church council [cf. document of November 12, 1862, #108a], Area Administrator Friesen presented the case of our secession from the decadent Mennonite churches in such a way that there were only two alternatives. Either we would have to be stricken from the colonial register (and thereby lose our civil rights and be exiled from the colonies) or we would be recognized as an independent church. After their return to the churches, the elders most assiduously incited their members against us [with reservation cf. #108c above], so that we would be stricken from the colonial register. The churches, however, with the exception of a few members, feared God and disregarded the goading of the elders. God thereby brought their premeditated plan to nought, so that now, according to the declaration of Area Administrator Friesen, we should be an independent church. The Area Administrative Office, nevertheless, publicizes us in the colonies as a newly founded sect, thereby clearly showing that the Area Administrative Office does not keep its promises, and is determined to harm us. This is in complete disagreement with the promise of the Area Administrative Office to J. Claassen on November 30 of this year, to assist us, etc. Furthermore, there is proof that even the elders, when they wanted to confirm our exclusion from the colonist status, were not united— for two elders did not give their consent from the very beginning— one of them [Friesen of the Kleine Gemeinde] declaring it orally, and the Ohrloff-Halbstadt elder writing it in a declaration of November 12, 1862. k) From all this one can see the boundless, unrestrained and lawless rule of the Area Administrative Office against us. This is not the will of our dear Tsar, but rather, that righteousness and justice be done. Therefore the Area Administrative Office does not have the right to take revenge on us, but to maintain and not suppress the rights which individuals have been accorded by that government. 1) Our entire present situation has been presented simultaneously to the 410 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH §176 Supervisory Commission for foreign settlers and the highest Ministry of Crown Lands, m) Nevertheless, we again request the Molotschna Mennonite Area Administrative Office to petition the Supervisory Commission and seek permission for us: 1) to settle at the stated place at the Kuban; 2) that our settlement there be founded on the same basis that exists in the New-Russian provinces; namely that we may enjoy the privileges granted to our fathers and us by the gracious monarc