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

Christian culture which could not have happened in Russia without tragic consequences for the families. America now has many of our Mennonite people, numbering in the thousands. They are very industrious farming families which are enriching Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota, Minnesota, etc., and are spreading even further into Texas, New Mexico, and California. English Canada is also most glad for our orthodox Mennonites because they are good land purchasers and farming people. For us it was also good as stated above; and it was good for Russia which was now free of these unmanageable, pious foster children whom it was impossible to satisfy no matter how hard this modern European state attempted to make every possible concession. At the same time, however, the state retained the greatest part of the Mennonite settlers. They allowed themselves to benefit from the wholesome and useful Russian societal and educational circumstances according to the gracious conditions, which astonished the political world, permitted by the monarch of that time and protected by his noble successors. 17. These conditions for reaching agreement between the Russian government and the Mennonites were contained in the proposals which General Totleben made by order of His Majesty, and were: a) accepted when the Molotschna and Chortitza Mennonites petitioned in the Military Service and Emigration 595 General’s name (April 1874); b) validated by law and confirmed by the highest authority April 8, 1875, published by Senate ukase on May 14, 1875, 22 which outlined the Imperial Council's position concerning the Mennonites’ responsibility towards military duty; and c) practically applied in a treaty contracted for a 20 year period of time (on June 25 ff. 1880) between the Commissioner of the Federal Administration and the lawful agencies of the Mennonites. (After expiration, renewed and declared permanent by the Federal government.) a) The petition of April 1874 reads as follows: “To His High Excellency the Adjutant General von Totleben “Your High Excellency: During the days when you were here, you repeatedly and with unalterable determination, assured us and many of our brothers that in the future, as heretofore, we would without change enjoy the favor and grace of His Majesty, our most gracious Tsar and lord. This was demonstrated anew in that His Majesty, through the extraordinary dispatching of Your High Excellency, granted us the grace to follow the basic teachings of our confession of faith while fulfilling the universal personal military obligation by allowing us to perform a non-military service outside the department of the war ministry, so that we would not in any way be brought into relationship with the military system. “Most humbly we lay at the feet of His Majesty our deeply felt thanks for the most gracious consideration shown us because of the basic precepts of our faith, and our resulting obligation of conscience