Kropotkin

Kropotkin, PRINCE PETER, Russian Nihilist, was born at Moscow in 1842, of one of the noblest houses in the empire. At fifteen he entered the Corps of Pages at St Petersburg, whither, after five years' service and exploration in Siberia, he returned in 1867 to study mathematics for four years at the university, whilst acting as secretary to the Geographical Society. In 1871 he explored the glacial deposits of Finland and Sweden; in 1872, whilst on a visit to Belgium and Switzerland, he associated himself with the extremest section of the International. Two years after his return to Russia he was arrested (March 1874), but in July 1876 escaped to England. From Switzerland he was expelled in 1881; and at Lyons he was condemned in 1883 to five years' imprisonment. Released in 1886, he returned to England. He is author of Paroles d'un Révolté (1885), In Russian and French Prisons (1887), Memoirs of a Revolutionist (1899), and articles in the Ency. Britannica, the present work, &c.