THE OMAHA DAILY BEE : SUNDAY , NOVEMBER 27 , 1887. SIXTEEN PAGES.
Tholr Last Appotvl The Justlco of
Tholr Protest.
THE INTRODUCTION OP NIHILISM.
Him * , tin ; MhiMiil * Were Hindered In
Tlirli' Allfinpl " ' I'm iiSloii to
Violent-- mill niixid-licd
Tim "TiTiorNt * , . "
In th : November Century tlicro np-
IHJIII" nn nrlii'lo entitled ' 'I'lii ! I.iiHt Ap-
pcnl of tlieHii Mii'i LO > oni".M."byGeoi'f'o
Kenmiii , who is without doubt otioodho
iniut thoroughly posted men In Arnor-
HM on UurHimi ulTaii'H , Mr. Kciiumi ,
who win originally a telegraph opur-
iilor , him vinitod Hussm Mjvurnl times
and ho * spout suvonil yuar-t in Hint
rnuntry. Tlio labt time. ho wont to Rus
sia ho had an intcrvu w v. itli Count
'I'ol-loi. and ho nl.-o interviewed over
Jive hundi'od por.-niiH who had been ex
iled to Siboi'iii. Mr. Konnun is ono of
the very ( < : Vi American- who liavii mas-
ti'rt'il tlio Kii" < ian liii ( Ui ! < { e , Hia iii'tl-
ok1 in tlio C't'iitui'v i "ft follows.
Among the II ril questions which nriso
in the. mind of any di pa.-hionato. student
of contemporary Kusiian history when
ho rovicw.s the events of the last twenty
jciii'f. stro the following : "What is tlio
real nature and Hlgullirantv "f tlio pro
test against authority whieh has re-
I'ontly taken PO oxtrenie and violent a
form in Kuisia : what arc its original
cauxi's and what are the opinions , hopes
and aims of the party or class which
manifests mii'li an unconquerable spirit
of rebellion and which actn with such
tierce and ilostnu-tivc energy ? IH the
proleHtin/r / jiiirty or class a liomogone-
iniii body , nil of who-e mcinberb.s are in-
bpircd by the same ideus. or is there a
dillorenee of opinion among it constitu
ent units an toprinciple and methods of
action1 Is what lhi > world calls nihilism
a mere philosophy of n < Cation and des
truction , which does not look beyond.
the overthrow of exiting institutions ,
01 has it in view some ideal of Mx.'ial
order which it hones ultimately to roa-
HwV If the Is'ihilisis are ' ooiiil reform
ers sincerely detiirous of improving tlio
( ONIHTIUN or TIM : rrni'u :
by ehiitigiiigllie social and political order
of things iii th direction of Creator fn e-
iloin.how did it happen that they began
their protest lit the very time wh'en such
change * wore being made with great
radidity , and wliy did they llercelyand
vindictively pursue and finally murder
Alexander li. , the man who was grant
ing , as fast as it schemed prudent or
pratHii'able to grant , the very reforms
which they themselves domandodV In
hhni't , what do the phenomena of con
temporary Russian history moanV"
These questions must be answered
1)ofore any intelligent idea can bo
formed of the exii-ting situation in llns-
hia , and before any prediction can bo
made as to the probable outcome of the
falruggK' which is there going on.
( It has been my fortune , in the course
of the last t\yo years , to make the in-
tinmle neqimintance of more than live
hundred members of this Itus-imi pro
testing party , including not less than
Ihree hundred so-called "nihilibln"
living in exile at the convict mines and
n the penal settlement-- Siberia. [
'hin perhaj- ) . throw some light , there
fore , upon the problems presented by
. .recent Kmsian history , and answer
JBtime of the qncstionn which necessarily
biiggo.-4 themselves to the attentive
fetwlentof Uussiaii atlairTho sub
ject , however , is one of great
extent and complexity , and it is not
mj purpose in the pre-enl paper tocvon
make an attempt to dual with it
, ns a whole. 1 desire merely to correct
Borne widely prevalent errors and then
4to present ono pha o. of the Kiissian
"protest against authority ; namely , the
.peiiccful . legal argumentative phase
vhii'h jirocedeil the appeal to force , and
out of which ultimately the appeal to
Jori'ti ranie , as the nece--ary and inevi
table result of the failure of the peace
ful protest.
Tnero is a Ayidely prevalent impres
sion in America that the protesting
party or class in Kusnia is essentially
homogeneous ; that its members are all
Vnihilists ; " that they prefer violence
to any other means of redressing
[ wrongs ; that they aim simply
lit the destruction of existing
institutions , and that there is
ill this so-called 'nihilistic" form of
protest against authority something
peculiar and mysterious something
jwliich the occidental mind cannot fully
Comprehend , owing to its ignorance of
the Russian character. This impres
sion , as 1 hope to show , is almost wholly
an erroneous one. In the lir.st place ,
jtho protecting party in KusMa is not , in
any sense of the word , homogeneous.
Its' members belong to all ranks , classes ,
'and conditions of the Itui-sian people ;
they hold all sorts of opinions with re-
L'ard to social and political orgnni/.n-
f ion , and the methods by which they
propose to improve the exist ing condi
tion of thing * extend through all poani-
blo gradations from peaceful romon-
iilrance , in the form of collective peti-
.lion , to ' 'terroristic" activity , in the
{ ihape of bomb-throwing and assassina-
.tkin" 'J'ho one common bond which
mules them is the feeling which they
till have that the o.\i-t ing state of alTair *
niH become insupportable and must be
changed.
j In the second place , there is no pro
testing party in 1'unsin to which
. ! Tur.Tnni. "Mim.isTir , "
Jean bo projierly applied. This may ,
perhaps seem like a paradoxical state
ment m view of the fiu-t that wo have
not heard of any other protesting party
Jn Kussia ; but it is n true statement ,
Jievertheless. There is no party in the
empire which deliberatelj chooses violence
lence and bloodshed as the best possl-
) ) le means of attaining its ends ; there is
jio party \\hich aims merely at the over
throw of the existing institutions , anil
there is no party which preaches 01
practices a pliilosphy of negation anil
destruction. I make thc-o assertion :
conlhlently , bci-an-o lay acuaintanci ( |
\\ith so-chilled "nihilists" i > , | ) rohabl\
inuru extensive and thorough than tha'l
of any other fyivigncr. and I have
discu-sed tlicso fjue-t ion \\ith them foi
main 'nuudreds of hours. hiber
's , reformersociuiistie the
prists , revolutionists , and ' 'ter
rorists" 1 have met in all vnritiop , boll
in Kuropcnn Uu la and among the ox
| les in Siberia ; but a nihilist in UK
proper or even in the popular signill
tsation of that word never. Of course
ff you use the term "nihilist" as yoi
ivould the "l '
use torin iiow-nothin'g ,
merely to denote a certain social or po
litical party and without reference t <
the original signiliranco of tin
lippcllaliunou may apply i
to any body of men to UK
Kiught.sol .Labor , for example ; but i
you use the word will , a consciousnes
of its grimarysignilleationns you \\ouh
u-o thu word yellow to do-cribo an or
ngo , you cannot properly apply it ti
Uny branch of the protesting party ii
Russia. There is in the empire ni
parly , organi/'ilion. ' or boil j of mon ti
which it is applicable.
, TIIIJ WOIID "XUIII.JST' '
ictrpducea in l y Tuv
geilcf , who u ed It in hia novel
"I-'athors and Children" to de
scribe it certain ( yi > o of ehftrnctei' which
had then recently made its appearance
in the ranks of the rising generation
nnd which ho contracted sharply
and elToctively with the prevailing types
in the generation which wan pas-ting
from the stage. AH applied to Ha/.arolT.
the skeptical , materialistic , iconoclastic
surgeon's son in Turgonef's novel , the
word "Nihilist" had n natural appro
priateness which the KuHsinn public tit
once rocogni/ed. There were differ
ences of opinion as to the question
whether any such class as that repre
sented by iJa/arolT really ex
isted , but there was no dif
ference of opinion with regard
to the appropriateness of the term as ail-
plied to that particular character. It
was accurately descriptive of the type.
The word "Nihilist , " however , was
peen caught up by the conservatives and
bv the government , and was applied in-
dWriminatoly by them as an oppro
brious and discrediting niokmuno to all
persons who were not satislied with the
existing order of things and who sought
b\ any active method whatever , tobriii' '
'
aiio'tt'changes ' In Hitssian social and
political organization. To many of the
reformers , iconoclasts , and extreme the
orists of that time the term "Nihilist'1
was perhaps fairly applicable as it
certainly was , for example , to ISnUimin
and his followers and by some of them
it was oven accepted in a spirit of pride
and defiance as on appellation which ,
although n nickname , expressed con-
jUoly their opnosition to all forms of
Authority bated on force. To the
great mass of the Russian mal-
jontents , however , it had then ,
mil has now. no appropriate reference
whatever. It would bo quite as fairand
quite as1 reasonable to say that tlio peo-
ile in the United Slates who were once
Killed ' 'know-nothings' ' wore persons
who really did not know anything as to
ny that the people in Russia who are
low called "nihilists" persons who
cally do not believe in anything , nor
cHiiecl anything , nor do anything ex-
cpt destroy. By persistent iteration
mil reiteration , however , the Russian
government and the Russian conserva
tive classgj ave succeeded in making the
world accept this opprobrious nickname
is really descriptive of the eharuc-
or and opinions of all their
jpponents , from tins "terrorist" '
who thrown an explosive bomb under
ho carriage of the c/ar , down to the
leneeful and law-abing member Of a
provincial as-embly who respectfully
LsKs leiixe to petition the crown for the
edress of grievances. It would 1m hard
o Had another instance in history
ivhcre an incongruous and inappropri-
ite appellation has thus boon fastened
.ipon u hctrogoneous mass of people to
ivho o beliefs and actions it has no sort
> f applicability , or a case in which an
ipprobrious nickname has had so con
fusing ami so misleading nu inlkicnce
upon public opinion throughout the
world.
The people most misrepresented and
ivronged by this nickname are unqiics.-
ionnblv the Russian liberals the mom-
KTs of" the protesting party who seek
to obtain reforms by peaceable and le
gal methods. From the point ofiow
) f the government there might perhaps
> o borne propriety in the application of
' 'nihilist" like
ho term to a conspirator
Nnclmief or to a regicide like RyssakolT ;
but there can be no possible reason or
excuse for calling by that name a pro-
"essor who opposes the inquisitorial
provisions of the now university laws ,
in editor who disputes the right of the
; overnmcnt to banish it man to Siberia
ivithout a trial , or a member of a pro
vincial assembly \yho persuades his fol-
"ow-deleguies to join in 11 petition to
lie crown asking for a constitution.
These people are not 'inihilists , " they
: vro not even revolutionists ; they are
peaceable , law-abiding citizens who
: ire striving by reasonable methods to
secure a belter form of government ; and
yet these men are removed from their
illicial places , silenced by ministerial
prohibition , arrested without adequate
au-e , exiled without a judicial hear
ing , and finally misrepresented to the
world as "nihilists" and enemies of ail
socm , oumit. *
1 do not mean to say that the govern
ment formally and olllcially brands this
class of its opponents with this nick
name , or seriously regards it as prop
erly applicable to them. I mean only
Unit the Russian conservative party and
the government press have used the
word "nihilist' ' so persistently and so
indiscriminately to oharneteri/.o all
sorts of malcontents , that llio world has
come to regard it as more or less
descriptive of the whole protesting
class , and has lost sight of the radical
ditlerences between the various groups
of which that class is made up.
It is my purpose in the present paper
to briellj de-'cribo the attitude taken to
ward the government by this peaceable ,
branch of the Russian
law-abiding pro
testing party , and then to allow the lib
eral members of that party to express in
their own words the opinions which
they hold with regard to the existing
state of affairs in Russia , and the menus
which , in their judgment , should be
adopted to stop oppression on ono side
and \iolent and unnatural forms of pro
test on the other.
He fore proceeding , however , to an
examination of the opinions and actions
of the Russian liberals , it is necessary
to sketch hastily the conditions under
which the piolcating class came into
existence , and the nature of the wrongs
and evils against which the protest was
made. The sketch must necesserily bo
a brief ami inadequate ono , and the
reader will , I trust , understand that it
does not pretend to cover full.v the
ground , or even to outline the h'istory
of Russia , during the period. It is in
tended merely to suggest the facts
which are imli-pcnsable to a elouu- com
prehension of the liberal position.
Between the jc.u's ISlil nud 1 SCO the
Russian government , doubtless ani
mated b.s a sincere desire to promote
the welfare of the people , undertook a
series of sweeping and far-reaching re
forms , which included the emancipa
tion of the serfs , the grant of compara
tive freedom to the press , the reorgani
zation of the courts , and the establish
ment of a system of local self-govern
ment , by means of elective assemblies ,
/.enistvo-i. . If these reforms had been
carried out in the liberal spirit in
which they were apparently conceived ,
they would have iilToetcd beneficially
every department of Ku-sinn social and
political life ; they would have lightened
in a hundred ways the burdens whicli
rested upon all classes of citi/ens ; the
would luuesalisllcdtemporarilyat least
the growing demand for greater free
dom of thought , speech , and actionant
would have saved the country from a
long , disastrous , and exhausting revolu
tionary struggle. Unfortunately , how
ever , the government either lost faitl
* It Is linrilly necessary , porhupa , to sij ;
that this is not u VUKUO , general assertion
luiulo nt mutton ! . I liavo particularly li
jiiiiul the ciiso of a well-known professor o
the Moscow university wlioso muno I wll
not Hive , lu'c.iuso ho Is not yet mi exllo ; thi
cuso of C'onstluo M. Staniukovitcli , forraorl ;
editor of the Unsslim inngazino "Dlcllo.1
who is now an exile In tlio town of Tomsk
western blbcrlii ; ami the c.xio of Ivan I. 1'e
trunljovltcli , formerly u Justleo of the nenei
inul u ini'inber of the provincial assembly o
Uliernigof , who J now an cxllo in one of ihi
northern provinces of Kuroi > enii Kubsin
They are all iiioiicrnto liberals , mid they huv <
all been punished without u trial or oven i
in Us own projected reforms , took alarm
tit UK * attitude of independence assumed
by ome of the provincial , sasc'mhlies. or
became ceriously apprehensive that the
liberal movement , if not checked and
repressed , would gobejond the limits
marked out for it. and perhaps get en
tirely beyond control. Instead , there
fore , of carrying out Us reforms pro-
serverlnglj and consistently , and with
a feeling of confidence in the good sense ,
patriotism , and self-control of the people
ple , the government began almost at
once to restrict , qualify , and abrogate
right " and privileges which it had just
granted. By means of ministerial cir
culars nnd s'eeret Instructions to pro
vincial governors , it limited freedom of
discussion in the provincial assemblies
gagged nynin the partial enfronchisod
prcws. withdrew whole classes of impor
tant cases from the jurisdiction of the
recogni/ed courts , restricted the right
of private meeting to discuss questions
of political economy , arrested persons
who as-tomblod for the purpose of con
sidering the problems pre-ontod by
Russian life under the novel conditions
which the reforms had created , and in
a hundred ways harried and exasper
ated the libeinl element , which sought
merely to do its part in the work of re
form , reorganization , and regeneration
whicli the government it-elf had under
taken. The result of this reactionary
policy was of course intense popular dis
satisfaction , which at llrst manifested
itself in outspoken protests , then took
the form of dctermiuad opposition , and
finally ended in open insubordination.
This called forth repressive measures of
still greater severity , which only in
creased the feeling of exasperation ;
and at last the younger and more im
pulsive members of the liberal parly ,
finding themselves powerless to attain
by open and legal methods the objects
which they had in view , and believing
that the government had never been
sincere in its liberal professions , under
took to act for themselves , and in their
own way , by organizing in all of the
larger towns secret circles which they
called "Circles for Self-Instruction. ' '
Those were originally little more than
associations for ardent young liberals ,
who met frequently at private houses to
talk over their grievances , and discuss
methods of improving the condition of
the peasants ; but they were gradually
transformed by repressive measures into
secret centers of revolutionnry nctivily.
About this time began that remarka
ble , impulsive , generous but quixotic
liberal crusade which was known as
"going to the people. " Thousands of
duented young men , tired with an sir-
dent desire to do something to atone for
ho sins of their fathers toward the re-
enlly emancipated serfs.and filled with
> ity for the hitter's ignorance and
nisery , went into the
iifssi \ \rii.r\ois : ,
nto the suburbs of the greatcities , into
nclories , into workshops , into sill places
ivhero the peasants toiled sinil suffered ,
: md sought , by sympathy , by co-opern-
'ion. and by personal instruction , to
lolp and ele'vato the men and women
ivliom their fathers had bought , sold ,
mil Hogged. Hundreds of cultivated
: uid refined young women , with that
singular capacity for self-sacrifice whieh
is inherent in the Russian character.
Abandoned their homes and families ,
, ) ut on coarse peasant dress , went into
the remotest , loneliest , siud dreariest
villages of the empire , smil , in the csi-
iKicity of school teachers , midwivcs , or
nurses , shared the hard , pro-ale life of
the common people , labored with them ,
suffered with them , and bore their bur
dens , merely in order to learn how they
could best be helped. Sophia 1'erofs-
kayn , one of the live regicides who were
bunged at St. Petersburg in 1SS1'began
her career with this sort , of missionary
work ; Yorsi Phillipova , who planned the
assassination of General Strelnikof and
who died of prison consumption in the
"ortress of Schlu-selburg last year , was
uioth" ! ' of the heroicyoung women who
thus WLi.'t ' 'to the people ; ' ' Madame
Ravalefskaya , who is now serving out a
hard-labor sentence in Knslorn Siberia ,
was a teacher in a peasant school ; Anna
Pavlovna Korba , who is dying by inches
sit the convict mines of Kara , was a Red
Cross nurse , and treasurer of a local
benevolent society , before she became a
member of the dreaded "Nihilisfoxec-
utivo committee ; and hundreds of other
young women threw themselves with
pas-ionate self-abnegation and self-de
votion into the work of educating , ele
vating and helping the lower classes.
Somothinganalogousto this took plnco
in our own country soon after the. close
of the civil war , when educated nnd re
fined young women from the Now Eng
land states wont south to teach in negro
ehools ; but the movement in the United
States never became- epidemic , as it did
in Russia , nor was it over characterised
by the reckless , heroic self-sacrifice
which illumines so many dark pages of
Russian history.
Ofcourso the "Circles for Self-In
struction" i'ldtho uiiprocode.ucd : move
ment of the youth of Russia "to the
people" did not c = fnpo the vigilant at-
tintioa of tlio goverinent. Both were
repifird.eii.anrt perhaps with good reason ,
as seditious in their character.nnd steps
were at once taken to put a stop to what
was believed to bo nothing more than a
secret revolutionary propoganda. The
' 'Circles for Self-Instruction * ' worn
broken up ; all persons suspected of dis
loyalty wore put under strict police
supervision or banished to distant
provinces ; educated young men
and women found in peasant
villages were required to satisfac
torily explain their presence tlje-rC ; the
more active opponents of the govern
ment were exiled to , Siberia by ' 'admin '
istrative process" and arrests wore
made by tlio hundred in St. Petersburg.
Moscow , Kiev , Odessa and all the larger
towns of the empire. The fooling of
exasperation meanwhile grew more nnd
more intense and the revolutionary
movement moro smd more formidable ,
notwithstanding the increasing severity
of tlio government's repressive measures
until at hist tlio prisons wore liter
ally crammed with political offenders ,
most of them young people from the ed
ucated class. The cruel treatment of
these prisoners and of the exiles in Si
beria , who wore- regarded by their fol
low revolutionists sis martyrs in the
cause of freedom , finally provoked re
prisals and in 1S7S ( lonernl Mo//cntxel
the chief of gendarmes , was assassin
ated in the street in St. Petersburgauil
( jencral Trepoll , the chief of police , ol
the city , was shot by Zussiililch , foi
ordering the flogging of a political pris
oner mimed llogoeuholV.
During all this lime the l\usinn lib
erals , as distinguished from the revolu
tionists , had been endeavoring to dis
courage the resort to violence on the
ono side , anil to secure justice , consist
ency , and ndherency on the other
Their efforts , however , were not suc
cessful in either direction. The revo
lutionists believed that the time foi
pesieoful remonstrance had passed , am
regarded further discussion us useless
while the government resented the in
termediation of the liberals as an im
pertinence , if not a manifestation o
sympathy with the duclured enemies o
the stale.
Such was the situation of affairs ii
IbTh anil IS" ! ) , when the llrst politica
assassinations announced the adoptioi
by the revolutionary party of thq policj
of "terror. " The liberals , forseolnt ,
that this policy would almost certainly
lead sooner or later to the as assinatioi
of the czar , nnd bQ-lioving Urn
, the reaction which must follow
fltieh n orimo wouhl bo ills-
nstrouji , if not lahil , to the cause of lib
erty t ilotoriulnod to nifiko nnothorolTort
to obtain from the governinont souie ro-
cogiiitioa of the evils nud wrongs against
whicli the revolutionist * wore so tlorcely
protesting , and some promise of u ro-
tiirn to the liberal programme outlined
in the reform measure of 1MI1-1MM' . In
order , however , to tnaUo this attempt
with liny prospect of successit was mani
festly nocess/ryto ! / secure n temporary
suspension , at least , of the destrui'tlvo
aetlvity of tlio extreme revolutionary
party. Nothing could bo accomplished
by poaeofnl luolhods if the "terroists"
continued to/tlai'iii / and exasperate the
government with throats and deeds of
murderous violeJtee. In the early purl
of IST'J ' , therefore , some of
TIM : t'ltojiiNKsr I.IIIKII.M.S.
Chornigof and Khnrkofi , inoluding
Prof. Gordoenko itlio mayor of the
latter eity ) and Mr. I'etriinkoUtcli ( the
presiding justice of one of the now
courts , and a member of the t'hernigof
provincial assembly ] , decided to open
eommunioatioa with the "terrorists , "
urge uiion them the danger.s of the
path on which they had entered , point
out to them the calamities \\hich they
might bring upon1 Knssia by this des
perate , unreasonable , murderous ! policy ,
and iibcortniti upon what conditions
they would agree to stop committing
acts of violence. In pursuance of this
resolution a committee of liberals.repre
senting several of the /.omsUos. or pro
vincial ns-emblies , of central and south
ern Kuisin , made journcy.i to various
parts of the empire , and'had personal
interviews with a number of the lead
ers of the "terroristic' ' or extreme re
volutionary party. The committee said
to the latter :
"Wo believe tlmt we can bring about re
forms by pi'iiccublo ami lopal motliods , and
wo desire now to nmko anotlicr uttompt to dose
so , but wo shall of course fall if you continue
these political murders. Our object in com
ing to see you is to ask you to suspend jour
operations for a while and give us an oppor
tunity to act. If we fail to attain our ends by
reasonable and pisaccful methods , and if you
tlien think that you can accomplish .some
thing b.v jour policy of 'terror , ' proceed at
your own peril ; we shall disapprove and de
plore your mistaken action , but wo shall
have nothing more to say ; first , however ,
give us a chance. "
Tin' "terrorists'1 declared that their
policy was not ono of choice ; that the
government had forced them to adopt
it by closing to them all other avonnes
of escape from an absolutely intolerable
position. They wore willing , however ,
to listen to reason , and would solomly
promise notto commit any more acts of
violence if the government jvould even
show a disposition to do * three things
namely , lirst. remove the oxistintr re
strictions upon freedom of speech and
of the press ; second , guarantee personal
rights against capricious , illegal , irre
sponsible action on the part oftho execu
tive authorities ; and , third , allow the
people to participate in some way in the
national government. These , they said ,
were the things , for which they were
lighting , and if they could bo satisfied
that the government would grant these
demands , they as it parly would refrain
wholly from acts of violence and "main
tain an attitude ot , expectancy. "
The mombarsof the liberal committee
returned to their homo- ! and held a con
sultation witli their fellow-delegate as
to the best methods of carrying their
plans into execution. The only basis
upon which they could proceed in legal
form was tha Iuiyiishe ( ( byemstvos , or
provincial as-emblies. These were le
gally authorized bodies , representative
of the pooploandreeogni/ed by the gov
ernment , and itj.was decided to have
these /emstvos Jiflojit and simultane
ously forward inojriorials or petitions to
the crown wetting'forth the grievances
of llio people anrt'tisking for a constitu
tional form of government.
The first petition which went in was
that of the provincial assembly of
ICharkolT , whicli convened earlier than
the others , and therefore took the lead.
Tliis address was not as clear in state
ment nor as definite in its demands as
might , have been desired , but neverthe
less produced a profound impression.
The minister of the interior at once
sent a circular letter to the marshals of
the nobility , who presided over the
provincial assemblies , directing them
not to permit any memorials to bo laid
before the assemblies without previous
submission to them ( the marshals ) for
approval , and not to penult action of
any kind upon such petitions as thai ,
from the assembly of ICharkolT. The
next y.einstvo to draw up a memorial
was that of C'hornigof. its address to
the crown was respectful in form and
tone , but extremely bold in expression.
It declared that the go\ eminent
itself WHS responsible for the revolu
tionary movement which it asked
the people to oppose , because it hud
never executed faithfully its own laws ;
thi'.i by constantly violating these laws
and re'sorting to administrative force to
attain its illegal ends it had destroyed
the people's respect for law , and has
thus prepared the way for all sorts of
anarchistic teaching ; that it had not
granted a single reform which on the
very next day it had not tried to muti
late or nulify by administrative regu
lations and' restrictions ; that it had
deprived the llussian pooploot the right
to express its opinion' : , not only through
the press and through public meetings ,
but even through the provincial ns-eni-
blies ; and , finally , that the only way to
successfully combat revolution and nn-
arcjiy was to create now national forms
and adopt a constitution whieh would
restrain illegal action not only on the
part of individual eitix.ons , but on the
part of the government.
Alan informal meetingof nil tlio dele
gates of the Chornigof provincial as
sembly this bold address was adopted
with only two dissenting votes , and was
then given to Mr.Ivnn I. I'otrunkovitch
for formal presentation to the assembly
at its regular session on the following
day. In the meantime Mr. I'otrunko
vitch submitted it the presiding ollicer
for approval as required by the recent
ministerial circular. Tlie marshal after
reading it said , "I cannot allow you to
lay tliis paporbofro | ) the assembly. "
"Why1" ; dumiwidod Mr. i'otrunke-
viteh.
"Ueeauso it is forbidden. "
"fan you sbowmo ( any law of the em
pire whieh forbids a delegate to lay be
fore the assembly , of which ho is a mom-
bora ' perfectly ' respectful petition to the
C'rownV
"No , " ' replied'tho marshal , "but I
have mi order from the minister of the
interior whicli Iwf * all the force of law
so far as 1 am concerned , and I must
obey it. "
"If , " said Mr. iPotrunkovitch , "you
cannot show mo u law which forbids
such action as tlmt which I propose to
take , 1 am acting within my legal
rights , and I shall lay this petition bolero -
lore the assembly to-morrow unless I
am prevented by force. "
"Very well , " replied the marshal , ' 'I
must ttiko my measures. "
'
When , on 'the following morning Mr.
Petrunkcvitch went to the assembly
hall ho found the public for the first
time excluded. There were gendarmes
at the door to keep out all persons except -
cept delegates , and there were gon-
durmea intho luill itself. At. boon as
tlio assembly had been called
to order , several members sprang
to their feet and protested
against the presence of the gendarmes ,
which they declared was a menace and
an insult to a deliberative assembly.
The presiding otjlccr replied that the
gendarmes were there by order of the
governor. Amid a scene of great ex-
fitenienl nnd confusion , Mr. Potrunko-
vltch rose to present the/ address to the
rown. wnlch hud been almost unani-
uously adopted by the delegates at the
n formal session of the previous da.\ .
The presiding officer refused to allow it
0 be read or considered , and when Mr.
etrunkeviteh persisted in his utumpt
o obtain formal action upon it , the
mirilml peremptorily declared the sis-
sion of the assembly closed .a ml the li'ill
vns cleared by the geiuhn'mes. The
lelegates , however , prepared copies of
their address , and sent them to all the
/.eni'-tvo' . of the empire , and ninny olhi r
issemblies eight or tin. if I
etnember rightly followed the
example set by the yem&lvos of
'hernigof and KhurkolT. and
Irawing up memorials , smd trying to
ret them acted upon. Their oflorts ,
iowe\er. were rendered fruitless by
ninisteriul prohibitions onfomd by
rendarnics. sindon the 1 llh of April ,
87 ! ) , this form of agitation was slopped
> y the attempt of SoliviolT to a asinalo
ho c/.ar. Another spasm of alarm , re-
iction and repression followed ; martial
aw was declared throughout the greater
> art of Kuropesin Russia , nndixecu-
ions , arrests and the indiscriminate
exile of all persons who dared to re-
nonstrale or protest , silenced once
nore the voice of the lUtssian people.
Mr. Potrunkevitch smd other members
> f the provincial assemblies of Chernigof
mil Klmrkoff were arrested and ban-
shcd by administrtivo process1 , and , to
tdopt the language of the olltcinl re-
> orts , "order was re-established in the
lisutleotod provinces. "
Thus ended another attempt of the
Jussinn liberals to put a stop to violence
mil bloodshed , imd to obtain for the
icoplo of the empire by pi a "cable
ncthods the reforms whicli the whole
n-otesting class demanded. Of the
eaders in this temperate , courageous ,
latriotic movement only two sire now-
lying ; one of them is in exile and the
other is insane.
( To be continual next
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1
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SHEPABD HOMANS , President.
C/i///ifccu Years Actuary of'tlic Mutual Lift : Jtisnniiica L'o , , of Xew York. )
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E. B. HALL General '
. . , Agent ,
12 Arlington Block , Onialm ,
A few good agents wanted for city nud country work ,
