The Sun.
London, England, 1870-03-31 00:00:00

THE SOCIALISTS IN RUSSIA.

An accurate description of the Socialist conspiracy in
Russia is given in one of the Russian papers. The
curious society which has attracted so much attention of
late was first established by the student Karakozoff, who
fired at the Emperor Alexander in St. Petersburg, in
April, 1866. Its members are hence called Karakozofft-
chgki. Karakozoff at first beionged to a similar society
known as that of . Ishutyn, a young man who spent
the whole of his fortune of £6,000 in orga-
nising a revolution against the Government, and was
ultimately captured and executed by the police. The
active members of the conspiracy profess the socialist
doctrines of Herzen, and especially of Bakounin. " Our
motto," they say in their proclamations, " is hatred of all
who are not peasants and do not belong to the
people. .. .
either of morality or of honour towards anyone
else To be scrupulous about the
means of obtaining our objects is mere weak-
ness and folly. Qui rent la fin, rent les
inoyens." The revolutionary committee describes
its plan of action as follows We should begin with
the military commanders, the rich, and the journalists.
. . . The first should simply be put to death without
ceremony ; the second deprived of their wealth ; and the
third silenced." Next comes a list of the names of men
who have been sentenced to death by the committee.
Among these are General Alderbeg, General Trepoff,
Count Schouvaloff, and M. Katkoff (editor of the
Moscow Gazette). As for the Emperor and his family,
their lives are to be spared, but only for a time. "We
will keep the Czar alive until the day when the liberated
peasants shall immolate him on the ruins of the Russian
State." The " organic statutes "of the society are based
to some extent on the writings of John Stuart Mill and
other philosophers, but contain many original notions
peculiar to the Russian socialists. Thus there are to be
no individual or domestic rights; all property and
political action is to be vested in the community
The nation is to be divided into co-operative unions under
the direction of elected superintendents. Every individual
is to be employed in manual labour, and only to be allowed
to exercise his mind during his hours of leisure. Marriage
is to be abolished, and children are to be supported and
educated at the expense of the union. These " organic
statutes " are contained in two numbers of the secret organ
of the committee, entitled " Izdania Obshchestva Narodnoy
Razpravy "(Publications of the Society of Popular Justice).
One of the members of the conspiracy, a Government
official named Lopatin, has been arrested at Stavropol,
the capital of one of the Caucasian provinces. He.did not
remain in prison long, however, for his accomplices
enabled him to escape. Some days after the provincial
treasury chest, containing 160,000 roubles (225,000), was
stolen, and this theft is universally attributed at Stavro-
pol to Lopatin and his band. The sect of the Skoptzi
(mutilated) is giving much trouble just now.

TIIE GOVERNMENT TRAMWAYS BILL.
1. WEDNESDAY.

The Select Committee on this bill resumed their sittings
this morning—Mr. Lefevre in the chair.
Mr. Denison, Q.C., was heard on behalf of the Lanca-
shire colliery owners. The learned counsel said that the
object which those who instructed him had in view was
to prevent those tramways falling into private hands. The
colliery owners wished a general scheme to be settled,
but they regarded the whole thing at pre-
sent as experimental. They proposed that the
local authorities should make bye-laws regulating
the light and heavy traffic, and the nature of the rails was
to prevent common cart wheels getting into them,. and in-
juring both the rail and the wheel,and more especially the
making of regulations so a' to prevent long lines of coal
trucks getting in the way of the light traffic. The colliery
owners were quite prepared to assent to a clause which
would make it incumbent on them to run
their coal trucks at a given time which was not
to interfere with the ordinary traffic. What they
were most anxious to prevent was either town coun-
cils, local boards, or private speculators, from ocquiring a
monopoly in thAramways.—The Chairman said the con-
cession would terminate in thirty years, irrespective of
any debt created.—Sir Joseph Heron, the town clerk of
Manchester, said that the debt would be extinguished
in two years, or additional security given.—
Mr. Denison said that what they were afraid
of was this, that the local speculators would
make arrangements whereby they would sell their under-
taking to others who would make the tramways, com-
peting with those of the coal owners, and run alongside
of them at a ruinous loss, because it would divert from
them all their light traffic. The case was altogether dif.
ferent to those of canals and railways, because they formed
a new mode of transit, while in the case of tramways the
promoters actually took off a portion of road already con-
structed, and which belonged to one person as much as to
another. The question of tolls was a very serious one,
because, unless it was subject to constant revision, it
would turn out most oppressive to the traders, and realise
an inordinate profit to the promoters of the tramways.
Mr. Round, who appeared for the gas and water com-
ranies, next addressed the committee on their behalf, and
stated that the provisions inserted in the 20th down to the
25th clauses, which were agreed on last year, had not been
found sufficient. The gas and water companies asked the
promoters of the bill to give them a plan of their works,
whether they proposed to alter them or not. They might
in some way affect them without actually touching them.
Mr. Shrubsole, parliamentary agent, next appeared for
the Trustees of turnpike roads over which the tramways
proposed to run, and stated that the trustees were content
with the principle of the bill as it stood, but would
object to it if it was varied. They proposed
an amendment to the effect that there should be power to
make a condition prior to giving their consent that the
tramway promoters should recoup them for any amount
they might lose from the ordinary tolls, also for injury to
roads in consequence of the works.
Sir J. Heron, Town Clerk of Manchester, said that
he did not think it would be possible to work the general
goods traffic by means of the tramways, and with that
view they proposed an amendment to the effect that the
promoters should not carry parcels of a greater weight
than 281bs. other than passengers personal luggage, the
effect of which would be to confine the tramways to omnibus
traffic entirely. That amendment was only proposed by the
corporations of Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and
Leeds. They also proposed that the tolls paid by the
licensee should be left open and settled by the Board of
Trade, and that in the event of a tramway being subse-
quently purchased by the corporation, it should be ac-
quired at the actual value of the existing works without
any allowance being made for good will, compulsory sale,
&c.
The committee adjourned at four o'clock.

TOHN GOSNELL and CO.'S CHERRY'
TOOTH PASTE is greatly superior to any tooth powder;
gives the teeth a pearl whitene3s protects the eramel from decay,
and imparts a pleasant fragrance to the breath. Price Is. 6d.—
Red Bull Wharf, 93, Upper Thames-street, London.