New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-08-11

this movement were inc Samo aS tiooo
now on trial for conspiracy. The master
shirt of these, student named Serge
N6tchoiew. was arrested, and afterwards escaped
IN Switzerland, where it is asserted, he be-
came affiliated with tho Internationalo. lie
soon returned, however, to Moscow, and then,
"a the Government indictment runs, he organ
izod secret society, under the namo Oh tne
Justico of tho People or The Axe, with ramih-
cations in St. Petersburg and other cities,
ootbs funds, ciphcrs, and bylaws, ana
other rubbish of organization. But wnat
bo really did was remarkable enough. In
that country, whero well-nigh all the in
toIlrepce of the community is in tho service
of tho Government and where even mdlscre-
tion is punished by death or worse, he sue
ccedeo i'm attaching TO himself, by the mere
mower of his will and character, little club
of students lawyers, and citizens who 0beyed
him implicitly, and feared him moro than tne
law. One of them now confesses that he
made false reports of his daily latJor for tho
society, and paid out of his own pocket the
subscriptions he had pretended 30 gather
among his acquaintance Every line he wrote
WAS n nail in his coffin, and yet he dared not
meet this young Marat with empty hands.
N6tchaiew gained over several women of fortune
such an ascendency that they gave him money,
and one of them set up printing Office
to print the proclamations of tho new
political dispensatiOn. This is the sort
of trash they printed; Wo have
"but one plan, negative and Interchangeable,
"of pitiless destruction. We will not kill the
"Czar unless compelled to it, We re-
"scrvc him for cruel and solemn punish
"ment before oil the enfranchised people on
the ruins of the State. For the present, we
"will limit ourselves to the destruction of his
"mOnsters in uniforms stained with the blood
"of the people," etc. They seem all to have
been occupied in dccciving each other. Even
tho indofatigable young chief, whose sincerity
is, on the whole, beyond question, worked
night and day upon imaginary correspondence
to convince the others of tho extent of his
connections He would come one day into
their meetings in full uniform, saying he had
just come from session of the Central Com
mittec, where every one was in 0rdnde tenue.
At another time, with n look Of horror, he
would inform them of the arrest OF several
hundred of the brethren of st. Petersburg.
| lie would fly from the old to the new capital
and back again, persuading bis score of fol-
lowers in the one place that he lad an army
ready in the other
All this activity and assumption of authority
seems finally to have reacted upon himself.
lie assumed the authority of n revolutionary
leader, and it was so readily recognized by
the weaker minds about him, that he seemed
to end by thinking it belonged TO him. The
farce soon deepened into tragedy. One OF his
acolytes, student named Ivanow, at one time
disobeyed an order of his. He promptly
sentenced him to death, and ordered two OF
three of his comrades to execute the sentence
They were struck with horror, and ventured
to demonstrate, but word from the savage
young mOnomaniac senccd them instantly
They invited the unfortunate lvanow to 9
rendezvous and murdered him in cold blood
This is the only incident which adds the dig
nifty Of crime to the unhappy comedy of tic
conspiracy. They would have suffered death
without this, but their sentence will be partly
justified in the eyes Of the world by this cruel
folly. Immediately after this crime the arrests
took place. The nets of the Imperial police
caught all the smaller flies, but NGtchaiew, the
head and front of the sedition, burst through
and escaped, and is still at large.
In all they did there was not the slightest
danger to the Empire. They amused them
selves with the same complicated machinery
of centers and circles, and denunciatory adj
dresses, which make Fcnianism so impotent
and so contemplate. They were too busily
employed in swindliDg and fighting each other
ever to do anything against the Government.
| Such cOnspiracies are the necessary effect of a
despotism which strangles all honest and
wholesome human aspiration but they also
prove by their own folly that the despOtsm
is as as yet too strong for any revolution. 1t
is only when the scditiOus movement leaves
the darkness and begins to act in open day,
that it becomes effective and formidable.