, 1875-10-30

and since there must have been a state
ment of the case for the Crown-a state
ment which, like all the other details of
the trial, has been carefully suppressed by
the authorities-it is at least antecedently
possible that the version published by the
Socialists, or Nihilists, and which has
made its way to our contemporary, is
the very report laid by M. Zycharef be-
fore the St. Petersburg Court. The in
trlnslc evidence is besides SO strong, that
there seems to be little risk in accepting
the document for what it purports to be-
namely, a painstaking and confidential
statement, from the Government point of
view, OF the scope, object, and means OF
the revolutionary Socialism or Nihilism
which for many years back has engaged
the notice Of che Russian police, and
which now has developed to an extent
Of the Government. Ia this aspect, the
attempt to build up an entirely new social
and political edifce out of the Traditional
communism of Russia is something very
curious, and might easily be very inn
pOrtant.
So far as the alleged report of M. Zy-
chareff goes, the first object Of the Nihi-
list leaders is to secure the cooperation
of the young men, and indeed the young
women, Of the more intelligent classes, as
Intermediates between the heads of the
movement and The masses of the nation.
Young Russia is to play, with certain
adaptations, the part Of Young Italy and
Of Young Ireland. The voice and pen OF
'the intellectual proletariat" are to pre-
pare the way for the, use Of the swords
AMI muskets of q popular Instruction.
Naturally the Crown Prosecutor is pro-
foundry indignant at this ncver-to-be sufi-
cientIy-execrated peryersiOn Of the mex
p%erienca ardour of the rising generation.
.T~olstoy, in his circular of June last,
published in the official journals, bears the
most emphatic testimony to the existence
of cause for serious anxiety in the pre-
valling disposition of a large section Of the
Russian youth. 'It has been proved"
he writes to the subordinate heads Of the
Education Department throughout tho
Empire, " that the RevoIutionists have
determined to convert into a tool of thrir
infamous propaganda that which is the
special object Of the care and protection
OF every honorable man, namely, Youth
and the School," 1t is not this, however,
which raises the Minister Of Education to
the full pitch of indignation. He gives us
to understand that he expected no better
from Communists and Socialists ''What
is deplorable," he continues, sis, that
these children and youths, instead Of find
ing in their families and in their surround
ings any check or resistance to revolution
airy indictments and anarchical ~fancies,
sometimes, on the contrary, find encourage
ment and support. Only through this, is
it to be explained that Socialist theories,
which have been long since condemned by
sound science, have been able to dissent
nate themselves through thirty-seven
Governments" In fact, Count Tolstoy
declares that the children grow up to be
such bad subjects and dangerous citizens
only because the parents are already little
better, and he appends the just reflection.
"This shows how superficial and, l will
say it, how ignorant a certain portion of
our society is"
On turning to the recently published
report ascribed to M. Zycharef, we fad
very much the same statements, only more
in detail. Like the Minister of Education,
the Crown Prosecutor d~enounces the So
cialist revolutionarias who are endeavOur.