The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1878-05-02
NIHILIsM.

was first introduced some fifteen years Ago
by the celebrated novelist Tourgueneff. in
his Fathers and Sons" Catching the
spirit of the young generation as opposed
to the old, he painted in his hero, the stu
dent Bazarof, an impcrsonation of all that
the radical, socialistic, and revolutionary
ideas Of eastern Europe had bred in Russia
since 1s4S. Bazarof repudiated everything
society, law, religion, marriage and he
questioned even the principles of the
sciences, except of the positive ones. like
astronomy, mathematics and chemistry.
He believed in nothing-Nihil-whcncc
the word Nihilist. Had Bazarof and his
followers been logical, they ought to have
disbeleved in themselves and their theories
too. But this did not strike their minds as
ancccssary consequence of their philosophy.
In the person of Bazarotf, TOurguenetf
gave shape and consistency to the vague
and diffusc ideas which then prevailed in
the heads of many Russian young men.
He made solid thing of loose one, and
in so far, though himself a fierce opponent
Of Nihilism, he practically became its
author The cheap and noisy radicals and
communists now had written code. They
begun to think, speak, act, and even dress
like Bazarof Long hair, long, dirty nails,
untidiness in costume, and gruff language
became the highest fashion among the
majority of Russian students. Saint Simon
and Fourier, who, after 1S4S, had been the
high priests of Russian liberalism. were
now declared miserable retrogades, for they
had religion, while true radicalism should
have none. Socialism, which at all times
and in all its forms had protessed some sort
of theology, or at least of theosophy, was
thus transformed into the most primitive,
brutal description of communism. The
widest communists of Paris aimed only at
a revolution in the system of government
and in the rights Of property, while the
Nihilists aim at the overthrow of the whole
social fabric They propose to make
clean sweep of everything, and build up a
new community, free from all the trammels
of existing laws, manners, habits and
ideas. As a matter of course, all means
are right with such retormers, and a short
Reign of Terror is considered as an inevi-
table preamble to the great reform.
The importance Of this movement in
Russia has been greatly exaggerated. The
Nihlists are troublesome, but not danger
Gus. They have no regular organization
except kind of utilization after the Car
bonari style. Their ranks are composed of
young men and women, mainly of the lower
middle classes. University and seminary
OF 81 int hn La az, al.
ment. There is hardly person over %
years of age to be found among them, for
even the most enthusiastic radical has to
give up this sort Of business after few
years experience. The intestine quarrcls
of the party, the evident unproductveness
of the work, and the constant danger of
Punishment to Siberia are sufficient to tire
the most sanguinc of these theorists
II is the fault of the Cars Government
that Nhilism has attained its present pro.
portions. Had it been from the start met
with ridiculc instead Of with severity, it
would never had made any progress at all.
A hose and head of water. applied to the
public gatherings in which the Nihilists
occasionally indulge, would have done
much more useful work than the police
mems rcvolvers. The seriousness with which
they have been treated has given them the
chance Of having heroes and martyrs, upon
the memory of whom they live, thrive and
1t is not Of the noisy and silly
Nihilists that the Cars government should
have been apprehensiye, but of the more
quiet republicans and socialists, who both
in Russia and Germany make steady and
rapid progress, who do not 90 for a general
smash, but watch events, study them, and
turn them invariably TO the advantage Of
their party. They are to he found in the
legislature, in the army and navy. in the
civil service in all the learned institutions,
as well as in the humblcst workshop. These
are the men who hold the future Of both
Russia and Germany in their hands. Bis
marck has always understood this, and has
created conference.-the German empire
mainly for the sake Of preventing their
making a fcdcrative German republic. But
the Russian statesmen have. it seems. not
sense enough to see the real danger. They
shoot in the streets and exile to Siberia pal
try conspirators, Of whom none has either
intellectual or material means Of doing
harm while really formidable opposition
is left to grow and develop itself without
the slightest attempt being made either to
lull it or to compromise with it.
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4 LADY'S ADVENTURES IN INDIA.