The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-05-23
NAY %, 1873. ]
1nisfcllanf0us.
A Russian State Trial.

yaung woman, Vera Sassulitch,
,bo shot the Project of st. Peters
lurc in order to direct public at
n%.ntion to the abuses of the politi-
,,f police, is likely to have serious
sequences. The Government is
not disposed to accept its defeat;
rlc public prosecutor has appealed
from the verdict of the jury: the
police, onl3 prevented by the inter-
Ference of the populace from ar
resting the girl as soon rs she left
the court room, is now in hot pur-
suit Of her; and it is reported at
II. Petersburg that the experiment
Of trial by jury IN political cases
viii hereafter be abandoned. Rus
sia is not q power which regards
popular demonstrations Of any kind
with much leniency, and we may
take it for granted that the extra
ordinary results of this prosecution
vii provoke reactlonary measures
Of some severity. Certainly when
an assassin who confesses in open
court that she shot a project, is ac-
Quilted by "a jury selected from the
middle classes, and Immediately
adopted as a popular heroine, soci-
ely is, presumable, in a dangerous
condition.
The feeling III regard to Vera
Sassulitch may be partly accounted
for by compassion for the woman
herself, subjected, as she had been,
to nine years of police persecution
and almost continual illegal i'm
pr.sonment. But the fact never
thcless remains that dlsaffection
toward the Government is wide
spread and deep in the lower and
middle ranks, and it is not sur
prising to hear that the imperial
court looks upon the situation with
unconcealed anxiety. The riotous
and often rcbcllious manifestations
Of which the telegraph has lately
brought us so many accounts, are
plainly the symptoms of a general
disorder. They point to a great
change in the constitution of Rus
san society-a change which can
not be averted and cannot be long
deferred. Whether it is to come
by the peaceful development of in
complete reforms, or by the vio-
lence of instruction, is possibly
one of the great problems of Euro
pcan politics. But nobody imag-
mes that Russia, us she 10 stands,
offers much hope of national pro
gress or national stability. She is
a great military power; as yet she
lacks the elements of a great nation.
The whole empire is said to be
undermined by a Nihillst conspi-
racy. The strength of secret or
CARNATIONS is generally exaggerated
by popular report, and the Nihilists
are, perhaps, not SO numerous as
they are supposed to be. But the
recent wholesale trials leave no
room to doubt that the revolution
AIRY virus has penetrated all the
members of the body polite, and
it really seems to be the only Wig
orous thing in the empire, except
the police. A Nihilist may be de-
scribed as a man who believes IN
nothing, and is satisfied with moth
ing. Fifteen years ago, when Tour
gueneff's novel Fathers and Sons"
brought the new atheistic philoso-
ply to the notice of the world,
AIhilism was a social phenomenon;
to-day it has become a political
force. The "sons," who learned
in their youth incredulity, com
munism, free-love and other things
disguised under the name of en-
h%ghtenment, have now become the
fathers" of a heartless and i'm
moral community, which aims at
the destruction of all States, all
religions. all subordinatlon, and
the establishment of chaos as the
prelude to making everything over
anew. There is nothing in this
programme which has not been put
forth IN the schemes of other secret
associations. The same doctrines
have been taught more or less
openly IN every part of Europe,
and even in our own country. But
IN all other lands there has been a
Nrtuous and conservative agency,
upon which a good government
could rely, and in Russia there is
none.
The National literature is strong
" infected with Nihilism. 1t is
rampant IN the higher schools and
professional academies. 1t has adj
herents among the nobility, espe-
cally the thousands of mobiles who
nave suffered in their fortunes by
me emancipation of the serfs. How
lar Ii has made nromresS among the