Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-06-08


means that the Nihilist, the scape-
goat of every political crime for the
last forty years in Russia, is the
representative of that increasing
body which threatens barbarian au-
tOcracy with overthrow, and de-
mands constitutional rights and
order in its stead.
THE TOCRATIC SYSTEM ON TRIAL.
The decision of the St Petersburg
jury was not upon the trial of Wyera
She represented to
them an idea, the idea of civil and
political liberty, and the trial was
between this idea and the Russian
The condemned is
the imperial autOeracy the acquit-
ted is public opinion. That is why
Wyera Sassulitsch was acquitted
that is why the address of her attOr-
ney was interrupted by applause
from the spectators that is why
nearly every eye was wet, not only
among the spectators but on the
jury bench, when her attorney de-
picted in so mastery way the suf-
ferings and privatiOns which Rus
sian prisoners must endure; when
he told how Voguljubou was
whipped in his cell; how the pris-
oner at the bar as a young girl, was
repeatedly placed before the court
and each time acquitted, yet never
given her freedom, but transported
from place to place under police
escort how others, aged and young,
have been torn from their homes
for no known cause, and sent God
knows whittier to pass their days in
misery. That is why the multitude
were assembled before the Court
House door, and why the verdict
was greeted with wild hurrahS.
The excitement in st. Petersburg
and elsewhere shows clearly that
there is need of emancipation in
Russia, that the Christians need
freeing there. Itshows clearly that
Nihilism (if we must so term the
struggle for liberiy, the need of ma
tiOnal emancipation has permeated
every stratum of Russian society
from the Arctic to the Black Sea.
1t is the necessary reaction against
despOtism, the natural and just re-
suit of a system of barbarOus wrong
such as no other European Govern
ment ever exercised upon its citi-
zens in the period of its darkest his
tory. A political tumult in st.
Petersburg, Warsaw, Moscow, Lem
berg and other places in one week,
the circulation of revolutionary
literature over theempire, the detec
ton of many secret societies, the
revolt of the students in many
places, and the trial of Wyera Sas-
sulitsch may well make the Gar
trembIe. The handwriting is on
the wall. 1t is said that five times
the usual quantity of revolutionary
literature has been struggled in
during the last few months. Tie
absence of the military, the absorb
ton Of the Government in diplO-
macy and conquest, and the cOnse-
quent excitement, are favorable,
and we see the result.
OPPRESSION IN RUSSIA.
In conclusion, one may ask, have
Russians no courts where their
rights are judicially tried and adj
judged? Yes, there are courts,
juries, encouragement, etc, as in
other European States, but under all
the liberal creations of Alexander
II. Russian despOtism still remains,
as it was his intention that it should.
The imperial chancery still retains
nearly all the powers it had before
the reforms, and the third section
thereof, the secret police, remains
intact. They have the same unlim-
| tied and uncontrolled power over
all the institutions Of the land as
ever. The decisions of judges and
verdicts of juries do not trouble
them if they conflict with the adj
ministration, for many persons who
have been acquitted have been
| transported to Siberia. But this
secret force has no longer the terrOrs
| it had under Nicholas, for they have
been found human, too, in several
conflicts. Hence the extraordinary
increase and progress of secret socie-
! ties, revolutionary projects and pO-
| litical crimes. Hence Russian SOci-
ETY. applauded Wyera Sassulitsch.
! Even the Berlin Post, a journal very
! friendly to Russia, feels obliged to
say: "The Russian administration
appears to be hit, as well by the
verdict and the tone Of the press, as
the revolutionary scenes which fol-
| lowed"
The Russian people demand
emancipation. Their wrongs and
expressions are fifty fold greater
than those of our fOrefathers, and as
great as those of the Bulgarians and
Roumelians. God speed the day
when the Gar must yield the scep-
tire of autOcratic power and rule by
constitutional right, or step down
! and out forever. PHONE.
Mr.. S. d. POWER, editor of the
] IL, ~, Enrn,,t - Dlnir,Lnn Lon. IN L.