The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-05-12
will be augmented, violence or murder by
them prevented and any thought OF rebel
lion against England wholly precluded.
THE CHARLOTTE CORDAY OF RUSSIA

sian girl who shot Gen. Trepofr, the project OF
police Of st. Petersburg avowedly for the
purpose Of attracting attention to the abuses
Of the system OF political police that Is main
tanned under imperial auspices. For nine
| years It seems this woman has been the OBJ
ject of political persecution, aud the greater
portion Of this time she has spent In prison.
This circumstance, together with the bitter
ness the government has provoked by the
numerous recent political prosecutions, es-
pecialIy Of young women, has aroused In her
behalf an Intense popular sympathy and pro
voked from the entire press a violent dehup-
citation of the government, which, people who
know most Of Russian methods. find hard to
believe any paper would have had the hardi-
hood TO indulge In In that country.
All the circumstances connected with this
trial indicate deep-seated and universal dis
content pervading all classes OF Russian SO
ciety, and, occurring Mt this time. when the
government s SO lily prepared for internal
dissensions, its manifestation must necessa-
rily make serious impression. Certainly
when an assassin. who confesses IN open
court to having shot high official, is not
only acquitted by jury but s also made a
popular heroine Of society Is In n very dan
gerous mood. The jury that acquitted Vera
Sassutch was composed of nine government
officials, one nobeman, one artist and one hon
orary citizen Of st Petersburg. The audience
which wasitsef selected with great care by the
president Of the court who issued non -trans-
| ferrahle tickets of admission to the proceed
| ngs, broke out in tumutuous applause when
the verdict WAS rendered immediately upon
! leaving the court, after her acguittal, the po-
| lice attempted to rearrest the woman, but she
was rescued by the populace and succeeded
I In making her escape. These facts seem to
Indicate that her acauittal and the demon
strations following IL were due to n general
feeling Of discomfort which, now that 1t has
| found expression. must necessarily assume
formidable proportions unless something Is
done TO allay 1t. The removal of Gen. IRE
| pofT from his Office Ia evidence Of n disposi-
ton on the part Of the government to make
some concession to public opinion, as he Ia
the personal friend Of the Emperor and has
been for Years the complete master of the
Russian capital. The government has, how
ever appealed from the verdict of acguit-
tai of Vera Sassulitch, and the police
are now In hot pursuit of her. After her trial
she ,nysterlously disappeared, and IL was
supposed that the police had succeeded In re-
arreating her, and that she was hidden away
in some secret prison. But recently a letter
has been published over her name In the Rus
sjan papers. In which she describes the attempt
TO arrest her and her escape. and says that
she was prepared to undergo without a MIR
muir the verdict of the tribunal, but she could
not resign herself to again enduring the end
less prosecutions instituted by tho govern
ment She has therefore, been compelled to
conceal herself until the day when she will no
longer incur the risk Of being once more ar
rested
The profound disturbance resulting from
this trial can best be shown by tho following
extracts from tho leading Russian journals.
published In the World.
Raasku MIR (the Russian World. conser-
vatIve paper, discusses the ease as follows:
at Ia now evident that personal liberty and
security are but an empty word in our coun-
try; all the rules of civilized criminal pro-
endnra. Instituted by the law Of 1904 are par
alyaed by the power of police. working in
the dark, whose disgusting mysteries have
been atrikingly illustrated by the Sassulitch
case The prisoners acquittal and the sym
pathv shown to her by all classes Of our soci-
ment. The despotism and corruption of our
administrative system pollute our national
honor, now more than ever, while we are pre-
tending to act as 'libcrators abroad. How
long shall we still have to bear with this
shamew
Tho Golos dhe most influential paper In
st. Petersburgl closes n long article on the
same subject with the words: eve have got
laws, Judges and courts-but all this Is but "A
mockery; the laws are not executed; tho
judges are powerless before tho secret police:
we have no rights, no personal liberty. What
Ia our nation waiting for Why does not the
press speak out boldly in tho very face of the
eensors, the Minister of the Police and all his
agentsp
The Novoie Vrc,nia (the New Tme) a Rad
ical organ, s still more violent. They wanted
TO send that poor young girl to Sibeliar' this
swered by her aoquittal, which has been
gladly greeted throug hout the whole country.
That acquittal is q terrible warning for the
government. III things do not change, the
time will soon come when that same cry-'To |
Siberia will be raised against those men |
who have so long robbed and dishonored our
peopleW
1t appears incredible that such utterances
as these could have been possible in Russia,
and that the press has dared to publish them
is proof that her people are far on the way to-
wards great social and political revolution.
These publications were followed by all
Kinds Of repressive measures, but the sever- |
ties of the government have only served to
make the press still more violent in its denun-
Citations. In all OF this, and indeed in any
step the people of Russia may make in the
direction Of constitutional liberty, they will |
have the sympathy Of the entire civilized |
world. whatever differences Of opinion and
feeling may exist in relation to the struggles
their country may be involved In with other
nations.
The promised soclalistic troubles Of this |