The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-02-19
SILENCE OR DEATH.
Massacre in the Palace Yard
Of the Czarevitch.
PETITIONERS COLDLY BUTCHERED.
Statement Of the Unhappy Parents Of MUIR
dered and Transported Children. 10

tionary troubles among the Russian students Some
universities and many high schools were closed and
the of the Gar did its utmost to repress
occasional manifestations with the greatest rgor and
violence The parents of these students have
acutely felt the terrible prosecutions, Imprisonment
and even murders to which their children have been
subjected The Russian press being gagged. and in
order to present faithful account of the terrible
suerings their and daughters to the civilized
world, the document printed below was drawn up by
secret committee of the parents in st. Petersburg
and brought to the United States by trustworthy
agent 1t has been placed in hands for publica-
ton by o gentleman connected with the Russian
revolutionary movement and who for prudent rea-
sons is obliged to have his name suppressed For
the same reason this deeply interesting document Is
signed simply 1.-THE Parents Of the Unfortunate Stu
DENTS Residents Of st. Petersburg" and who, If
their names were affixed, would have to suffer for
their temerity in daring the Russian autocrats ter
rible power amid the horrors of Siberia. The APP
peal pathetic In its simplicity, speaks for ITSELF We
have endeavored far possible to preserve the
original qusintness Of the composition in the trans
lation:-
STRONG APPEAL.
81. PETERSBURG, Jan. 20, 1879.
The entire civilized world has been informed BY
telegraph of petition presented by the students of
the several high schools of st. Petersburg to the
Czarevitch, well of the serious troubles which
ensued and of the shameful treatment to which the
authors of this petition have been subjected by the
st. Petersburg police authorities. But short tele-
public. Free Speech is denied to us in our own
country. spirit of reaction and brutal despotism
prevails throughout all Europe which gives us but
little hope of exciting public sympathy for our cause
ON continent. We, the parents of those unhappy
young men, tortured and butchered by the agents of
Q barbarous and INSCRIPTIONS government. have
therefore resolved 10 address this appeal to the
great American nation. in the fond hope
in that happy land Of freedom. VIM BY copying the
present document give to the facts exposed therein
the widest possible circulation Early in the begin,
ding of 1873 the Minister OF State, Valooev proposed
in the Imperial High Council to limit the admission
the children Of the poor in colleges devoted to the
accepted by His Imperial Majesty In consequence
the presidents of the chronological. agricultural,
mining engneering and other colleges were secretly
much as possible the admission of new students in
their respective colleges but mainly to hinder the
entrance of poor Students and even to refuse them
admission altogether. This measure undertaken
by the government the ground that there are to-
day in Russia many learned and Intelligent men who
cipal of all revolutionary ideas in the Empire:
No objection was raised to this order on the part OF
the college authorities.
NO EDUCATION FOB THE room.
The will of His Imperial Majesty was strictly ex-
made as matter of form. and almost all poor candi
dates rejected II will be naturally understood
srs inanant and oended At Of this
character. simultaneously the government enforced
many new. very repressive and obnoxious measures
against students throughout Russia Their tendency
was similar to those lately inaugurated by the Ger
man government. and under the same pretcxt-that
OF crushing out socialism, to eradicate az possible
opposition to the government His Imperial Majesty
has his own private police and gendarmerie, COM
monty known as the Third section; inns, the
more power and more dreaded than His Majesty
himself In order to overwhelm the powerful stream
of the anti despotic socaed revolutionary ideas.
the officers and agents of the Third Section al
lowed by His Imperial Majesty to act at their own
pleasure among the 81 900 inhabitants of the vast
i,ussian Empire The Third Section has become tho
supreme master of the Empire and the most cruel
tyrant of His Imperial Majesty s unfortunate sub
jccts. There are. therefore. in Russia ut the
present moment as many autocrats as there
are members of the Third Section and of
the gendarmerie. After having received orders
from His Imperial Majesty 10 eradicate all revolu-
tionary ideas well the revolutionists them
selves the Third Section found itself placed in an
embarrassing position, because few know who or
where the revolutionists are. The Third Section.
therefore, decided to act ut random and by every
seminstors.
RANDOM ARRESTS.
The agents of the Third Section being powerfully
aided by the military force and the civil authorities.
began by first suspecting and then arresting every
body they chose. Without legal process Judicial
transported to Siberia. with hard labor in His I'm
perial Majesty's private gold and silver mines.
fmprsoned, Disappeared altogether None can tell
where they are, what has become Of them The
parents and relatives of many who had thus disap,
Section respecting their lost friends. Instead OF
answering them. the agents Of the Third Sec
themselves with Imprisonment on account of
their sympathy With those guilty of high
treason and for having the amdscty to wish to pen
government were mainly directed against the youth
IN the superior schools The students have been re-
garded rs actual, yet undetectcd criminals. They
have been suspected of socialism. communism,
nihilism and revolutionary ideas-in fact, of all
possible isIns. For these supposed crimes. which
al mi v in m a Are
Third Section, they were subjected to outrageous
trcatment-rathcr worse even, than actual political
offenders, who generally very badly treated
among His Imperial Majesty's very obedient sub
jects The character of these prosecutions is
obvious from the trial Of Vera Sassoolitch, who
shot General Trepov and who was found not guilty.
Even one OF timid urfes did this on account OF
the outrages and violence enacted upon her and
Imperial Majesty. after tho assassination of the
head of the Third Section. gave to General Mcsenzow
an ukase In which instructions were given to have
no mercy extended to criminals, to augment tho
police force to locate the Cosssck cavalry on every
street. TO increase the number OF members OIL me
Third Section and gendarmerle anu TO augment all
activity for the detection OF the revoutiohists Inc
will of His Majesty was executed Every street In
nil large cities were filed with well armeu Cossarks'
gendarmes and police
sEvRs HUNDRED CONVICTIONS A MONTH.
The detectives (inoucharls OF tho Third Section
became more insulting aud overbearing than ever.
The number OF those arrested and transporter ihto
Siberia without legal trial. ~ Is usually inc me,hou
OF the Russian government, was Increased 20 auoue
seven hundred persons monthly. The greater por.
ton of the youth then being educated were rejected
from their respective schools The college and school
authorities found themselves utterly powerless 10
protect the students. and even the professors were
suspected by the government on account OK theN
learning and scientific capacity. Having no protec-
ton from any quarter. and finding themselves perso.
cucd and most unjusty treated the students decided
to defcnd themselves against the outragcs of the agents
OF the Third Section md of tho government itself.
This self-defcnco commenced at the University OF
kiev. the capital OF Ookrina t'.smali Russia Some
OF the students of the University had disappcared
suddenly Others had been arrested AID iniyrisoned
on the suspicion OF being guilty of of the many
''isins." The boarding houses OF great many more
were searched during their absence by the gondar
merle, The students assembled and decided to see
the Attorney General or Procurcur, in order TO ask
explanations from him concerning tho disappearance
by what legal authority gendsrmcs allowed to
enter thcr rooms anu examine their property In
stead of answering their requests, the Procureur adj
vlscd them to leave him and to ask further ques-
lions of the authorities. which he said they had
right whatever 10. They then pettioncd the Rec
tor OF the University Professor Mattveycn upon the
same subject He also declined to answer them adj
IN m I'm nj