Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-06-13
Russis's Military Rule.

| hunblh AhlllgoAl 0ulbs
A letter from st. Petersburg is pub-
hshed- which saws. " The statements
published abroad concerning the situa-
tion are exaggerated, because the CEN
sorship of kilograms and the tampering
with letters are bar to any efficient
service by the special correspondents
of foreign papers. Consequently re-
ports which circulate from mouth to
mouth and pass the frontier in a dis
torted and exaggerated shape are
printed by the German newspapers as
true picture of the condition of Russia,
and from Germany they are circulated
over Europe.
1.-THE Russians, however, are them
selves the fabricators of these false
hoods. At all times, and more especial
ly now, should the stories which enter
tain Russian society be accepted with
| great reserve, and with all considera-
ton for the inordinate Imagination of a
talkative public, precluded from cccu-
pying itself with the more serious
things of life. Now that the regime of
military law has got into something
like working order, it may be possible
to give some idea of the aspect which
things really wear under this tempor-
airy system. So much exaggeration
entered into the first accounts that there
are many people who, not finding them
selves arrested, as they expected, begin
to look upon things here as all cOuleur
de rose, and there is danger that the
foreign public may now go to the op-
posite extreme, and believe that there
is nothing the matter in Russia after
all.
"There have been many modifica-
tions of and additions to the imperial
ukase of April II, providing for the
maintenance of order. The minor dis
positions and orders to the police are
endless. Little confidence is felt in the
army. The cases of insubordination
and breaches of discipline brought be-
fore courts-martial are numerous. Most
of the police orders concern the
dvornikos,' or house. door porters, who
seem to be the only persons the Govern
ment has any faith in. They number
about 10000, and are selected princi-
pally from the peasant or mechanic
class, and their withdrawal from regu-
lar pursuits renders it difficult to pro-
cure workmen, thus interfering with
trade. The dvornik now holds sway in
every house and street of st. Peters
burg, and of every other large town.
They are all ticketed with the name of
the street and the number of the house
to which they belong, and are being
still further brought into order and eff
ticiency by special commission ap-
pointed for the purpose. There are
vague rumors that many of them have
been talking among themselves of
leaving st. Petersburg in body. At
anyrate there is reason to suppose that
the authorities see the inutility of fore
ing the householders to maintain such
a mass of idle men, and are thinking of
abolishing the system or reducing it to
normal limits, in favor of an increased
police force.
Dealers in gunpowder and firearms
are subjected to great Inconvenience.
know a merchant who has been for
hidden to receive consignment of
powder now on its way here. Very de-
tailed and stringent rules regulate the
private gunpowder factories throughout
Russia. The police offices are full of
arms taken from the inhabitants. 1t
revolvers to each resident of st. Peters
burg. Still, with all the pressure of
military law and the police and the
dyornik regime, with all the opportuni-
ties it gives to extra employees to
make hay while the sun shines, very
large number of the people are not
troubled at all. The strict enforcement
of the passport system in the provinces
has been productive perhaps of more
trouble than anything else, and of no
little distress. Some of the factories
are deprived of half their workmen, and
these workmen of their means of sub
sistence, by being obliged to travel
fifty or sixty versts to the chief town of
their district in order to take out the
necessary passport. Even the women
and children, who formerly were not
obliged to have special passes, are now
compelled to submit to the same rule.
Beside this, we hear of a nocturnal
census of the populations of Perm,
Kharkoff, and Kieff, causing no, doubt,
a great deal of annoyance.
Altogether the living under exclu-
sively military law here is perhaps
worse than it was in Bulgaria during
actual war; but although this state of
things does not sit lightly on many
persons, there are still plenty who can
find it in their hearts to enjoy them
selves and make merry at the opening
of the summer season. 1t is not
reign of terror nor a state of siege. 1t
is only state of military law, where
one-half of the population is set to
watch the other. A state of siege is a
step further, and we have not come to
that yet"