New-York tribune., 1879-05-07
H1RB1RISu AGAINST BARBARLSM.


on the Neva, i'll order that he might look out
and see what was happening on the Continent,
seems to have been barred up. The Imperial
! Council Chamber in the Capital now has an
| Eastern instead of Western exposure.
! The experience of Modern Europe teaches
that kings and dynasties are hedged
! in, but not protected, by repression
and tyranny, and that In periods Of
popular restlessness and discomfort it Is
more prudent to redress the grievances Of
the masses than to subject them to additional
restraints. The Car himself acted upon
this principle during the opening years of his
reign. His Liberalism was attested by
the abolition of serfdom, radical changes
in land tenure, jury acts, and many
other benefcent reforms. Administrative
abuses, it is true, were allowed to remain !
public opinion was not given vent In free
press; the OdiOus police system was re-
tanned; and there was no immunity from
arbitrary arrest. Much was left undone,
and much that was done was only half done;
but even with these reservations no mon
arch ever attempted to do as much for
his subjects as the unfortunate Liber-
ator. who is now afraid to leave his
country palace lest he be shot down like cur.
He ends where his ancestors have begun as
well as ended. He has governed his SUBJ
iects as if they were Europeans, and
has been disappointed with the results
of the great reforms which he intro
duced. He now returns to Asiatic methods.
He has recourse to the brute force of the Mon
gols. What Poland was eighteen years ago
European Russia is to-day. The jails are
crowded; whoever is suspected Is doomed
to the outer darkness Of Siberia every centre
of population is under martial laws every
householder IN the Capital is COM
PEELED to hire spy and to re-
main indoors after nightfall, and every
where is repeated under the breath that
pathetic proverb which has been handed
down from generation to generation: Heaven
"is high and the Gar is far off ~
But if this be the coarse and brutal des
potism Of Asia, assassination is only another
form of barbarism-the barbarism Of Me-
diRyal Europe. The Nihilist movement has
been compared to the French Revolution but
there is al important distinction to be borne
in mind. There are no classes struggling for
existence in Russia, as there were in France.
The nobility of the Northern Empire are
PROUD OF Dut uOl
of their blood, and in the local administration
of the agricultural belts the enfranchised peas
antry meet them on common ground. 1t is
only in the cities that there is middle
class This is the class from which
the secret societies are recruited. But
it is not struggling for existence or recogni-
ton; for since the reign OF Catherine, the
Government have made strenuous efforts
to educate it and TO promote its welfare,
and Russian society is permeated with
democratic ideas. The Nhihsts are not the
liberatOrs of social class. Their symbol is
not the Phrygian cap of equality, but
the Gorgon's head. Theirs is not Platos
Republic, nor even DracO's, but the scourging
place of the Furies. Police espionage, arbitrary
arrests, prison horrors, administrative cor
ruption and intolerable compression have
brought them from despair to madness. They
know not what they want; they are con
tent if they can kill the Gar and his
men; and so with savage delight they
cast lots in the dark and send forth
their assassins to execute their SEN
fences. What is to be done when
the work of destruction Is ended does
not concern them. How different is the blind
vengeance OF these secret tribunals from the
enlightened Judgment Of the Third Estate in
1889, OF even the Terrorism Of Robesperrel
One force is pitted against the other, and
each is q recoil from civilization to barbarism
The Car is blind, and the Nihilist has
gone mad. One should have given the
people more liberty. and the other should
not have resorted to the anarchical craze
of assassination. Nations, like sinners, must
work out their salvation in fear and
trembling. A century, not q single generation,
was required for the consummation Of the re-
forms undertaken early in the present reign.
Instead of giving the Nation time TO breathe,