Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-08-10
Life in Russia.

A st. Petersburg letter to the London
7smes says: Now that the regime Of mil
itary law has got into something like
working order, it may be possible to give
some idea Of the aspect which things
really wear under his temporary system.
There have been many notifications of
and additions to the imperial ukase of
April II. providing for the maintenance
OF order. The minor dispositions and or
ders of the police are endless. Little
confidence is felt in the army. The cases
of INSTRUMENTATION and breaches OF dis
cipline brought before courts martial are
numerous. Most of the police orders con-
Germ the devorniks or house door porters,
who seem to be the only ones .eas the govern
ment has any faith in. They number
about thirty thousand, and are selected
principally from the peasant or mechanic
class, and their withdrawal from regular
pursuits renders it difficult to procure
workmen, thus interfering with trade.
The: devornik now holds sway in every
house and street in St. Petersburg, and
OF every other large town. They are all
tlcketed with the name of the street and
the number of the house to which they
belong, and are being still further brought
into order by a 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 any rate
there IS reason to suppose the authorities
see the inutillty Of forcing the households
ers to MAINTAIN such mass of idle men,
and are thinking of abollshing the sys-
tenn, or of reducing it to normal limits,
in favor of an increased police force.
Dealers in gunpowder and firearms are
subjected to great inconvenience. I know
a merchant who has been forbidden to-
receive consignment of powder now on
its way here. Very detailed and strin-
gent rules regulate the private gunpowder
factories throughout Russia. The police
offices are full of arms taken from the in
habitants. It was found that there were
about o revolvers to each resident of
St. Petersburg. Still, with all the pres
sure of military law and the police and
the devornik regime, with all the oppor-
tunitles it gives to extra employees to
make hay while the sun shines, very
large number Of the people are not trou-
bled at all The strict enforcement of
the passport system in the provinces has
been productive, perhaps, of more trouble
than anything else, and of nc little dis
tress. Some Of the factories are deprived
of half their workmen and these workmen
OF the means of subsistence, by being OBJ
iged 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. Resides this we hear of nocturn-
al cencus of the populations Of Perm, Kieft
and Kharkoff, causing no doubt great
deal of annoyance. Altogether, the liv-
ing under exclusively military law here
is perhaps worse than it was in Bulgaria
during actual war; but although this
state Of ings does not sit lightly on
many persons, there are still many who
can find it in their hearts to enjoy them
selves and make merry at the opening of
the summer season. It is not reign of
terror nor a state Of siege. It is only a
state Of military law, where one-half of
the population IS set to watch the other.
A state of siege is step further, and
we have not come to that vet.