Morning journal and courier., 1880-04-12
Monday Esrning, April 12. 1880.
THE CONTEsT IN RUSSIA.

AA&1 IN kkOB1AAs
 Since General Msliksf assumed command In Russia there seems to have been . lull in the contest between Nihilisn aad Dssposisn, or, as least, We in the United States have not haard as much and as often about it as before. He is pursuing sensible policy, wAich is i- frustrated by his trsatHent of four persons ar- rested for ssditious eonduot IA the streets at the time of the attempt to assassinats him. He sent for them and they came, each escort ed by two soldiers. The General told them that although he had not yet put his hands on the leaders of ths Nihilists he was determined to do so or to make 1t too hot for them to re = main in Russia. He then asked She prisoners if they did not consider themselves vsry fool ish to venture on expressing their sympathy l with the wouldbe assassin in the midst of 1 30, 600 people. vko night lave become s1- | cited against them. One of them, man over thirty years of age, admitted that 1t was 50 and that the logic, as he said, was on tho Generals side. The General said he was soldier and that in the last war he had taken the word of honor of Turkish officers, who | were prisoners, answering for themselves and their men, that they would not attempt to escape. Although he was unable to guard them, and thus could not prevent their ss- cape If they desired, he found that they l faithfully kept their promise He 1 appealed to the men before him whether If he gave them their liberty they l would give and keep their word like the Turkish prisoners, not to mix themselves up in any troubles. The men gave their word The General gave his hand to each of them and told them they were free. Other incl l dents are related which show that he is acting very judiciously.
 But however sensible the policy of Msli- kofF and even if he is permitted to live to at- tempt to carry it out, it is probable that Rus sian despotism is doomed, and that twenty Mslikofs could not save it. An article by Karl Blind in the International Review shows why it ought not to live and predicts that it will not. Under the present Czar the sxilss to Siberia have of late years been 'tsn tiEss the number of what they annually were, on an average, under the iron rule of the tyrant Nicholas" Even the manuEission of the serfs has facilitated the levy of iaereassd taxes. Mr. Blind says "it has also enabled the Czar to establish universal military ser
 
 ent, in respect of recruiting, upsn tho good will of the landowners. The Rsasian army now neminally consists of 2,20O, 900 msn-e number formerly never thought of. What Polish exile, Count ZsmoJiskl, years ago de- clared to be the real sbjeot of the abolition of serfags by Alexander II. has fully turned out to be true; the landed proprietor has now no longer an interest in opposing the ooascrip ton, and the Imperial taxation Is hsnesforth borne In part by the manumittsd bendsnan." Emancipation in Russia was not therefore altogether 8 humanitarian enterprise It had one root of it's origin in the dssire of the Ozer to chackmRte the landsd pro- prtetors in their efforts to secure Psr- hamentRry Assembly of the nation at large. And since emancipation hs hss met similar Petitions of Right from the Provin- sisl Assemblies by the usual resort to banish- msnt and the prison. But the "movsm sns proceeds and endangsrs the whsls fabric of society. The fsrnsnt is all psrvAdinx. In the event of 8 new war and She loss of grsst battle, Sedan might be repeated and ths su- tocrst would lose his throne. The Czs< sd- mits an ever present peril, peril "whose ter
 
 hundrsd-fold through tha suspisie1 new and then arisiag in the CAr's nizd asAizst the fidelity of his nsArsst protectors, azd against his ova soa and hsir. In the vary midst of the most zsnguinary nsasurss tAkan by his government, soae signs of vacilassn, some indications of slight concession to public opinion bsing discussed in the secret eouxcils at court, are discsrnibls. But, nc sooner do we hear of such proposed move thaa a rus ssqusnt mail brings news which daahss the hope from tho hands of those who had eagerly grasped at 1t. Autocraey dies hard but die it will aHd must"
 Years ago, Prince Dolgorukof, moderate Liberal, wrote that in Russia "ths official lie was erected into political institution" and do scribsd the Empire as 8 vast edidoe with ''a European frontage, but furnished and admin istersd inside on the Asiatic pattsrn." t Is not surprising that such government fails to hold its own, or thst It's destruction seems near.