Morning journal and courier., 1880-03-01
THE WEAKNESS OF NHHILISM.

Tho condition of affairs in Russia continues
 to grow more and more melancholy, looked at from any point of view. The Nihilists have
 professed to be working in the interests of the people and to secure for them g government
 under which they could have moro freedom.
 The result of their efforts appears in the i'm perial ukase just issued. The Czar says |: Being firmly determined to put an end to l the repeated attempts of criminals to under mine the order of the State and society, su- preme executive commission is established in St. Petersburg for the protection of order. D " General Melikof is appointed to the head of the commission, and the appointment of it's other members has been or is to be made on General Melikof's suggestion, by imperial or dinance. The head of the commission has, moreover, the right to summon upon the commission all whose presence he may con- slider useful. In order to give united char acter to the action of all authorities, the head of the commission, setting aside the right of the commander-in-chisfo of St. Petersburg,
 has direct control over all political trials held in the capital, in the military district of St. Petersburg and throughout the empire. All -SSn~~ NASAS~AS~SSt commandants are placed under the jurisdic- tion of the head of the commission, and all employees in the various departments are bound to afford him their entire cooperation. The head of the commission is at liberty to adopt any means which may appear to him desirable for the protection of order in the empire, and the orders he may issue are to be internationally obeyed. Anything more des- potic than this could hardly be desired by the worst enemy of the Russian people.
 The Nihilists have not only succeeded in making the burdens of the people harder to bear, but they have made it impossible for the Czar to do anything but crush out the con- spiracy, which he will undoubtedly do if he is not killed. They have also, by their crimes, deprived their cause of the sympathy and SUD- port which were indispensable to it's life and triumph. In an elaborate article on Nihilism the Cologne Gazette says on this point ''The Russian peasant, although he detests his social superiors, and is easily excited to fury against the officials who render his very existence burden to him, can never be per- suaded to conspire against his Emperor. So it came to pass that some of the Nihilist agents got heartily thrashed by the moujiks, while others were unceremoniously laid hold of and handed over to the authorities Since April 14 the Nihilists have been undermining their own ground, for no decent Russian feels any sympathy or compassion for regicides. The Russian people are strongly addicted to coquetting with socialistio ideas but it's eyes have been opened to a great many fallacies kIal ho and prestige of the Nihilists have suffered considerably by their recent failures, and by the whole-hog measures of the several mill, tary Governors General to whom the Czar has committed the task of suppressing the in surrectionary movement. Their ranks have been thinned by innumerable arrests, and moreover split has occurred in their con- trolling organization. Their own leaders are beginning to perceive that nothing of any great importance can be brought about in Russia by mere brute force, and that Nihilism is practically lost cause. Even before Solovieff attempted the Czar's life disputes had broken out between the leading social
 revolutionists some of whom were resolved to put the Emperor out of the way, while oth-
 CTS wished his life to be spared. The former
 faction acted on it's own responsibility when
 it commissioned Solovief to carry outfits pro
 gramme; for the Semlja Wolja, the organ of the Moderate party, repudiated any con- nection with the men of April H."
 The atrocities of Russian despotism are not
 palliated or excused by the fierce and bloody deeds of the Nihilists. But those deeds and
 the reign of terror which accompanies them are calculated to defeat their own object.
 They have done it in France, in Spain and in other countries, and they seem likely to do it in Russia. Nihilism, as at present practiced there, can never conquer, and is in reality the enemy of..the people, whatever it may promise them. Some. indeed, think the Nihilists are but the tools of reactionary absolutists. How ever this may be, they are evidently power
 full hindrance to progress.