, 1880-01-17

THE PROCLAMATION OF THE
RUSSIAN NIHILISTS.
From the SPECTATOR.
Is PUBLISHED
EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.

lne PROCLAMATION OIL the Russian ReVO-
lutionary Committee. issued Immediately
after the late attempt on the Empe.
ror's life,of which the DAILY Nens
published q copy, does not suggest
that the political capacity of the Nihilist
leaders is at all equal TO the admins
trative capacity which they show in tho
organisation Of their horrible plots, and
in the marvellous diffusion Of theft
revolutionary appeals. Che secrecy and
skill VITA which they carried out the
elaborate engineering work Of the mining
of the railway before the recent attempt,
aud the wonderful resource displayed in
the distribution o. their political invectives
against tie Emperor, under the very eyes
OF the police OF the capital, prove that the
Nihiiist Committee contains very capable
men, in the smaller sense of the word
"capabla." That is, it contains men
capable of conceiving q very audacious
design. of providing against all the mani
fold difficulties which its execution in
wolves, of e%nsaring the fidelity and secrecy
Of numerous allies, aud of fually executing
it without fjucbing, though not without
mistakes. 1t appears certain that a double
mistake was made on the recent occasion,
one OF them probably inevitable, as, the
,o.3eI Uf the H~-"'S TIL - -
train was changed some time after the
start from Odessa,-but one certainly
ayoidable with sufficient care. 1t seems
that both the trains travelled by the line
of rails which was not undermined,
though the usual course would have been
10 travel by that which was. Tn result
was tbct though the explosion Gid great
damage 10. the train, it did not kill a single
person in it. as the niue exploded was not
beneath, but only near it. or course, this
fact ought to have been as easily visible to
the conspjrators az the approach ot the
train itself. And had they lad sufficient
presence of mind, they would have stop
ped the whole attempt, as one certain TO
put the authorities on their guard. and
unlikely wholly TO succeed. This, how
ever, was The only administrative mistake
made; and a decision formed in an Instant
by violent and reckless men is hardly
likely to be q prudent one. In their
revolutionary proclamation. however,
announcing and glorying in their attempt,
they show how completely men OF greas
but narrow capacity for special designs
may fail in the larger capacity requisite
for true political designs. The Nlhlllst
proclamation is at once violent and weak.
1t does not look facts in the face, and It
does not even exhibit that solemnIty OF
purpose and manner by which alone con-
snirators, who are confessedly using the
instruments OF terror which they call upon
their oppressors to abandon. might hope
TO alternate the popular feeling OF the
moral inconsistency OF their conduct.
They revile the Emperor for the whole
Of his official life, declaring that even the
emancipation of the serfs was a mere sham
which ended with the words in which 1t
I ~ atnaormniin,ally accorded. They proceed
With 3 general burst Of vague declama,
tions;-"Thl D present reign has supported
.oby every means all those who rob and
Cypress the people, and at the same time
systematically exterminated all who are
honest and devoted to the nation. There
il not one village that has not suppled
martyrs who have been deported to Siberia
for supporting communal interests and for
protesting against the Administrator
From among the intelligent classes tens OF
I thousands drag in an intesminaSie string 10
o Siberia, to the mines, exclusively Tor nav
ing served the cause Of the people in the