Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-01-01
\ THE CITY OF Spies AMI 3,nu.
( NPIRATORS.

THE CITY OF SPIES AND CON-
SPHRATORS.
The Gar On the Nevsky Prosvee.-
A TImtd LandlOrd-Ltfe II 50.
Correspondence n. Y. sun.1
"a. PEIHReBURa. Dec. 6.-To-da It IA sunny.
eSia weather, and under ones feet Is heard
dens the Russian heart There Is an Opportu-
nifty 70 see once more the beat society Of the
cars capital enjoying the sleighing.
charming Nevsky Prospect The view ia q
magic one The crowds are slowly moving uD
and down the wide sidewalks. A hundred all.
IeIent military uniforms gutter In the sun.
less picturesque. The ladies' display All the
precious furs Of Siberia the velvets ana silks Of
lyons, the laces OF Brussels But the sleigh
Wi WIZ 4, M is b5asclnang maa brilliant wh
CANT sielghs, OF beautiful women, of r1ch and
powerful men, and OF stout drivers with four
cornered caps Whirl by before my eyes The
effects like Kaleidoscope. I cannot turn nv
eyes away from this unique and entrancInV
epectacle-a spectacle to be seen noWhere an
earth save In St Petersburg. v.
ShdpEi dOlOY :" suddenly thunflars IN nv
ear. turn Involuntary and see before me 8
pig oodied gendarme. He continues tn shout
yae " - 40 o. - sss cos chdpedur!" Hats on y
same order right and left And see that sud.
denly all the sleighs form two close rows. the
neateo norSes, under the skiilful MANAGEMENT
S o. me orivers, slowly moving up and down tue
stleet: AT the very middle of the Nevsky ap.
PIOaches rapidly single sleigh drawn by q
Wnlte Arabian horse Of pure blood 10 that
selgh sits the autOcrat Of all the Russias. he
10 fo siienty greeted by his subjects and by the
foreign residents OF his capital The o1icers
salute, the civilians take on their hats, the
laoles respectfully bow, as the Car passes
rapidly oy. have seen enough Of the NevsKy
In the evening three OF my friends call on me
all foreigners. We all talk OF our experience
on the Nevsky, perhaps for quarter OF an
nour; Suddeniy knock comes at the door. ]
ME my landlord. But instead of coming In he
oeckons me out OF the room. Offering q thou.
SAND apologies In the most humble and abject
way, the Herr Hoisrath my landlord is Of Ger.
man descent) informs me that 1t ia his duty to
prevent any meetings" in his house. He
knows me and my friends as being respectable
foreigners, still he cannot make any exception
In our behalf for fear of being reported to the
poiice by one Of his dvorniki, whom he believes
"AmI to understand, sir, that cannot receive
my friends In my own rooms 2" asked,
Certainly you can, certainly" he answered:
"0nly you must receive one at q time. II yoli
want 10 see TWO or more at time, why, you
may take them TO hotel where you may be
spies ?" - VIZ
on mature consideration see that cannot
help myself. AT the hotel meet one of nv
Russian friends, who readily joins us. We
drink tea and look for the spies. We make our
Russian friend an umpire, and we make bets as
sitting near us Is spy. II the experience of
our Russian friend can be relied upon we dis
cover lots OF thsm.
How could 1t be otherwise In the ..clty OF sp,es
and conspirators," as St Petersburg is called by
tne liberal Russians? l have gradually learned
some OF the tricks and manners O: the dark
elniss aries. and have taken pains to study them.
on the stree's and in hotels, In the parks and
libraries, in the private houses and the places
CT public TeSort-eyerywhere have met these
quiet, shadoW-nke persons, who have sold
their ears and eyes, and their souls, TOO, be
neVe. lt seems to me that every body here lives
constantly on the lookout. To be too CAUTIOUS
and to keep silence Is suspicious and on the
other hand, to be off-hand, careless and joVIal
ls equally dangerous And nobody seems to
know tie limits OF prudent and safe living. In
0ee0. wnat social chaos In this city OF the
Car! l hear that the whole body OF the police
Is honeycomoed with conspiracy, that the ranks
resident OF the capital regards himself as iiah,e
TO start any day for 1.-the places not 80 distsnt-n
or 1.-The most distant places, !" as In the oficial
language are called the western and the east
IL seems there Is no end of work for the SPIES
Just as one trial OF revOlutionists Is ended we
near OF another trial soon TO begin. The lem
~ ponG Land and Liberty newspaper Is yet
nal has appeared. Nobody knows how loDp
this game of hide ana seek may last
let some Russians begin to talk, In earnest.
too. OF enjoying some freedom. ,es, they now
talk and write here about the freedom of the
press! Lately a committee was appointed TO
look over The press laws aud regulations. Ac-
cordlDg to the civilized practice, this committee
mas invited the editors OF the leading St. Peters.
burg journals and magazines to appear and ex-
press their views. Several Journals are very
sanguine. But the more experienced writer's
look on the affair more dubieusly The Golos
says: The committee would perform a great
thing Il IL could do away with the censure for
the provincial press. As to the press OF the cap
italsr We don't ask any thing beyond some def
mite rules for imposing fines and other punish
ntnt for press offences. just now. for instance
We feel under the necessity OF raising the CUES
tioD or the situation OF the political eXiles who
have been pardoned and permitted to coatinIl.
TIER studies In the universities We are told
that those eAileS have no clothes ana no means
10 reach any one Of the university cities. Now
We say. we would like 10 raise the question
How can these eXiies avail themselves OF Jhi,
pardon3 But when we think over the official
warnings and other Expressive measures that
we may 1nVoluntarily set In motion, We decide
that perhaps it Inay be cheaper for us to clothe
all these exiles and furnish them with ticka;S
at Our own cost than 70 raise any Question
about them