Morning journal and courier., 1881-03-25
Friday Morning, March 25. 1881.
WHAT THE N1HILIsTs WANT.

Two Nihilists, representing the radical and
 the moderate parties of the opponents of the
 existing governmental system in Russia, have been interviewed by a New York reporter, and together they furnish @ plain and com
 plete statement of what the enemies of Czar-
 ism want and intend.
 The radical Nihilist, or terrorist, !" says
 assassination is not the word for the killing
 of the Czar, but that it was the execution of
 "legal'' judgment. The revolutionists
 know that an emperor killed will be succeed in Russia. There is a song which says:
 Oh, thou father, orthodox Czar.
 Judge us according to a just decision;
 Order to be done to us what pleaseth thee,
 Thou art master of our bald heads.
 The ''terroristsn deem it necessary to root out from the mind of the Russian peasant his servile respect of fhe powers that be, and the more the attacks on the Czar and his off cers increase the more, it is expected, will the people learn to understand the ssabsurdity" of the generation which they have displayed toward them for centuries. It is the s'private opinion'' of this tNterrorist'' that Alexander III. will be killed. The programme of the
 G0TEOIlSG6 B NO ulOIO AlOuoICAy AO A1O1C State religion; no land proprietors; the soil to be as free as the air, since every one has the right to sustenance. No more armies; no more administrations, no more spies, no more knout, no more Siberia. Liberty of the press, liberty of speech, diberty of conscience. Anarchy is their immediate object. Before anything new and good' can be created all inc kr&i 1o Thav have no definite plan of reorganization. We intend, says this pleasant revolutionist, Ito leave to better and more enlightened gen. eration the task of shaping the future gov ernment on the basis of individual develop ment. The future order of things must nat urally originate with the people themselves. On with the axe. Let demolish every thing From chaos the kosmos was born"
 The other Nihilist interviewed is "propa- gandist, :" and somewhat less bloody-minded. He was, when in Russia, college professor. He looks upon the death of the Czar a historical necessity, and says that whatever be the creed of the true Nihilist party: there is in Russia an immense heterogeneous mass of people with various political tendencies which desires the overthrow of the present order of things. They may disapprove of the means employed by the Nihilists; they will welcome heartily the results of these means. In this broad sense, he declares, every in telligent Russian may be called Nihilist. He believes that the great mass of the revo- lutionists would be satisfied with much less than that demanded by the ''terrorists, and has faith that Alexander III. will make @ great many concessions which will conciliate of blood fanaticism. He confidently expects from him the removal of the remains of feudalism and the introduction of liberal constitution, complete amnesty for political offences suppression of the secret police the inviolability of the home, liberty of the press, freedom of speech and education, and equality, autonomy ofthe communes, the control of public functionaries by pro- vincial councils, reduction of the war esti- mates, encouragement of industrial and agri- cultural associations and development of the immense resources of the country. The "propagandists' understand that all these re- forms cannot be made at once, but if the Czar moves steadily and undauntedly in the di- rection indicated they will gladly allow the reformation to progress in its natural way. The professor says: s'The world is wrong to be frightened at socialism. Excesses at the beginning are unavoidable. No radical revo- Iution can be accomplished without violence. These excesses ultimately serve the purposes of progressive evolution. Society cannot be Sobriety and calm self possession always follow the stetraa and dra7sg period in the life of a nation as in that of man, and disorder will pass away"
 The talk of these two men, who probably fairly represent the factions for whom they speak, is interesting and, in certain sense, impressive. It will be noticed that they agree in the main as to what ought to be done, but they differ concerning the way to do it.