Daily globe., 1882-10-05
THE RUSSIAN POsTOFFICE.
PecaliGrities Of Its -YagsageHae;af.

PeculiGrities Of Its Ianagesae;st.
Russian Letter to the Manchester Examiner.
In Russia letter may be opened in its
passage through the postoffice by anybody
and everybody. 1t is true that acts of this
kind usually have the will of minister for
their authority. 1t is also well known that
certain times and seasons are chosen for
prying into correspondence for scraps of
sedition and. threads of conspiracy. But
it is none the less true that there is nothing
in the regulations of the Russian postoffice
to prevent the arbitrary and irresponsible
acts of minister from being initiated by
the postmaster or his clerk. The chances
of letter being allowed to pass without
| interference are not visibly greater than
the chances OF its being opened. Nor is
| there much ceremony in the process. The
| officials seem to dispense with that time
| honored expedient of inquisitive lodging
| house keepers-a steaming tea-kettle. The
| letter IS simply slit for half its length
more if necessary-the contents removed
and examined. and the envelope finally
fastened up with the gummed paper that
! forms the margin of sheet postage stamps.
AS there is not the slightest necessity for
| concealment, there is not the smallest at
tempt to disguise the act Of inqCisition,
and the opened letter reaches its destina-
tioa with the evidence of It's treatment
written broadly. even triumphantly, across
its face.
Opened communications are not, how
ever. always reclosed. On the evening Of
the assassination of the late mperor every
letter passing through the St. Petersburg
posto1iice was opened and subsequently,
delivered-when delivery took place
with gaping slip in the envelope, indicat-
ing the feverish haste with which the scru-
tiny had been conducted. In the provinc-
es, perhaps,l postofices are less liable to
panic than in the capital, but their very
distance from the seat OF government gives
q precariousness to postal communications
from which the system does not suffer il
centers like st. Petersburg and Moscow.
In the capital there is at least dispatch.
even if accompanied by disagreeable
form of espionage; in the provinces postal
. traffic is beset with much slowness and un-
certainty. Some of the postmasters have
, habit of detaining correspondence fol
, days at time. From Astrakhan, for ex
, ample, have just received at the same
hour and moment two letters, one of which
was posted six days before the other. In
country towns postoffice servants ar(
strongly suspected what justification
I know not-of delaying and opening let
tiers purely for the purpose of possessing
themselves of local secrets. If the address
is written badly, and does not at once dis
close its meaning to the postofice employe
II is put aside and ultimately consigned IL
the flames. In this way many thousand.
Of letters are annually burnt in Russia
. communications which I think it safe tt
say would, under better and more pains
, taking system for the most part, reacl
their destination. It is, of course, upol
!: books, newspapers and printed matter O.
all kinds that the Russian postofice cen
sorship presses most heavily. To receiv,
magazine with four or five pages of al
:. article obliterated by filthy sticking
q compound of oil, beeswax and printing
ink; to have ones newspaper handed t.
! one with its first or second leading articl
cut cleanly out by the censorial scissors
9 are experiences which in England coul'
= only be conceived of as the preliminarie
! and provocatives of some national agita
: ton, but which in Russia are treated be
= cause they have to be treated as everyda
occurrences.