The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-26

it is only too evident that it will preserve its
secret at the easy cost Of condemning TO silence
and oblivion all who appear before it. Here and
there friend of the missing man-perhaps his
wife or son-seeks to penetate the mystery OF
his disappearance. The questioner seeks the
nearest police station but no one has there heard
of the case, although another department may
give some information. This refers the searcher
to fourth, fifth and sixth, until, wearied and
hopeless, the search is abandoned, and the case
is forgotten amid the host of others which 1t re-
sembles. This policy adds terror to Nlhlsm
which it surely does not Iced, but seems to fur
nish no relief.
1--WE are going from bad to worse" said
long time resident of st. Petersburg tome, and,
although the authorities seem to think that by
telling us nothing they will convince us that the
plots of Nihilism are ended, no man goes out IN
the morning without being prepared to hear. be
fore noon, the explosion of dynamite bombs in
the very street in which he is walking or to
learn OF another attempt upon the lie Oh the
Gar"
The people, indeed. seem almost indifferent to
the issue of the war which they knew to be wag-
ing in the bowels of the earth under them, as II
were, and to care not much whether the earth
quake comes or not, since nothing can be worse
than the present state of affairs. The gloom
that encircles the throne was never go dense as
now, and if the late Gar was in danger from the
fanatical circle of revolution, what must be the
condition of the present rulerl Alexander IL
liberated the serfs, gave free press ana the
rlSIlL oL ltlal Dy jury ana III o1IIoi Ways 90"
himself to have the good of his people somewhat
at heart; and yet his shattered and blood
stained carriage in the imperial stables SHOWS
the fate he met What then, must his
son anticipate, who has done nothing
for Russia except 20 consider and set
i'll action some measures for the more Just dls
tribution Of a taxation which now terribly
grinds the poor, but who has remuzzleo the
press, and made trial for political o1fenses as
secret as the gravel He is more Of a recluse
than any of his ancestors. The army is called
out whenever he goes abroad and lines the
route with a bristle of bayonets while thou-
sands of police surround the station which he
leaves and that at which he aights and In the
announcements of his intentions for the Jour
ney everything but the truth is spread abroad
And yet what can he do? If he yields to the
Nlhllists he is in danger from his nooies' even
as his father was, who found himself opposed by
a faction still more dangerous to himself, be-
cause nearer to HIM, than that of the revolu-
tionists and dared not make greater conces-
sons than he did, since he saw that even those
exposed him to q new and more imminent dan
ger. A sample incident of the way IN which
the Cars safety is guarded was furnished
while was in Russia, at the time Of the naval
maneuvers off Cronstadt, which his Majesty
was to attend in the yacht that had been for
some time awaiting his arrival in the harbor
Some thrifty owners of excursion steamers in
St Petersburg announced excursions to the
scene of the evolutons, and tickets were beng
rapidly sold, when the police ordered the 1nSer-
ton of notice in the papers that the plan had
been abandoned. Moo was to be allowed near
the Gar that occasion except the officers and
sailors of the feet, and l can even imagine that
he steamed about among these with no little APP
prehension. 1t is impossible not to feel pity for
this hunted and bounded monarch, a prisoner
amid the spendors of the Winter Palace, an ex-
lie at CATCHING, Tsarskoe-Selo and PeterhoH.
1t would seem, however, as though the chief
danger-not so much to the person of the Car,
perhaps, as to the integrity OF his empire-hes
in the general mass of the now loyal people,
who if they have the spirit of other nations,
cannot much longer remain content to be treated
| like children or slaves. Theirs is the only
country in Europe that has not recognized at
all the rights of the people in the last half cen
fury. Germany, Italy, Austria, France and
Spain have free institutions, and even the rulers
of those that are monarchleS recognize
the utterance of the popular voice. How
much longer can Russia, on the borders of such
nations, or in intimate commercial relations with
Them retain a character which Is more truly
Asatic than European} Systemized oppression
keeps the timid and peaceful quiet but makes
the desperate even more determined There
seems to be no hope for Russia or the Russians
under the present order-that is generally ad
mitted by all men in St Petersburg who think
and who dare to express their convictions to
stranger
In the midst of the fortress of Peter and Paul,
| in whose dungeons languish hundreds of Nihilist
prisoners, utterly removed from the sight of
men and each other their names even forgotten,
except by the governor of the prison, themselves
and God rises the spear-like and gded spre of
the imperial mausoleum Within are gold shrlnes,
| ''holy pictures" cruSted with Jewels flags cap
tured in battle with Poles, Germans, Persians
and Turks, a splendid array of evidences of
royal wealth and conquest, and the usual crowd
of guards above the crowded tombs of the
Romanoffs. Peter the Great, Catherine H.
and all the other monarchs who have
made Russia great and powerful nation,
sleep here in tombs of white MARBLE
each bearing upon its lid a large brass
Shield and decked with wreaths Of artificial
flowers, and above the tomb of the last addition
to the silent company, the lately murdered Gar,
is a golden crown, with a consecrated taper
burning perpetually in it. 1t is an interesting
and mournful place. and as one recalls the record
of history he can find but few which tell of
happy lives or a quiet and lamented end. The
record of the nation and of the ruling line of
| monarchs is here summed up and crystallized
and one perceives in it few pages that are not
blackened by crime, oppression al suffering, or
Redeemed with blood. There is here, too, an air
of expectancy. hush of waiting, as if the
preparation of the new grave might be at any
moment begun. The gun that booms from the
| heavy ramparts at sunrise, noon and sunset jars
upon the stupor of the hopeless prisoners in the
dungeons below, and from the spire of the
mausoleum the chimes ring out every hour the
| are of power and peace, while within the feeble
taper in the hollow crown of Alexander IL
awaits eXtinguishment and reminding upon the
tomb of his son.