New-York tribune., 1885-03-01
THE RUSSIA OF TO-DAY.
POLITICS AND SOClETY-THE CZAR AND
THE PEASANTS.


.r,arostod in the events now taking place in
Iondon Here there is only one opinion concerning
these acts of vandalism, even among the extreme
revolutionary party, and it were dificult 10 Heee
with persons who approve OF these cowardiy
manifestations and useless and wapton sacrces p'
buman life Except the Russian terrOtists, sucn rs
Hartmann Lavroh Prince Krapotkine, and othorS'
the so-termed Nihilists cannot be consdereo 10
SOLITARY With the heroes of dynamite now Giiing
the world with the noise OF their expioits' 'na'
fraction of the party called The Terrorsts oeins
small in number and having lost all credit. ne
,ou,der Of the Fmperor Alexander III. did not brmg
forth the expected results but only tehdou 10
tighten the kuots of absolutism Russia at pTescn.
offers no favorable arena for the development ol
onarchism every man being proprietor on sihah
scale for every one of the sixty millions oil moullKS
has his bit of ground can have it If he care TO-
The misery of the Russian rural population comes
from Its utter want of intellectual Development
and its moral darkness in great part also Is due
70 the vice of drinking winch has taken possession
ot the neasapts during the last thirty years But III
is fact worthy of note IN these times that III
Russia aud Siberia no man need die OF h'ihger
whereas abroad circumstances and conditions nave
rendered the struggle for mere existence tcrtioic
and the anarchists have some reason IN GERMANY
France or England to hope for support among the
oopuation. The discomfort in Russia is not among
thirst for more liberal form Of Government ana
wider scope for the development of their intellect
nal capacities now cruelty cram2ed and paralyzed.
The real revolutouists are the intellectual pro-
<letariat" growing alarmingy III size ana strength
On January, of the present year. Russia came TO
an agreement with Prussia concerning the
proprety of treating political criminals as ordinary
criminals. and of giving them up to tee COUNTY,
to which they belong The recent scandaous
will
ratification of this treaty, which, from the last
news is to extend ITS action over all Germany.
The Russian papers uniform In the expression Oh
the.hope that England aud the United states VIII
not refuse Join in this coalition, when was lohs
ago attempted. but was always broken by the
resistance of the British and American Govern
ments which, refusing to enter into this League OF
Defence. thereby paralyzed althe attempts made to
oryanize system of resistance to party when
emplovs such means as dynamite to attain Its
purposes.
Though the Russian secret police and agents are
infinitely superior to the English, having passed.
through so much experience during the laSt lew
wears the anarchists succeed i'll eludlhg then'' ana
the stories some of them could tell would surpass
in interest the most fantastic romance ever lh-
vented An example is that of the agent Soudeikn,
whose murderer was the anarchist Decay who in
troduced himself as a secretary and pcrseveringy
served his enemy during more than year. worinlng
himself every day further into his confidence
until the favorable moment came to strike ms
victim down.
few days after the London explosions. the
anarchists thought well to give reminder OF their
existence to the Russian Government by blowing
up a little wooden orthodox church in the town OF
Jacobstadt near Riga. Who the author OF this
action was no one knows, as the accident was at
first attributed to fire. and the criminal had plenty
of time TO escape There are malcontents enough IN
the Baltic Provinces. though those provinces are III
mnch more Hourshing state than all the rest oi
Northern Russia and enjoy all sorts OF liberties and
privileges IT'LL it is true tnat all the REFORMS OF
the last egn have not yet been applied there For
example. the new juridical reforms have not yet
been introduced. and the peasants continue to 1--we
as they did before being tenants OF the barons
for not having been SORTS, they of course required
no eInancipatiOn. The barons often transgrcss the
laws and not unfrequently tyrannzo over their
tenants Int il is sufficient to traverse the Baltic
provnces and compare their hourishing state to the
miserable dreary, deserted, unpopulated, interior
Russian Governments, that OF SmolensR ior ln-
stance to understand that no comparison can DE
drawn between them. The pooI. benighted, super
stitiops. overtaxed and everlastingly neglected
moniiks or Russian peasants can never bear COM
parison with a sober, Industrious thrifty. Prote5-
tant populat;on such that of the Baltic PROVINCES
or Finland and Russia wonld be the most nighty
eu,nire in the world if she could he great scale
what Finland is little scale. But as TINS
essential difference has its source in the character
Of the races. than which nothing can be more
directly in opposition, no amaiganati0n can ever
fake place Russian Russia will remain Russian
,,d German Russia German. No efforts to
RussIanize those provinces have ever had anV
effect or ever will have, the German culture being
FAR too superior to the Russian. As to Poland
that is another question. Russia has always peeh
rs much disposed to crush the aspirations OF TINS
Nation and to make her feel all the weight OF the
woke AZ she has been generous. liberal and in
dulgent toward Finland aud the Baltic Provinces.
The court has now left the palace of Gatschina for
the capital: notwithstanding the heavy cOuds on
the political horizon. the season is on the whole
very CAV and brilliant A series OF balls aud routs
are taking place at the Winter Palace at when
tie simplicity of attire fashionable three years
AGO has gwen place to most fantastic display oil
rich and costly tissues and splendid jewels Az the
Italian opera, Miss Van Zandt and Madame Dnrmid
are the stars though on the whole the troupe is not
well chosen this year, the want OF tenors making
itself felt here as everywhere. The spoiled Russian
nnbic. having had Masin Nicolini. and later back,
Naudur and Tarnberlik is dscontentcd with such
xnensiye mediocrties as those of this season, aud
il is even rnmorcd that next year there IS TO De no
Italian opera at all. The Russian National opera
though very far, cannot as yet take the place o.
tho Italian theatre. which has reignel uninter-
rnptedly for more than if " years Mt ST. Peters
burg The Symphonic Saturday Concerts attrac
crowds as do the quatu0r Datinoes. For lnstru
mental nusc the Russian concerts eau bear cohpari
son with any in the world
Rubnsten played last Sunday for tho hr y tm'
this winter, and played as he alone can play. MIS-
Van Zandt sang ut that concert with imnehse ap
nlause Her voice is clear and very correct. Dut