, 1888-04-14
POLITICS IN RUSSIA.
DAILY Telegraph, 22nd March,

AAOlA OAAbS ANGO O0O ID " OAGh AI AnSs
AS lately as last January it gave very un-
mistake BILE signs of life, in form of a mine
laid under the Baltic Railway Station in
st. Petersburg, which was to have been
sprung on the arrival of the Emperor from
Gatchina; and a few days afterWa ards an
officer deputed to aSSaSSinate him, who,
however, in the eleventh hour relented,
shot himself, and betrayed his accomplices
on his death bed. These things are not
pleasa It reading for those who pine in st.
Petersburg aud Moscow after that "tran-
q|uillity" which was once 'restored' in
WarSaw; but they are incOntrOvertibl8
facts, and confirm what was probable
enough d prjOr5, namely, that NihiliSm is
likely to prove as lOng-liyed as its TGjSoB
d8tre, misgOvernment, which Is now thirty
ing as it never thrOve before. Having
heard it stated that a great change had
lately come over the revolutionary move
ment in Russia, and that it had entered
upon a new phase of development, | resOlv-
ed to make such investigations as are pos
sible i'll a country where curiosity Of the
most innocent kind is always viewed with
suspicion and frequently attended with
danger. In Russia most of the interesting
phenomena of political, social, and religi-
Gus life lie hidden teneath the surface,
invisible to him who runs and fain would
read, and thousands of intelligent foreign
erS daily live in contact with all classes Of
the population without coming across any,
thing to SuggeSt that NihiliSm is not q
myth, or discovering a shred Of evidence
for the assertion that religious persecution
forms part Of the Russian system of gov
eminent.
l resolved, then, to dive below the sur
face, as | once did several years before,
~, | an 10 NOup. tO uAt q uljONNSn nf tha
Russian p%olitictl Underworld, as q sim
pie spectator. Though this turned out
to b" q much more serious matter than
it was ten years ago, Yet it was only the
first step that cost me a really labOriOuS
effort, and that once taken, l discovered,
like Eneas, that all the rest was plain
sailing-tdciiiS decenSWS AuerRi.
was provided with two Introductory
lptt6rS-0ne from a lawyer and the other
from IN entprpriSing lady in st. Peters
burg, whose husband occupies a position
of trust and responsibility in one of the
Ministries, and whom | shall call BuratOff.
This lady belonged to a numerous class of
persons, which has always had represen-
tatives since Eve Venturpd on her perilOuS
tSte Il t6te with the serpent, and one of
whose chief characteristic is an i~TrcsiSti-
Die propensity to indulge moderately in
u 4 IL XIV tNilNA 1N Wv AAA boSAA ~
sureS with the spice of danger. Madame
Blu atoff was strongly suspected OF har-
bouring ideas many shades deeper than
the most advanced Liberalism that was
ever connived ut in the halcyon days OF
LOris Melik0ff and the G0JOS newspaper.
She wa known to cOnSort with persons OF
doubtful political a~ntecedents, and it was
even rumOured hat she WAS hail fellow
we'll met with some of the COnspiratOrS
who played a part in the bloody drama
that eliminated in the horrible crime of
March 13 on the Catherine Canal, III st,
Petersburg. She certainly admitted to me
that she was personally acquainted will
the regicide PeroffSkaia, who endeaVOured
to entice her out into the deep waters of
Nihilism, and who, on her refusal to be
drawn beyond her depth, called her q spy
in disguise and warned her associates to
avoid her. The bad name she thus &C
uuired among extreme revOlutlOnlStS was
the price she paid for the impunity which
she always managed to enjoy, for she was
extremely wary in all her actions, and the
only real service she ever rendered the
conspiratorS was to pass on an occasional
letter. and forewarn them once or twice OF
the measures about to be employed against
them, which her bus band had disclosed TO
her without any sinister intentions.
The young man i'll Kiett to whom l pre-
sented the two letters was a graduate OF