St. Paul daily globe., 1892-12-28
TIRED OF PEACE.
Arrests of Russian officers on the
Charge of Being Connected
With Nihilists.
Much Discomfort in the Army Be-
cause There Are No Foreign
Foes to Fight.

ST. PETERSBURG, Dec. 27.-NumerouS
arrests continue to be made at Kieff of
persons suspected of nihiiiSm. Nine
more officers are among those impris-
oned either under suspicion or direct
charges of connection with the con-
spracy against the czar. The Russian
authorities believe that they have un-
earthed a widespread plot in which a
number, not only of the lower officials,
but also those Of higher rank, are in
volved, and several officers having posi-
tions of trust and confidence near the
person of the cZar have been put under
surveillance, although not under arrest,
being given leave of absence from duty
until the suspicious resting upon them
are verified Or disproved.
There is much discomfort in the army
with the prolonged period of peace, and
many of the officers think that the car
is too pacific in his disposition. There is
no longer an outlet for these warlike
spirits in subdning the tribes of Central
Asia, all these having been brought
thoroughly under Russian subsection.
The Russian empire Was never more
peaceable, so far as external enemies are
concerned, and the murmurlng among
the army officers, ambitious for glory
and disappointed in their hopes of pro-
motion. is correspondingly great. 1t is
no secret that there was bitter diSap-
pointment in military circles seven
years ago when the cZar had to
bring his autocratic authority to bear
to prevent his generals from plunging
into war with Great Britain and Af-
ghanistan, and the spirit of impatlence
among the Russian officers has been ill.,
creaslng ever since. For these and
other reasons the authorities at st. Pc
terSburg are greatly apprehensive as to
the extent of the conspiracy developed
at Kieff, and much excitement prevails
both in official circles and among the
public.
Meantime the persecution of the Jews
goes on more earnestly than ever, the
leading official prosecutor being the
Grand Duke Sergius, brother of the
czar and husband of Queen Victoria's
granddaughter Elizabeth. AS governor
of Moscow lie seems determined to turn
every jew out Of the city. The jewish
population of Moscow has already been
reduced from about $4,000, when SergiuS
became governor, to about 10000, and
the number continues to decrease under
the added rigor of penal laws and the
intolerable severity OF their enforce
ment.
By a new law which has recently been
put in force, only ten out of hundred
Jewish lawyers in Moscow and st.
Petersburg are allowed to practice,
while in Warsaw and Russian Poland
this liberty is wholly denied. The Mos
COW university shuts its doors against
Jews, and it will not he long before the
conservatoire does the same. The
severe treatment of the Jews is having
runouS effect upon real estate and
other interests, at least thirty thousand
lodgings being empty in Moscow. 1 he
most pitiful scenes are witnessed among
the crowds of Jews at the railway sta
tions, men and women over sixty ye ars
of age and half-clad little children cry
ing and praying in the cold. Their suf-
ferings are viewed with utter indiffer-
ence by the Russian authorities, and any
non-Jewish residents who display kind
ness towards them risk being put under
suspicion. The soldiers detailed to as
sist the police in guarding Jews treat
them with the greatest brutality and
frequently prick the unf0rtunates with
their bayonets if they attempt to leave
the station in which they are penned.
The officers do not like the work of
guarding Jews, which they look upon
as beneath their dignity, and this is also
a cause of some discomfort among the
military.