The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-16
TME RUSSIAN ~DLAcK CHAMBER
How Letters Are watched in the
Cars Empire.
From The Danziger zeitung

From the Danziger zeitung.
Much has been written about the CEN
sorship IN Russia. yet the average Russian
is hardly made aware Of the fact that
one may not print everything in the realm
OF the ear Religion. philosophy and
militarism are subjects which must be
treated cautiously. but the press knows
this. and seldom provokes conflict with
the authorities. a great deal Of liberty is
given criticism of officials. but the car
must be respected. Ministers have. OF
course. the power to punish
the papers, but this power
is rarely exercised. They prefer
to purchase the good will Of the press.
SO, at least. Danzlg. which reviews the
manner in which the Russian government
guards the people against the pernlcious
Influences OF liberalism and radicalism.
The black brush of the censor is chiefly
exercised upon foreign publications. The
supervision OF private letters Is, however.
much more strictly exercised. The Rus
sian government is aided In this by an In
stltution created specially to scrutinize
the contents OF letters. This institution
IS called the BLACK Chamber" and IL
described as follows:
1.-THE Black Chamber is a department OF
the imperial mail service. Its duty is TO
examine the contents OF letters and 10 stop
the delivery of missives whose contents APP
pear Objectionable: also 10 inform the po-
lice OF the names of the senders The
Black Chamber wields q power which
would not have been granted II experience
had not forced the government TO do So
Its officials are skillful, experienced and
discreet they exhibit a strong sense OF
duty, and their Office enables them to COM
NIT all manner Of indiscretions under the
gulse of duty.
"Only a certain percentage OF letters are
opened. In quiet times the number IL
small: in times OF strong nihilistic agi-
tation It is increased On an average
probably one letter out OF every ten is
opened All correspondence is subject TO
this-letters from abroad and letters going
abroad. internal and even city mail. AS II
is impossible to guess the contents of
letter by its envelope or the address. the
official trusts to the instinct possessed by
every human being, an instinct which Is
Increased by long practice in the dis
charge OF a particular duty, and which
enables them to make the right choice
very frequently. The Black Chamber
gives special attention to foreign cores
pondence, but its work does not retard
the delivery of letters.
During the reign OF Napoleon /. the po~
lice of the emperor arrived at a high pro-
| ncency In the opening Of letters. Mis-
sives were then held over steam TO dis
solve the gum used inclosing the let
| ter. This method is now regarded as Oh
solete. The Black Chamber has it's own
mode Of proceeding. The envelope is gen.
| orally cut at the side. To close II, after
revision of the contents, a camers hair
saturated with mucilage is placed between
the two parts. Such an opening Is not
easy to discover afterward. A seal is no
protection. The form of the seal is easily
reproduced. The official has an instru-
ment In the form of cylinder containing
numberless loose, fine steel points. This
cylinder is placed over the seal, the
points adjust themselves to the pattern,
and are then fixed in their new position,
and a perfect fac-simile Of the seal is OBJ
tanned, which is used to reclose the letter."
The Black Chamber is a sourse OF much
annoyance and danger to the foreign dlp-
lomats in st. Petersburg, who are COM
PEELED to employ special messengers. Near
ly every communication of importance is
sent by courier to the German frontier.
IT may be added that the ambassadors at
Paris are also forced to employ couriers
| to save their correspondence from the
manipulatlons of the secret police.