The evening times., 1898-11-24

f'' f1n@S an : % - Il lnf pNfgrl.rti-
ss3Ia ,n the hs-ari an. w hy." asks The
Ias-. should the e,iEiiist want to Kill
:: r...saaably good ruler perhaps the
0. 81 thsl Russia is capable of at this
lfr1-. wi-ca e.. attempt on The part OF a
,-zal. To- fa.-. p constitutional govern
ta.ut r-.g glG b., defeated by the nobility
-ss lr, SHOULD she NlhiIist want 70 incur
ti.. da-glr Il getting a VeIy mlch worse
rule. without The least hope Of securing
"a bst-cr2" The reply is that the Nihi-
li=l takes no thought whether the Car
is coed or bad. liberal or oppressive.
Ifn has no feeling toward the rulers and
IS wholly Indifferent as L. Who
and what follows their death by
violence. The killing IS simply
protest against the existing
social and political institutions and
against tho let Of the human race
The NlhilisI has no desire to make the
Iest of any situation, since the best
possible is 50 far removed from tn"
ideal He is hopeless Of achieving amy
l,racti al results, now or hereafter-al-
though here are hgmanists who e&
rect that the continued menace Of assas-
slnation may eventually lead TO an
amelioraticn of the conditions Of Rus
sian lffe-but thinks it worth his while
To- die on the scafold for the killing 81
"A king as a rebulle to whatever powers
there may be.
To understand the view of life Of
those whose attempt on the life OF the
;ussian Emperor and his family and
suite. as reported in this mornings
news, the American would have to sat
urate himself with that fiction of real
ism which had its birth in Gogols ter
rble book, Dead Souls Of thirty
years ago. In the half dozen years
thar followed. the Russian writers took
up Gocors theme-the wretchedness OF
the serfs and the baleful effects Of serf-
dom on masters and men-and in a lic-
tion Of unparalleled power portrayed
the appalling conditions under which
The great body of the people lived. SO
impressive was their work that il moved
Alexander III, after reading Tourgen-
eff ; Leaves from a Sportsmans Note
book" TO complete the emancipation
nf the serfs The same writer. before
he fled from the dangers Of police perse-
cution TO find a luxurious life in Paris.
where he ceased to be the mouthpiece of
suffering Russia. wrote Fathers and
Sons. in which he presented the young
Russia Of thirty years ago in Bazaroff
the first Nihilist. From a study Of that
character the American may form some
idea II the moving spirit of the Nihilist
uf today. Educated exclusively in the
science schools. he sheds his religious
traditions and poses as creature with
ont hopes or emotions of any kind ban
ishing even the filial affections or pre-
lending to rise above them BazaroT
merely tolerates the idolatry of his faith
er whose principles he mocks and whose
hopes Of political progress he sneers at
and derides. For himself, all religion
is childish superstition. We are in the
grasp Of an immoral and oppressive ma
ture, and our struggles to reach higher
plane Of living. to achieve conditions
under which justice shall rule kings and
courts and the mutual relations of men.
are the mirth of ribald powers that
dominate the earth. What man has
acc, mplished in the way OF intellectual
growth has been in spite of nature, and
its only use is TO enable him
10 laugh back in the face of
The gods. The Car and the court
are all the helpless creatures of destiny.
and are no more to be blamed than
praised. They obey an inexorabIe law
"f nature. IL is not in the prospect of
anything better, any more than for
their punishment, that they are assassi-
mated; but only to show that there are
men in the world who recognize the
.nmity of fate and make protest, though
"a no practical purpose Inevitably.
however, even the posing Nihilist is