The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-27
ncrErpIna NrirrLIsM. {. 'ir.

nUEDNpxNa NfIlILIsM.
 Twenty odd years aec. soon after fhe assAssinasion of Alexander IL, Enl- percr of Russis. wendell Phillips. the 'Eseat apostle of Abolftionism, delivered \ carefully prepared speech before one of the learned societies of Harvard Colr |lege, the tASnots of which may bs Round In this sentence; "Nihilism is &he Htshteous and honorable resistance Eef . people crushed under an iron rule" Aad fhjs: "NihiIism Is the last weapon of victims chokcd and manacled beyond all other resistance"
 These words were deliberately ut tered, and they formed the theme up- on which his speech was constructed.
 Alexander. only few weeks before. had been assassinated by a bomb thrown hy Nihilist, just as sergius was killed few days ago. The entire speech was a defence of nihilism. and practically an endorsement of the act of the bomb thrower who killed the Czar. Phillips drew q vivid picture. as only he could draw. of the conditions existing in Rusisa and argued that the only hope Of the Russian people was by and through just such acts as the one which. had just deprived Russia of . ruler. lie Alss exceriatsd our own people for express,hs abhorrence of the act of the sNihiiist and declared that sof all the cants that are canted In this esnting world the cant of Ameri- cans bsvailias Rassian Nfhiiism is the worst.
 This was the doctrine of great New England orator less than quarter of "a century ago. The New Bedford Standard declares that "the men who now sax in substance. what Phillips said to that cultured shd comfortable assenbiase at Cambridge are many. !" Perhaps that may betrpe, for there are many who are. believers in just such acts as that which lately sent sergius tq his grave. but we do not believe that the best thought of the American peopls runs in that direction They detest Russian tyranny but do not con- done assassination. The Standard in- sists that the act of the assassin was "one of the inevitable steps in the. ev- olution of freedom for Rusla.'
 Possibly cur contempqrary is correct, but if 90 it is melancholy and dis eouraging renectiqn. No people can deserve freedom if itmust come through such means as that not can the Rus sians expect sympathy, assistance or encouragement from ,ths civilized world of today # they propose to open the way to fresdem by resertiug to such means. .A free and libArty-ioving peo- pie liks .euns ean. have DO sympathy with the. autocracy of Russia. but the general abhorrence expressed for Gui- teau and ezolgoz should be sufficient evidence that Americans abhor their methods as they detest the Russian tyranny.
 ; To adopt the words of The Indianap- her assassins seeks in the palaces the remedy for misery that is only to be found with the people. Not a dragging royalty down. but in lifting the masses up is Russia's true path to peace and plenty Freedom, said an old philoso- pher, is for those who are fit for 1t. Some day the Nihilists will view with glee the murdered body of their Elm peror and possibly those of the three surviving Grand Dukes and Grand Duchess Marie heirs to the throne. But these acts of violence will not qualify these assassins nor their fellows for rulers. nor will thay alleviate the Rus sian masses from the ignorance and helpisssnsss wAieh bind them down"