THE STATE OF RUSSIA.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 202, 30 August 1887, Page 4

THE STATE OF RUSSIA.

The latest report of an attempt to murder the Czar draws fresh attention to the state of affairs in the vast Empire over which h e reigns. As in several previous instances, the would-bo regicide has been unable to carry out his deadly intention—probably because he was unnerved, afe the last moment, by the thought of the outrage which he contemplated on the person of one whom the Russians are taught to revere as their ■' father " in all temporal and spiritual affairs- Thesa re^ peated attempts seem to prove the existence of a kind of epidemic insanity among certain classes of Russia—a morbid sense of wrongs inflicted upon the people by the Czar, and an inordinate craving to become heroes and martyrs by removing the autocrat) whom they ignorantly imagine to be responsible for the state of affairs. Nihilistic doctrines are greatly to blame for producing this condition of mind — probably more . than the actual oppression which the people feel, bub these destructive doctrines are without doubt the natural rebound from tyranny. How unreasoning and insane are these teachings, is shown by recent news stating that a wholesale schema for destroying Sfc. Petersburg by fire had been formed. By means of their complete system of espionage, the authorities received intimation that on a certain date a number of villas in the neighbour^ hood of the capital would be set on! fire simultaneously, and that when the fire brigades would be scattered in all directions, some of the grand public buildings would be given to the flames, without a hope of their being saved. No importance was attached to the threats, but on the following morning twelve villas in the Lessenoy quarter were suddenly discovered to be on fire. A strong, wind was blowing at the time, and the flames rapidly spread. In the end, however, the fire was extinguished by the St. Petersburg brigade, when, just as the engines wero returning to the capital, news was received that & number of villas situated about half a mile beyond the Sampson effsky Prospect were ablaze. The engines dashed off to the scene of the fire, but all the efforts of the firemen failed to extinguish it until sixty villas had bean destroyed, several persons 'perishing in the flames. Thtii total damage was estimated at 2,000,000 roubles. Among the buildings particularly threatened was the Imperial Library, in which are over, a million of valuable books, and many priceless manuscripts. The condition lof Russia, beset by thousands of political fanatics sworn to kill and destroy, and urged on to active warfare in Bulgaria and elsewhere ;by the patriotic party, must be one closely bordering on anarchy, and the natural remedy would seem to be the granting of Constitutional Government so as at once to provide a safety valve for the people's political energies, and to afford a means of bringing the administration in accord with popular feelings. Added toher othertroubles Russia's finances are at the present time hopelessly involved, arid the loan of six million roubles, which she is reported to be floating in Paris may not be a preparation for war, but a necessary financing expedient to keep the country's business moving. The report of the attempted murder of the Czar is unconfirmed, . and we are also in the dark as 'to the object of that monarch's visit to Copenhagen—just as we have no positive data to enable us to determine whether he is the drunken blustering bully that some people say he is, or a brave man verging on madness induced by the constant) fear of violent death. Ibe Copenhagen trißPUky

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