The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, OCTOBER 26, 1901. THE CZAR’S TOUR AND ANARCHISTS.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 247, 26 October 1901, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, OCTOBER 26, 1901. THE CZAR’S TOUR AND ANARCHISTS.

| News by the Sail Francisco mail gives | some idea of the great importance that ! was attached to the visit of the Czar Ito France. The French press dovotod ! half its space to the event. People in I the smallest lminlot were speaking of | little else. English, German, and j Russian dailies sent special men to I chronicle day by day the preparations | made at Dunkirk, Eheims, and Com--1 piegne, which preparations give an | impression of magnitude, considering j the brief stay in each place. The | installation of kitchens in Oompiegne Castle, where the Imperial-Presidential party spent less than forty-eight hours, cost nearly £200,000, exclusive of the pay of two hundred chefs, specialists of various dishes and scullions. The main problem from the boginning was how to protect the Czar’s family from assassination while on French territory. Such a crime would have such a disastrous effect that the keenest experts of the police of France and Russia were called upon to create a condition of safety. Such exaggeration of caution seemed laughable till the attack upon Presidont McKinley’s life, coupled with the defiant attitude of Anarchist and Nihilist groups, set everybody expecting a sensational attempt of some sort during the naval review. No ship except the men-of-war was allowed within the wide limits patrolled by the torpedo destroyers. Hotheads among the crews of the warships taking part were removed and replaced by trusty sailors. Aboard the Cassini, which carried tiio Czar aud President during the review, three detectives and two engineers inspected every noox of the vessel constantly to prevent tampering with the powder magazine, machinery, or hull. Iho personal effects of the crew were searched and no package allowed aboard unexamined. Coai was spread over sieves beforo being dumped in the bunkers,' and all ammunition used by the thirty warships iu the first saluto of one hundred and one guns each, aud the second of twenty-one guns, was specially inspected, and kept under lock till needed. Railroad tracks between Dunkirk, Eheims, Compiegno aud Paris to Pagny Point, where the Czar loft Prance, were

patrolled day and night, special traini with inspectors running constantly Two days before the trip the entir< line was protected by sentinels wit! loaded rifles, twenty-tire yards apart on each side. Bridges, culverts and tunnels were protected against mining' Tlio cavalry escort was weeded of ah soldiers who had displayed a rebellious spirit or who had beon eoen reading certain books and newspapers containing revolutionary propaganda. ! At Compiegno nobody was now allowed to stop who could not give a clear account of himself to the detectives, so numerous that there had been several funny arrests, one by the other. Members of the Cabinet gave the work their personal supervision. Baudin, Minister of Public Works, practically lived aboard a special train. Delcasse, Minister of Foreign Affairs, also travelled between Rheims, l)unj kirk, and Compiogne constantly, to j make sure that the members of the i respective municipalities were properly instructed how to behave. The Minister of War and tho Minister of the ! Navy each wanted to have his review escel in splendor anything of the sort ever seen. Premier Waldeck alone retained his composure amid the furious trepidation. He simply summoned the police chiefs and said : “I want His Majesty the Czar to feel that ho is safe while under guard of the French h'epublic. Submit me your plans to-morrow and daily thereafter. Report progress to the protective organisation. If the Czar or the President is annoyed you shall be held severely responsible.” A former Chief of Police when interviewed said that perfect protection remained impossible over the attitude of Socialists, which was interesting every national and local organisation, and kept voting resolutions denouncing the Republican Government for receiving the “ most offensive representative of autocratic tyranny, denouncing also the stupidity of the socalled Republican masses eager to prostrate and do homage before the soulless monarch responsible for the horrors of Siberia and the wholesale billing of University students claiming the right of free thought ; who is re- j sponsible for the famine of half his ] oopulation, and is;“ruler only of a • dngdom where the press is rigidly i nuzzled, and ignorance is enforced c jpon the people.” Virulent appeals c inder covered signatures not only to 1 socialists but to prominent professors, j ihysicians, and business men who imply called themselves true Republi- j ans were sent to the French Govern- j, rent.