THE RUSSIAN UKRIVATELI.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1586, 22 April 1887, Page 3

THE RUSSIAN UKRIVATELI.

The escape from Siberia of Degreiff, alias Jablonski, the Russian Nihilist who planned and assisted in accomplishing the murder of the chief of police of St Petersburg three years ago, and his successful journey across the Czar's domain, and even through his capital, to Switzerland, draws attention again, says The New York Commercial Advertiser, to the internal disturbances that threaten the Muscovite tyrant while he is making preparations for an aggressive war. For while Alexander is planning the extension of Russian territory in all directions, the terrible secret organisation that took his father's life is daily scheming to compass his own death, and so mysteriously does this conspiracy spread that the great autocrat does not know what servant of his household or officer of hia army may not be a Nihilist assassin awaiting an opportunity to avenge the executions and tortures that have been the fate of his brethern and sisters of the awful order of terrorists.

Not the least significant menace to the peace of mind of the Czar ia that branch of the " underground railroad " in St Petersburg which is in the hands of the ukrivateli, or" concealers." The ukrivateli, as described by Stepniak, are a very large class of Russian citizens who sympathise with the JN"ihilists and share the revolutionary idea, without going so far as to take any active steps in the secret warfare against the Government. The concealers hold all manner of social and official positions, and it is this circumstance that makes it possible for a Nihilist refugee, for whom the entire police department and secret service of Ht Petersburg are searching, to remain quietly in the city under the very eyes of the officers and spies without being detected. These concealers are chiefly of the nobility and aristocracy and the upper middle class, and they are even among the minor officers in every branch of the Government service, including the police. It is owing to the existence of the ukrivateli that the police of St Petersburg are empowered to enter and search the dwelling of any citizen, however lofty or humble his position, at any hour of the day or night, to ascertain if perchance be is giving refuge to some suspected Nihilist or escaped exile of the order, The

"dvornik" or concierge of every Russian dwelling is a police spy, and for him to report that a stranger is being given shelter is considered a sufficient cause to search the house at dead of night or height of noon and demand of the guest his passport, failing to produce which he is forthwith taken to the great prison of St Pet<r and St Paul, within whose grim walls prisoners are now languishing whose tales might rival the horrors of the Bastille. There is no habeas corpus in Russia, and there are said to be polii - cal prisoners in these cells who have grown from youth to old age while awaiting trial.

But the fact that the members of the ukrivateli are by the very circumstances of their existence as such, unknown to the police, makes it possible for refugees to be hidden by them for months. Of course* if a Nihilist were found in the house of one of these concealers, the concealer himself would forever after be* suspect, even if he were not sentenced, and therefore the harbours of refuge that remain open to the revolutionary refugees are safe until the police establish the fact that a citizen is a member of the ukrivateli by the capture of an illegitimate guest. So secretly are the underground agencies able to work, however, that a fugitive is passed from one concealer toanother, often remaining in St Petersburg for months, while persistent search is being made for him daily, and finally escaping from the country as soon as police vigilance is relaxed. Prince Krapolkin, in spite of the fact that he was one of the best known men in the city, was able to remain hidden for many weeks among the friends of the cause, and Stepniak has related his narrow escapes as he was passed from one to another of the ukrivateli while awaiting an opportunity to flee the country after the attempt on the life of the Czar at Moscow.

One ca& hard[y help admiring the resolution and courage of Alexander 111., who is undertaking great military enterprises, while realising that his life is in daily peril from unseen and unknown foes, and yet the sympathy of mankind must be with the Nihdists' movement, cruel and sanguinary as is its policy, rather than with the brutal tyranny of the Russian despot, who is almost the sole obstacle te the civilisation of a great people.