THE REVIVAL OF NIHILISM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6422, 17 June 1882, Page 7

THE REVIVAL OF NIHILISM.

An English resident in St. Petersburg sends to the Pall Mall Gazette the following account of what ho regards as a revival of Nihilism in Russia : — 1 ' Nihilism, fondly supposed by Russian officials to be (lead or dying, has given an unmistakable sign of life and vigour. The hand of the political assassin- - has once more been raised in Russia, and auother of the Czar's highly trusted officials has fallen a sacrifice to the determination of the revolutionists. Last Friday morning the official gazette published ill St. Petersburg the final and commuted sentences on the batch of . twenty-two Nihilists who had recently been tried and announced that the Czar's clemency had been ex-fijiued to nine of the ten condemned to deaili, and that the' tenth, Souehanoff, the navai officer, was to be shot the same day at Cronstadt. Tho official journal did not however, announce what nevertheless soon became known to all the world, namely, that on tho previous afternoon, the chief military Public Prosecutor, Strielnikoff,' had been struck down by an assassin while walking in broad daylight on the crowded promenade at Odessa. Many circumstances have combined to iiicreaso the impression produced by this latest political tragedy. It was well known in St. Petersburg that but a. few days previously the Czar aud- his Chief Minister, General IgnatiefT,. had been interchanging congratulatory communications on tho extinction of Nihilism as an active element of danger; slid suddenly as if in mockery of their dreams, the official who had teen moat active in hunting down and bringing to trial tho political conspirators, and whose reports had no doubt been the foundation ■; f the illusions of the Emperor and his Minister, himself falls a victim to the conspiracy which he had declared to be hopelessly crushed. That the affair was deliberately and carefully planned is proved by the fact that the assassin had an accomplice present and ready to assist in the case of need. That both were animated by a like determination is proved by the desperate struggle which took place before they were captured ; and that the general public who crowded the promenade were apathetic is proved by the escape of t\e principal erimnal from the immediate scene uf the murder, his subsequent capture being ipparently due to accidental circumstances Since the arrest of Kolodkivitch, and the liacovery that this trusted official in the chancery of the secret police was the aider uid abettor of the Nihilist conspirators, there lias apparently been little difficulty in following up and arresting all' the leading members if the band which, under, the direction of Tcliaboff and Peroffskaya, compassed the leath of the late emperor. Stefanovitch and ivohiseif, from whose shop the mine had been carried under the Malaia Sadovia street, ong eluded the vigilance of the police, but ,vith their capture, some ten days ago, it apicared to tho Russian authorities that a final ilow had bee» dealt to the conspiracy which lad so severely shaken the empire. The lews of the tragedy at Odessa fell like a thunderbolt among tile officials at St Petersburg arid. Gatchina. This latest crime, iccompanied by every aggravating circumitance of evident deliberation, combination iud determination, was the result of a year >f repressive measures, and of the arrest, >anishmeiit, or execution of hundreds of- the tzar's subjects. The peasantry have lately ;iven ominous signs of a rising'spirit of rcistance to authority, and there is evidently i feeling oil restlesness and disquietude preading .against the 'once docile agriiiiltural popufation.' Should the peasantry ;ver seriously determine to overthrow the iresent system'of government,'the power of ihe Russian autocrat will not last an hour ; rat in the meanwhile it would appear that he Czar aud his Ministers have only to deal vith a very restricted class, whose numbers, n proportion to the whole population, are extremely small, wlio.have so far little or no lirccc influence among the peasantry, and vhose pecuniary resources are trifling. The ifficial descriptions of the persons who have >een tried and. condemned during the last ,vro years give sufficient evidence' as to the slasses which furnish recruits tq Nihilism. Che male and female. Nihilists who have jerished on the scaffold, or are now under;oing punishment in Siberia, have nearly all lelonged to the growing middle class in iussia. A few enthusiasts of higher rank md fortune have been f9und among the revolutionists, but the great majority are dis--0:1 tented and impecunious members of a niddle class which is trying to assert itself, >ut which finds no place in the autocratic ystem. The great noble is recognised, and te ia necessarily an official, and feels his in-; ;erests to be identical with those of the lourt. The professional officials, doctors, larristers and railway engineers are recoglised, and are absolutely dependent on Government patronage. The tchinovniks are ■ecognised, and their hopes of promotion, jension and even illicit gain are based on the jatronage and protection of their superiors. Che successful merchant who pays his guild; lues is recognised, and his pecuniary in-; ;ercsts bind him to the side of authority; j md lastly, the peasantry are recognised, and ire considered to be. aecured by being made he inalienable possessors of land, and by a lystem of communism which venders each .'illage society answerable for the welfare and londition of its members. But luckless are ;o-day in Russia the individuals who caiinot iroperly be classed in any of the above categories. The educated peasant who has levered his connection with the village, the ion-official professional mau, the successful racier, the children of the poorly paid petty ifficial, of the clergy, and of the small projrietors, all those and many such require to ind a place in society, and the Government las decreed that there shall be none for them, iducation is unnecessary for the masses, is all the wants of both their bodies and souls ire provided for by the superior authorities. Such are the dreams of the Russian reacionists which have been rudely disturbed by he daring crime at Odessa, and it is once nore proved that coercion alone 13 no reuedy. -