REVIEW.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7223, 11 April 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

REVIEW.

Underground Rwia. By SruPiNAK; with a pritiea oy Pjsi'Bß LAVKil?*' Translated from tha luuau. JLwndou: Smith, Eider,

aud Co. im,

This littlo book, which is to be f mnd in our Atheurailin, co .tains some vivid sketches of what may ba termed the Rdvolutionary paity in Rusaia, and discloses not only the prufecßsd BimH of the party, but- itd iuner life, and Gomo interesting details regardiug auma of its leaders, both male and female; fur it ia one of tho characterised of tha struggle which is being carried on in Holy Ru93ia against Absolutism that some of the nobleot and most influential of the conapiffttora are womon, and tho emancipation of women ia one of the articles of its oreed. The book professedly civeß the Rsvolutiouary bido of the question. The writer himself, whoao real nama is not diaolosetl, but who ia known to bia party by tho pßoudonym "Stepinak,'.' was editor of one of the organa of the party, and deeply implicated in its plans. But though its etatementa must be regarded as one-aided, »nd therefore muat be roceived with oome reservation, there ia an air of truthtulnasa and a moderation of tone about them that oven if tha book had been published under lesß respectable auspices; must oarry a certain degree of conviction to the Blind of tha reader. It is impossible not to loel assured that the writer himself belisvea that what he is writing in true, though it may not ba the whole trutii,

The term "Nihilism" waa invented by Turgheueff, tha novelist, and is now generally accepted rb indicating the characteristics of the whole body of Ruasiau Revolutionist?) who are also stigmatised by tho term " Anarchists.' Tho writer of this volume, however, Bays: "Tho genuius Nihilism wna a philojophical and literary movement which fljuri.-hsd in the firat d«cade after the emancipation of tho serfs—that in to say, between 1860 and 1870. It is now absolutely extinct, and only a few traces oi it lelt. . . . The fundamental principle of Nihilism, properly so called, waa absolute individualism. It was the negation, in the name of individual liberty, of all the obligations conforred upon tbe individual by society, by family life, and by religion. Nihilism was a passionate aud powerful reaction, not against political despotism, but against the moral despotism that weighs upon tne private and inner life of the individual." Further on be sayn : "The Nihilist peeks his own happineßS at whßtaVer cost. Hh ideal is a ' reasonable1 and 'realistic' iito. Tho Kevoiutionist seeks the happiness of others at whatever cost, sacrificing for it hia own. Hia ideal ia a life full ot suffui g and a martyr's death, And yet fate decreed that the forraar, who was not known, and could not ba known, in any other country but his own, should have no name iu Europe; and that the latter, having acquired a terrible ireputntion, should be called by the name of tho other. What irony I The sketches of the livea of several of tha Rayolu ionary party which are given in the book amply aup port th« above assertion respecting their wonderful spirit of self-sacrifice. One cannot but Buy* that these meu and women are no mere yuigar plotters rilled with hatred to their follow creatures, or with a desire for their own advancement. They live lives such as those of the early Christian martyrs—hunted from place to place,suffering from cold, hunger, and aimost every ioim of privation. Death in its most {revolting forms stares them perpetually ia the faca; they stand in hourly fear as much for their deareßt friends aB for themselves. They work incessantly and arduously without wages, and often with a bare subsistence, and they knew that a large proportion of thoir number must choose between exile and a martyr's grave. One whose career iB sketched waa a millionaire, and gave up his whole fortune, While ho scarcely had clothsa to cover him, and waa at laat executed at Odessa for being implicated in a conspiracy. This man, Lisogub by name! ia described as tho iuoat unostentatious of men, never aoeming at all aware that he had done anything extraordinary. Women like the well-known Vera Sassulio, terrible ag are sometimes their deeds, are no mere viragoß and petroleuees, but warmhearted, clear headed, and modest creatures, fitted under happier circumstances to adorn the family circle alike by thoir intellectual and mural quali ficationß. They may ba sadly mistaken, but they are honest iu their convictions, and filled with the "enthusiasm of humanity." Take thia picture of Sophia Puorskaia, a member of a noblo family, and highly culti vated: " A blondo with a pair of blue eyes, aariouß and penetrating, under a broad and spacious forehead} a delicate little noeo; a charming mouth, which showed when she smiled two rows of very fine white teath, . . Notwithstanding her 26 years, shn seemed Bcarcely 18. A small, slender, and very graceful figure, and a voice bb charming,silvory, and sympathetic ag could be, . ~ She bad the laugh of a girl, and laughed with so much heartiness and so unaffectedly that she really seemed ayouog laaaoflO." Aud yet this charm ingyoung woman it was who had tbe direction of the successful attempt on the life of Alexander II on Maich 13, 1881. She drew the pl»«, assigned to the conspirators their respective posts, signalling them by means of a hindkerchief when they were to prooeed. She waa oxeouted with others for her participation in tho crime, refusing all offara from her friends to aid her escape from St. Petersburg, and on the eve of her trial wrote a most beautiful and touohing lettor to her mother. Horrible as is the thought that tender and delicate women can do Buch deeds, iB it not evident that, however mistaken as to meanß, their aim and intention is the good of their fellow creatureH ?_ Similarly, theme who took part in the undermiuing of the St. Petersburg and Moscow railway—a work of enoirnons danger and toil, —and thoae who carried on the seorot prors in a vile don under constant fear of visits from the ever vigilant police or their opiea, displayed a degree of heioio self sacrifico perfectly amazing when we remember that they were not sustained by the hope of future reward. They were philosophic Socialists, without belief in the Christian faith, but consumed with an ardent desire for the emancipation of their country from a cruel despotism. The active party is small, but they have hundreds of thousand" of Bympatbißers. Tho students are with them almost to a man; thoro ara many who give money Becretly, many moro who cono^al the fugitives from the police or pass thum across the frontier. Some of the most timid do this, whilst all the time a prey to sleepless terror. And what ia the ultimate aim of theae people? Even after tho terrible death of the Czw, a proclamation was sent to his successor couched in tbe most moderate language, and offering, if the following programme wore once accomplished, to ceasse all further strife and agitation: " First, a general araneßty for all political offenders, siooa they have committed no crime, but have simply done their duty a3 citizens. Second, the convocation of tho representatives of tbe whole of tho people for the examination of the best forms of Bocial and political life, accordirjfj to the wanta and desires of the people." Then follow some demands necessary to secure complete freedom of election. The immediate demauds ara summed up thus; "The Government will therefore grant us provisional regulations until the convocation of the popular aßaembliea — " (a) Complete fceeJom of tho Press. (6) Complete freedom of speech (c) Complete freedom of pubiio meeting. 1 (rf) Complete freedom of electoral addresseß." All this, to Englishmen, will appear most reasonable; but in Russia it ia treason and revolution. The Government turned a deaf ear, and arrested and executed right and left. Than Alexander waa shut up in Gatschina, and watched over night and day by the military and the police till he has almost became a laughing stuck for hia pusillanimity. And what will the end be? Stepin:ik Bays it must go on till, if nead be, hundreds of governors and police directors and high officials ara destroyed, or till the down trodden peaaantß rise in their misery to avenge themselves on their oppressors, and then ooma leader may spring up to turn the bursting seeds of revolution to account. The Czar Bits on a volcano, and some day its flames must burst suddenly forth. Deeply an we must deplore tha means which the Revolutionists feel themselves driven to employ, owing to the natural timidity of their sympathising countrymen and the torrible strength of the oppreesor, we must nevertheless heartily sympathise with their primary ends, A country which cansubmit tothe hourly oversight of "dovrnika" overevery house—men whom tho landlords are compelled to pay aB informers to the police, and of whom they themselves stand in dread—it may be said hardly deaervesfreedom.but educationand foreign influences are slowly at work, and resolute and Belt sacrificing women are secretly directing every movement which can serve their cause, Time fighta for them, for the atross and strain on the authorities is enormous. The finance of the Empire in in a frightful condition. Tbo whole beaurocracy is honeycombed by peculation, and the peasants are, though nominally emancipated, ground down by the lorda of the soil to the verge of starvation. If thia ia, aa we believe, a true picture, can anyone believe that auchaatate of things Jan laat much longer ? Tho Czar, may for a time console himaalf by military exploits, and by puahing forward the boundaries of hiß Empire, but the handwriting is on the wall. He has been weighed in the balance and found wanting, Either he muafc repent or he must fall. Unhappily, religion ia on his aide, and must suffer a temporary eclipse with his downfall. The Bocial regeneration of Kuaaia can hardly take placs without much bloodshed. The reaction from blind superstition is Atheism, but the Atheißtic Socialists of Russia areAtbeißtio in tbeir ideas-, though they t,ght with such terrible weapons. They are not endued with.the fierce hate of the terrorists of tha French Revolution-they do not even demand a republio; but the more they are repressed the sterner will they become. This little bock will do much to win thoughtful Italians and Englishmen over to their cauaa, and in the main their cause is juat.

-A recant traveller in Asia, Mr Webster, stateß that ho haß lived four months at tue height nf mure than 15.000 feet above the ocean, with the following results: His dulbb, normally, only 63 beaks per minuto, Boldora fell below 100 beats per minute during the tirao ha lived ot thut altitude. His respirations were often twios as mumerous as under ordinary circum stances. A run of 140 yards would quicken both pulae and respiration more than a run ot 1000 at the soa level, and tbs higher the altitude at which ha renided the greater he found the difficulty of walking or running fast. " BnoHU-i'AißA."—Quick, complete oure, of annoying kidney, bladder, and urinary disoaßM At drugrists^-KEMMHOBHiI, PROSa»B, \m 00,, a^eritß, Ohiiatol)»mb.-[AnvT (