A RECORD OF CASUALTIES AND EXECUTIONS IN RUSSIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2757, 16 January 1907, Page 79

A RECORD OF CASUALTIES AND EXECUTIONS IN RUSSIA.

The Hon. Maurice Baring, in a letter to the Morning Post, dated St. Petersburg, November 19, says : — Between the 17th of October, 1905, andi the 17th of October, 1906, 16,992 people ■were killed and wounded in Russia owing to political disorder. If we deduct the number of wounded from this figure, wd get a total of 7331 killed. The larger figure includes ordinary inhabitants and representatives of the Government, 13,381 of the victims being inhabitants, 3611 representatives of the Government (including the wounded and those who were victims of murderous attempts). As regards the inhabitants, they perished thus ; 215 were shot by ordinary courts-martial, 341 by field courts-martial (in the period of one month and a-half), 741 by punitive expeditions, and the rest by soldiers, police, hooligans, and robbers. Of representatives of authority the greatest number of victims were soldiers and Coesasks, amounting to 750. Next in rank to these come the policemen and the watchmen, amounting to 452 ; then police officers, inspectors, and sergeants (226). Besides these there are 123 officials, 109 officers, 96 agents of the secret police, 81 Gover-nors-general and officials of high rank, 60 chiefs of police, and 33 gendarmes of higher rank. Of the inhabitants of the country, from October. IV, 1905, in less than half a month, 4083 people were killed in "pogroms in 84 town*; in November 774 were killed in the same way, and during this month there were no executions. In December, resulting from punitive expeditions, the armed rising in Moscow, revolts in nine towns, an<J a "pogrom" in the Ekaterinoslavski Government, the number of killed amounts to 4721. In January 995' people were killed, out of which 279 were condemned to death, with or without trial, the majority of these being in the Baltic provinces. In February the number fell to 387, 220 of which were condemned to death. In March there weue no sentences of death, and the number of killed and wounded fell to 209. Ir April there were 227 killed and wounded and only eight executions. From the end of April till the end of May o there were 424 killed and 41 executions;' in July 998 killed and wounded, 25.executions. In this- month, according to official reports, there were 52 cases of disturbances among the troops. In August there were 1743 killed and wounded. At the end of August the field courts-martial began, and for September we have 638 killed and wounded and 254 executions, 147 of which were carried out by the field courts-martial and 17 without any trial. During the first 16 days of October we have 310 killed and wounded, 25 executions by ordinary courts-martial, and 81 by extraordinary courts-martial. Since the instituion of these tribunals up to to-day

there have been 358 executions by their order.. Taking the representatives of authority the number of victims is as follows : — October, 1905, 65 ; November, 39; December, 316; January, 1906, 337; February, 39; March, 39; April, 42; May, 126 ; June, 142 ; July, 239 ; August, 322 ; September, 168 ; half the month of October (1-16), 73.

The number of bombs thrown during the year amounts to 244. During the latter half of October there were two successful thefts of Government money on a large scale, and bombs were thrown at General Rennepkampf and the Governor of Moscow, besides a daily list of smaller crimes and robberies which' read generally as follows (I transcribe from, the Xoroe Vremya of yesterday) : — At Vinitza a bomb was thrown by a schoolboy in the house of the schoolmaster. At Neforosh a guard was wounded. At Sebastopol a midshipman shot another. At Serdobski a Government magistrate and one of his attendants were killed. At Poltava the General of the garrison was killed. In the Government of Viborg the assistant of the Chief of Police was wounded. Sums were stolen in different parts of Russia to the amount of 14,244 roubles. An attack was made on an estate in Ekaterinoslav. A goods train was robbed. This is a fair example of the daily list. Sometimes it is much longer. As to the number of people who have been sent to faroff places without a trial (as Tacitus says, "et si ob gravitatem cccli interissent, vile damnum") accounts differ, the Strana estimating the number at 40,000, and the Novo Yremya indignantly stating that the number amounted only to 4000 or 8000, I forget which.

From all of which the writer deduces two facts — (1) That the country is not yet pacified ; (2) that the Government has not yet the confidence of a large section of the population. The question that tKen arises is this, Are these people blind and mad, sick with hysteria, blind and deaf with party hatred and passion, that they do not give th«ir support to the Government, since it is admitted on all sides that M. Stolypin is an honourable man and is honestly determined to carry out reforms? He states the facts, and concludes : — Were I a Russian, my confidence in the present Government would vary in accordance with my belief in its strength and its efficiency and not in accordance with its professions of Liberalism ; that is to say/ I should consider it to be a Government exactly of the 6ame kind as that of M. Plehve (it must not be forgot^n that M. Plehve stated that his ultimate object was the introduction of drastic reforms), which the people must bear with unless they are 6trong enough by united and peaceful effort, or by an armed rising, to force it to capitulate.