RUSSIA’S INTERNAL AFFAIRS

Southland Times, Issue 19725, 27 January 1906, Page 2

RUSSIA’S INTERNAL AFFAIRS

EXPENDED FORCE. Per United Press Association. By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. LONDON, Jan. 26< ' "Received 26th, 9.37 a.m: Router’s St. Petersburg correspondent states that the revolutionary 'movement in the Caucasus is dcclin--ling. . , - j BIDING THEIR TIME. I A congress of Polish revolutionists, held in Finland, resolved to 'discountenance revolutionary action untc'l April 14th, when they will resume the struggle along with the 'peasantry. I CONSIDERING. | ST. PETERSBURG, Jan. 26. Received 26th, 11 p.m. * ■ The Government is considering the .initiation of vast public .works to relieve the Starving peasants, j A GREAT UNDERTAKING, i An American firm offers to construct a Baltic-Black Sea canal at a cost of forty- millions sterling. A PITIFUL MONARCH. THE THREATENED CZAR. Perhaps the most interesting feature of official life in St, Petersburg (writes Mr L, S. Farlow irt " Harper’s Weekly ”) is the elaborate system by which the Emperor Nicholas is guarded night and day by spies, both male add female) who are in turn spied upon ; And even the spies of spies are well aware that their movements also arc watched and recorded. Is it any wonder that the Czar of All the Russias, ruler of a hundred and fifty million people, is to be pitied- even by the humblest ? Nor is it to be wondered at that he is timid and nerve-shaken to a de--gree. His nervousness ncreased after M. Plehve’s assassination; and since Die tragic death of the GrandDuke Sergius the spy system has become more complicated than ever. It is no exaggeration to say that there arc whole regiments of officials and carefully picked men and women who guard the Czar. These officials are scattered through Hue Ministry of the Interior, the Secret Police, and the Ministry of War. The ordinary police force of St. Petersburg is ruled by the Minister of the Interior, but although he is supposed to be supreme chief of thd Secret Police, he is so only in name. When the Czar is at one of his palaces Pcterhof, Tsarskoe-Selo, or Pavlovsk —picked men are deputed by the Minister of the Interior to patriot the neighbourhood of the Imperial headquarters, both within and without. These men got high pay, speak several languages, and are scientifically trained in modern criminology'. Each carries a brace of small revolvers, and is absolutely regardless of his own safety.

| Practically everyone they meet is an object of suspicion to them, and his or her movements are to be noted and reported upon. The way in which these men are shitted about is perplexing and baffling in its intricacy. Moreover, they spy upon one another, and not one of them Knows, from one hour to another, where ho will be stationed. Of these men there are perhaps four or five hundred in the capital, and before they are selected for this service their records, their antecedents, their friends and relatives, must bear the closest scrutiny and 1.K2 known in the minutest detail. There arc circles within circles in this sinister system, perhaps the most interesting of which is that known as the Third Section of the Secret Police —the men who' ere charged with safeguarding the body of the .Czar. The knowledge and power of these detectives are all but incredible. High officials, nominally their superior in rank, dread the vicinity of these men, lest their most innocent act —a call on a friend, a journey for health or pleasure—bo cons-tnicd into something demanding explanation. Needless to say. the men of the Third Section are highly educated, and they are artists in the mat Tr of disguise. They are able to mix with perfect confidence with the best society, as well as among the humblest peasants. A favourite cather-ing-place for their members is in and around (he railway statim at St. Petersburg, wdiore one takes the train for Tsarskoe-Selo. Here some of them are to be found in llio guise of porters, while others again arc wrapped in sallies and mink, impersonating a nobleman on bis journey, i Some of the most valuable find least suspected spies that guard the Czar arc women of high rank, who frequent the aristocratic salons of Petersburg and Moscow, and even go as far afield as the Siberian cities of Tomsk, Tobolsk and Irkutsk. There are also spies among | the Imperial Guards, and for these f men the entire army and reserves of Imperial Russia are ransacked. Among them one finds men from the Don and Dnieper Cossacks, the Mahommedan forces from Kazan, the Caucasian provinces, and even from far Kashgar in Central Asia, as well as from the Imperial Preobrajensky and Pavlovski Guards. The unquestioning and dog-like fidelity of these men is wonderful. They are absolutely fearless, of great physical strength, and mentally of unusual acumen and foresight. There arc nearly one thousand of these military guards constantly employed in and about the park and palace of Tsars-koe-Solo. One might suppose that the Emperor Nicholas would sleep peacefully, surrounded by this amazing human network of protection. Yet revolutionists penetrate the royal apartments, and leave letters of sinister menace and warning, which must often suggest to the unhappy monarch that it might be as well for him to do away with this furtreaching system of espionage and mingle freely with his people.