PRIVATE LIFE IN RUSSIA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 3487, 14 June 1879, Page 3

PRIVATE LIFE IN RUSSIA.

A correspondent of tho Pull Mall Gazelle in describing the peculiar aspect of affairs in Russia, sayß :— " Nobody talks of Liberalism in drawing-rooms, for th* ro aro so many conspiracies afoot. Thero is bo much espionage, arresting, and exiling to Siberia that tho most dangerous rebels aro those who uso the most fulsome adulation in speaking of the Court. An imprudent word might cost too dear at a moment when assassins aro believed to be lurking everywhere, and when the official journals aro screaming in a panic to the police thafc fchey are nofc active nor watchful enough. Here is a little example of what fche police aro expected to do : After the attack on Goneral Drenteln ifc was ascertained thafc tho young man who had shot afc him had for somo weeks previously been taking riding lessons, with a viow, as ib now seems, of escaping readily after his crime. So the (jtolos writes: — 'It is astonishing thafc fcho owner of fcho riding-scho?l did not; feel* his Buspioionß exciiod by the young man's coming daily fco take lessons. He should have mado; inquiries, and had him watched.' Watch a man because he takes riding lessons ! Why .not, then, set; detectives upon evory person who dines daily at tho samo restaurant ? As a fact, it seems that the police; do watch so much and so annoyingly that a prudent man will nofc slop fco stare afc tho Imperial palace, nor ask audience of a Minister, nor purchase cartridges for his sporting guns, lest he should be suspected of sinister designs. Foreigners who comeintoßujsiahave always been oloaelylooked after by the police ; . but now Russians travelling within fcheir own', country aro pestered ojuito as much as foreigners. A boyard. from the provinces comes up to St. Petersburg on •business, and , alights at a greafc hotel like Demufch's. Ho must exhibit * his passport, vised by. the authorities of all fcho towns where ho has spent a night during his journey j and fchis done ho must obtain a peritiis. de sejottr from the police of tho capital. Whilo he has gono to ono of fcho offices of tho Third Section on this! errand detectives who have requested, him to givo up liis keys, proceed to his hotel room, arid overhaul every articlo in his luggage,confi*.cating his private ictfcors afc fcho. samo fcimo for leisurely perusal afc' their convenience. Our tourist returns to table d'hoto dinner and onfcers into conversation \vjth a fellow-

countryman by' his side, or he goes off to spend an evening afc the WintorJSardens jmd ■licflrillt Pifris?- -felt flay j/is arresSd wd brought; tor book, for * haviiig 7 ' Been 'chitting with people who turn out to be conspirators, It may be said fchafc a man can avoid talking to strangers afc table d'h6re; but fche Provin-, oial Russian may chance to be arrested simply because .. he . has . attended a party at the house of some great lady who has been collared by the police because she is a friend of a prince of the blood .-who has suddenly | fallen into disgrace. When one hears of the Czarewitch being a prisoner in his own house, of. another Grand Duke being exiled to his estates, and of dozens of noblemen, ladies, and even young girls being arrested for supposed complicity with the Nihilists, it becomes obvious that the moral atmosphere in whioh Russiansocietyis now livingmust be one of freezing terror. Beogje who have spent the last winter seaaon at Sfc Peteraburg describe ifc as having been funereally dull ; though this city was never so crowded with wealthy families, because most of the landowners have grown afraid to live on their estates, nofc only because they dread Nihilist risings among fche peasantry, bufc because they fear to have enemies at Court who might accuse; them of having fomented such outbreaks- Tide miserable Btate of publio uneasiness cannot last long. Tho Russians-are an impulsive people, who love to talk and enjoy themselves. They had enough compression under' Nicholas; and the present revival of this ri.qime can only result in converting all of them into conspirators. In fact, they are all* conspirators as it ia ; for everybody is more or leas exercised in devising meana of extrication from tho quandary, and ifc muat needs be that many incline to means which are deprecated by the authorities. As to the Czar's intentions, nothing ia known. Bufc he is supposed to be brooding in the helpless bewilderment of a man who is afraid to touch a single brick in a cranky fabric lest the whole of it should tumble down." .