p. 143 | Russian Affairs

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 1, 1879

Russian Affairs.

The Russian government has often been spoken of as a form of “despotism tempered by assassination.” The saying never before had more truth in it than now. Between the secret terrors of Nihilism and the brutal horrors of relentless absolutism, the struggle is deadly and desperate. The six chief cities of the empire, with the territories adjacent, St. Petersburg, Charkoff, Odessa, Moscow, Kieff, and Warsaw, have been placed under martial law, in charge of the six leading generals of the army. To these Governors General is given the most unlimited power. No Asiatic despot could ask for greater. Not only is the civil administration committed to them, but the control of all educational establishments. They are authorized summarily to remove from their respective districts all persons whose continued residence may be considered dangerous; to order the arrest of any person whatsoever on their own judgment and responsibility; to suppress temporarily or permanently any newspapers or periodicals, should they appear to follow subversive tendencies, and generally to adopt such measures as they consider necessary for the preservation of the public peace.

A London paper, referring to the Czar’s proclamation, says: “We cannot attempt to forecast the result of the duel between Nihilism and Militarism to which this proclamation seems to be the challenge. It is an attempt to meet disturbers with something like their own weapons, and to put down lawlessness by suspension of law. For the time during which this ukase lasts, and in the wide and important districts to which it is applied, Russia ceases to be what she has recently been, and relapses into a condition of practical barbarism at once. And, without even a form of anything that can be called a trial, any man’s life or fortune may be taken from him in these six great cities and their dependencies. Perhaps this evil state of things would not be too much to bear if it were likely to relieve the country of the malignant political disease from which it appears to be suffering. But if such relief were to result from such measures, it would be for the first time in history. The military tribunals of the Six Governments may punish swiftly and savagely, but they will neither prevent nor cure.—” Advance.