RUSSIA. 



RUSSIA, RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN. 737 



plaisant nature would not allow him to dismiss 

 a subordinate for any cause. Tolstoy was by 

 training a rigorous bureaucrat of unimpeacha- 

 ble integrity, who was not inclined to suffer 

 negligence or irregularity, apart from the con- 

 sideration that the success of his policy de- 

 pended on reforming the abuses of the bureau- 

 cratic government. The Tolstoy government 

 depends principally upon lightening the burden 

 of taxation to stem the tide of discontent, and 

 followed the scheme of tax reform already in- 

 augurated by Ignatieff. 



Pobodonoszeff, as the Czar's representa- 

 tive in the Holy Synod, proposed to lay deep 

 the foundations of loyalty and orthodoxy by 

 turning all the public schools into parochial 

 schools. He directed the popes and bishops 

 to anathematize atheists and Nihilists, and 

 strictly catechise their parishioners so as to 

 check any tendency to freedom of thought on 

 religion or politics. Count Tolstoy announced, 

 nevertheless, a plan for the toleration of the 

 " least harmful " of the sects, meaning the Old 

 Believers of Muscovy. 



NIHILISTS. Ignatieff took more thorough 

 police measures against political conspirators 

 than Loris Melikoff, who hoped that the Nihil- 

 istic fury would abate after constitutional re- 

 forms, until the murder of Alexander II ren- 

 dered Melikoff and his reforms impossible. 

 "When, after a few months of quiescence, the 

 Nihilists again raised their heads, and published 

 threats against the new Czar, who was securely 

 immured in Gatchina, the police found the 

 office of the "Tchernay Peredel," their most 

 violent organ, and arrested there a lady of the 

 noble class, Marie Constantinovna Kryloff, and 

 three others. This was before the attempted 

 murder of General Tcheverin by the young 

 noble Sankoffsky. On February 21st the twen- 

 ty Nihilists accused of being implicated in the 

 eleven great crimes, beginning with the mur- 

 der of General Mesentsoff and ending with that 

 of the Czar, were tried and convicted, ten of 

 them being sentenced to death as accomplices 

 in the regicide, which sentence was commuted 

 to hard labor in the Siberian mines. On March 

 30th General StrelnikofF, Public Prosecutor at 

 the Kiev Military Tribunal, was assassinated. 

 Notwithstanding numerous arrests the "Na- 

 rodnaya Volia " appeared occasionally, and the 

 Nihilists were evidently aiming at the life of 

 the closely-guarded Emperor. The coronation 

 was indefinitely postponed. In April a mine 

 was discovered under the Moscow Cathedral, 

 where the coronation was to take place. A 

 plot to blow up the Kremlin was also detected. 

 In June a band of conspirators, forty in num- 

 ber, was arrested in St. Petersburg. They met 

 at the house of a veterinary surgeon, and com- 

 prised ladies, military officers, and, among oth- 

 ers, a man filling a confidential post in the 

 Ministry of the Exterior. The garrison of the 

 Peter and Paul prison was discovered to be 

 infected with Nihilism to such an extent that 

 a considerable number of condemned persons 

 VOL. xxn. 47 A 



who were supposed to be in Siberia were found 

 to be living in the fortress, in the enjoyment of 

 many indulgences. The Czar never showed 

 himself outside of his voluntary prison, except 

 on three occasions, when he visited St. Peters- 

 burg, and on the visit to Moscow, in Septem- 

 ber, 1881. 



A number of societies were formed with the 

 object of combating Nihilism. The Sviaschen- 

 naia Drujina, or Holy League, was formed by 

 nobles and rich merchants, and employed a 

 great number of hired agents. It borrowed 

 the secret method and organization of the Ni- 

 hilist committees. The head of the organiza- 

 tion was Pobodonoszeff. The Dobrovolnaya 

 Ochrana, or Volunteer Guard, was formed of 

 military and civil officers. It was directed by 

 Count Vorontzoff Dashkoff, the Minister of 

 the Imperial Household, and had the support 

 of Count Ignatieff. This society had also a 

 political aim, that of constitutional and land 

 reforms, which was expounded in a journal 

 called the " Northern Lights," published at 

 Leipsic. Among other associations of a simi- 

 lar character was the Anti-Terrorist' Society, 

 still more secret and Nihilistic than the Drujina, 

 which stood in some relation to the police, and 

 endeavored to spy out the movements of the 

 Russian revolutionists in the other parts of 

 Europe as well as in Russia. 



RUSSIA, RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN. The 

 condition of the vast Russian Empire, in re- 

 gard to religious liberty, or toleration of con- 

 flicting opinions and views, is anything but 

 encouraging or satisfactory. Dissenters from 

 the established Church of every kind and de- 

 scription exist largely in Russia, and, though 

 nominally millions are entered on the records as 

 belonging to that Church, they do not acknowl- 

 edge their obligations to the Church of the 

 land, but protest most earnestly against inva- 

 sions of the rights of conscience. Religious 

 complications frequently occur, and the Gov- 

 ernment has its hands full in endeavoring to 

 unravel and manage these annoying difficulties. 

 Not long since several hundreds of Tartar fam- 

 ilies in the eastern district of Ufa and Kazan 

 abandoned the " Orthodox " or state Church, 

 and openly gave in their adhesion to Moham- 

 medanism, to which they had all along been 

 attached. What to do with these and the like 

 cases is a puzzle to the authorities. In the 

 western district, i. e., Poland, there are large 

 bodies of inhabitants who once belonged to the 

 Greek-Umat faith. Officially, as far as Gov- 

 ernment is concerned, this faith is dead, hav- 

 ing expired some forty years ago, and those 

 professing it are counted in with the "Ortho- 

 dox." But, though not calling themselves 

 "Uniats" any longer, many of these joined 

 the Roman Catholic body in Russia, and re- 

 fuse to be considered "orthodox." What is 

 to be done in such cases ? No one seems to 

 know. In the south, in the heart of "Little 

 Russia," the old conservative region, dissent 

 has made considerable progress. The sect of 



