POLICE AND TERRORISTS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 484, 17 April 1909, Page 5

POLICE AND TERRORISTS.

:':^vß' ; i; Russia's; METHODS.; ; : : ';: ■';''■' i •/BOGUS BEVOLIITIbNARIES AS STATE i&^l :: 'C-K'':OAGENTS: ■. ':;;;■; : : [Bi'TEtEpBAPn-TpKESS'. ASSOCrATIOK--COPI HIOHT.) :■ ''■};. ;■-,-! J■•::/,' :St,; Petersburg, April.l 6. ; : 'j "An \'indictm(mt7 ; oharge3 vM.|; .Lopukhin, 'fprmerly.A'oliief ;'of' -the; 1 Russian- .detective having,-, under.; stress. ofintimidationy. betrayed Azeff'to.-tlie, >evolutiona,ries, thus' : Assisting eneln'ies: ; ;AKeff ; fled Rowing -.'betrayal. "The .indictment;■ VVcapit-ulafces : 'Azeff's C enormous and- sur'pr|sing services to tho Secret Police*; director .of police under the Departmontiof the Ministry ..of the '-H:;"v "-''t ; -"' ; '':''- .''.'" ■•■ W/'EUGE^ ■ . ;The 'double vlife of Eugene Azeff,' as told by ,the :;Etiglish .press;: is : astounding... For years.' he/ organised' revolutionary/conspiracies,, while at the same/time revealing them to the police, who paid him.large siiins; and ho might np-, parontly, have (continued,; this .fearful occupation for -nil/time '.had/,ndt .someone betrayed him to,the ' , 11. .Lopubhin is charged with'.bcing that' "someone," though it is;.said v that he..\viH beiablo to clear himself.' : A'zeft'.is said'to be a Jew. On .the one hand he had control of::the revolutionaries'.funds, and _his free use of; the same is said to have at times aroused the'suspicion, of his dupes; '. on' the other hand, he drew, as' agent of the secret .-police, !a; Salary ,/of. .£IOOO/ a., year. At one moment a, promoter of assassinations, at the nest a hunten.of assassins, Azeff'is said to : have been 'in both' capacities always calm and self;pqsssssert, attired ih the height of fashion, always full of energy,' will, and resourcefulness. ■ 'The 'Borgias," .say's, ono of the Terrorist :leaders, at ..Geneva,. "were almost angels whin eOnrtared ■.with: 'A«ff.. . ;He has massacred at '.Uiit;.lSM.;bf- ua, and .sent threo, times that number to living -death in Siberia." - ; -.'.- Treacherous yto ; his; comrades the revolution- . -aries,..Azeff .seems .t6';havo been also troacher.ouj.to his'employers, the- police. 'Evidently he did-net tell ttem all. For instance,'he is . ;eredited 'with'-; having planned the murders of , ;M. : . ds Plehve and-the,; Grand. Duke .-.'Sereins, -andliisconnectionwith both these crimes' ean- ; not have ; been unknown-to the/Russian'police. The 'general- assumption at.St. Petersburg is that they, paid him mainly,. if not exclusively to give .information of plots aimed at .the life .of the '.Tsar,\ and/ were. indifferent to! what he ■: i did or, instigated : in .other directions. It seems clear, that .even.after.;he entered the. service .of cho'police he:remained'to a largo extent gonu- ,- finely in.Sympathy with':the revolutionary movement.- Nowhere'.buHn-the peculiar, condition's 1 - .of .Bnssia could suoh.a ohameleon-like charaoter nourish. ..-.,.•:' :' ~.'. ... ' i. And .what of the police system that maintains such creatures? -The Russian police maintain 'that they;cannot detect Terrorist plots without ■information from.within; but declare that they : donot .tolerate such agents being-active within .the Revolutionary/circle..'."We cannot frustrate ' dastardly plots," an official of the polico de- • Mrtmenl explains, "unless wo contrive to obtain timely, information, about them. This .involves ,the employment of individuals who are members of,the.cirolos where these plots are ,fabricated,:.and .this:necessity we Consider an . .But'connivance at crime ,we ngorously. eliminate , from :■ our system in thewy and practice. A reason of State cannot . .justify lawlessness; therefore, if. any agent perpetrates crime:; be;.will dealt with, as a .criminal. ' ':■.... .And yet; all accounts'agree that Azeff '"V /perpetrateiorimo,tii<u ..;:.. ,Vj orilv an organiser but .the -'chief organiser, rnd "that ho organised'plots which succeeded. He was paid ;by both sides, and ho sold both sides;; and this is/the sort of tactics that the Eussian. Eecret police system appears.to protect and cherish. •