ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1654, 9 June 1879, Page 3

ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA.

An attempt was made early on the morning of Monday, April 14lh, to shoot the Emperor of Russia. A telegram of that date from St. Petersburg gives the following account of what happened :—“ This morning', at about nine o’clock, when the Tzar was taking bis usual morning walk, just as ho was passing the building occupied by the Military Staff, a man of about thirty years of age, tall in stature, .and wearing the cap of a functionary of the Ministry of Finance, passed quire near to his Majesty, and pulling out a revolver, fired at the Emperor, within the distance of two paces. The Emperor at once approached the assassin, who fired a second shot, and then ran away, discharging a third barrel at the Cxar. An officer of gendarmes, who was having the staff offices, in a moment perceived whatj had happened, pursued the assassin, and managed to cut at him with his sword. Tiirce more men ran after the assassin, who contrived to fire six shots at his pursuers. One of the ballets shattered the lo»ver jaw of a detective. At last a gentleman made up to the assassin, whom he gallantly seized, knocked down, and then sat upon him until assistance arrived. In a few minutes a crowd numbering upwards of u hundred persons, had assembled. The assassin had been somewhat roughly handled. He says his name is Solovieff, and that he is a retired functionary of the Ministry of Finance. The Winter Palace immediately after the event was crowded with persons of all classes, and when the Emperor entered the large hall he could not speak for some time,_ owing to the enthusiastic cheering with which ho was greeted. Heat length stated briefly, that for the third time an attempt had been made upon his life, but that Providence had hitherto watched over him, and frustrated the assassin. After that the Emperor retired from the hall, being cheered loudly by all present, among whom were old generals and Senators whom the present generation had never seen. From the hall the Emperor retired to bis study, opened his balcony door, and showed himself to the crowd of some fifty thousand persons who were standing below. The few words he addressed to them were drowned in the cheering of those who beheld their Czar alive and unhurt.”

In consequence of this event severe measures of repression have been ordered by the Russian Q-overnment, The Emperor has signed a ukase appointing Governors General for the districts of St. Petersburg, Charkoff, and Odessa, and enlarging the powers of the existing Governors-General in Moscow, Kieff, and Warsaw, giving them in all these districts absolute discretion to act under martial law. The ukase sets forth that in consequence of the proved existence in the State of a small but determined band of evildoers, whose efforts are directed towards undermining the foundation of tne State and social order, and who, not confining themselves to the dissemination of secret proclamations of the most outrageous doctrines, directed against religion, the family, and the rights of property, have attempted the lives of the highest officials of the Empire and other persons —this series of atrocities culminating in the recent attempt against the life of the Czar—the attention of the Government has boon drawn to the necessity, in tho absence of all contrition on tho part of those evildoers already arrested, of having recourse to purely temporary measures for the exemplary punishment of tho guilty, and of investing with special powers those persons entrusted by the Government with special authority for the maintenance of public order. Therefore it is deemed necessary:—lst. To appoint temporary Governors-General for St. Petersburg, Charkoff, and Odessa, vested with special and extraordinary powers defined in the following paragraphs, tho same powers to be extended to the existing Governors-General of Moscow, Kieff, and Warsaw. 2nd. To the GovernorsGeneral of St. Petersburg, Kieff, and Odessa are subordinated the provinces of the same name. In addition to this, these GovernorsGencral, as well as those of Moscow, Kieff, and Warsaw, shall exercise authority over portions of the adjoining proviucos which will be subsequently indicated, 3rd. In all the above-mentioned Governments all the civil administrative establishments shall be placed under the control of the GovernorsGeneral, in so far as paragraph 46 of tho Army Service Regulations in time of war subordinates to tho Ooramanders-in-Chief tho provinces and districts declared to be under martial law, as well as all educational establishments in bo far as concerns the maintenance of order and public security therein. 4th, The Governors-General shall be empowered to subject all civilians to martial law, and to adjudge such punishments as are prescribed during the maintenance of martial law, in addition to the cases indicated in the Ukase of the 9th-21st August last, and for other offences against the State and administrative order ; as also for the commission of other crimes which ere provided for by the criminal laws, when they shall deem it expedient to do so, with a view of protecting general order and security. In cases of this nature the Governors• General shall exercise the same powers as are provided for in respect of Commanders-in-Ohief in tho field, by paragraphs 1234, 1238, and 1241 of tho twentyfourth volume of Martial Law, promulgated in 1860. sth. The kbove order is to be applied to all cases of offenders who have not yet been tried. 6th. The Governors-General shall possess tho following-powers : —(a) To remove by administrative process out of their district all such persons whose presence therein they consider pernicious. (/;) To arrest at their discretion all persons of whatsoever condition or rank when they shall deem it necessary to do so, (c) To suspend or suppress tho publication of newspapers the tendencies of which they may consider to be pernicious, (d) Generally to adopt such measures as, under present circumstances, they may consider advisable for the maintenance of order in the district committed to their care. This is tho third attempt on the Czar’s life that has taken place. The first was on the 16th April, 1866. Tho Emperor was sallying forth from the Summer Garden, and was in the act of getting into his carriage, when a bullet whistled past his head. A peasant, Ivanovitch Komissaroff, was close by the assassin, and his presence of mind in striking up the assassin's arm as the shot was fired in

all probability saved the Emperor’s life. The aatiasdn, who belonged to the lower nobility, wia proved to belong to a secret society. Ho was hanged i» the following September, K miissaraff was rewarded with letters of nobility, and an estate was purchased for him by national subscription. The second attempt took place in Paris, in June, 1867, as the t zir was returning from a review at Long champs, in the Bois do Boulogne, in a carriage with the Emperor and Empress of the French and the King of Prussia, A Pole, named Berezoweki, fired at him. The wouldbe murderer was tried at the ensuing assizes in Paris, and was defended by M. Flouquet, now a notable politician, and obtained the benefit of extenuating circumstances. Ho died in prison some little time ago. These, however* were isolated crimes, but it is impossible not to connect this lust attempt with the systematic murders which have established a kind of reign of terror throughout the Russian Empire. In consequence of this event St. Petersburg has been placed in what is practically a state of siege. A telegram dated April 21st reports the following extraordinary measures : —An ordinance of the Provisional GovernorGeneral of St. Petersburg, General Gourko, was posted up to-day at the corners of the afreet's of this city, instituting the following measures of safety; A porter is to bo stationed on duty day and night at the door of ivory house in St. Petersburg, and is to watch that no placards arc posted up anywhere without the requisite authorisation, and that no objects of a dangerous nature are scattered in the streets. Any persons doing anything of (ho kind are to be arrested by the said porters. The latter, in case of not fulfilling this duty, will bo fired twenty-five roubles, or imprisoned for seven dajs, for the first offence, and expelled the city for the second. Owners of houses, at the doors of which no porters are stationed, will be liable to a fine of 500 roubles. These regulations are to come into force threo days after being published in the “Police Gazette.” The ordinance provides that all gunsmiths shall within seven days deliver to the Commandant of the City a list of all the contents of their warehouses and shops, firearms, and other missiles, and cartridges are henceforth only to be sold to purchasers presenting letters of authorisation issued by the Commandant of the City. Any tradesman infringing this regulation will bo prohibited from carrying on business. So long as a list of the vendors’ stock has not been handed in the sale of arms without the purchaser’s production of a letter of authorisation will bo punishable by a fine not exceeding 500 roubles for the first offence, and on its repetition by the confiscation of the stock and a complete prohibition to trade. Private individuals possessing firearms are bound to make the police acquainted with the fact, and only those will be allowed to retain such weapons who obtain permission from the Commandant of the City. Persons who keep arms without such permission, will be liable to a fine of 500 roubles, or five months’ imprisonment, and the confiscation of the prohibited weapons. The further inquiries which have been made into the attempt on the life of the Czar show that the assassin, Alexander Solovieff, was a village schoolmaster. His family live in St. Petersburg. He attempted to poison himself with cyanide of potassium, but owing to its weakness from age the poison did not fully have its intended effect. When asked why he shot at the Czar, he said the task had fallen to him by lot, and he had no alternative. A preliminary investigation is being made by Senator Leontieff, but the prisoner will be tried by the highest criminal tribunal. It is expected that some severe repressive measures will be the result of this attempt on the Emperor’s life. In reply to the congratulations of the functionaries, his Majesty said he regarded his escape as a sign that his life was still necessary for his country, and to the nobility he added that the audacity of the recent attempt at. assassination was such that he found himself compelled, against his will, to take extraordinary measures, not for himself, but for society and for Russia.