OFFICIAL CORRUPTION IN RUSSIA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue XV, 22 November 1880, Page 4

OFFICIAL CORRUPTION IN RUSSIA.

Within a brief period several ex., posures bave been made of the corruption fi<> notorious in Russian official life. First came tbe dismissal of the Grand Duke Nicholas from the command of the Imperial Guard, inconqection with the systematic embezzlement of the regimental funds- practised by him and j other relatives of the Czar. Next foU ' lowed the discovery (hat the builders of I tbe Emperor's new yicht had made nn overcharge JJof £10,000, which omciuot found its way inio Arohducal hands. Close on the heels of these revelations comes the statement that the new Mmißter of Finance finds his department so disorganised sod encrusted with defalcations that the Czar has | been advised to appoint a committed of | inquiry. To those who haya paid attention to the subject there is t nothing : iasroniehing in these revelations./ ;ThY only wonder is that tha-eyes of tie Autocrat should have been' opened to the matter. Probably Dojman ,jn the Empire inowa less of its real condition than itß oßtenßible despotic ruler. His dominions are immense. They' are governed rby , a .and a. military ring, the members of, which ere personally and. pecuniarily interested. iv j perpetuating the system of peculation, and plunder. Apart from the testi^ jnaony ofPolcs, who may be politically jbiaeed, there is no less an authority for! the statement than General Count Yon ! Moltke. In private letters written ifrom the Ruesian capital some years years ego — letters which circumstances 'demanded should be published by him — be fully confirms the stories which have been told of official corruption in Russia and of the blindness of the Czar to what is going on about him. The pay of regiments whicu iexist only on paper is drawn by court favourites. Generals plunder colonels, colonels their subordinate officers, and 'the latter tbe privates. Tbe com a; on soldier as a rule is housed like a dog, lis scarcely clothed, and is scantily jfed, that his superiors may dress magnificently, 101 lin palaces, and riot on luxuries. The same state of affairs prevails in civil departments of the Government. As an instance, millions of j roubles are annually taken from the I treas ury for higfe w»y pti rpofleflj when I

in fact but a email proportion of the sum is legitimately expeuded. If the Czar intends to visit a cDBOp or other military station, notice of his coming ia given several days previous, and preparations are made to cover up the real state of tffairs. If tbe Emperor is to travel, the fact is known beforehand, and everything is made to put on its best aspect. The moment his back is tamed, events resume their former condition. As the Emperor cannot be omnipresent, and his empire is one of largest upon tbe face of the earth, it follows that affairs are conduoted pretty much as the irresponsible governing class please. It has been urged in extenuation of their peculations that BusBian officials are poorly paid. . This may be; but on the other hand their greed and opportunities more than compensate for the meagreness of their salaries. The bureaucracy has neither honesty nor patriotism. When Buigs'ia entered on her last war with Turkey it was found that her greatest enemy was not; the Osmanlis, but the Government functionaries who hod, charge of the feeding, . clothing end arming of her troops. There appears to be no hope of better things until the people are better educated, until information is more generally and quickly dieseminated; until in fact there 1b a free and .widely circulating press and an educated and powerful public opinion. .