A LIVELY LIFE FOR THE CZAR.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2573, 20 June 1881, Page 2

A LIVELY LIFE FOR THE CZAR.

A London cablegram of April 28 says that a letter from St. Petersburgh gives a gloomy account of the new Czar’s life at the Castle of Galschina, thirty miles from the capital. Before the Court removed hither several hundred artisans of the Preobrazinskn regiments were sent to make the necessary altera tions. At midnight they assembled in the Church of Galschina and were onviMA iu oiluuuo j aeatn or oioeria Oelng the penalty of violating the oath. Ten roubles was the price of each man's silence, The alterations were made in 48 hours. Vodke (Russian whisky) soon loosened the tongues of the workmen, and the following is a description of the precautions against assassination made in the palace of the Czar :—“ A subterranean passage leads from the Czar’s room to the table, where a number of horses are kept saddled and bridled, day and night; sentinels are posted at intervals of twenty yards all around the building. The Imperial bedroom has two windows, protected at night by massive iron shutters, which can only be reached from the outside by 3 spacious ante-chambers, in which, are posted eighty Cossacks armed to the teeth. They are allowed to speak and move about in the two outer rooms; but in the hall adjoining the bedroom perfect silence is maintained all night. The general on duty for the day sits on an easy chair, his Cossacks sitting on a divan, which runs around the whole room, At the General’s right is the knob of an electric apparatus, which rings a bell in every guard house within the palace grounds. When the Emperor is about to retire, before shutting the door he removes the outer handle, so that no entrance can be effected until he himself personally opens the door from the inside. Unlike his father, he cannot endure armed soldiers in his bedchamber. It is said that the arrest of the Grand Duke Constantine will likely be followed by a Nihilist movement of the sailors of the Russian fleet, who are said to have an understanding with a number of other Nihilists at Odessa. A Nihilist appeal to the Rusaian army has been widely circulated in St Petersburg. In this document the autocrat’s principle is compared to a decrepit, despised, and abandoned creature. The proclamation ends by calling on the army to die and strike down tyrants.”