RUSSIAN SECRET POLICE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 53, 27 March 1909, Page 6

RUSSIAN SECRET POLICE.

AZJfIKF AND HIS METHODS AN EXTRAORDINARY MAN. Scarcely anything iu the romantic literature suggested by the Russian revolutionary movement is stranger (write* a Loud&n correspondent) tliau some uf the stories which arc being told of the 1 exploits of Eugene Azell', the remarkable Jew wlio long ililled Uie double role of j organiser for the Terrorists and agent' of the secret police at a salary uf .iMUOO a year ; a promoter of assassinators on the 0110 hand, a hunter ol assassins on the other. " The Rorgias," says one of the Terrorist leaders at («eneva, "were almost angels compared with A/elf. lie lias massacred at Irani l"i(H) of us, ami seat three times that number to living deaths in Siberia."

uv>ru tluuL icantion and clever calculation were necessary to him throughout his career. Cool daring was one of his most striking characteristics. Danger, according to J)r. Dillon, seems to have had an irresistible fascination for 2iis distempered mind, treason forliis abnormal soul. He took a perverse delight in living in constant danger ol being stabbed by the revolutionists or hanged by the police. Yet he appeared always calm and self-possessed, was attired iu the height of fashion, sought distraction in the gay places of northern Palmyra. From he resided on the banks of the Neva, but occasionally paid a short vi*it to Paris where his family lived. Like his friend (Jershouni, who was the ablest Revolutionist Russia ever produced, Azell' gave all who came in contact with him a high opinion of his energy, will, with resourcefulness, lie was never taken aback, never hesitated, never llinehed. (iershooTii and he founded the " Fighting League " of the revolutionary society, and he created many brandies and other associations of similar character iu Russia and abroad. lie -was the moving spirit in j the historic mutinies of Sveanorg, Cronstadt, a'ld Moscow, and he was an indefatigable police agent iu St. Petersburg, Paris, and Moscow whenever there were conspirators to arrest. The secret police attached great value to A/.olT's services, but they deny that they employ such men when, in addition to supplying information lof Terrorist operations, they take a hand themselves in crime. 4< We cannot frustrate das

tardly plots," an official of the police department explains, "unless we contrive to obtain timely information about them. This involves the employment of individuals who are members of the circles where these plots are fabricated, and this necessity wo consider an unavoidable evil. But connivance at crime we vigorously eliminate from our system in theory and practice. A reason of State cannot justify lawlessness; therefore, if any agent perpetrates crime lie

will be dealt with as a criminal." Yet Azeff is credited with having planned the murders of M. de Plehve and the Grand Duke Scrgins, and his connection with both these crimes cannot have

been unknown to the police. The general assumption at M. Petersburg is that they paid him mainly, if not exclusively, to give information of plots aimed at the life of the Czar, and were indifferent to what he did or instigated in other directions. It seems clear that even after he entered the service of the police he remained to a large extent genuinely in sympathy with the revolutionary movement. According to a report published in

Paris, Azeff proposed to the Terrorist organisation that an attempt should be made to assassinate the Czar by dropping explosives from an aeroplane. He is said to have collected money ostensibly for the purpose of conducting ex periments of this kind. Presumably the money went into his own pockets. He is known to have handled the funds of the revolutionaries in the French capital in a very free fashion. For some years before his disappearance he created a good deal of suspicion among his dupes by the extravagance of his habits. It is believed at St. Petersburg that M. Lopuhkin will ultimately be exonerated from the charge of high treason which lias been brought, against him.