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Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3481, 20 February 1880, Page 2

The rumors that the Nihilists threatened to destroy the Winter Palace at St. referred to of late in our cablegrams, appear to have had some foundation, and yesterday's news tells of the attempt being made, happily without the end sought for being gained. That such a scheme could be carried out; all the preliminary details arranged, and that in the heart of the city, and the residence of the Czar, speaks volumes as to the feeling towards the reigning family of Russia. Alexander ; x niay■•'-: Well ■ believe. "There's a Divinity doth hedge a king," for his escapes have been miraculous, and the last two especially. The Daily Telegraph, speaking some months igo of the state of Kussia, says :—" It is idle for the Russian Government to suppose that it can in these days, maintain a mental cordon between it and the rest of the world. .Railways, telegraphs,.and printing presses have rendered such an operation impossible. The Popes tried it, and failed; and they have, in consequence, been deprived of their temporal; sovereignty. The Czar has ' still hit army, but, in the present temper of thepublic mind, force seems to be the sole foundation of his ' Government. His territory is saturated with the spirit of sedition and the principles of revolution. It seems unintelligible how, simultaneously with the existence of such a Police system as prevails in Russia, the publications of the evangelists of liberty can be printed and disseminated. Yet such is unquestionably the case. Books, pamphlets, newspapers, some of these even filled with illustrations, are produced and distributed, and find their way into a thousand houses. One of the persons employed in distributing them was the other day suspected of betraying the whereabouts of a secret printing press. He waa assassinated, and a paper pinned to his body, giving an account of the reason for his execution. The Nihilists are a striking instance of an imperium in imperio. They are the determined asserters of widespread discontent. It is impossible but that scores, perhaps hundreds, of officials are secretly associated .with these marvellous proceedings. A conspiracy so resolute, so extensive, so successful never existed in this world without some justification. We deplore and detest thd political assassinations planned by the Russian Nihilists, and trust that they will be stamped out by the most vigorous measures. But indignation st these crimes cannot blind us to the deep provocation under which they have been committed. A struggle is going on in the vast dominions of the Czar for political, personal, and intellectual liberty, against an iron, centralised despotism." The above extract states the position fairly, and to ! the most casual observer ■t must be apparent that the discontent cannot longer be said to be confined to « few fanatics, for enterprise^ euch as the iate*ioue,alsa that at Moscow, require more bauds thau a few to conutruct and uudertake. The prtvate chamber of the Emperor is not even free from the secret Nihilists, who not long ago found means to place a warning upon the dressing table,, threatening destruction %nd death. The terrible manifesto was published, and one portion of it was as follows :—" Do yos wish that those who strike to-day shall become apostles instead of executioners ? Jf you do, then cease to

be a tyrant and become a man, and rendo 1 to your (subjects wha^belongs to man by the law of nature—namely, liberty. It is not yonr persoiftbat we attack, but your principles. So long as you remain as you are, our judgement will be always the same. Saved to-day, you will perish tomorrow. Neither death nor persecution will stay our arms. You possess brute force; we possess moral force. We have sworn to vanquish, and we must carry of the victory in the end. The first apostles of Christianity perished at the stake; their martyrdom was "the cause of the ruin of Rome. Beware and reflect!" That these attempts on his life will continue is very likely, and some one of them may succeed, if the mental torture and anxiety the unfortunate man must suffer does not in the meantime kill him. No excuse can be offered for such dastardly attacks, bat the frequency of them, should, at tho same time, lead: the Emperor and his Government to see that concessions must be made to the popular will, and the Father of his people must relinquish some of hisj prerogatives, and adopt a policy contrary to that pursued in the past, and opposed to the maxims and traditions of his family.