In making his demand, Sir B. Frere was supported by gentlemen on the spot, whose opinions are entitled to the greatest respect,―among them Sir H. Bulwer, Sir T. Shepstone, and Mr. Brownlee. In this country he has the approval of those who best know the colonies and Cetewayo. Among these are Sir H. Barkly, Hon. C. Ashley, Sir F. Buxton, Lord Carnarvon, and, lastly, the venerable Dr. Moffat, who perhaps knows more of the native races of South Africa than any man living. It is very easy to be wise after the fact, and to point to the immunity from invasion which Natal has happily enjoyed; but had it been otherwise, had the colony been overrun by a Zulu army, its homesteads burnt, its people murdered, what execrations would have been heaped on the head of Sir Bartle Frere!

The press of England has paid graceful and eloquent tributes to the memory of the. gallant British soldiers who fell on the field of Isandula. Never were eulogiums better deserved; but I hope the kindly remembrance of the British people will be extended also to the memory of the small Natal force who perished by the side of their comrades. The light of the glory which shines on the memory of the men of the British army may also shed its mournful radiance on the memory of the brave men of the Colonial Corps who fell in defence of their homes and their families.

BENJ. C. C. PINE.

CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND THOUGHT IN

RUSSIA.

N

ST. PETERSBURG, May 18th, 1879.

The Political Situation.

TEVER has Russia been the object of so much curiosity as now. Revolutionary movements and political crimes draw to us the eyes of all our neighbours. The excitement has naturally given an impulse to false and exaggerated reports, offering vast scope to the fancy of newspaper correspondents and pamphleteers. In the face of this the plain truth may be of value and of interest, though of a soberer kind. In telling it so far as it is known to me, a false patriotism shall not lure me to hide the dark sides of the situation. But I do not think that the right is all on one side and the wrong all on the other: I neither declare that the Government has a monopoly of morals, nor that the revolutionists alone represent the ideas of progress and justice.

Everybody knows that nothing is more difficult than for contemporaries, standing close to the events and to the actors in them, to estimate at their just value the affairs happening before their eyes, and to foresce the consequences. The occurrence's appear either much more important than they really are, or they seem not to signify at all. Moreover, in Russia at this moment all parties, and especially the Government, are in the dark none is quite sure which is the right way to go, and what are the measures to take against the peril. Even as recently as a few months ago everybody was disposed to view the social disease very lightly; they, in fact, laughed at the seeming handful of revolutionists who dared to declare war against the powerful Czar. One section among us thought that nothing would be easier than to keep them down by adopting a few vigorous measures, while another suggested that the best way of all would be to let them alone, or else punish them like naughty boys. Both these notions are at an end. The skilful organization which has disclosed itself every where, and the boldness it shows, do not permit either the Government or the public any more to treat it with either indifference or contempt. Some particulars can be gathered as to this secret party. Their number, it is true, is quite unknown,

but they evidently have a definite plan of action, and they keep closely to it. The discipline in their ranks is of the very strictest kind; so severe, indeed, that they may be said to belong body and soul to the cause they have espoused. If dissensions or treason arise among them, such things are never divulged. From the moment one of them has entered the revolutionary association, he can leave it only by laying down his life. In this state of things they have no alternative but to obey; they are pretty sure to execute any and every order they receive. Very effective measures are also taken against treason, if it arose, having any great practical effects. Not only are would-be traitors punished by death, but the plan of the organization is such that individuals cannot do serious harm to the party. Each of the members knows only a few of his nearest partners in the conspiracy; so that if he chooses to play false, he cannot reveal many secrets. The agents

of the police often try to bribe their political prisoners, promising them their life and liberty if they will tell the whole truth; but all such endeavours prove of no avail, for the simple reason that each one's actual knowledge is so limited.

A rapid review of recent events will show the great progress which has been made by the revolutionists. Formerly the party contented itself with the issuing and spreading of subversive literature and issuing proclamations; never opposing open resistance to the authorities. But they found this course too slow for their impatience, and now putting murder among their prominent dogmas, they have proceeded to carry it out. It is noticeable that every assassination, or attempt at it, so rapidly succeeding one another, was distinguished by increasing audacity. For instance, General Mesentzef was murdered at an early hour of the day, when the streets of the capital are nearly empty and while the victim was walking on foot, having taken no precaution. Prince Krapotken, it is true, was attacked in a closed carriage, but it was under the darkness of night and in the badly lighted streets of a provincial town. Those might fairly be reckoned circumstances favourable for the murderers, compared to those later cases of the attempts on the life of General Drenteln and the life of the Emperor. In the last instance especially, the surprising boldness of the plan testifies that the revolutionists have cast away every fear and that they openly challenge Society to a mortal duel.

The System of Provisional Dictators.

The Government has accepted the challenge, and has armed itself from top-to-toe for the struggle. Provisional governors-general now rule at St. Petersburg, Odessa, and Kharkow, and extraordinary powers have been conferred on the already existing ones at Moscow, Kiev, and Warsaw. In fact, the full powers granted to the new officials are so large that they may justly be considered as a sort of dictators. All civil authorities, together with schools and other institutions, are subjected to them in just the same manner as in a state of war districts

are under the control of the general-in-chief. They have the right to bring before courts-martial persons hitherto amenable only to common law; to banish every one whom they deem obnoxious; to arrest whoever they like, without regard to any difference of rank or social position; to suspend or wholly suppress all organs of the press which they consider have a bad tendency, and generally to take any other measure for assuring the peace. In adopting such a course as this the Government has confessed in just so many words the insufficiency of its usual administrative system. What else can be meant by falling back on dictatorship and trusting to it for the deliverance of the country? Now this is in itself a brilliant triumph for the revolutionists. It is a proof of their strength as well as of the terror they have spread, and it has all the value of a victory. If the revolutionists possess power enough to oblige the State to go out of its usual routine, recurring to these very extraordinary measures, the home public generally must infer from it either that the State at last has met with a very dangerous foe, the issue of the fight being left doubtful, or else that the whole regular machinery of the Government is not of much worth. In either case, the judgment is not in favour of the State. Even if we agree that the

present condition of things is so bad that no other course was left, just as there are diseases which can only be cured by most violent means, we cannot shut our eyes to the risks of such treatment. When violent means do not bring about the recovery of the patient they usually kill him, or at least quicken the crisis.

What is the real meaning of this final resource of dictatorship, and why do Governments fly to it in extreme cases? Dictatorship is nothing short of the substitution of the personal will of one man for corporate administration with the protective security of law and justice. When this substitution has taken place, everything depends on the personal merits and the character of the dictator. His power being arbitrary, exposed to no impeachments, he certainly may display more energy than an official tied down by all sorts of laws and regulations. But, on the other hand, the harm he may do is proportionately greater, and it is not easy to decide if the one possibility compensates sufficiently for the other. If he errs, what is to hinder him from persevering in his errors? Besides, and this is in truth the greatest objection that can be made to such a form of rule, he cannot do all himself, and he must in his turn invest his subordinates with nearly the same full powers that he has himself. And how can he be sure that they will not abuse them? The banishments, arrests, and so on, to which he will resort, on what will they be founded if not upon denunciation by his agents? Everybody knows what a slippery ground is thus entered on; how easy it is to confound personal enemies with opponents of the State, and to gratify private revenge in pretending to search after political crimes. Will the dictator or the new governor-general have leisure enough to scrutinise strictly every denunciation before acting upon it? Though the activity of the new governors-general as yet is of too recent a date to enable a

sound judgment to be formed as to its effects, some facts have already come to light which prove the need for such reflections as these. The gendarmes are known to have greatly abused the latitude granted them to arrest any one without distinction of grade. Several most respectable men have already experienced in their own persons the rigour of the new system, and these cases have led the public to suppose that a like fate has happened to many others.

Indeed society has some grounds for taking fright when it is known that a Member of the Academy of Science and a learned professor (Faminzin) has been kept three days in solitary confinement, and then set free without even having been brought to examination ; and when one of the directors of the State Bank (Petlin) has been subjected to the same fate, and acquitted without being heard. Such facts as these are sufficient to engender false rumours. It is useless to affirm that the arrests of the above-named persons and of some others were owing simply to vague suspicions, and that it turned out there was no evidence against the prisoners. In the first case, for example, the gentleman was taken into custody because a motion which he had presented to the Minister upon University questions had been published by the secret press. In the second case the ground of the arrest was still more insufficient. The bank director making a journey to Switzerland with his brother-in-law, who was suffering from mental alienation, engaged the physician of the family to accompany him. The latter was affiliated to the International party, and the police arrested Mr. Petlin for having been seen in his company. Then, visits of search made in the middle of the night, which might well give a shock to the bravest men, are ordered on the slightest pretence. Who can answer for having never been associated in business, or having had a formal acquaintance, with some member of the secret association? It is true that when the guilt is not heavier than this the prisoner after some time is let free, but even a few days passed in prison may tell sadly on nervous natures. It has also already happened that servants have denounced their masters, or at any rate they have threatened them with doing it. The innocence of the accused is no doubt soon officially recognised, but nevertheless night searches or arrests are not trifles, especially when there are sick persons in the family. The other regulations issued by General Gourko at St. Petersburg and copied by his colleagues in the provinces are also pretty sure to give rise to many abuses.

General Gourko as Dictator.

Before going further it will be well to convey to readers at a distance some notion of the dictator who now reigns over the capital, exercising ncarly unlimited authority. General Gourko has a high reputation for energy and personal courage. His name will remain eternally associated with the first passage of the Balkans by our troops, that brilliant but rash feat of arms which brought about so many deplorable results. The soldiers and officers who have served under him always found that he