29 MARCH 1879, Page 3

The Russian Nihilists keep up their systematic terrorism. On the

afternoon of the 25th inst. a young man on horseback fired at General Drenteln, head of the secret police, with a revolver, as he sat in his carriage. The bullet missed the General, and the assassin rode off into a bye-street, where he -quitted his horse, or fell from it, and took a droschky, or light tab, and drove to the river, where he disappeared in a boat. No trace of him has been found, and it seems indubitable that in the war between the Nihilists and the Police, the sympathy of the population is with the assassins. It is believed that they are of a high class, and include many much-trusted officials, while it is certain that they are aided by ladies of aristocratic birth. In fact, Nihilists appear to be usually educated men, who resort to assassination because they cannot move the body of the people. They will hardly accomplish much. There are always men ready to be Ministers, and the Romanoffs will pro- bably, feel, like the Irish landlords, that their agents are paid to be shot, and perform that duty reasonably well.