Stepniak completed, in the Times of Tuesday, his remarkable account
of the condition of the Russian Press. It is nearly dead. Since the commencement of this reign eight newspapers have been prohibited, including the (Jobs, and only two Liberal newspapers are permitted to exist, in hourly anticipation of their fate. Political discussion being, however, forbidden, the news- papers have not the power in Russia of the magazines, and the grand crusade has been directed against them. The Stove, the Mes- senger of Europe, and the Annals of the Country have all been sup- pressed, the latter being the greatest magazine in Russia, with a circulation of 10,000 copies, and worth £120,000. The charge in these cases was that of entertaining subversive opinions ; but the real offence was that of discussing too closely the condition of the country. Latterly, the Administration has attacked books, and has just published an Index of books which may not be sold. It comprises 125 works, in 800 volumes, and includes such books as Lyell's "Antiquity of Man," Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations," and Lubbock's "Primi- tive Civilisation." All the works of John Stuart Mill, W. Bagehot, and Mr. Herbert Spencer are prohibited, the entire Index having apparently been drawn up by some priest who was also an absolutist. The main effect of such a decree is, of coarse, to exasperate the whole educated class against the Government ; but the secondary effect is to revive the old system of secret colportage. Books are wholly suppressed, but pro- hibited newspapers are smuggled in from beyond the frontier in thousands, just as Herzen's " Kolokol " was. As a precaution against the diffusion of new ideas, the measure is, of course, wholly illusory, all the great creeds, except Protestantism, having struggled up to victory without assistance from the Press. One wonders if Count Tolstoi thinks that printers spread abroad the Gospel, or that insurrections began with Gutenberg.
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