T HE reactionaries of Russia are struggling fiercely against their downfall.
Their plan is to let loose the lowest populace of the cities upon the "intelligents " and the Jews, prohibiting the soldiers on one pretext or another from interference, and then to use the resulting riots as proofs that any concession of liberty results in anarchy. They hope that the Czar will thus be frightened into withdrawing his Manifesto, and relying once more upon direct military repression. They have not succeeded yet, but they have produced an extraordinary amount of human misery. In Odessa, for instance, to take a single example out of many, on November 3rd the " patriots " invaded the suburbs, murdered many of the students, sacked all Jewish houses, and "wiped out" their inhabitants, killing not only the men and women, but even the little children, who were flung by scores out of the windows. Thousands were killed and wounded, many with horrible aggravations of torture, and the police not only refused to interfere, but shot down the armed students who endeavoured to restore order. The superior officers of the soldiers also refused, declaring that the Jews had insulted the Czar, and that the massacres were "patriotic demonstrations." At last, on the 7th inst., the authorities of the great city, either alarmed for the consequences or frightened by peremptory orders from St. Petersburg, announced that the soldiers would fire upon all rioters or looters indiscriminately, whereupon order was restored. The totals stated are almost incredible, many accounts placing the number of killed and wounded at fifteen thousand, while of the wounded a large proportion will not recover. The stories from Kieff, Kisheneff, Nicolaieff, and other important places are nearly as bad ; and in all the authorities, if they did not actually order the riots, looked on passively, and suffered auctions of the plunder.
