A whole week has passed without a political assassination in
Russia, but it is said that General Loris Melikoff is ill with excitement and overwork. Ile has as yet laid down no general plan of action, but he executed, with military promptitude, the student who attempted his life, he has relaxed the pressure on the- Press, and he has endeavoured to induce the municipalities to help him. The Times' correspondent at Odessa attaches im..
portance to an address which the nobles of Tula have ventured to present to the Czar, reminding him that Michael Romanoff, the founder of the dynasty, called upon the people to help him, and asking the Czar, therefore, to call a national Representa- tive Council to his assistance. The prayer may be heard by-and- by, but one grand difficulty is that a Council really representing the people might confirm the autocracy. There can be no doubt that up to a very recent period the Russian people preferred autocracy, as the Danes formerly did, and experienced Russians believe they do so now. The most formidable threat the Nihilists have received came not from the Third Department, but from the mob of St. Petersburg.
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