On Monday M. Stolypin read an official communigtoi to the
Dame describing a plot which was discovered in February to kill the Emperor, the Grand Duke Nicholas, and M. Stolypin himself. Twenty-eight conspirators were arrested on April 12th, and the judicial inquiry is not yet ended. The Times corre- spondent says that it was expected that the Right would seize the occasion to denounce terrorism in general, but the opportunity was neglected. The Constitutional Demo- crats proposed a Motion of satisfaction at the Emperor's escape and of detestation of the plot, and this was carried unanimously with cheers by all the Deputies present. But all the Socialists and the Toil Group had made a point of being absent. We must note the statement by the able corre- spondent of the Morning Post that the plot might have been revealed at any time, being one of those atrocious, but vaguely- thought-out, plane which are always floating on the surface of the revolutionary movement. The formal statement of its discovery, then, at this moment seems rather to have been made to serve some tactical end in politics. The moderate party of Constitutional Democrats ought to have improved their position by the part they played in the debate, and it is to be hoped that the Socialists will find an opportunity soon to dissociate themselves from violence, knowing, as they must, that every political crime in Russia has set the clock back many years.
