t he Sp ecta tor
A ug tut 25, 1866
The Russian Government has published a most extraordinary account of the plot which culminated in an attempt to assassinate the Em- peror Alexander. This plot—allowing for the exaggeration of the official style—was a Socialist one, and had for its objects the extirpation of the nobility, the redistribution of land to be held in common, the extinction of religion, the annihila- tion of the idea of property. The first step to be taken was the murder of the Czar, and the con- spirators included in their ranks many Poles, a great number of Russian students, and, we imagine, many peasants. All this is very dreamy, but if we remember right, these were, and are, the plans of the Roskolnik sect, and it must be remembered that Russia is Asiatic, and Asiatic secret societies have almost always been "nihilists." i.e., have declared morals, property, authority, and obligations alike mere ideas.
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