The Times' correspondent states that the precautions observed for the
Czar's protection on the railway-lines bstween St. Peters- burg and Novo-Tcherkask, the Cossack capital, were of the most extraordinary and costly character. The lines were guarded by sentinels from end to end, pickets of infantry were stationed at regular intervals, and behind them the villages posted their municipal police. Cossack soldiers galloped by the side of the goods trains, and every house or but on the route was occupied by the military. The service of the lines was practically suspended for a fortnight, and it is asserted on other authority that 60,000 men were employed as if on active service, in guarding the Czar. These measures, if really adopted, would indicate that the police, while aware that a plot existed to destroy the Imperial train, were hopeless of obtaining precise information as to the locality selected. It is stated that an attempt on the Czar was actually made at Novo-Tcherkaslc ; and although this is denied, the Czar's visit there was short beyond all precedent.
Previous page
