The Government of Russia has not yet succeeded in extir-
pating the pecuniary corruption which is the dry-rot of its Services. Admiral Tyrtoff, commanding the Fleet in the Black Sea, has found it necessary to arrest and bring to trial no less than forty-three officers, including every chief engi. neer, in the Black Sea Fleet, and a number of naval in- structors, on charges of peculation. Their plan appears to have been to order quantities of supplies, and then, in collu- sion with the purveyors, an inspector of mines (P coal mines), and others, to certify receipt when much smaller quantities had really been received. The conspirators, of course, divided the value of the difference. That form of fraud is, of all others, the most dangerous to a State, because when the emergency arises the necessary supplies are not there, and cannot be prepared in time. The accused men are to be tried on December 2nd,
and if found guilty are liable to Siberia; but even that terrible penalty seems to exercise little effect. The truth is that nothing will stop corruption, when it has once become traditional, except full liberty of complaint and decent pay.
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