It is reported that the Secret Committee which governs all
the students of the Russian Empire has been discovered, and papers found which show that the intentions of the leaders were directly revolutionary. As the policy of condemning them to the ranks has been abandoned, they will probably be imprisoned for life. In Vienna, where Russia is closely watched, it is believed that the movement is most serious, and horrible stories are creeping out of the excessive severity shown to the students by the police. That which offends Russian feeling, most is the reckless use of the club, which often kills, always injures, and is regarded as an intolerable insult. After years of toleration the Government is at last threatening Count Tolstoy. He has been banished from Moscow, is forbidden to leave Russia, and is closely watched at his country seat. He would, indeed, be arrested but that Ministers are not sure of the effect on the peasantry, who have learned to regard him as their champion. They are afraid, too, we may add, of offending the Czar, who is aware of the Count's reputation throughout Europe, and perhaps, like his father, sympathises witb many of his ideas.
