Speaking on the general question, Leroy Beaulieu in his monumental work on Russia says: "The police has been at all times a sink of abuses and extortions, because, of all departments, it enjoys the greatest facilities for indulging in them. In spite of the particular attention of which it has always been the object, this department, on which all the rest lean for support, has always been so far one of the most defective. In the cities, especially in the capitals, where they are under the eyes of the highest authorities, the force leave--externally--little to be desired. They are attentive, courteous, helpful, if not always honest. A foreigner who, in St. Petersburg, judged them from the outside only, would think the service perfect. Yet the long unpunished daring of the Nihilists has revealed only too clearly its incompetence and carelessness. The astounding powerlessness which the police displayed on these occasions is traceable chiefly to the habitual vices of Russian administration: ignorance, indolence, venality." General Baranof in 1881, when head of the police, found that a great number of his men could not sign their names correctly. Many more, even those of high grades, were supremely ignorant of the laws and regulations they were called upon to administer. The general tone was low, and the force was recruited from a very inferior class, for the police and their work are much despised by respectable citizens. The pay has always been ridiculously small, thereby directly encouraging the dishonest practices, the more or less enforced contributions levied on the public in every direction, by which it has been eked out. The members of a force, driven by extreme penury into illicit earnings, could hardly be loyal, and it has been always easy for the revolutionists to buy relaxed watchfulness, and even complicity. So ineffective was the official police that in 1881 the city of St. Petersburg was invited to reinforce it by electing a council to co-operate in watching over the personal safety of the Czar. It was not the first time that well meaning loyal subjects had desired to assist the Government in the pursuit of its foes. The idea of the _droujina_, an ancient secret society, was revived. It was a sort of Vigilance Society composed of special police volunteers, acting with the official police, but unpaid, and with no recognised status. The promoters thought that the best method of combating conspiracy was to meet conspirators on their own ground and with their own arms. Its organisation and action were secret. Among other measures it offered rewards to peasants and workmen who would inform the authorities of any plots in progress; another idea was to meet outrage by anticipation, to face the Nihilists with their own weapons, and blow them up with dynamite before they could use it to subvert existing authority. The _droujina_ rejoiced in the epithets of "holy" and "life-saving," but it achieved nothing tangible.