UNHAPPY RUSSIA.

Evening Star, Issue 12875, 26 July 1906, Page 1

UNHAPPY RUSSIA.

It is difficnlfc to read with calmness and patience the manifesto of the Czar of Russia dissolving the Duma. A more insolent document has rarely been published by a monarch to his people during the last three hundred' and ’ fifty years of modern history. The arrogance of its-tone, its grotesque perversion' of facts, its presumptuous assumption of superioritv, and its monstrous defiance of the elementary'rights of 150,000,000 people .render it unique l among the shower of ukases, manifestoes, and proclamations that for months have been flung, as a child flings soap bubbles, in wanton derision of 'Russia’s needs. That one man and a few incompetent' Advisers should in the mysteries of Providence bo permitted thus to play fast and loose with the lives, property, and safety of millions is beyond the comprehension' of the normal man. Nor in this relation can we help again voicing the disgust that, is felt by people throughout the United States and British Empire at the poweilessness of these nations to intervene to prevent the further spilling of innocent blood. The world knows what lies before the men, women, and children of Russia. It knows the 'long Gethsemane of human agony and nameless outrage “ that passeth taunt and blow ” that looms, grim and ghastly, cn the near horizon, and, knowing this, it asks in horrified bewilderment: For what arc armies and ships' of war maintained by Christian Powers if not to stay such outrages as these? Second thoughts, however, will probably convince the majority that forcible outside intervention would do mom harm than good to the people it is meant to serve. It would prove as profitless as it would be dangerous. The Russian people must work out their own salvation, as did those of England, France, Prussia, and Italy. But what can be accomplished short of direct official interference will be done. The nations whose people have themselves passed through the fires of Moloch to their own social and political redemption will be ■of other stuff than their fathers if at this hour all the moral and indirect support that counts for so much be not given to the Russian party of reform. What England can do has been done. Officially, says Sir Edward Grey, she cannot interfere ; but unofficially three hundred odd members of the House of Commons sent greetings to the Duma, while excuses were' found for postponing the visit of the British, fleet to Baltic ports, and Sir H. Campbell Bannerman, speaking before the assembled delegates from the Parliaments of the world, permitted himself to say; “ The Duma is dead; long live the Duma.” And these things mean much. They are more than the straws that indicate the set of the current; they are finger-posts that point the way wherein monarehs and Governments must tread. The dissolution of the Duma, though sudden, was hardly unexpected. Rumors that some such ‘stroke ’ was intended "have ' been current since in the eajly days of the session the temper of- the Duma was known.. The question was rather the possibility of, that unfortunate weakling-who, through the accident of birth, is Czar of all the. Russia* mustering sufficient will power to free himself from his pernicious Advisers and placing himself in line with. the leaders of the people. King Edward and the German Emperor, both men of great ability, tact, and knowledge of public affairs, have been in constant private communication with Nicholas IL, and it was thought that their wise advice would servo as an antidote to the councils of medieval thinkers, and direct the Czar on the only path that, whether individually or nationally, he could tread in safety. For a time these sanguine hopes appeared to have a solid foundation. The Imperial manifesto of October 50 last year solemnly promised “to grant the population “ the immutable foundations of civic liberty “based on real inviolability of- the per“son and freedom of conscience, speech, “union, and association”; and tbe Duma, it was said, was “to exercise a real parti- “ cipatioa in the supervision of the legality “ of the ads of the authorities appointed by “us.” How hollow and empty these pretentions phrases were time has shown. Despite the restricted franchise, the insignificant number of indirect electors, the threats and bullying of the police, a Duma, was returned that did not prove the dumb dog or tbe mechanical register of the will of the Executive tlie Bureauciacy anticipated. From the first hour the Constitutional Democrats assumed command and promulgated their policy with much eloquence and mastery of detail. In vain the organs of the Reactionaries called them scoundrels, robbers, and cut-throats, and in vain were the Ministerial intrigues within the Chamber. The Reformers exhibited a moderation, a persistence, and a genius that amazed the publicists of Europe and America. Here truly were no uncouth, ignorant, and cowed subjects of a ccniury-old tyranny, but men worthy to stand as representatives in any assembly of the West. The contest hinged on the Agrarian Bill of the Constitutional Democrats, and the strictly conservative, equitable, and com-mon-sense lines on which it was cast wore recognised by all dispassionate outsiders. The Ministry, however, quibbled, shuffled, and talked nonsen.se. M. Gourko, for example, asked, amid loud laughter: “Who “would pay dues if tbe peasants bought or “ leased' these lands? The peasants,” he said, “in other countries, like Germany, “France, and England, did not clamor for “■more land; they went into the cities. “Why did not the Russian peasant do the “same? They would thus help industry“and promote prosperity.” The arguments of Ministers throughout were characterised by inability to grasp even the fundamental facts of the gravity of the situation; and failure, hopeless failure, staring them in the face,, the men behind the throne, in an evil hour, induced the Czar to dismiss the Duma and to appeal in terms of complacent egotism for help to a people whom he had deceived and abandoned. History repeats itself, and in Russia as frequently as elsewhere. The calling together of the French States-General did not save Louis XVIII. and his Queen from the scaffold, and the attempt to maintain the divine right of kings in the twentieth century, even in Russia, will probably be answered with terrible consequences to the House of Romanoff.