ANOTHER RUSSIAN EXODUS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CI, Issue 11888, 11 May 1899, Page 4

ANOTHER RUSSIAN EXODUS.

The stream of emigration -from the Caucasus has scarcely stopped before we hear of another exodus, this time from the northern provinces of Russia. Both, movements are caused by the relentless attempt to crush into one homogeneous whole races and religions so essentially. diverse as the Jews, the Catholic Poles; the Armenians, the Lutherans of the south, and finally the Finns of the Baltic. In Finland, so far, the attack has been on the constitution; but when that is gone, the people will certainly be treated as all other Russian subjects are treated. The Finnish Constitution dates from 1808, when the province was taken over from Swedish control by Alexander 1., who most solemnly, on three separate occasions, guaranteed that all its rights and privileges, its religious and fundamental laws, should be maintained by Mm and his heirs " for all time," and that Finland should be placed "in the rank of nations governed by their own laws." Similar guarantees were given in the coronation oath taken by each of Alexander's successors. The irons have, therefore, a constitutional right to self-govern-ment, and they are expressly excluded from the obligation of' bearing arms outside their own country. For the last ten or twelve years the Slavophils have been abusing and misrepresenting these unfortunate people, their laws, and their national character, and attacking their privileges, on the ground that as a conquered nation they had no claim .to independent existence. Last October the time was judged ripe for some overt act, and, without consulting the Diet, an arbitrary decree was issued from St Petersburg that all young men over twenty-one years of age should be enrolled in the Russian army, to serve abroad or in the interior. To this direct violation of their constitution the Finns refused obedience, and began, at once to emigrate to Canada. The Russian Government made this passive resistance a pretext for an Imperial ukase, drawn up at a secret conference, under the influence of M. Pobyedonostseff. The power of legislating was taken away from the National Diet, and.it was reduced to a consultative body, subject to the State Council at St Petersburg, in all measures which affected the Empire in general. As the Russian Council has to decide what measures are general and what local, the Diet, since its last meeting in January, has been but a shadow. The Finns' charter of liberties is virtually annulled, and they can read their impending fate in the /past history of Poland. Deprived of all political security they do well not to trust in the tender mercies of Russia. The race, which had preserved its distinct character from pre-Hstorio times, will now be scattered over the face of the globe. The Czar's manifesto has been followed by those innumerable acta of petty tyranny which are so galling to subject people. Patriotic newspapers have been suspended, patriotic ladies have been insulted, and the Finnish language has been in official documents. The right of self-taxation is already taken away, and there is little hope that the Holy Synod' will spare the Lutheran worship to which the Finns are so deeply atached. Two petitions, y&e last signed by more than half the adult population of the country, have been sent to St Petersburg, but the deputation e£ch time been peremptorily,sent back "without an audience. These are the measures which "good Mr Stead," in the "Review of Reviews," describes as "slightly curtailing the liberties hitherto conceded." Apparently he finds it absurd to expect a monarch # to go on fulfilling his pledges

"for ever." Let the Finns be thankful tJiftt they ever had any liberties, and not complain that'they have lost them. Yet even the greatest Russo-maniac cannot assert that the Finns have given the slightest provocation ,to the Czar's Government. For the last ninety years Finland has been the most loyal province of the Empijpe. It has not, produced a single conspirator. Its people are in their own country peaceable, orderly and industrious. Nq real excuse can therefore be offered for the present barbarous attack upon their political liberties.