THE WELTER IN RUSSIA1.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13049, 14 December 1905, Page 4

THE WELTER IN RUSSIA 1 .

The news from Russia gives no promise of the speedy.' re-establishment of law and order. Throughout nearly the whole of the Tsar's vast empire a reign of anarchy has prevailed for several months. Disturbances and outrages on a scale which in any other country would be indistinguishable from, civil war have been of I daily occurrence. All constituted ! authority appears in imminent danger of being swept away. The Government have been stricken with ! paralysis, and amidst the turmoil and bloodshed which are hurrying Russia on to a revolutionary cataclysm the Tsar sits silent and impotent; For not only have the fore.3 of the bureaucracy broken down in this supreme hour of trial, but autocracy itself has been reduced .to & state of helplessness. The most amazing feature of the whole situation is that neither the Empetor nor any of his advisers seem able to grasp the gravity of the crisis or initiate the proper measures which it calls for. They and not the community, as Count de Witte seems to think, are hypnotised by the revolutionary party which is constantly growing in boldness, numbers, and power. They are doing nothing either because they are unable or unwilling to do anything. But in any case their attitude is fraught with the utmost danger. The tragic scenes which are being enacted allover Russia can have but one ending unless the Tsar or some powerful member of his Government is able to effect the speedy appeasement of the people by the only means possible—a full and complete measure of political, personal, and religious freedom, and the substitution of a Constituent Assembly for an irresponsible and reactionary bureaucracy, Nothing short of the. establishment of constitutional Government, and the immediate punishment of all those officials who either connived in the recent massacres or were incompetent to prevent them, can stem the rising revolutionary torrent which threatens to overwhelm both the throne and: the country, and shake the foundations of Russian society. But it must be confessed that at present there are no signs that the Tsar or the Government are prepared to adopt such a course. They are trusting to the brutality of Cossack force, and are deliberately shutting their eyes to the impending catastrophe. •