The Opunake Times TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1894. DEATH OF THE CZAR.

Opunake Times, Volume I, Issue 37, 6 November 1894, Page 2

The Opunake Times TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1894. DEATH OF THE CZAR.

On Tuesday, October BOtb, the Czar of Russia breathed his last at Livadia, surrounded by his family. Ho was comparatively young, being in his fiftieth year, and had reigned as Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias since the assassination of his father, Alexander 11. r in 1881. He was physically a splendid man, being possessed of immense strength. It was said that he was able to break a horse shoe in twain with his hands, and could take a coin between the fingers and thumb of one hand and double it up. From the cabled reports of attempts on his life by anarchists, it was generally expected that his life would be terminted by a violent death, like his father before him ; but there is reason to believe that many of the so-called hair-bredth escapes were concocted to whet the appetities of the sensation mongers. One day a cable would come through informing us that a plot had been discovered on the moment of being put into execution, the machinations of which reached to the most secret recesses of the Imperial Palace; and next we would’ hear that he had gone out almost alone at night to a telegraph office and waited there in the cold for an hour to get a reply as to the state of his son’s health. The popular opinion about Russia is that its people are only savages, and that the Emperor lives in the midst of savage grandeur, whilst the country is bankrupt, and its people starving, or forming a constant stream to Siberia. On the contrary, Russia is one of the greatest, if not the

greatest powers, military and otherwise, in the world. European Russia has a population of nearly one hundred millions, and keeps an immense standing army. It is very rich in minerals, and has immense stretches of splendid agricultural lands, from which, after supplying her own needs, large quantities of grain are exported to England, France, and Germany. The nobility of Russia are a very highly educated class, and education is making rapid progress amongst the peasant class as well. Although the Czar is possessed of supreme power, the commonly accepted notion that he passes sentence, personally, on every criminal, from the common drunkard upwards, is an absurdly mistaken one. There is an administration divided into departments, like our own constitutional Government, only that the heads of these departments in Russia are nominated by the Czar. Then there is the State Council, which is a permanent body, and which institutes and elaborates all laws, the right of veto being in the Czar’s hands. New laws are not, however, initiated by the State Council, like in our constitutional Government, the right of initiative belonging to the respective heads of departments. Then again there is the Senate, which; is a higher Court of Appeal. For common crimes, the jury system has been in force for the past 30 years, and is carried out on a similar system to that of France. The serfs, who were emancipated in 1861, are endowed with small holdings, for which they pay mortgage tax having a currency of 49 years. They, however, usually hold their lands in common, subdividing it by families at certain periods, in proportion to the number of working people in each family. The immense military power of Russia was shown in the Russo-Turkish war of 1876, when, despite all prophecies to the contrary, Russia proved she had the men, the generals, and could find the money to conduct an qrduous campaign through successfully, and since which time she has come to be looked on by her contemporary powers as one who in future would have to be treated with respect. The Czar who has just passed away spent his reign in maintaining peace and strengthening the internal resources of his Empire, which is gradually extending its feelers or suckers, in the shape of raiways and troops, to the various vantage points at the extremities of her possessions, so as to be ready to take advantage of other peoples! troubles. What the policy of the new Czar will be remains to be proved, although he has solemnly vowed to make peaceful development, the power and glory of Russia, and the happiness of his subjects, his sole aim. About one million of men under arms does not, on the face of it, appear like peaceful development, and yet it may prove the greatest safeguard against war.