THE RUSSIAN. UPHEAVAL

Otago Witness, Issue 2685, 30 August 1905, Page 27

THE RUSSIAN. UPHEAVAL

ST. PETERSBURG, August 22.

• "A band of Socialists-who were trying to «nter "Warsaw had a fierce encounter with the Cossacks. Ten Socialists were killed and several-wounded. '-A. thousand Kuben Cossacks, who are 'Mussulmans,^ .-have migrated' to Turkey.In one instance 300 •of them threw down their carbines on parade, saying that it was-no part of .their duties-to act as-police. I'hey had .already- done too much dirty work. . v The police have- imprisoned M. Milukoff, professor, of.-Russian history -at "the St. Petersburg .University, -Professor 'Denniseyiteh,»arid ;15 'other. reformers. ■ They are ' > suspected/of preparing -a .visit, of Liberal candidates-tothe -National, Duma-election. The^reason^givemby-t-Ke is thatthey were-arranging ai meeting to condemn the Czar-s recent manifesto. " '.The -harvest^Jias in 25 provinces of Russia. There is^great distress, and' a peasant * rising is feared. Hunger and disease are-rampant in many towns owing to the strikes. August 23. While the Moscow Municipality was sitting, privately in a small hall, drafting a resolution to be submitted to the Czar, 2000 jof the public in the gallery of a larger Council Hall cheered the fiery speeches delivered amongst themselves, denouncing the Czar's manifesto in connection with the , Duma project.. Accompanying cries of "Down with the aristocracy" and "Long live the Constituent Assembly" the "Marseillaise" was sung. Some of the speakers recommended! an armed rebellion.. Many quitted the building, as a mark of disapproval. When M. Galitzin entered the building he read the manifesto, which was received in dead silence. It was resolved, at M. Galitzin's instance, and with only one dissentient, that'the Czar's noble, purpose was realisable only under conditions guaranteeing freedom of speech, of .the press, of* meetings of, unions,' .and the inviolability ©f th-e .person!"* 3?ne resolution.-also recommended an- amendment in the Duma scheme^in orderto restore tranquillity,adding that the Duma scheme should be -based on a universal suffrage with full legislative lights. At Warsaw wholesale arrests have been made, including the leading Polish Socialists. Crowds of ragged peasants from the famine-stricken districts are arriving at Moscow. August 24. There are 5000 Duma voters in St. Petersburg, 12,000 in Moscow, and 7000 in Odessa, with rental qualifications. The indignation in Odessa is intense, because that' city, witn half a million inhabitants, is allowed only one deputy, the same as Kirsk, which has. 50,000 inhabitants. The organisation of an electoral campaign, is everywhere forbidden. The Governors are imprisoning and exiling many of the leading Liberal voters. The officials announce that they have the electoral arrangements to the Zemstvos, and the municipalities are mot allowed' to co-operate. Excitement ..prevails at Helsingfors owing to the removal on a torpedoer of two Russian police who: acted as agents and provocateurs in-tne January disorders. They .•were'tried by "the Finnish courts, but were allowed to in a military hospital for three weeks on the ground of illness. They ihave now been removed outside Finnish jurisdiction. Grave disturbances took place, in various parts of Corn-land yesterday, including j^- ,

cendiarism, pillage, and murders. The Czar's portraits were destroyed, and public "buildings and farmers' houses were fired. I The First Regiment of Hussars at Tsarskoe-Selo ejected the non-commissioned officers from their barracks for robbing the men's pay and rations. | Four employers in Warsaw Arere murdered on the street in one night. Colonel Meyer, chief of the police, does not shoot the revolutionists, like his predecessor, but arrests hundreds nightly. All the prisons and several of tlie barracks are filled. The prisoners are suffering untold hardships through overcrowding, hunger, and i brutal treatment. The St. Petersburg Municipality has adopted a resolution similar to that passed by the Moscow Municipality. The Censor will not allow the publication of the Moscow Municipality's resolution. August 25. The rioters m Courfand m 26 communes wrecked the Government buildings, and burned the lists of conscripts prepared for . mobilisation. Large forest and farmstead fires caused damage to the extent of millions of roubles. 'JBhe majority of the land- ' owners has taken refuge in Germany and Sweden. During a fair at a village named Lihovka, in the Province of an immense crowd of peasants attacked the merchants and pillaged their goods. Many Tvere ,xnassacred, and some mutilated, the eyes being gouged out and the ears cut off. Martial law has been proclaimed throughout the whole of the Warsaw government, j The strikers blew up a bridge over the ! Vistula, near Radow. The Ccssacks surrounded a Socialist meeting- at Dlutow, near Lodz, and arrested 380 of them. A further 450 were arrested at Lodz. As a sequel to the recent naval revolt, 137 sailors have been court-martialled at Libau. Eight were sentenced to be shot and 19 to imprisonment with hard labour. An inspection of the barracks at Lodz revealed the fact that the Grloneski Regiment was in possession of many Jewish , and- Polish proclamations. One hundred and fifty Polish and Jewish soldiers have jieen transferred to Lanza, the seat of the regimental depot. Sanguinary disturbances have occurred at Siedlce. Two dynamite explosions have- taken place at Sononice, in connection "with the protest against the Czar's manifesto. . August 27. The grain exports from the Russian -Black Sea ports are paralysed, the Government retaining the rolling stock. ' Wheat and rye are dearer at Odessa th.an at London. ! It is expected that the bulk of the stocks accumulated alongside the railways will be required for the famine-stricken people. One result of the Czar's edict of April 30, granting religious freedom, has been j that a number of former Jews have re- j embraced Judaism, including the whole of : those in the villages of Astrachan. August 28. | The peasants in the Caucasus refusing their landlord (Prince Inukhrausky) the proportion of the crops to which he was entitled, the police removed the wheat. A thousand peasants, armed with pitchforks and bludgeons, demanded restitution, and the Cossacks, after ordering them to disperse, charged them and then fired, 70 being killed or wounded. The peasants tried to shoot Prince Inukhrausky. LONDON, August 23. The Warsaw correspondent of the Daily Express reports that large bodies of Socialists were marching in a procession through the streets, denouncing the Czar's manifesto, and distributing proclamations, when~fatal collisions occurred between, the rioters and the soldiers. The -correspondent of the Morning Post reports, riots and demonstrations in o?inland, Courknd, Reval, Kieff, Rostoff, and Tiflis. August 25. A report submitted fo the- Grand Duke Vladimir by the Provincial Zernstvo Commission amid cheers, stated that the Duma gebime did ftot fulfil aa^ of the Zemstvos,

desires. A resolution in similar terms was carried in Moscow. PARIS, August 24. Advices from Moscow state that 21 officers who met to discuss the Duma scheme were arrested.