The Daily News. TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1905. THE RUSSIAN PRESS AND PEOPLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7726, 31 January 1905, Page 2

The Daily News. TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1905. THE RUSSIAN PRESS AND PEOPLE.

I » I The news whirfi wu have received from Russia during the past wejk has contained frequent reference to the temporary stoppage of the pub- « lication of several newspapers. In some wises this may have been due to the part taken by the printers iii the agitation and strikes lor a shorter working day, but for the ! most part it is pretty certain that the suspension has vbeen brought about by official orders. All newspapers in Russia are subject to a strict censorship by the Department r of the Interior, and any attempt l to criticise the Government; or publish items of news which are considered likely to promote unrest or disnf- ■ fection is met by suspension for a longer or shorter time. In addition j to this system of ex post facto interference there is a kind of anticipativ« censorship continually exercised. It is oustomary to send to . each newspaper office a list of subjects on which it is forbidden to express an opinion or to print any news, with further directions in e some cases as to the nature of such 'I comment as is permitted. As the whole course of the present groat ' upheaval has been anti-officinl, and any news bearing upon movements . in other districts' would be considered likely to provoke imitation, it has orol.u-bly been considered officially advisable to order the temporally suspension of whole sections at a I t>ime of the country's newspapers. Contrary to gcnw'Al outside opinion ItuHsia is a country' where books and newspapers are surprisingly cheap, and in spite of the high percentage of Illiterate persons the daily journals have in many cases a very wide circulation. An article by Princess Kropatkfn which apjieared in a Hri- > tish magazine last, year nave numerous details of the tendencies and circulations of the leading and most popular newspapers of Russia. The '• figures adduced by tho writer go to show that even among the labourers t and 'factory hands of the larger j cities there are a large number of eager readers, who arc well supplied " with literature suitable to their tastes with which there is no interference by tho Government so long as forbidden topics are strictly avoided. The Russki Viedomosti, a journal which our cables of yesterday announced toj have been suspended for three months is among tho most enlightened Liberal papers of the cotntry, and has preliably of- - fondod by over-stepping the limits of the censorship or by inadvertently publishing something which was eoiistrued by the tyrannical official _ mind into encouragement to the reformers. From the British point of Tiow all this dictation and arbitrary interference *oem absolutely intolerable, and at first sight one is . a-pt to wonder how it h\] possible for the Russian press to do any useful or educative work at JaU. ' Hut more serious consideration leads to tho conclusion that there is a vast , sphere wliolly outside political and social reform in which tho writer for popular enlig-htenment mav exercise his talents withput fear of giving of- _ foncu. This is what the Russian writer who would remain in Russia has to do, land what (he larger number of that cKift succeed in doing. Once permanently away from bis own country the Russian' as a , rule is noted as a t-Heoretical radical and revolutionary who would proceed further in experimental legislation L oven than we have done in New Zealand. Practically the Russian exile is often a visionary who succeeds in . nothing— t-ho reason being that abroad he |!is still hampered by the . want of common sense, which made him unabl« to adapt himself to the conditions of his »wn country. It is thiH class o£ people who help to spread the impression that life in Russia is a] long continued endur- - anc» of grinding tyranny. That it u not really so is proved bv the fa«t that millions of enlightened persons live, and prosper, and enjoy life thore, and do 'not, though 'thev might, sack to find a home in other _ lands. But with the prejudices of » . free man the British citizen cannot realise thin. Life, to him without a f free nowspap«r and a right, to grumble—within limits—when and how he j likes seems wholly' unendurable. Without- a right to public meeting, to send complaints to the newspapers, and (v) the free expression of , .opinion in prirate life, the average citizen of Hritish or colonial' rearing would hardly (care to live. Thus . does Liberty enter into the soul of » people, and once gained tomes to be regarded a*i the natural an inalienable right of everyone. Curiourf 5 though it may seem at first glance . this very Ireedom is far from being a natural and inalienable right of man. Inder the unrestricted opera* tion of natural law the strongest .survives, and the weak ;havc no rights. Only under wise and enlightened government is liberty assured l to aH. -A country is free when it is well governed. ' Russja is in process of slow evolution from the mediaeval, singe through which Great liritain has long passed. In many respects the government and the social condition of that country are behind those of England in tiie i time of the Tudors. It is 'therefore unreasonable to expect any vast or sudden change in the form of its government or any immediate relaxation in the rigour with which the bureaucracy attempts to control every action of the citizen's public life, besides many of those which we are disposed to regard as wholly private. There is no doubt that great changes must ooine, but they will come slowly and in natural order, and it will be iniHiy a long day before Russia enjoys a free press in the British acaeptation of that expression.