Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Quarter of a Century.] THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 1902. THE MISSION OF THE CZAR.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 7239, 21 August 1902, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Quarter of a Century.] THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 1902. THE MISSION OF THE CZAR.

Thb mass of mankind have as little conception of tho impulses and sentiments and reasoning that actuate a despot as they have of the domestic life of the Martians. Tho plutocrat, the lord of millions, the ruler of thousands of human lives, the director of vast industrial concerns, may to some extent he compared with an autocratic Emperor; hut his position, commanding as it is, has its limitations. Tho obb and fiow of commercial affairs, the constant oscillation between supply and demand, govern the highest concerns. And, in any case, the plutocrat is but a successful competitor for the great prizes of life; and nobody looks for anything from him but that he will amass his millions by exploiting labour, and finish his caroerin a six-foot cell under ground, wi th a " storied urn " or an " animated bust " topresorvohis name from utter oblivion. Besides, ho has been the architect of his own fortunes, and his success is due simply to his having diligently obeyed the first law of Nature—that of self-preservation. The landowner, with his feudal traditions and the special eminence which his lineago and position give him in an aristocratic country, was somothing of an autocrat; though changed times and the march of civilisation have pretty nearly eclipsed him as a despot, and reduced him to tho ordinary level. But the reigning Sovereign of a great Imperial House whoso ancestors for centuries have been autocrats, whoso training and traditions, whose inherited instincts and circumscribed views of lifo all combine to assure him that ho rules by right Divine, is on quite another piano of thought and action—serene amid the fluctuations of commerce and ordinary mutations of human afTairs, undisturbed by ordinary revolutions. In his hand are the destinies of millions of human beings, of vast territories, the issues of peace and war. An ordinary man, so placed, can as soon conceive the earth adopting a new orbit in the heavens as tho foundations of his throne being shaken. The Imperial ruler, hedged round with courtiers and officials, sees and hears only what passes through that cordon. He has nothing at first hand. His advisers are concerned only to maintain the statw quo undar which they live and enjoy the sweets of position. And tho outer wall that guards the whole establishment is tho Army. And so the great bristling, glittering citadel stands as the Bastilc stool—that is, just as long as the people's discontent is kept within bounds. There arise indeed prophets in every Israel, poets, seers, enthusiasts—but, what was (over the fate of prophets but to bo mocked and " cruelly entreated ?" And the Imperial Master of it all, bom in an atmosphoro o£ conservatism aud tho sound, measured cadences, lightly dismisses these disturbers of the eahn " fitness of things," as fanatics ; and according as. he is tyrannical or easy going he punishes or pities them. It matters but little to tho Patriot which tho Despot does. Indeed it gives him even less comfort to see his soul's agonies contemptuously pitied than suffer martyrdom at tho hands of a cruel lord. Looking thus at tho internal condition pf Russia, we regard the rdigning Czar

as very inuoh of. a modern hero. That his instincts aro bonovolcnt lma boon shown ropoatodly. His action in calling tho Pcaco Conference, granting that ho did of his own iniativo, and that it was not a ruso of his own council, shows him in a most ainiiiblo light, and all that tho world knows of him in to his credit. But, whilo humanity willingly accorded him tho tributo of respect, and acceptod tho affoction of his pooplo for him as a strong " evidence of character," it was thought that ho was a mildly bcncvolont potentate, .such as ono would not liko to hco sacrificed to tho fury of a revolutionary mob; a man of far highor typo than tho unfortuiuito but imbecile Louis XVI., but still a man of diluto personality. Recent developments, howovor, havo shown tho Czar Nicholas in quito a now light. His Imperial Majesty has just determined upon a courso of action which, to our thinking, well desorves to be designated Jioroic. Judging from tho oxamploa of history and tho position of parties (so far as we in-iy venture to judge) wo should say that His Majesty might now well adopt tho famous farewell salutation of the Gladiators as they filed past the Roman Ciuaar (but with a reversed application) "Hail, Caisar! Those about to die, salute thee I" The Czar's salutation is to his pooplo, and his march—if he pursues tho heroic courso he has marked out for himself —is, wo fear, towards a tragic end. Tho C/.ar has determined to see for himself what are the grievances under which his people sudor. To that ond he will invito to personal interviows with himself, representatives of all tho malcontent classos; and he will make a point of interrogating criminals, assassins and members of death-dealing brotherhoods, as to the circumstances nnd sontiiuenta which prompt them in their baleful work. This is a determination so novel, and shows a spirit at once so candid and so intrepid, that it will awfiken tho keenest interest in the result. That tho Czar will acquire a groat deal of useful information and sufficient data upon which to undertake much reformatory work, goes without saying. It is further certain that his action will intensify his people's loyalty tolas Throne aud person, and probably stive both from being overwhelmed by a revolution. But it is hardly possible to imagine the dismay, the rage, tho fiendish rage, of the crowd of ollicials who havo so long plundered the people, or of tho great landlords whose extravagance and vices and indifference have impoverished and brulalised the peasantry and stifled education, progress, and complaints. The emancipation of the serfs was the Czar's doing; and tho Russian peasant, ignorant, brutalised, and debauched, has not forgotten that the people are " solid " for the Czar. But the privileged classes from whom Nihilism and terror emanate, will not allow the Czar's inquisition to proceed far, we may rely upon it. The only comforting reflection we can find is, that if the Czar does indeed fall, ho will have won the martyr's crown as surely as ever man did; and that his death will be the signal for such- a revolution as perhaps has never before boon known in history, in which local tyrants and ollicial rascals, and the entire brotherhood of corruption and oppression will bo swept out of existence by the resistless waves of popular indignation.