THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA.

Waikato Times, Volume LVII, Issue 7066, 25 July 1906, Page 2

THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA.

THE CZAR'S UKASE. FULL TEXT. ST. PETERSBURG, July 23. The following is the full text of the Czar's dissolution manifesto : " Believing that the Duma would benefic the nation with productive legislation, we proposed great reforms in all departments of the national life, having always devoted great care to the removal of ignorance and the burdens of the people by facilitating agricultural work. " A cruel disappointment has befallen our expectations. Instead of applying themselves to the work of productive legislation, the members of the Duma have strayed into spheres beyond their competence. They have made inquiries into the acta of local authorities established by ourselves. They have combined to deal with the imperfections of the fundamental laws, which can only be modified by our will, and have even undertaken really illegal acts, such as appealing to a nation disturbed by such anomalies. "Seeing no hope of amelioration of their condition, peasants in a number of districts have resorted to open pillage, the destruction of property, and disobedience of the law and of the legal authorities. " Our subjects ought to remember that improvement of the people's lot is only possible under conditions of perfect order and tranquillity. "We shall not allow arbitrary illegal acts; we shall impose our Imperial will on the disobedient by all the power of the State. "We call on all well-disposed persons to unite for the maintenance of the iegal power, and the restoration of peace in the dear Fatherland. May calm be re-established ; may God help us to realise the chiefest of our tasks, that of reform in the lot of -> the peasants. Our will on this point is unshakable, and the Russian husbandmen, where the peasants' lands are too small, without encroaching on other people's property, will be supplied with legal honest means for enlargement of their property. " Representatives of other classes * at our request will devote their best efforts to the realisation of this great task, which a future Duma will perform.

"In dissolving the Duma we confirm our immutable intention of keeping this institution. We appoint March 5, 1907, as the date for convocation of the new Duma, expecting from it a realisation of our efforts for the regeneration of Kussia.

"Faithful sons of Russia, your Czar calls you as a father to his children to unite with him for the regeneration of the holy Fatherland. We believe that giants in thought and action will appear, and, thanks to their assiduous efforts, the glory of Kussia will continue to shine." THE DUMA TO THE PEOPLE.

A STIRRING APPEAL

ST. PETERSBURG, July 24. About two-thirds of the members of the Duma signed a manifesto to the Russian people, recounting that body's efforts to secure greater free, dom for the nation, the dismissal of the Ministry which infringed laws with impunity, and the passage of a law securing land for the working peasantry by absorbing Crown and church lands and by the compulsory expropriation of private estates. The Government, holding such law inadmissible, dissolved the Duma, promising to convoke the new Duma seven mouths hence. Though the country was on the brink of ruin, with industry and commerce undermined • the people seething with unrest; although the Ministry had shown its incapacity to do justice to popular needs, yet the Government proposed for seven months to continue to act arbitrarily and to fight a popular movement in order to obtain a pliable subservient Duma.