THE CONDITION OF RUSSIA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1602, 6 July 1887, Page 3

THE CONDITION OF RUSSIA.

An Odessa correspondent of the ''London News" wsites : — "The Internal oondition of Rrssia has never been co dangerous as at present. Trade m very nearly at a standstill, native industries are paralysed, whole districts are In a state of seini-etjrvation, the people think that Russia is thwarted abroad, and consider that Bhe h even treated with contumely by a small state like Bulgaria. Official corruption and peculation were never more rife. There is not a single Minister whom the people trust, and, worst of all, the Czir is prevented by the aristocracy from ; "certaintag the true condition of his kingdom. The real enemies of Russia are tho3e who stand between the throne and the people, those whose interest it la to keep the head of the State out of the touch with the menses. The conflict is not really between the Czar and the people, but between the latter and the aristocracy, who, m the face of 'he slow but inevitable advance of modern fr; jdom, are desperately fighting for the prlvPeges The struggle cannot 1; t much longer, but m tne meantime the Cz^r is the victim. The aristocrac7 siy the people are not yet fitted for constitutional government ; that they are not sufficiently educated to understand or appreciate anything m the shape o*. a Constitution. It would be more correot to say they do not want » Constitution. I have had opportunities of forming a tolerably fair estimate of the popular sentiment on this Buhjoct I am, of course, here excluding some rational and mapy wild theories of the young Rm3la party. My oonviction on this point is that the paople, as a rule, only want their monarchy reformed. They want the Russian code adminis'ered justly. They want administrative abuses reformed, and a resettlement of agrarian questions. They want judges who are not corrupt, but most of all they want to feel and to see the guiding hand of their Czir. To say that Rossia desiren a Constitution m the Westfrn European acceptation of the term, is to misrepresent the popular desire. To grant a Constitution to the Russian people at this moment would be to re-enact the comedy of Mrdhat Pasha's assembly at Constantinoble. There are undoubtedly great dangers now threatening the autocratic government of Russia, but if the Cz\r were vise m his generation he could crush out sedition at one sweep and regain the wavering allegiance of the maase 1 . Let Alexander IJI break fearlessly through the lnflaeace of the clique which keeps him In ignorance of the condition and necessities of his subjects, and be will find the naturally Joyal and warm-hearted people not ungrateful. A certain number of the PanßJavist leaders might with advantage be banished. This at all events, should be the firot step, and one for which the other Powers would heartly commend 1 the Caar."