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Press, Volume LX, Issue 11505, 11 February 1903, Page 6

A fidble menage received on Saturday iadicaites a .possible wcrodwoence of the oonfiiots between the poorer classes and tfee auKbor&ies in Southern Russia, The KwS correspondent o< the London "Km«" has, it appears, reported; <tbe discovery by the police of a seditious movement among the factory operatives of the cdty. It ie significant that She movwoenti ehould be directed, <aa it ie alleged, agaiasts capitalism as <wwß m ugwnet *he Government. This pointe to the activity of revoleeJonary eocialiet propaganda** quite as math, as to with the present system of administration. The report » supplemented by the news of numerous arrests, and a rumour of the coming appointment of a ttalirtaity Governor-General in the South who ie to proclaim martial law. Suck violent are, unfortunately, the customary methods pursued by the Rustian bureaucracy at the firtt'aigna of popular discontent. So long m tie army remain* loyal the Government cam bold its own by dint <of tie terror it inspires, but it only drives in the xevototioaaxy disease and en* courages in Russian, refannem thttt passion for extreme and foiMdd*n doctrinesurbich is so charatterfstJo of the country. The Russian nature is singularly impressionable and volatile, and cooaeottenjily prone to intellectual extravagance. The Russian people, tea, art mere children ia political' experience, end, therefore, lacking in the sense of proportion bo fully developed im a race trained . Eke our own to ■elf-govern-ment. When to these cause* ia added an arbitrary "functionary" fyetem under wbkh officattl decrees take the place elsewhere fiHed by fixed law* there ie little to surprise ub in the constantly recurring trouble* of tiie past two years. About this season, bath in 1901 tad 1908, there were serious disturbances. In 1901 t!he revolt vn confined for the moat part to the educated! proletariat of the univenitie*. It wte marked, however," by "the murder of M. Bogoliepoff, Minuter of Pttblio Instruction, and! an attempt upon the life of M. Pobiedomoritaeff, the reactionary exProcurator'df the Holy Synod. In 1902 the students again broke out), bait this time they did' not bear the brunt of the struggle iwkh «attlhorily. The -workmen indulged in strikes andrßdtdng white tihe peasants, more especially in the «outhern provinces of European Russia, rote against the large knd-ownere, pffl'aging tani destroying many oonntry maanecw, among them the chateau of the Duke of •Mecklenburg. Famine drove the peasants to great excesses, and in May last a large part, of Soutihern Russia Was in a etalte bordering on revolation. The various rkings of students, workmen, and peaeaHta, nrere suppressed rutileasly with the aid of .troops, who employed rifles a* well as whips. Sevwal officials- were singled out for murderous attacks in different distriots, and asother JCnierter, M. Sipiaeuiae, vos.aotuatly killed, while M. Polnedotiosbßefl had to abandon a holiday at Wiesbaden befcauw tba pollc* even there oouid not guarantee his safety. . PeiJheJps the most senous aspect of last years troubles, ait least irsm the Russian Government's pnbut of ykkt, was the relusal of oertain to fire upon rioters when ordered to do so. Without the support of the army Jt is doubtful whether the governmental system 1 'of Russia cou-ld withstand the popular forces gather* ing against it- The yom>g Hiar is believed* even by the .political malcontents, to be ayoopatlhstio with, moderate reforms,., but to be restrained by reaciUoMtry oißclals who deceive or over persuade bun. Thler* eeefne to be a condidt of opinion among the higher offioiaie, a few like General yannofalu,. end possibly M. PJshws, the present Minister of the Interior, feeing ready to make ooneenoons while oto«n wiU hare nothing to do wicb *ny changes. It is noteworthy,' however, thai the Isar n> cently sent a special cdiwmisstoner to rspott io him pereooally on. the alleged peasant grievances in the Wouth, whlie the first officially sanctioned meeting of workm to dfeousa their conditione of hbonr was held in Deoemfber.3tt6 at St. Petertburg. An Imperial Commission, be* also bsea appointed to harmonise toe relations between the Imperial daparionerit* and the local ad* minsstrsjtiv* bodies with a view to fanproving the .lot of the peasants. Tbtss measures imply either a genuine effort to ameliorate the conditions of the poorer csmms, or grave fears for tits existing regime on the part of official*. " No douot tne, moeVpotent muse of,discontent in Russia, both among peasant* and workmen is economic and it is more than possible iihat poverty and want of proepeeM are also largely smmritahle for the «ta> dents' militant tNihiliem. The extraordinany thing is that Russia, with all these dotnestaio probSema demanding treatment, should be devoting so much energy to Impernslistie sfhemws of axpan-