THE CONDITION OF RUSSIA.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3693, 16 May 1883, Page 4

THE CONDITION OF RUSSIA.

In spite of tho fe:us of shitosmon and the selfish I "opposition of officialism, the condition and experience of tho Russian people s.e.u to make them specially fit" for political freedom. They are reared in the practice of l-.'ai self-..- .vevuni -nt. which is_ tho be,t of all sch" ■>)■< tor the exercise oi political rights. Everything tho peasantry, the great balk of the uu'.iou, are accustomed I"'.', to meet, to vu:e, mi I manage their social and local affairs ; to elect the managers of their commune, and to implicitly obey those whom they have; elected. They have to provide, not individually, but each commune collectively, for the excessive taxation imposed by the central Government, and iv addition to bear the irritating and constant interference of central officialism, /i'he extension of their experience and action I nan local and social to political and national affairs seems a safe and natural step. lucre are, iv fact, unusual guarantees in Russia for tho rie-lit exerciser of political power by the people. They have few difficulties of caste, their present assemblies being representative and democratic. There is the Conservative element of a common ownership in laud, each man being, as a rule, in lnVeorporafo capacity a proprietor of the soil and responsible to the commune for his individual contribution to tho common welfare. Consequently, they have not had that most s.:rlous of all problems in their political future which oilier European nations have yet to solve—tho existence of a vast propertyless class in tho midst of an cvor-iuereasing national wealth. In this crisis, the one means safety for the Emperor would be for him to throw off the fatal load of absolute power, to call the people to his aid by conceding to them political rights and representative institutions, and through tho action of a Constitutional Government to destroy, or rather to use and guide the revolutionary forces which experience shows he cannot control. The policy of concession, though difficult, is safe, if, when once entered on, it is continued. The emancipation of tho serfs, tlmu»h imperfectly'" carried out, _ and leading as it is doing to angry and ominous demands on tho part of tho peasauls for further rights, yet, brought no danger to Alexander .11. * The danger was in stopping short in tho path of reform, after having raised the hopes of tho nation by by taking .such a splendid step. But it is difficult for an absolute ruler—unless a man of exceptional power and ability—to sec tiie wisdom of the policy of concession or voluntarily to adopt it. Tho Emperor E surrounded by a vast bureaucracy which looks with distrust and hatred on tho idea of political self-government, and which feels that its own'existenc... U incompatible with popular power and free in-'iiutions. With no press, platform or Parliament, through which ho can hear the direct voice of the people, or see things as they are. the Czar relies on officialism. He sees with its eves, hears with its ears, and trusts to it for the administration of his will. Accordingly there hi no response lo nny popular desire. Iv retirement and in virtual" defeat tho Czar clings to tho reactionary policy. It is truu_ there is a mild form"of Liberalism which is permitted in Russia and found even among the official classes aud iv society. 'When referred to in newspapers it is apt to mislead tho foreign reader by indicating the existence in Russia of a recognized and progressive Liberal jjarty. It'is, howevev, merely a fashionable profession of a liberalism by persons who enlarge un the advantages of constitutional government as a principle for countries to which it is applicable, and who arc anxious to give freedom, to the p< oplc when they are fit for it, and .'o forth.. With grave signs of M'-rrr-'an troubles in several parts of the Empire, with an ever-increasing army of officials withoppressive taxation, with annual deficits and new loans, with national credit strained almost to its limit, with a largo aud increasing revolutionary party which lays hold of the inielli-c.r of the country, and which cannot be kept down even by the severest methods of repression, it must be admitted that the outlook in 'Russian politics is a dark one. As to the issue of the perilous conflict between Czar and people, it requires but little political insight to predict that the present system in Russia cannot last.— Mr Jesse Codings, M.P., in tho Fortnightly Review.