THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 21 June 1917, Page 7

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION.

Mr. T. P. O'Connor, the well-known Nationalist M.P., and journalist, writ- 1 ing of the Eussian Eovolution, says:— Such a revolution as this must have far-reaching consequences. If the danger which always lurks in the rear of Eevolution, and especially in a country which has never had training in selfgovernment—namely, anarchy and disintegration—if that danger "be averted, and an orderly, Constitutional Govern-1 ment be allowed to work out its policy there is no doubt that the aid which Eussia can give to her Allies will be enormously increased. NO ILLUSIONS IN GEEMANY. [ I observe that the German papers do not cherish any illusion that the Eevolution in Eussia is going to make things easier for them. Indeed, it is the end of one of the many delusive dreams with which they set out on their great adventure. They calculated, through the information from their spies in all quarters, that Eussia would break out into revolution the moment war was declared. Their poor psychology left out of account the intense hatred which their methods of government and their arrogance had created in the mind of Eussia, as in the mind of every other civilised country in the world; and war, instead of being a revolution, arrested it. Eussia went into the war with almost (gHea|'ior enthusiasm, and /de-ter-mination than any other of the Allies, and her vehemence and determination have not been cooled even by the gigantic losses which her troops have suffered in the field. I look, therefore, not to less, but more intense, participation by Eussian troops and generals, as well as statesmen, in the coming months, when the fighting nations may at last be reaching the decisive moment. Political results may also follow. Eevolutions have a knack of passing from country to country, as the great year of IS4B in the last century proved. It would be a blessing to Europe and to Germany herself if there were a repetition in Berlin of the same things as have happened in Petrograd. BAD EACE OF HOHENZOLLEENS. The Germans will never be really free and never fit neighbours for the other countries in Europe as long as they have these wretched Hohenzollerns on the throne. The whole race is bad—bad in its traditions, bad in its members. There are not in the world two greater "bounders"—l really must use the word—than the Kaiser and his son. The poor dethroned Tsar was, at least, a modest and well-meaning man; but these insufferable Hohenzollerns, with their swank, their vanity, their egotism, and their mediaeval pretensions, have kept the teeth of every nation on edge for a quarter, of a century; and the whole world would breathe a sigh of relief if it heard that we were over and done with them. They inherit, too, from their family and traditions a gospel of violence, of conquest, and of perfidy. The German people, half-starved, oppressed, brutalised by these Hohenzollerns, are sighing and praying for peace. If they got rid of their Hohenzollerns they could have peace pretty soon.