The Daily News WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1905 THE STATE OF RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7745, 22 February 1905, Page 2

The Daily News WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1905 THE STATE OF RUSSIA.

The words of bewilderment imputed to the Czar regarding- the murder of his uncle may or may not bo authentic, but they implj a belief in the world outsidci the Koyni circle of of Russia that the most profoundly ignorant man in the whole extent of his vast Empire is the ruler of it all.' It seems hardly credible to anyone ' who has studied the history of the Russian autocracy, and who knows ' what a line of forceful rulers the • Rumanoffs have been, that their hit-' est representative is the miserable, vacillating weakling he is represented to be. Judging by reports of personal interviews with him, and by published portraits, however (if it is reasonable to draw any conclusion from Royal portraits) there is much cause to think that the Czar of all the Russias is a simple-minded and very commonplace person, upon whom the burden of his great position is a heavy incubus. There is no doubt, through all the rumours, i and exaggerations, and half lies, I and suppressions, that there presents ! itself to the world in the Russia of, to-day a condition of internal af- j fairs which marks a mighty uphcav-j ul in the minds of the populace. | For many years the Muscovite Empire has had its revolutionary party , —locally known as the lntelliguentia . and more familiarly abroad as the j Nihilists. The latter term, by the' way, is utterly misleading, and is j repadialed by the Russians them-' selves. Nihilist and Anarchist are' practically synonymous terms, and 1 those who struggle for a change of Government in Russia are not An- ' archists. It' is the persistent propaganda of this party, which con-' sists largely of people of Polish and Jewish descent, that is at present, ; to use a colloquialism, getting in ' some line work. Combined with the efforts of those who arc actually sworn members of the lntelliguentia,: there is apparently a vast unorgnnis- 1 ed public opinion, which is sick of! bureaucracy—the iron . official rule that is the necessary complement of an autocracy. Revolutionary, that is to say, ordinary enlightened, aspirasions are now common to all classes, and the teachings of Socialism have permeated all ranks of society. Re-i markable in all Russian light litem-] ture is the conversation on social subjects imputed to the characters. All, or nearly all, talk about matters which are of no living interest to the ordinary extra-Russian reader. Some tof the most aaVanced works of recent Russian novelists, bad they dealt with any other coun-'

try or been published in any other language, would have fallen flat and heavy on the hands of the booksellers. But the society which reads and thinks and talks us represented in such books is not a unique thing in history. All the world knows how much the writings of Voltaire, Housscau, and Haron IVHolbach had to do in bringing about the French Revolution. Also all the world knows that after the accomplishment ofi that mighty upheaval France was I stronger than ever before or since, and, filled with new Jippes and aspirations, held her own for years against the military and naval strength of Europe. "Society, shaken to its foundations and torn with dissension, is partially responsible" for the ! latest assassination says fl» great, Hussian journal. It well may be so. I but from such dissension much good, may ultimately spring. Assassina-j tion, as a form of popular execution, in (i deplorable method of protest, aad ond which the spirit of | civilisation cannot tolerate. History is, however, full of instances where such acts have not been unproductive of good, and desperate diseases induce the trial of desperate remedies. That Hussia will abandon the war is improbable ; that she must reform her industrial system is certain ; but that she will adopt constitutional government for her hundred odd million, made up of eighty nationalities, is at present entirely improbable. A Czar who will fearlessly meet his people may grant concessions and modifications, and a , Parliament may grow at last, but the day for that is not yet.