PAMDORA'S BOX IN RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8155, 12 July 1906, Page 4

PAMDORA'S BOX IN RUSSIA.

Tbc lid of Pandora's box lias been raided in Kussia, say the critics of the n.'« Douma, and all the promised blessings have blown away, though hope may still be lying at the bottom. Others, like H. Korwin Milewski, who wr.les in the •'Correspondent " (Paris), thihk that the new Bnssian Parliament is Pandora's box, but without the hope. In this connection Mr Jlilcwski I'sks whether Bussia is now to be reckoned among the constitutional and parliamentary countries, and gives us his idea of the probalile character of the parliamentary proceedings in the new assembly. Bussia's progress toward constitutionalism, he tells us, is a burning topic of discussion in Bussia. Most of the doctrinaires aver that no substantial advantages have yet been gained. To which it is replied that, although Bussia has no written constitu:ion, sad the Czar alone can modify the " fundamental laws" of the nation, it must be considered that England has no written constitution, and the very existence of the Douma modifies the fundamental laws of the autocracy. Bussia is undoubtedly a constitutional country, he thinks. He laughs at the subtlety of the Russian doctrinaires and sketches the character of the Douma debates in these terms: "We may of course be sure that the Douma, composed as it is of doctrinaines and rustics, will scarcely be found equal to the crushing responsibility which is laid upon it, and that its debut will not be particularly fertile of results. We must expect to see a great deal of time wasted in barren disputes, m the discussion of first principles. From old Boussoau, who is not yet quite out of fashion in Bussia, to Henry George, we shall find all the big sophists and cranks of social science represented on the rostrum of the Douma. Unless a man has attended a serious discussion or debate of Bussian ' Intellectuals ' it is impossible for him to conceive how strange a mania these creatures have for the investigation of ' first principles.' Tell a Bussian doctrinaire you have a toothache, he is almost certain to remark, ' Sir, let us define " tooth " and " ache." ' He hazards no ppsitivj; prediction ai to the future, but concludes : " Kussia is at this moment in the position of a woman who at the altar is committing her future to the care of an unknown mm. The country is risking the greatest I stakes she has risked in her history. but the time has come when she mus risk something." The London "Times" looks upon the matter in a much more practical manner, and thinks that the opening of the Douma will, among other things, open, not Pandora's box. but the cash boxes of the European financiers, although it may result iu lliejtfiirtincnt ofCount Witte. Thus ; " A lirdveu-'oorn statesman would hardly, perhaps, retire when the first •cpre-entative assembly in his country meets; but if tiie Doum.i, hedged about with restrictions as it is, proves .to be decisively hostile to the present Government, it might become inconvenient to the Prime Minister. At present the omens are scarcely favorable to this assembly, which is strut gling iuto existence under such difficulties. The Government will, no doubt, be satisfied with the mere fact that it exists. A new Bussian loan, as to which some particulars come from Berlin, is soon to be put upon the market; and its chances will be very much bettered if Bussia is able to show that she has even the shadow ol a Parliament. It is needless to say that all well-wishers of Bussia beyond the borders of the Empire hope that the Douma may prove itself effective. The beginnings of constitutional life in Bussia are in its hands, and, sorely as it is likely to be thwarted, it may still be able to vindicate for the people a far more important voice in affairs."