The Daily News. FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 1918. THE REIGN OF TERROR IN RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 January 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 1918. THE REIGN OF TERROR IN RUSSIA.

To all appearances Lenin and Trotsky are emulating the authors of the atrocities connected with the French revolution. They liaVe seized' power and can only hold by a reign of terror, and cold blooded murder of those who arouse their fea- or hatred. An example of I this is st't i'orth in the recent cable containing an account of the' murder of an j | ex-Minister and a Cadet leader, who went to Petrograd to attend the Constituent Assembly and were arrested, confined in a fortress, subsequently being gent to a hospital and murdered the same night. The correspondent who relates this horrible story goes on to say: '1 cannot tell all the brutalities and excesses which are ravaging Russia from end to end. Plunder and the most cruel forms of murder are bo common that horrors pall. The tyranny is worse than under Nicholas II." Russia, without doubt, is in the hands of ruthless dictators, and from the gruesome measures adopted by these self-appointed autocrats it almost seems they are acting under German orders so as to expedite the descent of the country to the abyss of infamy. What little hope there might have been of establishing c. stable Government has disappeared with the summary dismissal of the Constituent Assembly, and the country is now governed by mob law. With a courage beyond all praise the members of this short lived Assembly declined to be dictated to by the so-called Peoples' Commissaries and refused to confirm the decrees of the Soviets, in spite of Trotsky's threat of death and destruction to those who opposed Bolshevik rule. Never did any body of men elected by the people to form a Government meet under such conditions as those which characterised the opening of the Constituent Assembly at Petrograd. There was a sufficient display of armed forces to strike terror into the hearts of ordinary men. It was a menace to the members and deliberately intended as suoli, while the warships' gun l ! were trained on the building. Yet, in spite of this silent but significant command to obey the Bolsheviks' behests, the members of the Assembly resolutely declined to hand over the Government to the rabble and its self-ap-pointed leaders. For this courageous action they deserve to be held in honor by their countrymen. The end soon came, the Assembly being dispersed by sailors, acting under Bolshevik order, at the hour of 4 a.m. So passed fhe only chance that has been offered for Russia to acquire a sane and |orderly government. Exercising a discretion which, under the circumstances wis well justified, t.l: Cadets and Constitutional Democrats did not attend the Assembly, for to do so would ihave probably cost them their lives, certainly it would have cost them their liberty, for Trotsky has made no

secret of his intentions to sweep these, opponents from his path. The Bolsheviks are proving apt imitators of the worst and most dangerous revolutionaries in history. They threaten to bring to trial (a mere formal prelude to sentence) the ex-Czar and his family as well as the ex-Ministers of the Provisional Government. They hatched a plot to murder the Royal family of Rouinaiiia and members of the Government, and they will stop at 110 base treachery or iniquity in their hist of power and fear of a downfall. They evidently fail, however, t,o reckon on the pioverbial fickleness of revolutionary mobs who one day hail their leaders with acclamation and' the next are ready to trample them under foot. ft. is pitiable In witness a great country like Russia, whose deeds ill the war have stirred the world, now drifting from bad to worse and becoming the prey of self-seeking mountebanks and unprincipled spoliators. It would seem as if she must drink her cup of hitter humiliation to the very dregs unless she can he saved from the murderous bandits who arc now in power at the seat»of Government—creatures who make war on women and indulge in brutal assassinations. And it is with such specimens of humanity as these that the Germans are pretending to arrange peace terms, playing them like a skilful angler would play a game fish, and knowing that the victim will be landed in the net, powerless to escape. Soldiers have thrown off all restraint, selling and bartering their equipment and committing excesses without fear of consequences, while, in various parts of the country looting, pillaging, and even murder are common. Apparently no effort is made to evolve order out of tiie existing chaos, and this is indicative of mob rule, for law and order are anathema to the lawless element wihich is now terrorising the .country. Russia at present is like a rudderless ship at the mercy of unruly elements, and unless some speedy steering gear is provided, disaster will follow. Above all she sorely needs a resolute and fearless commander, who will lay bv the heels -the coterie of usurpers which i* making a mockery of the function of Government and driving tlw country to ruiu.