THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1893.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2499, 6 May 1893, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1893.

RUSSIA. Thk most remarkable incident in the history of any nation with which we are acquainted is that cabled to us a few days ago, in which it is stated that thousands of Russian peasants laid down on the railway line over which the Czar's train was to pass, with the view of getting him to hear their grievances. It is said that several were crushed before the train stopped; that a disturbance took place between the military and the civilians; that fifteen soldiers were killed, and that the Czar was terribly enraged and frightened. This, in the first place, brands the Czar as the most cruel and heartless monster in human life at the present time. To drive up the train on poor, wretched people till the foremost of them were crushed, and then order the military to disperse them, without giving them a hearing, is inconceivably brutal and inhuman, more especially when the position in which the Czar stands in relation to his subjects is considered. He is, first of all, head of the Church, and in the eyes of his simple-minded people possesses semi-divine attributes. He is their " Little. Father," their earthly God, the incarnation of all that is good and merciful, and they hold him in a veneration beside which the sentiment inculcated by the old belief in the divinity of kings was cold indeed. Believing, no doubt, that if they could only let their grievances be known to one in whom they had such faith, they would be reduced, so they adopted the method referred to above. But what a rude awakening for them! They asked for bread, and they got coli steel: for where fifteen soldiers were killed hundreds of civilians must have fallen. This may possibly open their eyes, but what good will that do ! They may now see the demon where they expected to see the saint, but it must only add to their misei/, for it is impossible for the wretched creatures to right their own wrongs as 1-jng as the soldiers remain loyal. Still the soldiers are taken from amongst themselves, and it may be that the day may come when the Russian peasant will avenge the Czar's brutality. The condition of tli9 Russian peasant at the present time is fearful, and there is no immediate prospect of any improvement in his condition. In a recent issue of the Contemporary Review a former Siberian ex ;i e gives a graphic description of it. Financially Russia is going from bad to worse yearly. At the time of the Crimean war she had to raise a quarter of a million roubles iu taxation, but now she requires one thousand millions of roubles to pay her way, and thus duri og the last forty years her taxes have increased four thousand times. The result is that the people are crushed down by taxation, and as the rewards of the tax-gatherers are in proportion to their success, the starving peasant must provide the imperial impost whatever else he may do. Agriculture is also very backward in the country, and no attempt is made at educating the people. The writer gives many instances of the way in which the Government stands in the road of legitimate progress, but one must suffice. A wealthy gentleman, desirous of benefitting the people, decided on erecting a School of Agriculture to give the peasants some idea of how to treat the so'', but after awaiting a reply from the Government for two years he had to abandon the project, because the authorities were afraid such an institution would lead to political discussion and would not allow it to be established. This is enough to show how the country ia governed, and the consequence is that the soil is being exhausted through illusage, and that famine, starvation, and all conceivable kinds of misery are the results. The writer says there is no hope for Russia, as she is going year by year from bad to worse, unless great and fadjcal changes are effected.