RUSSIAN CRISIS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7938, 11 January 1906, Page 5

RUSSIAN CRISIS.

IN THE CAUCASUS. MUTINOUS TROOPS IN SIBERIA THE CZAR' 3 LIFE IN DANGER. Received January 10, 8.36 a.m. ST. PETERSBURG. Jan. 9. The Viceroy of the Caucasus has taken refuge in the fortified monastery at Tifiis. Mutinous. troops along the Siberia railway are electiug their own officers. Insurgents and reservists are masters of the chief towns. Keoeived January 10, 9.5 a.m. A field army is being mobilised at Roatoff, in Southern Russia, to re-conquer the Caucasus. Extraordinary precautions are being taken at Tsarkoe Selo, the Czar's residence near the capital. The authorities have been warned that the Czar's life will be attempted whenever he leaves the palace. THE LATEST FROM THE EAST. Received January 10, 11.50 p.m. ST. PETERSBURG, Jan. 10. The Governor of the Caucasus telegraphß that thel revolutionaries have seized the railway and organised a general strike. Martial law has been proclaimed. Tartars and Armenians are fighting at Baku, Ervian and Doghestan. TRANSFORMATION IN THE CAPITAL. RAPID AND BEWILDERING CHANGE. Writing on November 15 the St. Petersburg correspondent of the New York Herald gives an interesting picture of the situation in the capital. "All here," he says, "is a dream. Russia of to-day is entirely unlike the Russia of afev» weeks ago. ohange is bewildering. I pick up a newspaper at hazard. It contains a terribly insulting personal attack on the whilom dreaded General Trepoff. It grinds him to dust in the street. Newspapers appear, so to speak, at every corner. "Buy the Voice of the People!" yells one leather-lunged youth. "First number of New Life!" yells another. I buy New Life. It reoresents the working man. In bold black type is the announcement:—"According to an agreement with the union of the Press, this paper is puhiished without having been submitted to the censor. The promised enactment giving freedom to the Press has not yet been effective, but the Press by common consent has taken the law in its own bands. It defies the censor." In a prominent position in New Life is a warning to workmen not to be led away by lying circulars, and informing them that these are published by the police to make trouble. TALK OF DISMEMBERMENT. "In a talk with a prominent official of the Foreign Office, he speaks with interest upon the possible necessity of the dibmembermentof the empire —Finland for the Finns, Poland for the Poles, the Caucasus for the Caucasians. 1 meet a military officer. He is quite ready to discuss the question of lack of loyalty in the army. He admits there are grave doubts concerning the infantry, but he thinks the cavalry is 'all light.' He is confident the guards will not revolt; he is one of them. My isvotohik, or droshky driver, is no longer the humble,individual he was some weeks ago. As he passes a policeman he calls that functionary an ugly name, and the policeman says never a word. The "Union of Unions," a new and admirably organised combination, of the labour interests of the empire, publishes daily its decisions upon questions of political interest of the moment.