THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7966, 17 February 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1906.

The position in Russia is a remarkable one. A few weeks ago the news that reached the outer world from all parts of the hetrogeneoua mixture of raoes and nationalities which we know as the Russian Empire seemed to point to 'an immediate dissolution. From Finland on the north to the Black Sea and the Caspian on the'soutb, from Poland and the Baltic provinoes on the west; to the Steppes of Tartary and Manchuria to the Far East, the great Empire of the Czar presented a spec-

tacle of convulsive agitation for which there seemed to be no remedy. Prom day to day fresh risings and new outrages iu ck'fiiuco of all law and order were reported, till even the indignation with] which all civilised nations had come to regard the ruling olass in Russia began to give way almoat to a feeling of pity for the Czar aud his advisers, who seemed to be helpless to control the storm which they had aroused. People generally nad learned to look on the result as a foregone conclusion, and to ask themselves not what the end would ba, but how soon it would come,, bringing with it the final destruction of the iilmpire, and in all probability the general nnssacro of the olass whioh hid used its power so cruelly in the past. During the last two or three weeks a change seems to have taken place. The rising in Moscow and the "uppression of the revolt may be said to have marked tho crisis in affairs for th 6 time being, and since then the complexion of Russian news has altered so oousiderbly that there is a risk of public opinion being misled into thinking the ereat ' revolution is practically at an end. There is evi dence that such an idea ia entertained by the ruling classes in Russia itself, indeed; and the revival of the agitation of the extremists for the restoration of all the worst features of the old state of things shows *;hat they imagine the forces of revolution are nearl-'spent. In this it is safe to say they are mistaken; and it is well for mankind in general, and for Russia in particalar, that they are mistaken. The world cannot afford to throw away its lessons, and already the lesson of Russia is one that has cost too much for intelligent humanity to be willing to see it thrown away, or even very seriously disregarded If they did but know it, the lesson should be of more immediate value to the Czar and his circle of aristocratic councillors than to anybody else, for to them at least it is a matter of life and death; but whether they know it or not, we may hope and believe that the world at large, and even the downtrodden millions of Russia itself, will be the richer and the wiser for what it has taught them.