The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-03-19 00:00:00

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RUSSIA AND ITS RULE.

THE terrible tidings which, on Sunday evening,
were flashed over all the capitals of Europe, and
a few hour afterwards were being read through
the length and breadth of the land, have directed
public attention to the country which was so
suddenly deprived of its head, and to the system
of its government. Personally the late Czar
Alexander was a humane and feeling man. The
earlier part of his reign was marked by adminis-
trative and social reforms which were coldly
looked upon by the upper and middle classes,
although welcome to the great body of the people
The emancipation of the serfs was a revolution
in its way ; and it seems difficult to believe that
less than t Nenty years ago there existed in the
greatest empire of Europe a system of practical
slavery by which the human beings upon the soil
went with it from one proprietor to another like
so many sheep or oxen. In 1863, however, the
Emperor who was on Sunday sent to his last
account gave these people their freedom, and
seifdom will no more be known throughout his
vast dominions. He would have gone farther in
the path of reform than he actually did, but such
changes affected vested interests, and he was re-
luctantly necessitated to relinquish his attempts
to improve the social and political conditions of
the masses of his subjects.
Since the time, now more than a thousand
years ago, when Runic the Norman arrived at
Novgorod, and was proclaimed Grand Duke,
Russia has gradually increased in territory until
at length it has become the most stupendous
empire in the globe. He was the first to estab-
lish a government, and his rule as to time cor-
rgsponded with that of King Alfred in England.
His descendants reigned amid many vicissiiudt s
for several centuries ; and in course of years
Peter the Great appeared upon the scene. His
energy and 'genius, supplemented by the perie-
verance and determination of Catherine 11., con-
tributed immensely to the extension of Russian
territory and to the progress of its power. But
its contribution to human advancement has been
totally incommensurate with the enormous ex-
tent of its dominions. The plan of its govern-
ment—an unlimited despotism—is an anachron-
ism in the present day. Even in the time of
the Saxons there was eorneapproach to a Parlia-
ment in this country in the name of the Wit-
tangernote, or great council of the nation. Min e
than 600 years have elapsed since Simon de
Montford, Earl of Leister, issued out writs for
the summoning of Lords and Commons as we
now know them. It is, therefore, difficult for us
in this enlightened age, to realise the fact that
in Europe to-day there is a great empire ruling
without a Parliament ; and, further, that the
the will of one man controls the destinies of
eighty millions of the human race. People, if
they give the matter a thought, instinctively ask
How can these things be ? Here is one single
individual, with a mighty army at his command,
to be launched hither and thither, like thunder-
bolts of Jove, and with the unquestionable power
of imposing great burthens upon his subjects as
he deems the exigencies of the public service to
require. To the readers of bygone English
history, who are acquainted with the checks
which the people have gradually imposed upon
the power of the Crown and the influence of the
nobles, such a condition of affairs may well seem
incredible. In Russia there is but one fallible
human will to direct the State vessel, without
any advice from representatives of the people as
to the direction which ought to be taken. One
man is an autocrat over eighty millions of his
ft.llows made in the same image and likeness
and fashioned like unto himself.

The empire of Russia occupies a considerable
portion of two continents, its extent exceeding
eight million square miles ; and, in propartion
as this vast area becomes more thickly populated
the responsibilities of those who govern will in-
crease. As commerce extends its enlightening
influence into the remotest parts of the extensive
realms which own the sway of the dEseendants of
Peter the Great, the desire of the people for a
lure in making the laws under which they
_live
'ill doubtless increase. Should this desire be
repressed the future will have its tale to tell of
political agitation and disturbance. This, how-
ever, may be averted by timely concessions ; and
possibly, the new Czar may be able to give to
his people some of those reforms demanded by
the spirit of the age in which we live—reforms
that have matured in this country during the
past centuries—and thus enlist the confidence of
all classes of his subjects, and so ensure the sta-
bility of his throne.

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