St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1859-02-03

tuition being able to relieve the Emperor
Of their responsibility, since neither the
Council Of the Umpire, made up of func-
tionaries who have grown old in burcaux
| and in the field nor the Council Of Min
listers can be considered to be Legislative
bodies.
Theoretically, these laws lack basis:
practically, they are mean, narrow, often
contradictory; and sometimes impract;. Co.:
bic. Complaints have long been heard
against the bad administration Of affairs.
and the evident causes of this, t''nat the
laws are buried beneath of chan ce-produc-
ed ordinances and administrative combina-
TONS without either cohesion or system.
Now, when the business is 60 unite the
knots, with which the al mi Illustration has
fas cned a great portion Of the country,
the mobiles, who have '.oig wished for this
time, find themselves poWerless in their
action. \ progro: nme is given them to
fill out. and at the same time secret in
structions, pre- scribing the way in which
they are to I'll it out; work which the
Committee, Of mobiles must sign on their
own iest t'onslblllty.
The Committee Of St. Petersburg, guild
cd "ld moved by an influence above it,
SET itself at work, and has just finished
! :.he labor which was given it, and which
'nay be said to have been dictated by the
Bureauacy. Platonoff alone opposed this
project, in which he said all the rules of
reason, as we'll as all the principles ofjus-
tice, even to the rights Of property, were
oyerriddcn without mercy. He urges that
ordinances Of the importance Of these,
which affect the most vital interests Of
; the country, can only be established in
virtue Of the State law made by the En-
poror, under the advice of the National
Council; and insists that the Emperor act
iny with the advice only Of the Bureaucra-
cy, cannot impose fundamental law upon
the nation.
lie therefore protested against the plan
dictated by the Bureaucracy and accepted
Ky the Committee, as plan which de-
graded the mobiles, destroyed every ele-
ment Of veal for the peasant, and armed
two classes against each other by creating
between them the permanent antagonism
Of clashing interests. The members of
the Committee expressed their sympathy
with his protest, and decided unanimously ly
that it should be appended to the plan
which many signed unwilIingly, regarding
it as the expression OF q law as bad in es-
, sense as it was strange in form.
1t cannot be denied that there is much
power and reason i'll the argument Of Plat
onotf;, who fears the results of emancipa-
ton on basis imposed On the mobiles -
The peasant will get nominal liberty, and
will be more than ever slave; he will be
subject to the commune; he must work
to live, work to pay the rent Of his land,
and work, too, toward the redemption OF
his house and lot; and, if he refuses to
work, the whole village must answer fol
him.
E 1t is clear that in the plan Of the En-
:, peIor there lies the germ Of u serious diff.
fculty; but the intention is to throw all
possible safeguards around the peasant,
and to secure hi. fully against the capri
ces and necessities OF small landholders; in
short, to prevent poverty But have the
best means been found? Is not the right
, of property attacked when a portion Of the
lands OF the mobiles is taken out Of thei,
+ control? A grave question, and one
which it was impolitic to raise after things
had gone so far. These discussions may
be looked upon by the pcasantry with an
evil eye and it is imprudent for. the no.
f blcs to risk a quarrel with the. Emperor
J that would excite the troubles of which
F they would be the fist victims. There is
! now prevalent throughout Russia a men.
ia! fermentation, accompanied by curl
= Gus and restless expectation. The men Of
y influence must calm this, and they arc
i, the mobiles.
J. So, although I approve Platonoff's idea
$ I must consider his protest ill-timed and
y dangerous. AS soon as the Minister oi
>, the Interior knew Of this protest, he sent
y it back to the Committee, as a,o,e-cout form.
able to the State 1ow. But the President
of the Committee, Count Shoovalotf, al
n though he had personally opposed the
u protest, Immediately went to the Ministe,
and Informed him with good deal of de-
: cision that platonoffs paper having been
u approved by all the members Of tue Com
:, mittce, could not be separated from thei,
- - plan, and must 90 with it wherever il
Il went.
4 4 This whole thing shows that there , is :
great deal Of freedom of thought in Rus
,. > sia, and that the silence which has beer
y imposed upon the country for thirty years
= past has not been able to check the pro.
s .s gress Of ideas. The present government
. . is very well aware of this, and allows al
y y the latitude in this respect which anybody
could desire.
= aSA {: down East" paper advertise: