, 1881-05-08

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CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT IN Rus
STA.
The London Daily Nc,rs Of Arrll .
printed 4 repur: Of Il meeting Of the Russian
Council Of Ministers which has since been
shown to he more or less authentic. 1t Is Il
little remarkable that Ill order for such an
important decision should have attracted so
little mention in the foreign dispatches, at
least after its publication by the Nclus. The
object Of this Council, over which the Car
presided, Wits to decide whether Il Constltu-
cnt Assembly, elected by the people. but
with only consultative powers, should be
conceded. 1t appears that the late Gar
sanctioned the summons, and even slSncu
the ukuse. and it was freely stated Ill the dis
cussion by the Minister OF Finance that III
the deceased Emperor haul published the
ukase on the anniversary OF Feb. IL (Nnrch
3, Y. 81 he would have lived the Last week
amidst the rojoicinss Of his people; and
maybe the terrible event OF March
1-13 would have been a,olded.' The
plan proposed, as stated oS tne
Nt,rs. was to convoke Council,
to be elected by the Zemstyo or Departmental
Councils, in which the peasants have seats'
by tie towns, and by the mobiles; to summon
the representatives to St Petersburg, and to
invest them with power to advise the Gar as
to the Legislative changes required BY tlo
whole Enp!re." In the discussion 1t was
assumed that tile right OF giving advice
would not be limited, and Count Meilkoh,
who introduced the scheme, stated that tho
debates would be public. Tue arguments
against the measure were two in number,
the first being that it would prove incompati-
bic with tile oath Of allegiance, which was
matle to the .Autocrat, and this Council
would be fatal to autocracy, and the othor
that it would ALLEVIATE the clergy, arat, through
them, the pcasantry. Count Mcllkotf ar
dently combated these arguments by cont
tending that there would be no limitations on
| autocracy by the establishment Of such 4
Council, rs was shown by the approval
and sanction Of Alexander IL After
| 4 long and very warm discussion by
| the fourteen Ministers assembled, nine
Of them, including the Ministers OF
the Interior, of Foreign Atftairs, Of War, and
Of Finance declared in favor Of the project,
| and only five, the most prominent of whom
| were the Minister Of Ecclesiastical Affairs,
| pronounced against it. The Emperor then
| rose and ordered the ukase to be prepared by
| Gen. Alelikoff, and directed that 1T should be
ascribed to his father: Alexander IL. who
had originated it.
| The proposition sums itself up In the fol-
lowing situation: A. leliberative and ad-
| yisory Parliament coeSistent with an au-
tocu.cy having the right Of absolute veto.
| II tnc harm
| tried in the past in France and Denmark.
| The two may exist side by side, and 1t is
| questionable whether the Russian people,
| so diverse in nationality, are yet ready
| for any nearer advance to constitutional
| government than the right Of giving advice,
! while an absolute veto, II wisely used. might
be Of value i'll checking radical measures
such as would unQuestloNaoly be proposed
and demanded in great numbers until the
people had become accustomed to their new
political conditions. The strongest opp0si-
ton to the measure. will nnQuest'onably
come from tho bureaucracy, which is made
up OF the Russian nobility. The abolition Of
serldom by Alexander II. left them almost
measure will strip them still further, SO that
they will probably raise almost rs great a
clamor against Parliament as the SihIlsts
have been raising against autocracy- The
London Spectator, discussing the measure.
yery clearly states the probable results us
| follows:
II i, fails, there is nothing before Russia,
| sooner or later, but revolution, in- which the
| peasuutry are sure to obtain tie upper hand,
and sure either to break up ltusSlA Or 10 submit
| themselves to IL strong military dictatorship,
with territorial democracy As its tlSe- lf, OIL
the other ha1rI it succeeds Europe will have uu
her eastern border an extremely powerful state,
| i'll which ..U,U)o,UD of peopi. urc governed ny
Inv and III accordance with lnelr own IDEAS, III
which population and prosperity slowly and
stcnAily augment. and i'll Wll!ca Il popular SOW
EXECUTIVE power. That State will bu excessively
Formidable, from its unity, from its resources,
,lld from its democratic force, ull careers be|n4
| open, and NIL discussion, free uu'ier the CZHr;
but it will not be necessarily aggressive, n1d it
| will be trusted As the sslrat. secrctsve, and now
tottcring despotism never has becu.
Ii the information furnished by the Nctcs
be correct, and there does not seem to be any
reason for doubling it, the progress Of the
| experiment will be watched with great inter-
est as the first step towards :: complete repre-
sentative government in the place Of this All
cient dcspotism. Que thing is certain: it
must disarln NiEiism by withdrawing the
sympathy Of the immense mass Of the Rus
sian people from it.
LORD BEACOY5FlELD'S START IN LIFE.
1t has been the fashion to speak Of the
"oDstacles which Lord Beaconsfield had to
overcome in rising in the world and to en-.
plastic his success by dwelling upon the dis