The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-11-19

| ST. Petersburg 1t should consist of rep
resentatives, both from the cities and
| from the country. charged with working
| out the proposals for reform legislation TO
| be laid before the Council of the Empire.
| On February II Car Alexander IL, had
already ordered: o. That all the material
bearing on the reform problem should be
collected from the various MINISTER'S and
overhauIed; 81 this being done. to les g
nate those questions which. in the course
of the autumn, should be laid before the
preliminary commission; CO that the pre-
liminary commission should be composed
OF members of government bureaus and
| imperiany appointed officers as well as OF
unofficial experts; ca the legislative pro-
jects worked out by this commission, be-
fore presentation to the Council of the
Empire to be submitted for revision TO
! the general commission
The general commission. presided over
by "a person directly appointed by the
| Gar" was to be composed of; (a) perma-
nent imperial appointees. being persons
Z who had already taken part in the work
of the preliminary commissions; CD elect
ed representatives from the local govern
ments in which the reformed zemstVo
system had been introduced, as well as
from certain of the larger cities; (c) es-
pecialiy designated persons from those
districts where the neg zemstvo system
was not yet in working order. The re-
formed zemstvo governments should each
! elect one or two members Of the general
commission. according TO populations; the
representatives of the cities should be
elected by the city council residential
cities to send two representatives EACH
other cities one. 1t was left TO the zem-
stvos and to the cities to eletc the mem
bers of the general commission from
! among themselves or from the population
at large of the district or of the city.
The labors of the Scnerai commission
We're TO have a simpl yadvisory weight;
through its creation the permanent le2is-
lative machinery was not altered; the leg
islative projects elaborated by the COM
! mission were finally to be laid in the Gus
tomary manner before the Council of the
Empire
On the same day the deceased Car gave
/ Loris Melikoff the order to publish COM
munication regarding these arrangements
in the form of a public notice in the ON
/ cial Gazette The Count laid the outline
| of this publication before the Car at
once, and received it back on March l,
at halfpast twelve-that is, Immediately
! before the fatal drive or Alexander IL
with directions to submit the matter once
more on March 4. TWO hours later the
/ Car was confronted by the question.
What would be the attitude of his sue
cessor towards the proposed constitution?
! he fol ri
mourning among the people" writes Nell
koff, Gear Alexander Ill. saw the sure
evidence of the firm tie which in Russia
unites the ruler and his subjects, and de-
clared that the infamous crime of hand
/ full of the offscourings of Russian SOIL
could not shake the resolution in his heart
to completely fulfill the testament of his
| father. With this resolution, His I'M
perial Majesty graciously ordered that the
! wish of his father already formulated
and to him sacred. should be literally car
ried out. 1t pleased his Imperial Majesty
! in this instance TO command the min ster
of the Interior that the procedure of the
publication Of the imperial will in the
matter should be the same as that pre-
/ scribed by the Car Alexander IL The
urgency report of the Count TO the new
| Car Alexander III. ends with these
words and on the margin of the docu-
nient, written in the hand of the autocrat,
| is the comment: Very we'll drawn Up"
On the seventh day after the death of
the late Car the ministerial council which
he had originally appointed for March
| took place. Alexander III. personally pre-
sided. The Car took vote of his council
as to whether the manifesto prepared by
! Melikoff and destined Tor publication by
/ the late Car should be published or no.
| Seven members voted res and five
NO" and among those present in the
| session the impression prevailed that the
decision had been definitely in favor of
publication. Certainl Alexander III. so
regarded it, for on the same day, after
the session Grand Duke Vladimir that
after the vote he felt as though a noun
tain had rolled from his shoulders Grand
! Duke Vladimir himself afterwards re-
peated this saying to Loris Melkoff.
After this session OF March S, however
the defeated reactionary party, headed by
obiedonoszef. began by degrees. but with
infinite persistence, TO work upon the
Car. Especially. they sought to alarm
him by the suggestion that. even within
the Imperial family there were persons
who contemplating placing themselves at
the head OF the liberal Increment ana,
with its help, perhaps finally capturing
eve nthe throne Itself. This insinuation
was aimed chiefly at the Grand Duke
| Constantine the brother of the late Car
and former presiding officer of the Council
Of the Empire. This side of the reaction
airy campaign was chiefly the work Of
Katkon. who in the Moscow Journal.
went to the point OF very ihinly yelled
[ illusions as to the danger TO Alexander
III. supposed 10 exist within the imperial
family Meanwhile Pob.edcnoszeH Piled
the new ruler. his former pupil. with r.
ligious. historical. and political argu-
ments. At length he succeeded in so dis
turbing Alexander III. that The latter be-
came Mortified at the though; of the re-
sponsibHity ne must incur in supporting
the constitution" OF MeIikon or IN taxi
ing a stand for n broader development OF
Russian political life. II had been agreed
that another ministerial council shOu i
be called for further consideration OF th~
plan. but this did not take place In its
stead there appeared the famous ed:ct in
which the Car proclaimed his resolu ion
firmly 70 maintain absolutism. the form
Of government manifestly wilied by God
for Russia and the only one indicated and
rendered necessary by the historical de-
velopment OF the Empire.-C. ID. Branson
in the New York Evening Post
SUICIDE MADE EASY.