New-York tribune., 1903-05-18
PTSSI4'S INDICTMENT.

RTSSI4'S INDICTMENT.
Tho 1xisb5raT massacre appears TO have
-;vayIad in horror tbe worst of which we nave
record. in ancient or modern times IN CIVIL
tzed or savage lands Divested of all sensa-
tfona,isun and lurid epithets. the plain tale iuS
EQUALS in every element of tragedy. of wantoh
crueltv. of obscene and uDmenuonaoie outrage,
ANYTHING we have ever heard OF the doinEs u
Boxers. of Sioux or Apaches, OF the hnAliia a.
Omdurman. or Of Texas or Loulsiaha y -
ING bee. Indeed. it is In sense "olee '-ia"
+boea ba.ause while If equals any of them IN
a-rocitv # surpasses most of them In Wahtoh
ness The Boxers were destroying lorelsh
devils" who they believed had lnVaded IneH
country 10 do if harm. The Sioux ana ApacheS
,-ara frbttnc their hereditary foes. and were
ayenging innumerable wrongs against 'n0'i
own race The lynchinEs were at least os-
tensibly TO punish abominable crimes ana "
deter others from them. But these kishinef
;,o,,i+fas had no such motive. The victims
bo5 5opa no wrong and were offering no
monaco IN the community. The thing was aD-
solpteIv waDton with the wantonneSs OF ig-
norance. superstition and brutalized baroaflSih-
That however. is not the full indictment
AGAINST Russia If it were, we might hesltate
10 utter It. mindful Of the Injunction 10 cast
NO stone a+ 2 sinner unless we are ourselves
7ri+bout sin. and America is not without such
sin. even wanton sin We remember the hide
ous massacre of Cinnamon at Rock Springs
for no other fault than that they were sooer
and industrious We remember the cluDblngs
and stabbings and hangings and burnlngs OF
negroes in the streets OF NeW-Aork' lor ho
cher foult than that God had made them with
black skins. We remember the cruel murder
inc Of men in various places, for no other fault
living
without first paying tribute to some arbitrary
orco onfzation We remember more than one
l1-nc1inr in which the victim was innocent ana
was known TO be innocent the savage demand
},e4no that if the guilty man could not De
fo71nd some man. no matter who, should De
sacrificed in his place. All these things 0fe
in mind TO restrain US from too censor1ously
arraigninC Russia for the infamies or hlsm
neff. America, too, has sinGed. 1t has slAIeo
in the same apparent way. and does so SID III q
degree whenever New-York rufhans Insult
Jewish funeral or persecute some helpIess'
harmless Jew.
Rut there is after all, one radical difference,
in which is suggested the gravest count OF
Russias indictment. That Is that Wnue such
doipcs here are contrary TO law. to the spirit
of our institutions. and TO the sentiment OF tne
great masses of our people. In Russia they are
bv those who should be the leaders Of popular
opinion. That is the damning fact. For years
the Russian Government has legislated
against the Jews. 1t has not, Of course. or
dered or authorized or suggested the outchery
Of them. But il has Enthusiastically oppressed
them 1t has denied them the common rights
enfoyed by all other subjects. 1t has set upon
them the stamp of practical outlawFy' OF parl-
ahship. It has designated them as an unWel-
come element in the empire. to oe ID any case
suppressed and. if possible, eliminated Inc
effect OF such a governmental policy upon the
average moujik, and upon the mob OF a Rus-
sian city is obvious 1t encourages II even
srouses the savage passions which the unclV-
flized Russian possesses in common Win lhe
Cbinaman. the Kurd and the Apache; and it
does so no less surely because IT has no inten-
ton Of doing so: and when the mob arises
and sees the men and women Of wealth and
culture and social rank smiling at and ap-
plauding it's deeds, as they did at Kishinef,
there is no wonder that II goes on TO the most
awful excesses.
The Kishinef massacre men truly say, is an
anachronism in the twentieth century. No
less an anachronism is the policy Of the Holy
SYNOD. which DEGREES, in the name of the
Gar, an unrelenting discrimination against
Jew and Stundist and Lutheran and all who
do not accept the Orthodox faith It is be-
cause the Jews are prescribed by the imperial
government at St Petersburg and at Holy
Moscow" that the mob Of kishinef feels free
10 butcher them. thinking that in doing so 1t
pleases the Little Father" and fulfis his will.
Such thought is q monstrous libel upon the
Car. But there is only one way in which 10
correct il That is for the imperial govern
ment TO repeal its and-Jewish DEGREES and
make il known from Caspian TO Neva that Jew
and Greek have equal rights and will unfail-
ingly have the equal protection Of the law.