Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-29
HATED BY PoPULACE.
Despotic Conduct of Minister Forced by
Palace Clique.


| dispatch from Syracuse last night says:
The Post-Standard tomorrow will say:
Former Ambassador to Germany Andrew
| D. White was seen by Post-Standard re-
| porter at the residence of his brother,
Horace K. White, In James street, just
before he left for Ithaca yesterday after
| noon. When asked ii he had the acquant-
| ance of Mr.. Plehve, Russian minister Of
the interior, Mr.. White answered that he
| knew him well, having met him frequently
| In the course of official business during his
| stay at st. Petersburg in 1892, 1893 and
| 1894 as minister of the United States to
| Russia.
| Discussing Plehve and the assassination,
| Mr.. White said:
rived at the position of full minister Of
| the interior, but was the first assistant
minister In that department, and in that
! capacity took up various American mat
| tiers, especially the dealings of the Rus
| sian government with some of the great
American insurance companies. The Rus
| sian government had made the companies
a great deal of trouble, and 1 was in
| structed from Washington to discuss the
| matter Gen. Bachelor, now Judge of the
| international court in Egypt very ably
| representing the companies.
Il think both Gen. Bachelor and myself
! found MIR. Plehve very agreeable, and ap-
parently as far his government allowed
| him, reasonable. l also met him socially at
various times and found him agreeable ma
! interesting.
Promotion to Power Changed Character
Il was. therefore, greatly surprised at
learning when he was promoted to the first
place, that his whole character seemed to
change.
His part in the horrible massacre and
plumber of the Jews, men, women and chill
dren' at kisheneff, caused him to be re-
garGed with adherence by the whole
world Even more frightful has been his
connection with the destruction of the lib
critics of Finland. In my mind that is the
most wicked thing in the history of the
last TWO centuries. There is no time to go
into 1t here further than to say that 1t has
turned the best, the most civilized the most
educated and the most loyal province in the
| empire into land in which the opposite of
all these characteristics is more highly de-
Vcloped than in any other part of the en-
pire. Other things done by him were also
| calculated to bring most bitter hatred
against him.
He attempted to help his cause by
defense of his conduct toward Finland,
which was published in an American maya
zine, but 1t certainly must have failed to
convince any thinking man at all aware
of the circumstances.
During two summers l lived mainly in
Finland, coming frequently to ST. Peters
burg, and the transition in passing from the
cultivation and civilization of Finland to
the atmosphere of Russia was the most de-
pressing have ever known.
Pretext for New Oppression.
Il do not wonder at his assassination,
although l deeply lament it. Among other
| reasons for this regret, 1t will doubtless be
| made pretext for new oppression and
new cruelties toward the Jewish population
and toward the Finlanders. Assassination
always defeats its purpose, and this will be-
fear, no exception to the rule.
Il can only account for Mr.. Plehves
atrocious reactionary and despotic conduct
| since he came to the position of minister
on the theory that he found the clique in
control of the winter palace, men and wo-
! men, who seem to have brought the present
emperor into subsection to them, obliged
Mr.. Plehve, a condition of his tenure of
office, to do their will.
His ambition doubtless led him to adopt
their racial and religious hatred, we'll as
their detestation of anything like constitu-
tional government"
Mr.. White concluded by saving that hav
Ing lived twice officially in Russia, he had
observed closely the condition of the en-
! pre, and that, though he saw the most
wretched condition of things during the
| Crimean war, the situation at present is
the most desperately bad in Russian his
| tory, and that it has been brought on by
an exercise of despOtism more unreasona-
| BILE, cruel and short-sghted than anything
| in recent human history outside of the
| Turkish empire.