The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-03-31
AUTOCRlCY OF THE GEAR.
HIS FOYER As 4 LEGISLATOR
 AND SUPREME HEAD

or E1ecutivs-EEoEv. as Lover of
 Peace, He Has Brought sussIa to 'hs
 Verge of war-DrnwbacHs of ths Au-
 toeratie Form of Government In
 Matters of Foreign Policy.
 One often hears questions asked as to how far the Czar is master in his own house, and many people seem to think | that his autocratic power exists merely as theory, being always controlled and ithwarted by the officials. Otherwise,
 how it is possible to explain that a SOW ereign who is notoriously so pacific al- lows his country 10 advance to the very brink of war? Evidently his hand is being forced in some mysterious way Either he is systematically deceived as to what is taking place or his orders are not carried out by his ministers and their subordinates. In accordance with this view, story was lately circulated
 in which his Majesty was represented
 as struggling, not very successfully, in
 the cause of peace, and finally exclaim- ling to those who resisted his will: Am II Czar. or am I not?" This makes very effective paragraph in special
 correspondents dispatch. but such pie
 turesque anecdotes will be received
 with extreme scepticism by those ac-
 quainted with the internal mechanism
 of the Russian government. It is difti- lcult to imagine a Russian official open
 ly opposing the will of his august mas
 ter in such a way as to call forth re-
 mark of the kind.
 The Czar uses his autocratic power,
 theoretically and practically, in two
 ways-as a legislator and as the su-
 prene head of the executive. No legis-
 lative measure can be initiated without
 his approval, and when a bill has been
 prepared in the departments concerned, and discussed ill the council of the em- pire, it is submitted 10 him for his as-
 sent If he gives his assent the bill be-
 comes law, though the majority in the
 council of the empire may have voted
 against it. and from that moment he
 has to respect the law until it is an- lnulled by legislative procedure. If the bill is not fortunate enough to obtain
 the imperial assent, it goes back to the
 departments and the council, to be mod lified in accordance with the imperial
 wishes, or it is quietly put away in the archives and is no more heard of. As lsupreme head of the executive his Ma
 jesty has to use his autocratic power
 much more frequently, because in the
 ordinary course of administrations
 whenever it is considered desirable to
 make an exception to the existing laws
 and regulations, the matter has to be
 submitted for supreme permission by
 the minister concerned, As there is
 nothing which corresponds to q cabinet, : the ministers have no joint responsi-
 bility, and the only center in which the activity of all the different departments Iconverges is the emperor himsef. He 1; may of course, order that matter is
 to be submitted to the committee of . ministers, or he may summon number
 of personages in whom, he has eonf- . dence to discuss a question in his pres-
 ence; but this forms no part of the or . dinary method of conducting business
 Thus Czar who attends to his duties
 and has a great capacity for work can
 control thoroughly the great legislative 9
 governs his empire; and, as he possesses . many unofficial means of obtaining in-
 formation, any minister who should sys- e tematically attempt to deceive him
 would very soon be found out. With f regard to foreign affairs he is sure te 0 be exceptionally well informed, because
 all ctrowned heads consider that the re- ; lations of their country with foreign
 powers require their personal supervi-
 sion, and to this rule the Russian auto = crats form no exception. As soon as g
 political incident happens in which Rus. 3 sia is interested, memorandum is
 carefully prepared in the foreign de, lpartment describing what has occurred j explaining in what way Russian inter.
 ests are affected, and suggesting tht
 line of action to be adopted, and this Il document is submitted to the emperor
 His Majesty may discuss the question E with the minister if he thinks fit, or h'
 may read the paper alone and send i {. back with his remarks and orders writ
 ten on the margin. In either case tn '- minister gets his instructions and act
 accordingly. Of late an unusual depar e ture has been made from this proceed
 ure. Finding it necessary to concen r trate locally the direction of affairs i a the far east, the emperor created l. viceroyalty with special powers. an ,s placed under the orders of the viceros
 not only the civil military and maya
 authorities. but also the Russian diplo n, matte representatives in China, Core of and Japan. Admiral Alexieff, on whor l. this important post was conferred, cor st responds directly with the emperor out Is side of the foreign department, so tha T. if the Russian ambassador in I.ondor E. Paris or Berlin declares that he does nc IS know what is going on in the far eas i'd it must not be hastily assumed that h lg is using merely diplomatic language. pr How, then has it come about that a at autocrat who is sincere lover ( Is peace and who has the control of affair m in his own hands, has brought his cour Id try to the verge of war? In the frs a place it must be remembered that auto l- crats, like ordinary statesmen in othe l. forms of government, do not alway
 foresee the ultimate consequences ( s. their decisions, and are liable to fin le themselves unexpectedly in a situatio or from which war is the only means ut exit consistent with the national inter st ests and the national honor. Even tf ne pacific MT. Gladstone let himself | ol drawn into the Egyptian campaign an