The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-03-06
The Autocrat of the East,
AIexieff, ViCeroy of Greater Russia

Mo MAN can perhaps wholly under
! y stand the forces which are at
work in Russia. There is the car,
there are the Grand Dukes Vladimir
and Alexander Mikhailovitch; there
are also the ministers of finance, war,
and foreign affairs, each of whom
yields in varying degrees no little in
f1uence. These men are concerned,
however, only with the accomplished
result. They work to protect the ends
towards which other are moving.
They do not interfere; they are not
interested in detail; their duty is, in
deed, to shield from the world any
knowledge of the developments which
are taking place in the policy Of their
country They are necessary to the
fabric in it's entirety as are their
agents to it's origin and gradual elab-
grafton; but they are class apart, and
in that position they are neither re-
sponsible for nor surprised at any
thing which may happen.
Yet, what of those others, who, If
subordinate to their party chiefs at
st. Petersburg, are the essential fac
tors in the development of Russian
poliey-the representatives of Russia
abroad, the master minds, the empire
builders, who, striving silently or
aggressiveIy, continue to assist the ir-
resistible expansion of their empire?
They are the real auteerats Of Russia.
They are vested with extraordinary
powers, and they are allowed IN
fettered responsibility. Upon occasion
they may become seapegoats behind
which Russia may take shelter against
the denunciation of her neighbors; but
the cutlery affects only individual min
listers, not the policy of which they are
merely the instruments. The policy of
Russia is unchanging. It represents to
the world at large the tyranny of the
weak over the strong, for Russia is
constitutionally a weak power. 1t is only
potentially that she; is strong. Never
theless SO long as the system endures,
Russia will continue to enact the role
of big bully among the great powers of
the world. She is feared because she
denies to others the policy to which
she is herself committed. and her posi-
ton is misread because, regarding the
effect of her influence rather than the
causes of it's existence, the powers
have mistaken audacity for strength.
The march of Russia across Asia has
not been without corresponding advan-
tage to her position in Europe; but
Russia is anxious less to impress her
neighbors than to consolidate her posi-
ton, and for the moment the efforts of
her ministers and the ambitions of her
pro- consuls are moving in identical d.
rections Necessity rather than anb1-
ton has been, however, the chief in
strurnent in her expansion. A land
power she already is, and it is the par
amount position which she occupies in
Europe that makes the possession of
an equal position at sea a. matter Of
vital Importance to her. Her terrific
rial aggrandizement is the invention by
which she hopes to achieve the dignity
of sea-power, and it is because of the
Importance Of sea-rule to her ultimate
dominion that Admiral Alexieff, a
sailor, was selected to occupy the
premier position in her far Eastern
satrapy.
The Viceroy.
Russia has been the subject of such
a dramatic rise in power as the Vice
roy Of Greater Russia. Today, within
few years Of his first appearance in
the far East, he is the arbiter of the
destinies of his country throughout a
territory equal in extent with the di-
mansions of Russia in Europe. His
authority is absolute within the sphere
of his activity, and he is responsible
to no one but the ear. There is an
immense fleet at his service; the army
of occupation in Manchuria is under
his command and some forty million
people acuuieSce in his demands.
Lately, too, he was vested with the
powers of a sovereign and the oppor-
tunities of a dictator. He might have
declared war against Japan; he can
sue for peace; he can arrange an ar
mfstice, or draw up and ratify the con-
ditions of a treaty. Outside the
British empire there is no other power
that has conferred upon a single Off
eial the powers and latitude of dis
erection which Admiral Alexief may
now WELD. Within our empire the
authority of those officers who are
equal in position but subordinate in
authority and responsibility is depen-
dent upon certain constitutional for
mulae. The powers of his Office, rather
than the office itself, are unique in
history, and the precedent which has
been thus establish by tae car IL
illustrates the system which prevails
in Russia by which, so long as the re-
suit is for the country's good, nothing
is permitted to interfere with the man,
his work, or his. Office. None the less,
Just as he has been the first to fill so
elevated a post, it is not improbable
that the irony of war may make Ad-
rniral Alexieff the last of the viceroys
of Greater Russia. Men are not want
ing who could take up the work, as well
as the dignities, of the office, but 1t
may be that either the necessity or
the opportunity may not recur.
In the short period which has
elapsed since the car elevated Adj
nliral Alexieff to his present post,
the viceroy has shown himself to be
an admirable exponent Of the Russian
policy. It may be that these activities
will recoil with disaster upon the
crown of Russia, but there is little
doubt that his work was encouraged
at st. Petersburg by those who, in Sc