The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-02-27


 would have been more numerous if he had revealed the existence of more iron in his composition.
 Instead of iron they found putty, and the proofs thereof are many. Let us glance at a few of them only. As heir in waiting, the gentle 'Nicky" pro- fessed Liberal sentiments: but he had not been many weeks on the throne be- fore he solennnly declared: Let all know that devote all my strength to the good of my people, but that shall uphold the principle of autorcracy as firmly and unfiinchingly as did my ever lamented father" There is reason to believe that the new Czar had not done this, so to say, off his own bat, but that he was merely acting on the advice of others. William II. made haste to dis miss Prince Bismarck, and become his own Iron Chancellor" Nicholas, it ap- cears. was only too glad to retain the services of such men as M. Pobyedonos- tseff and the other reactionary coun- sellors, who continued to be power be- hind the throne greater than that upon it. My authority for this statement are
 
 Replying to magazine article by Prince Krapotkin, which gave express ion to the indignation caused through out Russia by the Czar's sending of some disorderly students into the Dis ciplinary battalions' of the army, the f9rocurator of the holy synod wrote:
 It should be remembered that our Emperor never issues such orders on his own responsibility. He contents himself with confirming the decision of the various executive councils and the resolutions of his ministers in cases pre- scribed by law
 Viola, the conversion of the autocratic Czardom into sort of constitutional monarchy, with the Czar as mere putty material in the mould in hands of his more powerful minister's! After this, is it surprising that the Czar should have hastened to extinguish the liberties of the Films. whose constitution it had been one of his very first sovereign acts to conGrn and swear to observe in the most solemn manner? If ever a mon arch was guilty of downright perfidy, and even neriury to his people, it was
 
 seek to apply to his conscience was the reflection that he had only.if, perhaps, much against the grain-acted on the advice of his reactionary, but by no means responsible ministers-he, the autocrat of all the Russias, who had sunk to the level of reigning without ruling. As some little compensation for the power which those behind the throne of Russia had thus usurped, they offered no opposition to his suggestion and summoning of a peace conference at The Hague, which they well knew must prove a mere "coup d'epee dams reau," as Bismarck said of his own young Ernperor's famous labor confer ence, and have not the slightest in fluence on the domestic affairs of Rus sia itself
 That Nicholas II has not the courage of his own opinion was proved to de- monstration-to speak of nothing else by his attitude to ethe proposal of Lord Salisbury in the autumn of 1896, apropos of the Armenian troubles, to coerce the Sultan. if need be, into the grant ing of such reforms as would save his empire from the dangers constantly Imenacing it and the peace of Europe
 "He foreign minister at St. Peters, burg,) wrote Sir Nicholas O'Conor, in- formed me that the Emperor had read very carefully your lordship's telegram, but that he told him it was impossible | for him to agree to coercive measures against the Sultan
 file had seen the Emperor on Monday and he was authorized by his Majesty to tell me that the Russian Government agreed to the proposals contained in your lordship's dispatch of the 10th ult. and that they would not object to ad- wise as to coercive measures if the 1 Sultan should prove recalcitrant and re- fuse to accept the reforms unanimously recommended by the ambassadors. He thought there had been some misunder- standing, and he was glad to be able to l Misunderstanding? No, not that so clear it up"
 much as muddle-mindedness and in- 1 decision, such as had caused his grand i father, Alexander IT., to be dragged i into a war in Turkey in 1877 against his will, as stands on historical record, by 1 the powers behind his throne, and such as again threatens to precipitate Nich- \ olas II. into a conflict in the far east l In the case of a benevolent and enlight- I ened autocrat like him, it is the weak ness, not the strength, of his will that 1 constitutes a danger to the peace of the