The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1904-11-29

The czar o. al TIE Russlas an,
Prince Mirsky who has the fortune
or misfortune. 70 he his maie.ty's min
'ster Of 'he interior, are face 10 FACE
with crisis.
solas and Mirsky have mad.
many promises to the Zemsttos 20.
local municipal boaios throushont tho
ompirel to tie effoot that loral self
goeernmen. would he granted These
pledges haze MT been kept. and now
the presidents o: the various zenlstvJs
are ia session A. st. Petersburg. dele
gates to SORT of national congress
and are demanding that tie pledges be
made good.
The convention, however. rag gone
a ster hey'Dd that The petition
which he presidents or the zcmstvos
have presented TO the ezar AXIS not
only for local selfecvornment mt sug-
eests tlat some sort OF constitution
be g'ven whicl shall provide for a
representative body thar shall have
some share. howcver small in the
voNernmert Moreo, er. they have
-auite fiankiv stated that all Hho are
opposed 10 his plan are ~ reality cne.
mics Of Russia and directly responsi-
bic for the periodical disturbances il
The past
The fate Of similar movements ini
the past. hollis little encouragement
for tie Russian liberals Yet ,hel
leaders Of the present movement have
struck at most opporune thre. The /
government has its hands fun abroad. /
and IS not in the best Of positions to
affect the uspql disregard Of all lib. /
eral renrcsentati1ns. These consid.
ere ions and others. have evidently (
had their effect vi On the czar for Il
is reported in the news dispatches !
that he has been impressed by the pc
tition presented ard impressed by
he character q the men Who have
signel * lie has even granted an
audience to four OF the leaders Of the
movement Tits is in itself something
Of a victory. For wnen ahsolutism
finds itself in such positioa that it
can not well refuse to listen to liberty.
then the beginning of the end Of abso-
iutisn has arrived
II can be the more readily rnder
stood That thc car was impressed by
the character cf the leaders VINO pre-
sented the petition when It is remem
bered that most all movements for
liberty ip Russia have been headed.
not by tho peasant class. or the bour-
geris class bar by the enlightened
nobility
The conservatism Of The rich hour
geois who help to bolster up the
which holsters up the
despoti6m. and the stolid ignorance OF
The peasant class, are in reality the
chief obstacles in the way Of Russian
oonstiutionalisn The nihnisis have
not been peasants, as a usual thing
but Of tie lrhilitv ami gentih:y. and
they have found It impossible 10 hing
about a revolution sin ply because the
peasants, with 1heir placid allegiance
to the car as the head Of the Greek
church, have refused to revolt All
nihllist ana revolutionary movements
have been largely academic in Russia,
and not essentially popular
Now It appears that these same
classes. small nobility and landed pro
prietors, have seen the futility of the
radical rev,lu;ioaary measures, and
have decided hat they can gain their
point the mere readily by othe' meth
DDS. 1t does no good to dynamite a
car OF Enife minister another ozar
and another minister succeed and the
antoc attic svsten. is not shaken at all.