New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-15
THE LITHUANIAN REVOLT.


News from Riga is contradictory. but all OF
# ia omsnous Some reports are that all Livonia
and part of Courland have revolted ana de-
cIared their independence and their separation
from Russia and that those regions, lneiudlns
the city and fortress of Rga-the si1tn city oi
tbe empire-are fully in the hands OF the IN
surgents. who have established PROVISIONAL
government Other reports, officially mace 10
and by the Russian government, are not SO Daa,
but still grave. They are that fnousanos oi
insurgent peasants are roaming and rayaging
the country and threatening the city of Riga,
that while the troops are loyal they are made
ouate to the situation and that affairs are stead
ily growing worse. It is probably true that we
hear the worst of the news and it may be that
There is n great reserve of loyalty and order in
most parts of Russia which does not figure in
the dispatches but which is sufficient to save the
empire from ruin. Yet the known facts and
the foreboding tone of the best informed friends
of Russia and of some members of the Russian
government are enough to cause the utmost
anxiety.
Such an outbreak as this in Lithuania would
obviously be serious matter in any place and
any circumstances. It is doubly SO in the
Baltic Provinces, because it is symptom or
and an Indictment to the disintegration of the
empire by the secession of those border prov
inces which were from time to time and chiefly
by force, incorporated into it Finland mas
already regained autonomy. Poland is per
meated with dissatisfaction and desires Tor IN
dependence and this strenuous example or the
Baltic Provinces which were once part or
Poland. will almost certainly intensity those
passions Georgia has for some time been III
semi-insurrection and has never been recon-
ciIed to the Russian yoke. Odessa, with all of
Kherson and the Crimea, must be reckoned as
not only disaffected but revolutionary. Then
from the Far East grim tales have come from
Siberia while the wild and warhke tribes OF
Turkestan will not fail to perceive the least
slackening of the grip which has nelo them III
unwilling servitude. With the very heart OF
Great Russia ItseIf,~at Moscow, wavering IN It's
allegiance to the Holstein-Gottorp dynasty, the
movement for separation among these remoter
members of the empire is likely to gain dan
gerous force.
It is true that Dr. Dillon reports Count White
as saving that the army will prove faithful to
the Gar But there are other reports to the
contrary. In various parts OF the empire there
have been mutinies in the army and consider
able numbers of soldiers have joined the rebels.
It is well known that for years past there has
been a widespread revolutionary propaganda
in the army, involving officers as well as pri-
Yates Its practical effect is now appearing
Also-and this must affect Count Witte with
peculiar force-hnancal troubles are coming
thick and fast upon the stricken empire. This
trouble at Riga alone would mean much, owing
to the commercial and financial Importance or
the place; but in addition we hear of business
failures and bank suspensions in Moscow ana
elsewhere, while the expectation of gold from
the empire has begun on large scale. whether
the Cars belated and hurried promise or a
degree OF autonomy to the Baltic Provinces VIII
prove an efficient antidOte to the poison OF seces
sion at Riga remains to be seen. concessions
granted. as this one has been. under pressure
and in desperation, are not always effective
But If thus. or in some way, the process of dis
Indignation is not speedily checked the empire
will be face to face with the proverbtal fate OF
a house divided against itself.