Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-02-10
Misesllat,soas Rsaaing.
THE UNREST IN RUSSIA.
What Revolution Would Mean For
Herself and Europe.

What Revolution Would Mean For
Herself and Europe.
The internal condition Of Russia, All
produced or exasperated by the war, is
by far the most interesting question
now discussed in Europe and the one
which presses most closely on all dip"
lomatists. says the London Spectator.
1t Is clear that the struggle in the
far East, though 1t is not yet over,
has developed unrest In Russia Of q
dangerous kind, =. and all instructed
western men are watching the direc-
ton which the danger may take with
anticipations at once eager and per-
picked. There are so many conditions
to the problem that 1t seems almost In
soluble by human intelligence, and yet
on its solution the immediate futur',
will almost certainly depend. It is not
only the future of Asia which Is at
stake, but much of the future Of Eu-
rope. We are not talking Of the "yel-
low peril" which may be real or imag-
mary, but of the changes within Eu-
rope itself which any radical change In
Russia would involve. A paralysis OF
that great empire which for more than
century has hung like heavy cloud
on the eastern frontiers Of the really
civilized sections Of the world woul6,
for example, leave Germany mistress
Of the continent. It might shatter the
Austrian. empire to pieces, for her
Slav majority would no longer have to
fear being buried in the Russian mo-
rass." 1t would intensity in high de-
gree the quarrel always smoldering be-
tween the Ottomans and the remnant
Of their Christian subjects, result OF
which Europe already perceives signs
in the new arrogance which the divan
Is displaying In the Balkans. The
Turkish ministers have already ap-
pointed to high commands In Macedo-
MIA officers whose one idea Of order is
70 keep down recalcitrant subjects by
massacres so wide as to suggest an
intention Of extirpation. French socie-
ty would be shaken to its heart by a
new liability to invasion and with 1t a
fresh proclivity to panic. Even Great
Britain, though still "encompassed by
her inviolate sea-" would feel the in
fiuence of the great change, for India
would be as safe from invasion as her
self and, being safe, would be apt TO
indulge In dreams Of large ambition.
It Is not only natural. therefore, but
inevitable, that the world, though 1t
Is getting weary Of the war considered
as a drama, should watch the course Ut
events upon the Shaho with fascinated
eagerness.
While, however, We perceive this
clearly, we do not understand 80 well
why 80 many thoughtful men believe
that the progress Of the unrest will be
fatal to the autocracy or why they are
so possessed with the notion that II
that great cataclysm occurs Russia
will be weaker for its occurrence. AS
yet all, the symptoms point rather 70
a vast jacquerie "a revolt Of peasants)
than to what is commonly known as a
revolution. From province after pro-
vince of Russia come up stories which
show that the suspicion Of the pro-
prietary class so long smoldering
among the peasantry Is breaking into
fame: that chateau after chateau Is
Il. t.at l,, ltat,i tot altar diofrfpf
the landlords are sending their families
or flying themselves for protection to
the great cities. The plunder to which
the reservists so often betake them
selves is as much an expression Of ha-
tired to the rich as Of desire for final
revel and is accompanied In many In
stances by a destruction Of property
which can in no way benefit the mu-
tineers.
The peasantry. 1t must be remember
ed, are suffering severe economic dis
tress, partly caused by increased taxa
ton. They cherish at heart the Asiaic
idea that whose is the sweat. his Is
the SOIL" They thought themselves
cheated In the ultimate result OF the
emancipation decree, and they have
some ground for believing that II they
rise the central government woIld
show itself on their side. 1t Is admit
ted by the great landlords themselves,
who are promoting the movement OF
the zemstvos toward greater liberty.
that one at least Of their motives Is
dread of an agrarian revolution as
sanguinary as that Of 1898 In
France. We do not imagine that me
government would actively aid that
revolution, though It must be RENE u
bered that whole classes Of the small
er proprietors were ruined at u stroke
by the decree Of emancipation. But II
Is not impossible they would remem-
ber that their soldiers are peasants
and would passively watch a revolt
that would then end in a Russia COM
posed Of an absolute czar and millions
Of small freeholders. The middle class
es In Russia have no physical force
with which to resist either the army
or the peasants. There Is no proof or
their control over the opinion Of the
masses, and a terrible and successful
jacuuerie is at least conceivable al
tentative to a political revolution. IL
Louis XVI had been a man with the
great qualities of the earlier Bourbcns
the French revolution also might nave
ended in that way. The army hated
the aristocratic caste much more than
II hated the throne, and the emancipat-
ed peasantry would soon have furnish
ed the monarch, as 1t has repeatedly
done since that time. with the force to
hold down Paris. Besides, there Is no
Paris in Russia, no city which by It
self Is capable Of overturning dynas-
ty that has ruled and has expanded
Russia almost without a pause Tor
nearly 300 years.
But supposing that real revolution
breaks out-which Is possible, OF
course, as a result Of weakness and In
decision at the center and Of the shock
of angry surprise with which Russians
recognize the fact that their govern
ment can be beaten in war by a foe
they had despised-where Is the ground
for thinking, as a number Of grave
~ traly