New-York tribune., 1905-08-20
RUSSTA,S THIRD ESTATE.

Bel2ted, delayed, MADE the sport OF grdnu
ducal cabals, the tool of political ntrigues
and the victim of imperial hesitRncy the Inird
Estate at last looms large upon the Russian
horizon The Emperor's proclamation has
come a week later than it was expected, but
it has come. The National Assembly, or Dou-
ma will meet three months later than was ex-
pected, but it will meet We may dismiss WIN
the proverbial smile the 'resounding and gilt
tering generalites' about the services of au-
tocracy to moral and intellectual progress and
about the devotion of Ivan the Terrible and
Nicholas | to the cause of elective and repre-
sentative government, but we must regard with
serious sympathy and with a benevolent eX
pectancy the Emperors hope that yesterdays
decpne will prove the sure harbinger of new
birth of the Slavic empire; but a new birth
not lin the strength, the greatness and the
glory of Russian history for the last thousand
years but in strength, a greatness and
glory differentiated from the past and identi-
fed not with the thousand years that are gone
but with the thousand years that are to come
1t is impossible to avoid noticing the coll
junction of the EmperoTs proclamation with
the crisis in the negotiations at Portsmouth.
Whether it is intentional not we cannot
saw. There are doubtless those who will think
It is They will hold that the chief purpose or
the decree is obviously the reconciling of the
people TO the terms of peace or to the 1allure
10 make peace If peace is made on terms tnat
seem hard to Russia the government will sub
stantialy say TO the people: You have been
'beaten abroad but see how much you are gain
ling at home!" Perhaps, too there may be I'M
piled secret hint at future revenge for the
result of the war. the theory that Russia
has been beaten because of her bad domestic
system and that with the reformation of it she
will be enabled 10 develop power that In time
will crush Japan. On the other hand, il peace
Is not made the government will say. in eHect,
to the people: You must continue to bear the
burdens of war. but to compensate you for
them we giving you representative gov
'ernment" More than that. the issuance or the
proclamation at this time may enlist alien SYM
pathy on the side Of Russia. as power aiming
at a great reform, which should be encouraged
and aided rather than oppressed with harsh
terms of peace. These views are to certain
extent inevitable and they also plausible.
Nevertheless we prefer to consider the En-
peror's action in entire separation from such
possible motives and to assume that this
Third Estate would have been called into exist
ence Just the same if there had been no Ports
mouth conference
We have called it the Third Estate. 1t has
not the historical ground of that French body,
and we must sincerely hope it will not be per-
! verted into any of it's fantastic and tragic
vagaries. But in both circumstance and es-
sence a strong resemblance between the two
| is recognizable. Like its French prototype,
this Douma is reluctantly summoned by hesi-
tating sovereign in response to the clamorous
and menacing demands Of people groaning
under intolerabe burdens. Like that, too, it
seems to have been devised with subtlety for
the delusion of the people, giving them to
imagine they invested with power, while
all real authority is reserved as strictly ever
10 ha latter
the facts that the election of the Douma and
its times and manner of meeting to be ell
tirely under imperial control, that it is to have
only a consultative and not at all a legislative
| function and that it is not to have even the
| veto power Of plebeian tribunes. since it
! is provided that in case of irreconcilable differ
| ences between it and the autocracy as repre-
sented by the Council of the Empire the latter
! shall prevail and act alone. In other words.
| the Douma may meet whenever the autocracy
sees fit. and may discuss freely, but in private,
! the proposals and acts of the autocracy. but in
the last resort the autocracy may disregard it
and do as it pleases. just the same as though
there were no Douma in the world.
Theory is one thing. however. and practice
| another and very different thing. the his
| tory of the Third Estate of France reminds us.
1t was the intention Of the court coterie at Yer
sailles that the representatives of the people
/
and the clergy. with real power. But the
! Third Estate asserted itself. The thin end of
| the wedge had been inserted and it was driven
| home by the irresistible impact of the whole
nation Just that, under more temperate and
restrained command. is what is TO be hopefully
anticipated in Russia The Douma is invested
with only the shadow Of power. but are mis-
| taken in the character of those who will COM
pose it if ii does not soon assume for itself real
| In tba foca Of i4c ale
! by the rising sentiment of the Russian people,
| autocracy will have to yield, as it has already
! yielded in submitting to the calm. but none the
! less direct, defiance Of the Xemstvo Congress.
/ 1t is therefore not so much In what the coming
National Assembly will literally be as in what
! it potentially promises that it is auspicious of
great good for the Russian people 1t may at
| first be nothing but a voice; but even a voice
crying in the wilderness of autocracy and re-
preston may invoke a speedy preparing of the
way for n complete redemption.