The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-10-31
Czar Signs Manifesto For ever Ending the Rule of AbSoIutiSm of the
 Romanoffs.
CONSTITUTION FOR PEOPLE
4 COMPLETE MEDICATION OF
 AUTOCRATIC POWER.

Nicholas Practically Yields Everything
 --CIyiI Liberty, The Availability of
 Speech and AssembIy-FarcicaI Im-
 periaI DOuma With Only Consultative
 Power Converted Into True Legis-
 Iative AssembIy-News Spreads Like
 WIdIfre through the Streets-Strikers
 Determined That Manifesto Shall be
 Carried 0ut-BelIef, However, That
 Strikes Backbone is Now Broken.
 St. Petersburg, Oct. 30.-Midnight.- 'I am sure the American people, who understand what freedom is, and the American press, which voices the wish es of the people, will rejoice with the friendly Russian nation at this mo- ment, when the Russian people have received from his imperial majesty the promises and theS guarantees of free dom, and will join, in the hope that the Russian people will wisely aid in the realization of those liberties by CO., operating with the government for their peaceful introduction. Only thus will 1t be possible to secure the full benefits of the freedom conferred upon the people,"
 Count Witte, Russia's first premier, tonight sent the above message to the American people through the Associat- ed Press. He had just arrived at his residence on Kammeniovrov Prospect from Peterhof, where, in the Alexander palace, the emperor two hours before had given his final approval to a man ifesto and to a programme which will forever end the rule of absolutisrn ex-. ercised by him and his Romanoff an- cestors for 300 years. @H->. 4 F. . A simple perusal of the manifesto shows how complete is the emperor's abdication of his autocratic power The very style of the document is clear and direct and devoid of the verbose, vague and bonbastic pfIarseology of his majesty's nnanifestos. It not only betrays real authorship but shows that the emperor at last has irrevocably bowed to the inevitable. He does not even conceal the fact that the discon- tent and agitation of his subjects has driven him to take the step, and prac- tically yields verything-civil liberty, inviolability of person and liberty of conscience, speech and assembly. He not only converts the farcical imperial douma, with only consultative power, into a true legislative assembly, with out the assent of which no measure : shall become law, and before which all governmental authoritIes' shall answer, but promises, eventually, universal suffrage.
 The title tsautocr.t of all the Rus sias,' with which the manifesto be- gins, now takes it's place with the ti- tie of "king of Jerusalem" borne by the king of Spain and the emperor of Austria, and with other absolute titles of European sovereigns.
 J. Pierpont Morgan, jr., and George w. Perkins were with Finance Minis ter Kokovsoff, when the latter receiv- ed the news. It was dramatic mo- ment. The minister was called to the telephone, and when he returned he was greatly agitated, and said:
 "Gentlemen, the old order of things has changed. Russia has constitu- tion."
 The news spread like wi1dfire throughout the city. The revolution ists, the active agitators generally, de- clared loudly that the governments s promises would no longer suffice and that the strike must be continued In fact, an hour after the news became known the revolutionists took occasion to throw the first bomb in St. Peters, burg used since the strike began. The incident occurred near the polytechnic school, but there was no fatality. Prac- tically all classes, except the socialists and the extreme radicals, however, read the document with delight and atnazement, declaring that it could not fail to rally the moderates to the SUD- port of Count Witte
 By the irony of fate, while the strik- CTS are clamoring for a constitution, it has been impossible to persuade the striking printers to resume work and, therefore, not a single newspaper ex- cept the Official Messenger, will print the momentous document for distribu- tion tomorrow. Arrangements, how ever, have been made to placard the i manifesto on every dead wall in the city, and the text will be telegraphed tomorrow to every city, town and hamlet with which there is telegraphic communication. It also has been or- dered read in all the churches of the empire
 The foreign embassies were notified and lights are burning late tonight in ;c, being put into cipher. Official notifi- cations will also be sent to the Russian ambassadors abroad.
 The effect throughout Russia is ex- pected to be instantaneous. While the extremists threaten an attempt to keep up the present struggle, the best opin- ion is that the backbone of the strike
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