The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-07
ASSASSINATION NOT
 GENERALLY KNOWN
Expected to Produce Sensation
 in St Petersburg
WAS PURELY POLITICAL
Situation in Finland is Peculiar and Senate Resents Interference With Prerogatives Which it Claims
 As It's Own.

St Petersburg. February 7.-Q:07 a. m.) The news of the assassination of Soisa- lon Soininen, procurator general of Fin land though occurring before noon on Monday. was not generally known in St. Petersburg last night but may be ex- pected to produce sensation when it becomes public as it will be regarded as precursor of an era of terrorism for which 2 \ Bts of January 22 in St. Petersburg and in Russia generally gave the signal
 Until the identity of the assassin is def inteiy known, it will be impossible of course to establish the motive of the deed, but the present circumstances in Finland render it almost certain that the crime is of purely political charter as of the assassination of the Count Bobrikoff, the governor general of Finland in June last year.
 The Classification of Finlal<l fns been met with much opposition especially since the formation of a party for active resistance, which was recruiting from the bolder spirits of the original party Of passive resistance and to which the perpetrator of this latest crime probably belonged
 General Plan Drawn Up.
 At the conference of revolutionary par ties of Russia, and respeetives of the Finnish active resistance party, the Po- fish national league, the Russian eman- cipationists and other revolutionary or ganizations in Berlin last November, a programme for general concerted action was drawn Up and the assassin of Soini- nen undoubtedly was in touch with the faI aIa fhro. ta Never before have the revolutionary so- ceties throughout Russia been in closer touch with each other, as Is shown by recent events, and the Finnish national- ists was undoubtedly spurred on by the use of troops agnst the strikers in St. Petersburg and elsewhere.
 Little is known here regarding the mur- dered official, but as procurator general, he was the adviser of the Finnish senate which incurred the enmity of the entire Russian parties on account of it's alleged subserViency to the process of Russifca- ton and Soninen undoubtedly was se- lected as the representative and respon- sible victim.
 Senate Must Give Assent.
 Laws in Finland have no validity with out the assent of the senate, and that body, when it was ratified by the man. ifesto of the Emperor on February b, 1899, and by subsequent edlcts applying to Finland, took the position that 1t was bound to assent to whatever was promul- gated by the Emperor. This was felt by Finnish nationalists to be subter- fuge and the subsequent reorganization of the senate, making 1t even more pro- Russian, increased it's unpopularlty. The present Finnish diet, on the other hand, which was summoned by Emperor Nicho- las after the death of Governor Bobrikoff, stood firmly to the opposition of the former senate. It's first move was to adopt by the unanimous voice of all the four estates a petition asking the Elm peror to restore the liberties and consti- tuition of Finland.
 Where the next terroism will be at tempted 1t Is impossible to predict but 1t may be anticipated in any one of the several quarters of the vast Russian em- pire. Thinking men of all parties have expected a manifestation of this nature ever since the eventful Sunday, January %, terrorism being the obvious measure the revengful would adopt.