Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1905-09-19

err of Alexander the First, because he
favored an alliance with Napoleon
Bonaparte, while the grand dukes ia
vored an alliance with Great Britain.
icy would remove the present EN-
peror if he were to pit his will against
theirs.
The spokesman of the present cabel
OF grand dukes is Vladimir, as perfect
type of the cruel, obstinate, mar
row minded aristocrat as Europe ever
saw in is worst days.
Speaking to Michael Davitt, the IT.
ish member of the British parliament,
this grand duke declared that the rea-
son why representation could not be
given to the common people of Rus
STA was that they were not fit to ex-
ercise it.
He regarded and intended this to
be an indictment against the common
people. On the contrary, it is a tre-
mendous indictment against the gov
eminent.
The Russian people, as distinguish
ed from the Russian aristocracy, have
been completely under the control of
the laws and the administration which
the ruling class saw fit to establish.
The altar and the throne have sup
ported each other. Church and state
nave been firm and fast allies. Ever
since the days of Peter the Great the
minds and the consciences of the COM
mon people of Russia have been abb
solutely dominated by the ruling
class.
The shepherds have had full con-
troll of the flock. The guardians have
had no interference with the educa.
ton Of their wards.
If after so many hundreds of years
the mass of the Russian people are
so STEPPED in ignorance and super
stition that they are unfit to exercise
the common rights OF manhood, that
fact, if it be fact, damns the Russian
aristOcracy with the deep guilt of
having debased the nation committed
to it's care and guidance.
No substantial reform has ever been
conceded within state governed by
king or aristocracy until the blood of
sacrifice has first been she'd
Spain would grant no concessions
to those who claimed freedom of con-
science in the Netherlands, until years
Of warfare had drenched the soil of
Holland with the blood Of heroes, who
fought and died for those principles
which we carelessly and unapprecia.
lively enjoy today.
France would loosen none of the
chains which CALLED the peasant until
that peasant rose in his desperation
and paid with his life for the liberty
his descendants inherit. The king
was deaf to all prayers
The aristocracy drove from power
with insults and persecution every en-
lightened minister who proposed to
better the condition of the common
people by conceding moderate re-
forms. 1t was only when the desper-
alton of despair reused the people to
a furious attack upon time honored
abuses and vested wrongs of every
conceivable kind that privilege"
would harken to reason, and right
could find a place on the statute book.
In England the story has been the
same. In the long procession of the
ages in which the common people
have wrung, one by one, from the grip
of aristocracy those liberties upon
which we now pride ourselves, the
price of blood has been always de-
manded, and invariably paid. Never
mas king or arstocrat conceded sim
gle demand of the rerOrmers until
those refOrmers had either won it in
battle or had made such demonstra-
ton as struck fear into the hearts of
the ruling class.
In Russia precisely the same state
of affairs exists and if ever liberal
institutions are to take the place of
grand ducal tyranny and class rule
in that empire the soil will once more
drink the blood of sacrifice. 1t was
50 in the beginning, is now, and ever
will be, perhaps, for human nature is
the same yesterday, today and for
ever"
The man who believes that the au-
tOcratic class in Russia will give up
its advantages without fight is a SUI
perficial student of history, just as
the man who believes that the dOmi-
mating trusts and corporations in these
United States can be made, by moral
suasion, to turn loose, is an idle dream
er who knows nothing of the greed
of class rule. No matter under what
name 1t exploits it's people, or under
what form it exerts it's power, or un-
der what particular system of legis-
lation it usurps control and wells its
rascalities, to make it turn loose you
must beat it in battle or make it
afraid.-Tom Watson's Magazine.