The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-31

| once or to enforce order by martial law. There Is a rumor current here that the German Emperor, who would, as has already been explained, be strongly opposed to anything like, a Polish autonomy, had come to an agree ment with the Russian Emperor on | this point. The Russian newspapers today say that German troops are be- 1 ing moved to the frontier. In any case we are face to face with the fact that | martial law has been proclaimed in Po- land; and any sentimental sympathy for the Poles which one might feel is coun- teracted by the fact that had they only waited until the Duma or the Constitu- entrAssembly met in Russia they would probably have got autonomy without any trouble. Whether the enforcement
 of martial law in Poland is a wise l measure or not. it is not for mo to
 judge: 'Je n'apprecie pas; je constate." I merely note that it is one of two nec- essary courses.
 Too Much Hurry.
 The fact is that the Poles, like the Liberals here, are in far too great a
 hurry. They wish everything to be taken some centuries to elaborate in
 other and calmer countries to be brought about here in a few days. The Liberals are now crying loudly that nothing will satisfy them but a Con stituent Assembly based on universal suffrage. They are unwilling to wait
 few months until order can be restored
 and until the Duma can meet and vote
 on the adoption or the non adoption
 of such an assembly. They wish it to
 come straight into existence. like Pal
 las from the brain of Zeus. All that is
 written in the Liberal papers here must
 not be taken as an absolutely impartial
 and dispassionate record of facts.
 well-informed. sensible and Liberal Russian told me yesterday that some of
 these papers-and among them not the | most radical, some of which, he said, were managed by sincere and able men were merely for opposition for the sake of opposition; and that whatever Count Witte said or did, they would say 1t was wrong; some of them act the part of deliberate inciters and wish merely to add fuel to the general ex- citement. I am not, of course, allud~ ing to Liberal newspapers which have an old established and solid reputa- tion, such as the Russkie Viedomosti of Moscow There is a newspaper here which was especially violent in insist ing on the fact that not only General Trepoff but also the military should
 be removed from the town; these vio- lent articles did not prevent them from sending privately to General Trepoff to ask for a squadron of Cossacks to protect their office, begging at the same time that this request should be kept secret.
 The IntelIectuaIs.
 The "Inteliectuals" of Russia have many qualities, but everything they say must not be taken as being ire futable; they are human. like the rest of us. They are less practical than some of us. even if we do not agree with a well-known French manager of a cafe. who said. Les Intelligents!" (with sort of disgust). "Ce sont les intelligents. les plus betes que j'ai
 jamais vus." No impartial observer here can fail to be struck by the fact that before any political theory or sys- tenn is carried into effect order must be restored; that the reforms which have been granted can not be carried out in detail in day; that there Is one man capable Of carrying these reforms out. and that he is Count Witte; that to oppose Count Witte for the sake of opposition is merely criminal, because if Count Witte throws up the sponge the game will be lost and the result will be. universal anarchy, the only remedy for which will be universal and drastic repression. It seems to me that the Liberals by their action are in danger of creating a party of reaction. For the so-called "reactionary" party did not up to the present moment ex- ist. That is to say. there was practi- cally nobody of any importance who wished to revert to the state of things before the granting of the Constitution. On the other hand. there are a great many people who think that the main tenance of order is all important.