The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-03-05
is IT TOO LATE

There is something really pathetic in
the appeal of Russia's car to the de-
votion of his people to protect the en-
pire from its domestic foes and pre-
vent it from falling into shattered
ruins. 1t voices the supreme reliance
which the empires ruler has felt and
upon which he had traded for so long;
the inherited reverence OF the people
for their hereditary ruler. 1t is a pros
tration at last of the throne before the
people who have hitherto Frustrated
themselves before the throne. Has the
endeavor for mutual understanding
come too late?
They who ask must either have given
or be prepared to give. We wonder if
the car and his rulers stop to think
what right they have to rely upon the
aid or even the friendly disposition of
the people. What have the people re-
ceived for which they owe repayment?
Generation after generation, under sue
cessive rulers and through successive
dynasties. they have borne all burdens
and paid all costs. Theirs has been the
| part Of loyalty, of sacrifice. of suffer-
ing. They have been hewers of wood
and drawers of water for the imperial
house, but they have labored without
reward and without hope. For them
| their masters have done nothing.
The extent and violence of the revo-
luton which has shaken Russia to its
center may be measured by this amaz-
ing change of position. Even a few
weeks ago, in reply to the petitions of
the people, the attitude of the car was
naughty and exclusive. He had a word
| OF defiance for those who had been in
| citing popular unrest, and recommend
| ed to the people a hearty submission
was assumed to be the will of God. 1t
is very different now.
A vast popular unrest has shaken the
throne itself, and spread terror and
paralysis among those who have been
used to lift but a finger and consign
unhappy victims to the dungeons or to
exile. They shiver in their palaces to-
day. They walk abroad at the risk of
their lives. The arm of labor. hangs
supinely by its side. The foreign en-
envy meets with sympathy rather than
with resistance. The absolute authority
of Russia has at last realized its limi-
| tations and confesses that it must
make terms.
In many of its details there is the
strongest family resemblance between
the state Of Russia today and that of
France at the outbreak of the revolu-
| ton. There, too, weak, trembling and
unhappy monarch threw himself upon
the support of a people that had
proved too strong for him. He found
sword that pierced him through and
through. We may doubt if suffering
and hatred have wrought equally upon
the Russian populace. We may doubt
! whether the car and his ministers
would meet with an equally cruel and
relentless fate. We do not doubt, how
ever, that they will be met with the
same question.
What have they done for the people,
| that the people should now do any
thing for them? What are they ready
to concede to the people, If the people
are to return to their old loyalty and
make progress or even life tolerable in
| Russia? At last the throne is at the
mercy of the people who have for so
| long scarcely dared to draw breath in
its shadow. 1t is a righteous revolu-
( ton. The question today is whether
the groaning millions will pardon and
| pity their distracted ruler, or visit
upon him and all that he represents the
accumulated penalties of centuries of
innumerable and unspeakable crimes.