The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-05-10

the privileged nobility.
Can Relieve Country.
And only a free constitutional regime
can relieve the country of the menaeing
dar ger, bringing to the people political
anG civic competency and broad enlight-
erment All the more, then, and with
reeoubled yigor should the friends of
governmental order struggle for the lib
GRAFTON of the nation from autocratic bu-
reaucratic arbitrariness. Even the army
that eternal buttress of our absolutism,
even it is receiving on the fields of Man
churia and in the streets of Petersburg,
Warsaw. Riga and other cities a politi-
cal education and is learning to appraise
at its true value that order in the name
of which il is itself obliged to face the
enemy's bullets and fire upon its brothers,
fathers and children How deep and
abiding is the movement for freedom may
be Judged by the determination and the
self-saerifice with which thousands OF
unarmed proletarians faced bullets in the
streets of Petersburg and other cities, by
the decisive protests against the regime
made by hitherto peaceful and timid pro-
vincials, by the unanimity with which
the entire public and press express them-
selves The very nrst fact, the meeting
of the zemstvoists in Petersburg, also
bears witness to this. There were repre-
sentatives at that meeting from conserV-
alive zemstvos But this did not prevent
the meeting from unanimously expressing
itself in favor of radical reform the sos-
ornamental organization.
Shows Depth of Movement.
Another still more striking phenomenon
shows in the strongest manner the depth
and maturity of the present poiltlcai
movement 1t must be admitted that IN
the zemstvo for example, the admittedly
progressive elements form the minority IN
comma rison with the conservative, inert
portion But their moral predomlhatoh Is
SO great and the actual needs OF Rus
sian life. expressed in their demands SO
indisputable tat the political state Oh
mind of this compact active minority -
dominant In provinclaly circles. only one
end is possible to the fight for freedom,
which has begun-the attainment OF free-
dom The return to slavery Is impossiple.
The war in the far east cannot end IN VIC
tory. and this fact renders the bufeau-
cracy poweress to turn pack the Wheei
of time The whole life or the country
is at a standstill The state IS ihNoiNeu
in unpavable debts The bureaucracy Is
already unable to mend matters by its
own strength Ii must inevitably turn
To the popular will and to public ACTIVITY.
10 the bureaucracy should not have suf-
ficient nerspieaeity to do this. and con-
tinue to stubbornly endeavor 10 go pack'
then catastrophe to the played-oul du-
ministrative system is inevitable. ne pun
lie forces. brought to the boiling point,
are psyehologicaly no longer able TO re-
main in the iron boiler. They will burst
it And this threatens the country with
violent and terrible disorder unprecedent-
ed in history The Russian revolution
will be proportionally more terrible than
all other European revolutions, as the
despotism of the Russian bureaucracy mas
been darker and the ignorance of the
popuiace deeper. than anywhere else IN
Europe For this reason the intelligent
better forces of the country ought at the
present time to direct all their strength
toward the creation Of a powerful pun
lie opinion. under the pressure OF Whlch
the government would inevitably have TO
weld. All the elements for the creation
of such a public opinion are present.
The question is. will the government rec
ognize this in time? The answer 10 rms
question will determine the fate OF hut'
STA.