The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-02
m WHITES CRISIS.

Since the world-tragedy of the
French revolution there has been 10
such spectacle as Russia is presenting
today Crippled by war broken down
IN every executive department, gov
erned by a ruler who is neither wise nor
strong. her army and. navy corrupt at
the head and dissatisfied in the ranks,
the whiiom terror of the nations has
come face 20 face with her day Of judg-
ment and none knows what her future
will be-
Americas sympathy IN this crisis is
altogether with NJ. White. the giant of
liberal Russian statesman. Installed in
imperial favor as n result of his tri-
umph in the Portsmouth negotiations,
he has succeeded in gaining royal ap-
prevail of his programme for the aboli-
ton Of the autocracy which fettered the
empire by its government of the grand
dukes. With this and other extensions
OF the liberal programme he hoped TO
have popular support for his effort TO
bring his country through the periIs of
a peaceful revolution, only TO find his
hands tied, his whole undertaking
brought to naught by the opposition Of
the masses whose battle he is fighting.
Burdened by the hatred of the old
regime ana all the Vultures who thriVed
by its crimes. he finds no support from
the common people upon whom he had
10 depend for the material for a new
structure; instead, he is assailed by the
overturned reactionaries on one side,
ana the pToletariat on the other, neither
OF whom is content with conditions as
they are.
Like their predecessors since the days
OF Moses, the people are unwilling 10
wait for the reforms promised them,
but must needs hurry things. forgetting
the contending forces which beset
Witte. their friend. on every side, and
demanding the miIlenium's arrival In a
day.
Whether the great liberal statesman
can defend himself from the dethroned
autocracy and at the same time hold in
check the masses on the other side, re-
tAAtA44ls1 ~ ht eNNsAs III AtA blN sA4hA
might be had in an enlightened press.
ii Russia had such a thing; he cannot
depend upon army or navy to hold
things steady until he can devise the
machinery of new governmental forces
out of the chaos which cOnfT0nts him.
Nor has he the sober thoughtful. con-
servative judgment OF a middle class
10 uphold him, since Russia has no mid
die class-nothing is before him but
debased aristocracy and a sOdden mob
of peasants and artisans delirious with
the intoXicatiOn Of a neW-fOund power,
unrestrained by any thought of the OBJ
legations which power imposes on its
pOssessOrs.
Meanwhile, the whole world looks on
and hopes against hope for the success
of the one man who has attempted TO
hattie for the common people in the
midst Of surroundings which might we'll
daunt the bravest Of men. II he fails,
IT Will be a noble failure; and it will
probably mean the reversion Of Russia
10 the worst Of the conditions which he
has striven TO reform. And if he goes
down, the result can only be a step
backward. possibly for another quar-
ter-century. The only alternative could
be another Napoleon with cannon ana
arms behind him; another carnival Of
bloodshed and riot and ruin, another
dark page in the many history has re-
corded wherever liberty abused has ex-
acted payment with vengeance ten
fold.