The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-23
rssk rurunE or RussrA.

| ImE EOIVHB VF kVDSAAs Will Russia disintegrste? is a ques- ton now seriously asked. At nrst thought 1t might be regarded as one of the iHprobabilities of the future. but it is not. It is a mighty country in ares and population. but 1t is composed of many incongruous and dissatisned ele- ments. As all know, Poland has never been content under Russian domina ton. For generations the people of that lit- tie principality have been restless and dissatisfied. Outbreaks have not been uncommon and Russian authority has been maintained only by force of arms. Nor its Poland alone in her discon- tent. for we are now told that little Georgia. cut off from Russia proper by the Caucasian Mountains, is on the eve of revolution. The Georgians are brave and warlfke people, who have re- mained armed in spite of the Govern ment and who have never been satisfied under the despotism that has controlled them.
 And there are other provinces which would be glad to set up for themselves. Heretofore the autocratic power of the most absolute of despotisms has kept these unruiy provinces in some sort of subjection and has maintained the au- tonomy of the great empire. It has been a rule of iron. where the com plaints and remonstrances of down. trodden subjects have been answered by the gun. the sword or the knout. Every effort at revolution has given pretext for renewed oppression and greater cruelties. The kingdom has been held together by force and the only bond of unity was fear.
 But the autocracy has disappeared and with 1t may have gone the power to hold the great country together. The whole empire is practically in a condi- ton of unrest, and violence and blood shed are daily occurrences. Whether 1t is possible for Count witte and his helpers to bring order out of this seeth- ing chaos remains to be seen. As The Hartford courant says:
 Russia is really going along in these how and much less exactly whither. It Is a hand-to-mouth existence at best, both for the constituted authori- of the great land empire. Naturally. things being so in St. Petersburg, the seat of such authority as there is. the among the Georgian hills of Caucasia have begun to take account of their own stock. The instinctive tendency of ali the small peoples whom Russia has taken in Is in the same direction.
 And 1t is this tendency to break away from the parent Government that threatens the solidarity of the Empire. A taste of civil and religious liberty is an incitation to further demands. They have received some concessions and are promised others, but this may not sat- isfy them. The small samples of free dom handed them has apparently but sharpened their appetites and increased their hunger. These outlying and rest less little fragments of the nation want to set up for themselves and no longer be subject to the rules and the rod of their late parent.
 If the organization and maintenance of a stable government Is left to Count Witte never did any one man have a greater burden placed on. him. If he could have the cooperation and active assistance of the nobility his task would be very much simplified. but that is hardly to be hoped fer or expected. The nobles are jealous and distrustful of each other. Each fears that others will get some advantage of him. and hence there Is little harmony among them. To quote The courant again:
 If some arrangement could be made with these little peoples whereby they would secure local autonomy, and If they all knew how to use this auton- omy. and if the new government sys- tenn of Russia that Is struggling to the birth would respect these arrangements. and If generally the disposition of the millions who are called Russians and are not Russians was to seek the lines of agreement rather than the lines of disagreement, a way out might be found without further use of the Cos sack whip and rifle. But these ifs are great obstacles to a practical and peace full political solution of the Russian and the proposed representative body have a host Of unsettled political de- tails between them. Just who Is to rule in Russia during the next few years is not known in St. PetersbL g today, and much less does anybody on earth know what the quality of that rule will be or how it will be conducted. make up the outskirts of the Russian Empire on almost every side should i'm agine that perhaps their day has at last come was inevitable in these un-