Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-25
LOOKING TO FUTURE
PREPARING FOR Gov
ERNMFNT IF CAR FALLS.
Outlines of Provisional Organization
Reputation of Debts Incurred
After January 22.

A cablegram from London declares that
there exists in ST. Petersburg today a body
Oh men who look upon themselves as the
future provisional government of Russia
interesting details of this DEVELOPMENT and
the growth of the revolutionary movement
generally are given by a special correspond
eht OF the Daily Telegraph, who compares
'he development of the situation to the
gathering of a storm
II ls' ne says, 1.-THE result of the oper-
ation OF natural laws. The part ascriba hle
70 conscious effort is infinitesimal No sin
gle actor in the drama had c.ncention of
the whole play, and the most of them vyouId
Indignantly throw up their parts if thew
had an inkling of the significance of tho
work they are engaged in. 1t was thus the
sttssI Jacobin Club sprang up. At first
hlteen or twenty journalists and literary
men grouped themselves about M. Hessen.
edltor or a weekly journal the Pravo and
met in the office of the daily paper in the
NeVsky prospect, where l was wont to
visit them. ~
How the Circle Grew.
There they discussed topics for articles
In the journal and political events generally
around little green table in a small room
Last Friday morning the private affairs
OF newspapers had already merged them
selves in the public affairs of the nation
and fifty or sixty persons assembled to
olscuss the situation. On Saturday, at
noon, some eighty representative men, with
a fair sprinkling of women, had gathered
and were accommodated in a large hack
room lighted by two Shadeless electric
lights. There they sat around a long table
trying to figure out the destinies of Rus
STA.
ION Saturday night some 200 men and
inc n Chnl nf I
opinion, had come together, and Annensky
who had been banished by Won Plehve and
recalled by Prince Mirsky. was unanimously
elected president. NJ. Lessen of Odessa
who was dragged away from his university
studies to exile in the far north, where he
studied English and read law books for five
years, but Is now an editor, a lawyer and a
trusted leader of the liberals, is ready to
head Populations to Witte or Prince Mirsky,
or to undertake any human mission con-
fided to him by the people.
Its Important Object.
ION Sunday night when the committee
had possession of the hall of the Imperial
Economic Society about one thousand per-
sens were present, but there was no direct
ing head and therefore no unity of action,
and the attitude of the assembly was eX-
pectant and fatalistic.
IT asked a prominent member why they
had no perma committee. He shrugged
his shoulders, but another who casually
heard me, said there would be one soon,
and today body of men is constituted who
regard themselves as the future provisional
government of Russia.
LAS yet they are political ciphers, who
hope that sudden stroke of luck may pro-
vide them with the means to overturn the
present regime and place the reins of power
in their hands. If they succeed they WILL
for the time being be Identical with Russia.
II they fail they may, as they themselves
admit, wander TO Siberia or descend into
the tomb.
Il am not permitted to make any state
nent respecting the personality of these
men beyond to remark that they are not
adyenturers, but men of standing, whose
names are widely known and deeply re-
spected here and abroad, and they have
requested me to give publicity to the fol-
lowing remarkable statement OF their finan-
cial policy.
"They are prepared to respect Russian
traditions and pay interest punctually on
all loans heretofore negotiated, and will
leave nothing undone to avoid reputation,
the curtailment of interest or any meas
ures that would run counter to the obliga-
lions undertaken by the imperial govern
ment, but every foreign loan contracted
after Sunday, January %, this year, they
will unhesitatingly repudiate, because no
nation can now lend to the Russian govern
ment in good faith or in ignorance of the
fact that the people and bureaucracy are
struggling to discover which of them really
represents the nation.
'If the French republicans wish to sup
port the autocracy they have a perfect
right to do so. but the Russian people will
be equally justified in repudiating obliga-
tons contracted by their enemies for the
purpose of keeping them enthralled."
According to yesterdays dispatches NJ.
Annensky, together with several other jour
nalists lawyers and local officials. was ar
rested Monday night. 1t is possible that
these arrests are Il result of close watch
by the authorities over the provisional
government movement.