Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1905-11-24
COUNT WHITE
WINS SUPPORT
zemstvo Congress Likely to Come to
the Aid Of the Cabinet and Op.
pose Revolution.
BUREAUCRACY IS At AN END
Example Of Finnish People is Pointed
to-Douma Based on Univer.
Suffrage.

tO-OOuna 6SSeo on UnIver.
Suffrage.
Moscow, Nov. 23.-The sentiment of
the zemstvo congress is veering dis.
ttnctly to the side of Count Witte,
and 1t now seems probable that a
large majority of the delegates will
favor resolution to come to the as
sistance Of the government against
the forces of revolution and disorgan-
ization, though only because such &C.
tion is regarded by considerable fac
ton as the least of many evils. Suci
leaders as NJ. ST. Chepkine. of Mos
COW, Alexander Stakovich, Michael
Stakovitch, Prince Paul Dolgorukoff
and Prince Volkonsky Of Riazan, who
are among the prominent men in Rus
sia and who have the confidence of
those engaged in the reform move
ment. came out boldly at today's ses-
sion and laid down as a plain truth
that only through cooperation WITH
the government, good or bad. though
t night be, lay the way to a happy
realization of the liberties promised
by the imperial manifesto of October
30. M. st. Chepkine declared:
THE people may call us Judases
who have sold ourselves to Count
Witte. but We must array ourselves
with nim in order to make the state
douma an active force in which the
people will have confidence"
The First Duty.
Even NJ. Petrunkevitch, president of
the Moscow agricultural society, whose
exile to Siberia embittered him against
the bureaucracy, and who declared
himself ready to join hands with the
social democrats in the douma if they
would lay aside for the present their
economic theories, insisted that the
first duty of all parties now was to
unite SO as to restore tranquility and
save the fatherland.
M. Conocheff. prominent lawyer
OF st. Petersburg, however, attacked
the government which he termed a
government of officials" and said no
cooperation would be Immediately
possible it purged itself of its
falsehood.
The presiding officer of the congress
today was Count Mukhanoff, form
er marshal of the nobility of Cher
nigoff, who was dismissed from his
post for addressing a telegram direct
ly to the emperor regarding the needs
OF the people, which telegram mis- mai
esty. in marginal note, character
lied as 'impertinent and tactless."
Representatives of the delegation
Of "a prominent Poles which came
from Poland to st. Petersburg to make
known the attitude of their country
toward the government, arrived in
Moscow today and attended the con-
sress. They read the manifesto issu.
ed by the delegation in st. Peters
burg last night, reviewing the history
OF Poland in the last century. declar-
ing that the Poles had no thought of
separation or Of independence, and
asking the support of all Russian par.
ties. After reading the manifesto they
made a special plea for the support
and cooperation of zemstvoists in
their plea for autonomy, reiterating
that in this movement there was no
separatist purpose. The congress took
no action in the premises.
Princes Good Speech.
The speech of Prince Paul Dolgoru-
kOff was one OF the best delivered
since the opening of congress- Argu-
ing in defense of a resolution that the
cabinet of Count Witte could count on
the support of many classes of Rus
sian society while putting into opera
tion the liberties of constitution,
based on the emperor's manifesto of
October 80, he warned the congress
against the present state of revolu.
tionary nysteria and declared that at
this time. when important creative
work was in progress, it would be
wrong to demand the immediate re-
moval of every timber of the founda.
tion OF the Russian government, even
though many of the planks were ad-
mittedly rotten. The ministry of
Count Witte. which he compared to
commission in bankruptcy, was
far from ideal. but he said that it
must be supported and sustained.
The prince brought the congress
to its feet by declaring that, no mat
ter who might be at the head of the
government, the regime of the auto.
cracy and the bureaucracy had now
been relegated to the limbo of idiot
ic fantasies" alluding to the words
used by the emperor in his answer to
NJ. Petrunkevitcn when a decade ago
at the reception of the delegations
from the zemstvos after the corona
tion. the liberal from Tver. warned
his majesty of the necessity of con-
voking the representatives OF the peo-
pie.
Michael Stakovich, a marshal of the
nobility OF Orel. appealed to the good
sense Of the congress and referred to
the example of the Finnish people.
who were quietly awaiting the reforms
promised them. He said that the con.
gress. by prolonging the opposition to
the government, would fall into the
same error as the bureaucracy, which
had attached no weight to the force
OF public opinion directed against 1t,
but that by cooperating with Count
W1tte the ZemstvOists would hasten
the abolition Of the old rotten legal
structure and the elaboration Of a
constitution based upon the emper.
or's manifesto.
Alexander Stakovich, a brother OF
the preceding speaker, said that Count
Witte was an intelligent and ambi
tious man who would try to put into
practice the principles Of the NANTES
to, but that unless he were properly
aided the premier would fall under
the influence of the court circles, and