New-York tribune., 1905-01-23
THE RUSSIAN REVOLT.


The forebodings of yesterday are the facts OF
to-day 1t would be difficult TO exaggerate the
gravity of the news which we print from st-
Petersburg this morning. Details may be eN-
aggerated. The killed and wounded may De
numbered by hundreds or only by scores IN
stead OF the thousands Of popular report. mat
does not matter far the sSnhcance OF
the whole incident is concerned. The important
fact is that large part of the popuiace OF the
Russian capital has risen in revolt against the
government, If not against the dynasty. and
that the government is trying TO repress it with
powder and ball. One life or a thousand-it is
all the same in principle. Ii is war The scene
of conflict has been shifted from the Yellow Sea
10 the Neva. Port Arthur has fallen. and huro-
patkn is alternating in preSumable security,
but ST. Petersburg is in state of siege. and its
streets are wet with the blood of Russian sub
jects slain by Russian soldiers at the command
of the Russian government. That is the situa
ton. It could not well be more serious in kind.
and It may become supremely serious in degree.
Within the last few days more than one writer
has lkened the situation at st. Petersburg to
that at Paris and Versailles at the beginning of
the French Revolution The comparison may
be odious in its ominous implications, but in
some details 1t is obvious. As in 1889, so in
1905, the people asking TO their SOW
ereign that they may ask of him directly re-
the mob was led by priests carrying not only
holy images, but also portraits of the Gar, and
the people were crying for a sight of the Car
that they might present homage and griev-
ances I'VE do not wish TO do harm' they
cried and Long live Nicholas H. That was
their temper at the beginning, and it was prob
ably sincere. Nor however much we may de-
plore and condemn any violent uprising against
lawful authority, is it impossible altogether TO
avoid sympathizing with their desire for relief
The testimony of Russian Ministers of State is
conclusive to the effect that the grievances Of
the people are heavy, and that there is urgent
need Of reform. The answer of the government
was far different from that which Louis XVI
gave to the mob Of Paris. but it was what most
people expected from the government of the
Gar. The troops fired upon the mob, with ball
cartridge and with deadly aim. The result was
that the cries of the people were changed to
such as 'Murderous dogsw and Down with the
autocracy" That 'whiff Of grape transformed
an anti-administrative into something ominously
like an anti-dynastic revolt
1t Will probably be repressed. With all tbot
are absent in Eastern Asia, there are still enough
troops left to the Gar in Russia to crush this
insurrection, unless the disaffection in the army
is round TO be extensive though even then II will
not take many regiments 10 deal with the I'M
armed and undiscplned mob of St Petersburg
There VIII be CoSsack regiments which viii
nave no compunctions in shooting or sabrinc or
riding down all who stand in their way. Rut
such repression will not be complete suppression
The ominous fact is not only that there is q
revolt, but also that there is, for the first time
an extensive and open popular movement for
revolution. That means far more than q single
demonstration Of the mob. The government
cannon, Of course, afford 10 temporize with n
law deIylng mob. At the same time II may we'll
DC questioned whether it can afford TO maintain
conditions which provoke the people TO become
such mob The government must assert itSalP
and Vindicate it's authority 1t should also as
sert Its justice and vindicate its humanity no
fore the world
Dreadful as were the deeds of Yesterday +bar
Would stIll be light price to pay If thus couId
De secured the redemption OF the Russian naotla
from the grievances which they suffer and from
the degradation in which they live On the
other hand, dreadful as they were they world
De hght compared with the horrors of reaction
ana repression which this outbreak may nro-
woke We can imagine nothing worse for Russio
lah mat the recent efforts for rational nropress
ana reform should, because of this outbreak ba
dpahdoned' and that the government. instead of
plahhlhg ways and means for the amelioration
OF the peoples lot should give its attention N
sun further confirming the people in that Iot
We Know how insurrectiOn has been dealt with
ID roland. Here is an nsurrection of much tha
same kind in ST Petersburg itself It would ba
dreadful thing to have that city and other
great cities of Russia treated as another Poland
Yet the alternative seems TO be either that or q
prompt granting of the reforms which the peo-
pie demand.