Amador ledger., 1905-01-27
FACED WITH REVOLUTION.

J
trodden masses of Russia and the
ruling class of the nobility are sig
nificant of coming revolution. The
fires of discomfort have been smolder-
ing for many years, but the policy of
undue expansion urged on regard
less of consequences for the benefit
of the grand dukes, which has re-
suited in the disastrous war with
Japan, has brought on the crisis,
and famed the incipient discomfort
into active revolt. Conditions in
the Russian empire today are very
similar to those that prevailed in
France Immediately preceding the
great French revolution. A weak
ling king, Louis XVI, was then pre-
siding over the destinies of France.
He was well-disposed monarch,
anxious for the welfare of his people,
but lacking in firmness of character
to meet the momentous crisis Of that
time. Russia is now presided over
by weak though good-meaning en-
peror in the person of Nicholas IL.
He is simply a tool in the hands of
designing dukdoms, who are for ever
plotting for their own aggrandise-
ment, regardless of the distress of
the under classes. France over a
century ago was permeated with
political organization, clamoring for
redress of grievance. The people
were ground under the heel of des-
potism by burdensome taxation, and
the denial of demands for reform,
until the yoke was too grievous to
be borne. Russia is in similar
plight. The laboring population is
over taxed, ill-paid and over worked.
Long hours for a mere pittance of
wages, these wages as well as the
substance of the producing classes
the agriculturists- eaten up by the
demands of the government, have
brought the masses to despair of
redress by peaceable methods. The
right of petition is denied. Revolu-
tionary clubs known as Nihilists
thrive throughout the empire, and
have been quietly but indefatigably
spreading their propaganda of re-
form. This explosive element has
been held in check so far by military
despotism. Class preiudices are
strong in the land of the Gar. The
peasantry have little feeling of re-
spect for the nobility. They regard
them as oppressors. On the other
hand the mobiles look upon the masses
as ignorant and incapacitated for
any share in the affairs of govern
ment, and fit subjects for oppression.
Moreover, Russia, like France, at the
close of the eighteenth century, is
priest ridden. The church has been
powerful factor in holding the
masses in subsection. The church
and the government are practically
the same. The Gar is the civil and
religious head of the Russian people,
and no where, not even in Moslem
countries, does veneration for the
native faith exist to a greater extent
than in Russia. At the outbreak of
the Japanese war sacred relics and
images-ikons-were shipped to the
front by car loads. It was in defer
ence to the idea that in the presence
of the symbols of their faith Russian
arms were invincible, even in war
that was far from being popular
with the masses. The stern logic of
facts has brushed aside all these
claims. The armies of the Mascovite
have met with uniform defeat in
stead of victory as promised. The
recruiting of the army by forced con-
scription is being resisted; workmen
at the government factories are on
strike, the industries of the country
are paralized, the royal family has
fed, frightened at the menacing at
titude of the populace; the military,
to subdue the turbulence, has shot
the people down by hundreds in
sight of the imperial palace, thereby
widening the gap between the con-
tending factions-the one resolved
to arbitrary and despotic measures,
the other resolved to be free. Where
will it end. On the eve of the
mighty upheaval in France, an eye
witness of the scenes of violence and
lawlessness in the streets remarked
to one of the leaders of the popular
uprising, ''This is insurrection. "
"Sire, it is revolution" was the sig
nifcant and prophetic reply.