The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-03-04
CHR YIELDS TO
DEMAND OF PEOPLE
Issues Rescript COnvening
an Assembly Of Elected
Representatives of
the People.
CONVOKES GODS BLESSING
PRAYS ALMIGHTY TO FAVOR
ssTHIS GOOD BEGINNING"

tTHIS GOOU BEU1NNANUs'
Convinced in Undertaking Reforms
That Results VIII be for Real Benefit
Of PeopIe-Thanks the zemstvo As
sen,blies and other Organizations for
TheIr Expressions Of Their willing
ness to Sacrifice Their Fortunes for
successfuI Termination of War.
ST. Petersburg, March Sin the Alex
andra palace at Tsarskoe-Selo, sur
rounded by the ministers and teW
,oan,bers Of the court, and with the
empress at his side, Emperor Nicholas
this afternoon affixed his signature TO
rescript containing his majesty's de-
cree to give elected representatives OF
the people an opportunity to express
their views in the preparation OF the
laws of the empire. ....
This is the autocracys final response
to the agitation in favor of participa-
tion by the people in government,
which has brought Russia in the last
few months almost to the brink OF. rev.
olution. Its import must not be mis-
understood. For the present, at least,
1t involves no change in the regime OF
altocracy, and it means neither a con-
stitution nor a. national assembly At
the same ii 1neti recognizes the princi-
ple Of the peoples right to be heard
regarding laws under which they live.
Whatever the result may be, the doc
un1ent is sure to work an epoch in Rus
sian history as important il not more
! important than the signing Of the
emancipation manifesto the twenty
fourth anniversary Of which it was in
tended to signalize.
The signing OF the document came at
The end of dramatic scene, the cl1-
max of an impassioned speech by En-
peror Nicholas to his ministers and
the Russian people, in which he de-
clared that he sought only the welfare
of his subjects. '. -e.
II am willing,' the emperor said, "to
shed my blood for the good of my peo-
pie"
From the lips of high parsonage
who was present when the rescript was
4 signed the Associated Press is able to
give the following authoritative state
anent:
"The action of the emperor to-day is
not step toward but the actual grant
5 to the people of the means whereby
their duly elected representatives can
place before his majesty their views
upon every important measure affect
ing them and recommended by. the
council of the empire. Moreover, if
you will read the rescript carefully
you will see that it contains a distinct
promise of something more in the fu-
fure. It's small beginning will not in
volve the surrender of the principle Of
autocracy now, what it may evolve in
tiefuture only the future can deter
mine. We do not expect that it will
meet the wishes Of radicals and ex-
tremists Of any class; nothing would
satisfy them but the complete over
throw Of the existing regime. We do
hope however, that after mature de-
liberation it will meet with the appro-
liberation it will meet with the approx
well-wishers of the country.
THE emperor has been much malign-
ed and misunderstood abroad. Nobody
appreciates the trials and suffering he
has endured the last few months. He
J,o Jnoap 4rnyraSarteJ j,,J;fforo,,+ +o
the wishes of his people, but the great
mess of Russia is his sole care. For
him the two are. indissolubly linked.
For this rason he refuses to surrender
the autocratic power in favor of con-
stitutionaI regime. Why? Because he
as convinced, as he virtually says in so
many words in the rescript, that the
people are not prepared for popular
government. The heterogeneous ele-
ments of the population-Poles, Films,
Tartars, Armenians, Mongols and 9TH
er races-are only held together by the
autocracy, whose end would mean the
fall of Russia as a great state. But
the emperor recognizes the strength of
the outcry against the bureaucracy as
manifested by addresses and memorials
voted by all classes of society, and has
yielded to their demands. The peoples
representatives can make known di-
rectly to him their views concerning
every law which the council of the en-
pire proposes.
1.-THE manifesto and the rescript must
be read together. To Americans the
form will doubtless appear as strange
n1ediaeval document; but it must be-
remembered that it is the emperor's
word to his people in every condition
of life, scattered from the White sea
and from the frontiers of Germany to
4 the Pacific. 1t will be read in every
church and every hamlet in the en-
pire. It is a personal appeal to the
people to support the government in
its hour of trial. and should be read
In that light. The rescript, on the