The Saint Paul globe., 1905-01-24
THE REVOLUTION BEGINS

The revolt in St. Petersburg appears
Russia is begun. The autocracy is as I
certainly doomed as though the feeble,
czar and his bloody minded and red
handed relatives and advisers had al
ready been put to the sword that was
forged for them by the massacres of
Sunday. nrHs
We are still ignorant of the extent Of /
the massacre that was directed by the
Grand Duke Vladimir, the uncle and
representative of Nicholas, but sufh-
cient detail has been given of the
dreadful affair to make it certain that
nothing like it has occurred in the his
tory of civilization since the massacre
of st. Bartholomew. We may not have
an adequate conception of the char
acter of the Russian people, but surely
they will be satisfied with nothing less
than the blood atonement for the
dreadful deed that was deliberately
perpetrated on vladimir day'-the
term already applied to the day as an
awful souvenir of the man who was the
instrument of death to some thousands
of peaceful people.
1t is manifest that the slaughter was
planned, that the grand dukes had Sc
lected the time as being ripe for strik-
ing blow that would put stop to
agitation for a constitution and cur
tailment of their privileges. 1t is prob
able that they intercepted the appeal
sent to Nicholas by the people, or if
they did not intercept it they prevailed
the Shadow Of God before the Russian
people, to permit them to respond to
the demand of the populace. Whether
or no he knew in what fashion they
intend to make response to the respect
full plea of the peoples. whether or no
he knew of the plea, Nicholas is
ehargeable with the awful responsible
ity for the most dastardly of all the
crimes his house has perpetrated upon
his nation.
The plan for the massacre was form
ed between Friday night and Saturday
night. Only such troops as could be
depended upon to kill on orders and
without mercy were put on guard at
the Winter palace and it's vicinity.
There was no faltering on the part of
the officers who voiced the order to
kill-they had nothing in common
with the bloused mujiks who followed
Father Gopon into the jaws of death,
relying with sublime faith upon the
good will and paternal affection of the
Little Father whom they so affec-
tIonately addressed and prayed to give
them leave to live as human beings
might live, There was no suggestion
of menace in the attitude of the people,
they bore no arms. Bare handed,
myriad in number, guaranteeing that
the person of the czar should be held
fnyiolate, they tried only to make their
prayer effective by showing the White
Car the immense number of his sub
jects who suffered and sought redress.
When the guns of the Cossacks were
turned on them they still had faith. be-
lieving that the soldiers would not ain,
to KILL They pressed on, as at the Mar
va gate, where the Chicadoff regiment
was drawn up. Father Gopon, bearing
in one hand an icon, in the other the.
petition to the car, led a multitudei
up to within a few yards of the regi-.
ment. AT point blank range the order
to fire was given and scores fell. The
firing was kept up by voIleys as the
mass of people tried to get out of the
way. In three minutes the place was
a shambles.
Every man killed toda;f was shep-
herded to his fate" said an observer.
That appears to be the fact. The
grand ducal cabal planned to strike
such terrible blow at the people as
would bring the people of all Russia
to realizing sense of the futility of
striving with the existing order of
things. -
Already it is apparent that the mas
sacre was mere waste of powder so.
far as effecting this object was con-
cerned The people wanted the right
to live decentIy and peacefully
they demand vengeance. Revenge,
that is the note to which the popular
cry is attuned And the revenge will
be dreadful in its completeness now
that the mujik is ready to make COM
mon cause with the artisan and the
merehant-fer the three classes suffer
ed equally in the massacre. Yesterday
st. Petersburg was dumb. but the