The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-19
The Car Publishes Ills
 Manifesto. HASP0WER TO MAKE LAWS Douma is Subject to AutOcra-
 tic Ruling. ProcIamatien of Nieheaas Grs.tasf People RigAt to Elect Repressn- tafives wrl bs ReaA ia
 All Churches Today.
HASP0wER TO MAKE LAWS

St. PGtef6DuT8, aug. 1o.-ks~ees@@ @ National Assembly. the fruits of streeg and striving for reform which endoWe the Russian people with the right of being consulted through their chcoen representatives in the suggesttons prep- aration and repeeal of Legislation. to- day takes its place among the funda- mental institutions of the empire.
 In a solemn manifesto Emperor Ntch- olas announces this morning to his sub- 1ects the fruition of his plans sum moning the representatives Of the peo- pie as outlined by him In rescrfpt issued on March 3 last and hxed tho date for the first convocatton as mid- January and In an ukase addressed to the Senate formally orders that body to register as the imperial will law project formulating the nature, powers and procedure of the new governmental organization. The manifesto. ukase ana project are published this morning in special editions of the Of1cfal Messen- ger in St. Petersburg and Moscow. They will be given out for publication at noon to all the newspapers throughoul the Empire. many of which are prepar- ing to issue extra editions to signalfxe a momentous historical event overshad- owing in importance the liberation of the serfs in 1861.
 The date of the occasion has been happily chosen with due regard to the poetical symbolism so dear to the Rus sian heart. for on this day Is celebrated the great religious feast of the trans- figuration of Christ. with the bringing to the church of the first fruits of the new harvest.
 The National Assembly will be a con- servative organization In connection with the Council of the Empire, and not a legislative body. The powers of the Emperor remain theoretically ahso- lute. As the Emperor Is the suprema law giver and autocrat the decisions of the douma have only a recommenda- tory and not binding force. though the rejection of any legislative meas- ure by two-thirds majority of both houses is sufictent to prevent the meas ure from becoming law. s
 The representatives of the people will have not only the right to be heard opl any legfslation proposed by the Gov ernment but also can voice their desires on new laws and will have the right to exert a certain supervision over bud- getary expenditures.
 St Petersburg, Aug. 19.-Emper0r Nicholas has today announced the grant to the people of Rnssia of national consultative assembly to be formed by elected representatives from the whole of Russia. The imperial manifesto. which Is published simultaneously here and at Moscow and which will be read in all the churches of the empire Ia dated at Peterhof today and is as fol- lows:
 The empire of Russia is formed and strengthened by the tndestructible solidarity of the emperor with the people and of the people with the em- peror. This concord of emperor and people is the great moral force which has created Russia in the course of centuries by protecting her from all misfortunes and all attacks and has constituted up to the present time a pledge of unity, independence. integrt- ty, material well-being and intellectual development.
 Tn our manifesto of February. 24. 1903 we called to a close understanding all the faithful sons of the fatheriand in order to protect the organization of the State by establishing on a firm. basis the domestic life of the empire and then we devoted ourselves to the task of co-ordinating elective public institutions with governmental authori- ties and of removing the disaEreements existing between them which had re- acted so disastrously on the normal course of our national life.
 The autocratic emperors. our ances- tors constantly had that object In view and the time has come to follow out their good intentions and to summon elected representatives from the whole of Russia to take constant and active part in the elaboration of the laws. thereby attaching to the higher State institutions a special consultive body entrusted with the preliminary elabo- ration and budget.
 It is for this reason that, while pre- v serving the fundamental law regard- ing the autocratic power we nave deemed 1t we'll to form 0 gosudar~ stvennaia douma (lower house of the assembly, and to approve the reguia- tions for elections to this dounla, ex- tending the validity of these laws to the whole territory of the empire with such adoptions only as may be eou- sidered necessary in the case of some regions in which special conditions obtains.
 As regards the situation in the douma of delegates from the grand duchy of Finland on questions concerning the empire in general and the grand duchy in particular, we will take special measures.
 At the same time we have ordered the minister of the interior to submit immediately for our approbation regu- lations for elections to the doumas so that deputies from fifty governments and from the military province of The Don may be able to assemble not later than the middle of January. 1908.
 We reserve to ourselves the entire
  the gosudarstvennaia douma; and when the course of events shall have shown the necessity for changes correspond- ing complely to the needs of the times and the welfare of the empire, we shall not fail to give at the proper moment the necessary directions
 We are convinced that those who shall have been elected by the confi- dence of the whole people and who will thus be called upon to partici- pate in the legislative work of the government will show themselves in the eyes of all Russia to be worthy of the imperial trust in the virtue of which they have been invested to CO., operate in this great work and that in perfect harmony with other instruc- tions and authorities of the state es- tablished by us. they will contribute profitably and zealously to our labors for the well being of our common mother, Russia, and for the strength eninR of the empire; the security and nf the mira. a a FTa11