Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-06-08
7REPOFF DICTATOR
CARS UkASE CAUSES A GREAT
SENSATION.
What the Precise Result viii Be
No One Gan rOreteII, but II Is
Believed the Almost Inevitable
Popular Explosion will Be Con.
Siderably fastened,


st. Petersburg, June 6.-The ukase
OF Emperor Nicholas virtually creating
Governor General Trepoff dictator, has
given rise to mighty sensation. 1t is
the imperial recognition of the crisis
In the internal affairs in Russia and
1nstinctively recalls the step taken by
the emperor's grandfather Alexander
ii Immediately after the attempt to
blow up the winter palace in 1880,
when he appointed a commission of
public safety, headed by Gen. Loris
Melikoff, except that the position of
Gen. Trepof will be more analogous
to that occupied by Loris Melikoff
when later in the same year he was
appointed minister Of the interior with
full control Of the police.
Reaction and suppression" doubt.
less will be the quick Interpretation
put upon the emperor's act as soon as
1t becomes known to the Liberals.
Buried in the columns of the Official
Messenger and coming almost without
warning. the ukase is not yet generally
known, but to the initiated the figure
of Constantine Petrovitch Pobiedonost.
self, chief procurator of the holy synod,
looms large. Behind the scenes the
old man remains as stern and uncom-
promising as ever. He left what many
believed to be his dying bed last Thurs
day and went to Tsarkoe- Selo, where
q Ql ttNA \
his majesty.
"Crush With iron Grasp"
The decision to place in the hands
OF the strongest executive in Russia,
which Trepof is universally recognized
as being, the power to crush with an
iron hand the political agitation which
has brought Russia almost to the brink
of revolution, according to public be-
lief, is the fruit of Pobiedonostseff g
visit, for go far as can be learned not
a single one of the emperor's ministers
was in the secret.
clear sky. M. Bouligan, minister of
the interior, could not face the humil-
iation, and Immediately resigned, and
it is not improbable that other minis
ters will follow his example. 1t is ru-
mored in the city that Count Lams-
dorff, the foreign minister, has already
placed his resignation in the hands of
the emperor and that he will be sue.
ceeded by M. Muravieff, former minis
ter of justice and now ambassador at
Rome. Admiral Alexieif has also de-
manded the acceptance of his dennis
sion.
ReaCfiOnary to Be Promoted.
Sturmen, an extreme reactionary
who belongs to the Won Plehve school,
it is commonly reported at this writ
ing, will succeed M. Bouligan as min.
lister Of the interior, but it matters lit
tie who may succeed to that portfolio,
as its holder will be subordinate to
Gen. Trepof in all matters affecting
politics
In spite of the popular interpreta-
ton, however, that Trepoff's appoint.
ment means repression and reaction to
the bitter end, the latter conclusion
by no means follows, as it was under
Loris Melikoff's dictatorship that the
reform program OF Alexander II was
worked out.
The same thing may prove true in
this case. Indeed, among the contra.
dictory rumors which are current in
the city, one is that the ukase will be
completed with the immediate calling
of a zemsky sober, but nothing definite
is known, and the emperor's most in
fiuential friends are not aware as to
what stand he will take.
Whatever he may do it is now ap-
parent that the emperor has decided
that the hands Of the government shall
no longer be forced by political agita-
ton. and that the legislative assembly
shall bear the hallmark of imperial
fashioning and not that Of popular
clamor.
May Be an Explosion.
The decision of the emperor was un.
dou btedly precipitated by the Russian
disaster in the Sea of Japan, as liber-
ais and radicals everywhere were pre-
pairing to make the best possible use of
it in furthering their wishes.
The government also will be threat
ened with peace demonstrations, the
first of which was to be big meeting
OF the zemstvoists in Moscow today,
which Gen. Trepoff, as his first act,
prohi bited On the surface of things,
therefore, it looks ominously like the
placing of Trepof at the helm to deal
with the internal crisis which the de-
termination to pursue the war is liable
to cause.
1t is dangerous to forecast the result
of the change in the situation. As long
as there will be vent for escaping steam
in congresses and assemblies pressure
did not accumulate, but with the extra
weight On the safety valve and with
the fires of internal agitation burning
holly there may be an explosion.
ZenSTVOS INTeROILTcD.
Congress Ordered Not to Assemble