The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-09

OF any dues w~hnteVeT, the EfHHeTOT uOeb
not wish H..
In various dist riots these emissaries APP
pelred In the guise and uniform OF Gen
erals" on horseback, with a bogus stan,
carrying conspicuously an imperial golden
charter" In a gorgeous gilt ~frame-simply
a revolutionary proclamation OF the most
incendiary kind, but issued In the imperial
name-"We, Nicholas, " ac.-lnviting his be-
loved peasants to assist him In bringing
the rebellioug mobiles TO obedience, 10 being
his will henceforth to suffer no one to stand
any more between himself and his people.
but TO govern the country jointly with the
people. thus the very words OF the great
manifestoes were twisted to suit the revo-
lutionists' ends. This sleight Of hand trick
presented the less difficulty, because the
word "the people" Is used 80 loosely as to
mean, In ordinary speech, only the "com-
mon people who themselves never use It
in any more general sense, dividing the
nation into narod (the people) and pospodd.
The immense majority OF revolutionary
preachers, Of course, dispensed with such
costly staging" and were not the less
willingly listened to. Thus 10 repeatedly
came to pass that when the authorities
and military came down on a village after
a raid invariably after, never before), in
order to prevent it, although the agitators'
presence was known to all and they talked
openly to the mir, expressly called to-
gether, the men would not attempt TO
deny their share in 1t; and on being ques-
toned as to what they could have been
thinking of, and did they really expect
such actions to go unpublished, would
z...o- -.;tl H. o;~..l1otN,, ~ ,,tfor am
~viction: "We did the Cars bidding; he
wishes to govern with US, the people. and
nobody to stand between. The Tchino-
tricks ~loficials, Bureaucracy and the
eospodd have always stood between him
and us; we don't want them. They won't
go; 30 we nave to make them. The z
gives us their lands; they won't let us have
them, 30 we must take them" II not the
very words, these are the arguments which
the poor deluded creatures have In many
instances advanced in their defence.
To some extent the trouble may be traced
TO the loose and careless wording Of the
manifestoes. especially that Of November 10
NEW style), which was specially addressed
to the peasantry, promising them that their
needs should be speed ly attended to, and
the area Of their land tenure increased,
without warning them to abstain from
any attempts against private property or
intoxicating the absolute i~nviolability of
such property. When this objection was
presented to Count Witte in an interview he
replied-and the official evening paper
repeated the arguments-that the mani
festo, being called for by the most urgent
necessity for purposes of paoifcation, had
e composed in too great a hurry to go
into details, and that, besides, the inviola-
bilty of private property being emphat-
ically proclaimed in the written law OF
the empire and enforced by stringent legis-
%lation, it was superfluous to reafirm it
on any occasional fatal mistake of which
the Socialists and anarchists did not fail to
take advantage Since then, however, the
Emperor himself has made 1t a point to
emphasize this useless" affirmation with
his own lips every time he received any one
Of the numerous Populations which have
waited on him In the anne Of various COM
munities, enjoining them to repeat his words
to the folk at home; but the mischief had been
done. The present temporary and seeming
appeasement is to be attributed not 30 much
to this or that proclamation Of local authori-
ties, or even to the exceeding severity dis
played in Furnishing the so-called "agrarian
%outrages,' as to the fact that the peasantry
having at last, though still rather dimly,
grasped the idea that they will be repre-
sented In the Duma, and that 1t will have
extensive legislative powers, have trans
ferred all their expectations to that quarter
and are willing to wait, but not too long.
Several communities AVE sent in formal
declarations to the effect that they would
auoit ,,ptl the rniIlla NJ anl &c Arr,l L,t
not a day longer Then, if the Duma
were not forthcoming, or If it did not satisfy
their demands, they would take matters
into their own hands, Well, the opening
of the Duma is at last fixed for May 10
new Style, but it is impossible that IL
should satisfy their demands in the way
and to the extent that they have figured
out under the benevolent instruction of
their Socialist and anarchist teachers.
With the simplicity and thoroughness of
their ignorance they imagine hat all their
woes come from an insufliciency OF land;
that when every single male soul shall
have a given quantity Of it mot to fall
below a certain minimum) the golden age
will set in, and-they want all the land
there is. They are determined to hs We it.
They are, generally speaking, prepared to
pay a price for 1t; but there is a notable
minority who think it should be simply
given 10 them. There have been cases when
landowners-some out Of true benevolence,
put the majority from mere panic-have
offered their lands for sale to their peasant
%neighbors for actually low prices, some
times half Of the real value, and on very
easy terms, but the peasants refused, say
ing, verbatim: do you take us for fools,
that we should pay for what will be ours
free II we but wait a littlep" And when
the owner sold to a private purchaser the
peasants were highly indignant, even
threatening. In many places they actually
forbid sales to outsiders. A while ago you
heard of nothing but arbitrary timber
cutting in crown forests and private forests.
These wholesale depredations, in a land
where deforestation has reached the danger
point, so that serious attempts are already
made in the way not only of preserving
but Of planting forests, are most deplorable
1t cuts one to the heart to read of the peas
ants in the government Of Poltava making
away with a magnificent reservation of
5000 full grown oaks. The news was re-
ceived here in a private letter, and you
could see that the writer cried as she wrote.