Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-29
THE DISSOLUTION OF TIE DOUMA.

frecuesatly pushed 10 sxtremities By muir
ders and other crimes OF which they know
perfectly well the instigators. Notwitn-
standing that they are to be blamed: II Is
astonishing that there are sometimes re-
prisals.
-
Passing to the question OF Discipline In
the armx Gen. Trepon declared most posi-
lively that the greater part
Question Of of the troops are mistaken
in their loyalty and will
never turn against their SOW
ereign. The disorders in the army were
due to the fact that ofacers were not in
SUFFICIENT contact with their men,
The anair of the regiment PrcobraJ en-
sky" he said, had attracted attention be-
cause It was the famous regiment of the
guaFd- The battalion had been disgraced
because the least prejudice to the reputa-
ton of such regiment should not be toll
Grated In reality. the disorder was not
serious. and when the men were asked TO
designate those who had misled them they
DID 30 unhesitatingiy."
Questioned as to the assertion that he
was to be made dictator, Gen. Trepon
replied.
IT Is. a humbug The revola.ionarfes al
ways use that string to discredlt Il min
isfry and to prove that ministers have no
authority Thar fable has been hawked
|. about by enemies of the country. the same
who have gorged the peasants With lies
The agrarian question Is naturally the
question before all others. Personally /
consider the projects of the government
as entirely acceptable. after a reasonable
discussion for and against The douma
Will not accept it naturally because il
emanates from government. I consider 1t
impossible to resort to appropriation. II
such a principle was once admitted no
possession or tenure would be safe. For
fact the great part Of landed proprietors
are only too DESTROYS of selling. but If all
the land was distributed that would not
sensibfy augment the sextent of the peas
ants welfare. That which is far more
necessary than increasing the surface of
methods
The Introduction of perfected methods In
all countries demands at least a generation,
but peasants are like other classes in a
community. Practical considerations have
little weight with them. They are led
with the rest OF the population into a whirl-
pool from which true patriotism only can
draw them.
The Courier des Etats-Unis draws a
parallel between the dissolution of the
douma and the memorable
The French episode of the French revo-
.paro1le, luton when Louis XVI
undertook to dispense the
states general convoked by him. and when
the deputies of the third estate finding
their meeting hall closed. assembled in the
tennis court and solemnly swore never to
separate until they had acquired con-
stituton.
But history. so often disposed to repeat
itself. failed to do SO in this case. The dis
solved douma, important faction of its
deputies, scarcely dispersed by the imperial
ukase, left st: Petersburg and assembled at
Viborg In Finland. hundred miles distant.
There che deputies adopted the manifesto
to the Russian people, but were dispersed
by the governor. 1t remains to be seen what
effect their manifesto will produce upon the
| Russian people. especially those who know
nothing of the story of the tennis court
oath, never having heard of it.
The douma, the Russian peasant was
told. would do something. First and princf-
pally 1t would give him land. which was
what he wanted, and order, and many
blessings were to follow. merely as The re-
suit of the assembly. Not only has the
peasant failed to receive the promised land
but disorders have increased. and nothing.
for fact, has been changed in the condi-
tfon of affairs.
Should the ministry of Stoiypin succeed in
maintaining order. and the peasant decide
to accept the counsel of the three wise men
of the douma, and the army remain faith
full, the delegate who returns to his village
must explain to his electors the nonfulfill-
ment OF promises which certainly were
y,
been realized. All things being equal. 1t Is
fair to conclude that the douma which Sue
ceeds on the It'll of March, 1907, will have
very different complexion from the one
that is now dissolved
NJ Waliszewski, the eminent historian,
writing recently of the peasants in his prov
ince, says: IT encountered
A Frank this morning, In wandering
c<. about one OF my peasant
AAo9' neighbors who forty years
ago possessed three hectares of land and
who is now large proprietor, due to pa
tient industry.
Where are you going with your chart
ot?' asked. 1T is for the assistant of the
mayor he replied. (The mayor, being an
illiterate man, must always have tchin0v-
mix as his assistant.)
q The pisavz Is leaving u.s., he went On.
angrily; the commune has sent him away,
driven him away ANONYMOUSLY, and for
nothing; such good man. so learned, so
honest He had only $50 roubles. How
could he live on that? That
" He robbed the Golfers?
""rhey say so; they have told every one
so: sc, much So that on election day all
hands were against him. that honest man!
How in three years could he have stolen
more than a thousand roubles2 We have
made the calculation and ii was proven
that they had been mistaken by the one
half. We all begged him to remain, but IN
vain. You understand, that man has his
pride He had found something better.
With his economies he had bought near
here o farm of fifteen hectares which he
will cultivate. He will not serve the gov
eminent longer. He has too much learn
ing; he reads all books. and how many
journals. He is a socialist!
IN a club at st. Petersburg several
years ago a high functionary told in my
presence how he had received a group Of
spectators who came to offer him pot
de vim or graft of 10000 roubles with the
usual assurance that no one should know
anything about it.
. Give me the double, he replied, and
tell it to whoever you wish
1.-The anecdote had a great success and
| perceived that the hero of the adventure
became more and more popular at the
elua. Some time later he was obliged to
quit his office. being charged with insotr-
ing articles in journal criticising the
methods of government.
There remain two conclusions. the first,
that generally the nation has a bureaucra-
cy which suits it. The misdeeds of the one
which governs Russia are not to be denied,
but by reason of Russian conceptions,
ideas sentiments. fruit of a particular
historical development, we are all of US
more or less solid with and accomplices of
these national weaknesses. The second