New-York tribune., 1906-03-23


The President Of the United States does. o
may, on extraordinary occasions exercise ex-
traOrdinary powers The same NAV be said Of
the sovereign of the United Kingdom. and of
almost any ruler in the world. It may be said.
we believe Of the Gar under the new govern
mental system which is about to be established
IN Russia. He viii still have power. theoreti-
cally and on occasion, practically to nullifv the
doings Of the Douma but we can perceive no
sufficient reason for suppOsing that he will
habituaBy exercise such power or that the
Douma viii be made an impotent and useless
puppet in the hands of the autocracy
1t is true that the Gar will appoint half the
members Of the upper house Of the parliament,
and many other members will be chosen by
those in complete accord with him But that
does not necessarily mean that the Council will
battle and thWart the representatives Of the
people in every forward movement The latter
would imply the packing Of the Council with
reactOnaries Of the PObiedonOstseff tyne 1t
seems to us the Gar is much more likely to
fill 1t with enlightened men of the Witte and
DOlgoroukoh type. Again, it is true the Car
will have the power to dissolve the Douma at
will So have other sovereigns the power to
dissolve their parliaments, but they do not ex-
ercise it except with good reason. He will also
be able TO promulgate temporary laws" So
has our President the power to make temporary
appointments in the recess Of Congress. But
those laws like these appointments, will not be
permanently valid unless promptly ratified by
the legislature. Enormous power is to be con
centrated in the hands of the presidents of the
two houses. Doubtless. We wonder if it wfll
be any greater than that Of the Speaker of our
House Of Representatives. The Cabinet, it is
objected, Will not be responsible to the Douma.
Neither is ours responsible to Congress, or, if
that comparison be not altogether fair, neither,
practically, is that of the German Empire re-
sponsible to the Reichstag The privilege Of in
terpellatiOn will be vague and perhaps inef
fective, and ministers can always refuse to reply
on the ground Of reasons Of state. But what
does Interpolation amount 10 in the German
Reichstag? And when Congress formally calls
for papers and information from a member of
the Cabinet is it not always on condition that
no reasons of state forbid the revelations?
The fact is, as it seems to rs, that the new
Russian system is disappointing chiefly to those
who have injudiciously anticipated the adOp-
ton Of an ultra radical scheme, which would
instantly place Russia in the very forefront of
advanced demOcracies. Such expectations We're
most il-adYised and the fultilment Of them
would have been disastrous. The simple fact
/ that the Car has granted 10 the people some
4 thng-though II may be little-that he accord
ing TO his own terms is pOwerlcss 10 revoke is
an incalculable victory for popular rights. 1t is
/ the entering Of 4 wedge that never can be with
drawn 1t is the opening Of a door that never
can be closed. II VIII rest with the people 10
drive home that wedge and To enter that door,
and if they do not effectively improve their
opportunity they themselves will be at fault
4 The new system viii not at once be as liberal
as that Of the United States or Of the United
/ Kingdom. If in a hundred years it reaches such
STATUS it viii be doing well FOR the freedom
of England and America is the fruiton Of seven
/ centuries since Magma Charta. step by step
I'VE gain'd a freedom known to Europe known
'to all" and IL must be step by sten that Rus
sia viii gain freedom. With All It's limitations,
the step she is now taking is epoch making in
her history and in tie history Of the world for