Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-24

special correspondence OF Sldr anu INC Sh'e"eo
Record Herald.
ST. PETERSBURG, July %, 1906.
The question that everybody in Peters
burg is asking of his neighbor these days
is whether the government proposes to
permit free choice for the members OF the
second parliament, which is to meet in
March next, or whether 1t will attempt to
control the elections and pack the imperial
council and the duma with men who Will
obey the bidding of the ministry. You
must understand to begin with. that the
imperial council, the upper house, is dis
solved. as well as the duma. 1t takes two
bodies to make a Russian parliament, and
the two wings must flop together, as
Sam Randall used to say. The election
WILL therefore, be for forty-four members
II the upper empire is to be represented,
as 1t was not in the late duma.
The only way the government can inter-
fere is by the arrest and imprisonment OF
the leaders of the opposition and by terror
izing voters so as to keep them away from
the polls; but do not believe that will be
done. i believe that Mr.. Stolypin, the new
prime minister. WHO. as the head OF the
home office. will have charge of the cleo
tions is an honest conscientious man. and
that he is not only convinced that par
liament is necessary to the well being of
the empire. but that ne Will try 10 secure
a representative parliament.
Strange as it may appear, there Is no
government party, although there are or
PLANTATIONS known THE True Russians"
and 1.-The Russian Union" which support
the autocracy. and the so-called BLACK
Hundreds a general term used to describe
the mobs of hoodlums which are under the
influence of the police and at various places
have been engaged in footing and murder
ing the Jews The Black Hundreds
however. are in sense political They
are merely the lawless element from the
slums without any special organization.
They take their name from a military term
used by the Cossacks-the word "Sotnia,"
which means a company of one hundred
like the Roman centurions, and has passed
into current use applied to all reaction
aries and anti-liberals.
The autocracy cannot depend upon either
of the organizations / have named. and in
deed ii has no supporters or defenders ex-
cept offlce-holders mobiles and the army,
and the latter cannot be trusted any longer
In the late parliament the ministry did not
have a single supporter, or defender, nor
did the autocracy have solitary advocate
outside of the forty-four members Of the
upper house who were appointed by the
car, and most of them were bitterly hos
tile to the ministry. The council of the
empire sustained the duma In its refusal to
adopt the recommendation of the ministry
concerning famine relief, and its report
upon the Bialystok massacre was quite as
severe that of the lower house. 1t con-
demned the government ana the police In
the severest terms 1t held both civil and
military authorities responsible for the
massacres and nearly one-half of the votes
was cast by members who had been ap-
pointed by the throne. In the duma, you
will remember. only five members refused
to support the radical reply to the address
from the throne and even they would not
vote against II.
Octoberists Support Throne.
The nearest supporters of the throne of
all the political organizations in Russia are
the Octoberists, whose platform 1 reviewed
two or three weeks ago. They have refus I'd
to indorse the manifesto of the constitu-
tional democrats concerning the dissolution,
which admonishes the people to pay no
taxes and furnish soldiers until they
are given a true representative govern
ment. The Octoberists are about to organ
1ze a new basis. Three OF their leaders
Count Heyden, Prince Lvoff and Mr.
Stakhovich-have invited their colleagues
TO join the party of pacific renovation"
have Issued an appeal to the people to sub
init to the will of the emperor. who, they
say had lawful right to dissolve the
duma- They declare that 1t would be crim-
nal to shake the imperial authority at the
present critical moment. and beg the people
10 abstain from all acts OF violence. They
defend their conduct In acting with the
constitutional democrats during the brief
session OF the duma. and declare that their
efforts to secure harmonious cooperation