The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1906-05-18
HISTORIC DAY
FOR RUSSIA
First Parliament Successfully Inau-
gurated at St. Petersburg.
A SPEECH BY NICHOLAS
People Of Benighted Empire are at Last
Pitted Against Autccracy in
Imperial Donna.

Without a single hitch and with
only minor incident to mar the mem
orable day, the Russian parliament
was inaugurated in st. Petersburg
Thursday The weather was superb,
ard the stage management of the i'm
pressive ceremony at the winter pal,
ace where Emperor Nicholas, sur
rounded by courtiers and all the pomp
and panoply of power, delivered the
speech from the throne to the men,
bers Of the two houses was perfect
Such a spectacle perhaps never be-
fore has been witnessed on the earth's
stage.
The one Earring note was the mu-
tual suspicion manifested by the czar
and the people. st. Petersburg was
practically in state Of siege, picked
troops being stationed at all strategic
points.
The message in reality was less a
throne speech than a greeting, and
required only three minutes for its
delivery.
The emperor's speech was as fol-
lows:
THE supreme power which gave
me the care of our fatherland impell-
ed me to call to my assistance elected
representatives OF the people. In
the expectation OF brilliant future
for Russia, l greet in your persons
the best men from the empire, when
l ordered my beloved subjects to
choose from among themselves.
"A difficult work lies before you.
trust that love for your fatherland and
your earnest desire to serve tt will
inspire and unite you.
Il shall keep inviolate the fnstitu-
tions which | have granted, with the
firm assurance that you will devote
all your strength to the service OF
your country, and especially to the
needs &C the peasantry, which are SO
close to my heart, and to the educa-
ton of the people and their econom-
ical welfare, remembering that to the
dignity and prosperity of the state, not
only freedom, but order founded upon
justice is necessary
Il desire from my heart to see my
people happy and hand down to my
son an empire secure, well organized
and enlightened
MAY God bless the work that lies
before me in unity with the council
of the empire and the imperial doI-
ma. May this day be the day of the
moral revival of Russia and the day
for the renewal of its highest forces.
Approach with solemnity the La
bors for which l call you, and be
worthy of the responsibilities put upon
you by the emperor and people.
May God assist us"
Ceurtiers and spectators other than
the members OF the national parlia-
ment led the cheering, but the MEM
bers were ominously silent, express
ing neither approval nor disapproval.
What ranked most was the failure
of the emperor to mention amnesty,
and later, when the members assem-
bled in the Tauride palace, away from
the spell of the throne ROOM many
of them we're with difficulty restrain
ed from preciptating matters by offer
ing resolutions on the subject.
anoyofin
ers, however, who dominated every
thing were anxious not to weaken the
reply which the lower house will pre-
pare to the speech from the throne,
in which issues with the crown will
be joined, and succeeded in STAYING
off premature action. "A
The opening Of the lower house@of
parliament was preceded by relIg-
ious service Of thanksgiving in the
big corridor in front of the hall.
The only genuine flashes of fire
which showed the real temper of the
members of the house were when Pro
lessor Mouromtseff, who had been
elected president of the house, invit-
cd government officials and clerks to
leave the hall, and when Ivan Petrun-
kevitch, in few eloquent words from
the rostrum, told the auditors that the
first thought of the parliament should
be for those who had suffered in the
cause of liberty, who now filled the
prisons and whose arms were stretch
ed out in hope and confidence to the
peoples representatives.
The house of parliament adjourned
over with the opening exercises OF
the council of the empire, and also
70 nernoit tbe committee of the consti-