The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-05-10
FIRST ASSEMBLY
 WILL MEET TODAY There is But Little Fear of Trouble in St. Petersburg EVERY PRECAUTI0N TAKEN Participants and Accessories of First Representative Congress Have Ar
 rived and Await the Coming
 of the Emperor.
EVERY PRECAUTI0N TAKEN

| St. Petersburg. May 9.-The dread that some unfortunate event might occur to
 mar the solemnity of the great day of
 Russla's new birth, was largely disspated tonight when members of the radical revolutionary parties of St Petersburg issued an announcement disclaiming any 1 intention of attempting demonstrations tomorrow, and calling upon their fellows | to refrain from displaying red flags or
 singing the "Marsellaise," and to avoid
 all conduct that would tend to bring
 about a conflict with the police.
 terroristic attempt is the only thing
 that is now to be feared. But the police
 measures have been so well taken that
 such a crime Is confidently considered | to be impossible
 1 The participants and accessories to the
 historic ceremony of the opening of the
 first representative assembly of Russia
 have gathered in St. Petersburg, and only Emperor Nicholas and the imperial fam | fly are awaited. They are expected to
 arrive in the morning by sea from Peter l hof. to which place they were removed { from Tsarskoe-Selo today. The Emperor's 8 i personal escort of picked Cossacks ar 1 rived by a special train. Other trains
 brought mixed battalion composed of
 detachments from all the guard regi- ments who are to keep watch over the | Emperors apartments, and those of the
 ladies and gentlemen of the court, and I high functionaries who are to take part | in the reception tomorrow.
 ] The most sensational news of the day
 was contained in the announcement of i the names of the appointlve members of
 the Council of the Empire; in which list sCount Witte is consplcuously absent. No
 explanation Is obtainable, but the omis- 1 sion of the former premiers name would
 seem either to indicate either an open
 slight on the part of the Emperor, or
 a determination on Count Witte's part to
 withdraw altogether from public affairs. 1 In either case there Is a complete break 1 In the relations between the monarch and the servitor, whose monument Is the na- | tional parliament, the laws for the ere
 alton of which were elaborated under his supervision. It is understood that Count Witte will leave immediately for a for | eign country It Is not known whether he will participate in tomorrow's cere- mony.
 To Elect Officers.
 1 According to the expectations of the constitutional democratic leaders, the first session of the parliament will accomplish nothing beyond the election of officers, | which, under Russian procedure will be long drawn-out affair NJ. Muromstoseff is the unanimous choice of the party for president, and Prince Peter Dolgoroukoff will be one of the presidents. but it has not been decided tonight whether the oth- CT vice presidency will be given to VIadi- mir Dmitrivich Naboukoff, or to q repre- sentative of one of the allied parties. The vexed question of the propriety of ] taking an oath to "emperor and autocrat" has been settled by the caucus of con- 1 stitutional democrats. which accepted 1 after a long discussion, the historical ar
 gument that the title does not signify
 absolute" but owing no allegiance to
 any other sovereign. and hence 1t is not | incompatible with the ideas of the party regarding the constitutional nature of the monarchy. The caucus also re-af- frmed the decision of the congress not to take nasty action with regard to the i issuance of the Fundamental law, though a considerable faction of the radicals again brought up the question of forcing the issue from the start.
 Although the problem of the oath has
 been thus disposed of, small body of
 recalcitrants, mostly social revolutionary peasants, elected from the interior prov inces. have decided as a mark of disre- spect to the emperor, not 10 attend the reception at the winter palace, but to
 join their colleagues first at the Tauride
 palace. Other members of the assembly
 decline to wear evening dress. which is
 the correct apparel for the ceremony, but will appear in the high boots and colored smocks of the national peasant costume. That the peasant members will not be ,, allowed to play fast and loose with the
 wishes of their constituents is indicated by the arrival of eighty peasants sent , by rural societies to watch the activity of their representatives. and especially
 their attitude on the Agrarian question, and to see that they do not succumb to the allurements of high political life