The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-09

the Premier, and his admiration kindlcd
by the failure Of the outrage 10 swerve
the Premier from his projects OF reform,
that the sovereign finally turned his back
upon General TREPpFF. For that mo-
ment Mr.. SToLYPIN had a free hand, and
the first use OF his ascendency was TO
put forth the Official programmed which
W. have referred.
We call the Ministerial programme
double barrelled because there Is a shot
In II for the hidebound champions OF
the old despotism on the n hand and
a shot also for the ir~reconcilable we
lutionists. A measure levelled against
terrorism and anarchy is embodied in an
imperial ukase instituting a new kind
OF field courts-martial throughout the
larger part of the empire for the purpose
Of dealing promptly and elTectually with
mutinies and armed uprisings, such as
have taken place in Poland, the Baltic
Provinces and the Caucasus. In these
the services Of ordinary judicial officers
will be dispensed with. the Governor
Generals and similar authorities in dis
tricts under martial law being empow-
cred TO send accused persons without
preliminary examination before a court
martial consisting Of apresident and four
army or navy officers named by them.
The courts must reach decisions in
eighteen hours and the sentences must
be carried out In twenty-four. The
Jurisdiction Of the new tribunals covers
political crimes Of every nature. includ-
ing contributions to the revolutionary
press and the composition or distribu-
ton OF incendiary p~roclamations. The
Stolypin Cabinet has endeavored to allay
alarm by the assurance that the ukase
will be applied only in grave cases and
that the new courts are not to be perma-
nent.
The determination to repress disorder
at any cost evinced by the ukase, though
for the moment discountenanced by
Moderate and Liberal newspapers, has
hnd q favorable effect on the st. Peters,
burg Stock Exchange. where Govern
ment bonds and other securities have
risen rapidly.
On the other hand, useless restrictions
on the Hebrews are to be abolished
forthwith, and an extension Of provincial
autonomy Is to be Immediately inau-
gurated, zemstvos, for instance, being
conceded to Poland and the Baltic Prov
inoes. Definite reforms in tho police
and other public services are also prom
ised. Mr.. SToLYPIN, too, has advised
the Car to convoke the second Duma
at a date earlier than that originally
contemplated, which was in February,
1907. As regards the lands already set
apart for distribution among needy
peasants, II is announced that the price
is not to exceed twenty times the aver
age annual rental Of the last three years,
and that a special credit will be granted
for the cost of removal where the new
proprietors are not residents Of the dis
tricts in which their allotments are sit
uated, and for the gratuitous distribu-
ton Of lumber for the erection Of houses
and farm buildings. What is more i'm
portant, the Premier RYoYs in his Off
cial proclamation a conviction that the
Crown and appanage lands will not offer
an adequate solution Of the agrarian
problem, but that in some provinces it
will be necessary to appropriate by
purchase the estates OF some large land
owners. On October IA the universities,
which for some time have been closed,
are to be ~reopened, the suspension Of the
country's higher educational life being
thus brought to an end.
1t remains to be seen whether Premier
SToLYPIN, with gifts in one hand and
a death dealing engine in the other,
can avert the general uprising Of the
p~easantry which the revolutionists had
planned to start as 500 al the crops
should have been harvested.