The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-04

seeas mspsisfe sss eseefuny eifcumscfibed
nv JeNetes l,msis WHlssf eateViaa hfVe
f6sn ilw pfaslas alfafe ard eoufas N thees
Negotiations u ell NJ afflcienf ~ aaY thaf
~ The peefaf allie N Counl Wfte and ~ M
israres Nlela,Ss Hliuded ~, agghlHa eahae
NJ fhstp Tie sepuflatlens had Httle nscfH
than commenced gheH 1He ~ the eafties
fshfly M WrHalv sfarectei ne o'hef w
AMIN gfasfs, sol ihe neadtia'i0ne Nhleh
hsd heen Htls MRS tfs0 ini'i#tTl Ner"
atfirtlv tsfminstei
Faf spnpe ilHe a%thseTuent ~ thie inetfrht
Witie's fuliuy fefnainei ESSENTIALLY Gne w
van " M Ambassador ~ ihe tsare
fouet sbp saHei him later IN ialt Whcn No
might b1fr Nv see him 'hHek mean'ne
isek IN oe1ce and activity Witte cfyptical'y
f%epilei Probably many enuthef eeflt'iH
sevefse sitl hr athafed ~ ouf arms hcfore
fhni ermsa atrtit tis pteaclence waa ~
rms rs,e asnin Ifalihei IN the event When
n, lts, Htisln's misfortunea m ~ and 500
aeausi to Tho Csaf ~ have feachgd thor
climaS, wltts's lay came Tho day tot
witch h. had ~ HING hern waitlna Count
Mravieh's appointment W portsmouth,
had IN defefence tI y hint convcyed W
petrfhpf. ~ he cancelled, and serge "
witch Witte With ple~nipotentlery tcwere,
wa sen, In HE stead IN the Ht'seosJapanese
Conference chant ~ n Undo what Grand
Dukes and vlceroys had already only t"o
efficiently encompareed,
Freah from hia labora ~ Portsmouth, Wits
was prevailed upon 10 grapple with hydra.
headed revolution III home, and a hundfed
days saw him again In heavier harness than
ever. In n former article Whites activity
In this. for him entirely new capacity US
touched y and the total 81 the 'conces-
aions' he was able TO induce his Car To
grant to Risaia's peoples vas recorded ne
essentially the National Duma," or Popus
lar Assembly, plus a seml-elective imper1-
ally contaminated, upper house Of repre-
sentatives.
Only a matter ~ days before the official
! opening Of Russia's first House Of Commons,
however, the Car suddenly confronted
Count Witte with a list OF fundamental
laws" which, ~ the opinion OF those here
most competed sto form a Judgment upon
them. must Inevitably. " at all seriously
maintained. precipitate throughout Russia
a conflict before which the civilized world
will stand aghast. It may be relevant In
another article TO deal more particularly
with these extraordinary fundamental
ordinances. II IL enough here to record that
they practically render nugatory the bulk
of the most important concessions solemnly
promised to the Russian people by man.
ifesto and otherwise on and after the thir-
tieth Of October last; enough to record that
they are all but unanimously accepted as
having been patiently designed to reduce
Russia's representative houses to the
i~,oI - loa.laI ,olt;nol rpppofa m The
position of perfunctory instruments bent
to autocracy's will.
The question is now asked by many, why
Count Witte should have chosen TO retire
again into comparative ohscurity precisely
at a moment when all was ready for the
preliminary meeting Of Russia's hard won
~leg~islature"-the very representative
houses for whose possession to-day Count
Witte in prepondera1t measure Ia to be
thanked. The answer is to be found mainly
in the fundamental laws" above referred
to. Witte point blank refused to indorse
them. He is credib!y declared to have
warned the Gar that their maintenance
must inevitably not only arouse through
out the length and breadth Of the empire
implacable national hostility to the whole
existing regime but dangerously narrow
the national issue to that Of people versus
autocrst.
What those here who have made Count
Whites career a special study are to-day
asking themselves is, For what develop
ments is the far sighted ex-Premier now
I waiting? One thing they refuse to credit.
and that Is that Whites retirement, now
any more than formerly, is destined to be
other than merely temporary. Whites pre-
science is admittedly profound. What does
he discern in the fu~ture-possibly the inn
mediate rather than the remote future
which is hidden to his Car and his Cars
bureaucratic r~eactionariesp Is it, ask some,
the premiership in a cabinet council in ac-
cord with the majority Of a Russian lower
house under a constitutional monarchy
voluntarily conceded by an Emperor awak-
ened at last to the real force of the national
storm brewing, or is it-though this ques-
ton is put with greater hesitation-the
presidency OF a Russian republic or fedora
ton gained through rivers Of blood by
an oft deceived and exasperated conglom-
Grafton of nationals convinced that general
political enfranchisement is effeotually to be
won by no other means?