The Mena weekly star., 1906-05-10
.AcOUPBY CLEARINGHOUSE
The Fundamental Law, Which was Believed to Have Been Dropped
 is Promulgated.
LIBERALS WERE TAKEN BY SURPRISE
Had Received the Representations of the Emperor and Government in Good Faith-OId Feeling of Mistrust Revived Laws Give Autecrat Tight Rein Over Parliament-Indigna gnation Aroused.

St. Peterburg. May 9.-The danger of an early conflict between the gov ernment and parliament has been greatly increased by what has hap pened within the last "A hours. The good impression produced by the off cial intimation of the new premier that tho emperor and the government were sincerely desirous of working in har- mony with parliament which was ac- cepted in good faith by the leaders of the constitutional democrats, enabling them to counsel moderation has large ly been dissipated and in it's place the old feeling of mistrust has been re- vived. The liberals are utterly dugnh founded, in view of the semiJiHeia expected promulgation late Monday night of the obnoxious fundamental law in a slightly modified form. At one stroke it put an end to the claim which the new cabinet tried to foster namely, that the downfall ef the Witte cabinet was due to imperial disan proyal of the original draft 0f the
 An article in the law not meni
 Monday nights despatches, ese
 crown lands from taxation and exea
 priation, and another reserving the power of amnesty for political prison CTS to the emperor run counter to the already expressed will of the majority and are bound to produce clash. Thc only commendable new feature of the fundamental law is provision to the | effect that imperial orders must oe countersigned by the president of the council of ministers or the member Of | the cabinet whose department is af- fected. But so long as the cabinet is not responsible to parliament, 1t is easy for the emperor to dismiss an un- willing minister and replace him by one who will do this bidding.
 1 The indignation aroused by the em- peror's attempt to build an artificial dyke around the prerogatives of the crown has been intensified by the as- founding action of the police in dis | persing a meeting of some members of the lower house of parliament and of the upper house, or new council of l the empire, at the hall of the econom- ical society. Without any warning the building was surrounded by tke
 Ismaclovsky guard regiment and detachment of cavalry and 100 police men marched into the hall where | Count Heydcn, a marshal of the nobil- | ity and a member of parliament from St. Petersburg, was presiding and 1 ordered the meeting to disperse under | instructions from the chief of police. Tn spite of vigorous protests that the meeting was entirely legal under tbe regulations governing the society the
 police captain who was in charge of the police and troops, was inexorable and the members of parliament were compelled to yield to force and left the hall after drawing up formal pro-
 test which was signed by 28 mem-
 bers of parliament.
 NJ. Roditcheff, member of parlia-
 ment for St Petersburg hurried after
 midnight to the hall where the con- stitutional democrats were hOldinh their convention and announced to the members there assembled the action taken by the police An indescribable scene of fury followed after which Roditcheff, in an impressive speech which was cheered to the echo, de- clared that the governments appeal l for confidence had again been false and that the people must rely upon ] themselves It was decided that one of the first things after the assem- bling of parliament shall be demand for the dismissal of the chief of po- lice.