Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-06-27
DUMA rs DISSOLVED.
GAR NICHOLAS ENDS RUSSIA'S
PARLIAMENT.
Overrides Constitution and Braves
Armed Revolt in Effort to Hang So
Deputies-Cannona and Bayonets to
Enforce Return to Absolutism.

By imperial edict the Russian duma
has been dissolved and Russia again
| faces a reign of terror. Parliament
postponed its final action on the de-
mand of Premier Stolypin that fifty
Eve social democratic deputies be ex-
PEELED and surrendered to be tried for
high treason, whereupon the Car
| brought down the mailed fist and ter
minated the second experiment in gov
eminent by the people. Now it is but
a step to cataclysm.
| The stroke of the pen that sends the
| duma scattering was not taken without
| preparation. Ever since the first indi-
cations that the relations between the
reactionaries and revolutionarieS were
strained to the swapping point, the gov
eminent has worked with feverish en-
ergy to prepare for the expected upris'
| ing.
The proclamation by which Emperor
| Nicholas disbands the parliament car
ries with it call for the election of a
1
however, is not to contain the prepon-
| derance of radicals that characterized
the body that had come to its end, for
| the Car, overriding the constitution,
announces that the deputies will be
elected under the new law, which pro-
yides against 1.-The submergence of the
educated classes by the uneducated
| Masses
This is direct infraction of the con-
| stitutional rights by which the Car
| granted TO the duma the privilege of
| determining the manner of elections,
| but the step is considered necessary by
| the Emperor to prevent further dis
plays of hostility, treason and anar-
chy."
As prelude to the imperial edict dis
solving the duma, the government
brought its mailed fist down upon the
municipal press. Shortly before the
ukase was issued an order appeared
from General Dracheffski, project of
st. Petersburg. proclaiming that the
publication of any article of tone hos
| tile to the government will be consid-
cred misdemeanor punishable by a
| fine Of $500 and three months in Jail.
st. Petersburg looks like a military
camp on the eve Of an engagement.
| Troops poured into the city in battal-
ions. Regiments of the line have re-en-
forced the guard regiments, grenadiers
have been brought in, Cossacks are pa
trolling the streets, and in the indus
| trial quarters, where violence has bro
ken out before, batteries of artillery
have been placed so as to do the great
est execution. The city is practically
under military occupation. Meanwhile
scores of arrests are being made.
The dissolution of the duma by the
| Car does not come as a surprise. The
manner in which the parliament has
clashed with the government, the bit
terness displayed in its debates, the in.
sistence with which it sought radical
changes, the minor Importance of the
laws which it managed to pass, the
| general air of discomfort that charac-
| terized its legislative acts-all this
wrought on the reactionary element I'M
| til the elimination came in charges
that the duma itself was a h0tbed Of
treason and that fifty-fve of its mem.
| bers-social democrats-had conspired
in London to Stay the Gar and over.
throw the dynasty.
1t was this same revolutionary spirit
| that led the Car in his dissolution
ukase to direct that the next parlia.
ment should be elected under a law
that will give more representation tc
! the more highly educated classes, and
that will disbar from the rights O. suf.
frage many of the elements that aided
! in the election of the duma that has
| just finished its stormy career. This
step on the part of the Car, while
warmly concurred in by the conserva.
| tive element in the lower house, natur-
| ally has added fuel to the fires of re-
sentiment burning in the revolution
| airy camp, and the outcome is expected
to be general uprising on the part of
| the radicals whom the new election
law will disfranchise. The step, how
ever, has been planned long in ad.
vance, and with the soldiery modified
the general expectation is that the gov.
| eminent will be able to quell any out.
bursts of violence and anarchy.
The ukase is accompanied by man.
ifeSto setting forth the motives which
| led the emperor to dissolve the duma
He adverts to the dumas rejection OF
temporary laws, its refusal to condemn
terrorism, the delay in ratifying the
budget, the open revolutionary spirit OF
q large portion of its members, the
abuse of the right of Interpolation
and, finally, the failure of the duma
to comply Immediately with the de.
nland for the exclusion of the fifty-five
social democratic members charged
with conspiring against the present
regime.
These various evils are ascribed to
| defects in the electoral law, consequent
~ the emperor decided to change the
basis Of suffrage so that every part OF
! the Russian population should be rep.
resented in the lower house.
An attempt to assassinate Admiral
| Wren, commander of the Russian
squadron at Seyastopol, was made Mon.
day. In some respects the attempt is
| similar to the plot to assassinate the
Gar and royal family at the ceremony
Of the blessing of the waters.
The admiral and several officers were
| cruising about the harbor in a launch,
while torpedo boat was practicing.
When the launch came in sight of the
torpedo boat, commanded by Lieuten-
ant RuhZek, the warship suddenly
changed her position. A few moments
later a blank torpedo was discharged
directly at the launch. While the mis-
sile was not loaded with explosives, it
+I,ra,YpI no Ua