New-York tribune., 1907-01-10
AGAIN THE TERROR.

The Terror in Russia proceeds. inexorable and
Unsuitable. Its dreadful operations all show
unmlstakable marks OF deliberation. of ample
ana detailed preparation and Of unilnchng res
olution. They suggest too something OF the
grlmness OF Fate of that Fate which Tourpeniefr
so menacingly portrayed, with her "rhou canst
not escape me :. Some time ago IL was pub
hcly announced that certain men whose names
were made known had been condemned 20 death
by the Terrorists We must suppose that all
possible personal and official efforts were made
10 protect those men from harm. Yet one by
one, unerringly, the sentences have been exc
cuted Ignateff LaunltZ. and now pavlof The
World must speculate with dreadful fascination
upon the next name on the doomed list against
which the fatal astersk" may be set and must
wonder II the work so unrelentingly begun will
De cOhunued until all the sentences have been
executed
never before in the history of Russia has the
Terror been more active or more successful In
fulfilling It's murderous designs than II is at the
present time Apparently, however its purnoses
and Its Ideals are now different from what they
were In the preceding two relgns There NAV
be among the Terrorlsts some OF tbe old NibIi
lists, OF purely anarchical aims malignant
against all government. There is reason to
think, however, that they are the minority and
That the moving impulse Of the present Terror
stituuonal reforms, perhaps of n pretty radical
nature, but still within the limits of organized
government. They have been provoked TO their
present awful excesses by the action of the GOV
ernment In dsmissing the former Douma and IN
imposing upon the election OF another Donna
such arbitrary and restrictive conditions as
threaten to make that body mere box of nm
pets, under reactionary and bureaucratic con
trol. Ihe IerrOriSts seem to have IL i'm mimi
10 gain free representative government. either
by frightening the bureaucracy into granting n
or by killing off all those who are opposed TO if
In that we must hold them to be dresdfuIIv
misguided. Their ultimate aim is good The
means by which they seek ii are evil and would
be evil STILL no matter how successful thev
might be. That they Will be highly successful
we cannot believe. Whether or not II IS true
that ASSASSINATION has never changed the his
tory or the world-we are inclined TO think it
Is not uue-we cannot believe that the cause
or law IN Russia is to be promoted bv Iawless
ness or That the establishment of liberty will be
hastened by the exercise of license We can nm
derstand and sympathlze with the impatience of
the Russian people for governmental reforms
and their resentment against the evils of the
bureaucracy, but with their resort TO systematic
or sporadic murder 1t is impossible for a law
loving people, no matter how liberty loving to
sympathize Theorists may discuss academ-
icaiiy whether recourse to such methods is ever
necessary, expedient or justfable. Practical
students of affairs will not be convinced that in
thls case IL was necessary, expedient or iustif-
able, or that 1t Will prove for the good of the
cause which its practitioners have at heart.