Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-01-02
1DUMA MEMBERS
WILL MAKE APPEAL
rhose Convicted Of Signing Vi
bora Manifesto viii Garry
Case to the Senate.
LIGHT SENTENCE A SURPRISE.
=. ncnuties Take Verdict Philosoph-
,cally--Thc Siovo Declares Trial
4 Political Mistake. a

g. petersburg, Jan 1.-The case of
-, members of the first douma who
sere convicted yesterday for signing
,,e vlborg manifesto and sentenced
:. ,bree months imprisonment, will
h0 carried before the senate, the high
=, tribunal in Russia. The defend
ats held meeting today and passed
vote OF warm appreciation for the
A.n,iant services OF counsel for the de-
tense
The main argument before the senate
,,illbe made by NJ. Teslenko-a leader
Of the Moscow bar who has borne the
hrnnt of the present trial and the gov.
eminent. which is dissatisfied with the
,onduct of the trial, will be repre-
,snted by the minister of justice in
The verdict and the light sentences
~ three months Imprisonment came
90 pleasant surprise to the defend
ants and the public, as II had been
feared that the admission OF joint re-
sponslbilty by all the ex-deputies In
The dissemination of the manifesto
pledged sentence to Incarceration for
one or two years. The verdict did not
contain any reference to the loss of
political rights. but such loss newt
ABLY follows, according to the senate's
Interpretation of the electoral law.
Even the emperor is powerless by am
nesty to re-endow the franchise, and
the only salvation of the convicted
men lies in a complete revision of the
electoral law by the third douma.
The former deputies are taking the
verdict philosophically They point
out that its practical results are of no
Importance, as they tasted punishment
in advance, having been excluded from
the elections to the second and third
douInas and systematically expelled
from state. zemtsvo, and municipal
employment. The probability Is. that
the.third douma will be long lived and
that the next executive elections will
not be held until 1912, and it is gem
orally supposed that by then times
will have changed and the electoral
law have been revised.
Though the ex-deputles declare that
their being deprived of political rights
is the maximum of misfortune for pub
lie spirited citizens, the general feel
ingamong them Is of satisfaction with
theiprogress of the trial. The Liberal
ihecurtain on the last act of the drama
Of the first douma. which they say
passes into history without dishonor.
The Slovo calls the Viborg trial po-
lhlchl mistake of the Russian bureau
Ocracy. This mistake, it declares, con-
slsts first, in bringing the case to trial
and thereby assisting In the resurrec-
ton of the first douma, which left the
courtroom moral victor, and second,
IN banishing 1877 former deputies from
political life, measure of unparal-
leled severity which is sure to- be dis
approved by public opinion abroad.
The Russ enumerates the judicial ir-
iegularities of the case and the en-
barassment of the court to frame
legal formula on which to base con-
demnation, 1t argues mat the wisest
course for the government would have
been to assign the Viborg manifesto
70 history without prosecuting its au-
thors.