The Washington herald., 1916-09-11
DON'T CRUSH GERMANY
SAY RUSSIAN rulers
Autocracy Would Save Prussianism for
Its Own Support
BY JOHN L. BALpERsToN.


London, Aug. 26.-Intrigues of the
reactionary party in Russia, which led
to the dismissal of the foreign minis
ter, NJ. sazonofr, have caused much un-
easiness. in diplomatic circles here
While the newspapers have not been
permitted to discuss the Russian situa-
tion, misgivings are privately expressed
concerning the policy of Premier
Stuermer, who has taken over the port
folio of foreign affairs. "Pro-German"
is an epithet frequently applied to NJ.
Stuermer here.
Information has reached me from
Petrograd confirming reports that the
cause. of liberal government has re-
ceived terrible blow, but my in
fOrmant adds that for the present at
least there is no possibility that the
reactionaries will dare attempt to ne
gotiate a separate peace with Ger
many. Public sentiment cannot be ig
nOred, even in Russia, to that extent.
The difference in Russian foreign pol
icy under Sazonoff and under his sue
cessor is thus summed up in a message
which somehow got through the Russian
censorship:
The ultra-reactionaries represented
by Mr.. Stuermer profess that they in
tend to fight to finish, being pushed
to this by public opinion, which would
revolt at the mere hint of a separate
peace. They mean to get territorial ex-
pansion in Galicia and the Bukowina;
they hope to get Constantinople and
even Armenia. But they bitterly oppose
any idea of crushing Prussian mill
tarism. On the contrary, they have
firmly made up their minds to save it,
and thus to use it for the support of
their reactionary policy in Russia
m. Sazonoff, on the contrary, set
all his energies toward the destruc-
tion of Prussian militarism, which he
believes to be danger to the future
peace of Europe. The crushing Of
Prussian militarism he considers to be
the foremost aim of the war. while to
the acquisition of new territories he
attaches only secondary importance"
1t is the belief that this view Of
the situation is correct, that alarms
British statesmen. They think that
the progressive coalition in the duma,
composed of all parties excepting the
reactiOnaries, desires the downfall of
the Prussian Junker class in the be-
lief that the Russian bureaucrats
cannot stand alone in Europe and that
a social revolution in Russia will fol-
low the war. The bureaucrats, while
anxious for their own prestige to win
the war and gain territory, hate and
fear the demoCraCies of France and
England and regard the Prussian rul-
Ing caste their natural allies
against the people
And now the buTeaucrats are in con-
troll, at least for the moment. My Pc
trograd informant says the shake-up in
the government was engineered by the
reactiOnary party in the duma, which
TprRnfIV DTpGRnfR6 70
Car warning him that the reins of pow
er were slipping into the hands of the
parliament and that he must move
quickly and decisively to prevent a revo-
luton.
The results of this memorial were soon
apparent. The duma was dissolved, in
the midst of important war work, for
four months. Not only Foreign Minister
SazOnOff, who has worked in close union
with his Russian and French colleagues
but two other liberal ministers were dis
missed. In the important office of min
!ster Of the interior the reactiona ries
placed NJ. Khvostoff. whose repressive
measures while he was minister Of Jus
tice caused such a clamor in the duma
last winter that he was temporarily re-
tired to private life NJ. Makaroff, the
new minister of justice. Is a still more
pronounced reaCtionary and is held re-
spOnsible for the measures against the
Jews taken during the first phase of the
war. The minister OF agriculture. NJ.
Naunoff, was replaced by a reactionarv
because he had attempted to foster CO.
operation between the government and
the local councils and congresses. known
in Russia as zemstvos, which represent
the people
Some Englishmen take a hopeful view
Of Russian politics. They sav the country
fS nTORrRgSinV SlOu-lv
tional government, and that retrogradc
movements as that just taken will hasten
the day when the people, through the
Duma. will conquer their masters They
point out that throughout the war, when
ever any military victories have enthused
the people, the reactiOnarie have taken
advantage Of the prevailing temper to
deal blows at the liberal movement. When
reverscs have been suffered, as during the
summer of last year, and the people have
muttered and blamed their sufferings on
the corrupt and inefficient bureaucrats,
the latter has pretended to yield to the
storm, and has permitted the Duma to
put able and patriotic men in high office
and pass measures ameliorating social
conditions. The Russian armies have been
winning this summer the Russian peopIe
are in good humor, and so 1t is only nat
Ural that their tyrants should seize the
opportunity 10 Try ana strengthen their
hold on the country.
Some Of the bureaucrats who were
brought to book by the Duma are still in
jail, and whether their triumphant friends
will now seek to release them is not vet
known. Gen. Sukhomlinoff, was minister
in 1914 and 1915. is locked up in the Fort
ress of St Peter and st. Paul. famous
for generations as the prison of political
offenders. Both the former chief Of po-
lice of Petrogard, Col. Drachevsky, and
the Moscow chief of police, Gen. Andrian-
off, are also under arrest for bribery, cor
ruption and abuse of power. These men
not long ago suppressed newspapers for
limiting at the true state of affairs These
arrests, however, have not put an end to
grating. Gen. Trepoff, minister Of Ways
and communications, recently declared
that bribery and corruption on the rail-
ways have enormously increased in the
past six months.