Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-16
Family Reigned long

In the Crimea in 1894, and the new
ruler, then twenty-stN years old, was
called to the throne.
The empire had been in turbu-
lence during the reign OF his father
through the birth of n progressive
spirit and a new liberalism that reach
ed Its fruition in this revolution, Thou
sands of political prisoners had been
executed or banished to Siberia, and
the hangman's moose and the knout
were the busiest instruments in Rus
sia. Despite the vigilance of the po-
lice, the plots continued to be hatched
and Alexander III ruled with such
severity and intolerance that the en-
tire empire was sick and weary of the
blood lust and the bomb.
After he accepted the title of Mich
olas ii he began to show a perceptible
change toward his subjects, and to
lean more and more toward the re-
dictionary influences in the Russian
Government. He went to the Crimea
and upon his return the expected
changes failed to- materialize. He
took over the ministry which had sur
rounded his father, with single ex-
ception, KriVoschien, Minister OF Pub
lie Highways. lie had been such a
civic bandit and his thievery was SO
clumsy and open that he was sacri-
feed even by the ministerial cabal that
had seized control of the new En-
peror.
Political Manifesto
In accordance with Russian Gus
tom, the new Emperor was compelled
to issue manifesto stating the tenets
OF his political faith. Nicholas issued
such q document on January 26, 1895,
which was filled with fiowery phrases
and adept quotations that could mean
either pledge and promise, or moth
| ing.
The result was that the people felt
no great jubilation over the imperial
clemency that was indicated in the
manifesto, for it was revealed as moth
ing but mockery. To the peasants the
usual remission of taxes was granted,
that is, those which, could not be col
lected by the collectors by blows; so
| that the grace" meant simply the
remission of the blows.
The Polish rebels imprisoned in ST.
IBERIA for their part in the revolution
of 1863 were pardoned, but were not
permitted to live where they might
be deemed dangerous. it meant that
: they were taken from exile in Siberia
and banished to some other place at
the discretion of the Minister of the
Interior.
Religious persecution, too, started,
that was later to end in the massacre
of kishinev and the revolution of 1905,
| the parent of the present revolt.
| Finally, when the people began to
appreciate that they had changed
rulers but not methods, the real cli-
max came. The Zemstvos, or league
of cities, Joined in a greeting to the
| emperor, who made a tour of the
empire. On December 20, 1895, he
made his famous reply to the speech
| of welcome. In that he said that the
| principle of the autocracy will be
maintained by me as firmly and un-
|
revered father"
Officials who favored liberalism were
seized and imprisoned and the
autocracy was in full control. The
| slightest freedom of religious worship
was abolished and those who did not
| conform to the Orthodox Russian
/ Church were treated like political
| prisoners.
Even the small measure of academic
| freedom which had been granted to
the universities and higher educa-
tional institutions was stopped.
Jew-Baitins Popular
Treatment of the Jews, always a
horrible page in Russian history, be-
came even worse under Nicholas, and
Jew batting and annoyances were per-
mitted without the least attempt at
curtailment or punishment of the
! offenders.
In 1896 the great strike of indus
| trial workers was called in st. Peters,
burg, and although the newspapers
were interdicted and permitted to
publish nothing of the matter, the
people learned of the various acts of
reprisal that officialdom took against
the laborers. At that time the me-
chanics were working fourteen hours
a day and demanded that they be
allowed two hours more leisure, with
payment for the three days of the
| lnnrnn1tinf1 Nph
from their wages. although q general
| holiday period had been called
| The czar countenanced the policy of
| Starving the workers and winked at
the extreme measures resorted to by
the police to beat the strikers into
submission. That year marks a
| trenchant period in the history of
liberalism in Russia. as it was about
the time the students began work for
q greater measure of political free
dom. The youth planned demon
stration, of which the government was
apprised, and when the thousands
modified the Cossacks had been or
dered to prevent any demonstration,
AS result many were sent to prison.
BY this time the czar had really be-
come puppet in the hands of a cabal
headed by the notorious Pobiedonos-
teff. Through their influence he is
sued the manifesto to Finland in 1899.
Whei ne nechiessly proke ms promise
to the Firms to uphold immutably
their rights and privileges.
This abJect reputation was followed
by the knouting of high school stu
dents in st. Petersburg, that not only
aroused Russia, but appalled, the civil
lied world, So indignant did the
other students become that the entire
1S, 900 refused to attend school.
Fought Japanese War
1t was in 1904 that Russia and Ia
pan warred regarding the Russian
claims in Manchuriac. The conflict
was a succession of defeats, General
Kuropatkin being defeated and Cen
eral Stoessel, commander of the be-