Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-02
RUSSIA EXPERIENCES
FRENCH REVOLUTION
Close Study of Both Brings
Out Similar Ideals as
Main Issues.
BUT LITTLE BLO0DsHED

So astute a statesman as Edmund Burke
could see little moro than anarchy ana
riot in the French revolution certainly
It is too soon to evaluate the strange
forces seething in Russia today.
President Wilson, generally regarded
nv the foremost publicists of Europe as
the hest informed and broadcast visioned
,, statesman now living. is understood to
see IN the Russian chaos the rebirth of
the ideals for which France strove through
mora than a decade of disorder and blood
shed, and to be determined to see that
Russia's progress toward democracy shail
not be hindered even at the expense of
the allied military program.
On the surface there is little resem-
blance, in the present perspective, between
the Russian and French revolutions. A
closer study of both brings rather startling
likenesses Perhaps after all. the course
of all revolts from despotism toward lib
erty are pretty much the same.
Keen observers who were in Petrograd
remarked on the absence of bloodshed
and on the apparent accidental character
of the deposition Of the car. But the
bloodless; Louis XVI had abdicated in
fact, If not technically, long before his
pathetic, trip to the guillotine and the
events which led to the domination OF
the states-general in France by the third
estate seem trivial even in historic
background. If the genesis of the French
revolution is to be found in the reign OF
Louis XIV, the setting for the upheaval
in Russia is to be found away back in
the middle nineteenth century during the
despotic days of Nicholas l.
Comparison Is Timely.
One summing up of the reign of Louis
XIV, found in the International Cyclic
pedia. might just as we'll be applied to
the days of Nicholas I: THE oppressive
war taxes, the prodigality Of the court.
the luxurious lives of the clergy and the
absolutism and bigotry of the aged mon
arch combined to undermine the founda-
tions of national prosperity and free
DOM" international Encyclopedia
Both revolutions were carried on amid
foreign invasions, which had profound
effects on the internal affairs of the new
democracies. Secret communications be-
tween the car and the kaiser. suspected
before the cars eviction. since have
been disclosed in all their perfidy: the
wife of Louis XVI was in constant CORE
spondence with her brother. Emperor
Leopold II. ruler of Hapsburg, and In
both cases such royal communication
was regarded as reasonable. A fact that
seems to have been almost forgotten is
that Teutonic influences against France
were as sinister during the French revo-
luton as they are against Russia in 1917
In 1871 it was the King of Prussia who
was the leading spirit at the Pflnitz
conference, where it was declared that
autocratic powers Of Europe will not
refuse to employ the most efficient
! means in proportion to their resources to
place the King of France in a position
to establish, with the most absolute free
DOM the foundations of q monarchical
form OF government, which shall at once
be in harmony with the rights Of SOW
ereigns and promote the welfare of the
French nation"
This tender regard for the rights OF
sovereigns' Is just as evident in. EN-
peror Williams dealings with Russia
and her allies today.
Reassembled States-General.
Louis XVI, only under pressure he
could not resist, unconsciously gave
birth to the instrument of the French
revolution when he reassembled the
states-general in 1889. the first time 1t
had met since 1914. Nicholas II did as
much for the Russian revolution when
he acceded to the clamorous demand for
convokfng legislative assembly and in
May, 1916, authorized the duma.
Though it took nearly a century of