THE FIRST PARLIAMENT
The 10th of May had long been announced as the official birthday of
Russian freedom, but every one was astonished when the birth actually
took place, and the officials were the most astonished of all. Stars
and omens were unpropitious. The astrologers muttered of a secret
and violent influence, already blighting the future hope before it
breathed. At the door was sitting an obscure and gigantic form with
hands ready to throttle its earliest cry; and in the heavens, Orion’s
sword, with point directed at the house of birth, was seen hanging by a
single hair.
It required no divination to prophesy evil. Every art of provocation
had been used by the pensioners of violence to arouse a popular
outbreak, so that in the name of order the people’s hopes might again
be thwarted. Martial law was maintained, and meetings were suppressed.
Only on the Tuesday night before the fateful Thursday, I visited the
hall of the Free Economic Society for old acquaintance’ sake, because
the Strike Committee used to meet there, and sat among a peaceful
audience of Constitutional Democrats and peasant members of the Duma,
listening to a statistical discourse on the agrarian question. Suddenly
a measured tramp was heard outside, thirty armed police forced their
way into the crowded hall, and their officer declared the meeting
closed. White-haired Annensky, the club’s aged President, famous
equally for learning and imprisonment, vainly recited the Society’s
statute of freedom, granted by Catherine II. herself. Speakers and
audience, Members of Parliament, men and women alike, were driven
out into the street, and in the name of the law we were commanded to
learn nothing further about the comparative statistics of agricultural
productivity.
The change of Ministry during the previous week was claimed as
an advantage by both sides. The removal of Witte and Durnovo
simultaneously at least made the assembly of the Duma possible, and the
appointment of Goremykin as Premier was greeted even by many Liberals
as a harmless and natural thing, just as in England it is harmless
and natural to make a lord chairman of an agricultural show. On the
other hand, it was seen that the new Ministers as a body belonged
to the familiar old gang of bureaucrats, trained in the routine of
officialdom, and untouched by the realities of wider life. Finally,
the publication of the new version of “Fundamental Laws” only three
days before the Duma met was clear evidence that the party of reaction
still controlled the hesitating Tsar; for as long as those Fundamental
Laws remained above change and above discussion, the power promised to
the people--the power that we call freedom--must inevitably continue
ineffectual as an infant spirit in limbo.
So the omens of freedom’s birth were dark; but omens are usually dark
in Russia, and when the expected morning came, the church bells set
up a famous clanging, and the beautiful city of St. Petersburg woke
light-hearted as usual in the midst of her perils. For the security of
the despotism every precaution had been taken. The palace arrangements
had been made by Trepoff himself, whose influence in the Imperial
household remained unabated. The deep and brilliant river ran silent
and empty of traffic, while up its course the Tsar was spirited
back to the city which had not known him since Bloody Sunday. All
the approaches to the Winter Palace were barred from dawn. The two
nearest bridges over the Neva were closed. Troops were drawn across
the neighbouring streets. Bodies of variegated Cossacks and Guards,
their horses bright with scarlet cloths, stood patient for hours upon
the vast and stony square before the palace doors. No common eye might
gain a glimpse of the glory to be revealed. No cabman brought a duke
without displaying a special green ticket in his hat. For days before,
the most elaborate system of coupons and signatures and photographs
for identification had been organized with infinite effort to prevent
any dreadful occurrence. Yet when the moment came, no one consulted
the nice photographs with which I had freely supplied the palace, and
I walked in far more easily than its owner. I have often noticed that
despotism affords these little advantages over decent government.
As the scene of the day’s first ceremony, Trepoff had chosen the
large Coronation Hall, constructed with columns of genuine marble--so
few things are genuine in these palaces--and decorated with gold
and crimson hideousness, to which all Emperors are obliged to grow
accustomed. At the end of the hall, upon a few low steps, stood a
rather old gilded throne. Over it was thrown a robe of ermine and
yellow stuff in studied negligence, and round it stood four little
gilded camp-stools. A praying-desk and a table, both covered with
gold cloth, were placed in the middle of the inlaid floor, and some
priests or deacons carried in the miraculous Icon, representing the
head of Christ, from the little old palace of Peter the Great. But
when they had set it on the praying-desk they found it was so dusty,
or had been so much kissed of late, that they had to spend the leisure
time in polishing it up with a fairly clean handkerchief. Beside them
was presently drawn up a choir of men and boys, all dressed in long
cassocks of crimson and gold to match the furniture.
Meantime the new State Council (or Council of Empire) had begun to
arrive and gather on the low platform constructed down the side of
the hall to the right of the throne. Senators also came in brilliant
scarlet and gold, past and present Ministers with long beds of
gold-lace flowers and foliage down their coats, a whole school of
admirals (if one may borrow a marine phrase from the porpoise), a
radiant company of Field Marshals and generals in blue or white cloth
with gold or silver facings and enormous epaulettes, and the members of
the Holy Synod in the panoply of holiness. Soon the entire platform was
full of uniforms, and on the breast of each uniform gleamed stars and
crosses and medals, a few of which were gained by service in foreign or
civil war. Sometimes one could only hope that the hero would live to
win no more distinction, since there was no more room for orders, so
great had been the wisdom or courage of the heart that beat below.
By some mistake, three peasant deputies, in high top-boots, with
leather belts round their long Sunday coats, entered among all this
brilliance, contemplated it as though working out its value in grain,
and then were hurriedly conducted away by a being with a queer gold
crook. But they were only a few minutes wrong in the programme, for
directly afterwards all the Duma members came trooping in--sturdy
peasants in homespun cloth, one Little Russian in brilliant purple with
broad blue breeches, one Lithuanian Catholic bishop in violet robes,
three Tartar Mullahs with turbans and long grey cassocks, a Balkan
peasant in white embroidered coat, four Orthodox monks with shaggy
hair, a few ordinary gentlemen in evening dress, and the vast body of
the elected in the clothes of every day.
All down the left side of the hall they ranged themselves, about four
hundred and sixty of them altogether; for, at the last moment, all
had consented to come, though many of the peasants and Constitutional
Democrats had threatened to stay away, in protest against the
Fundamental Laws. There they stood, confronting the brilliant crowd
across the polished floor, and it was easy to see in them the symbol
of the new age which now confronts the old and is about to devour it.
Shining with decorations and elaborately dressed in many colours, on
the one side were the classes who so long have drained the life of the
great nation they have brought to the edge of ruin. Pale, bald, and
fat, they stood there like a hideous masquerade of senile children,
hardly able to realize the possibility of change. But opposite to them
thronged the people--young, thin, alert, and sunburnt, with brown and
hairy heads, dressed like common mankind, and straining for the future
chance.
In that sharp contrast between obsolete failure and coming hope lay the
only significance of that palatial scene, unless a dim significance
still lurked in the dozen Byzantine bishops and metropolitans, who,
in stiff gold and domed mitres, tottered up the space between the
confronting ages, and embraced each other’s hoary beards with holy
kisses. They had hardly been brought into line before the altar when a
sudden hush was felt by all, and far away was heard the melancholy and
beautiful Russian Hymn. It heralded the approach of the regalia, and
presently there entered the golden sceptre and the golden orb, the seal
of bronze, and the diamond crown, each reposing upon a velvet cushion
and escorted by golden staves and the flag of Empire and the big gilt
sword. Then at last I discovered the purpose of those four gilded
camp-stools round the throne. I had hoped to see one of the Tsar’s four
little daughters seated on each, but they served only as resting-places
for the majestic toys of kings.
Close behind his toys, the little Tsar himself was seen advancing.
There was a timid swagger in his gait, but he walked alone, and
his uniform looked simple after the finery we had seen. The aged
metropolitan of St. Petersburg stood in wait for him with the holy kiss
and a bunch of green herbs dipped in consecrated water. Behind the
Tsar came his mother and his wife, who were refused the sprinkling,
but gained the other blessing. Twelve feet behind them their trains
extended flat along the floor, and, as in a fairy tale, armed men stood
ready to help with the weight of each. At a safe distance behind the
trains were halted the Grand Dukes in two or three rows of repeated
splendour.
With voices of thunder and voices from the tomb, the priests chanted,
and called, and read the golden book as only Russian priests are able,
and the rows of crimson choir sang the wailing responses between. Upon
the right the flashing crowd was busy bowing and signing the cross.
Rarely is such religious zeal to be witnessed as the Grand Dukes
displayed in crossing themselves; for in this evidence of sanctity they
surpassed the very bishops. But the stiff-necked generation on the
left remained unmoved. One or two peasants crossed themselves as they
were accustomed; a few more complied when the priest shook the solid
cross threateningly in their direction; but the black phalanx stood
unmoved--polite but detached spectators of these curious survivals.
The service ceased, the bishops stood aside, the altar was carried
away, the Empresses swept to their corner among the white-shouldered
ladies on the right of the throne. In the open space the little Tsar
stood solitary. Gathering together all the initiative in his nature,
he walked slowly up the floor, mounted the steps, faced round to the
assembly, and sat down upon the negligent ermine robe. A brilliant
official handed him a large parchment, and he stood up to read. Amid
the intent silence of contrary hopes and expectations, his voice
sounded clear. All knew that a turning-point in history had come, and
that to this little man one of the world’s great opportunities had been
offered.
But with every sentence that was pronounced, the hopes of the new
age faded. As commonplace succeeded commonplace, amid the usual
appeals to Heaven and the expression of such affection as monarchs
always feel for their subjects, it was seen that no concession was
made, no conciliation attempted. The one paragraph in which something
comparatively definite was said about the Imperial heart’s solicitude
for the peasants and the future enlightenment of the people--that
paragraph was marked by the dangerous old phrase of “unwavering
firmness,” and by fresh insistence upon the necessity of order.[7] When
the end came, and the colours were waved, and the band played, and
the officials shouted, “Hurrah!” while the Imperial procession marched
from the hall, the members of the party of progress stood dumb. They
knew now that for the future they had only themselves to look to, and
that the greatest conflict of all still lay before them. Had the Tsar
but granted an amnesty to the thousands on thousands of prisoners still
lying in gaol because their political views did not coincide with his
own, it would have been difficult to measure the extent of his future
influence. But one of the world’s opportunities had again been offered
him, and not for the first time he had refused it.
Nevertheless, come what will, the 10th of May was really a
turning-point in history. On the evening after the battle of Valmy,
where the new order of citizen-soldier held its own against the
mercenaries of kings, Goethe said to his comrades on the field, “To-day
a new age begins, and we can say we were present at its birth.”
Those were the words that rang in my mind as I watched the uniforms
and decorations disappear in their carriages, and then followed the
new deputies, and saw the prisoners waving their handkerchiefs in
greeting from the barred windows of the Cross prison over the river,
and stood among the crowd at the new Duma’s door, and listened to the
deep-mouthed cheers, while the whole air sounded with the cries of
“Amnesty!” and “Freedom!”
St. Petersburg is particularly rich in the dignified classic
architecture of the eighteenth century, but of all the examples
of this style none is so beautiful as the interior of the Taurida
Palace, which Catherine II. built as a present for her lover Potemkin.
With little change it has now been converted into the simplest and
noblest of all Houses of Parliament, and it was there that the first
meeting of Russia’s chosen representatives was opened at four o’clock
that afternoon. The first business was the election of a Speaker or
President. Every one knew that Muromtzeff, a Constitutional Democrat,
and one of the members for Moscow, would be elected. In his youth he
had been Professor of Law in Moscow University, but had been driven
from his Chair by a Government which trembles at excellence in any
form. Since then he had won a high reputation at the bar, and was
known as the greatest authority on Parliamentary procedure. His
character, his dignified bearing, and his long service to liberty all
contributed to make his election certain, but when it was found that he
had been chosen by 426 votes to 3, this evidence of the Duma’s spirit
rather startled the politicians who believe in the blessings of a solid
Opposition.
His few and dignified words in thanking the members for raising him to
this high position in a State that at last had become constitutional,
formed a fit opening for the new Parliament’s work. But it had been
arranged beforehand that the first real speech should be delivered
by Petrunkevitch--Ivan Petrunkevitch, one of the members for Tver,
an aged and distinguished Zemstvoist, and leader among such Radical
reformers as are not Socialists--one of those who at the beginning of
the Tsar’s reign urged him in vain to constitutional ways. Inevitably
he chose as his subject the demand for amnesty. His speech was utterly
irregular. There was no motion or question before the House. He broke
every rule of Parliamentary procedure. But that did not matter in the
least. One thought filled all hearts--the thought of those thousands of
prisoners--seventy-five thousand of them, it was said--still lying in
gaol for their love of freedom, and it was of amnesty and amnesty alone
that all except a few ungenerous spirits wished first to hear.
The meeting was then adjourned over the next day, in order that
Muromtzeff might report his appointment to the Tsar, who from the
Winter Palace had rapidly sought the country retirement where he could
feel himself comparatively courageous.
On the afternoon of that Friday, the 11th of May, the State Council,
to which had been entrusted equal powers with the Duma, condescended
to meet. No crowd watched its members arriving, no prisoners waved
them good wishes. An Upper Chamber is raised above the interest of the
masses and the gaol-birds of freedom. Its members were quite aware
that it was their part in the new constitution only to fulfil the two
functions required of such bodies as the British House of Lords--to
oppose a permanent barrier to progress, and to provide a cheap reward
for obsolete insignificance. As there was yet no progress to bar, and
few but themselves were obsolete, they had no call to hurry.
So in the heat of the summer afternoon, having taken a day to recover
from the strain of the previous ceremony, they began to gather
leisurely in their new hall. In theory they were the same old “Council
of Empire” which for many years had served as a field for the display
of decorations. And certainly the decorations had not lost their
lustre. It was the same uniformed throng as had gathered in the Winter
Palace, and they had assumed the same glitter. Conspicuous even among
their glories was one ancient courtier, who had maintained the Empire
under Nicholas I. before the Crimean War, and still went smiling round
his orbit, brave with the sixty-five medals of his years of service,
while Orders stood clustered on his breast thick as stars upon the
Milky Way; for, unhappily, he had not followed the example of others,
and made room for his honours by increasing his girth.
But even the oldest members of the Council must have been dimly aware
of changing times, for instead of the familiar old Marie Palace on the
square opposite St. Isaac’s cathedral, where so many happy afternoons
of important idleness had been spent, they now found themselves in the
“Noblemen’s Assembly” or Club, quite a dignified and classic place,
but not the house they were accustomed to. And actually mixed up among
them stood a lot of elected and unknown gentlemen, representing the
Church, the Universities, Commerce and Industry, the big towns, and
other dubious institutions that hang upon the borderland of vulgarity.
What was worse, all the six representatives of the Universities openly
professed the Constitutional Democratic faith, and five or six more
were known to lean towards that terrible party which dominated the
Lower House. The only consolation was that just half the Council were
still nominated by the Tsar himself, and that of the rest some eighty
per cent. could be trusted to agree with any Tsar’s nominees. It was
a relief also to discover that the very few who possessed no uniforms
had shown the decency of putting on evening dress when they got up that
morning.
By two o’clock a good many members had assembled. Goremykin, the new
Premier, was there, languid and neutral in the ministerial stalls.
Alexeieff of Manchuria came, and Ignatieff, the Tsar’s fat friend,
and no one thought it strange when the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg
bestowed three kisses of holy peace upon Golitzin, the slaughterer of
the Caucasus. Trepoff, who rules the Imperial circle, and parched old
Pobiedonostzeff, so long Russia’s guide to God, were reported present.
Durnovo, late ill-omened Minister of Interior, was there, and at his
side Witte, his uncertain enemy, had come to hear his own belated
appointment as member of the Council read out, and to meditate the
tearful appeal for amnesty by which three days later he was to reveal
to his brothers the workmen a heart melting in pity over the woes he
had himself inflicted.
So they gathered and chatted and sat down, and then, having nothing
else to do, they prayed. For forty minutes the golden priests prayed
and sang at golden tables placed before the portrait of the Tsar. Then
Count Solsky, whom the Tsar had chosen as President, took his seat,
a few messages were read, it was agreed to return a gracious answer
to the speech from the throne, and Count Solsky, who is much like the
late Lord Salisbury in appearance, did what Lord Salisbury himself
would have done under the circumstances: he yawned, muttered something
inaudible, and adjourned the assembly by turning his back upon it.
The action of the Council throughout would well have become any Second
Chamber in the world, but in the Duma things did not go so leisurely,
nor were the members so content with the result. On Saturday, May 12th,
at eleven, the first true meeting of a popular assembly in Russia
began. For nearly twelve hours on end that sitting continued, and yet
the immense labour of Russian reform seemed to have advanced no step.
Members chafed with impatience. Why not make a beginning since all were
agreed, and so much had now to be accomplished? The same impatience
was seen lately even in England, where we have spent six centuries in
attempting to perfect the method of self-government. But in Russia
the lesson began that day, the evils to be amended were incomparably
vaster, and the need of haste was such as England cannot conceive.
For over the Duma the sword hung by a hair. The very approach to the
Taurida Palace passed through long lines of barracks, and in the left
wing of the building itself companies of the Guards had just been
stationed, ready for any event.
And as to waste of time, let us remember the difficulties that beset
the infant Parliament. The chamber itself was a large amphitheatre of
seats gently rising on steps, each seat fitted with a desk. In a long
gallery at the back of the amphitheatre, ambassadors, strangers, and
ladies were allowed to be present, and the Russian ladies are so far
advanced in civilization that no metal bars were thought necessary
to restrain their savage tendencies. Opposite, in the middle of the
semicircle’s diameter, rose the President’s high box, and just below it
was the Tribune, from which all members were obliged to speak, except
for very short questions or explanations. The President grasped a large
bell, but managed to control the assembly without a wig or robes.
Behind his chair was a large open space, furnished with tables, where
the ballotting and counting took place. On each side of the chamber was
a large, empty lobby, and behind it a vast hall with polished floor ran
from end to end of the building, for the meetings of groups and the
discovery of wisdom by members as they walked. Beyond the hall were
dining-rooms, tea-rooms, telegraph rooms, telephones, committee-rooms,
receptacles for goloshes, and all else that the nature of a member of
parliament requires.
To return to the Chamber, on the right and left of the President’s
box, and facing the assembly, were a number of raised seats for any
Ministers who might choose to attend. The Ministers had no connection
with the assembly; they might not vote; they were responsible only
to the Tsar, who appointed them. Among the members there were no
Ministers, there was no “Government,” there was no one to arrange the
order of business or the introduction of measures. Any member got up
and proposed what he pleased. In the subsequent discussion on the
Address, for instance, from eleven in the morning till seven at night,
members rose in succession and made stupendous proposals of reform that
were neither discussed nor rejected. At first the parties did not even
divide themselves into Right and Left, but members took their seats
anyhow, and when in a few days the inevitable division began to show
itself, the Right was so scanty as to be hardly visible. Though the
true Right numbered about seventy, they were ashamed to be seen on the
right, and all members edged as far left as possible. Votes were taken
sometimes by members standing up, sometimes by division into lobbies,
but the ultimate appeal was to secret ballot, so that it was impossible
to calculate a party’s votes or to control the relation of a member
to his constituents’ desire. During the speeches, applause was rare,
but at the end members vigorously clapped their hands if they were
pleased. They spoke of each other by bare surnames, and would probably
use Christian names in Russian fashion as they became more intimate.
They addressed the assembly as “Gentlemen,” and even as “Comrades.”
The President freely interrupted speakers, argued with them, and
gave them little lectures on the procedure and Constitutional Law of
other countries. On the first day several members wanted to speak two
or three times upon the same question, and explanations of previous
speeches were as long as the originals.
There were many difficulties and many differences from our own ancient
habits, around which the interesting rags and tatters of the past
still flutter. But in starting fresh, the Russian Parliament had at
least as much advantage as difficulty, and it will rapidly develop
improvements for which we ourselves shall long have to fight against
the ghostly influence of our forefathers. One of the first acts of the
Duma was to appoint a committee of nineteen to draw up a new scheme of
procedure, and they had many lessons to suggest to older Parliaments.
But all these discussions on methods and the inevitable mistakes of
beginners meant waste of time, and waste of time was more irritating to
the Duma members than to our own, because, being peasants and workmen,
the majority of them were more serious, their hopes were younger, and,
having no Ministers, they had no one to abuse.
As to the course of business itself, almost the whole of the first
full day was occupied in nominating candidates as Vice-Presidents
and four secretaries. The names of the members proposed had to be
collected in boxes and arranged in lists. Then followed a slow march
round and round the President’s box for the ballot. That slow march
lasted for hours. Next day (Sunday) it was renewed for the election
of thirty-three members to draw up an Address in answer to the Tsar’s
speech. When that was over the committee of nineteen had to be elected
for procedure. Monday there was no meeting because the Address was
being prepared. Tuesday they began to talk about the Address. Wednesday
they continued talking about the Address, and the wrongs of Russia were
at least mentioned. On Thursday the Address was discussed clause by
clause, and a week of the Duma had gone.[8]
To most of the Constitutional Democrats who held the majority inside
the Duma, to highly educated men like Professor Muromtzeff, the
President, or Professor Miliukoff, who directed the party from the
outside, because the Government did not allow his election--to men
like these it was probably evident that all this talk on procedure and
discussion of principles were essential to popular government, and that
delay was part of every great beginning. But the Duma was democratic
beyond anything that our House of Commons has yet imagined. Certainly
it contained only about fifteen workmen from the towns, because the
election of others was annulled by the violence of authority. But it
contained about 170 of the peasant class, a few of whom had educated
themselves highly and quitted their villages; but some could not read,
and nearly all were fine, heavy-browed countrymen, with big shoulders
and great brown hands. They had left their dear strips of earth, their
dear horses and ploughs, and had come to the smelling city for the
one and only purpose of winning the land back for the people who work
it. What did it profit them to walk on polished floors with top-boots
clean and long coats neatly brushed; to listen to discourses on
constitutional procedure; to talk in tea-rooms with men who do not know
sand from clay; to tramp for hours dropping marbles into green boxes;
and to receive invitations to banquets which they most honourably
refused?
They yearned for the old horse at home, and for the fragrant earth
where the corn was sprouting now. They were on a holy mission; they
would not go back. “We dare not go back without the land,” they said;
“our villagers would kill us.” In some cases, aged peasants of pious
gravity had been sent up at the expense of the village as overseers
to watch that the members did their duty, and to complain straight
to the Tsar if the land was not restored to its cultivators at once.
Forty-three of the peasant members were supposed to belong to the Right
and were roughly classed as the “Black Hundred,” though in these early
days of the Duma they voted steadily with the rest. But if the Labour
Party, as the majority of the peasants and the workmen combined began
then to be called, felt a little puzzled and impatient at the number
of things that had to be done before anything could be done, it was
no wonder. We can also understand the difficulties of a Professor of
Constitutional Law brought face to face with such a situation.
Behind these passing apprehensions and disappointments lay the one
great question which occupied the thoughts of all during the Duma’s
first regular day of meeting. The sitting opened with messages of
congratulation from Russian towns, from the Finland Diet, and from
many foreign countries, even down to Bohemia and Montenegro. From
England, from the Labour Party at all events, a message had been
expected, but none came. Last of all, four telegrams were read from
groups of “politicals” still in gaol, and amid shouts of “Amnesty!”
the whole Duma rose and remained standing till the reading was
finished. The world-without-end hours of balloting and discussion of
procedure next intervened, and it was not till late in the evening
that the burning question was reached at last. Roditcheff, another
of the members for Tver, had won the right to introduce it by his
long service to the growth of constitutional liberty; for, like his
colleague Petrunkevitch, he had been among those whose petition for
some degree of popular representation in the government had been
rejected by the Tsar twelve years before as an “idle dream.” A peasant
leader, Anikin, member for Saratoff, followed him with an even stronger
and more eloquent claim for justice towards those who still suffered
in the cause of such freedom as Russia now appeared to have won.
Other speeches were made, each becoming shorter and stronger as the
excitement rose. At last the speeches ended. The question that the
demand for amnesty be included in the address to the Tsar was put, and
like one man, with one great shout, the whole assembly of Russia’s
first representatives rose in answer.
With that scene, this simple record of the things I have lately
witnessed may close. I have been told by men of high judgment and
authority that the title chosen for the book is too hopeful, that the
hour of dawn is still far off in Russia. In moments of despair during
last winter I should have agreed; the forces of ancient oppression
still appeared irresistibly strong. But writing as I do within the Duma
itself, face to face with the grave and determined representatives of
the Russian people, I cannot but hope that something has been gained
which no violence in the world can compel them ever to surrender. I
know the power of tradition, and I know well the power of the sword.
But perhaps it may still be proved that more powerful even than
tradition and the sword is the passion for freedom and justice which
lives in the soul of many.
[Illustration:
PLAN OF
MOSCOW]
INDEX
Akinoff, Minister of Justice, 242
Aladin, M., and peasant deputies, 315
Alexander III., system of Russification, 270
Alexandrovsky ironworks, 40;
government ways of industry, 41
Aliens Act, 227
Anarchists, message from, 56;
no paper in Russia, 73;
use of word by Government, 299
Anikin, member of Duma, 339
Annensky, President of Economic Society’s Club, 318
Army, increased pay, 175;
part in national tragedy, 303
Assassination of, Sipiaguine, 2;
Bobrikoff, 6;
Plehve, 6;
Grand Duke Sergius, 13;
Sakharoff, 77;
Voiloshnikoff, 178;
Jeoltanowski, 314
Baku, race feuds at, 16;
journey to, stopped by strike, 129–130
Baltic Provinces, Home Rule for, 74;
revolt in, 78;
shooting, hanging and flogging in, 263–281;
Governor-General accused of mildness, 265;
revolutionary reprisals, 279–280
Barashoff, chairman at Salt Town meeting, 52
Bauman, funeral of, 97
Bielenstein, Pastor, sufferings of, 274–275
Bireleff, Minister of Marine, 242
“Black Hundred,” 21, 33;
incited to murder, 121;
plunder Kieff, 208–209
“Bloody Sunday,” 11, 12;
honour to victims of, 52;
anniversary of, 228–232
Bobrikoff assassinated, 6
Bombardment, of private houses, 139, 140, 159, 162, 164, 176;
of factories, 184–189
Buliguine, Minister of Interior, 14
“Bund,” Jewish, 225, 284;
methods and aims of, 298
Carlyle, on Russia, 54;
on Livonia, 267
Caucasus, Home Rule for the, 74;
fighting in the, 78, 129
Clementz, Professor, 244
Congress, of Peasants at Moscow, 49;
of Constitutional Democrats in St. Petersburg, 313
Constitutional Democrats, 224;
programme in Odessa, 225;
meetings of, in St. Petersburg, 244–247;
policy of, 245;
leaders of, 246–247;
elections of, 311–312;
meeting broken up, 317–318
Cossacks, taunted in streets, 35;
brutal methods of, 38–40, 102, 134–135;
protect Heavenly Powers, 125;
employed with Semenoffsky Guards, 186;
connive at plunder, 208–209;
terror of, 277;
to guard Winter Palace, 319
Council of Empire, 313, 321, 329–332
Cross (_Kresty_) Prison, 238;
demonstrations from, 327
Courland, revolt in, 78
Davidoff, murder of, 228
Democrats, (_see_ CONSTITUTIONAL), 311;
National, 293, 295;
Progressive, 296
Diedulin, General, Chief of Police, 243
Dubasoff, Admiral, as butcher, 72;
Governor-General of Moscow, 122;
special prayers for, 124;
speech to patriots, 127;
fires on Red Cross, 15;
decrees business to be resumed, 180;
orders boys and girls to be flogged, 194–195;
attempted assassination of, 313
Duma, promised for January, 1906, 15–16;
Zemstvo’s attitude towards, 16;
Constitutionalists’ attitude towards, 245;
preparations for, 224;
reactionary designs on, 245–246;
Poland under, 287;
represented in, 294;
how elected, 303, 306;
date fixed, 310, 313;
elections for, 310, 311, 312;
candidates imprisoned, 311;
Durnovo’s attitude towards, 313;
Government’s precautions about, 316, 317–319;
opening of, 320;
first week of, 332–340
Durnovo, assistant Minister of Interior, 21, 57;
petition to, 103;
confirmed Minister of Interior, 242;
mean tactics of, 313;
resigns, and is rewarded, 313;
in Council of Empire, 318
England, quoted in support of tyranny, 285
English, manufacturers, 142, 182;
hide in cellars, 178;
under fire, 182–189;
Consulates attacked by troops, 209–210;
opinion on Russian revolution, 239
Ermoleff, police officer murders Dr. Vorobieff, 187
Esthonia, revolt in, 78;
prisoners shot in, 238
Fiedler, leader of revolutionists, 138;
house bombarded, 139;
death of, 140
Finance, 306;
Budget of 1906..., 309;
fresh loans and increased taxation, 312
Finland, liberties restored, 21;
Home Rule for, 74;
crossing Gulf of, 248–249;
concessions to, 286;
troops sent into, and withdrawn, 311
Flogging, abolished nominally, 6;
“as before,” 34, 41, 243;
of peasants, 91;
of boys, 193;
of young men and girls, 194–195;
in Livonia, 263–264, 278–279
Free Economic Society, hall in St. Petersburg, 25, 79, 315, 317–318
Fundamental laws, altered to frustrate Duma, 314–315;
criticized, 315;
resolution against, 316;
effect of, 319
Gapon, Father, founds Russian Workmen’s Union, 9–10;
appeals to Tsar, 11–12;
fails to attend meeting, 51–53;
amnesty demanded for, 55;
in hiding, 57;
described, 57–58;
escape of, 59;
reported dead, 313
Georgians, reported independence of, 129
German landowners, 270–274;
pastors, 274–276
Germany, dislike of, 295
Goethe, on the birth of a new age, 327
Golitzin, 331
Goremykin, new Premier, 313, 315, 331.
See MINISTERS.
Gorky, Maxim, edits _New Life_, 65–66;
explains revolution, 115–116;
his play, _The Children of the Sun_, performed, 116, 117;
his heroes, 118;
sombreness of, 269
Government, tactics of, 138, 167, 168, 301–306;
methods of business and of warfare, 231;
methods of justice, 233–234;
position of, 301-302;
loans to, 306, 310, 312
Gramen, shot for making bombs, 300
“Houses of Inquiry,” 233–236
Ignatieff, 331
“Intelligence,” The, definition of party, 9;
despised by Socialists, 297
Isvolsky, Minister at Danish Court, recalled, 315
Ivan the Cruel, 126
Japan, War with, 2, 3, 4;
peace with, 18;
effect of war on Poland, 288–289
Jeoltanowski, General, assassinated 314
Jews, massacre of, 3;
newspapers of, 68;
“Black Hundred,” to murder, 121;
arrested at Kieff, 210;
laws against, 225–227;
“Bund,” 225, 284, 298;
in Warsaw, 294;
classed as Anarchists, 299
Jewesses, courage of, 300
Journalists, beaten by soldiers, 188;
shot in batches, 238;
reactionary chorus of, 304, 306
Kaufman, Minister of Education, 315
Kempski, Edmund, tortured, 311
Khroustoloff, president of Strike Committee, 27, 28;
arrested, 77;
in prison, 237
Kieff, journey to, 203;
description of, 203–208;
Jews arrested at, 210;
revolutionists shot, 210;
prison fever, 210–211;
meeting at, 211;
wealth of, 211
Kishineff, massacre of Jews at, 3
Kokovtsoff, negotiates loans, 202, 312
Königsberg, case, 5
“Koulak,” a village usurer, 87
Kremlin, floating in blood, 72;
by moonlight, 119
Krasnaya (Red Square), prayer meeting in, 123
Krivoy Rog, trade with Siberia, 289
Kronstadt, visit to, 249;
Father John of, 249–255;
mutiny at, 303
Kropotkin, Prince, writer on Russian struggle for freedom, 2;
quoted by Tolstoy, 93;
quoted, 103
“Kursistki,” 257
Lavra, at Kieff, 204
Letts, revolt of, 78;
butchery of, 262–281;
language, music, and literature of, 267;
homes of, 268–269;
Russification of, 270;
drive out landowners, 270–273;
strange union with Germans, 273–274;
hiding from Cossacks, 277;
sentenced by telephone, 278
Livonia, revolt in, 78;
“Bloody Assize” in, 262–280
Lodz, trade of, 288
Manifestoes (Imperial), promising revision of laws, 7, 8;
appealing to people, 13;
promising Duma, 15;
announcing peace with Japan, 18;
promising personal freedom and constitution (Manifesto of Oct.
30th), 19, 20, 120;
restoring ancient liberties of Finland, 21;
withdrawing promised reforms, 22;
reducing peasants’ payments for land, 22;
peasants’ opinion of, 90;
making strikes a capital offence, 103;
promising army reforms, 201;
reorganizing old Council and limiting the power of Duma, 310;
worthlessness of, 243
Manifestoes (Revolutionary), on Government finance, 78;
accepting Government’s challenge, 80;
of strike committee to St. Petersburg citizens, 229
Manifesto of Oct. 30th violated, 310, 315, 316
Manioukoff, Rector of Moscow University, 108
Martial law, in Poland, 22;
in Moscow, 153–154;
at Kieff, 203;
in St. Petersburg, 317
“Marseillaise,” Russian, 30, 35
Massacres, at Kishineff, 3;
before Winter Palace, 12;
in streets of Warsaw, 13, 299–300;
at Toula, 81;
at Odessa, 216–220;
in Livonia, 262–281
“Maxim,” socialist leader, 272
Meetings, to discuss eight hours’ day, 28;
to protest against capital punishment, 31;
of Poles to demand overthrow of absolutism, 35;
at Salt Town, 50–57;
interest in, 62–63;
collections at, 104;
of National Democrats in Warsaw, 293–294;
of Economical Society, dispersed by police, 315, 317–318
Miliukoff, historian of freedom, 2;
editor of _Zhisn_ (_Life_), 111;
leader of Constitutionalists, 246–247;
great speech by, 315
Min, Colonel, as slaughterman, 183–186
Ministers, Committee of, 241–242
Ministers (New), 313, 315
Minsky, poet and editor, 66
Mirski, Prince Sviatopolk, Minister of Interior and reformer, 6
Mischenko expected with 7000 Cossacks, 175
_Molva_ (_The Russ_), 68;
publishes horrors, 311;
appeals to France, and is suppressed, 312
Moscow, centre of revolution, 80;
description of, 104, 107;
strikes in, 101–104;
Trade Unions in, 105–107;
University closed, 108;
Tsar’s portrait removed at meet-in, 109;
“liberty tempered by assassination” in, 118, 122;
terror in, 121;
fortified, 122;
prayer meeting in Red Square, 123;
stampede of patriots in, 128;
revolutionary days in, 129–197;
light and water cut off, 132;
attempt to win over troops, 134;
shops closed, 135;
garrison distrusted, 136;
bombardment of houses, 139–140;
English factories near, 142–143;
barricades and street-fighting, 145–168, 174;
girls shot down, 149, 150;
Zemstvo organizes ambulance, 150;
aid to the wounded, 152, 175;
Sharpshooters in bell-tower, 153, 161;
“a minor state of siege,” 154;
Christmas Eve rumours, 155;
explosion in gun-shop, 156;
victims, old and young, 160;
officer deprived of sword, 169;
new barricades, 174;
panic, 175;
official estimate of killed and wounded in, 176;
execution in street of, 177;
after bombardment, 179;
estimate of damage in, 181;
struggle for freedom in Presna district, 182–189;
horrors of suppression, 188–195, 240;
Christmas celebration in, 195–197;
lesson of, 203;
prisoners shot in batches, 238;
bank robbed, 311
Mutiny, at Toula, 2;
Odessa, 14, 302;
Baku, 16;
Kronstadt, 22, 302;
Sevastopol, 49, 302, 310;
Kieff, 211
Neidhart, Governor-General in Odessa, 216
Nemeschaeff, Minister of Communications, 241
Newspapers, revolutionary, 64–69, 311, 312;
reactionary, 69–70;
satiric, 71–73;
artistic merit of, 71;
wholesale suppression of, 80, 215, 311;
_Russian News_ joins Progressive party, 104, 111;
unpopularity of _Moscow News_, 106
“Noblemen’s Assembly,” State Council in, 330
Obolensky, Procurator of Holy Synod, 242
Odessa, rejoices at Manifesto of Oct. 30th, 215;
and buries freedom, 216;
massacres Jews, 216–220;
country near, 217;
Jewish obstinacy and misery, 220–221;
docks burned in, 222;
poverty in, 223;
political parties in, 224;
Jewish “Bund” at, 225;
restrictions on Jews, 226;
electors intimidated, 311
Orloff, General, represses Baltic Provinces, 264–265, 276
Parties of Reform and Revolution, 73–77;
in Odessa, 224;
in Poland, 293–294
Peasants, congress of, 49;
descriptions of, 33;
hardships of, 87;
home of, 88;
charity of, 90;
camping in railway-station, 131;
of Little Russia, 212–214;
in Baltic provinces, 262–281;
in Poland, 289–291;
deputies in St. Petersburg, 315;
Parliamentary Party of, 316;
in Winter Palace, 321–322;
in Duma, 337–339
Petersburg, St., general strike in, 228;
prepared for massacre, 229;
manifesto to citizens of, 229;
wholesale arrests in, 233, 238;
fortress-prison in, 237;
Kresty (Cross) prison in, 238, 326;
Constitutional Democrats in, 244, 315, 318;
revolutionary concert in, 255;
Poles in, 282;
opening of Duma in, 319
Peterhof, Tsar and family at, 316
Petrunkevitch, leader of Zemstvoists, 246;
speech in Duma, 327
Plehve, Minister of Interior, 3;
assassination of, 6;
his policy towards workers, 43
Pleske, Minister of Finance, 3
Pobiedonostzeff, resignation of, 21;
keeper of Russia’s Orthodoxy, 242, 331
Poland, demands Home Rule, 74, 295;
position under Duma, 287;
trade losses in, 288;
strikes in, 289;
price of land, rents, wages, population and education in,
290–291;
Jews in, 294;
Russian garrison in, 292;
Political Parties in, 292–300;
prejudices against Germany in, 295
Poles, dissensions among, 75, 282;
disliked by Little Russians, 206–207;
high official’s opinion of, 283–287;
peasant life among, 288–290;
cruelty of, 291;
“learning to vote,” 294;
number in Duma, 294
Police, activity of, 33, 34;
danger from, 82;
house of secret, 54;
in disguise, 167–168;
execution of chief of secret, 177–178;
Diedulin, chief of, 243;
break up meetings of Constitutionalists, 315, 318
Politicals, treatment of, 233–243;
wholesale massacre of, 240;
in exile, 243;
in Warsaw, 299–300;
rescue of, 312;
amnesty demanded for, 325–327, 339
Potemkin, lover of Catherine II., 327
_Potemkin_, mutiny on board the, 221
Poverty, in St. Petersburg, 37–48;
in Little Russia, 212–214;
in Odessa, 223
Presna or Presnensky, manufacturing district, 182;
revolution in, 183;
bombardment of and slaughter in, 183–190;
estimates of killed and wounded in, 190–191;
methods of execution in, 191–193
Press, brief freedom of, 64–74.
_See_ NEWSPAPERS.
Prison, life of “political” in, 235;
fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, 237;
Kresty (Cross), 238;
greetings to deputies from, 326;
estimate of numbers in, 238
_Punch_, cartoon blacked out, 34
Redigers, Minister of War, 242
Revolutionists, hesitation among, 136–137;
bombarded, 139–140;
arrested and shot, 141;
numbers estimated, 141–142;
plan of action in Moscow, 145–147, 163;
loot gun-shop, 156–157;
private ambulance of, 158;
sledge-drivers refuse aid to, 159;
deprive officer of sword, 169;
confiscate photographs, 171;
passive bravery of, 172;
last stand of, 174;
call for volunteers, 175;
girl leader of, 183;
tear up railway-line, 183;
slaughter of in Presnensky district, 183–194;
women among, 199, 308;
“dress rehearsal” of, 198;
union among, 199, 308;
propaganda in army of, 200, 298–299;
need of money among, 201;
shot at Kieff, 210;
concert given for, 255–261;
butchered in Baltic provinces, 262–281;
persistence of, 308
Riga, revolt in, 78
Riots, in Moscow, 2, 112;
of students, 7;
in Poland, 13, 14;
in Kieff, Warsaw, and Odessa, 21
Roditcheff, member of Duma, 339
Rostoff regiment, mutiny in, 101;
proves its loyalty, 186
Russians, intelligence of, 69;
home-life of nobility, 85–86;
peasant life of, 87;
democratic qualities of, 256–267;
poverty among, 212–214;
misery of, 307;
persistence of, 308
Sakharoff, Minister of War, assassinated, 77
“Salt Town,” meetings at, 50, 51
Sassoulitch, Vera, as journalist, 67;
last “political” tried by jury, 233
Saratoff, peasant member for, 339
Schlüsselberg, description of road to, 37, 230;
prison turned into mint, 239–240
Schmidt, Lieutenant, leader of Sevastopol mutiny, 49;
sentenced to be hanged, 310;
shot, 311;
body dug up and thrown into sea, 312
Schwanebach, Imperial Comptroller, 315
Semenoffsky Guards, employed in massacres with Cossacks, 186;
distinguished by their zeal, 194;
chosen to guard Winter Palace, 316
Sergius, Grand Duke, assassinated, 13;
place of his death, 124
Sharpshooters in bell-tower of Strastnoi Convent, 153, 161
Shipoff, Minister of Finance, 241, 309
Siberia, still used for exiles, 243;
Polish trade with, 288, 289
Sieczka, Vincentz, tortured, 311
Sipiaguine, Minister of Interior, assassinated, 2
Skallon, Governor-General in Warsaw, tries to seduce
revolutionists, 300
Sobolevski, editor of _Russian News_, 111
Social Democrats, minimum programme of, 3;
unbending attitude of, 4, 59;
organ of, 65;
strength of, 73;
young girls among, 76;
compared with Government, 231;
in Poland, 296–298
Social Revolutionists, 74;
member shoots Sakharoff, 77
Soldiers, return from war with Japan, 97–100, 307;
how treated as reservists, 99–101;
refuse to kill work-people, 2;
mutiny, 101;
propaganda among, 200, 298–299
Sollogub, Governor-General in Baltic provinces, reproached for
mildness, 265
Soskice, David, translator and lecturer, 246
Spies, at teachers’ conference, 53;
post and telegraph clerk protest against, 53–54;
use of, 138
Spiridinova, Marie, tortured, outraged, avenged, 311
Stcheglovitoff, Minister of Justice, 315
Stepniak, supporter of Russian freedom, 2, 48
Stishinsky, Minister of Agriculture, 315
Stolypin, Minister of Interior, 315
Strastnoi bell-tower, sharpshooters placed in, 153, 161
Strikes, on railways, 18;
throughout Russia, 19;
in sympathy with Poland, 22;
failure of second general strike, 23;
result in factory villages, 38;
under Russian laws, 43;
as agents of abstinence, 47;
of post and telegraph service, 49, 60, 61, 81, 114;
in St. Petersburgh and Moscow, 101, 103, 132, 314;
fund seized by Government, 104;
on railway, 130;
meeting at Aquarium, dispersed by troops and police, 136–138;
effect on trade, 289;
power of, 302;
in Poland, Kieff, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, 314
Strikes (Central Committee of), distrusts Imperial manifestoes,
20–21;
calls for military organization, 24;
meets in Hall of Free Economics, 25–36;
orders withdrawal of money from savings-banks, 77;
President of, arrested, 78;
members of, arrested, 80;
new Council and Executive appointed, 80;
manifesto to citizens, 229
Strikers, attack mail-cart, 101;
dispersed, 102;
demands of, 112;
condemned by _Novoe Vremya_, 114;
meet in Moscow Aquarium, 136;
passive resistance of, 229–230
Struve, editor of _Emancipation_, 246
Sumsky Dragoons, brutality of, 193
Suvorin, editor of _Novoe Vremya_, his son among revolutionists, 68
Sytin Printing Works destroyed by Government, 181
Taurida Palace, given up to Duma, 327;
guarded, 332
_Times_, Tolstoy’s protest in, 4;
statistics quoted from, 240;
financial figures quoted from, 309–310
Tolstoy, Demitri, Minister of Education, 241
Tolstoy, Leo, protests against war with Japan, 4;
position among revolutionists of, 56;
visit to, 91–96
Torture of prisoners, 192–195, 311
Toula, mutiny at, 2;
typical town, 81
Trepoff, first Governor-General of St. Petersburg, 13;
assistant Minister of Interior and Chief of Police, 14;
dismissal demanded, 21;
resigns, 22;
regretted, 33;
caricatured, 72;
connected with Odessa massacres, 233;
Master of Ceremonies, 319–320
Trepoff (the Elder), attempted assassination of, 233
Troubetzkoy, Prince Sergius, President of Moscow Zemstvo, inspires
reform, 7, 246–248;
sudden death of, 17;
regretted, 110
Tsar, flees to Tsarkoe Selo, 13;
promises reforms, 15, 19, 21, 22;
withdraws promises, 22, 80, 103, 120, 121, 215;
as forester, 213;
builds palace for ex-mistress, 238;
pleasant myths about, 243;
meditates new Peace Conference, 308;
issues Ukase on Fundamental Laws, 314;
leaves Tsarskoe Selo for Peterhof, 316;
enters St. Petersburg by river, 319;
sprinkled with holy water, 323;
reads address in Winter Palace, 325;
flees back to Peterhof, 329
Unions, Trade, 104, 107
Vistula, dead bodies in, 300
“Vladimir’s Day,” or “Bloody Sunday,” 12, 319
Voiloshnikoff, chief of secret police, “executed,” 177–178
Vorobieff, Dr., murder of, 187
War, return of soldiers from, 97–100, 131;
effect on Poland, 288–289
Warsaw, trade of, 288;
political parties in, 293–299;
prisoners in, 299–300;
Governor-General’s offer to revolutionary Jewesses, 300
Winter Palace, massacre before, 11, 12;
how guarded, 319;
brilliant assembly in, 321–327
Witte, President of Committee of Ministers, 3, 241;
deputation to, 18;
replies, 19;
distrusted by Liberals, 22;
fatherly appeal to workers, 22;
caricatured, 72;
leaders of finance petition to, 103;
character discussed, 110;
whining of, 202, 241;
afraid of Constitutional Democrats, 244;
his affectation of liberalism, 308;
resigns, 313;
his removal makes Duma possible, 318;
in Council of Empire, 331
Workmen, demand universal sufferage, 18, 19;
dress of, 26;
patience of, 28;
first council of delegates, 37;
homes of, 38–48;
locked out, 40;
hours of labour, 42;
wages, 44;
standard of food and work, 45, 114;
amusements of, 47;
connection with land, 48;
shot down, 81;
equality of their women, 26;
their unions in Moscow, 105;
“living in,” 113;
wages increased, 114;
quarters in order, 232;
growing importance of, 288;
in Poland, 289;
their candidates for Duma imprisoned, 311;
only fifteen in Duma, 337
Zemstvos, recommend reforms, 2;
send petition of Rights, 7
Zemstvoists, meet in secret, 6;
discuss promised Duma, 16;
draw up programme of political aims, 16–17;
debate Witte’s character, and vanish, 110
Zilliacus, writer on struggle for Russian freedom, 2
THE END
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See especially his book on “The Russian Peasant.”
[2] After the rising was suppressed, this officer was detained for a
fortnight and then released.
[3] The following is the text of this appeal:--“The anniversary of the
9th (22nd) of January, 1905, lies immediately before us. Russia has not
forgotten that day, and will never forget it. The memory of those who
in the streets of the capital were attacked by the hosts of violence,
and sacrificed their lives to their confidence in our rulers, their
faith in the possibility of influencing them by peaceful means--the
memory of these martyrs is engraved upon the hearts of the Russian
people in words of sorrow and rage.
“Citizens of St. Petersburg! We appeal to you to honour a memory like
theirs! We appeal to you to celebrate the first anniversary of that
dark day! Henceforward let the 9th of January be a day of universal
mourning among us. To honour the memory of those who fell for the
people’s freedom, let all citizens abstain from their ordinary work.
For this day let the toil of our city’s life be laid aside, so that
a peaceful stillness may serve as the symbol of our general sorrow.
On this day let not our mourning be broken by customary pleasures. On
the day of the people’s sorrow what have we to do with song and art?
Citizens, we call on you not only to avoid places of entertainment, but
not to visit the banks or other public institutions. Draw down your
blinds, and in the evening hang curtains before your windows, so that
no light may be cast upon the streets from the houses. Let the day
consecrated to the martyrs of January 9th be kept as a day of absolute
silence, a day of deep and universal mourning, a day for sad and angry
remembrance of all the victims which have been torn from our midst by
the enemies of the people’s freedom.”
[4] Figures from the _Times_ of February 24, 1906.
[5] See Carlyle’s “Frederick the Great,” Book II. ch. vi.
[6] Figures from the _Times_ of January 15, 1906.
[7] The text of the speech was as follows:--
“Divine Providence has laid on me the care of the welfare of the
Fatherland, and has moved me to summon representatives elected by the
people, to co-operate in the work of framing laws.
“With an ardent belief in a prosperous future for Russia, I welcome in
you the best men, to whose election I commanded my beloved subjects to
proceed.
“Difficult and complicated labours await you, but I believe that the
ardent wishes of the dear native land will inspire you and will unite
you.
“I with unwavering firmness will uphold the institutions which I have
established, in the firm conviction that you will devote all your
powers to the self-sacrificing service of the Fatherland, to a clear
presentation of the needs of the peasants, which lie so close to my
heart, to the enlightenment of the people, and to the development of
its well-being. You must realize that for the great welfare of the
State, not only is Liberty necessary, but also order on the basis of
law.
“May my ardent wishes be fulfilled! may I see my people happy, and be
able to bequeath to my son as his inheritance a firmly-established,
well-ordered, and enlightened State!
“May God bless me, in conjunction with the Council of Empire and the
Duma, in the work before us, and may this day prove the rejuvenation of
Russia’s moral outlook and the reincarnation of her best powers.
“Go to the work to which I have summoned you, and justify worthily the
trust of your Tsar and your country! God help me and you!”
[8] The following were the chief points suggested by the Committee
for the answer to the Tsar’s speech. They defined the programme of
the majority:--The responsibility of Ministers to the majority in the
Duma; universal suffrage (women’s suffrage was afterwards added);
the abolition of the State Council; the necessity of land reform and
universal education; the equality of rights for all classes before
the law; freedom of conscience, person, domicile, speech, press, and
meeting; control of the budget and redistribution of taxation; local
self-government for separate nationalities; amnesty and the abolition
of capital punishment.
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
corrected silently.
2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
been retained as in the original.
3. Italics are shown as _xxx_.