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Show WITTE IS MAN OF HOUR; CONCESSIONS OF THE CZAR . . ST. PETERSBURG. Dec. 28.-Whll Emperor Nicholas's manifesto on Russian reforms, coupled with the Government note of warning on the same subject, leaves no doubt that It is' the firm thten-: thten-: ' tlon of the Emperor to maintain unimpaired unim-paired the' autocratic principle which no pbserver here ever Imagined he would re- llnqulsh. and not yield to the semstvos' demand for a national legislature, the programme of leforms outlined Is a broad -.cne, and If it had not teen preceded -by the agitation of the last month, probably would have been accepted with universal acclaim In Russia as extremely liberal. The raising c the peasants to an equality equal-ity with other cltlxens of the empire is alone practically second enly to the emancipation of the serfs, but hardly less important are the guarantees which the manifesto directs to be incorporated In the laws for the protection of the personal per-sonal liberties of the people against the abuses of administrative arbitrariness. ' The measures taken under the state o' ga are no longer permissible except In cases of crimes against the Hate. The Increase In the Independence and scope of the doumas and -the semstvos, as well as the creation of smaller semetvo units, the definite protection of the Jews. Armenian Arme-nian and other unon he dox sects, and the revision of the press laws, are all on the line of the semstvo demand. The extremists, of course, are not satisfied, and many of the moderate liberals are disappointed. - The Government note threatening drastic dras-tic measures in the .event of 'a continuation continua-tion of the vain agitation, which the Government considered necessary in order or-der to put a stop to the existing ferment, is resented deeply by them, and it U feared will Inflame rather than allay the present agitation. Harsh measures, it Is understood, will, however, be avoided, and the Government expects that the solid nature of the reforms re-forms offered will giadually draw to Its support all except the extreme radicals. Fully as important as the Government's rt-sponse to the semstvolsts Is the position posi-tion in which M. Wltte Is placed, by con--fiding the reforms to the committee of ministers of which he Is president. - The 6i d Finance Minister becomes the man cf the hour, confirming the reports that i h- is. again in high Imperial favor. Moreover, this body, the duties of which leretofore have been purely perfunctory, In raised to the highest dignity, and In-I In-I .nltute for the- first time a species of I ministerial responsibility which .la apt to make the committee of ministers a real cabinet In addition to the ministers, six grand dukes are members- of the committee. com-mittee. As the Imperial 'manifesto directs the committee to ascertain "the best method" v. ihc iciuiun jiiiv viiect. some papers, notably the Runs, find in these words that the committee may call in semstvo representatives. The g-eneral opinion Is that the manifesto mani-festo represents a victory for Minister Sviatopolk-Mirskv and -the Conservative Liberals over M: PobodlenastsefT. and practically places the strong combination of. M. Wltte and Bvlatopolk-Mirsky behind be-hind the Government's programme. The vagueness in which the re forms' a re outlined glvee possibilities of expansion or limitation, according to their Ideas. With a man of M. Wltte's domination and force at the head of the committee of Ministers, Minis-ters, the general belief is that he will control In the end. Those allied with the semstvolsts express ex-press the intention of continuing them de-snlte de-snlte the Government's note of warning. They believe that the dissimilarity of the two documents will enable them to continue con-tinue the fight on the ground that the manifesto Is In a conciliatory spirit and represents the views of the Emperor, and that the Government note is the work of the bureaucracy. The response of the people generally and of the extreme liberals and revolutionaries revolu-tionaries to the Government's action is awaited with intense Interest No one imagines that any of these classes will be satisfied, but upon the course they nave elected to pursue will depend the question of a possible crisis in the near future. , |