Show conditions IN RUSSIA the situation in russia may be described as one of ugly and sullen foreboding colored by lurid incidents that serve to show the intensity of the farea that burn beneath all semblance aud pretense of gratitude has nearly disappeared and the people are pressing upon the authorities with the hungry ardor of a pack of wolves whose appetite has been merely whetted by the morsels that haie been thrown to them in terror and desperation the immense concourses of people that parade the streets of st petersburg and moscow are revolutionary mobs and it Is folly to suppose that they are anything else tho incessant singing of the Marsel laise ane display 0 the dreaded red flag the denunciations of the demands for the liberation of prisoners prove the existence of a popular temper that hlll lake no denial and although count vette still lias the power to joose or to bind to consent or to refuse how long will that remain with him with the paralysis of mach luery of the state the smoldering disaffection of the army the rout of the police he has practically nothing but his personal prestige upon which to rely rus immediate future depends luponi a raco between the terrorists and the moderates it the latter can be rallied in time all may yet be well but tho terrorists are a long way in front and gaining still j the procurator of the holy synod has disappeared from the stage it mayho hoped forever it is juhls ancient and sinister figure thai has been the evil genius of the russian throne for these many years and upon no other shoulders rests so great a burden of guilty responsibility tyrant persecutor and fanatic he has stood as the grim and menacing incarnation of everything hateful in government cruel and abominable in religion has been the impenetrable barrier between russia and every ray of civil and religious light and it is some gratification to know that he lived long enough to aee his life work and everything for which he fought with such bitter rancor disappear forever in ruin and disaster nevertheless it might bo well for the late procurator of abo holy synod to leave russia as as may be lest some worse thing befall him odessa Is in open conflagration and I 1 the authorities are said to be aiding the mob such will be the inclination of the authorities all over tho country authority never likes to be disarmed As a measure of pacification the constitution ution is therefore a momentary failure as it was bound to be tho situation is now much worse than it was before the manifesto and every succeeding report proves its increasing gravity it has conciliated no one appeased no one pacified no one because it was simply the white flag of surrender it was the only thing left to do but it was done too late and to be too lato ts always the fatal trade mark of a cowardly incompetence the change that has como to rus sla may be roughly compared with tho american assumption of independence the declaration of independence was the beginning of american freedom but it did not itself confer freedom bor by the way can it of itself perpetuate it the declaration of aou have been mero waste paper had it been unable to dray from a people accustomed to ecla government as well as from tho splendid and self sacrificing devotion 0 a few great and enlightened men who themselves knew every anch of the road upon which they w ero inviting a sane a moderate and an educated people to walk the declaration ot independence was the signature of a nation and the expression of ft national character fitting easily into avell worn mental grooves and running almost without friction under its first momentum it ahe out ward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace bui va in amar ica tho foiw years of ance even after tho revolutionary war had been fought and won were years of stress and uncertainty tanty arid what must it bo tor russia with no experience no wholesome tradition and no momentum except that of ignorant revenge tho correspondence between russia and revolutionary franco are insistent and disquieting ana the canvas that was painted in paris a century ago in colors so terrific seems noy to be slowly unrolling in russia the fall of louis XVI the cessation of all abuses tho summoning of the states general did not prevent the reign of terror nor even mitigate it there is a point where reforms become inflammatory and concessions merely stimulate and madden france rose splendid and glittering from tho abyss and russia will do the same but it is very certain that the bottom has yet been reached |