Show RIGA insurgents CAPTURE THE EORT conditions in the baltic provinces now approach civil war count witte will refuse extreme demands st petersburg dec 12 night tuesday ita i ta east prussia dec 18 reports are in circulation to the effect that the insurgents at riga have captured the fortress there inquiries mado at the ministry of the interior resulted in the statement being made that the governments advises advices do not confirm tho capture of the fortress and the seizure of the governor the situation however Is admitted ta be grave the commander at riga yesterday appealed tor additional troops which were dispatched ca a SV petersburg tuesday dec 12 morning via Edyt kuhnen east prussia dec 13 the restoration of cable communication with points abroad yes berday lasted only a few hours bo tore midnight it was reported that the cable was cut and that dispatches must again be forwarded by courier via the german frontier nevertheless the outlook is clearing the government is breathing freer with a fighting chance that premier witte will yet bo able to steer his way through the rocks which beset his path the threat of a general strike in the immediate future has disappeared and the telegraph strike not being supported is going to pieces in of the wild appeals of the union to stand firm at moscow the tie up remains complete but at many other places communication muni cation has been reopened although in a precarious fashion as the employed emp loyes of both the telegraph and services who were discharged wholesale for refusing to work are cutting the wires wherever it is possible to do so the real leaders of the workmen and other proletariat organizations realizing fully their weakness and lad of preparation for a decisive struggle have carried the day over the hotheaded strikers and have easily convinced iho majority that it would be an irretrievable blunder to prostitute what they regard as the supreme instrument ment for forging a free nation by using tt for a minor issue alko redressing the grievances of private individuals in reaching this decision they placed themselves on record to continue the organization and equipment of the fighting legions which the old president Krus began thus virtually furnishing the government with evidence confirming its charges that articles and of the criminal prohibiting participation in associations the object of which is armed revolt and the punishment for which is death have been violated by the strikers head organization it is likely however that the government in order to discount attempts to M Krus will simply charge him with the misappropriation of the funds of the workmen in using them tor founding a socialist paper which the government claims can be substantiated the work mens council yesterday sent a demand to count witta tor the release of M later the work mens delegates called on procurator Kam lEhansky and demanded his release but the procurator refused bluntly saying that the cabe must be cried in court to this the spokesman of the delegation replied then we will declare a general strike 1 I will not release him if the whole corll strikes answered ithe procurator 1 Krus is understood to bo imprisoned in the st peter and st paul fortress in order it is explained to prevent any possible attempt at rescue which would only lead to blood abed the atea 0 a general strike to insure the government a certain period in which to vindicate itself and demonstrate demon state that it Is striving to realize the near order of things and if as its friends hope they will be able to show this by deeds they ft cut away public sympathy from the proletariat and place the work mens organization when the time comes for a strike in the attitude of deliberately provoking a struggle to overthrow and establish a democratic republic the members of count wittes cab inet deny that the government has entered on the path of reaction but they say that the state of anarchy cannot go on people amenable to the will bo ana tried by tho courts it alie government really enters on the path of reaction said one of tho ministers today it must end in a dictatorship and ou may be sure that at the first evidence of this witte will step down and out count watte hakea the ground that abe ministry is only a stopgap stop gap to transfer the power into the hands of the national and h will not to bind the boua try by temporary lawa to a policy which the representatives of the na lion should decide tor themselves this is the theory on which complete universal suffrage will be refused the situation in the baltic provinces ie now the most grave of tho empires condition it approaches civil war and he government 1 as been forced to appoint a governor general with sweeping administrative powers to try to restore order AH the troops in theae pro have neon placed under hie command the importation of aerna which have been entering the country in large quantities and sale of weapons have been prohibited and the author to arrest lor aties are ven empowered three months under an order person having anna in their possession at the barne time ha government the growing rabal lion by not suffice |