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Show AUTOCRACY OF RUSSIA I ENDS WITH ABDICATION OF I WEAKEST RULER OF LINE I House of Romanoff, Which Has Held Nation in H Grip for 400 Years, Falls Death of Em- I peror's Little Son Rumored People Tear I Imperial Insignia From Buildings. H LONDON, March 17. Reuter's Petrograd correspondent, correspon-dent, telegraphing under Friday's date, says: "The city is now controlled by committees of garrison I and civilian representatives under the presidency of the commandant com-mandant of the fourth guard corps." LONDON, March 1 7, 4: 10 p. m. The Russian garrison at the Fortress of Sveaborg, which defends Helsingfors, has refused to join the revolution, according to a dispatch received by the Swedish newspaper Nyheter and forwarded here by the Stockholm correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Company. Com-pany. The Russian soldiers, the dispatch adds, mutinied and the fortress has been declared in a state of siege. LONDON. March 17. 12 45 p. m. Grand Duke Michael has accepted the throne of Russia conditioned on the consent of the Russian people, according accord-ing to a statement received here to-day to-day from the semi-official Russian I news agency. Grand Duke Michael Alexandro-viteh. Alexandro-viteh. accepting the throne from his brother, declares that he does so only with the consent of the Russian peo-pie. peo-pie. who should by a plebiscite estab-lish estab-lish a new form of government and new fundamental laws." A dispatch received from Petrograd last night filed at 5 30 p. m., Petrograd Petro-grad time, says that Emperor Nicholas Nicho-las had abdicated in favor of Grand Duke Michael and that at 2:30 yester-day yester-day afternoon the Grand Duke him-self him-self had abdicated, thus bringing the Romanoff dynasty to an end. The foregoing dispatch, which is from the i Petrograd telegraphic agency, a semi-official semi-official institution, was sent from Petrograd Pe-trograd today. Advices direct from Petrograd yesterday yes-terday said there had been some dif-ference dif-ference of opinion between the duma leaders and the representatives of the workingmen. The latter wanted to leave undecided the question of the form of the Russian government until after the holding of a constitutional assembly, whereas the duma group. fearing dangers to the country' in the absence of a definite government, had put forward the program of a regency I under the grand duke. The qualifications which Michael is reported to have placed on his accept-I accept-I ance of the throne indicate that it has I been decided to erect a temporary central authority so that there may be I no diversion of the country's energies in prosecuting the war. but that, at the same time, the ultimate decision has been left with the people. Grand Duke's Announcement. j The declaration made by the grand duke on his acceptance of the throne I as given out by the news agency H ; reads as follows: "This heavy responsibility has come I to me at the voluntary request of my I brother who has transferred the Im-perial Im-perial throne to me during a period I of warfare which Is accompanied with unprecedented popular disturbances. "Moved by the thought which is in the minds of the entire people, that I the good of the country is paramount, ! I have adopted the firm resolution to accept the supreme power only if this be the will of our great people, who, by a plebiscite organized by thelf H representatives in a constituent as-sembly. as-sembly. shall establish a form of gov-1 gov-1 eminent and new fundamental law s for the Russian state. j "Consequently, invoking the bene- I j diction of our Lord, I urge all citizens i of Russia to submit to the provision-' provision-' al government established upon the I ' initiative of the duma and invested j with full plenary powers until such time as will follow with as little de-i de-i lay as possible, as the constituent as-1 as-1 sembly, on a basis of universal, ui-. ui-. rect, equal and secret suffrage shall by its decision as to the new form of government express the will of the people." .j PETROGRAD, Mar. 16. via London. Mar 17. 8 a. m. The autocracy which I has held Russia in its grip since th beginning of history, fell today. The house of Roman ff, which has ruled the empire for i " years came to an and with the abdication of Nicholas II. perhaps the weakest representative ot his line. Tonight the death of the lit- 1 tie son of the emperor, whoso abdica-tion abdica-tion was included in that of his father, was rumored Although apparent from the begin-nlug begin-nlug of the revolution that the remov-al remov-al of the monarch was the inevitable end. the actual fact came as an over- I I Continued on Page 4 ) I 'AUTOCRACY OF RUSSIA' ENDS IN ABDICATION ( Continued from Page 1 ) whelming surprise to the population. Within four hours after the abdlca-I abdlca-I tion of the Grand Duke Michael, who automatically became regent on the I passing of the emperor, the crowds in ! the streets had secured ladders and began to tear the Imperial insignia from the winter palace and the front of buildings on the main thoroughfare. In a short time all the emblems of the old empire literally lay in the dust. Great Crowds Gather. In anticipation of the news bigger crowds than ever filled the halls and grounds of the Taurls palace, awaiting await-ing official confirmation by the duma committee of the rumors which had excited the peoplo to fever pitch dur-' dur-' Ing the last 21 hours When the lid-I lid-I iugs at last leaked out from the committee com-mittee rooms, orators who had been haranguing soldiers and worklnmen lrom the balcony of the palace suddenly sud-denly interrupted their discourses and shouted the news to the crowds below them. A roar of cheers such as never before had been heard In those stately halls continued until the men and I women were forced to cease from exhaustion. ex-haustion. Duma in Authotity. Just what form the new government will assume is indefinite. For the moment mo-ment entire nuthorily rests with the! twelve members of the duma execu-' tive committee and the cabinet headed by Prince Lvoff who, according to some forecasts, will be president of a1 new republic. It is believed that in the interim and until the convocation of a constitutional assembly, powerl will slowly pass into the hands of the, new cabinet which will then nresent the anomah of a new government without a supreme head. The differences which threatened yesterday to create a serious split be-i tween the duma and the committee ol (working men, soldiers and deputiei have automatically disappeared since, with the abdication of Grand Duke; Michael as regent, the question whether wheth-er Russia should remain an empire or compel its antiquated government to yield to a new republic is now solved. Emperor Under Evil Influence. As early as two months ago rumors ! became current that the emperor would be forced to surrender his throne. Until that time the chief dissatisfaction dis-satisfaction at the economic disorganization disorgan-ization of the country and the criminal crimi-nal mismanagement of affairs was vented against the cabinet and the in i fluence of the court was only vaguely alluded to, without touching the person per-son of the emperor. It became defl-l nitely known that all irresponsible and evil influences, symbolzed by such fig-j ures as Sturmer, Protopopoff and Ras-: putin, had a deeper and more power-1 ful source than the government itself. The prevalence of startling rumors of court scandals and intrigues and the; existence of mysterious channels, which seemed to run from court circles cir-cles into the camp of the enemy, contributed con-tributed to bring the imperial family into complete disfavor. Whether these were true or not it was felt that I the weakness of the ruling family in allowing persons to direct the affairs I of the country who were secretly de-' signing against the best interests of, the nation and apparently doing all possible to interfere with the proper ' conduct of the war, unfitted them to 1 govern the country. Accusations Against Empress. There was little restraint in the manner in which this opinion was expressed. ex-pressed. Accusations were made against the empress in almost every gathering in which people privately assembled to discuss the political situation. sit-uation. From the tribune of the duma the same thing was hinted at in veiled form. Prof. Milukofl, in his address at the opening of the duma last No-i No-i vember, read an act from a German i paper which spoke of a group of mys-I mys-I terious persons who were gathered around the young empress. He used this article as the basis for an alt n ! upon the "dark forces" which reflected reflect-ed the pro-German influence at the court. Revolution Provoked by Government. It was the general conviction when tho revolution began that it had been provoked by the goernment, working through tho medium of the police and i ha the government had decided upon this daring expedient as the means of completing its previous efforts to tie up the industrial activity of the country coun-try and bring the war operations to a complete standstill. But the force which set in motion and which ap- B peared easy to control, drawing to it B9 self all the discordant elements of the j I country which were awaiting an op- B portunity to revolt, soon became so mm tremendous that it was impossible to I Army Reception Awaited. The reception of the new manifesto H at army headquarters is awaited with r the greatest anxiety, for it is known Rq that unless it is favorably met by the 1 1 six million men at the front the new'H regime cannot endure. There is no reason to suppose that the soldiers on 'I the fighting line will show a different! M attitude from the soldiers and civilians r& in Petrograd and other cities, except, j B insofar as the remoteness from the H scene of the revolution and partial ig-II norance of the conditions which H brought it about may affect them. Butil since upon their acceptance hinges the H fate of the new republic, their answer H is being breathlessly anticipated With I them rests the decision as to whether B Russia shall build up a new govern- H ment on a prepared foundation or be I plunged into further disorder. |
