Russian Autocracy and Constitutional Government
THE RUSSIAN autocracy are as firmly convinced that the Russian people ought not to have constitutional government, and that to grant them such government would be doing them a great injury, as were ever the kings and emperors who ruled with absolute sway over their subjects in former times. So we may judge from the following statement on the subject given to the press by Grand Duke Vladimir, uncle of the czar:— People speak of a constitution. A constitution would mean the end of Russia, as the state would be gone, anarchy would supervene, and when it ended, the empire would be disintegrated. Finland and Poland, and perhaps other frontier provinces, would have broken away. Russia is not ripe for a constitution. Go out among the peasants, who comprise the vast bulk of the empire’s population, and try to explain to them government by suffrage. The peasant knows nothing of government; he does not even know what the word means. He knows his emperor. For him the emperor is everything. Give the peasant a vote, and all would be anarchy. The Greek Catholic Church, which is equally concerned with the autocracy in maintaining the present system of absolutism, has issued a manifesto in which it is stated that “Russia’s enemies are striving to shake down her pillars of orthodoxy and autocracy, without which Russia would come to ruin.” The reasons put forth by those who govern other people without their consent, for so doing, have been essentially the same in all countries and in all times.