29th November, Ove of the most pressing problems of the Russian crisis, according to Mr. W. 'T. Stead in un article with the above title in the London "Times," is the emancipation of the Czar. We have said before that the Japanese have in the recent war wrought a great work for the Russian people: but it appears from Mr, Stead that the Czar will reap at least as great benefits as his people. To the recent war Russia owes the establishment of the Duma, or parliament, and to this Duma Nicholas LI will owe his emancipation, The Duma, "by freeing the Czar from the limitations which have hitherto impaired his usefulness will liberate a force which will sweep away. obstacles ut present insurmountable. It will be a glad day for the Russian people when Nicholas I, released from the closely watched slavery which is mocked by the label of autocratic power, is free to devote himself to the service of his peuple."
Mr. Stead, writing from Moscow on the 29th of September after an interview with the Czar, tells the full story of the way in which the bureaucracy made a captive of the Czar on the very first day of his reign. "All the representatives of the nation, nobles mingling with peasants, delegates from the zemstua with the mayors of great cities, were gathered' together in January, 1894, in the Winter Palace to greet their new sovereign, Such a scene of loyal enthusiasm had not been witnessed in Russia in the lifetime of a generation." Everything was hoped of this young ruler—he~ was 26 when he came to the throne—and his speech was awaited with the deepest attention. "At first he used the ordinary words of courtesy, but then he declared in words that bit like fire into the hearts of his audience- that the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.