March 16, 1917
A great Revolution has been accomplished in Russia. After nearly a week of chaos in Petrograd something like a Parliamentary Government controls the situation. The Tsar has abdicated in favour of his infant son, and his brother, the reforming Grand Duke Michael, is expected to act as Regent.
The news will hardly come as a surprise to those acquainted with the internal situation in the Allied Empire as it has recently developed, and who have observed the ominous suspension of telegrams from Russia within the last few days. It has become clear for some time past that the strained relations between the Duma and the Court could not last, and that, when the crisis came, the Duma would have the nation and the Army with it. The great danger was that the Tsar might fail to realize the position with sufficient promptitude, and that he might either resist the Revolution or defer his decision. He has had enough of wisdom and of unselfish patriotism not to take either of these courses. By laying down the supreme authority of his own free will, he has saved his people, we may trust, from civil war and his capital from an outbreak of social anarchy.
It cannot be pretended that all the perils inseparable from so profound a change have yet passed away; but, so far as the available information shows, the worst moment has been lived through, and there is strong reason to hope that the transition will be completed in an orderly and peaceable manner. This expectation, we note with relief, is strengthened by the manifest eagerness of all parties that Russia should continue to wage the war with even greater vigour than she has displayed hitherto. The leaders, including the Labour leader, M Kerenski, see how fatal to this object civil dissensions of a serious character would be. They have worked hard to maintain unity, and they appear to have succeeded in a very remarkable degree. To the Tsar, in particular, the highest credit is due. Had he chosen to resist the demands of the Duma there were, doubtless, plenty of troops ready to support him. But he knew what such a choice would have meant for Russia and for the great European cause which he has served so well, and he has shrunk from the dread responsibility of making it.
The story of what has taken place is clearly still imperfect as it reaches us. Our Correspondent’s first dispatch begins with a reference to the “events of Friday,” but no account of these events has been transmitted to us. A probable explanation is that the old Government suppressed his messages, whereas the Provisional Government have facilitated the dispatch of his later accounts. These cover the period from Sunday until midnight on Wednesday, when the decision of the Tsar, on which everything was felt to hang, still remained unknown. The Revolution appears to have begun by a military insurrection supported by the workmen, but the Duma rapidly and firmly gathered power into its own hands. On Sunday the Council of Ministers resigned, and on Monday the Duma appointed a Provisional Government under the title of “The Executive Committee of the Imperial Duma”. The twelve members were taken from all the constitutional parties, from the Conservatives to the Socialists, and included such well-known personages as M Shulgin, the Conservative, M Miliukoff, the Cadet; M Shidlovsky, the leader of the Progressive bloc; M Lvov, the President of the Moscow Zemstvo, and M Chiedze, the Socialist with M Rodzianko, the President of the Imperial Duma. There appears to have been a good deal of bloodshed on- the’ Friday and Sunday, but after the Duma had assumed control the loss of life is said to have been small. By Tuesday evening the whole garrison had gone over to the Provisional Government. The Proclamations which that body issued and the speeches of M Rodzianko and other Parliamentary leaders to the troops are marked by a moderation said a cool common sense which encourage confidence in the new order of things. The first of these documents explained, as did a subsequent message from M GnaTomorr and other members of the Upper House to the Tsar, that the situation had grown impossible, and that the Duma aiai compelled to take in hand the re-establishment of the State and of public order. All good citizens were invited to work to this end, and the troops, including, the famous Preobrajenski Regiment who have taken an active share in other memorable revolutions were exhorted by M Rodzianko to show their patriotism by steady obedience to their officers. It is still too soon for entire confidence in the issue, but the general trend of events and the attitude of the Army and of the more important elements of the population justify the Allies of Russia in optimism. They may well hope that she will emerge from the ordeal she has undergone strong with the new strength of a united people, who are led by a constitutional Government of their own choosing under the auspices of their historic dynasty.