NEWS OF THE WEEK.
NEWS from Russia shows that politics re still in a state of see-saw. One day the hours of the Goremykin Ministry are said to be numbered; next day it is reported as stronger than ever. The exciting event of the week has been the rejection by the Council of the Empire last Saturday of the Ministerial Bill to alleviate the famine, and the adoption by a large majority of the Dame's measure, which provides for the expenditure of £1,500,000 during July in the purchase of seed-corn for the population that has suffered from bad harvests. This incident raised high the hopes of the Con- stitutional Democrats, and on Sunday it seemed as if M. Mouromtseff would be sent for to Peterhof at once. Next day, however, it appeared that M. Goremykin had received from the Czar new assurances of confidence, and that his position was more established than before. The Czar, it is said, fears the prospect of the collaboration of the two Houses, and is therefore averse to strengthening in any way the power of the Duma. It is even said that its dismissal and the declaration of a dictatorship are being seriously discussed. Such a course, -as we have often pointed out, will only lead to an increase of the revolutionary elements in the country,
• and already it is rumoured that the Constitutional Democrats are losing ground. With them, if the bureaucracy bad only the wit to see it, lies the sole hope of pacific reform. Those who are anxious to understand the various personalities of the Duma should read the remarkable letter published in another column from Mr. Bernard Pares, our correspondent with the
