NE WS OF THE WEEK.
THE relations between the Goremykin Ministry and the Durna are still at a deadlock. Disturbances have broken out in many parts of the provinces, and the authorities are setting themselves to meet them by the old methods of repres- sion. The air is full of rumours, some maintaining that the Duma will be dissolved, others that the Ministry will resign and a free Constitution be established on a new model. The Ministry have refused to discuss a Bill presented by the Duma abolishing capital punishment for political offences, and the Duma in turn has denied the right of the Ministry to limit the subjects which it may discuss. The Malin pub. lished a draft Constitution, said to have been drawn up by M. Mouromtseff, which would abolish absolutism and make the Czar a true Constitutional Monarch ; but it is improbable that it represents the views of the bulk of the delegates, who are anxious to proceed more slowly. The immediate question is that of Ministerial responsibility, and unless the Ministry can be brought to listen to reason, the Duma must be dissolved. We do not believe that this extreme step is probable, and we think it likely that M. Goremykin's resignation is not far off. He represents the last possible bureaucratic Minister, and there is no alternative to him save a Premier responsible to Parliament. We have said that this question is the most insistent, since till it is settled the Duma is impotent. It is a significant fact that papers like the Novoe Vremya, formerly bureaucratic in their sympathies, are now inclined to support the Duma's demands.
