The reactionary revolution involved in this coup d'etai may be
gathered when it is stated that by extending class suffrage to landlords four-fifths of the electorate are placed within the absolute control of the landowners ; that the system of direct elections, with a higher property test, is instituted in the larger cities, thus abolishing the separate labour electorate ; and that Poland loses twenty-three, the Caucasus nineteen, and Asiatic Russia thirty-one Deputies, while Turkestan is entirely excluded. The new law, which violates one of the essential guarantees of the Constitution- vis., that the electoral law shall not be changed without the consent of the Duma—bas been condemned as impolitic and unconstitutional even by the Octobrists; it has inspired the gravest misgivings as to the sincerity of the Emperor's desire to "give the nation new principles for the life of the State"; and it serves the double purpose of elating the reactionaries and making martyrs and heroes of discredited revolutionists.
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