Carious rumours, which cannot all be true, continue to arrive
from St. Petersburg. According to one Set of. them which are forwarded to the Times, the Liberals have at present the ear of the Czar, and he is willing to enfranchise.the Press, to grant a limited right of public meeting, and to regulate in a restrictive sense the powers of arrest arrogated by the police. The journals of Paris, on the other hand, are
told by their correspondents that his Majesty intends, in view of the grave disorders in Russia, to place the whole Empire under martial law ; to call out all the Reservists, fifty thousand from the governments of St. Petersburg and Moscow alone ; and greatly to increase the numbers of the police. These rumours doubtless represent the counsels of the Liberal and Reactionary parties ; but as yet there is no decisive evidence as to the policy of the Emperor, who has been making a brief tour in his yacht to the ports of Finland. Great interest is felt as to the reception to be given at Tsarskoe Selo to M. Witte, who is not a Liberal, and who has publicly attributed the whole credit of the Peace to the Emperor. M. Witte, who seems inclined for an alliance with Germany, is not, however, persona grata with the Court, and may not obtain the Presidency of the new Council of Ministers, which is the object of his ambition.
