The Times correspondent at St. Petersburg publishes an abstract of
a very remarkable letter addressed to the Czar by M. Demtchinsky, a meteoroligist of whose ability Nicholas IL has a high opinion. The letter is said to have been the cause of the recent Manifesto. In the letter, which is unusually frank, the writer declares that Russian society groans under an intolerable repression, official permission being required for everything "except to be born," and the repression is so felt that the murder of a Minister is regarded with satisfaction. The autocracy,' M. DemtChinsky thinks, should be maintained, the people not being ready for a Constitution; but some great 'change should be made, for Russia is like a tank in which the water approaches freezing- point. When the water freezes the tank will burst. The Czar read this document, which is probably confirmed by other knowledge he possesses, and issued his Manifesto; but that is obviously insufficient to improve the situation. What Russia needs first of all is not a Parliament, but more personal liberty for all Russians. In France, owing-to the aristocratic " privileges" and the great feeling for intel- lectual work, there was, even before the Revolution, much liberty.
