Editorial March 21, 1903 Issue

The Czar's Decree

ONE of the most striking proofs of the progressive spirit of the twentieth century is the recent decree of Czar Nicholas of Russia. The opinion that it is "the most significant act of state since the emancipation of the serfs" seems well within bounds, and the statement that "the public hails it as a proclamation of a new era, opening bright prospects of the early improvement of Russian internal administration" seems justified.

The declaration, "Without delay measures must be taken to release the peasants from the present burdensome liability of forced labor," reads somewhat like a proclamation abolishing slavery, and it is hardly conceivable that such a condition has existed within the present generation. It has generally been supposed that the liberation of the serfs by the grandfather of the present Czar, had abolished personal servitude, although it did not confer political equality. That there will be no delay in this regard will be the hope of all liberty-loving people the world over.

What will appeal to many as the most significant and most liberal clause of the decree, is that which grants religious liberty to those outside of the state church. The following words seem sufficient to guarantee religious freedom and protection to all. "We are irrevocably decided to satisfy the needs for which the state has become ripe, and have deemed it expedient to strengthen and decree the undeviating observance of the principles of tolerance laid down by the fundamental laws of the Russian empire, which, recognizing the Orthodox Church as the ruling one, grant to all our subjects of other religious, and to all foreign persuasions, freedom of creed and worship in accordance with other rites."

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