Russia. Gosudarstvennai︠a︡ Duma

W. T. Stead relays the history of Russian Emperor Nicholas II’s reign up to this point, and asserts that his unpopularity with his people and inability to act rests on the bureaucracy built up by his ministers. Stead believes that Nicholas will be “emancipated” from the limits of autocracy and bureaucracy by the upcoming election of the Duma. When the Tsar and Duma meet, Stead predicts that they will be able to work well together.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-12

Creator(s)

Stead, W. T. (William Thomas), 1849-1912

President Roosevelt recently received a copy of French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau’s recent speech, responding to Jean Jaurès, and asks French Ambassador Jusserand to tell Clemenceau of Roosevelt’s admiration of the speech. Roosevelt agrees with nearly everything Clemenceau said, and was interested to see that Clemenceau’s policies are very similar to Roosevelt’s own. He comments that if anything he would have been more extreme in his insistence of putting down mob violence, and reflects on situations in France and Russia, believing the Russian Duma is acting improperly by currently working to abolish the death penalty while at the same time assassination is rife in Russia. Congressman Nicholas Longworth is having Clemenceau’s speech translation and printed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-16

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Ambassador Meyer explains in a memorandum that the Admiralty are laying down two battleships to be built in Russia. Meyer learned in a conversation with a Russian Admiral that they had begun building the ships since if they had waited until March it would have meant paying off 20,000 workmen and causing great unemployment. Meyer learned from another source that the plan was to have a fleet of four battleships and an English Company is offering to build a ship with ten or twelve 12-inch guns with speed similar to the “Dreadnought.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-06

Creator(s)

Meyer, George von Lengerke, 1858-1918

Ambassador Meyer quotes a published semi-official note regarding the “Jewish question,” and notes that the position of Prime Minister Petr Arkad’evich Stolypin is a difficult one, because of opposition from the Duma.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-29

Creator(s)

Meyer, George von Lengerke, 1858-1918

Ambassador Meyer updates Theodore Roosevelt on the socioeconomic conditions in Russia. Meyer discusses the problems of working with the Russian government.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-11

Creator(s)

Meyer, George von Lengerke, 1858-1918

Andrew Dickson White discusses the political turmoil in Russia and the problems Russians cause in the United States and abroad. White thinks it wise that Richard Watson Gilder, editor of The Century Magazine, has avoided involvement with Maxim Gorky, and he wishes that Mark Twain and William Dean Howells had done the same.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-18

Creator(s)

White, Andrew Dickson, 1832-1918

Cecil Spring Rice thanks Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt for her letter and gives personal updates on his life. He wishes he could bring his wife to see Roosevelt, but she is in London and is expecting a baby soon. Spring Rice wishes he could be with her, but is doing his duty in St. Petersburg. He comments on the state of politics in Russia, particularly between Sergei Witte and Pyotr Durnovo. The Emperor believes the army is loyal to him, but Spring Rice believes that the situation will not last very long and that a revolution will come sooner or later. He mentions the San Francisco earthquake, commenting on how well the military responded and how quickly the city is likely to be rebuilt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-25

Creator(s)

Spring Rice, Cecil, Sir, 1859-1918

President Roosevelt tells Ambassador to Russia Meyer that he has felt impatient with the Russian Duma, believing it to be subject to socialist and anarchistic influences. Roosevelt thinks it unfortunate that in a country struggling towards effective self-government, the leaders are “impractical and foolish visionaries of the Tolstoy class.”

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1906-08-30

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

In one scene, political prisoners or activists are sentenced to hard labor and sent to Siberia. In another, they are sent to serve on legislative assemblies. Caption: Formerly, patriots were sent to Siberia. Now they are sent to the Duma.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-07-17