Ambassador Meyer tells Senator Lodge that St. Petersburg, Russia, has been perfectly quiet since he arrived, due to extraordinary precautions taken by Governor-General Trepov to put down any troubles. Meyer thinks the disturbances in Warsaw, Poland, were a smaller scale repetition of those in St. Petersburg on January 22, 1905, and he notes that both could have been avoided by an able police. The stories Meyer has heard about corruption in some of the departments in St. Petersburg are astounding. Meyer thinks the ukaz issued by Emperor Nicholas II giving religious liberty to practically all sects except the Jewish people, if honestly and efficiently carried out, will be beneficial to the country. Representatives of Russian zemstvos, local municipalities, met recently at Moscow and blocked out a scheme of representative government. Meyer thinks the idea of a representative government is permeating all classes of society and that reforms are sure to come about, but the Russian government is currently “in a comatose state,” awaiting the result of the naval conflict and the next battle near Harbin, Manchuria.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1905-05-06
Creator(s)
Meyer, George von Lengerke, 1858-1918
