1909-01-27 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT AND THE PRESS

London Times, 27 January 1909, p. 5: THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT AND THE PRESS. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) ST. PETERSBURG, JAN. 26. Considerable interest has been caused here by the Government’s decision to prosecute the editor of the Novoe Vremya for adversely commenting on the naval Court-martial which condemned the retired general Alexeieff to pay a fine of 10,000 roubles (£1,000) on a charge of accepting gratuities from a foreign firm which supplied guns to Russian warships during the late war. General Alexeieff was a brilliant artilleryman, and after resigning from the Admiralty he published in the Novoe Vremya a series of scathing articles disclosing defects in naval administration. Although the articles in some instances exaggerated matters, they undoubtedly rendered a public service by calling attention to the necessity of reforms. Evidence was supplied at the trial of such a character that the verdict should have been one of non-proven. Public opinion is unanimously agreed that General Alexeieff was the victim of Admiralty reprisals. Subscription lists have been opened to provide money to pay the fine.

The prosecution of Novoe Vremya is symptomatic of the fact that even the accredited organ of the bureaucracy receives no special consideration in the impartially rigorous policy of the Government, but at least it is given the benefit of a trial whereas its contemporaries are frequently subjected to summary penalties.