Vox Populi
The men of Russia, the masses, are about to have a little voice at least, in their own government. It seems that the chief source of the rioting in Tokio was because a park where the people were wont to meet was closed against them, which they construed to mean a denial on the part of the authorities of their right of petition which their constitution guarantees to them. And that was in the land of the Mikado, among a supposed to be pagan people. Surely these should be disquieting days to those who have thrones and who claim a divine right to rule. Many a strong swimmer has been carried down by what seamen call “the undertow.” There is an undertow in the hearts of men and it is gaining in volume and power all the time. Man is asserting himself more and more. Man’s right to be free and to help frame the laws he is to obey is crystalizing into a fixed determination the world around, and in civil government the impression is deepening that no man has any divine rights save those of heart and brain.