464 RESOURCES, &C. OF RUSSIA. 



which are those of St. Petersburg and Moscow. All of them are 

 wretchedly attended. That of Moscow, though boasting of no fewer 

 than twenty-five professors, had only, some years since, from seventy 

 to eighty students. The sum of 130,000 rubles is allotted annually 

 by government for the support of each of these universities. 



The entire number of establishments for educational purposes 

 under the patronage of the Court is rather more than a thousand. 

 Nearly 3,000,000 rubles are set apart for their support. The system 

 of tuition most generally adopted is the Lancasterian. 



The constitution and government of Russia are purely despotic. 

 The monarch, whose title is " the Emperor of all the Russias," is bound 

 by no law. His person is inviolable ; and his will, the moment it 

 is known, acquires all the force of law. He can make war or con- 

 clude peace, impose taxes, raise recruits, grant privileges, abolish 

 monopolies, and, in short, do whatever he pleases by the very sum- 

 mary process of issuing an imperial ukase. Like other European 

 sovereigns, he has a cabinet-council, a senate, &c. ; but all these 

 bodies are his mere creatures. The only instances in which his 

 wishes have even been thwarted were when the nobles extensively 

 conspired together for that purpose. 



Each of the forty-nine governments already mentioned has a 

 civil and military governor for itself, excepting in a very few cases 

 where both offices are united in the same person, or where one go- 

 vernor has two provinces assigned to him. These governors are 

 considered the representatives of the Emperor, and exercise unlimited 

 authority in their respective jurisdictions. To the civil government 

 of each province belong, in addition to the governor, a number of 

 subordinate courts of justice. 



The highest tribunal in the empire is the Council of State. The 

 Emperor is chief president. The number of members of which the 

 Council is composed is thirty-five, inclusive of the ministry. It is 

 divided into four departments. The first takes cognizance of law 

 matters; the second of military affairs ; the third of civil and eccle- 

 siastical questions; and the fourth of everything connected with 

 political economy and finance. 



Each of the ministers has a peculiar department assigned to him. 

 Home affairs, foreign affairs, war, marine, public instruction, finances, 

 jurisprudence, police, engineering, architecture, and religion, have 

 severally their minister. 



The Senate, as it is called, instead of being chosen by the people, 

 as the name would import, is nominated by the Emperor, is paid 

 by him, and is liable to be dismissed whenever he thinks proper. Of 

 course no representation is to be expected from a body so chosen, so 

 paid, and so dependent. 



In Russia the courts of justice have been long proverbial for their 

 corruption. Gold is every thing with the judges. A man's charac- 

 ter or conduct is black or white, when he comes before one of these 

 tribunals, just in proportion to the gold he possesses, and the dispo- 

 sition he evinces to part with it. Judgment is given accordingly. 

 In other words, bribery of the grossest kind prevails to an enormous 

 extent, and is practised with unblushing effrontery. Justice, indeed. 



