664 



RUSSIA. 



its obnoxious features. The first sitting of the 

 Supreme Executive Commission was held 

 March 16th. 



A ukase was issued in the latter part of Au- 

 gust, appointing General Loris-Melikoff Minis- 

 ter of the Interior, abolishing the Supreme 

 Commission and the Third Section of the Privy 

 Chancellery, and creating the post of Minister 

 of Posts and Telegraphs, to which Mr. Makoff, 

 hitherto Minister of the Interior, was appoint- 

 ed. The decree was received with great satis- 

 faction, it was said, "as a public announce- 

 ment of the close of the era of domestic trou- 

 bles and extraordinary measures." General 

 Loris-Melikoff, on the 25th of August, held a 

 reception of the officers of the Ministry of the 

 Interior, and made an address soliciting their 

 cooperation and assistance. At the request of 

 General Melikoff, and the Minister of Justice, 

 the Czar gave his assent to a measure for a re- 

 vision of all branches of administration in the 

 provinces, one of the features of which was a 

 provision securing to subordinate officers the 

 right to appeal to a higher authority against 

 their dismissal by their superiors. The Czar, 

 also, in a rescript announcing the investiture 

 of General Melikoff with the insignia of the 

 order of St. Andrew, expressed his warmest 

 thanks for the energy which that officer had 

 displayed in the discharge of his functions as 

 President of the Supreme Executive Commis- 

 sion. 



The editors of the chief Russian journals 

 in St. Petersburg, who had become outspoken 

 in their demands for liberal reforms, were called 

 before General Loris-Melikoff during Septem- 

 ber, and told that their continued discussion 

 of the subject of a constitution for Russia had 

 highly displeased the Czar and his court, and 

 that nothing more on that subject would be 

 allowed to appear in print. The Minister, at 

 this interview, described the programme of the 

 policy of the Government to be : 1. The better 

 guarantee of the public and corporate institu- 

 tions in the enjoyment of their rights, and the 

 extension of the latter as may seem necessary. 

 2. The bringing of the police department into 

 harmony with the new state of affairs. 3. The 

 enlargement of the competency of local insti- 

 tutions, with a view to decentralization. 4. A 

 thorough inquiry into the necessities of the 

 local population. 5. The according to the 

 press of liberty to discuss the various measures 

 and ordinances of Government, but with the 

 condition that it should not agitate the public 

 mind with illusory dreams. 



The Mayor of St. Petersburg was authorized 

 by General Melikoff, in October, to abolish the 

 system which had been introduced by General 

 Gourka, in 1879, under which all the house- 

 holders of the city were required to station 

 doorkeepers as watchmen outside their houses 

 during both the day and the night, but was in- 

 structed that it would be necessary to increase 

 the police force. 



The representatives of the principal newspa- 



pers of St. Petersburg, on invitation, met the 

 committee appointed by the Government to 

 inquire into the press regulations, November 

 17th. They suggested that charges against the 

 press should be subject to the jurisdiction of 

 the ordinary legal tribunals. General Melikoff 

 discouraged impatience on the subject, but was 

 believed to be in favor of emancipating news- 

 papers from all arbitrary and oppressive re- 

 strictions. 



An official project for the readjustment of 

 taxation, which appeared in December, pro- 

 posed that incomes derived from capital, trade, 

 commerce, labor, land, and property, should 

 be taxed according to an equal percentage ; 

 that all foreigners living in Russia should be 

 taxed equally with Russians; that all Govern- 

 ment securities should be taxed without dis- 

 tinction, but that foreigners permanently living 

 abroad should not pay the tax upon incomes 

 derivable from the paper securities upon which 

 Russia bound itself, at the time of their issue, 

 to pay interest abroad. Foreign bondholders, 

 who might wish to avail themselves of this im- 

 munity, would, however, have to certify to the 

 bankers that they were not Russian subjects. 



Michael Dragomiroff, formerly professor at 

 the University of Kiev, a member of the revo- 

 lutionary organization, addressed a letter to 

 General Loris-Melikoff, in April, stating the 

 conditions on which the Revolutionists would 

 " conclude an armistice" with the Government. 

 They were: 1. The dismissal of all the gov- 

 ernors appointed with arbitrary powers since 

 the attempt of the 2d of April, 1879. 2. Aboli- 

 tion of all the measures ordered by them, and 

 also of the exceptional decrees of 1873: 3. Ab- 

 olition of the special tribunals established for 

 the hearing of political trials. 4. An amnesty 

 and restoration of rights to those persons who 

 had been deprived of them in consequence of 

 the arbitrary measures above referred to. 5. 

 Abolition of the Third Section, with all its 

 agents ; guarantees against imprisonment with- 

 out trial. 6. Grant of freedom to the press, 

 the right of meeting, and the right of forming 

 societies. Mr. Dragomiroff added that, if these 

 conditions were not accepted, the contest would 

 be pursued by the Revolutionary party with all 

 the means at its command. New Wladetskis 

 and Solovieffs would arise, and, "instead of 

 the single Executive Committee of the year 

 1878-'79, there will be a whole confederation 

 of political societies to carry on the struggle 

 for the liberation of the people from tyranny." 

 A few days afterward the " Bereg," the newly- 

 established semi-official journal, published what 

 it called the programme of the Revolutionary 

 Executive Committee. It was as follows : 



First, the Government being regarded as an enemy, 

 the end justifies all means that may be employed for 

 its overthrow. Secondly, all elements of opposition, 

 though not actually allied with us, will have our as- 

 sistance and protection. Thirdly, persons and social 

 groups knowingly aiding the Government in our strug- 

 gle Avith it, and exceeding the bounds of neutrality, 

 will be treated as enemies. 



