RUSSIA. 



599 



henceforth in the public archives at St. Peters- 

 burg. The Finnish officials declined to give them 

 up without express permission trom the Finnish 

 Senate, but subsequently yielded. On Feb. 18, 

 the anniversary of the promulgation of the mani- 

 festo of 1899 announcing' that laws dealing with 

 questions affecting imperial interests would be 

 made by the Russian Government after taking 

 the opinion of the Finnish Estates, popular dem- 

 onstrations and disturbances took place in Hel- 

 singfors which had for their consequence the sup- 

 pression or suspension of many Finnish and 

 Swedish newspapers and the removal of the chief 

 provincial and police officials, who were replaced 

 by Russian military officers in direct violation of 

 the constitutional principle that the administra- 

 tion of Finland shall be carried on with the assist- 

 ance of native authorities only. The Imperial 

 Government had, however, already made it clear 

 that no provisions of the Finnish Constitution 

 should stand in the way of the Russification of 

 Finland. The military reform scheme, which was 

 the chief cause of the conflict, was modified by 

 the Russian Council of State, mainly on financial 

 grounds presented by M. Witte. The new mili- 

 tary service law for Finland, signed by the Czar 

 on July 11, 1901, deprives the Finnish army of 

 its national character, but does not require Fin- 

 nish conscripts to serve or Finnish battalions to 

 be incorporated in Russian regiments except those 

 stationed in Finland or in the military district 

 of St. Petersburg. Finns who are not required 

 to fill up the Finnish regiments will be assigned 

 to such Russian regiments, and Russians may be 

 assigned to the Finnish regiments, described as 

 regiments the ranks of which are preferably filled 

 up by natives of Finland, and thereby they ac- 

 quire Finnish citizenship. Russian officers who 

 get commissions in these regiments which are 

 substituted for the national army of Finland 

 haye the status of Finnish citizens while so serv- 

 ing. The office of commander-in-chief of the Fin- 

 nish army is abolished, as well as the Finnish 

 staff, and the command of all the Finnish troops 

 is transferred to the commander-in-chief of the 

 Russian regiments stationed in Finland. Officers 

 .and non-commissioned officers in Finnish regi- 

 ments must possess a complete knowledge of the 

 Russian language. These regiments may in peace 

 or war be required to serve outside of Finland, 

 either in Russia or abroad. The administration 

 of the Finnish troops is transferred from the Fin- 

 nish Senate to the Russian Ministry of War, who 

 will fix the annual contingent of troops to be 

 raised in Finland. For the immediate future 

 Finns will not be drafted into Russian regiments, 

 and the burden of military service in Finland 

 will be lessened rather than increased, the num- 

 ber of recruits annually called up for service being 

 diminished. Except the battalion of Finnish life 

 guards and the regiment of dragoons, all the 

 Finnish regiments were disbanded, and in 1901, 

 instead of a contingent of 2,000 recruits, only 500 

 were called for. The Finnish Senate voted on 

 Aug. 1 for the promulgation of the army law 

 with only 4 dissenting voices out of 14. The Sen- 

 ators appointed by the Czar on the recommen- 

 dation of Gen. Bobrikoff, the Russian Governor- 

 General, no longer represent Finnish patriotic 

 opinion. A deputation bringing an address in 

 March from 92,000 persons in all parts of Finland 

 was not received by the Senate, the address, call- 

 ing upon the Senators to resist the military law 

 and the introduction of the Russian customs tariff, 

 being considered seditious. The majority of the 

 Senators held that the decision of the Czar in 

 imperial matters was final. In accepting the 



military law the Senate addressed a memorandum 

 to the Czar soliciting his assurance that the po- 

 litical institutions of Finland would be main- 

 tained. The Czar replied that the occasion was 

 not suitable for new assurances as to the main- 

 tenance of the local institutions, of which hi* 

 loyal subjects could not be in doubt; that the dis- 

 semination of disquieting apprehension; jointed 

 rather to the necessity of maintaining public or- 

 der by means of administrative measures. The 

 Senators who voted against the promulgation or 

 the military law were summarily dismissed for 

 failure to comply with the Czar's orders. A law 

 is promulgated in Finland by being read from the 

 church pulpits. Most of the Lutheran pastors 

 petitioned the Senate to be excused on conscien- 

 tious grounds from publishing the military law. 

 In every case where the law was read out from 

 the pulpit the congregation sought to prevent its 

 legal promulgation by leaving the church in a 

 body. The Finnish Diet protested against the 

 Czar's edicts, and the terms of the protest were 

 embodied in a petition signed by 470,000 persons, 

 in which the various infringements on the funda- 

 mental laws of the grand duchy that the mili- 

 tary service law contains are detailed and declar- 

 ing that the law would never be recognized as 

 legal and binding by the Finnish people, who 

 could not cease to remain a nation. 



Dependencies. Bokhara, in central Asia, be- 

 came a vassal state in consequence of a holy war 

 proclaimed against Russia by Muzaffereddin, the 

 late Amir, in 1866. When peace was concluded 

 Russia annexed the province of Syr Daria, and on 

 Sept. 24, 1873, a new treaty was concluded by 

 which the Amir accepted the suzerainty of Rus- 

 sia and agreed to admit no foreigner to his do- 

 minions not provided with a Russian passport. 

 Seyid Abdul Akhad Khan, the present Amir, born 

 March 26, 1859, succeeded to the throne on Nov. 

 12, 1885. The Russian resident is W. J. Igna- 

 tieff. The area is about 92,000 square miles,, with 

 a population estimated at 1,250,000. The city of 

 Bokhara has 75,000 inhabitants. The Amir has 

 an army of 11,000 men. The products of the 

 country are grain, fruits, silk, tobacco, and hemp. 

 The extension of the Russian Transcaspian Rail- 

 road to Tashkend traverses Bokhara, passing near 

 the capital. Russian merchants pay a duty of 

 2 per cent, ad valorem on both imports and 

 exports. 



The khanate of Khiva was invaded by a Rus- 

 sian force in 1872 on the ground that the Khivans 

 had aided Kirghiz rebels. Seyid Mohammed 

 Rahim, the Khan, born in 1845, succeeded his 

 father in 1865. By the treaty of Aug. 25, 1873, 

 the Khan renounced the right to enter into treaty 

 relations with foreign powers or w r ith neighboring 

 rulers. The area is about 22,500 square miles, and 

 the population is estimated at 800,000, half of 

 it consisting of nomadic Turcomans. The war 

 indemnity of 2,750,000 rubles exacted by Russia 

 is being paid in annual instalments, in raising 

 which the Khan frequently incurs the wrath of 

 his subjects and must invoke the aid of Russian 

 troops. His own force is about 2,000 men. Khiva 

 exports annually about 50 tons of raw silk and 

 8,000 tons of cotton. 



By a treaty with China, Port Arthur and Ta- 

 lienwan, with the adjacent country, were leased 

 for a period of twenty-five years, which can be 

 extended by mutual agreement. A ukase of Aug. 

 28, 1899, created this territory into a Russian 

 province called Kwang-Tung. The civil authority 

 and the command of the military and naval forces 

 is entrusted to the Administrator-General, Vice- 

 Admiral Alexieff. Chinese military forces have 



