SAN MIGUEL, EVAPJSTO. 



761 



met in the latter part of January, 1862 (the Rus- 

 sian empire is divided into 88 governments and 

 provinces), whose discussions had usually been 

 confined to local matters of finance, the man- 

 agement of the communes, or sanitary topics, 

 at their sessions at this time took up questions 

 of greater importance, and voted addresses to 

 the Emperor, demanding local self-government, 

 publicity of legal processes, the yearly publi- 

 cation of the budget, the liberty of the press, 

 and the assembling of the General Assembly at 

 Moscow, composed of representatives of all 

 classes, which should be charged with the 

 preparation of a plan of reform for the Govern- 

 ment, or, in other words, a constitution. The 

 Constituent Assembly of Moscow adopted this 

 address by a vote of 300 out of 362 members. 

 The Assembly of Twer went farther; they de- 

 clared that the official regulations concerning 

 emancipation were impracticable, and should 

 be modified ; that the liberated serfs should 

 immediately become proprietors, by means of 

 purchase of lands, in which they should be as- 

 sisted by the Government; that the nobility 

 of that Government (the Constituent Assem- 

 bly was mainly composed of nobles) renounced 

 its privileges of freedom from taxation, and 

 asked to be taxed in the same way and on the 

 same principles as the peasants, and urged the 

 necessity of calling a National Assembly, 

 composed of representatives of all classes to 

 form a constitution. 



The Government was not prepared for such 

 demonstrations on the part of the people, and 

 did not respond very cordially to them, although 

 the Emperor was undoubtedly deeply impressed 

 with the sentiments of the addresses. On the 

 29th of September, O. S. (October 11), the Em- 

 peror promulgated a decree, in which, while 

 withholding as yet the asked for National As- 

 sembly, he grants other reforms of a very 

 important character, and even some which had 

 not been directly sought. Among these are 

 the taking away from the police all judicial 

 power (which has hitherto been one of the 

 greatest of abuses), and vesting the judicial au- 

 thority, in petty cases, civil and criminal, in 

 civil magistrates or justices of the peace, elect- 



ry three years by the p- 

 portent cases are to be 

 tribunals, compos.-d ot'ju-i 

 Emperor, at the nomination oi 

 justice, of whom three :tt 

 at the trial of < . All civil 



inal cases are tried before a jury taken from 

 all classes of the population, eugibilil 

 ing upon age, residence, ; 

 intelligence and morality. The st; ; 

 resented by a pro-editing attorney, and both 

 plaintiff and defendant may employ adv.. 

 A majority of the jury decide the case. In 

 cases where the judges unanim< .der a 



person innocent, whom the jury pronounce 

 guilty, they have the right to refer the case to 

 another jury; but the verdict of: 

 jury shall be final. The directing Miuta 

 stitutes the high court of appeal, which may 

 refer the case back for trial to another tribunal 

 of equal rank, whose decision shall be final in 

 all cases. Imprisonment for debt for sums less 

 than $80 (100 rubles) is abolished, and in no 

 case can a debtor be imprisoned over five 

 years. All legal distinctions, resulting from 

 social conditions, are abolished, all domiciliary 

 visits, searches under warrant, and seizures 

 must be made in the presence of witnesses. 

 All persons arrested, upon whatever charge, 

 must positively be examined within 24 hours, 

 and the classes who would suffer from personal 

 detention are exempted from it. Crimes against 

 the state, against religion, or committed by 

 government officers in the exercise of their 

 functions, are not tried by the courts above 

 described, but by special courts, and the mode 

 of procedure is so arranged that the Emperor 

 is relieved from the personal examination 

 of these cases, and the necessity of a system 

 of espionage, which has hitherto been the 

 curse of Russian society, is obviated. These 

 measures, if honestly and fully carried out. will 

 be the beginning of a new era in the history of 

 Russia, and will" fully entitle her. as she < 

 npon the second thousand years of her h 

 (the thousandth anniversary of the founding of 

 the empire was celebrated in 1862) to a high 

 rank among the civilized nations of the world. 



S 



SAN MIGUEL, EVARISTO, a Spanish general 

 and statesman, born in the Asturias in 1780, 

 died in Madrid, May 29, 1862. He volunteered 

 in the war against the French in 1808, and 

 from his energy and military ability was soon 

 promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and 

 elected a member of the Cortes from Cadiz. 

 After the restoration of Ferdinand VII, he was 

 placed on the retired list, and not long after 

 founded the Espectador newspaper, in which 

 he advocated with great ability a constitution- 

 al government. In 1820, when the tyranny of 

 Ferdinand had utterly extinguished the hopes 



of all the friends of a constitutional government 

 in Spain, and Riego raised his Andalusian ex- 

 pedition,' San Miguel joined him as oh 

 staff, and at that time composed the " Hymn of 

 Rieso," one of the most popular of Spank 

 SOUL'S. The expedition was unsuccessful, and 

 in 1821 San Miguel wa- exiled to Zamora. 

 the tyrant found himself una a the 



tide of public feelinir. and in 1S22 was com- 

 pelled to accept a liberal niin- 

 was recalled and offered th. 

 Foreign Affairs in the new cabinet, win 

 accepted. The time was a critical one. Austria, 



