RUSSIA. 



751 



assemblies not later than December. The dis- 

 trict assemblies sit ten days, the provincial 

 twenty days ; but the sessions may be prolonged 

 by the permission severally of the Governor of 

 the province and the Minister of the Interior, 

 who may also convene extraordinary assemblies. 

 A Petersburg letter in the Paris " Moniteur " 

 of December 9th, gives the following account 

 of one -of the most important of these assem- 

 blies, that of Moscow : 



After the preliminary business had been got 

 through, the Assembly received communication of 

 several motions touching the general interests of the 

 province of Moscow. The first was intended to show 

 the necessity of establishing a bank, designed to aid 

 in relieving the wants of the province. Another had 

 reference to the situation cf the Russian clergy. The 

 law accords to each parish about thirty-three acres 

 of land, to provide for the subsistence of all the 

 members of its clergy ; but, according to the pro- 

 poser of the motion, those resources rarely suffice 

 for the maintenance of a great number of persons at- 

 tached to the parish, and often encumbered with 

 large families. Some remedy was therefore declared 

 to oe necessary for such a state of things, and the 

 wishes expressed on the subject were referred to the 

 examination of a committee. Mention must also be 

 made of observations presented by several speakers 

 on the subject of the obstacles which impede agricul- 

 tural labors in the government of Moscow, in conse- 

 quence of the difficulty of settling disputes between 

 the workmen and the landowners. Other members 

 called attention to the state of the roads, to the re- 

 organization of the local police, and to the necessity 

 of establishing a medical service in the villages. 

 This last proposition was also referred to a commit- 

 tee, with an injunction to present its report next ses- 

 sion. The Provincial Assembly of Moscow, com- 

 posed of seventy-one members, was presided over 

 by Prince Metschersky. The aristocratic element 

 was predominant, but as that circumstance was the 

 result of election, it may be regarded as an exact 

 representation of the interests of the country. In 

 closing its labors the Assembly, by a decision in- 

 serted in the minutes, came to a resolution to pre- 

 sent to the Emperor the expression of its gratitude 

 for the rights accorded by his Majesty, and the ses- 

 sion was then closed, as it had been opened, by the 

 Governor of Moscow. 



The Diet of the Province of St. Petersburg 

 was opened on December 9th. It consisted of 

 60 members, one-third noblemen of German 

 extraction, and was presided over by M. de 

 Platonoff. Communications were received from 

 two district assemblies, strongly complaining of 

 the paucity of the rights vested in the Provincial 

 Diets, and of the " intrinsic contradictoriness " 

 of the act calling the new establishments into 

 existence. The majority of the Assembly sym- 

 pathized with these complaints, but deemed it 

 best to confine themselves to the passage of a 

 report adopting the contents of the two reports 

 in toto, instead of presenting a petition to the 

 Emperor. 



A much bolder and determined opposition to 

 the institution of the provincial assemblies was 

 made by the Assemblies of Nobles. These as- 

 semblies had been consulted by the Govern- 

 ment before the law establishing the provincial 

 diets was issued. Most of them had expressed 

 the opinion that the projected law established 

 a basis far too democratic, and would, there- 



fore, tend to paralyze the influence of the up- 

 per classes, and particularly that of the landed 

 gentry. This objection was most strongly ex- 

 pressed by the Assemblies of St. Petersburg, 

 Simbirsk, Kostroma, Novgorod, and Orenburg, 

 which protested against what they called the 

 dissolving principle of absolute democracy, so 

 strongly infused by the Government into the 

 projected law. Their objections and remon- 

 stances were, however, of no effect. 



A similar result attended the representations 

 of the nobility, marshals, and mayors who had 

 been invited to take a consultative part in the 

 deliberations. Prince Gregory Stcherbatoff, 

 Provincial Marshal of St. Petersburg, asked for 

 a better guaranty against arbitrary authority 

 than the law provided. Prince Gagarin, pro- 

 vincial marshal, and Prince Alexander Stcher- 

 batoff, mayor of Moscow, protested against the 

 " levelling and demagogic " project of the Gov- 

 ernment. But their objections were overruled, 

 and, with the exception of a few insignificant 

 modifications, the law passed in the form orig- 

 inally proposed by the Government. 



The Assemblies of the Nobles, held in 1865, 

 also gave, in several instances, an emphatic ex- 

 pression to their opposition. That of Moscow 

 adopted, by a vote of 270 to 37, the following 

 address to the Czar : 



Most Gracious Sire : The nobility of Moscow can- 

 not at their present meeting refrain from expressing 

 to your Majesty their feelings of deep devotion and 

 gratitude for your Majesty's wise initiations invaria- 

 bly directed toward the welfare of our country. We 

 are ready. Sire, to cooperate with you, by word and 

 by deed, in the difficult but glorious path which you 

 have chosen. We are convinced, Sire, that you will 

 not halt in that path, and that you will proceed in it, 

 leaning on your faithful nobility and on the whole 

 Russian nation. The strength of our country lies in 

 its friendly unity and integrity. By gathering your 

 hitherto divided Russia into a single body, by weld- 

 ing it firmly together and replacing the separate rights 

 of so_me of its parts by general rights for all, you will 

 eliminate forever all possibility of revolt and civil 

 war. The new rural institutions which your Maj- 

 esty has called into life are destined when fully de- 

 veloped to make durable the glory and strength of 

 Russia. Complete, therefore, Sire, the edifice of the 

 State of which you have laid the foundation, by con- 

 voking a general assembly of men elected by the 

 whole of Russia for the discussion of require- 

 ments common to the empire. Command your faith- 

 ful nobility, with the same object, to elect the best 

 men from amidst their ranks. The nobility have al- 

 ways been firm supporters of the Russian throne. 

 Without bein<j considered in the service of the State, 

 without enjoying the rewards connected with it, ful- 

 filling their duty without remuneration, to the ad- 

 vantage of the country and of general order, those 

 men will, by their position, be called upon to guard 

 the moral and political principles on which the State 

 reposes, and which are so inestimable to the people 

 and so indispensable to their real well-beicg. By 

 that means, Sire, you will ascertain the wnnts of our 

 country in their true light, you will restore confi- 

 dence in the executive, vou will attain a strict ob- 

 servance of the law by all and each, and its applica- 

 bility to the requirements of the country. The truth 

 will reach your throne unimpeded, enemies at home 

 and abroad will be silenced, when the people, in the 

 persons of their representatives, shall with love sur- 

 round the throne, and watch constantly that no 



