RUSSIA, 



623 



appointed a brigadier-general in the regular 

 army, and was dispatched to take possession, 

 in the name of the United States, of Alaska^ 

 He was summoned to Washington to testify in 

 the impeachment trial, but did not arrive in 

 time. Not desiring to return to his command 

 in Alaska, the President assigned him to the 

 command of the Gulf Department, where his 

 administration was not remarkably successful. 

 He seems to have been a better soldier than 

 administrative officer or legislator. General 

 Rousseau was a man of commanding figure, 

 and extraordinary personal presence, and was 

 greatly beloved by his soldiers. 



RUSSIA, an empire in Europe and Asia. 

 Emperor, Alexander II., born April 17 (new 

 style April 29), 1818; succeeded his father 

 Nicholas, February 18 (March 2), 1855 ; heir- 

 apparent, Grand-duke Alexander, born Feb- 

 ruary 26 (March 10), 1845 ; his son, Nich- 

 olas, born May 18, 1868. 



The total area of Russia is about 7,860,000 

 square miles ; of which 2,050,313 belong to 

 Europe. The population of the great divisions 

 of the empire was, in 1865, as follows : 



In Europe. .Russia Proper 61.230,000 



Poland 5,320,000 



Finland 1,840,000 



In Asia Caucasus 4,500,000 



Siberia and Central Asia.. ... 5,500,000 



78,390,000 



The budget of the Russian empire for 1869 

 amounted to 482,000,000 rubles. The revenue 

 accounts show a surplus of 4,000,000 from 

 the budget of 1867, and a surplus of 10,000,000 

 from the budget of 1868, and these amounts 

 cover the increase of 13,000,000 in the expen- 

 diture. Thirty-one million rubles are ap- 

 propriated from special sources for the con- 

 struction of railway lines and for harbor works 

 at Riga and Odessa. The Minister of Finance 

 ascribes the increase in the revenue to a more 

 than usually satisfactory harvest, and to the 

 stimulus given to commerce by the extension 

 of the railway system. He expresses his con- 

 viction that nothing but a peaceful development 

 of the moral and material interests of Russia 

 can consolidate the finances of the country. 



The debt of Russia amounted on January 1, 

 1869, to 2,003,484,160 rubles ; the debt of the 

 former kingdom of Poland, 44,201,662. 



The Russian army, in 1866, consisted of 697, - 

 137 men. The fleet, on January 1, 1868, was 

 composed of 267 vessels (20 iron-clads, 210 

 other steamers, 37 sailing-vessels), exclusive of 

 the coasting-vessels. The movement of com- 

 merce in 1867 and 1868 was as follows (value 

 expressed in millions of rubles) : 



The movement of shipping, in 1868, was 

 follows : 



The gradual extinction of serfdom is still 

 in progress in Russia. Of the 10,000,000 of 

 former serfs, two-thirds have already become 

 landed proprietors. The Government allotted 

 to each peasant a lot of three hectares (the 

 hectare being nearly 2 acres), requiring them 

 to pay one-fifth its appraised value at once to 

 the proprietor, while the Government advanced 

 the remaining four-fifths and charged the peas- 

 ants six per cent, interest on the loan for forty- 

 nine years. The annual charge for each lot 

 under this arrangement is nine rubles ; other 

 taxes amount to nearly five rubles; and, if 

 there are children entitled to land under the 

 emancipation act, the head of the family must 

 pay for them also. Until the purchase of the 

 land is completed, the peasant is obliged to 

 labor for the proprietor, though he is personally 

 free. It is optional with the peasants to accept 

 a free gift of one hectare instead of the privi- 

 lege of purchasing three; but comparatively 

 few content themselves with these " beggars' 

 portions." Besides the high price of the land, 

 another drawback to the Czar's plan is that 

 the possession of the land is vested not in in- 

 dividuals but in communes, so that the peasants 

 continue to be veritable adscriptio glebes. They 

 cannot separate from the communities without 

 the formal consent of the communal assembly, 

 except on paying their share of the interest on 

 the Government advances for the whole period 

 of forty-nine years. This adscriptio glebes is 

 to cease, -however, with the year 1870, when 

 the law gives the peasants the option of sep- 

 arating from the community by renouncing 

 their right to any portion of the communal 

 lands. 



An important reform, effected in 1869, was 

 the abolition of the hereditary character of the 

 Russian priesthood, a body numbering, with 

 their families, not less than seven hundred 

 thousand. (See GEEEK CHTJKCH.) 



Another great reform was accomplished by 

 a ukase reducing the term of military service 

 from seven years to five, in the case of young 

 men under twenty who enter the army as vol- 

 unteers. A further reduction of a year's service 

 is promised as a reward for good conduct. This 

 regulation is to be followed by another restrict- 

 ing marriages in the army. Hitherto soldiers 

 were encouraged to marry in order to induce 

 them to make the army their home, and their 

 wives and children were maintained by the 

 Government. This practice is now regarded 

 as too expensive and not desirable even from 

 a purely military point of view, as the move- 

 ment of the troops from place to place has 

 been greatly encumbered by their taking so 

 many women and children with them. It is 



