RUSSIA. 



639 



the estates of the proprietors sufficient land for 

 their support and that of their families; that, at 

 the end of two yi/ars they were to be free, and 

 sooner if they purchased the full quantity of 

 land to which they were entitled, for which 

 purpose loans would be furnished, if needed, 

 from the imperial treasury. The domestics 

 (dvorovye) were to be free at the end of two 

 years. It was further provided that, by ami- 

 cable arrangements, the proprietors and serfs 

 might shorten this period of temporary bond- 

 age, and adjust their mutual relations at once. 

 For the settlement of any difficulties or disputes 

 arising from this prospective emancipation, 

 special courts were established, and a char- 

 ter of rules drawn up, specifying the quantity 

 of laud to which the peasants should be enti- 

 tled, the rental and other charges which might 

 be exacted, and the terms and times of pay- 

 ment. The Emperor closed his manifesto with 

 an earnest appeal to both classes, the proprie- 

 tors and peasants, to maintain towards each 

 other a spirit of mutual accommodation and 

 good will, and to avoid all disputes or manifes- 

 tations of hostility. A commission, of which 

 the Grand Duke Constantino was president, 

 was appointed to superintend the measures for 

 emancipation. 



"While the measures thus initiated were wise 

 and benevolent in intention, they were hardly 

 so clear in their expression as was desirable, 

 and it was found that they had excited expec- 

 tations on the part of the serfs which the events 

 did not justify, and that in several instances 

 serious disturbances resulted. 



The territorial acquisitions of Eussia during 

 the year, were of great magnitude and impor- 

 tance. In the article GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORA- 

 TIONS, we have alluded to the approaches made 

 by that Government towards India in Independ- 

 ent Turkistan, and to their explorations, fol- 

 lowed by the stationing of a resident commis- 

 sioner in Chinese Turkistan. In the extreme 

 east of Asia, they have acquired far larger and 

 more important possessions. By a treaty nego- 

 tiated with the Emperor of China in November, 

 1860, and ratified in 1861. the astute Russian 

 Plenipotentiary, Mouravieff, secured the cession 

 to Russia of the island of Saghalien, and that 

 portion of Mantchooria lying east of the Oussouri 

 River, as far south as the 42 d parallel of north 

 latitude. They also took possession of the princi- 

 pal port of the Japanese island of Yesso ; and on 

 the 13th of June, 1861, seized also the important 

 island of Tsus-sima in the straits of Corea, 

 which is fifty miles long and twelve wide, and 

 commands the strait. This island, it is said, 

 they purpose fortifying, when the Russian Gov- 

 ernment will have command of the entire 

 western coast of Asia, from the 35th parallel 

 northward, 



The conduct of Russia towards the United 

 States, since the commencement of the civil war, 

 has been marked by courtesy and kindness. 

 The desire of the Emperor for the maintenance 

 of our institutions, and the suppression of the 



rebellion has been repeatedly expressed, and 

 manifested by deeds as well as words. (See 

 DIPLOMATIC UOBBJUPOHDXVCB.) 



The finances of Russia are not in a remark- 

 ably prosperous condition. Her resources are 

 immense, and her revenues large, but there 

 has been for a number of years past an annual 

 deficit, which has been met by new loans, and 

 the credit of the empire not being of the best 

 abroad, her loans have been either taken at 

 home, or if negotiated abroad, have paid heavy 

 rates of interest. The extreme reluctance of 

 the Russian Government to make any thing like 

 a full expose of its financial condition has had 

 an unfavorable effect upon its credit. To-day 

 the best-informed financiers of Europe have 

 very little positive knowledge concerning the 

 debt or the present revenue or expenditure of. 

 the empire. A Russian authority, M. Ogarett, 

 states the debt in 1861 as 82,410,000, or about 

 $410,000.000 ; but as the same authority states 

 the debt 'of 1860 at 87,876,920, which would 

 indicate a reduction of $27,000,000 in a year, 

 when no financier has any knowledge of the 

 payment of any portion of the debt, his state- 

 ments are to be received with some caution. 

 The annual expenditure is supposed to range 

 from 8220,000,000 to $250,000,000. 



With the exception of canals, for which the 

 country was well adapted, and which are nu- 

 merous and well constructed, Russia had not 

 till quite recently, accomplished much in the 

 way of internal improvement. A railway sev- 

 enteen miles in length was, indeed, built in 

 1836, but no great enterprises of that kind were 

 attempted till ten or twelve years later. The 

 railway from St. Petersburg to Moscow was 

 opened in 1851, and there are now lines com- 

 pleted or in course of construction to most of 

 the principal towns of European Russia, and to 

 Berlin. There were, at the end of 1861, 3,395 

 miles completed, and nearly as many more pro- 

 jected or in progress. A line of electric tele- 

 graph, to extend from St. Petersburg to Xiko- 

 laiev on the Pacific, near the mouth of the 

 Amoor, was commenced in the spring of 1861, 

 and was to be vigorously pushed forward to 

 completion. It was expected that it would 

 eventually be connected with the American 

 line to San Francisco. 



Education in Russia is confined mostly to 

 those who are able to pay for it, and to the 

 foundlings and other proteges of Government. 

 The high schools, seminaries, colleges, and uni- 

 versities are well conducted, and the course of 

 education in them is thorough ; but the com- 

 munal schools, where they exist, are of the 

 poorest character, and impart no instruction 

 of any value. 



The empire is emerging, and with a rapidity 

 which under all the circumstances is encour- 

 aging, from a barbarism which two centuries 

 ago was nearly absolute, into a high degree of 

 civilization; and though there are occasional 

 and partial reactions, and the autocratic gov- 

 ernment under which it has remained, is gene- 



