GOVERNMENT AND LAW. 



105 



IS. The Procurator-General of the Holy 

 Synod. 



Besides the Ministers, four Grand Dukes, 

 and six functionaries, chiefly ex-ministers, 

 form part of the Committee, of which Actual 

 Privy Councilor Durnovo is President. 



Minixl* r in/if State Secretary for Finland. 



Most of the above heads of departments 

 have assistant ministers who supply their place 

 on certain occasions. They all communicate 

 directly with the sovereign. 



The Emperor has two Private Cabinets, one 

 of which is occupied with charitable affairs, 

 and the other is devoted to public instruction 

 of girls and to the administration of the insti- 

 tutions established by the late Empress Maria, 

 mother of the Emperor Nicholas I. Besides, 

 there is the Imperial Head-Quarters (Glavnaya 

 Kvartira), and a Cabinet, which is entrusted 

 also with the reception of petitions presented 

 to the Emperor, formerly received by a special 

 Court of Requests (abolished in 1884). Ac- 

 cording to a law of May 19, 1888, a special 

 Imperial Cabinet having four sections (Admin- 

 istrative, Economical, Agricultural and Man- 

 ufacturing, and Legislative) has been created, 

 instead of the same departments in the Minis- 

 try of Imperial Household. According to the 

 law of May 22, 1894, a special chief for the 

 protection of the Imperial residences and trains 

 has been appointed under the title of " General 

 in. Service atthe Emperor' (Dezhurnyi General), 

 General Aide-de-Camp Tchcrevin holding this 

 position. 



Local Government. The Empire is divided into gen- 

 eral governments, or vice-royalties, governments, and 

 districts. There are at present in European Russia (in- 

 cluding Poland and Finland) C8 governments, with 635 

 districts (uyezd), 2 otdyels, and 1 okrug, also considered 

 as separate governments. Some of them are united into 

 general governments, which are now those of Finland, 

 Poland, Wiliia, Kieff, and Moscow. The Asiatic part of 

 the Empire comprises 5 general governments : Caucasus, 

 Turkestan, Stepnoye (of the Steppes), Irkutsh, and of the 

 Amur, with 10 governments (guberniya), 17 territories 

 (obtasts), and 3 districts (okrug, or otdyel: Zakataly, 

 Chernomorsk, and Sakhalin). At the head of each gen- 

 eral government is a governor-general, the representa- 

 tive of the Emperor, who as such has the supreme con- 

 trol and direction of all affairs, whether civil or mili- 

 tary. In Siberia the governors-general are each assisted 

 byacouncil, which has a deliberative voice. A civil gov- 

 ernor assisted by a council of regency, to which all meas- 

 ures must be submitted, is established in each govern- 

 ment, and a military governor in twenty frontier prov- 

 inces. A vice-governor is appointed to fill the place of 

 the civil governor when the latter is absent or unwell. 

 There is also, in each government, a council of control 

 under the presidency of a special officer, depending di- 

 rectly on the Department of Control. Each government 

 is divided into from 8 tc 15 districts, having each sev- 

 eral administrative institutions. A few districts (okruy 

 or otdyel) in Siberia, in the Caucasus, in Turkestan, and 

 in the Transcaspian region are considered as indepen- 

 dent governments. So also the townships (gradonach- 

 alstvo) of St. Petersburg, Odessa, Kertch, Sevastopol, 

 and Taganrog; Cronstadt, Vladivostok, and Nikolaevsk 

 are under separate military governors. In 1894, the Gov- 

 ernment of Wars*aw has been increased by one district 

 of Plock and one district of Lomja. 



In European Russia the government of the parish, in 

 so far as the lands of the peasantry are concerned, and 



part of the local administration, is entrusted to the 

 people. For this purpose the whole country is divided 

 into communes (107,676 in European Russia, exclusive of 

 the three Baltic province*), which elect an elder (Hta- 

 rosta),or executive of a commune, as also a tax-collector 

 or superintendent of public stores. All these officers are 

 elected at communal assemblies (" Mir " which means 

 both " the village" and " the world ") by the peasants, 

 and from among themselves. The communal assemblies 

 are constituted by all the householders in the village, 

 who discuss and decide all communal affairs. These 

 communal assemblies are held as business requires. The 

 communes are united into cantons, or " Voloste," each 

 embracing a population of about 2,000 males (I0,r:to in 

 European Russia). Each of the cantons is presided over 

 aiso by an elder " Starshina," elected at the cantonal as- 

 semblies, which are composed of the delegates of the vil- 

 lage communities in proportion of one i lan to every ten 

 houses. The canton assemblies decide the same class of 

 affairs as do the communal assemblies, but concerning 

 each its respective canton. The peasants have thus spe- 

 cial institutions of their own , wh ich are submitted also to 

 special colleges " for peasants' affairs," instituted in each 

 government. In Poland the " Voloste " is replaced by 

 the " Gmina," the assemblies of which are constituted 

 of all landholders nobility included, the clergy and 

 the police excluded who have each but one voice, what- 

 ever the area of land possessed. The "Gmina" has, 

 however, less autonomy than the " Voloste," being sub- 

 ject directly to the " Chief of the District." In conjunc- 

 tion with the assemblies of the Voloste and Gmina are 

 cantonal tribunals, consisting of from four to twelve 

 judges elected at cantonal assemblies. Injuries and of- 

 fenses of every kind, as well as disputes relating to 

 property between the peasants, not involving more than 

 a hundred roubles, come under the jurisdiction of these 

 popular tribunals. Affairs of more -importance, up to 

 300 roubles, are judged by Judges of Peace, elected in 

 Central Russia, and nominated elsewhere ; appeal against 

 their judgments can be made to the " Syezd," or gath- 

 ering of judges of the district, and further to the Sen- 

 ate. In 1889 an important change was made in the above 

 organization. Justices' of Peace have been replaced in 

 twenty provinces of Central Russia by Chiefs of the dis- 

 trict (uyezdnyi nachalnik), nominated by the adminis- 

 tration from among candidates taken from the nobility, 

 recommended by the nobility, and endowed with wide 

 disciplinary powers against the peasants; in the cities, 

 except St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Odessa, special 

 "town magistrates" (gorodskai sitdia), nominated in 

 the same way, are to take the place of the former Jus- 

 tices of Peace. As to the peasants' tribunals (volostnoi 

 sud), 'hey are placed in direct subjection to the " Chiefs 

 of the Districts." The same measure has been extended 

 in 1800 and 1891 over all the provinces endowed with 

 provincial institutions (semstvos). 



Keligion. The established religion of the Empire in 

 the GrEeco-Russian, officially called the Orthodox-Cath- 

 olic Faith. It has its own independent synod, but main- 

 tains the relations of a sister Church with the four patri- 

 archates of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and 

 Alexandria. The Holy Synod, the board of government 

 of the Church, was established with the concurrence of 

 the Russian clergy and the four Eastern patriarchs. 



The Emperor is head of the Church 5 lie appoints to 

 every office in the Church, and. is restricted only so far 

 as to leave to the bishops and prelates the privilege of 

 proposing candidates; and he transfers and dismisses 

 persons from their offices in certain cases. But he has 

 never claimed the right of deciding theological and 

 dogmatic questions. Practicallv, the Procurator of the 

 Holy Synod enjoys wide powers 'in Church matters. 



The points iii which the Grseco-Russian Church differs 

 from the Roman Catholic faith are. its denying the 

 spiritual supremacy of the Pope, its not enforcing the 

 celibacy of the clergy, and its authorizing all individ- 

 uals to read and study the Scriptures in the vernacular 

 tongue. With the exception of the restraints laid on the 

 Jews, all religions may be freely professed in the Em- 

 pire. The dissenters have been and are still, however, 

 severely persecuted, though recently some liberty has 

 been extended to those of the " United Church." It is 

 estimated that there are more than 12,000,000 dissenters 

 in Great Russia alone. The affairs of the Roman Catho- 

 lic Church are entrusted to a Collegium, and those of 

 the Lutheran Church to a Consistory, both settled at St. 

 Petersburg. Roman Catholics are most numerous in the 

 former Polish provinces, Lutherans in those of the Bal- 

 tic, and Mohammedans in Eastern and Southern Russia, 

 while the Jews are almost entirely settled in the towns 



