ESTIMATE 



. 



Reval and technical schools in vari- 

 ous parts of the country. Esthonia 

 is rich in folklore, the chief records 

 of which are Monumenta Estoniae 

 Antiquae, and the MS. collection of 

 Jacob Hurt, containing songs, tales, 

 proverbs, and other folklore items. 

 After F. R. Kreutzwald published 

 the national epic Kalevipoeg in 

 1861, a new Esthonian literature 

 developed in the 19th century, 

 among the best known writers 

 being Otto Masing, Lydia Koldula, 

 Mihkel Weski, and Johan Liiw. 



ESTHONIA AND THE WAR. By de- 

 cree of the Russian provisional 

 government on April 12, 1917, the 

 prov. of Esthonia was united with 

 the N. part of the prov. of Livonia, 

 which was inhabited by Esthonians. 

 and formed into a new autonomous 

 prov. called Esthonia, under a na- 

 tional council or diet. This council 

 was elected by universal suffrage, 

 May-June, 1917, and met at Reval, 

 June 14, when a national govern- 

 ment was set up. 



Declaration of Independence 

 After the seizure of the supreme 

 power in Russia by Lenin, Esth- 

 onia, like Finland, decided to be- 

 come independent. She was about 

 to hold a constituent assembly 

 when the Bolshevists intervened, 

 and summarily dissolved the 

 national council. The Esthonian 

 Government, under Paets, still re- 

 mained in being, though pre- 

 cariously, and on Feb. 24, 1918, 

 proclaimed Esthonia an indepen- 

 dent republic. During the Brest- 

 Litovsk negotiations, the Germans, 

 to compel Lenin to come to terms, 

 took Reval on Feb. 25, and, march- 

 ing through Esthonia and Livonia, 

 captured Dvinsk and Pskoff. 



By the Brest-Litovsk treaty the 

 Bolshevists undertook to evacuate 

 those territories, which were to be 

 policed by the Germans until the 

 state organization of both provinces 

 was restored. As this would have 

 virtually meant the complete Ger- 

 manisation of these regions, the 

 people, 90 p.c. of whom were pure 

 Esthonians, made emphatic pro- 

 tests to the Allies, and on May 3, 

 1918, Great Britain, and later 

 France and Italy, recognized the 

 national council as the de facto 

 government of Esthonia. 



But the Germans remained 

 masters of the country, and it was 

 not till Nov. 1 1 that the Esthonians 

 recovered supreme power. On 

 Nov. 19 they concluded an agree- 

 ment with Germany, who under- 

 took to evacute Esthonia at once, 

 but did not do so, preferring to play 

 into the hands of the Bolshevists, 

 then beginning an invasion which 

 carried them to within 15 m. of 

 Reval. Finland then came to the 

 aid of Esthonia with 5,000 rifles, 



2984 



MW-_ 



some guns, and 10,000,000 Finnish 

 marks. On Dec. 12 a British fleet, 

 under Admiral Sinclair, entered 

 Reval with arms and munitions, 

 and on Dec. 26 captured two Bol- 

 shevist destroyers, which were 

 handed over to the Esthonians. 



Meanwhile Esthonia had organ- 

 ized her army under General 

 Laidoner, a former Russian staff 

 officer, and by Feb. 24, 1919, her 

 soil was free of the enemy. 



A general election took place in 

 Esthonia, April 5-7, the constitu- 

 ent assembly opened on April 23, 

 and a democratic government was 

 formed, with 0. Strandmann as 

 prime minister; he remained in 

 power until Nov., 1919, when a 

 new coalition government, under 

 J. Toenisson, was established. The 

 chief work of the assembly lay in 

 agrarian reform the nationalisa- 

 tion of the estates of the Baltic 

 barons, and the division of the land 

 among the people, but also a con- 

 stitution was elaborated, and 

 several bills were passed. 



After five years of almost con- 

 tinuous fighting Esthonia longed 

 for peace, andasKoltchak, Denikin, 

 and Yudenitch were averse from 

 recognizing its independence, the 

 new state accepted the proposals 

 for a peace conference made by the 

 Soviet Government throughTchit- 

 cherin on Aug. 31. This took place 

 at Pskoff, Sept. 19, but the Estho- 

 nian delegates made it a condition 

 that Bolshevist peace proposals 

 were to be submitted to all the 

 Baltic States together, to which 

 the Soviet representatives agreed. 



Conclusion of Peace 

 Various conferences were held by 

 Esthonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, 

 and it was decided to hold a con- 

 ference with the Soviet Govern- 

 ment in Oct. at Dorpat. But in 

 that month Yudenitch, supported 

 by the British and Esthonian 

 fleets, advanced on Petrograd, and 

 Bermondt, ostensibly in "the anti- 

 Bolshevist interest, began opera- 

 tions in Latvia; therefore the 

 peace conference was not held. 

 Yudenitch's attempt failed, and 

 the Reds heavily attacked Narva 

 in Nov.-Dec., but were checked by 

 the Esthonians. 



Peace negotiations were resumed, 

 an armistice was signed on Dec. 31, 

 and peace was finally made Feb. 

 2, 1920. By the peace treaty the 

 full independence of Esthonia was 

 recognized by the Soviet Govern- 

 ment, which promised to pay to her 

 15,000,000 roubles in gold, and also 

 gran ted preferential rights for build- 

 ing a rly. from Reval to Moscow. 



Bibliography. L'Allemagne et 

 la Baltikum, G. Caillard, 1919; 

 L'Esthonie, les Esthonians, et la 

 question Esthonierme, M. Martna 

 1920. 



ESTIMATE 



Estimate (Lat. aestimare, to 

 value). Generally, a statement of 

 the probable cost of any contem- 

 plated undertaking. More parti- 

 cularly, it is a statement furnished 

 by builders, contractors and others, 

 naming the sum for which they are 

 prepared to execute a specified 

 piece of work. 



In the Imperial Parliament the 

 consideration of the estimates of 

 national expenditure is an impor- 

 tant part of the financial work of 

 the year. The various departments 

 send to the treasury before Dec. 1 

 particulars of the amount they are 

 likely to want for the year begin- 

 ning April 1 following. These are 

 examined and sometimes reduced 

 by the treasury officials, and in 

 their amended form are presented 

 to the House of Commons in three 

 groups : civil service, navy, army. 



Civil Service Estimates 

 The civil service estimates prope 

 are divided into eight classes: (1 

 public works and buildings ; (2 

 salaries and expenses of civil de 

 partments ; (3) law and justice 



(4) education, science, and art 



(5) foreign and colonial services 



(6) non-effective and charitabl 

 services; (7) miscellaneous ; (8 

 insurance and labour exchanges 

 and the estimates of the revenu 

 departments into tli ree : (1) cus 

 toms and excise ; (2) inland- re 

 venue; (3) post office. The Com 

 mons consider the estimates earlv 

 in the year, as they must be 

 passed before March 31, or the 

 money cannot be legally spent 

 This difficulty, however, is usually 

 met by voting a sum on account. 



The twenty days allowed for 

 their discussion afford a recognized 

 opportunity for criticising mini- 

 sters and officials and the work of 

 the various departments. The pro- 

 cedure is for a member to move 

 that the vote in question, e.g. for 

 the salaries of consuls or the pro- 

 vision of rifles, be reduced by a 

 certain amount. In practice, how- 

 ever, a few, often trivial, points are 

 picked out for debate, and the bulk 

 of the estimates are passed en bloc 

 and without a word on the last of 

 the allotted days. If the amounts 

 provided by the estimates are in- 

 sufficient, which, apart from ordi- 

 nary miscalculations or changes, 

 may be due to a sudden emer- 

 gency, e.g. an outbreak of disease, 

 supplementary estimates are pre- 

 sented later. In 1912 a select com- 

 mittee was appointed to examine 

 and report upon the estimates, and 

 this course has since been followed 

 each year. In 1918 another select 

 committee made recommendations 

 with a view to securing for the 

 House more control over them. 

 See National Finance. 



