7-14 



RUSSIA. 



metres in operation. On the same date there 

 were 1,709 kilometres in course of construc- 

 tion. Of these railroads the Russian Govern- 

 ment owned 01 kilometres in Russia and 780 

 kilometres in Finland. 



The number of post-offices in 1877 was 3,678 ; 

 of letters sent, 90,704,555; of postal cards, 

 2,490,400 ; of wrappers, 6,641,194 ; of registered 

 letters, 4,130,630; of newspapers and printed 

 matter, 81,130,872 ; of parcels, 2,092,937. The 

 money sent through the post amounted to 2,016.- 

 592,379 rubles. 



According to the latest report of the Minis- 

 ter of Education, the number of elementary 

 schools in the empire, excluding the Caucasus, 

 Finland, and the Baltic provinces, was 25,077; 

 the number of pupils attending the schools 

 was 1,036,851, of whom 856,139 were boys, 

 and only 180,712 were girls. One school ex- 

 isted for every 3,070 of the inhabitants, and 

 the proportion of children attending school 

 was 1-3 per cent. Assuming that the insuffi- 

 cient number of schools and pupils proves that 

 the schools do not yet exercise any consider- 

 able influence over the masses, the report en- 

 forces the necessity of u the compulsory sys- 

 lem as the only measure which can direct pub- 

 lic education in the right channel, and give it 

 the importance which it should possess in the 

 eyes of the people." The Minister has since 

 called for reports from all the managers of 

 elementary schools on the question of compul- 

 sory education. 



The decisions of the Congress of Berlin were 

 not well received by the Russian people. The 

 " Golos " described the impression produced 

 upon the public as a crushing one, saying that 

 it was felt that Russia had not attained her 

 object, that she had been deceived by her 

 friends, and that she had foolishly helped her 

 enemies with her victories. M. Aksakoff, the 

 Panslavist leader, made a violent speech at 

 Moscow in July against the resolutions of the 

 Congress, asking : " Has victorious Russia really 

 volunteered to play the part of the vanquished, 

 to do penance like a criminal for the holy 

 work she has done, and to beg pardon for her 

 brilliant victories ? Germany and the Western 

 Powers, ironically praising her political wis- 

 dom, gently withdraw the wreath of victory 

 from her brow, and set up in its place a cap 

 and bells." The "St. Petersburg Gazette," 

 defining the position of the country after the 

 war, said that the Russian public might be 

 divided into two classes : those who wished to 

 continue the military and political action of 

 Russia in the East, on the ground that the 

 decisions of the Berlin Congress were unsat- 

 isfactory, and that the external greatness of 

 Russia was its most important interest ; and 

 those who thought Russia had done too much 

 already, and should now devote itself exclu- 

 sively to its internal development. In No- 

 vember the papers were semi - officially ad- 

 vised to moderate their language in reference 

 to foreign Powers, on the ground that these 



attacks were in opposition to the Imperial 

 policy. 



An Imperial commission sat at Odessa in 

 June to inquire into frauds which had been 

 committed during the war in connection with 

 the commissariat department of the army. The 

 investigation disclosed that the evils of corrup- 

 tion and venality were more widely spread 

 than had been anticipated by any one. Among 

 the persons arrested in connection with the 

 inquiry were forty staff officers. As the facts 

 were brought to light public indignation be- 

 came pronounced against the corruption which 

 was disclosed, to which were attributed in a 

 large measure the extraordinary losses which 

 the armies suffered during the war. Corrup- 

 tion in common civil life is also revealed in a 

 report of Prince Volkonski on the district of 

 Ranenburg. This report, the main assertions 

 of which are substantiated by facts cited in 

 detail, is to the effect that the present self-gov- 

 ernment, instituted under the emancipation 

 act, is permeated with bribery and venality, 

 and that the dissipation of communal or public 

 funds is one of the prominent features of the 

 peasant life of the country. 



The internal condition of Russia during 1878 

 was one of continuous uneasiness, growing out 

 of popular dissatisfaction with the political and 

 administrative policy of the Government, and 

 discontent at the social condition of the coun- 

 try, quickened by the agitations of the Social- 

 ists and Nihilists. Vera Sassulitch, a young 

 woman twenty-eight years of age, was tried at 

 St. Petersburg in April for an attempt to as- 

 sassinate General Trepoff, one of the chiefs of 

 the secret police. The circumstances of the 

 case involved points which were given a polit- 

 ical bearing ; and the result of the trial was 

 an unwelcome surprise to the Government, 

 and excited comment throughout Europe. The 

 prisoner had been under the surveillance and 

 displeasure of the Government for about ten 

 years, having been arrested in 1867 as the 

 friend of the sister of a young man who had 

 been engaged m a political conspiracy. She 

 was kept in prison for two years, and was 

 then liberated, but was arrested immediately 

 afterward and taken to eastern Russia, where 

 she was carried from place to place until 1876, 

 when she was set free. In July, 1877, she 

 learned that a political prisoner named Bogo- 

 hichoff had been flogged by order of General 

 Trepoff, in punishment for having refused to 

 salute him. Vera Sassulitch, supposing, as she 

 alleged, that the act of Trepoff would not be 

 noticed by the Government, determined to 

 commit a deed that would compel attention to 

 it. She accordingly called on General Trepofif 

 at his office, and shot him, wounding him se- 

 riously but not fatally. The case was brought 

 to trial on the 12th of April, before a court 

 which was opened to the public, and was at- 

 tended by a crowd of persons of high social 

 standing. The jury was composed of educated 

 men, of whom eight held Government employ- 



