RUSSIA. 



795 



EXPENDITURES. 



Publicdebt 193,338,684 



Supreme administrative bodies. 1,6545,876 



HolySynod. 10,321,205 



Ministry of the Imperial House - 9,154,668 



of Foreign Affairs 8,645.225 



of War 206,718,802 



of Navy 28,903,132 



of Finance 88,741,500 



of Public Domains 19,152,183 



of the Interior 87,999,917 



of Public Instruction 17,358,296 



of Public Koads 11,586,594 



of J ustice 16,554,596 



of Posts and Telegraphs 21,602,712 



Foreign Churches 1,800,173 



Civil administration of Transcaucasia 8,158,326 



Miscellaneous expenditures 8,033,201 



Total ordinary expenditures 674,725,640 



Deficit expected in the receipts 4,000,000 



Extraordinary expenditures 24,958,551 



Extraordinary expenditures on account of 

 railroads 18,782,418 



Total 717,461,609 



The state of the public debt, on January 1, 

 1879 and 1880, was as follows, according to a 

 report of the Minister of Finance of June 4, 

 1881 (in paper rubles; 100 paper rubles equal 

 66-37 specie rubles) : 



The movement of shipping in 1879 was as 

 follows : 



CLASS OF DEBT. 



1879. 



1880. 



The strength of the Russian army in 1880 

 was as follows : 



The total imports and the exports of domestic 

 goods in 1879 were as follows (values in rubles) : 



The commercial fleet in 1878 consisted of 

 3,643 sailing-vessels, of 308,230 tons, and 259 

 steamers, of 74,324 tons. 



On July 1, 1880, there were 22,644 kilo- 

 metres of railroad in operation, exclusive of 

 Finland. The number of post-offices in 1879 

 was 4,374: of letters sent, 102,461,031; of 

 wrappers, 8,303,025 ; of registered letters, 

 5,789,493; of money letters, 8,782,662; of 

 packages, 2,519,535; of newspapers and pe- 

 riodicals, 78,620,531. The aggregate length 

 of telegraph lines was, in 1878, 99,917 kilome- 

 tres, of which 75,081 were state lines. The 

 number of offices was 2,534; the number of 

 dispatches, 5,761,731. The receipts of the 

 telegraph -office (in 1878, 28,113,702 francs) 

 showed in recent years a small annual surplus, 

 which is, by imperial decree, always devoted 

 to the extension of the telegraphic system. 



The Emperor Alexander II was assassinated 

 by Nihilist plotters, in the streets of St. Peters- 

 burg, on March 13th. The event was unex- 

 pected and startling. It was more than a year 

 since the last and most desperate attempt upon 

 his life, the explosion at the Winter Palace, had 

 occurred. Before that, and the Moscow Rail- 

 road plot, the Nihilists had announced that the 

 Czar had been doomed to death by their secret 

 tribunal, but immediately before the murder 

 none of the customary threats and proclama- 

 tions were issued. The energetic use made by 

 Count Loris-Melikoff of his dictatorial powers 

 seemed to have been sufficient to extirpate 

 Nihilism. Under his vigorous administration 

 of the authority intrusted to him to deal with 

 the revolutionists at his discretion, the propa- 

 ganda was apparently checked, and nearly all the 

 active Nihilists were arrested. All the centers 

 of population and hearths of the revolutionary 

 agitation had been for a year under martial 

 law, the governors-general having been indued 

 with absolute authority. The anticipations of 

 success for Melikoff in dealing with the problem 

 of Nihilism were not based alone on his severity 

 and tireless vigilance in its extermination, but 

 on the remedial measures which were a part of 

 his policy. The sincerity and earnestness of 

 Melikoff 's character, and hid well-known liberal 

 opinions, were a guarantee that the Czar in 

 choosing him had determined not merely to re- 

 press with a heavy hand the socialistic agita- 

 tion, but to remove its cause by sweeping meas- 

 ures for the remedy of social grievances and 

 sufferings, and the extension of limited rights 

 of self-government to the people. The reforms 



