RUSSIA. 



733 



the communes and 80 per cent was advanced 

 by the Government, to be repaid by the peas- 

 ants in 49 annual payments. The crown peas- 

 ants received their lands on the condition of 

 paying for 49 years the annual poll-tax previ- 

 ously paid by them. Of the total cultivable 

 lands of Russia Proper '-$ per cent are in towns, 

 34 T 6 per cent belong to the crown, 3| per cent 

 are attached to mines, 15 T 6 T per cent are held 

 by crown peasants, 5 per cent by former serfs, 

 19 T V per cent belong to noblemen and other 

 former proprietors of serfs, and 20f per cent 

 is not brought into cultivation. The agricul- 

 tural distress which followed the emancipation 

 of the serfs in Great Russia is by many attrib- 

 uted to the retention of the old Russian insti- 

 tution of agrarian communism. The German 

 nobility of the Baltic provinces emancipated 

 their own serfs in 1819, and the latter have 

 served their former lords as agricultural labor- 

 ers, or by the purchase of land become indi- 

 vidual proprietors. These provinces are greatly 

 in advance of Great Russia in agriculture and 

 in popular intelligence. The Czar's Govern- 

 ment has occupied itself constantly with plans 

 to arrest the agricultural decadence and relieve 

 the distress of the mujiks. Much was expected 

 from the abolition of the salt-tax in the earlier 

 period of Loris MelikofFs ministry ; but although, 

 the Government lost 15,000,000 rubles of rev- 

 enue, the price of salt remained almost the 

 same as before. Ignatieff approached the sub- 

 ject, with an ostentatious display of national, 

 Panslavistic sentiment, by calling together com- 

 missions of "experts," the most important of 

 which was the one on the liquor question. 

 Another outcome of these expert investiga- 

 tions was the reduction of the purchase-money 

 to be paid by the peasants, and the decree that 

 all payments in service should cease at the end 

 of 1883. A third remedy which was adopted 

 is the colonization of communes which are un- 

 able to support themselves on their allotments 

 upon vacant crown-lands. The latest remedy 

 for the agrarian distress is the progressive abo- 

 lition of the poll-tax, announced in a ukase, 

 June 14th. From the 1st of January, 1883, 

 the lower class in the cities and certain classes 

 of peasants are relieved of the poll-tax, while 

 the Finance Minister is to present to the Czar 

 next year a scheme for replacing the whole 

 poll-tax with other revenues. 



ARMY AND NAVY. The military force is di- 

 vided into the active and the territorial armies. 

 The first consists of the standing military and 

 naval forces. The territorial army comprises 

 those who have escaped being drafted into 

 the active army after four annual drawings, 

 those who have served their time in the ac- 

 tive army and its reserve, the Cossack irregu- 

 lars, and bodies composed of foreign elements. 

 There are 19 army corps, of which the Guards 

 and the Grenadiers each constitute one, and the 

 troops of the Caucasus two. There are 852 

 battalions of infantry, 24 of engineers, 348 

 squadrons of cavalry, and 337i batteries of ar- 



tillery, with 1,406 guns, in the regular army in 

 active service. The war organization of the 

 regular army comprises 1,766 battalions of in- 

 fantry, 412 squadrons of cavalry, and 484 bat- 

 teries of artillery, with 3,772 guns. The artil- 

 lery have been furnished since 1878 with new 

 cannon in cast-steel. By a decree of August 

 30, 1882, the 14 regiments of lancers and 14 

 regiments of hussars have been transformed 

 into dragoons. 



The effective of the regular army in 1882 is 

 shown in the following table : 



The irregular army consists of the Cossacks 

 of the Don, the Kuban, the Terek, Orenburg, 

 the Ural, Siberia, etc., who under the new regu- 

 lations furnish the regular army with all its 

 light cavalry. The peace establishment counts 

 about 45,000 Cossacks ; their war effective is 

 156,341, formed into 880 sotnias, or squadrons. 

 The entire peace establishment of the Russian 

 army is 974,771 men. The army can be in- 

 creased in war to 2,733,305 men. The active 

 army in 1881 numbered 907,248. The recruit 

 for 1882 was fixed at 212,000 men. The num- 

 ber of years of service in the line was increased 

 by one year, and the class of one-year volun- 

 teers introduced. Notwithstanding the need 

 and desire of the Government for economy, the 

 military expenditures are increased. The war- 

 like impulse which stirred Russia in the spring 

 resulted in more energetic endeavors to per- 

 fect the military organization, and strengthened 

 the country for offensive or defensive opera- 

 tions on the western borders. A new strate- 

 gical railroad was built on the Austrian fron- 

 tier from Prinsk to Jabinsk, and one laid out 

 to run from Vilna to Kovno, joining the first 

 near Prinsk. A sum exceeding 15,000,000 ru- 

 bles has been set aside to carry out the plans 

 of General Kaufmann for the fortification of the 

 western frontier, a scheme which has been 

 postponed on account of the financial difficul- 

 ties of the Government. The expenditure is to 

 extend over several years. (See NAVIES OF Eu- 

 EOPE.) 



FINLAND. The Grand Duchy of Finland 

 possesses a constitutional government. The 

 population on December 30, 1880, was 2,060,- 

 782, comprising 1,756,381 speaking Finnish, 

 294,876 Swedish, 4,195 Russian, 1,720 German, 

 961 Lapps, and 14,052 of foreign birth. The 

 budget for 1882 places the total revenue at 

 36,320,714 marks. (The Finland mark is of 

 the value of a franc. The gold standard was 

 adopted in 1877.) Of the total revenue 10,000,- 

 000 marks are derived from customs, 4,540,- 



