734 



EUSSIA. 



200 from the land-tax, 2,050,000 net from the 

 railroads, 4,225,000 from the tax on the manu- 

 facture of liquors, and 5,741,444 from the re- 

 serve fund for military purposes. The esti- 

 mated expenditures are 35,131,146 marks, of 

 which 8,580,064 marks are for military pur- 

 poses, including the expenses of reorganization, 

 and 4,020,600 for the service of the public debt. 

 The total debt amounted on the 1st of Janu- 

 ary, 1882, to 61,422,865 marks, the principal 

 part of which was contracted in Germany. 

 The total imports in 1881 amounted to 154,- 

 800,000 marks, 68,400,000 from Russia, 40,600,- 

 000 from Germany, 17,400,000 from Great Brit- 

 ain, and 11,200,000 from Sweden and Norway ; 

 the exports to 107,300,000 marks, of which 

 49,900,000 went to Russia and 20,700,000 to 

 Great Britain. 



FINANCES. The total receipts of the impe- 

 rial Treasury from ordinary sources in 1880 

 amounted to something over 651,000,000 ru- 

 bles. (The silver ruble is the legal unit of ac- 

 count, and is worth 73'4 cents ; the circulating 

 medium is paper money, which is exchanged at 

 a discount of from 10 to 20 per cent and over.) 



The receipts were 138,000 rubles more, and 

 the expenditures 113,354,000 rubles more, than 

 the budget estimates. 



The ordinary receipts for 1882 are estimated 

 in the budget approved by the Emperor Janu- 

 ary 2d, at 654,217,870 rubles; the miscellane- 

 ous receipts known as the " budget d'ordre," 

 and balanced on the expenditure side of the ac- 

 count, at 22,165,068 rubles; the extraordinary 

 receipts, consisting of borrowed money appli- 

 cable to railroads and other works of utility, 

 at 83,121,574 rubles ; the balance in the Treas- 

 ury at 2,500,000 rubles; total estimated re- 

 ceipts from all sources, 762,004,512 rubles. The 

 estimated total expenditures are as follow : Or- 

 dinary expenditures, 658,595,151 rubles ; " bud- 

 get d'ordre," 22,165,068 rubles ; extraordinary 

 expenditures, 72,744,293 rubles ; excess of re- 

 ceipts, 8,500,000 rubles. The state revenue for 

 the half-year ending June 30th showed an act- 

 ual increase of 18,985,079 rubles, and the ex- 

 penditure a decrease of 23,621,226 rubles as 

 compared with the same period of 1881. 



The foreign loans of Russia are payable 

 mostly in pounds sterling, the domestic debt 

 in paper currency. The foreign debt on Janu- 

 ary 1, 1880, reduced to paper rubles, the ex- 

 change value of which in London, at that date, 

 was equal to about 50 cents, stood at 672,488,- 

 519 rubles, against 720,270,163 rubles on Janu- 

 ary 1, 1879 ; the funded domestic debt at 1,367,- 

 385,206 rubles, against 1,080,271,995 rubles 

 in 1879; total consolidated debt, 2,039,873,725 

 rubles, against 1,800,542,158 in 1879. 



In Asia the power of the White Czar ad- 

 vances with great strides. The Shah of Per- 

 sia, recognizing the importance of railroad con- 

 nections with Russia, allowed the Russians to 

 rectify their boundary so as to include an out- 

 lying portion of his own dominions of great 

 natural resources as well as of military impor- 



tance (see PERSIA). The mercantile pioneers 

 who flocked to Kuldja to take advantage of the 

 new commercial treaty with China, met with 

 obstacles to their commerce with the interior. 

 General Kolpakovsky, appointed Governor-Gen- 

 eral of the Steppes and commander of the new- 

 ly-formed military district of Omsk, has the 

 task of looking after the relations with China. 

 General Tchernaieff, the conqueror of Khokand, 

 was appointed Governor-General of Turkistan 

 as the successor of General Kaufmann. 



GOKTCHAKOFF. Prince Gortchakoff handed 

 over the direction of the Foreign Office to M. 

 de Giers, March 22d. He was eighty-four years 

 of age, and his retirement had been many times 

 announced but deferred through his reluctance 

 to resign the position he had so long held. For 

 more than thirty years he was the director of 

 the foreign policy of Russia, and the most influ- 

 ential statesman of Europe until his aims were 

 thwarted and his power eclipsed by Bismarck. 

 His secretary, who succeeds him, had for five 

 years acted as his substitute and is well known 

 to all the courts of Europe. He was particu- 

 larly acceptable to Germany, his appointment 

 being considered a pledge of peace after anti- 

 German sentiments had been fanned into a 

 flame by the speeches of the impetuous Gen- 

 eral Skobeleff, foreboding, it was feared, the 

 selection of Ignatieff, who was supposed to 

 have aspired to the position, and a policy of 

 Slavic extension. The rank and title of Chan- 

 cellor of the Empire were continued to the 

 brilliant diplomatist who had served the state 

 for sixty-five years. 



MINISTER GIERS. Nicholas Carlovitch Giers 

 was born May 21, 1820. His family came origi- 

 nally from Sweden. He entered the Asiatic 

 Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs 

 at the age of eighteen. His first important 

 service was in Austria during the Hungarian 

 campaign of 1848. He held diplomatic posi- 

 tions in Turkey and Roumania, was sent as a 

 special agent to Bessarabia during the Turkish 

 "War of 1855, became Consul-General to Egypt 

 in 1856, and to Wallachia and Moldavia in 1858. 

 From 1863 to 1869 he was embassador to 

 Persia, where his services helped greatly to ce- 

 ment amicable relations with the Shah. After 

 serving as Minister to Switzerland and to Swe- 

 den, he took charge of the Asiatic Department 

 in 1875. In 1876 during a temporary absence 

 of Gortchakoff, in 1877 during the seven months 

 of the Turkish war, and in 1878 during the 

 attendance of Prince Gortchakoff at the Con- 

 gress of Berlin, he had sole charge of the min- 

 istry, which he has retained to all practical in- 

 tents ever since, as the Chancellor's age and in- 

 firmities prevented him from transacting busi- 

 ness for any continuous period. 



POLITICS AND LEGISLATION. The reforms 

 which were discussed during the last years of 

 Alexander II and the first year of the present 

 reign have been abandoned through the de- 

 cision, or indecision, of the uncrowned Czar. 

 At the notable Cabinet sitting of March 20, 



