704 



RUSSIA. 



since the change in the Constitution, on foreign- 

 ers, which deprived the Roumanian Hebrews 

 of their means of livelihood. They were pro- 

 hibited from dealing in spirits and tobacco, and 

 from being brokers on the Bourse or in trade. 

 They were ordered to withdraw from the vil- 

 lages and rural districts into the towns, on 

 forty-eight hours' notice. There was a law 

 passed in April, 1884, forbidding the peddling 

 of any kind of merchandise, except articles of 

 food an act which was directed against the 

 Jews, who were almost the only class employed 

 in this business. It was even proposed to ex- 

 clude foreigners from the trade-guilds, though 

 three fourths of the artisans in Roumania are 

 Jews. The exclusion of foreigners in general 

 from the ownership of land was a popularly 

 approved feature in the ministerial policy. An 

 act was passed in February, 1884, extending 

 the disability to foreign joint -stock com- 

 panies. 



RUSSIA, an empire in eastern Europe. The 

 law-making, executive, and judicial authority 

 is concentrated in the person of the Emperor, 

 who is also the spiritual head of the Church. 

 The government of the country is under the 

 supreme direction of the Emperor's private 

 Cabinet. Subordinated to the Imperial Cabi- 

 net is the Council of the Emperor, divided into 

 a legislative, an administrative, and a financial 

 department, the functions of which are to su- 

 perintend the administration of the laws, and 

 to suggest alterations and amendments. A 

 second great council is the directing Senate, 

 which is the highest court of judicature, be- 

 sides exercising a control over the other tribu- 

 nals of the empire. It is divided into eight 

 sections, each of which acts as the court of 

 final resort in a particular branch of the law. 

 A third great governing body is the Holy Syn- 

 od, directing ecclesiastical affairs. All its de- 

 cisions must be ratified by the Emperor. 



The Imperial Cabinet is divided into eleven 

 departments. The Minister of the Imperial 

 Household is Gen. Count Vorontzoif Dashkoff, 

 who succeeded Count Adlerberg in 1871. The 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs is Nicholas de Giers, 

 who was the practical head of the department 

 for some years before the retirement of Prince 

 Gortehakoff in March, 1882. The Minister of 

 War is Gen. Vannovski, appointed in March, 



1881. The Minister of the Interior is Count 

 Tolstoy, who succeeded Gen. Ignatieff in June, 



1882. Baron Nicolai was succeeded in 1884 by 

 M. Delianoff as Minister of Public Instruction. 

 The Minister of Finance is M. Bunge, successor 

 to Count Abaza. The Minister of Domains is 

 M. Ostrovski. The Minister of the Navy, which 

 is under the command of the Admiral-General, 

 the Grand Duke Alexis, is Vice- Admiral Ches- 

 takoff. The Minister of Public Works is Vice- 

 Admiral C. Possiet, appointed in 1874. 



The Lieutenant of the Emperor in the Cau- 

 casus is Prince Dondoukoff - Korsakoff. The 

 chief of the first section of the Privy Council 

 is Secretary of State Taneieff ; of the second, 



R. Gerhard, ad interim. The-adjunct in charge 

 of the third section is Lieut.-Gen. de Richter. 

 The President of the Council of the Empire is 

 the Grand Duke Michael; the heads of the 

 three departments are Baron Nicolai, M. Stoi- 

 anovski, and M. Abaza. The head of the Min- 

 istry of Justice is D. Nabokoff. The President 

 of the Holy Synod is Isidore, Metropolitan of 

 Novgorod, St. Petersburg, and Finland; the 

 Procurator-General, M. Pobedonostzeff. The 

 Comptroller-General of the Empire is Secre- 

 tary of State Solski. The Governor- General 

 of Poland is Gen. Gurko. 



Area and Population. The area of the Rus- 

 sian Empire is 22,397,460 square kilometres, 

 or 8,614,400 square miles. The following 

 table gives the area in square kilometres and 

 the population of the main political divisions 

 of the empire, according to the latest esti- 

 mates : 



The following is a list of the cities that con- 

 tained at the latest returns more than 100,000 

 inhabitants : 



CITIES. Population. 



St. Petersburg 929.093 



Moscow (1862) 760,t67 



Warsaw (1882) 406,261 



Odessa (18S2) 217,000 



Riga (1881) 168.844 



Kazan 184.696 



Kichinev H8SO) 130.000 



Kiev (1874) 127/251 



Saratov (1880) 109,588 



Kharkov 128,445 



In Asiatic Russia, Tiflis contained in 1876 

 104,024 inhabitants, and Tashkend has about 

 100,000. 



Commerce. The total value of the imports in 

 1882 was 566,300,000 rubles (the silver ruble 

 has a value of 73'4 cents), against 517,700,000 

 rubles in 1881, and 412,500,000 rubles in 1873. 

 The imports from Finland were 15,600,000 ru- 

 bles, against 10,400,000 in 1881 ; from Europe, 

 518,400,000, against 476,100,000 rubles; from 

 Asia, 32,300,000, against 31,200,000 rubles. 

 The total value of the exports in 1882 was 

 617,800,000 rubles, against 506,400,000 in 188V 

 having increased from 364.500,000 in 1873. 

 The exports to Finland were valued at 13,800,- 

 000 rubles, against 12,000,000 in 1881 ; to Eu- 

 rope at 590,700,000, against 481,300,000 rubles ; 

 to Asia at 13,800,000, against 13,100,000 rubles. 

 The extent of the trade with the principal for- 

 eign nations in 1882 is shown in the following 

 table, giving in round numbers the values of 

 the imports and exports hi rubles : 





