720 



RUSSIA. 



the Germans, gave the occasion for a commis- 

 sion of inquiry and a revision of the provincial 

 system of government. The laws are being 

 revised and brought into harmony with the 

 Russian system of jurisprudence. Russian 

 governors have been appointed in Revel and 

 Riga. The Russian language has been intro- 

 duced in official correspondence. The Vice- 

 Governor of Courland has made Russian the 

 official language in various departments of the 

 administration. Russian proceduie has been 

 introduced in Dorpat and Riga. In Livonia 

 the imperial authorities have assumed control 

 of the police. In the gymnasia the Russian 

 language and Russian national history are 

 made the most prominent branches of study. 

 The preparatory schools are to be transformed 

 into Russian schools, but the towns threaten 

 to withdraw their contributions from the 

 schools. The Germans have already started 

 gymnasia and district schools with private 

 means. The elementary schools, in which the 

 Ruthenian language is used and which are a 

 bulwark of the Lutheran Church, are under- 

 going a systematic Russification. Converts to 

 the Greek faith are exempted from all ecclesi- 

 astical dues. Within a year about 5,000 per- 

 sons have gone over to the Russian Church, 

 which by a ministerial decree has been de- 

 clared the state religion, and the Lutheran 

 confession reduced to the position of a toler- 

 ated sect. All children born of mixed mar- 

 riages must be baptized into the Greek faith, 

 as in the other parts of Russia. 



Finland. The Grand Duchy of Finland re- 

 tains the representative system of government 

 preserved to the Finns at the Diet of Borgo. 

 The area of the country is 373,603 square kilo- 

 metres ; the population numbers 2,142,093 

 souls, divided into 1,050,205 males and 1,091,- 

 888 females. The number of marriages in 1883 

 was 16,546, the number of births 78,550, of 

 deaths 46,463. The receipts of the treasury in 

 1885, according to the budget estimates, were 

 47,024,724 marks, or francs, and the expendi- 

 ture the same. The public debt on Jan. 1, 

 1885, amounted to 67,224,390 marks. The to- 

 tal value of the exports in 1882 was 119,800,- 

 000 marks, of which 54,500,000 marks repre- 

 sent the exports to Russia, 24,400,000 marks 

 those to Great Britain, and 10,400,000 marks 

 those to France. The total value of the im- 

 ports was 167,100,000 marks, 71,700,000 marks 

 from Russia, 42,600,000 marks from Germany, 

 15,900,000 marks from Great Britain, 13,700,- 

 000 marks from Sweden and Norway, and 23,- 

 200,000 marks from other countries, of which 

 2,200,000 marks came from the United States. 

 The length of railroads in operation in Octo- 

 ber, 1885, was 1,324 kilometres, all but 33 kilo- 

 metres belonging to the state. Finland has 

 been spared the Russianizing activities dis- 

 played in Poland, the Baltic provinces, and Ar- 

 menia. The Finns are divided into three po- 

 litical parties, the Finnomans, the Svecomans, 

 and the Liberals. The Finnish party desire 



Finnish, which is spoken by nine tenths of the 

 people, to be recognized as the only official 

 language. The Swedish party contends for the 

 retention of Swedish as one of the official lan- 

 guages. The Russian authorities recognize the 

 two languages, but the Finnish National party 

 is favored by the Russians. The Liberal par- 

 ty places constitutional and political questions 

 above those of language and nationality, and 

 seeks to unite the people for the protection of 

 their political freedom. 



Armenia. The Russian authorities have en- 

 deavored to extirpate the national spirit that 

 is exceedingly strong among the Armenians, 

 and have thereby aroused in that nation a pro- 

 founder distrust and dissatisfaction than was 

 felt under Turkish rule. For many years young 

 Armenians have migrated from the Russian 

 to the Turkish provinces. A section of the 

 Armenians was formerly inclined to join the 

 Russian Revolutionary party in their struggle 

 against the despotism of the Czar, but more 

 recently the purely National Home-Rule party 

 has united the entire nation in resisting the 

 efforts of the Russian authorities to uproot the 

 national spirit. Alexander II promised to re- 

 store Armenian rights, but the officials of the 

 present Emperor have undertaken to gain con- 

 trol of the Armenian Church and to suppress 

 the national schools. While the post of Ca- 

 tholicus was vacant, an order was issued to 

 take possession of the Armenian schools, 

 which was carried out by the aid of the mili- 

 tary. 



The Russians In Asia. Russian activity on the 

 Chinese as well as near the Indian frontier led 

 to overtures for a military alliance between the 

 Salisbury Cabinet in England and the Imperial 

 Government at Pekin. The area of Merv and 

 the other districts in Turkomania, annexed in 

 1885, is estimated at 157,000 square kilometres, 

 with a population of 450,000 souls. The trans- 

 Caspian territory previously annexed was 365,- 

 000 square kilometres, with a population not ex- 

 ceeding 260,000. The Trans-Caspian Railroad 

 was completed to Askabad and the Merv sec- 

 tion begun before winter. Sarakhs, Askabad, 

 and Merv were fortified. Great expectations 

 are entertained of the commercial advantages 

 of the extension of the Trans- Caspian Railroad 

 to Bokhara and Samarcand, bringing the popu- 

 lous portions of Central Asia into communica- 

 tion with Baku, Petrovsk, and the manufact- 

 uring districts of Russia. The trade of Cen- 

 tral Asia is expected to follow this route, in- 

 stead of finding its way across the steppe of 

 Kizel Kum and around by way of Orenburg. 

 The alternative route opened by Tchernaiev, by 

 way of the Oxus and Kungrad and across tl 

 Ust Yurt steppe to the Caspian Sea, Astrakhan, 

 and the Volga, will be abandoned for the li 

 of steam communication, which is being pushed 

 on to completion with restless energy. 

 English and Russian boundary commissioners 

 met on the Afghan frontier toward the end o 

 November. (See AFGHANISTAN and INDIA.) 



