720 



ROUMANIA. 



RUSSIA. 



The Austrians suffered from the selfish policy 

 of the Hungarians scarcely less than the Rou- 

 manians, for meat rose to famine prices in 

 Vienna, and in Galicia the distress of a long 

 winter was so severe that many peasants died 

 of hunger. The crisis in Ronmania caused the 

 imports of Austrian goods to fall away as much 

 as 100,000,000 francs in a single year. The 

 tariff war that followed the rupture of nego- 

 tiations for a new treaty renders the cost of 

 living exorbitantly dear for the classes in Rou- 

 mania who consume imported products. The 

 indignation against Hungary was heightened 

 by the attempt to Magyarize the 2,325,000 

 Roumanian* of Transylvania. The irritating 

 policy of the Hungarian Government lends 

 strengtli to the pro-Russian party in Roumania, 

 which desires an alliance with Russia in the 

 event of a war between Russia and Austria in 

 order to annex Transylvania to Roumania. 

 The Government gives no countenance to the 

 Irredentist agitation, which is fostered by 

 Russian agents, yet constant complaints are 

 made by the Hungarian authorities at the 

 license which the free-press laws allow to the 

 ventilation of this scheme. In the main body 

 of the Roumanian population, on the other 

 hand, there is a strong dread of the extension 

 of Russian power in the Balkan Peninsula, and 

 a deep feeling of resentment against Russians 

 for requiting the aid given by Roumania in the 

 last Turkish war, by robbing her of the fruitful 

 province of Bessarabia. 



The boundary disputes of long standing be- 

 tween Roumania and Austria-Hungary were 

 settled by a mixed commission, which con- 

 cluded its labors in April, 1887. The adjust- 

 ment of the frontier added about thirty-two 

 square miles to Roumania's territory. 



A convention with Great Britain, continu- 

 ing the existing commercial treaty in a revised 

 form till 1891 was signed at Bucharest on Nov. 

 26, 1886. The duties on textile fabrics and on 

 most other imports are fixed at considerably 

 higher rates than under the former treaty. In 

 1887 a favorable reciprocity treaty was con- 

 cluded with Turkey, through which the Rou- 

 manians hoped to regain the prosperity that 

 was lost through the rupture of the commer- 

 cial relations with Austria, and for that reason 

 they were the less anxious to resume negotia- 

 tions for a treaty. 



The German Government concluded a con- 

 sular treaty with Roumania in Berlin on June 

 5, 1886. It abandons the right of extra-terri- 

 torial jurisdiction, which was exercised under 

 treaties with Turkey as the suzerain power 

 over Moldavia and Wallachia, and was not 

 formally abolished when the Treaty of Ber- 

 lin extinguished the relation of vassalage, 

 but was left to be dealt with in treaties 

 with the powers regulating consular rela- 

 tions. Although legally still in force, no 

 power has exercised the right of consular 

 jurisdiction in Roumania since her independ- 

 ence was conceded in 1878. 



RUSSIA, an empire in northeastern Europe 

 and northern Asia. The Emperor exercises 

 autocratic power and is the head of the nation- 

 al Church. There are four bodies through which 

 the functions of government are usually exer- 

 cised, viz., the Council of the Empire, consisting 

 in 1886 of sixty-two members, exclusive of the 

 ministers, who have seats by virtue of their 

 offices; the Senate, which combines legislative, 

 executive, and judicial functions; the Holy 

 Synod, which has the direction of ecclesiastical 

 affairs ; and the Committee of Ministers. The 

 reigning Emperor is Alexander III, born Feb. 

 26, 1845, who succeeded to the throne on the 

 assassination of his father, March 13, 1881, and 

 was crowned at Moscow on May 27, 1883. The 

 heir-apparent is the Grand Duke Nicholas, the 

 eldest son of the Emperor, borfl May 13, 1868. 

 The Cabinet is composed of the following min- 

 isters: President, M. Bunge; Minister of the 

 Imperial Household, Lieutenant-General Count 

 Vorontzoff Dashkoff; Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, Nicholas Carlovich de Giers; Minister 

 of War, General P. Vannovski ; Minister ot the 

 Navy, Vice-Admiral Shestakoff; Minister of 

 the Interior, Count Tolstoi; Minister of Public 

 Instruction, M. Delianoff ; Minister of Finance, 

 M. Vishnegradski ; Minister of Domains, M. 

 Ostrovski ; Minister of Roads and Communica- 

 tions, Admiral C. Possiet. 



Area and Population. The area of the different 

 divisions of the empire, in square kilometres, 

 and the population according to the latest re- 

 turns, are as follow : 



The number of marriages registered in Euro- 

 pean Russia in 1883 was 732,750; births, 

 3,880,857; deaths, 2,879,265; excess of births, 

 1,001,582. In Poland the marriages in 1880 

 numbered 62,771 ; births, 294,021 ; deaths, 

 189,514; excess of births, 104,507. The num- 

 ber of marriages in Finland in 1884 was 16,585; 

 births, 80.411; deaths, 47,468 ; excess of births, 

 32,948. The number of marriages in Siberia in 

 1880 was 32,952; births, 180,802; deaths, 131,- 

 793 ; excess of births, 49,009. The population of 

 St. Petersburg is 929,093. Moscow had 753,469 

 inhabitants in 1884; Warsaw, 431,864 in 1885 ; 

 Riga, 169,329 in 1881; Kharkov, 166,921 in 

 1884; Odessa, 154.240 in 1885; Kasan, 140,726 

 in 1883; Kishinev, 130,000; Kiev. 127,251; 

 Lodz, 113,146 in 1884; Saratov, 112,428 in 

 1883.' 



The Army. The peace effective of the regular 

 army in the beginning of 1887 was 659,274 

 men, comprising 1,890 officers of the general 



