RUSSIA. 



721 



staff, 336,960 infantry in Europe, 25,636 rifle- 

 men, 21,318 infantry in Asia, 47,920 cavalry, 

 84,925 artillery, 17,977 engineers, 57,334 re- 

 serves of all arms, 17,290 local troops, 47,000 

 auxiliary troops, and 1,024 depot and instruc- 

 tion troops. The war effective of the regular 

 army is approximately 1,689,000 men, includ- 

 ing 36,600 officers, with 3,776 cannon and 

 204,390 horses. The Cossack troops are in 

 part incorporated in the regular army. Their 

 strength is 47,150 in peace, and 140,0*33 on the 

 war footing. The irregular troops number 

 5,769 men. The total war effective of the 

 Russian army is about 2,000,000, not including 

 the militia, which, it is supposed, could add as 

 many more men. 



The Navy. In the beginning of 1887 the 

 Russian fleet in the Baltic comprised 28 iron- 

 clads, of which 13 were for coast defense, 1 

 unarrnored frigate, 6 corvettes, 2 transports, 

 95 torpedo-boats, including 12 of the first class, 

 4 cruisers, 9 clippers, 15 gunboats, 6 imperial 

 yachts, and 57 other steamers. In the Black 

 Sea fleet there were 2 Popoffka ironclads, 2 

 armored gunboats, 3 corvettes, 26 steamers, 

 and 26 torpedo-boats, of which 12 were of the 

 first class. The flotilla in the Caspian Sea 

 contained 9 armed steamers; the White Sea 

 flotilla, 7 armed steamers and 6 torpedo-boats. 

 The "Catherine II," having 16-inch plates at 

 the water line and a pear-shaped redoubt with 

 a shield 12 to 14 inches thick, with a displace- 

 ment of 10,180 tons and engines of 9,000 horse- 

 power, was launched in the spring of 1887. Two 

 other vessels, the " Sinope " and the "Tches- 

 ma," of the same type and proportions, are un- 

 der construction. The " Sinope " was launched 

 on June 1. 1887. Each of these vessels will 

 carry six 12-inch or 50-ton guns and seven 

 6 inch guns, besides pieces of smaller culiber 

 and mitrailleuses. The " Alexander II," plated 

 with 14 inches of armor and 8,440 tons' dis- 

 placement, was launched on the Neva on July 

 26, 1887, and the " Nicholas I," a sister ship, 

 later in the year. Each is designed to carry 

 two 2-inch, four 9-inch, and eight 6-inch guns. 

 With the three vessels mentioned above, they 

 complete the list of the great ironclads com- 

 prised in the twenty-years' plan that was 

 adopted for the establishment of a modern 

 navy. 



Finances. The .budget estimates of the Rus- 

 sian Ministry of Finance are invariably made 

 to balance, but the final accounts always show 

 a deficit, owing to extraordinary expenditures, 

 mainly for military purposes. The accounts 

 for 1885 show a revenue from ordinary sources 

 of 762,282,000 rubles, which was augmented 

 by extraordinary receipts to 837,028,861 ru- 

 bles. The ordinary expenditures were 806,- 

 614,346 rubles and the extraordinary expendi- 

 tures 106,523,822 rubles, making a total of 

 913,138,168 rubles, and leaving a deficit of 

 76,109,307 rubles. The budget for 1887 makes 

 the ordinary receipts 793.118.046 rubles, and 

 the total receipts 881,341,672 rubles. The 

 VOL. xxvii. 46 A 



ordinary expenditures are set down as 826,- 

 676,680 rubles, and the total expenditures are 

 made to balance the estimated receipts by ap- 

 plying the difference to extraordinary expendi- 

 tures on railroads and harbors. The sum ap- 

 propriated for the service of the debt is 278,- 

 591,694 rubles, including 36,117,536 rubles for 

 the proposed conversion of 5-per-cent. metallic 

 bonds into 4 per cents. The sum devoted to 

 military expenditure is 208,466,551 rubles, 

 while 39,247,488 rubles are devoted to the 

 navy. In the budget estimates for 1888 the 

 income from all sources is placed at 960,429,- 

 550 rubles, and the expenditure at 945,023,281 

 rubles. The ordinary revenue is estimated at 

 783,000,000 rubles, while the ordinary ex- 

 penditures will exceed 832,000,000 rubles. 



The public debt on Jan. 1, 1887, amounted 

 to 394,144,015 rubles, payable in specie, and 

 3,185,653,497 rubles, due in paper currency, 

 besides Dutch loans amounting to 68,695,000 

 florins, sterling loans of 123,046,620, and the 

 bonds of the Nicholas Railroad, amounting to 

 553,959,500 francs. The other railroad debts 

 included in this summary were 82,644,400 

 borrowed in England and 166,139,253 metallic 

 rubles. The amount of paper currency in circu- 

 lation on Jan. 1, 1887, was 716,433,349 rubles. 



A new iron duty, which went into force in 

 the summer of 1887, has a prohibitory effect 

 on the heretofore very large imports of iron 

 and iron wares from Germany. This and other 

 protective duties, in conjunction with the sup- 

 pression of iron-mills and other factories in 

 Poland and other border provinces that were 

 owned by Germans and that employed Ger- 

 man workmen, the expulsion of German citi- 

 zens, the expropriation of foreign land-owners, 

 and other hostile measures produced a feeling 

 of exasperation and resentment in Germany 

 that had a profound effect on Russian credit. 

 During the existence of the Three Emperors' 

 League the German bankers negotiated loans, 

 and large sums were lent to the Russian Gov- 

 ernment by Germans when London and other 

 money markets were no longer available. Sus- 

 tained by the Berlin bankers, the price of 

 Russian 5 per-cent. securities rose from 80 to 

 95. In 1887, when the Czar's Government 

 desired to raise a new loan, the German bankers 

 refused to involve their countrymen in further 

 risks. An attempt was made to raise money 

 in Paris ; but there also the influence of the 

 German bankers was powerful, and the project 

 was abandoned. A loan of 100,000,000 rubles, 

 bearing interest at 4 per cent., was successfully 

 issued at the price of 84 per cent, in St. Peters- 

 burg in April, 1887. The German holders 

 sold during the year a considerable part of 

 their Russian securities, their action causing a 

 fall in prices. A large proportion of the bonds 

 that were sold went to Paris, where previously 

 there were very few holders of Russian securi- 

 ties. The gold ruble was worth 1*50 in credit 

 rubles in 1886. while in August, 1887, the ex- 

 change value had risen to 1*67 credit ruble. 



