692 



RUSSIA. 



cleared with cargoes and 468 in ballast. Of the 

 total number of vessels entered, 11,045 at all the 

 ports, 7,966 were steamers ; while of 10,913 ves- 

 sels cleared, 7,822 were steamers. Of the total 

 number of vessels entered, 1,347 were Russian, 

 3,710 English, 1,603 German, 1,376 Swedish and 

 Norwegian, 608 Turkish, 944 Danish, 229 Aus- 

 trian, and 127 Dutch, etc. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. At the 

 beginning of 1891 the total length of the Russian 

 railroads was 20,085 miles, and 272 miles were in 

 construction. 



The post office in 1890 forwarded, in the in- 

 ternal service, 171,686 letters, 22,109 postal cards, 

 22,485 pieces of printed matter, and 12,457,000 

 money letters of the declared value of 14,940,- 

 133,000 francs. In the external service, 25,570 

 letters, 4,072 postal cards, 10,201 pieces of print- 

 ed matter, and 460,000 money letters of the de- 

 clared value of 488,248,000 francs, were expe- 

 dited. The receipts were 81,641,260 francs, and 

 the expenses, including those of the telegraph 

 service, were 95,812,692 francs. The receipts 

 from telegraphs were 41,086,144 francs. The 

 state telegraph lines had a length of 119,046 

 kilometres, with 229,084 kilometres of wire. The 

 number of domestic telegrams was 8,761,896 ; of 

 international telegrams, 695,836 were sent and 

 745,679 received ; the' number in transit was 

 153,197, and 624,577 were official messages. 



Finland. The Grand Duchy of Finland is a 

 constitutional monarchy, ceded to the Emperor 

 of Russia by the treaty of Friederichsham, 

 Sept. 17, 1809. Its Constitution of 1722, which 

 was amended in 1789, 1869, and 1882, was ac- 

 knowledged by a manifesto of Alexander I in 

 1810, and since by each of his successors. The 

 Constitution provides for a National Assembly, 

 consisting of 4 estates, viz., the nobility, the 

 clergy, the burghers, and the peasantry, the con- 

 sent of all four of which is requisite to change 

 the Constitution or impose new taxes. The Na- 

 tional Assembly is convoked by the Emperor 

 as grand duke for four months, whenever the 

 country requires legislative enactments. Its 

 duties are to consider laws proposed by the Em- 

 peror and elaborated by the Committee for the 

 Affairs of Finland, which consists of the State 

 Secretary and 4 members nominated by the Em- 

 peror, and which has its seat in St. Petersburg. 

 The Emperor has the power to veto any measure 

 that is passed. The superior administrative 

 power vests in a senate under the presidency of 

 the Governor-General, and is nominated by the 

 Crown. The Governor-General and chief com- 

 mander of the military forces is Count T. Hey- 

 den. The area of Finland consists of 373,604 

 square kilometres, of which 47,829 square kilo- 

 metres are covered with water. The population, 

 on Dec. 31, 1890, was 2,380,140, of whom 1,171,- 

 541 were males and 1,208,599 females. Of the 

 total population, 2,334,547 were Lutherans, 45,- 

 132 Greek Orthodox, and 461 Roman Catholics. 

 Finnish was spoken by 2,048,545 people, Swed- 

 ish by 322,604, Russian by 5,795, German by 1,674, 

 Laplandish by 1,106 people, etc. The number 

 of marriages was 16,835 ; births, 79,991 ; deaths, 

 48,610 ; excess of births, 31,381. The receipts of 

 the Government were estimated in the budget 

 for 1892 at 59,908,875 Finnish marks (1 mark= 

 19'3 cents). Of the receipts, 6,038,088 marks were 



from State domains, railroads, and canals; 

 5,496,100 marks from direct taxes; 21,568,000 

 marks from indirect taxes ; 1,000.000 marks from 

 stamps ; 480,000 marks from passports, etc. ; 

 1,800,000 marks from posts; 8,131,901 marks 

 from different sources ; and 420,020 marks from 

 the surplus of the preceding year. The ex- 

 penditures are made to balance the receipts. 

 The public debt amounted to 77,736,801 marks 

 on Jan. 1, 1892. The imports from Russia in 

 1891 amounted to 51,700,000 marks; from Swe- 

 den and Norway, to 10,900,000 marks ; from 

 Denmark, to 3,700,000 marks ; from Germany, to 

 46,800,000 marks; from Great Britain, to 21,- 

 500,000 marks ; from France, to 1,400,000 marks ; 

 from the Netherlands, to 500,000 marks ; from 

 Belgium, to 2,000,000 marks; from Spain, to 

 1,600,000 marks ; and from other countries, to 

 6,400,000 marks; total imports, 146,500,000 

 marks. The exports to Russia were 36.100,000 

 marks ; to Sweden and Norway, 6,200,000 marks ; 

 to Denmark, 15,000,000 marks; to Germany, 

 7,300,000 marks; to Great Britain, 19,000,000 

 marks; to France, 11,300,000 marks; to the 

 Netherlands, 2,700,000 marks ; to Belgium, 1,500,- 

 000 marks ; to Spain, 4,700,000 marks ; to other 

 countries, 400,000 marks ; total exports, 104,200,- 

 000 marks. The chief imports were : Cereals, of 

 the value of 27,800,000 marks ; coffee, 12,000,000 

 marks ; iron, 11,000,000 marks ; sugar, 6,100,000 

 marks; machinery, 6,100,000 marks; cotton, 

 5,700,000 marks. Of the principal exports, lum- 

 ber was valued at 44,800,000 marks; butter, 

 14,700,000 marks ; paper stock, 8,600,000 marks ; 

 cereals, 7,100,000 marks. In 1891 there were 

 11,633 vessels, of 1,991,539 tons, entered at the 

 ports of Finland, and 12,110 vessels, of 2,043,465 

 tons, cleared. On Dec. 31, 1891, the total length 

 of railroads was 1,930 kilometres. 



Russia and the Pamirs. The dispute over 

 the boundary line in the Pamirs between Russia 

 and Afghanistan led to a serious encounter be- 

 tween the troops of the two countries. When, in 

 1873, the boundary of Afghan territory was fixed 

 by Russia and England,the upper Oxus was stated 

 to be the dividing line, but it was omitted to de- 

 fine which of the branches of this great stream 

 was meant. Russia claimed that the most 

 southerly branch had been understood in the 

 agreement, while England maintained that the 

 northerly branch had been intended as the 

 boundary. At the time the matter was allowed 

 to rest. The region which Russia claims is in it- 

 self an undesirable acquisition, consisting of bare 

 and storm-swept downs, about 13,000 to 14,000 

 feet above the sea level, almost arctic in its des- 

 olation. The importance attached to the Pamirs 

 depends on the fact that the territories of India, 

 Afghanistan, Russian Turkestan, and China are 

 adjacent to its borders, with very ill-defined 

 boundary lines. Hitherto it had been under- 

 stood that the passes leading through the moun- 

 tains were of little or no value for strategic pur- 

 poses, the country being regarded as almost im- 

 passable. It seems, however, that the many 

 Russian explorers sent to this region have discov- 

 ered some passes which lead into the different 

 countries, and which are of more importance 

 than they had been credited with. Russian di- 

 plomatists assert that the strategic importance of 

 the country lies in its relation to China, but it 



