40 



RUSSIA. 



are about 40,350,000 members of the Greek church 

 (including 570,000 Roskolnicians) ; 6,000,000 

 Catholics and united Greeks ; 2,400,000 Lutherans; 

 83,000 Calvinists ; 9200 Hcrrnhutters ; 6000 Men- 

 nonites; 100,000 Armenians; 3,100,000 Mahome- 

 tans; 500,000 Jews; 300,000 worshippers of the 

 grand lama ; and 600,000 fetichists. 



For all branches of education, Russia has nume- 

 rous iii'tl extvlliMit institutions, among which are 

 the eight universities of Moscow, Helsingfors, 

 Wilna, Dorpat, Petersburg, Charkow, Kazan and 

 Warsaw. In 1829, the number of students was 

 3647. There are, also, a number of primary and 

 intermediate schools; in 1824, the whole number 

 was 1411, with 69,269 scholars, besides 344 schools 

 maintained by the Greek clergy for the lower 

 classes, with 45,851 pupils. The Petersburg Bible 

 society, instituted by the emperor Alexander, had, 

 in 1818, 128 branches, and has printed the Bible in 

 twenty-nine languages. One hundred and fifty 

 years ago, there were only two printing establish- 

 ments in Russia ; there are now sixty-one. 



The population of Russia is composed of four 

 different classes, as has already been mentioned. 

 The boors or peasants are the property of the 

 crown or of individuals ; they amount to about 

 35,000,000, and are in a state of great poverty. 

 The following cut represents their usual costume: 



They are sometimes emancipated by their owners, 

 and are sometimes permitted to purchase their free- 

 dom. The noble families are about 150,000, com- 

 prising 750,000 individuals, and enjoy some privi- 

 leges and exemptions. The freemen, not nobles 

 nor clergymen, are divided into six classes the in- 

 habitants of cities, the three guilds (capitalists, ac- 

 cording to their income tax), the trades, foreigners 

 or strangers, the notable citizens (savans, artists, 

 bankers), and the colonists. In regard to rank, 

 these classes form fourteen gradations; and all who 

 can claim either of the eight highest are considered 

 as noble. Russia has six orders, of all of which the 

 emperor is grand-master. The order of St Andrew, 

 the oldest and most distinguished, was founded by 

 Peter I., November 30, 1G98, as a military order of 

 merit, for those generals who had distinguished 

 themselves in the Turkish war. The female order 

 of St Catharine was founded by Peter I., November 

 24, 1714, in honour of his wife, Catharine, who 

 had rescued him from his difficult situation on the 

 Pruth. The Alexander Newsky order was instituted 

 by Peter 1. ; but the arrangements were completed 

 by Catharine I., August 30, 1725. The military 



order of St George was revived by Alexander in 

 1801. The order of St \Vladiinir, for civil and 

 military merit, instituted by Catharine II., (1782), 

 was revived by Alexander, (1801). The order of St 

 Anne is an order of merit for all ranks, and even 

 foreigners. The spiritual order of St John, insti- 

 tuted by Paul in 1797, has a Greek priory, with 

 128,000 roubles income, and a Catholic priory, with 

 84,000 roubles income. 



The present reigning house of Holstein-Gottorp 

 was preceded by that of Romanoff, the first prince 

 of which, Michael Feodorowitsch, ascended the 

 throne in 1613, and died in 1645. His successors 

 were Alexis Michailowitsch, died 1676; Feodor 

 Alexiewitseh, died 1682; Ivan Alexiewitsch, and 

 Peter I., Alexiewitsch, the former till 1688; the 

 latter assumed the title of emperor in 1721, died 

 1725; Catharine, empress, died 1727; Peter II., 

 died 1730; Anna, died 1741; Ivan III., deposed 

 1740; Elizabeth, died 1762: House of Holstein- 

 Gottorp: Peter III., deposed 1762; Catharine II., 

 the Great, died 1795; Paul I., died 1801; Alex- 

 ander, died 1825. Nicholas I., Paulowitsch, born 

 July 7, 1796, married, July 13, 1817, the Prussian 

 princess Charlotte, (born July 13, J798), succeeded 

 his brother Alexander, after the renunciation of the 

 throne by his elder brother Constantine Coesaro- 

 witsch, in December, 1825. The heir apparent is 

 Alexander Nicholaiewitsch, born April 29, 1818; 

 the other children of the emperor are, Maria, born 

 1819; Olga, born 1822; Alexandra, born 1825; 

 Constantine Nicolaiewitsch, born 1827. The em- 

 peror has one brother, Michael, born 1798, and two 

 sisters, Maria, wife of the duke of Saxe-Weimar, 

 and Anna, (born 1795), wife of the prince of 

 Orange. The sons and daughters of the imperial 

 house have the title of grand-princes, and grand- 

 princesses of Russia, with the style of imperial 

 highness. (See Statistique de la Russie, by Schni- 

 tzler, Paris, 1829.) 



After these statistical sketches, let us now throw 

 a glance at what has been effected by the govern- 

 ment, for the most important public interests, dur- 

 ing the last twenty years. Civilization has made rapid 

 progress during this period ; the peasants, in ge- 

 neral, have acquired some legal protections against 

 the caprice of their masters, and the great work of 

 emancipation has been effected in the Baltic pro- 

 vinces. In 1818, the nobility of Courland abol- 

 ished villenage, and in 1819 the Livonian nobles 

 made a provision for its gradual extinction, by 

 which all peasants born after that year were de- 

 clared to be born free, and all bondage was to cease 

 after 1826. In 1823, the emperor directed the im- 

 perial council to take measures for preventing the 

 sale of the peasants, independently of that of the 

 land to which they are attached. In the military 

 colonies, there are no serfs. The settlement of 

 foreign colonists in Russia has been encouraged, 

 and the German and Swiss have emigrated in great 

 numbers to the southern parts of Russia. The 

 government has also made grants of wild lands, in 

 the southern districts, to military veterans, and, by 

 a ukase of 1 822, the crown peasants of the provin- 

 ces, in which the land is poor, are permitted to 

 settle on the fertile lands in Siberia. Some of the 

 nomadic tribes have begun to practise agriculture, 

 and receive assistance from the government, which 

 requires them, however, to embrace Christianity. 

 The Jews have been encouraged to turn their at- 

 tention to agricultural and mechanical industry; 

 and agricultural societies and schools have been 



