RUSSIA. 



Austrian and Roumanian cabinets gave rise. 

 The Old Conservatives, who lean toward a 

 Russian connection as the means of preserv- 

 ing the class privileges of the great families, 

 uttered covert threats of revolution and de- 

 thronement. A pretender. Prince Bibesco, 

 has laid plans to contest the succession to the 

 throne with the King's brother or nephew, 

 who are his constitutional successors, as he 

 has no male issue. The Young Conservatives 

 approved the foreign policy of the Government. 

 The group which calls itself the Pure Liberals, 

 accused the ministers of reducing the country 

 to vassalage under Austria and Germany, and 

 submitting to the dictation of Prince Bismarck. 



Reform Legislation. The Legislature which 

 reassembled in November, is intrusted with 

 the revision of three articles of the Consti- 

 tution. One of the projected reforms is an 

 alteration in the militia system, which pro- 

 vokes no opposition. On Rosetti's scheme to 

 extend suffrage and unite the three classes of 

 electors, the Government party is divided. 

 The third change is reactionary. It is to ex- 

 tend to thirty-two years the period during 

 which the peasantry are not allowed to sell 

 their lands. The Liberal opponents of the 

 Government, who receive support and encour- 

 agement from Russia as well as the Conserva- 

 tives, make this obnoxious proposal the ground 

 of a popular agitation. The people are invited 

 to compare their condition with that of the 

 Servians and Bulgarians, who enjoy more 

 political liberty and individual rights than the 

 Government is ready to accord to them. The 

 emancipated serfs are taught to believe that 

 they should have received their farms as a 

 gift, instead of paying a heavy price to the for- 

 mer serf proprietors. The idea of a natural 

 ownership in the soil is a logical outgrowth 

 of the condition of being bound to the land. 

 Personal liberty without land, therefore, seems 

 to them a delusion, particularly since the 

 quantity of land apportioned to them, and the 

 conditions of payment and amount of the re- 

 muneration exacted by the proprietors, were 

 such as to deprive their liberation of its vir- 

 tue to a considerable extent. The peasantry, 

 therefore, now clamor against the sale of the 

 public lands, and demand that they should be 

 restored to their rightful owners. The agita- 

 tion reached such a height in the autumn that 

 whole communes refused to pay to the Govern- 

 ment the annual quota of the purchase-money 

 for their farms. 



RUSSIA, an empire in eastern Europe. The 

 law-making, executive, and judicial authority 

 is concentrated in the person of the Emperor, 

 who is also the spiritual head of the Church. 

 The government of the country is under the 

 supreme direction of the Emperor's private 

 Cabinet. Subordinated to the Imperial Cabi- 

 net is the Council of the Emperor, divided into 

 a legislative, an administrative, and a financial 

 department, the functions of which are to su- 

 perintend the administration of the laws, and 



to suggest alterations and amendments. A 

 second great council is the directing Senate, 

 which is the highest court of judicature, be- 

 sides exercising a control over the other tribu- 

 nals of the empire. It is divided in to eight 

 sections, each of which acts as the court of 

 final resort in a particular branch of the law. 

 A third great governing body is the Holy Syn- 

 od, directing ecclesiastical affairs. All its de- 

 cisions must be ratified by the Emperor. 



The Imperial Cabinet is divided into eleven 

 departments. The Minister of the Imperial 

 Household is Gen. Count Vorontzoff Dashkolf, 

 who succeeded Count Adlerberg in 1871. The 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs is Nicholas de 

 Giers, who was the practical head of the depart- 

 ment for some years before the retirement of 

 Prince Gortchakoff in March, 1882. The Min- 

 ister of War is Gen. Vannovski, appointed in 

 March, 1881. The Minister of the Interior is 

 Count Tolstoy, who succeeded Gen. Ignatieff 

 in June, 1882. Baron Nicolai took the place 

 of Count Tolstoy as Minister of Public Instruc- 

 tion. The Minister of Finance is M. Bunge, 

 successor to Count Abaza. The Minister of 

 Domains is M. Ostrovski. The Minister of the 

 Navy, which is under the command of the Ad- 

 miral-General, the Grand Duke Alexis, is Vice- 

 Admiral Chestakoff. The Minister of Public 

 Works is Vice- Admiral C. Possiet, appointed 

 in 1874. All the ministers and chiefs of supe- 

 rior administrations are members of the Com- 

 mittee of Ministers, which is presided over by 

 Secretary of State Reutern. 



The Lieutenant of the Emperor in the Cau- 

 casus is Prince Dondoukoff-Korsakoff. The 

 chief of the first section of the Privy Coun- 

 cil is Secretary of State Taneieff ; of the sec- 

 ond, Marcus. The adjunct in charge of the 

 third section is Secretary of State Delianoff. 

 The President of the Council of the Empire is 

 the Grand Duke Michael ; the heads of the 

 three departments are Prince Ourousoff, M. 

 Titoff, and Admiral Metline. The head of the 

 Ministry of Justice is Secretary of State Nabo- 

 koff. The President of the Holy Synod is Isi- 

 dore, Metropolitan of Novgorod, St. Peters- 

 burg, and Finland ; the Procurator-General, 

 M. Pobedonostzeff. The Comptroller- General 

 of the Empire is Secretary of State Solski. 



Area and Population. The area of the Russian 

 Empire is 21,702,230 square kilometres, or 8,- 

 387,816 square miles. The total population, ac- 

 cording to the latest estimates, is 100,372,562. 

 The following table gives the area and popula- 

 tion of the main political divisions of the empire: 



