702 



KUSSIA. 



materials, 9,619,523 francs; for the construc- 

 tion of new lines, 3.437,432 francs. The an- 

 nual surplus of receipts is by imperial decree 

 devoted to the extension of the lines. 



The Army. The military forces of the em- 

 pire are divided into the active and the territo- 

 rial armies. The active army is composed of 

 the regular troops, recruited by annual con- 

 scription; the reserve, consisting of men on 

 furlough, who are destined to complete the 

 army on a war footing ; the Cossack irregular 

 cavalry ; and troops made up of foreign ele- 

 ments. The territorial army is recruited from 

 all the rest of the male population capable 

 of bearing arms, between twenty and forty 

 years of age. It is divided into two classes. 

 The first comprises the men who have escaped 

 the conscription after four drawings, and of 

 those who have completed their time of ser- 

 vice in the active army and its reserve. This 

 class can be turned into the active army if the 

 reserve is insufficient. The second class is to 

 be called out solely for the defense of the 

 country. Service in the regular army lasts six 

 years, and in the reserve nine years. There 

 is no immunity from service by substitution. 

 Young men of a certain degree of education 

 are accepted as volunteers at the age of six- 

 teen or upward, and after a short service un- 

 dergo an examination w T hich releases them for 

 service except in the reserve, or pass a high- 

 er examination as candidates for officers' com- 

 missions. The Cossack levies are regulated by 

 special treaties. Many tribes of diminutive 

 stature and unwarlike disposition are excused. 

 An average levy of one in 250 males makes a 

 force of about 100,000 men. The Don Cos- 

 sacks and some of the other tribes, numbering 

 from 600,000 to 700,000 souls, are all bound to 

 render military service, and to furnish their 

 own horses and equipments, and provision 

 themselves while remaining within the borders 

 of their own country. In return they are ex- 

 empt from all taxes, and receive an annual trib- 

 ute from the Emperor, paid to the tribe. 



The strength of the regular army on the 

 peace footing is 660,025 men, with 67,951 

 horses; on the war footing, 1,970,208 men, 

 with 224,788 horses. The Cossacks number 

 51,946 men. with 38,707 horses, on the peace 

 footing, and 145,325 men, with 138,036 horses, 

 on the war footing. The other irregular troops 

 number 5,776 men on the peace footing, and 

 6,331 on the war footing. Other bodies bring 

 the peace effective of the active army up to 

 about 770,000, and the war effective to 2,200,- 

 000 men. With the territorial militia the full 

 strength of the military forces of the empire 

 in time of war is about 3,000,000 men. 



Fortification works, strategic railroad con- 

 struction, and the massing of detached regi- 

 ments on the German frontier, excited the sus- 

 picions of the Germans in 1883. A semicircle 

 of six forts along the left bank of the river, 

 seven kilometres from the city, was begun for 

 the protection of Warsaw, which has hitherto 



possessed no fortifications. Another line of 

 four large forts is planned seven kilometres 

 from Praga, the suburb on the right bank of 

 the river. Ivangorod, on the Weichsel railway 

 line, is to be fortified. Fortifications at Kovno 

 on the river Niemen, and on the Konigsberg 

 and Wilna railroad, are in process of rapid con- 

 struction. The irritation caused by stationing 

 cavalry regiments in Poland led to their recall 

 later in the year, in earnest of the pacific as- 

 surances of M. de Giers. 



The Navy. Russia maintains a fleet in the 

 Baltic, one in the Black Sea, and smaller naval 

 forces in the Caspian Sea, in the Sea of Aral, 

 and in the waters of Siberia. The Baltic 

 division comprised, in 1882, 27 ironclads, 

 including the two under construction, car- 

 rying 282 guns; 33 other steamers, carrying 

 275 guns ; 59 transports, 8 sail-ships, and ( J5 

 torpedo-vessels. The Black Sea division con- 

 sisted of 4 ironclads, with 14 guns; 27 armed 

 steamers, with 105 guns ; 59 unarmed steamers, 

 and 14 torpedo-vessels. The Caspian fleet 

 comprised 12 armed and 4 unarmed steam- 

 ers ; the Aral fleet, 6 steamers, with 13 guns ; 

 the Siberian fleet, 8 armed steamers, with 42 

 gnns; 13 other steamers, and 6 torpedo- vessels. 

 The ironclad navy consists of 1 mastless double- 

 turret vessel, the Peter the Great, with 14-inch 

 armor and 4 40-ton guns of 12-inch calibre ; 12 

 sea-going cruisers, plated with from 4 to 7 

 inches of metal ; 16 battery-ships and monitors 

 for coast-defense ; and 2 circular monitors of 

 the type designed by Admiral Popoff. The 

 crews are recruited by conscription, but partly 

 by enlistment also. The period of service is 

 nine years, seven active and two in the reserve. 



Finances. The Russian budget is modeled 

 after the financial accounts of the French Em- 

 pire. The revenues are classified as ordinary 

 receipts, extraordinary receipts, and recettes 

 d'ordre. The latter are the proceeds of cer- 

 tain sources of revenue, and are balanced by 

 equal sums on the other side of the accounts. 

 The extraordinary receipts consist principally 

 of sums borrowed for the purpose of subsidiz- 

 ing railroads and for other works of general 

 utility. There have occurred large annual defi- 

 cits for more than half a century, occasioned 

 partly by the construction of railroads, but 

 mainly by war expenditures. The war expen- 

 ditures for the four years 1876-'80 were 1,075,- 

 396,653 rubles. (The silver ruble is the legal 

 unit of account, and is worth 73'4 cents; the 

 circulating medium is paper money, which is 

 exchanged at a discount of from 10 to 20 per 

 cent, and over.) The closed accounts for 1881 

 state the amount of the ordinary receipts as 

 651,754,009 rubles, and the ordinary expendi- 

 tures as 732,413,150 rubles, supplemented by 

 extraordinary military expenditures of the 

 amount of 29,980,687 rubles ; leaving a defi- 

 ciency of 110,639,828 rubles. To cover this, the 

 proceeds of various loans, to the amount of 

 112,679,027 rubles, were applied, leaving a bal- 

 ance in the treasury of 2,039,199 rubles. The 



