^6o 



The Review of Reviews. 



Xorember 1, lOOfi 



everyone felt it was the most telling thing to do at 

 the moment. I shook hands with M. Kovalevski 

 as he shouldered his \vay through the throng, closely 

 followed by his five colleagues, M. Ostrogorski, M. 

 Aladin, Colonel Svetchm^ M. Vasilieff and M. Roz- 

 ditcheff. They were all delighted with the Prime 

 Minister's declaration, and very much pleased at the 

 unanimity and enthusiasm with which they had been 

 greeted by the Conference. 



PRINCE KHILKOFT. 



Prince Khilkoff alone of the Russians remained 

 behind. He was added to the Council, and regularly 

 attended the meetings both of the Conference and of 

 the Council. The Priiice served his apprenticeship 

 at an American engine shop ; he speaks English 

 excellently. He is over seventy years of age. quiet 

 in demeanour, and very sensible in debate. He is 

 no longer Minister, but he is famous as the onlv 

 member of the Russian Cabinet who increased his 

 reputation during the Japanese war. The Siberian 

 railway was his work, and it was the only Russian 

 institution that did not break down under the strain 

 of the war. 



Prince Khilkoff had seen the Tsar a fortnight 

 before became to London. At that time he thought 

 the intention was rather to come to terms with the 

 Duma than to dissolve it. The Prince would have 

 preferred that alternative, and he made no secret 

 of his regret that the Tsar and the Duma were not 

 better acquainted with each other. He did not 

 anticipate that the dissolution of the Duma would 

 be followed by much disturbance. Here and there, 

 where the estates were managed by Germans or 

 Jews for absentee landlords, the peasants might give 

 trouble, but not where the landlords lived on their 

 estates. He thought that the reports of disaffecuon 

 in the army were e.xaggerated. ' There might be a 

 dozen or a hundred sympathisers with the revolution 

 in each, regiment, but as a whole the army could be 

 relied upon. " Never forget," he said, " that in the 

 army and among the peasants the name of the Em- 

 peror is still a thing to conjure with. And that 

 you would see very plainly if the Emperor were to 

 come out more and mingle with his people." 



THE nXXISH DELEG.\TKS. 



From St. Petersburg to Finland is not a far cry, 

 and from talking with the Russians I passed by an 

 easy transition to the Finnish delegates. There were 

 eight of them, some pure peasants only speaking 

 Finnish, the others spoke English. I found them 

 well contented with the position which they had won 

 by the successful pronwtciamicnto of last October. 

 Their new Constitution, they said, had now been 

 solemnly accepted by the Emperor Grand Duke. 

 They sympathised with the Duma, but they had no 

 inclination to allows it to make Finland the head- 

 quarters of a Russian revolutionary movement. It 

 was with a feeling of relief thev heard of the de- 



parture of the members of the Duma from Wiborg, 

 and they^ were by no means easy as to the possible 

 effect of the Revolutionary" Group which had been 

 holding a meeting in Helsingfors under the auspices 

 of the Red Guard. The delegates gave me a copy 

 of a pamphlet in English, containing a very interest- 

 ing account of the new Constitution, which places 

 Finland in the forefront of all civilised nations. All 

 men and all women who are twenty-foiir years of age 

 and over are entitled not only to elect, but also to be 

 elected as members of the Finnish Parliament. The 

 Electoral law is most interesting. The country is 

 divided into sixteen electoral districts returning from 

 six to twenty-two members each. Every elector 

 has three votes, or, more strictly speaking, one full 

 vote, one-half vote, and one-third vote. He marks 

 his voting-papyer i, 2, 3 : 2 only counts as one-half 

 a vote^ and 3 as one-third. This system of propor- 

 tional representation is that of the Belgian D'Hondt. 

 It would delicht the heart of Lord Courtenay, for al- 

 though it appears horribly complicated, it has been 

 adopted by the Finns, who have universal suffrage 

 for both sexes. There are about one and a quarter 

 million electors. There is only one Chamber of 200 

 members elected for three years. Election expenses 

 are paid out of rates and taxes. Each member for 

 three months' session receives a salary of ^56. 



ME. LUND OF NOE^VAY. 



The nearest neighbours of the Finns are the Scaru 

 dinavians, who in all their branches are well repre- 

 sented. The Swedes made the best of the secession 

 of Norway, none of the delegates expressing such 

 wrathful sentiments as those uttered by some Swedes 

 resident in London. Mr. John Lund, the Nonvegian, 

 gave a very pleasant account of the way in which 

 Norw'ay was settling down under her new King. The 

 frost of Republicanism seems to have dissolved 

 in Nonvav under the sun of the Democratic Dane, 

 Qi:een Maud's husband. The genial monarch has 

 won all hearts by his simple manners and unaffected 

 ways. Mr. Lund was much interested in the pro- 

 posal to establish a Budget of Peace. Norway from 

 the first institution of the Interparliamentary Confer- 

 ence has voted a small sum of about ;^30o a year, 

 which is divided into three portions. The first is a 

 grant to the Interparliamentary Bureau : the second 

 is paid to the Norwegian group of the Interparlia- 

 mentary Union : the third is a subscription to the 

 Peace Conference. Switzerland is the only other 

 State besides Norway which votes money regularly 

 for the propaganda of peace and internationalism. 



COrXT APPONTI 



The most conspicuous figure at the Conference ^ 

 was the eloquent Minister of Education for Hungary, I 

 Count Apponvi. He was selected to move the 

 response to the Prime Minister's speech, and to 

 respond at Westminster Hall to the toast of the 

 Interparliamentary Union. The memory of Louis 



