INTRODUCTION 21 



has become an entirely European country. The 

 administration of the empire has been remodelled 

 on the European system; serfdom" has been 

 abolished; the jurisdiction of the courts of justice 

 has been made independent of the Government; the 

 principle of trial by jury has been established; the 

 laws are codified; local self-government exists in 

 the towns and villages; education is spreading 

 steadily among the lower orders; the trade in 

 alcohol has been regulated and restricted during the 

 reign of his present Majesty, Nicholas II., through 

 the introduction of a State monopoly of the traffic in 

 alcohol; in the same reign a series of successful 

 financial reforms has been introduced, such, for 

 instance, as the a;doption of a gold standard for 

 the currency, which have rendered Russian financial 

 affairs stable and secure. Add to these important 

 changes the entire separation of justice from" the 

 executive, a series of important reforms in the 

 economic conditions of the peasantry, and the pro- 

 spective convocation of an a;ssembly of representatives 

 of the whole Russian nation, and it will be apparent 

 that a new era of progress has begun in Russia. 



It is not my intention to enumerate all the reforms 

 which have contributed to convert Russia into a 

 civilised European country. I only wish to point 

 out that the necessary conditions aire present which 

 would enable British business men to establish trade 

 relations with Russia on the same lines as those 

 which exist between other 'civilised countries, the more 

 so as an extensive and mutually advantageous ex- 

 change of comm'odities between the two countries 

 would seem" to be in the natural order of things. 

 Great Britain is chiefly an industrial country, while 

 Russia's principal products are agricultural; the one 

 being, so to speak, the necessary complement of the 

 other. It would, therefore, be only in keeping with 



