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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



sufficiently strong to make them fight 

 against the invaders. 



The peasants were originally holders 

 of land and members of rural communes ; 

 they were constantly trying to maintain 

 their rights of freedom of domicile and 

 movement, but the princes and nobles 

 were as constantly attempting to limit 

 and nullify these rights, so that they 

 might not be deprived of the services of 

 the peasants on their lands. 



In the reigns succeeding that of the 

 terrible Ivan, the principles of autocracy 

 replaced whatever forms of popular gov- 

 ernment there had been. The state of 

 the small farmers and peasants slowly 

 became worse and they degenerated into 

 the position of appanages of the land on 

 which they lived. 



THE: FIRST ROMANO?? WAS ELECTED TSAR 

 BY AN ASSEMBLY 



It is a curious fact, and one little ap- 

 preciated now, that after some years of 

 trouble and rebellion, Michael Romanoff, 

 first Tsar of that name, was elected by 

 an assembly. He did not succeed to the 

 throne, nor had he any particular right 

 to be chosen. 



Once more for a time the Tatar teach- 

 ings were forgotten in Russia to some ex- 

 tent and there was a partial return to the 

 older methods. 



The fact that Michael had been elected 

 limited to some extent his autocratic 

 powers, the more so as his election was 

 the result of several compromises be- 

 tween the different factions of the no- 

 bles and courtiers, and he did not feel 

 strong enough in the support of any one 

 group to oppose the will of other cliques. 



He, therefore, returned to the system 

 of obtaining counsel and support from 

 the people by means of "zemskii sobory," 

 which were not exactly parliaments, but 

 assemblies representing different districts 

 and classes of society. In these conven- 

 tions the greatest part was taken by the 

 representatives of the middle classes. 

 One result of these assemblies was the 

 production of a new code of laws. 



But Michael's successor, Alexis, sup- 

 pressed them and put autocracy firmly on 

 its feet, there to remain until the present 

 day. 



ABSOLUTISM WAS THEN NEEDED 



However much we may regret the dis- 

 appearance of popular government from 

 Russia under the early Romanoff emper- 

 ors, we must admit that it was necessary 

 for the growth and expansion of the Em- 

 pire. The Tatars probably never would 

 have been driven out when they were 

 under the old system of petty multitudes 

 of principalities, each jealous of the other 

 and intriguing against it at the court of 

 the khans. 



Absolutism at that stage of the world's 

 development was needed for the firm 

 control of an enormous territory such as 

 was the Russian plain, which of itself 

 formed no obstacle to foreign invasion 

 and which tended to produce a uniformity 

 of race and government. 



Peter the Great could not have done 

 what he did in bringing his country into 

 the ranks of modern States if he had not 

 had an autocratic form of government. 

 He realized fully the influence of the 

 army in establishing him firmly in the 

 new absolutism, and in 1716, in his mili- 

 tary statutes, he declared : "His Majesty 

 is sovereign and autocrat. He is account- 

 able to no one in the world." 



From the time of Ivan the Terrible it 

 was autocracy which, more than anything 

 else, contributed to the long history of 

 territorial extensions of Russia and her 

 prestige, such as it was, abroad. In an 

 endless cycle, territorial expansion led to 

 political extension of this doctrine, and 

 this to new territorial growth. 



By the end of the reign of Peter an 

 autocratic emperor was head of the na- 

 tion, the church, and the army, and held 

 absolutely in his own hands all spiritual 

 and temporal power. 



THE RESTORATION 0E SELE-GOVERNMENT 



BEGUN 



The famous Emancipation Act of the 

 Emperor Alexander II in 1861 suddenly 

 altered the status of the peasants and 

 from a condition of practical slavery 

 made them freemen once more. 



It was soon found necessary to give 

 them a certain share in local self-govern- 

 ment and a somewhat complicated adjust- 

 ment of this matter was arranged. There 



