3 i 2 The National Geographic Magazine 



tial difference of race accentuated by 

 history and environment. When dis- 

 cussing the French we are talking about 

 a Celto-Eatin race ; when the Germans, 

 a Teutonic race; when the United States 

 of America, a cosmopolitan race, a min- 

 gling of all the peoples ; when the Rus- 

 sians, a Slavic race, a stock distinct 

 from every other European race. From 

 its very cradle, through the more than 

 thousand years since, the Russian branch 

 of the Slavic race is, in whatever per- 

 tains to government, the direct antith- 

 esis of our own. It is as difficult for 

 the average Russian to appreciate our 

 modern, twentieth -century sentiment 

 as it is for us to appreciate their docile, 

 submissive sentiment, which has been 

 wrought out in the interminable forest 

 and steppe. 



THE TSAR AS THE POLITICAL HEAD 



So the Tsar is the all-controlling, all- 

 comprehending political unit. He is 

 the legislative, the executive, the ju- 

 dicial. His authority extends over 

 8,500,000 square miles and 150,000,000 

 people. He cannot know the needs of 

 all nor can he reach in relief to all. 

 Consequently he summons to his service 

 advisory boards, on whose intelligence 

 and loyalty he must depend . There is the 

 Ruling Senate — Pravitelstvuyushchiy 

 Senat — established in 17 10 by Peter the 

 Great. It is divided into six sections, 

 each presided over by a lawyer of emi- 

 nence, who represents the Tsar. The 

 sections are at once courts of justice 

 and examining boards. In behalf of 

 the Tsar the Senate promulgates the 

 laws. There is the Council of State, 

 purely consultative, organized in i8or 

 by Alexander I and reorganized on 

 broader lines four years ago. It ex- 

 amines proposed laws and discusses the 

 budget. It is divided into four depart- 

 ments, devoted respectively to legisla- 

 tion, to civil and ecclesiastical adminis- 

 tration, to economy and industry, and 

 to commerce and sciences. There is 



the Committee of Ministers, varying, 

 like the Cabinet of Great Britain, in num- 

 ber and office, and, moreover, including 

 several high functionaries and,. Grand 

 Dukes. There is the Holy Synod, which 

 superintends the religious affairs. The 

 great metropolitans and bishops com- 

 pose it, but its decisions have force only 

 as approved by the Tsar and are issued 

 in his name. There are several so-called 

 cabinets, mainly philanthropic or eco- 

 nomic. There are the 78 governors 

 general, one over each province of the 

 Empire, and 792 administrative coun- 

 cils, one for each provincial district. 

 The members of all these different Im- 

 perial boards, of whatever name or dig- 

 nity, are responsible to the Tsar. 



THE VILLAGE MIR 



The Tsar may be called the infinite 

 unit. In Russia there is another or an 

 atomic unit, just as real, but in compar- 

 ison infinitely small. This is the mir. 

 None the less mir is the most important 

 word in the Russian language. It means 

 the village and the village assembly. 

 To the mind of the peasant it means the 

 world. European Russia is made up of 

 107,676 communes or villages. Each 

 is and has its mir. As in national af- 

 fairs the Tsar decides or acts through 

 his senate or council or synod, so in 

 local affairs the mir acts for him. Apart 

 from affairs of state, in the mir the peas- 

 ant has a political existence of his own. 

 Over the mir, in much akin to the town 

 meeting of New England, presides the 

 starosta, elected by it. Several com- 

 munes united compose a volost or can- 

 ton, of which there are 10,530 in Euro- 

 pean Russia. To the cantonal and pro- 

 visional assemblies, each composed of 

 duly elected delegates, is applied the 

 name, of late become so familiar, of the 

 zemtsvo. The mir or volost decides all 

 questions of local nature, such as con- 

 cern roads, schools, health, justice, and 

 acts as a peasants' court in cases not 

 involving more than 60 dollars. But 



