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ered that astute grain dealers, early in the season anticipating a dearth, had been industriously engaged in exporting grain from the country. There were not ships enough to carry the grain which they hurried out of Russia. America marvelled at Russia's enormous output of grain, and imagined it was the natural consequence of an unusually good crop. The Russian factor knew better, and foresaw the inevitable end. He realized perfectly that the tremendous amounts of grain going out came not from the stores of surplus, but from the very food necessary to keep the peasant from starvation. The imperial ukase which was issued forbidding the exportation of wheat, oats and rye came too late, and in fact only aggravated the situation by forcing up the price of what little grain remained in the country. Cold weather then arrived, and a black and bitter winter set in amid intense suffering among the peasants. The government threw itself into the breach and did its best to fight the famine, and it was nobly seconded by many of the great landowners. Substantial aid was sent from America to the amount of about $750,000. Seventy-five million dollars were given by the government to support the starving peasantry until the arrival of a new crop, and the czar himself contributed to the relief fund 5,000,000 roubles. Pestilence, however, arrived to add to the horrors of the situation. Typhus and "hunger-fever" spread rapidly, and the scourge of cholera, brought by caravan routes across the mountains of the Khyber Pass, made its way up the Volga Valley to Nijni Novgorod and thence to Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Baltic. A careful estimate of the cost of the famine to Russia up to the present time (1893) places the figures at the enormous total of $200,000,000, while the indirect loss to the nation occasioned by this unparalleled calamity would swell this appalling total to at least double that sum.

At present (1893) the Russian people are deeply interested in the trans-Siberian Railway, a gigantic undertaking which when it is completed, it is believed, will cause an enormous commerce to flow through Vladivistock and San Francisco between this country and the Russian Empire, bringing the two nations into closer commercial relations, and resulting in their mutual profit and advantage.

The enforced exodus of Jews from Russia, has drawn down upon that government the execration of the press of England and America. A variety of causes have been assigned for the attitude of the ezar towards this unfortunate people, by which in 1892 hundreds of them were expelled from the empire, and thousands more forced within the pale." The Jews are at present confined to the territories known as Little Russia, Russian Poland, West Russia and South Russia.

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GOVERNMENT.

- Reigning Emperor.- Alexander III., Emperor of all the Russias, was born Feb. 26 (March 10 new style), 1845, the eldest son of Emperor Alexander II. and of Princess Maria, daughter of the late Grand-duke of Hesse-Darmstadt; ascended the throne at the death of his father (by assassination), March 1 (March 13 new style), 1881, and was crowned at Moscow, May 27, 1883; married, Nov. 9, 1866, to Maria Dagmar, born Nov. 26, 1847, daughter of King Christian IX. of Denmark.

Children of the Emperor.-1. Grand-duke Nicholas, heir-apparent, born May 6 (May 18), 1868. 2. Grand-duke George, born April 27 (May 9), 1871. 3. Grand-duchess Xenia, born March 25 (April 6), 1875. 4. Grand-duke Michael, born Nov. 22 (Dec. 4), 1878. 5. Grand-duchess Olga, born June 1 (June 13), 1882.

Brothers and Sisters of the Emperor.-1. Grand

duke Vladimir, born April 10 (April 22), 1847; married Aug. 16 (Aug. 28), 1874, to Princess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Offspring of the union are three sons and one daughter:-1. Cyril, born Sept. 30 (Oct. 12), 1876. 2. Boris, born Nov. 12 (Nov. 24), 1877. 3. Andreas, born May 2 (May 14), 1879. 4. Helene, born Jan. 17 (Jan. 29), 1882. 2. Grandduke Alexis, high admiral, born Jan. 2 (Jan. 14), 1850. 3. Grand-duchess Maria, born Oct. 5 (Oct. 17), 1853; married Jan. 21, 1874, to the Duke of Edinburgh, son of Queen Victoria of Great Britain. 4. Grand-duke Sergius, born April 29 (May 11), 1857; married June 3 (June 15), 1884, to Princess Elizabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt. 5. Grand-duke Paul, born Sept. 21 (Oct. 3), 1860; married June 5 (June 17), 1889, to Princess Alexandra, daughter of the King of Greece; widower Sept. 24, 1891. Offspring: Maria, born Apr. 6 (Apr. 18), 1890; Dimitri, born September, 1891.

The administration of the empire is entrusted to four great boards, or councils, possessing separate functions. The first of these boards is the Council of the State, established in its present form by Alexander I., in the year 1810. It consists of a president and an unlimited number of members appointed by the emperor. In 1889 the council consisted of 60 members, exclusive of the ministers who have a seat ex officio, and including six princes of the imperial house. The council is divided into three departments, namely, of legislation, of civil_and church administration, and of finance. Each department has its own president, and a separate sphere of duties; but there are collective meetings of the three sections. The chief function of the council of the empire is that of examining into the projects of laws which are brought before it by the ministers, and of discussing the budget and all the expenditures to be made during the year. But the council has no power of proposing alterations and modifications of the laws of the realm; it is, properly speaking, a consultative institution in matters of legislation. A special department is entrusted with the discussion of the requests addressed to the emperor against the decisions of the senate.

The second of the great colleges or boards of gov ernment is the Ruling Senate, or "Pravitelstvuyuschiy Senat," established by Peter I. in the year 1711. The functions of the senate are partly of a deliberative and partly of an executive character. To be valid a law must be promulgated by the senate. It is also the high court of justice for the empire. The senate is divided into nine departments or sections, which all sit at St. Petersburg, two of them being courts of cassation. Each department is authorized to decide in the last resort upon certain descriptions of cases. The senators are mostly persons of high rank, or who fill high stations; but a lawyer of eminence, who represents the emperor, presides over each department, and without whose signature its decisions would have no force. In the plenum, or general meeting of several sections, the minister of justice takes the chair. Besides its superintendence over the courts of law, the senate examines into the state of the general administration of the empire, and has power to make remonstrances to the emperor. A special department, consisting of seven members, is entrusted with judgments, in political offenses, and another (six members) with disciplinary judgments against officials of the crown.

The third college, established by Peter I. in the year 1721, is the Holy Synod, and to it is committed the superintendence of the religious affairs of the empire. It is composed of the three metropolitans (St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kieff), the archbishops of Georgia (Caucasus), and of Poland (Kholm and

RUSSIAN EMPIRE

Warsaw) and several bishops sitting in turn. All its decisions run in the emperor's name, and have no force till approved by him. The president of the Holy Synod is the Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg.

The fourth board of government is the Committee of Ministers. It consists of all the ministers.

The emperor has two private cabinets, one of which is occupied with charitable affairs, and the other is devoted to public instruction of girls and to the administration of the institutions established by the late Empress Maria, mother of the Emperor Nicholas I. Besides, there is the Imperial Headquarters (Glavnaia Kvartira), and a cabinet, which is entrusted also with the reception of petitions presented to the emperor, formerly received by a special court of requests (abolished in 1884). According to a law of May 19, 1888, a special imperial cabinet having four sections (administrative, economical, agricultural and manufacturing, and legislative) has been created, instead of the same departments in the ministry of the imperial household.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.-The empire is divided into general governments,or vice-royalties, governments and districts. There are at present in European Russia (including Poland and Finland) sixty-eight governments, with 635 districts (uyezd), two otdyels, and one okrug, which are also considered as separate governments. Some of them are united into general governments, which are now those of Finland, Poland, Wilna, Kieff and Moscow. The Asiatic part of the empire now comprises five general governments, Caucasus, Turkestan, Stepnoye, Eastern Siberia and the government of the Amur, with 9 governments and 18 territories. They are divided into 173 districts. In 1889 the general governorship of Odessa was abolished, and the island of Sakhalin has been made a separate province, under a separate governor. At the head of each general government is a governor-general, the representative of the emperor, who as such has the supreme control and direction of all affairs, whether civil or military. In Siberia the governors-general are each assisted by a council, which has the deliberative voice. A civil governor, assisted by a council of regency, to which all measures must be submitted, is established in each government, and a military governor in twenty frontier provinces. A vice-governor is appointed to fill the place of the civil-governor when the latter is absent or incapacitated by sickness. There is also, in each government, a council of control under the presidency of a special officer, depending directly upon the department of control. Each government is divided into from 8 to 15 districts, having each several administrative institutions. A few districts in Siberia, in the Caucasus, in Turkestan, and in the Transcaspian region, are considered as independent governments. So also the townships of St. Petersburg, Odessa, Kertch, Sebastopol, and Taganrog; Cronstadt, Vladivostok and Nikolaevsk are under separate military governors.

In European Russia the government of the parish, in so far as the lands of the peasantry are concerned, and part of the local administration, is entrusted to the people. For this purpose, the whole country is divided into 107,493 communes, which elect an elder, or executive of a commune, as also a tax-collector or superintendent of public stores. All these officers are elected at communal assemblies. The communal assemblies are constituted by all the householders in the village, who discuss and decide all communal affairs. These communal assemblies are held as business requires. The communes are united into cantons or "Voloste,”

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each embracing a population of about 2,000 males (9,533 in European Russia). Each of the cantons is presided over also by an elder,elected at the cantonal assemblies, which are composed of the delegates of the village communities in proportion of one man to every ten houses. The canton assemblies decide the same class of affairs as do the communal assemblies, but each dealing with its respective canton. The peasants have thus special institutions of their own, which are submitted also to special colleges" for peasants' affairs,” instituted in each government.

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In Poland the "Voloste" is replaced by the Gmina," the assemblies of which are constituted of all landholders-nobility included, the clergy and the police excluded-who have each but one voice, whatever the area of land possessed. The Gmina" has, however, less autonomy than the "Voloste," being subject directly to the "chief of the district." In conjunction with the assemblies of the Voloste and Gmina are cantonal tribunals, consisting of from 4 to 12 judges elected at cantonal assemblies. Injuries and offenses of every kind, as well as disputes relating to property between the peasants, not involving more than a hundred roubles, come under the jurisdiction of these popular tribunals. Affairs of more importance, up to 300 roubles, are judged by judges of peace, elected in Central Russia, and nominated elsewhere. Appeal against their judgments can be made to the "Syezd," or gathering of judges of the district, and further to the senate.

In 1889 an important change was made in the above organization. Justices of peace have been replaced in 20 provinces of Central Russia by chiefs of the district, nominated by the administration from among candidates taken from the nobility, recommended by the nobility, and endowed with wide disciplinary powers against the peasants; in the cities, except St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Odessa, special “town magistrates" nominated in the same way, are to take the place of the former justices of peace.

BALTIC PROVINCES.-The Baltic provinces have some institutions for self-government of their own. They have, however, been gradually curtailed, and the privileges of the provinces in police and school matters, chiefly vested in the nobility, have been taken away by a law of June 21, 1888, the judicial and police rights of the landlords having been transferred to functionaries nominated by the state. By a law of July 21, 1889, the last vestiges of manorial justice and of tribunals under the German speaking nobility have been abolished, but the Law of Justice of 1864, which is in force in Russia, has been but partially applied to the provinces, so as to maintain the administration of justice under the central government. The Russian language has been rendered obligatory in the official correspondence of all parish, municipal, and provincial administration; so also in the Dorpat University, which was deprived in December, 1889, of its privileges of self-government, and the gymnasia in 1890.

AREA AND POPULATION.-The Russian Empire comprises one-seventh of the land-surface of the globe, and covers, with internal waters, an area of 8,644,100 English square miles. There has been no general census of the population since 1859, but various enumerations, chiefly made by the statistical committees, furnish an approximately correct return of the people. According to these, the total population of the empire numbered, in 1893, 118,354,649 inhabitants.

The following table shows the area and popula tion by provinces, as reported in the official`estimates of 1887:

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Lomja..

Lublin

Piotrkow

Plock

Radom..

Siedlce..

32,624 2,311,220 70 19,110 1,579,847 82 21,638 1,339,444 61 25.710 2,730,145 106 24,539 1,096,670 44 11,954 1,445,600 120 25,225 1,781,861 70 47,112 1,942,491 41 16,421 1,304,788 79 17,440 1,275,954 73 18,864 1,403,172 74 27,743 2,264,867 81 155,498 1,239,754 7 25,443 2,588,933 101 59,117 2,914,344 49 13,751 1,126,891 81 14,478

1,902,092 85,282,101 44

600,662 143

716,164 150 671,598 121 656,932 135 1,465,131 260

4,392

3,897

837,317 190
692,328 177

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4,200

4,769

5,535

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175,110 19
245,690 29

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Viborg Vasa..

Finland..

Total, European Russia..

4. Russia in Asia:-
Kuban..
Stavropol.
Terek

Northern Caucasia...

16,084

8,319,797 169

380,501 40
277,635 16
227,388 49

330,823 19
399,750 24

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In March, 1888, the Chernomorsk district was annexed to the province of Kuban; the Zakatly district was incorporated into the province of Kars; and the Zerafshan district was added to the Amu-Daria province to constitute the new Samarcand province. In 1889 the island of Sakhalin was separated from the Primorsk province under a separate governor.

The internal waters (lakes and estuaries) occupy the following areas, in square miles:-In European Russia, 25,804; in Finland, 18,471; in Siberia, 18,863; and in Central Asia, 19,855. The Seas of Azov, Caspian and Lake Aral cover an aggregate surface of 210,025 square miles. The superficies of all Russian provinces have been carefully revised by General Strelbitzky; his figures are given in the above for Russia in Asia; those for European Russia very slightly differ from the above, the total area of the Russian provinces of European Russia, with all islands and deltas, being now given at 1,902,227 English square miles.

According to a recent partial census, the Jews number 2,843,364 in the western and southwestern provinces of Russia (2,261,863 in towns), that is 11.3

RUSSIAN EMPIRE

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State debt inclusive of the paper currency (568,559,743 roubles) and 50,000,000 roubles to the Bank of the state Railway obligations.. Redemption of land.

Total debt..

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.3,594,731,133 1,465,379,243 465,129,650

.5 525,240,026

The amount of money in the treasury on Jan. 1, 1890, was 465,095,803 roubles. Deducting this sum from the debt leaves the net debt on Jan. 1, 1890, at 5,060,144,197 roubles. At this writing (1891) ten paper roubles are equal in value to one pound sterling or about $5 in United States currency.

On Feb. 8, 1890, a new 4 per cent. loan was concluded, through ihe International and Discount Bank, to the amount of 90,000,000 roubles (360,000,000 francs), for the redemption of the 5 per cent. The bonds are redeemable in eighty years, and are free of every tax or duty. The price of issue will be 93 per cent. Another 4 per cent. loan, to the amount of 5,000,000 gold roubles, or 11,865,000l., was concluded on March 21, 1890, for the redemption of the 5 per cent loan of 1862. The bonds are redeemable in 81 years.

DEFENSE-ARMY.-The Russian army has been entirely reörganized since the Turkish war. Since the modification of the laws, June 26, 1888, the service has been organized as follows:

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Out of more than 850,000 young men reaching every year their 21st year, about 250,000 are taken into the active army, and the remainder are in. scribed partly in the reserve and partly in the 2nd reserve, or "Zapas." The period of service is, in European Russia, five years in the active army (in reality reduced by furloughs to 4 years), 13 years in the reserve and 5 years in the "Zapas ;" 7 years in active army and 6 years in the reserve in the Asiatic dominions; and 3 years in the active army and 15 years in the reserve in Caucasia. In case of need the minister of war has the right of keeping the men for another six months under the colors.

Certain privileges are granted on account of education, and clergymen are exempt, as also doctors and teachers.

In 1888, out of the 862,254 young men liable to military service, 19,807 (4,024 Jews) did not appear; 143,737 were found too weak for military service; about 200,000 inscribed in the 2nd reserve as being single workers in their families, and 249,087 were taken into the army, besides 2,400 Caucasian natives, out of 29,490 liable to service. The contingent for 1889 was 255,000 men, besides 2,400 Caucasians. The men inscribed in the reserve troops are convoked for drill six weeks twice a year,

The "Zapas," formerly a simple militia, was reörganized in 1888, and the duration of the service prolonged to 43 years instead of 40. It is divided into two parts. The first part has the character of reserve troops, and includes all those who have passed through active service, as also those who have not been taken into the active army, though able-bodied. It is intended chiefly to complete the active troops in time of war, and enables Russia to call out, in case of need, 19 classes of drilled conscripts. The second part, or opoltchenie (including all able-bodied men who have served in the first division, as also those liberated from service as not fully able-bodied, or being single workers in their families), can be called out only by an imperial manifesto and only for organizing corps of militia.

On a peace footing the army is supposed to contain 1,920 field officers, 865 officers in military schools, and 812,078 men, a total of 814,000 actual soldiers. According to the estimates of an intelligent officer of high rank the figures now represent

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THE RUSSIAN NAVY.-The imperial navy, on Jan. 1, 1893: consisted of the Baltic fleet; that of the Black Sea; the fleets of the Aral and Caspain seas; and the Siberian fleet. The total comprised 208 armed steam vessels (of which 32 were ironclads, and 139 torpedo boats) with an armament of 1,348 guns. The navy was commanded by 99 admirals, vice-admirals, rear-admiral, and generals, 1,350 captains, lieutenant, and mid-shipmen. sides the above, 1,986 officers of various grades belonging to special branches of the navy, such as pilots, engineers, artillerists, were borne on the active list. The effective number of sailors of the imperial navy during the same period serving afloat was 27,096. They are, like the soldiers of the army, levied by recruitment. The period of service in the navy is ten years, seven of which must be spent in active service and three in the service.

Until 1886, the most powerful vessel completed for the Russian ironclad fleet was the mastless turret-ship Peter the Great. She resembles in design and construction the great mastless turretships of the British navy, more especially the Dreadnought of the British navy, though of larger size, her length being 330 feet, and extreme breadth 634 feet. The three ironclad ships, the Tchesma, Catherine II., and Sinope, are still more powerful vessels than the Peter the Great. They are all of the same dimensions, which are:-Length between perpendiculars, 320 feet; extreme breadth, 69 feet; mean draught, 26 feet. The armor of the Sinope

has a thickness of from 16 to 18 inches above the belt, and 12 inches in the casemates. It will be armed with 2 12-inch guns (50 tons), the range of which is supposed to be 13 miles. The Nicholas I. and the Alexander II. are also formidable vessels. Both these vessels are sister-ships, 326 feet long and 67 feet broad. The Nicholas I. is protected by a belt 8 feet wide and 14 to 4 inches thick, with a 12-inch backing of wood. It is armed with 2 12-inch,4 9-inch, and 8 6-inch guns, besides 10 2-inch and a number of smaller rapid-firing guns and torpedo-ejectors, and has a steel turret with 10-inch armor. sister-ship to both these was begun in 1887, and two others in 1889, at Nikolaieff and Sebastopol.

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Next to these ships come the five belted cruisers. The Duke of Edinburgh and the General-Admiral are each 270 feet long between perpendiculars, and 48 feet broad, built of iron sheathed with wood. The battery deck of these cruisers is not protected by armor, the guns being so arranged as to fire in all directions. The Minin, converted into an ocean cruiser in 1878, is 299 feet long and 49 feet_broad. The Vladimir, Monomakh and Dmitri Donskoi, are sister-ships, and are 295 feet along the water-line, with an extreme breadth of 52 feet; draught of

water at stern 25 feet. The Admiral Nakhimoff (14 guns) has been found needing alterations. amounting almost to complete reconstruction.

Next in the list of sea-going cruisers stand the four ironclads named after admirals-i. e. the Admiral Tchitchagoff, Admiral Spiridoff, Admiral Greig and Admiral Lazareff. They are turret-ships of the type of the Prince Albert in the Royal navy, the turrets being encased in 6- and 4-inch armour. The Kniaz-Pojarski is a central-battery belted ship, 272 feet long, 49 feet broad, and is fully rigged.

The belted cruiser Pamyat Azova, or Remembrance of Azoff, is 378 feet long.

In 1889 a new ironclad ship, Navarin, was begun building at St. Petersburg, as well as two ironclads on the Black Sea, Trekh Svyatitelei and Twelve Apostles; two torpedo boats, Hochland and Nargen, at Abo; the torpedo-cruiser Kazarsky and 2 torpedo-boats, Adler and Anakria, at Elbing, for the Black Sea fleet. The Gangut, built at St. Petersburg, has a length of 278 feet and a beam of 62 feet, and is armed with 9 big guns.

The Volunteer Fleet, destined for commerce and transport of exiles to Sakhalin in time of peace, and for war purposes in time of war, numbers 7 cruisers.

COMMERCE-IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.-In 1892, the total exports were valued in gold at 766,300,000 roubles; imports, 436,987,000 roubles.

The sea-going commercial navy (including vessels of 100 tons and upwards) of Russia consisted in the year 1890 of 236 steamers, of 156,070 gross tons, and 945 sailing vessels, of 271,265 net tons. About one-fourth of the vessels were engaged in trading to foreign countries, and the remainder coasting vessels, many of them belonging to Greeks, sailing under the Russian flag.

The chief Russian fair is that of Nijni Novgorod. In 1890 the goods shipped to the fair were valued at 181,256,830 roubles, as against 193,371,165 roubles in 1888. Of that there remained unsold goods to the value of 7,039,840 roubles (13,914,632 roubles in 1888.) The chief items were: Russian cottons, 28,713,500 roubles; woolen goods, 15,955,430 roubles; linen and hemp goods, 4,235,375 roubles; silk and silk goods, 2,546,750 roubles; furs, 8,443,605 roubles; leather and leather ware, 7,660,915 roubles. Metals: 22,312,508 roubles; of which; brass goods, 1,782,100 roubles; iron and steel, 15,395,224 roubles iron and steel goods, 3,643,182 roubles; glass and earthenware, 6,255,350 roubles.

AGRICULTURE.-The number of foreign landholders in Poland reached 32,243 (29,370 Prussian) in 1885, as against 570 by the end of the previous decade; their aggregate holdings reached 2,361,000 acres. But, according to a law passed in March, 1887, the acquisition of land in Poland and Southwestern Russia is forbidden to aliens-the aliens now owning land there being bound either to sell their estates in five years to Russian subjects, or to become naturalized Russian subjects themselves.

About two-fifths of the land suitable for cultivation in Russia proper is held by the Crown; one-fourth by landed proprietors; and nearly onethird by the peasantry. Thirty-six per cent. of the population are landed proprietors; 22,396,069 male peasants held in village communities 252,103,000 acres of land of which communities had purchased 2,059,268 acres; moreover, there were 481,358 private land proprietors, holding altogether 252,102,000 acres of land, distributed as follows:-Nobility, 114,480 landholders, 197,156,500 acres; "merchants" and artisans, 70,634 landholders, 31,569,700 acres; peasants, 278,179 landholders, 15,195,100 acres various, 18,065 landholders, 3,377,900 acres; and

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