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 organisation. Justices of Peace have been replaced in six provinces of Central Russia by Chiefs of the District' (uyezdnyi nachalnik), 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' (gorodskoi sudia), nominated in the same way, are to take the place of the former Justices of Peace. As to the peasants' tribunals (volostnoi sud), they are put into direct subjection to the Chiefs of the Districts.' ་ The administration of the economical affairs of the district and province are, to some extent, in the hands of zemstvos, or the district and provincial assemblies, composed of representatives elected by the peasantry, the householders in the towns, and the landed proprietors. Their executive power is entrusted to provincial and district Upravas.' The president of the nobility of the district, or of the province, presides ex officio over the zemstros of the district, or of the province. The zemstvos, introduced in 1864, have not yet been extended to Poland, nor to some provinces of Siberia, Turkestan, and Caucasus. The towns and cities have municipal institutions of their own, organised on nearly the same principles as the zemstvos. All house-owners are divided into three classes, each of which represents an equal amount of real property, and each class elects an equal number of representatives to the Dumas; the latter elect their executive the Uprava. During the years 1883-86 the institutions of the zemstro were in force in 34 provinces (361 districts) of European Russia. The number of electors was: 40,172 landowners, 48,091 urban population, and 196,773 peasants. As to the number of votes given to the above electors, it appears that 64 per cent. of all votes belong to peasants, 12 per cent to nobles, 10 per cent. to merchants, 5 per cent. to the clergy, and 4 per cent. to artisans, Of the 13,196 elected members of the Assemblies of the zemstvos, 35 per cent. belonged to the nobility, 15 per cent. to the class of the merchants,' and 38 per cent. to the peasantry. The Executives of the zemstros (the upravas) have 1,263 members, out of whom two-thirds are peasants in East Russia, while in Middle Russia from two-thirds to three-quarters of the members are nobles. The 34 provincial executives have 137 members (98 nobles, 21 officials, 9 merchants, 3 artisans, and 2 peasants). Finland.'-The Grand-duchy of Finland, ceded to the Emperor of Russia by the treaty of Frederickshamn, September 17, 1809, has preserved, by special grant of Alexander I. in 1810 (renewed by his successors), some remains of its ancient Constitution, dating from the year 1772, reformed in 1789, and slightly modified in 1869 and 1882. This charter provides for a national parliament, consisting of four estates, the nobles, the clergy, the burghers, and the peasants, convoked by the 'Grand-duke,' Emperor of Russia, for four months. They discuss the schemes of laws proposed by the emperor, who has the right of veto. The unanimous assent of all four chambers is necessary for making changes in the Constitution and for levying new taxes. The national representatives have been regularly convoked, since 1861, every four or five years; the last time they met was in 1888. The schemes of laws are elaborated by the Committee for the Affairs of Finland,' which sits at St. Petersburg, and consists of the State Secretary and four members nominated by the Crown (two of them being proposed For further details on Finland, see end of Russia. by the Senate). The Senate, which sits at Helsingfors, under the presi. dency of the Governor-General, is nominated by the Crown. It is the superior administrative power in Finland, and consists of two departments, Justice and Finance, which have under them the administration of posts, railways, canals, custom-houses, hygiene, and the tribunals. The military department is under the Russian Ministry of War, and the foreign affairs under the Russian Chancellor. Finland has its own money and system of custom-houses. Poland.--Poland, which had a Constitution of its own from 1815 to 1830, and a separate government till 1864, was deprived at the latter date of the last remnant of its administrative independence. Finally, by ukase of the Emperor, dated Feb. 23, 1868, the government of Poland was absolutely incorporated with that of Russia. Baltic Provinces.-The Baltic Provinces have some institutions for selfgovernment 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. Area and Population. I. PROGRESS AND PRESENT CONDITION. 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 1887 113,354,649 inhabitants. The rapidity of growth of the population of the Empire (its acquisitions being included in the figures of population) is seen from the following, the years being census years : Since that period the population of the Empire is estimated as follows: 1867 63,658,934 5,705,607 1,794,911 4,583,640 2,626,246 3,327,627 81,696,965 1870-72 65,704,559 6,026,421 1,832,138 4,893,332 4,566,096 3,428,867 86,451,413 1882-83 77,879,521 7,083,475 2,142,093 6,534,853 5,237,354 1887 85,282,101 8,319,797 2,232,378 7,458,151 5,532,021 4,093,535 102,970,831 4,493,667 113,317,115 Average 1,081,158 130,710 21,873 143,725 140,289 58,302 1,581,057 Finland, 1872; Caucasus, 1871; Russia, Poland, Siberia, and Central Asia, 1870. 2 Finland, 1883; Caucasus, 1883; Russia, Poland, Siberia, and Central Asia, 1882. Increased by annexations and better registration. The following table exhibits the details of official estimatesreferring to the year 1887-concerning the area and population of the various political and geographical divisions of the Empire of Russia : In March 1888 the Chernomorsk district was annexed to the province of Kuban; the Zakataly district was incorporated into the province of Kars; and the Zerafshan district was added to the Amu-Daria province to constitute the new Samarcand pro vince. 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. For the ethnical elements of the population see YEAR-BOOK 1885, p. 416. The populations of the Caucasus appear as follows, according to recent investigations: According to a recent partial census, the Jews number 2,843,364 in the western and south-western provinces of Russia (2,261,863 in towns), that is 11:3 per cent. of the aggregate population; 77,275 in the three townships of Odessa (73,389, i.e. 35.1 per cent. of population), Kertch, and Sebastopol; and 431,800 in five governments only of Poland out of ten (11 per cent. of population). Their aggregate number in Russia would thus exceed 3 millions. II. MOVEMENT OF THE POPULATION. The statistics of marriages, births, and deaths for 1887, if not otherwise mentioned, appear as follows: Russia in Europe 692,665 3,942,277 | 47·4 2,742,350 Poland 60,938 328,721 40.0 Finland (1886) 16,248 78,576 35-7 49,514 22.5 29,0621 Siberia 23,481 Central Asia In addition to these 43,097 immigrated, and 43,139 emigrated. |