| of primary instruction still more urgent. * — VI. Army and Navy. The organization of the army and of military service was reformed by a ukase of Jan. 1, 1874. "The service," it is said in this act, "weighed exclusively upon the bourgeois class and the peasants, and a large part of the Russian subjects were freed from a duty equally sacred to all. This system does not answer the military exigencies of the age. Contemporaneous events have proven that the strength of states does not consist alone in the numerical value of the army, but principally in its intellectual and moral qualities, which only reach their highest degree of development when the defense of the fatherland becomes the common work of the nation; when all, without distinction of rank and class, unite for the accomplishment of this sacred task."— In accordance with these principles, the emperor sanctioned a number of laws in 224 articles, the principal provisions of which are as follows: The male population, without distinction of class, shall be subject to military service. The paying of a sum of money to escape the service, and substitution, are hereby forbidden. The armed force of the empire shall be composed of a standing army and a militia; the latter shall be called into service only in extraordinary circumstances in time of war. The standing army shall consist: 1, of the active army, recruited by levies of men throughout all the empire; 2, of the reserve, which serves to complete the effective force of the troops, and is composed of men sent on leave till the end of their term of service; 3, of Cossack troops; 4, of troops formed of foreigners. The naval army is composed of the fleet and of its reserve; the number of men necessary to complete the effective force of the army and the fleet is fixed by law each year. — Entrance into the service is determined by a draw attempt against the state or against the person of the sovereign. But condemnation to forced labor in the mines is fully equivalent to the last punishment, and simple transportation to Siberia, which is always preceded by corporal punishment, is extremely rigorous. Only the women and the sick are transported in wagons or by train; the men have to make the journey on foot, loaded down with chains. Some are condemned to temporary deportation to a fortress for a year at least, others to transportation to a penal colony, and others to transportation with forced labor, temporary or perpetual. Forced labor" in perpetuity can not exceed, except in case of a second offense, twenty years; after this period the condemned is set at liberty, and placed, if he can be utilized, among the colonists of Siberia. The number of exiles in 1874 was about 100,000.-V. Public Instruction. Public instruction commenced only in 1863 to be organized according to a studied plan and one comprising the different kinds of instruction. There are now nine universities established at St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kharkof, Kasan, Dorpat, Kief, Warsaw, Odessa and Helsingfors. There were about 6,800 students and 600 free attendants on the lectures in 1874. The best attended courses are law and medicine. 2,400 students are admitted gratuitously. Each university is administered by a rector and a council over which he presides. The rector and the members of the council are elected for four years by the professors. There are, besides, the imperial institute of history and philosophy, established at St. Petersburg in 1867; the Lazareff institute, for instruction in the oriental languages; the two academies of agriculture and forestry of Warsaw and Pétrovskoé; a law school; a school of engineering; three medical schools, at St. Petersburg, Moscow and Wilna; three veterinary schools, at Kharing of lots. The individuals whose numbers do kof, Dorpat and Warsaw; and an institute of technology at St. Petersburg. In 1872 the state established commercial and industrial schools. There were, the same year, 123 gymnasia and 23 progymnasia, in which Latin and Greek were taught; the number of pupils was 42,791. The expenses amounted to 4,467,644 roubles, of which 3,215,887 were charged to the state, 513,534 to the provinces and cities, and 738,223 to the pupils. For girls, there were 54 gymnasia, 108 progymnasia, and 24 other schools. The pupils numbered 23,400.- Superior primary instruction is given in the district schools, and elementary primary instruction in the parish and village schools. The number of the latter is estimated at 24,000, and the number of pupils at 870,000. The state established, in 1872, ten normal primary schools, which brought the number of these institutions up to twenty-five. Grants are voted annually by the provincial assemblies for the establishment and maintenance of primary and normal schools, and to these grants are added the private contributions, which, from 1865 to 1871, amounted to the sum of 1,183,540 roubles. Every one feels that the emancipation of the serfs has rendered the spread not call them into the active service are enrolled in the militia. Each year the young men who have attained the age of twenty years by the first of January, are liable to service. For the marine Under the ministry of public instruction, Russia is divided into eleven educational districts, each presided over by a curator. The nine universities, in 1878, were attended by 6,250 students. In 1876 there were 24,456 primary schools, with 1,019,488 pupils; in 1877 there were sixty-eight nor mal schools, with 4,596 pupils; while the various secondary establishments-lyceums, gymnasiums, district schools, etc. -had 88.400 pupils. In the budget for the year 1882, a sum of 18,030,867 roubles was set down for public education. The mass of the population of Russia is as yet without education. In 1860 only two out of every hundred recruits levied for the army were able to read and write, but the proportion had largely increased in 1870, when eleven out of every hundred were found to be possessed of these elements of knowledge. In the grand duchy of Finland, which has a system of public instruction separate from that of the rest of the empire, education is all but universal, the whole of the inhabitants being able at least to read, if not to write. The empire, Finland excepted, is divided, as above stated, into educational districts, each of which has a number of lyceums, at which the young men intended to fill civil offices are mostly instructed, besides gymnasiums, bigh schools and elementary schools, varying according to area and population. The eleven districts are those of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kharkof, Kasan, Dorpat, Kief, Odessa, Wilna, Warsaw, Caucasus and Orenburg. -F. M. the young men best fitted for that service are chosen. In the land army the term of service is fifteen years, six in active service and nine in the reserve. In the marine the term is ten years, seven of active service, and three in the reserve. In war time all the men remain in active service as long as the needs of the state demand it. The soldiers and marines can be sent into the reserve before their term of active service expires. The men of the reserve are subject to the ordinary laws, and enjoy the rights peculiar to their station. When they are called into active service, in case of war, their families are supported by the city or rural corporations, in which they are domiciled. Soldiers incapable of continuing in service and deprived of resources, receive from the treasury three roubles a month, or are placed in the hospitals. The militia comprises the men who do not form part of the standing army, but who are capable of bearing arms, from the age when they are liable to be conscripted up to forty years completed. Besides the exemptions for bodily defects or for family reasons, reprieves are granted as follows: 1, two years, at the most, for individuals who personally manage their landed property or who direct the commercial or industrial establishments belonging to them, excepting dealers in strong liquors; 2, from two to seven years, to pupils of various ecclesiastical, collegiate or artistic establishments, divided into five classes. Moreover, the term of active service is reduced, according to circumstances, to four years, three years, and even to six months, and that of the reserve to eleven years, in favor of young men who have graduated at certain establishments of public instruction. Members of the Christian clergy only are completely exempt. Young men who have the rank of doctor of medicine or of licentiate in the veterinary art or in pharmacy, or who are pensioners of the academy of fine arts sent to a foreign land, or who are professors in establishments of public instruction, are enrolled at once in the reserve for fifteen years. There are also certain temporary exemptions in the fleet, and reductions of service from one to two years in certain cases. — Volunteers are received into the land army, on their proving 1, that they are at least seventeen years of age; 2, that they are minors, and that their parents or guardians have consented to their enlistment; 3, that they have passed an examination in the complete course of studies in an establishment of public instruction, or a special examination determined by the ministers of war and of public instruction. They serve for three months, if they have passed the examination in an establishment of the first class; for six months, if in an establishment of the second class; and for two years, if they have only passed the special examination. At the expiration of these terms they are allowed, in time of peace, if they are not officers, to remain in the active service or to pass into the militia, where they are kept for nine years. Volunteers admitted into the guard or into the cavalry must support themselves at their own expense; in - the other troops they are supported by the state. In the navy the special examination is appropriatė for that service; volunteers are held for two years' active service and five years in the reserve. - The annual contingent is divided among the provinces by the minister of war; then that of each province is divided among the subdivisions by a recruiting board. In each district or city a committee is charged with drawing up the lists of names, subject to the drawing by lot, with visiting the young men, and deciding upon their admission or exemption. The provincial assembly controls the operations, examines the complaints, and decides upon or refers them to superior authority. The ukase does not apply to Cossacks and the other population whose military obligations are determined by special provisions. The regular army presented, on a peace footing, Jan. 1, 1872, an effective force of 760,000 men, of which 28,000 were officers of all ranks, and 732,000 non-commissioned officers and soldiers, forming 82 battalions of infantry and 281 squadrons of cavalry. The 732,000 non-commissioned officers and soldiers were thus divided: infantry, 572,400; cavalry, 61,700; artillery, 80,500; engineer corps, 17,400. To these figures must be added 560,000 men on leave, who could be called for in case of war. -The naval forces were composed, in 1870, of 216 vessels of all classes, 194 of which were steamships, and 22 sailing vessels, carrying 1,464 pieces of ordnance. There were eight iron-clad frigates, three bomb-protected batteries, thirteen iron-clad batteries, five ships, twelve frigates, and fifteen corvettes. The effective force of the military marine was 75 admirals, vice-admirals and rear admirals, 2,340 officers, and 20,986 marines and sailors. There are two adn ralties, one at St. Petersburg for the fleet of the Baltic, and one at Nicolaïef for the fleet of the Black sea. The principal dock yards are in these two cities, and at Okhta, Cronstadt, Kherson and Archangel. A great arsenal is established at Kolpina, near St. Petersburg.* — VII. Finances. Peter the Great, according to historians, had, to meet all his enterprises, a revenue of only 5,000,000 roubles, with tributes in kind, and the expenses were proportioned to the receipts. Both increased after his reign, but the expenses chiefly. Catherine II., having exhausted all other expedients, had recourse to a paper currency, which, in 1817, amounted to 210,000,000 roubles. To reduce it, recourse was had to internal loans; then, this recourse not being sufficient, in 1820, foreign loans were nego To this has to be added the staff, gendarmerie, militia (raised only in time of war), etc., which would raise the war forces to a total of 2,733,305 men. By the law of Dec. 18, 1878, which came into force Jan. 1, 1881, personal military service is declared obligatory in Finland. The Finnish troops form nine battalions of riflemen, each with eighteen officers and 505 men, and number in all 4,833. Among the irregular troops of Russia the most important are the Cossacks. The country of the Don Cossacks contains from 600,000 to 700,000 inhabitants. By imperial decree, dated April 29, 1875, every Cossack of the Don, from fifteen to sixty years of age, is bound to render military service. No substitution is allowed, nor payment of money in lieu of service. Exemption from military service is granted, however, at all times, to the Christian clergy, and, in times of peace, to physicians and veterinary surgeons, apothecaries, and teachers in public schools. The regular military force consists of fifty-four cavalry regiments, each numbering 1,044 men, making a total of 56,376. The number of Cossacks is computed as follows: The military organization of the Cossacks is in eight districts, called woisskos. Each woissko furnishes a certain number of regiments, fully armed and equipped, and undergoing constant military exercise, so as to be prepared to enter the field, on being summoned, in the course of ten days. The two larger districts are the woissko of Kuban, which has the privilege of furnishing a squadron of picked men for an imperial escort in time of war, and the second the woissko of Terak, which furnishes a like escort in time of peace. The Cossacks are a race of free men; neither serfage nor any other dependence upon the land has existed among them. The entire territory belongs to the Cossack commune, and every individual has an equal right to the use of the land, together with the pastures, hunting grounds and fisheries. The Cossacks pay no taxes to the government, but, in lieu of 5,940,000 The only diminution is in connection with the domains of the state, and is a result of the eman this, they are bound to perform military service. They are divided into three classes: viz., 1, the minors, or maloletniye, up to their sixteenth year; 2, those on actual service, the sluzhiliye, for a period of twenty-five years, therefore until their forty-second year; 3, those released from service, the otstavniye, who remain for five years, or until their forty-seventh year, in the reserve, after which period they are regarded as wholly released from service and invalided. Every Cossack is obliged to equip, clothe and arm himself at his own expense, and to keep his horse. While on service beyond the frontiers of his own country, he receives rations of food and provender, and a smail amount of pay. The artillery and train are at the charge of the government. Instead of imposing taxes on the Don Cossacks, the Russian government pays them an annual tribute, varying in peace and war, together with grants to be distributed among the widows and orphans of those who have fallen in battle. Besides the regular Cossacks, there are, on the Orenburg and Siberian lines, the Bashkir Cossacks, numbering some 200,000 men. - The Russian navy (1883) consists of two great divisions, the fleet of the Baltic, and that of the Black sea. Each of these two fleets is again subdivided into sections, of which three are in or near the Baltic, and two in or near the Black sea. The divisions, like the English, carry the white, blue and red flag, an arrangement originating with the Dutch, but without the rank of the admirals being connected with the color of the flag. At the end of the year 1880 the strength of the various divisions of the Russian navy was returned officially as follows: 1, the Baltic fleet, consisting of one hundred and thirty-seven menof-war, comprising twenty-seven armor-clad ships, fortyfour unarmored steamers, and sixty-six transports; 2, the Black sea fleet, consisting of thirty-one men-of-war, comprising three armor-clad ships, twenty-five unarmored steamers, and three transports; 3, the Caspian sea fleet, consisting of eleven unarmored steamers and eight transports; 4, the Siberian fleet, consisting of fifteen unarmored steamers and twenty-one transports. The total comprises 223 men-ofwar, all steamers, armed with 561 guns, with engines aggre gating 188,120 horse power. The iron-clad fleet of war of Russia, comprising thirty ships, twenty-eight in the Baltic and two in the Black sea, was made up, at the end of 1880, of the following classes of ships: 1st class, three mastless turret ships, 12 and 14 inch armor thickness; 2d class, nine sea cipation of the peasants. If the expenses of col lection and the anticipated deficit in receipts are deducted, viz., 42,000,000 for 1864 and 52,000,000 for 1871, we find, for the first of these years, a total of 304,246,000, and for the second a total of 487,966,000. But as the budget of Poland has been joined to that of the empire, 30,000,000 must be added to the first of the two totals, and by adding them we find an increase in the receipts, of 153,720,000 roubles, without any increase in taxes except upon liquors. The following table shows the ordinary expenditure for the years named, in roubles: ITEMS. Public debt.. Grand body or corps of the state... 1864. 1871. 10,900,000 21,140,000 59,630,000 1,200,000 5,340,000 Imperial household.. 7,750,000 Foreign affairs. 2,090,000 War 119,950,000 159,250,000 Navy 21,680,000 Domains of the empire.. Interior. 23,490,000 Public instruction.. 6,240,000 42,460,000 Means of communication.. 25,160,000 Justice. 6,480,000 General control of the empire.. 320,000 The stud.... 590,000 Expenses of Poland. 34,020,000 1,310,000 | struction of railways or of advances for the redemption of serfs. In 1863, this debt amounted to 759,000,000 roubles, and, Jan. 1, 1872, to 966,000,000. It had, therefore, increased 207,000,000. Moreover, the debt of Poland having been charged to the treasury, in 1869, and this debt amounting to 92,000,000 in 1872, the debt of Russia was therefore increased to 1,058,000,000. The floating debt is composed of treasury bonds, of fifty roubles each. It amounted, in 1863, to 189,000,000 roubles; from 1866 to 1872 it remained fixed at 216,000,000. The paper currency consists of credit notes put into forced circulation by the bank of Russia. They do not bear interest, and are not guaranteed by a metallic reserve, like the other credit notes issued by the same bank for its own operations. In 1863, after 118,000,000 rou85,060,000 2,450,000 bles had been retired from circulation or burned, 9,220,000 there remained 643,000,000. In 1872 there were 724,000,000, and adding the notes issued to replace those of the former institutions of credit to which the bank of Russia succeeded in 1860, the circulation amounted to 959,000,000. As to the debt arising from the redemption of the serfs, the advances made by the treasury amounted, from 1861 to Jan. 1, 1871, to the sum of 559,931,289 roubles, out of which 251,500,000 were retained for the mortgage debts of the former owners.* VIII. Means of Communication. When Deducting the expenses of Poland, we have for Peter the Great tried to remedy the enormous 1864 a total of 351,346,000 roubles, and for 1871 greatness of the distances which separated and a total of 498,422,000 roubles, consequently an in- still separate the groups of habitations, it was by crease which is not the result alone of the increase means of interior waters, seas, lakes, streams and in the debt and the military expenses, but also of rivers that he undertook to create means of comthe improvements made in the different services.munication. He commenced the junction of the The expenditure of 1864, compared with the receipts, presents a deficit of 47,000,000; in 1871 we find 10,000,000 deficit, but we shall see, further on, that the debt had increased. The expenses connected with the construction of railways and of certain ports, are paid separately from a special fund raised by means of loans. The budget of 1874 was thus fixed: receipts from all sources, 539,851,656 roubles; expenses, 536,683,836 roubles. -The debt is divided into the public debt properly speaking, or consolidated debt, the floating debt, and the paper currency. The consolidated debt is composed of loans effected at different periods since 1798, at different rates and under different forms, some domestic and some foreign; some to be liquidated or redeemable at a fixed time, others at no determinate period; lastly, some to reduce the paper currency, others to cover the deficits, and others to pay the expense of the con going cruisers, 4 to 6 inch armor; 3d class, sixteen vessels for coast defense, 4 to 44 inch armor; 4th class, two circular monitors, 11 and 18 inch armor. The imperial navy was commanded, in 1880, by 17 admirals, 32 vice-admirals, 31 rear admirals, 201 first-class captains, 98 second-class captains, 303 captain lieutenants, 443 lieutenants, and 129 midshipmen of the special corps attached to the navy. The navigation detachment contained, at the same date, five generals and 508 staff officers; the naval artillery, four generals and 197 staff officers; and the naval engineers, six generals and 139 staff officers.-F.M. Volga with the basin of the Neva and that of the Dwina of the north, by a system of navigation which was continued by his successors; and is • The public revenue of the empire is derived to the extent of two-thirds from direct and indirect taxes, while nearly two-thirds of the total expenditure is for the army and navy, and interest on the public debt. There are annual budget estimates published by the government, and also, since 1866, accounts of the actual receipts and disbursements of the state, which, entering into minute details, can not be issued till after the lapse of a number of years. The following table gives the total actual revenue and expenditure of the imperial government, in roubles, for each of the years 187581: of the western Dwina, and the canals of the Beresina and the Dnieper; the second of the Chara, a tributary of the Niemen, and of the Pripet, a tributary of the Dnieper; the third, of the Vistula, the Boug and the Pripet. The south does not fare so well, the Caspian sea has no direct communi most important of them were, first, a loan of £5,500,000, issued in 1850, to meet the expenditure for the railway from St. Petersburg to Moscow; secondly, a loan of £12.000.000, issued in 1859; thirdly, a loan of £8,000,000, issued in 1860; and fourthly, a loan of £15,000,000, issued in 1862, the latter three contracted partly for the covering of financial deficits and partly for the construction of railways. The subsequent foreign loans were: one for £2,600,000, issued in 1863, and two for £6,000,000 each issued respectively in 1864 and 1866. The next was a foreign loan of £15,000,000, brought out in September, 1872, and the second raised in December, 1874 The following table gives the year of issue, nominal capital, interest per cent., and price of issue, of the foreign loans of Russia, fifteen in number-including early liabilities dating back to 1822-contracted up to 1882: 1. Ordinary expenditure: Interest and sinking fund of the national debt... 191,776,287 YEAR OF ISSUE. Nominal Capital. Holy synod 10,300,800 1850 Ministry of the imperial house.. 8,954,000 1859 Ministry of foreign affairs 3,686,185 1860 68 Ministry of war 183,489,042 1862 8,000,000 Ministry of the navy.. 15,000,000 27,507,721 1863 Ministry of finance. 78,430,477 1864 2,600,000 Ministry of the imperial domains.. Ministry of the interior... 19,244,882 1866 6,000,000 6,000,000 65,120,548 1867-9 Ministry of public instruction. 18,030,867 1870 23,110,000 Ministry of public works and railways.. 16,072,905 1871 Ministry of justice Department of general control 14,780,362 1872 Civil administration of the Transcaucasus.. Various. 7,252,291 1874 2,367,225 1873 12,000,000 12,000,000 15,000,000 15,000,000 1,480 000 931,329 1875 8,500,000 22,165,068 72,744,293 Total ordinary expenditure..... 2. Anticipated deficits in receipts. 8. "Dépenses d'ordre". 4. Extraordinary expenses Total expenditure... -The finances of Russia, almost since the beginning of the century, exhibit large annual deficits caused partly by an enormous expenditure for war, and partly by the construction of reproductive works, such as railways. But the war expenditure was by far the greatest cause of the deficits. - According to official returns, issued in 1881, the total war outlay incurred by Russia during the four years 1876 to 1880, amounted to 1,075,396,653 roubles, or £153,628,093. -To cover a series of annual deficits, and, at the same time, to procure the capital for the construction of a net-work of railways throughout the empire, a number of foreign loans were raised during the thirty-two years from 1850 to 1882. The Not included in the above list are several loans for railways, guaranteed by the imperial government. The earlier of the foreign loans of Russia have become largely reduced at present, through the operation of sinking funds. Of the 1899 loan, issued by Messrs. Rothschild, more than one-half had been repaid at the end of 1875; of the 1850 loan, contracted for by Baring Brothers, the outstanding sum was £2.950,000; of the 1859 loan, issued by Thomson, Bonar & Co., the amount was £5,100,000; and of the 1860 loan, issued by Baring Brothers, it was £6,600,000 at the same date. But the repayments of the subsequent loans, through sinking funds, were comparatively smail.- The entire public debt of Russia, interior and foreign, was estimated to amount to 2,450,000,000 roubles, or £350,000,000, on Sept. 1, 1878, the total including an internal loan of 210,000,000 roubles, or £30,000,000, issued in 1877, soon after the commencement of the war against Turkey, and another internal loan, called "the second eastern loan "to the amount of 300,000,000 roubles, or £42,857,142, issued in August, 1878. On Jan. 1, 1880, the total debt had increased to 4,480,812,699 roubles, or £640,116,099.- Included in the debt here enumerated is a very large quantity of paper money, with forced currency. According to official reports, the total amount of bank notes in circulation on Jan. 1, 1876, was 797,313,480 roubles, or £113,901,925. There were new issues of paper money to a very large amount during the years 1876-9. The total debt represented by paper money of forced currency, was estimated at 1,500,000,000 roubles, or upward of £210,000,000, in January, 1880.-- The destruction of public credit, through an unlimited issue of paper money, is, as remarked above, of old standing. In the reign of Catherine II., the first attempt, on a large scale, was made to cover the annual deficits by a very liberal supply of paper roubles, the sum total of which at the death of the empress, 1796, amounted |