CHAPTER XXVI

FINLAND--HAGUE TRIBUNAL--POLITICAL CONDITIONS

When Nicholas II., the gentle-faced young son of Alexander, came to the

throne there were hopes that a new era for Russia was about to

commence. There has been nothing yet to justify that hope. The

austere policy pursued by his father has not been changed. The recent

decree which has brought grief and dismay into Finland is not the act

of a liberal sovereign! A forcible Russification of that state has

been ordered, and the press in Finland has been prohibited from

censuring the _ukase_ which has brought despair to the hearts and homes

of the people. The Russian language has been made obligatory in the

university of Helsingfors and in the schools, together with other

severe measures pointing unmistakably to a purpose of effacing the

Finnish nationality--a nationality, too, which has never by disloyalty

or insurrection merited the fate of Poland.

But if this has struck a discordant note, the invitation to a

Conference of the Nations with a view to a general disarmament has been

one of thrilling and unexpected sweetness and harmony. Whether the

Peace Congress at The Hague (1899) does or does not arrive at important

immediate results, its existence is one of the most significant facts

of modern times. It is the first step on the way to that millennial

era of universal peace toward which a perfected Christian civilization

must eventually lead us, and it remained for an autocratic Tsar of

Russia to sound the call and to be the leader in this movement.

At the death-bed of his father, Nicholas was betrothed to a princess of

the House of Hesse, whose mother was Princess Alice, daughter of Queen

Victoria. Upon her marriage this Anglo-German princess was compelled

to make a public renunciation of her own faith, and to accept that of

her imperial consort--the orthodox faith of Russia. The personal

traits of the Emperor seem so exemplary that, if he fails to meet the

heroic needs of the hour, the world is disposed not to reproach him,

but rather to feel pity for the young ruler who has had thrust upon him

such an insoluble problem. His character recalls somewhat that of his

great-uncle Alexander I. We see the same vague aspiration after grand

ideals, and the same despotic methods in dealing with things in the

concrete. No general amnesty attended his coronation, no act of

clemency has been extended to political exiles. Men and women whose

hairs have whitened in Siberia have not been recalled--not one thing

done to lighten the awful load of anguish in his empire. It may have

been unreasonable to have looked for reforms; but certainly it was not

too much to expect mercy!

What one man could reform Russia? Who could reform a volcano? There

are frightful energies beneath that adamantine surface--energies which

have been confined by a rude, imperfectly organized system of force; a

chain-work of abuses roughly welded together as occasion required. It

is a system created by emergencies,--improvised, not grown,--in which

to remove a single abuse endangers the whole. When the imprisoned

forces tried to escape at one spot, more force was applied and more

bands and more rivets brutally held them down, and were then retained

as a necessary part of the whole.

On the surface is absolutism in glittering completeness, and beneath

that--chaos. Lying at the bottom of that chaos is the great mass of

Slavonic people undeveloped as children--an embryonic

civilization--utterly helpless and utterly miserable. In the mass

lying above that exists the mind of Russia--through which course

streams of unduly developed intelligence in fierce revolt against the

omnipresence of misery. And still above that is the shining, enameled

surface rivaling that of any other nation in splendor. The Emperor may

say with a semblance of truth _l'état c'est moi_, but although he may

combine in himself all the functions, judicial, legislative, and

executive, no channels have been supplied, no finely organized system

provided for conveying that triple stream to the extremities. The

living currents at the top have never reached the mass at the

bottom--that despised but necessary soil in which the prosperity of the

Empire is rooted. There has been no vital interchange between the

separated elements, which have been in contact, but not in union. And

Russia is as heterogeneous in condition as it is in elements. It has

accepted ready-made the methods of Greek, of Tatar, and of European;

but has assimilated none of them; and Russian civilization, with its

amazing quality, its bewildering variety of achievement in art,

literature, diplomacy, and in every field, is not a natural

development, but a monstrosity. The genius intended for a whole people

seems to have been crowded into a few narrow channels. Where have men

written with such tragic intensity? Where has there been music

suggesting such depths of sadness and of human passion? And who has

ever told upon canvas the story of the battlefield with such energy and

with such thrilling reality, as has Verestchagin?

The youngest among the civilizations, and herself still only partially

civilized, Russia is one of the most--if not the most--important factor

in the world-problem to-day, and the one with which the future seems

most seriously involved. She has only just commenced to draw upon her

vast stores of energy; energies which were accumulating during the ages

when the other nations were lavishly spending theirs. How will this

colossal force be used in the future? Moving silently and irresistibly

toward the East, and guided by a subtle and far-reaching policy, who

can foresee what will be the end, and what the ultimate destiny of the

Empire which had its beginning in a small Slavonic State upon the

Dnieper, and which, until a little more than a century ago, was too

much of a barbarian to be admitted into the fraternity of European

States.

The farthest removed from us in political ideals, Russia has in the

various crises in our national life always been America's truest

friend. When others apparently nearer have failed us, she has stood

steadfastly by us. We can never forget it. Owning a large portion of

the earth's surface, rich beyond calculation in all that makes for

national wealth and prosperity, with a peasantry the most confiding,

the most loyal, the most industrious in the world, with intellectual

power and genius in abundant measure, and with pride of race and a

patriotism profound and intense, what more does Russia need? Only

three things--that cruelty be abandoned; that she be made a homogeneous

nation; and that she be permitted to live under a government capable of

administering justice to her people. These she must have and do. In

the coming century there will be no place for barbarism. There will be

something in the air which will make it impossible that a great part of

a frozen continent shall be dedicated to the use of suffering human

beings, kept there by the will of one man. There will be something in

the air which will forbid cruelty and compel mercy and justice, and

which will make men or nations feign those virtues if they have them

not.

The antagonism between England and Russia has a deeper significance

than appears on the surface. It is not the Eastern question, not the

control of Constantinople, not the obtaining of concessions from China

which is at stake. It is the question which of two principles shall

prevail. The one represented by a despotism in which the people have

no part, or the one represented by a system of government through which

the will of the people freely acts. There can be but one result in

such a conflict, one answer to such a question. The eternal purposes

are writ too large in the past to mistake them. And it is the ardent

hope of America that Russia--that Empire which has so generously

accorded us her friendship in our times of peril--may not by cataclysm

from within, but of her own volition, place herself fully in line with

the ideals of an advanced civilization.

SUPPLEMENT TO SHORT HISTORY OF RUSSIA

From Rurik to Nicholas III. the policy of Russia has been determined by

its thirst for the sea. Every great struggle in the life of this

colossal land-locked empire has had for its ultimate object the opening

of a door to the ocean, from which nature has ingeniously excluded it.

In the first centuries of its existence Rurik and his descendants were

incessantly hurling themselves against the door leading to the

Mediterranean. But the door would not yield. Then Ivan IV. and his

descendants, with no greater success, hammered at the door leading to

the West. The thirst growing with defeat became a national instinct.

When Peter the Great first looked out upon the sea, at Archangel, and

when he created that miniature navy upon the Black Sea, and when he

dragged his capital from "Holy Moscow" to the banks of the Neva,

planting it upon that submerged tract, he was impelled by the same

instinct which is to-day making history in the Far East.

It was in 1582 that Yermak, the Cossack robber and pirate, under

sentence of death, won a pardon from Ivan IV. ("the Terrible") in

exchange for Siberia--that unknown region stretching across the

Continent of Asia to the Pacific. Eight hundred Cossacks under the

daring outlaw had sufficed to drive the scattered Asiatic tribes before

them and to establish the sovereignty of Yermak, who then gladly

exchanged his prize with the "Orthodox Tsar" for his "traitorous head."

It was the tremendous energy of one man, Muraviev, which led to the

development of Eastern Siberia. Pathfinder and pioneer in the march

across the Asiatic continent, drawing settlers after him as he moved

along, he reached the mouth of the Amur river in 1846, and, at last,

the empire possessed a naval station upon the Pacific, which was named

Nikolaifsk, after the reigning Tsar, Nicholas I.

It was this Tsar, great-grandfather of Nicholas II., who, grimly

turning his back upon Western Europe, set the face of Russia toward the

East, reversing the direction which has always been the course of

empire. What had Russia to gain from alliances in the West? Her

future was in the East; and he intended to drive back the tide of

Europeanism which his predecessors had so industriously invited.

Russian youths were prohibited from being educated in Western

universities, and at the same time there was established at Canton a

school of instruction where they might learn the Chinese language and

the methods and spirit of Chinese civilization. It was a determined

purpose to Orientalize his empire. And violating all the traditions of

history, the flight of the Russian Eagle from that moment was toward

the rising, not the setting sun.

Muraviev, now Governor of the Eastern Provinces of Siberia, was

empowered to negotiate a treaty with China to determine the rights of

the two nations upon the river Amur, which separated Manchuria, the

northernmost province of China, from Russian Siberia. The treaty,

which was concluded in 1858, conceded the left bank of this river to

Russia.

Nikolaifsk, a great part of the year sealed up with ice, was only a

stepping-stone for the next advance southward. From the mouth of the

Amur to the frontier of Korea there was a strip of territory lying

between the sea on the east and the Ussuri river on the west, which to

the Russian mind, at that time, seemed an ideal possession. How it was

accomplished it is needless to say; but China reluctantly agreed that

there should be for a time a joint occupation of this strip, and, in

1859, needing Russia's friendship, it was unconditionally bestowed.

The "Ussuri Region" was now transformed into the "_Maritime Provinces

of Siberia_," and the Russian Empire, by the stroke of a pen, had moved

ten degrees toward the south. Vladivostok, at the southern extremity

of the new province, was founded in 1860, and in 1872 made chief naval

station on the eastern coast, in place of Nikolaifsk.

But the prize obtained after such expenditure of effort and diplomacy

was far from satisfactory. Of what use was a naval station which was

not only ice-bound half the year but from which, even when ice-free, it

was impossible for ships to reach the open sea except by passing

through narrow gateways controlled by Japan? How to overcome these

obstacles, how to circumvent nature in her persistent effort to

imprison her--this was the problem set for Russian diplomacy to solve.

The eastern slice of Manchuria, which now had become the "Maritime

Province of Siberia," was a pleasant morsel, six hundred miles long.

But there was a still more desired strip lying in the sun south of

it--a peninsula jutting out into the sea, the extreme southern end of

which (Port Arthur) was ideally situated for strategic purposes,

commanding as it does the Gulf of Pechili, the Gulf of Liao-Tung and

the Yellow Sea. Who could tell what might happen? China was in an

unstable condition. Her integrity was threatened. England, France and

Germany, quickly following Russia's lead in the Ussuri strip, had

already wrung privileges from her. Circumstances might any day justify

Russia's occupation of the entire peninsula. She could afford to wait.

And while she waited she was not idle.

The post-road across Asia was no longer adequate for the larger plans

developing in the East; so the construction of a railway was planned to

span the distance between Moscow and Vladivostok. At a point beyond

Lake Baikal the river Amur makes a sudden detour, sweeping far toward

the north before it again descends, thus enclosing a large bit of

Manchuria in a form not unlike the State of Michigan. Many miles of

the projected road might be saved by crossing the diameter of this

semi-circle and moving in a straight line to Vladivostok, across

Chinese territory. It did not seem wise at this time to ask such a

privilege, the patience of China being already strained by the matter

of the Ussuri strip, that much-harassed country being also suspicious

of the railroad itself. So with consummate tact Russia proceeded to

build the road from the two extremities, leaving this gap to be

adjusted by time and circumstances. She had not to wait long. In 1894

an unexpected event altered the whole face of the problem. War was

declared between China and Japan.

The three Oriental nations involved in this dispute--China, Japan and

Korea--offer three distinct and strongly contrasting types coming out

of the mysterious region the world used to know by the comprehensive

name of Cathay. When we read of 160,000 Japanese soldiers in the year

1600 tramping across Korea for the purpose of conquering their great

neighbor China, it has a familiar sound! But China was not conquered

by Japan in 1600, and remained the dominant power in the East, as she

had been since she struggled out of the Mongol yoke which, in common

with Russia, Kublai-Khan imposed upon her in 1260.

At the time of this Mongol invasion, the Manchus, a nomadic tribe,

gathered up their portable tents and fled into a province lying beyond

the Great Wall, permanently occupying the region now called Manchuria.

Remote and obscure, the Manchus were almost unknown to the Chinese

until the year 1580, when Tai-Tsu, a remarkable man and born leader, on

account of grievances suffered by his tribe, organized a revolt against

China and made a victorious assault upon his powerful Suzerain. Upon

his death, in 1626, his victories were continued by his son, who

overthrew the reigning dynasty and was proclaimed Emperor of China.

And that wretched youth who is to-day obscured and dominated by the

powerful Empress Dowager at Pekin is the lineal descendant of Tai-Tsu

and the last representative of the Manchurian Dynasty, which has ruled

China for nearly four centuries.

The Manchus had not much in the way of civilization to impose upon the

people they had conquered. But such as they had they brought with

them; and the shaven forehead and the queue, so precious to the

Chinese, are Manchurian exotics. Mukden, the capital of Manchuria,

became the "Sacred City," where Manchurian Emperors at death were laid

beside Tai-Tsu. Wealthy mandarins built residences there. It became

splendid and, next only to Pekin, was known as the second official city

in the empire.

While the world has long been familiar with China and its civilization,

Japan and Korea have only recently come out from their Oriental

seclusion. In looking into the past of the former, in vain do we seek

for any adequate explanation, anything which will reasonably account

for that phenomenally endowed race which occupies the centre of the

stage to-day; which, knowing absolutely nothing of our civilization

forty years ago, has so digested and assimilated its methods and

essential principles that it is beating us at our own game.

From its earliest period this country was under a feudal system of

government, with the Mikado as its supreme and sacred head. The Divine

nature of this being separated him from the temporal affairs of the

nation, which were in the hands of the Shogun, who represented the

strong arm of the state. Next below the Shogun were the Daimios, the

feudal or military chiefs; these in turn being the rulers of bands of

military retainers which constituted the aristocratic class, and were

called the Samurai.

Shintoism, a form of ancestral worship and sacrifice to dead heroes,

which was the primitive cult of Japan, was in 600 A. D. superseded, or

rather absorbed, by Buddhism, which for a thousand years has prevailed.

And although Shintoism to some extent still lingers, and although

Confucianism with its philosophical and abstract principles has always

had its followers, still Japanese civilization is the child of Gautama.

The dual sovereignty of the Mikado and the Shogun, like that existing

in the Holy Roman Empire, made a great deal of history in Japan. The

things representing the real power in a state were in the hands of the

Shogun. The Mikado was venerated, but this first servant in the land

was feared, the one dwelling in a seclusion so sacred that to look upon

him was almost a sacrilege, the other with armies and castles and

wealth and the pomp and circumstance which attend the real sovereign.

History again repeats itself as we see this Maire du Palais obscuring

more and more the titular sovereign, the Mikado, until like Pepin he

openly claimed absolute sovereignty, assuming the title of Tycoon.

The people rose against this usurpation. It was while in the throes of

this revolution that the United States Government dispatched a few

ships under Commodore Perry, in protection of some American citizens in

Japan. After this events moved swiftly. In 1854 a treaty with the

United States--their first with foreign nations--was signed at

Yokohama. Treaties with other nations speedily followed. In 1860 a

Japanese embassy arrived at Washington, and similar ones were

established in European capitals.

In 1869 the revolution was over. The party of the usurping Tycoon was

defeated and the Shogunate abolished. The anti-foreign spirit which

was allied with it shared this defeat, and the party desiring to adopt

the methods of foreign lands was triumphant. There was a

reorganization of the government, with the Mikado as its single and

supreme head. The entire feudal structure, with its Daimios and

Samurai, was swept away. A representative body was created holding a

relation to the Mikado similar to that of the Houses of Parliament to

the King of England. The rights of the people were safeguarded. In

other words, at a bound, an Oriental feudal and military despotism had

become a modern democratic free state. From this moment dates an

ascent from obscurity to an advanced type of civilization, accomplished

with a swiftness without a parallel in the history of nations.

Japanese youths, silent, intent, studious, were in European and

American universities, colleges, technical schools, learning the arts

of war and of peace. When war was declared between China and Japan

(1894), the world discovered that they had not studied in vain.

In order to understand the Chino-Japanese war, one must know something

of Korea, that, little peninsula jutting out between these two

countries, washed by the Yellow Sea on the west and by the Sea of Japan

on the east.

In the Koreans we seem to behold the wraith of a something which

existed long ago. There are traditions of ancient greatness, the line

of their present King stretching proudly back to 1390, and beyond that

an indefinite background of splendor and vista of heroic deeds which,

we are told, made China and Japan and all the East tremble! But to-day

we see a feeble and rather gentle race, eccentric in customs and dress

and ideals, with odd rites and ceremonials chiefly intended to placate

demoniacal beings to whom they ascribe supreme control over human

events. Nothing may be done by the King or his humblest subject

without consulting the sorcerers and exorcists, who alone know the

propitious moment and place for every important act. With no

recognition of a Supreme Being, no sacred books; without temples, or

art, or literature, or industries, excepting one or two of a very

simple nature, it is extremely difficult for the Western mind to

understand what life must mean to this people. That it is a degenerate

form of national life which must be either absorbed or effaced seems

obvious. And if the life of Korean nationality is prolonged in the

future, it will be simply because, like Turkey, it harmlessly holds a

strategic point too valuable to be allowed to pass into the hands of

any one of the nations which covet it. And it is also easy to foresee

that in the interval existing until its absorption, Korea must remain,

also like Turkey, merely the plaything of diplomacy and the

battle-ground for rival nations.

Until the year 1876 Korea was really a "Hermit Kingdom," with every

current from the outside world carefully excluded. In that year her

near neighbor, Japan, made the first rift in the enclosing shell. A

treaty was concluded opening Chemulpo, Fusan and Won-San to Japanese

trade. The civilizing tide pressed in, and by 1883 the United States,

France, England and Germany had all concluded treaties and Korea was

open to the outside world.

The government of Korea at this time was simply an organized system of

robbery and extortion--wearing not even the mask of justice. The

undisguised aim of officialdom was to extort money from the people; and

the aim of the high-born Korean youth (or _yang-ban_) was to pass the

royal examination in Chinese classics, which was requisite to make him

eligible for official position, and then join the horde of vampires who

fed upon the people. At irregular intervals there were revolts, and

under the pressure of violent acts temporary relief would be afforded;

then things would go on as before.

While such was the perennial condition of political unrest, a rebellion

of a different sort broke out at Seoul in 1885--an anti-foreign

rebellion--which had for its purpose the expulsion of all the foreign

legations. This led to negotiations between China and Japan having an

important bearing upon subsequent events. Li Hung Chang, representing

China, and Marquis Ito, the Japanese Foreign Minister, held a

conference (1885) at Tien-tsin, which resulted in what is known as the

"Li-Ito treaty." In view of the disorders existing, it was agreed that

their respective governments should hold a joint control in Korea, each

having the right to dispatch troops to the peninsula if required. This

agreement was later expanded into a joint occupation until reform

should be established insuring security and order. These negotiations

left Korea as before an independent state, although tributary to China.

The Koreans attributed their calamities to their Queen, a woman of

intelligence and craft, who managed to keep her own family in the

highest positions and also, by intriguing with China, to thwart

Japanese reforms. It soon became apparent that so far from

co-operating in these reforms, which were an essential part of the

Li-Ito agreement, China intended to make them impossible. The

Government at Tokio came to a momentous decision.

In 1894 an outbreak more serious than usual occurred, known as the

"Tong-Hak Rebellion." Li Hung Chang promptly sent an army from

Tien-tsin for its suppression, another from Japan coming simultaneously.

But the Japanese army poured into Chemulpo in such numbers and with a

perfection of equipment suggesting a purpose not mentioned in the

Li-Ito agreement! China's protest was met by open defiance, Japan

declaring that, as the convention of 1885 had been violated, she should

no longer recognize the sovereignty of China in Korea.

War was declared Aug. 1, 1894. The Mikado's Government was not

unprepared for this crisis. There were no surprises awaiting the army

of little men as they poured into Korea. They knew the measurements of

the rivers, the depth of the fords and every minutest detail of the

land they intended to invade. Their emissaries in disguise had also

been gauging the strength and the weakness of China from Thibet to the

sea. They knew her corruption, her crumbling defenses, her antique

arms and methods, the absence of all provision for the needs of an army

in the field.

With a bewildering suddenness and celerity the plan of the campaign

developed. First the control of Korea was secured, then the command of

the sea, then the Yalu was crossed; and while one division of the army

was pouring into Manchuria, threatening Niu-Chwang and beyond that

Mukden, a second division landed at Pitsewo, making a rapid descent

upon Port Arthur, the chief stronghold of China, which was captured by

assault Nov. 20, 1894.

Wei-Hai-Wei, the next strongly fortified point on the coast of China,

south of Port Arthur, of almost equal strategic value, was defended

with desperation by sea and by land. But in vain; and, with the

capitulation of Wei-Hai-Wei, Feb. 12, 1895, the war was ended.

With the "Sacred City" of Mukden threatened in the north, and Pekin in

the south, Japan could name her own terms as the price of peace. First

of all she demanded an acknowledgment of the independence of Korea.

Then that the island of Formosa and the Manchurian peninsula

(Liao-Tung), embracing a coast line from the Korean boundary to Port

Arthur, should belong to her.

A severe blow had been dealt to Russia. She saw her entire Eastern

policy threatened with failure. The permanent occupation of the

Liao-Tung peninsula by Japan meant that she had to deal, not with an

effete and waning power which she might threaten and cajole, but with a

new and ambitious civilization which had just given proof of surprising

ability. After vast expenditure of energy and treasure and diplomacy,

access to the sea was further off than ever.

Then came a masterly stroke. Germany and France were induced to

co-operate with Russia in driving Japan out of Manchuria, upon the

ground that her presence so near to Pekin endangered the Chinese

Empire, the independence of Korea and the peace of the Orient. So in

the hour of her triumph Japan was to be humiliated; the fruits of her

victory snatched from her, precisely as the "Berlin Treaty," in 1879,

had torn from Russia the fruits of her Turkish victories! Japan wasted

no time in protests, but quietly withdrew and, as it is significantly

said, "proceeded to double her army and treble her navy!"

As the protector of Chinese interests Russia was in position to ask a

favor; she asked and obtained permission to carry the Siberian railway

in a straight line through Manchuria, instead of following the Amur in

its great northward sweep. The Japanese word for statesman also means

_chess-player_. Russian diplomatists had played their game well. In

serving China, they had incidentally removed the Japanese from a

position which blocked their own game, and had at the same time opened

a way for their railway across that waiting gap in Northern Manchuria.

Just three years after these events Germany, by way of indemnity for

the murder of two missionaries, compelled China to lease to her the

province of Shantung. Russia immediately demanded similar privileges

in the Liao-Tung peninsula. China, beaten to her knees, could not

afford to lose the friendship of the Tsar, and granted the lease; and

when permission was asked to have a branch of the Russian railway run

from Harbin through the length of this leased territory to Port Arthur,

humbly conceded that too.

With wonderful smoothness everything had moved toward the desired end.

To be sure, the tenure of the peninsula was only by lease, and in no

way different from that of Shantung by Germany. There was no pretext

in sight for garrisoning the dismantled fort at Port Arthur, but the

fates had hitherto opened closed doors and might do it again. And so

she waited. And while she waited the branch road from Harbin moved

swiftly down to Mukden, and on through the Manchurian peninsula, and

Port Arthur was in _direct line of communication with St. Petersburg_.

In 1900 the anti-foreign insurrection known as the "Boxer war" broke

out in China. Russia, in common with all the Great Powers (now

including Japan), sent troops for the protection of the imperiled

legations at Pekin. Nothing could better have served the Government of

the Tsar. Russian troops poured into Manchuria, and the new road from

Harbin bore the Tsar's soldiers swiftly down to Port Arthur. The fort

was garrisoned, and work immediately commenced--probably upon plans

already drawn--to make of this coveted spot what Nature seemed to have

designed it to be--the Gibraltar of the East.

The Western Powers had not been unobservant of these steady

encroachments upon Chinese territory, and while a military occupation

of the peninsula was necessary at this time, it was viewed with

uneasiness; but none was prepared for what followed. Before peace was

actually concluded, Russia approached China with a proposition for her

permanent occupancy of--not the peninsula alone, but all of Manchuria.

A mystifying proposition when we reflect that Japan was forced out of

the southern littoral of Manchuria because her presence there

threatened Korea, China, and the peace of the world. Port Arthur was

no farther from Pekin and Seoul than it was five years before, and it

was much nearer to St. Petersburg! And as Russia had already made

surprising bounds from Nikolaifsk to Vladivostok, and from Vladivostok

to Port Arthur, she might make still another to one or both of these

capitals.

So limp and helpless had China become since the overthrow by Japan and

the humiliations following the "Boxer war," and so compliant had she

been with Russia's demands, that the United States, Great Britain and

Japan, fearful that she would yield, combined to prevent this last

concession, which under this pressure was refused, and a pledge

demanded for the withdrawal of troops before a fixed date, which pledge

Russia gave. At the specified dates, instead of withdrawing her troops

from Manchuria, Russia reopened negotiations with China, proposing new

conditions. Garrisons were being strengthened instead of withdrawn.

Strategic positions were being fortified and barracks built in rushing

haste. At the same time Russian infantry and bands of Cossacks were

crossing the Yalu to protect Russian sawmills and other industries

which had also crept into Korea. And when the Korean Government

protested, Russian agents claimed the right to construct railways,

erect telegraphs or take any required measures for the protection of

Russian settlers in Korea; and every diplomatic attempt to open

Manchuria or Korea to foreign trade and residents was opposed by Russia

as if it were an attack upon her own individual rights.

Surprising as this was to all the Treaty Powers, it had for Japan the

added sting of injustice. She had been ejected from her own territory,

fairly won in war, because her presence would endanger the independence

of Korea and the peace of the Orient. She now saw Russia in full

occupation of this very territory, and the absorption of Korea itself

threatened.

And what was the object of all this scheming? Not more land!

Certainly a nation owning more than a sixth of the earth's surface

could not be hungering for land! And no doubt Russia would long ago

gladly have given one-half of Siberia to the sea in exchange for a few

good harbors such as existed on the east coast of Korea. It was that

ever-existent thirst for access to the ocean which tempted her into

tortuous diplomacy, drawing her on and on, like the hand of fate.

Manchuria itself would be unavailing unless she could control Korea,

which alone possessed the ocean facilities for which she had struggled

since the first year of her existence.

In the year 1900 the Trans-Siberian Railway was completed. Its 6,600

miles of rails, if laid in a straight line, would pass one-quarter of

the distance around the earth! It had traversed an unexplored

continent, creating, as it moved along, homes for the workmen, schools

for their technical instruction, churches, hospitals, inns, stores;

converting a wilderness, in fact, into a semi-civilization at the rate

of a mile a day for nine years! And whereas in the days of the Mongol

subjection it required four years for the Grand Princes to go from

Moscow to Saraï, near Pekin, to prostrate themselves before the Great

Khan, many perishing by the way from fatigue and exposure, the journey

from Moscow to Pekin may now be accomplished in two weeks. In perfect

good faith Japan commenced her task of reformation in Korea. But the

way was obstructed by the large and powerful family of the Queen, who

were, in fact, the chief vampires in the kingdom. A few Korean

miscreants led by Japanese officials formed a plot to get rid of these

people, seize the Government, and then administer the reforms

themselves. Forcing their way into the palace Oct. 8, 1895, there was

enacted a tragedy similar to the one which recently horrified the world

in Servia. While the King was being insulted and dragged about by his

hair, the fleeing Queen was stricken down and stabbed, several members

of her family sharing the same fate. She, it is said, was then

carried, still breathing, to a grove in the park, where, after having

kerosene poured over her, she was incinerated. Such was the fate of

the intriguing but fascinating Queen of Korea, of whom Count Inouye

said: "She has few equals in her country for shrewdness and sagacity,

and in the power of conciliating enemies and attaching friends."

The King, a prisoner in his palace, allowed to see or speak with no

one, unaware of the death of the Queen (as were all except those

engaged in the plot), was compelled to sign odious edicts framed by a

cabinet composed of men upon whose hands the blood of his adored wife

was scarcely dry. The first of these brought for his signature was a

royal decree deposing the Queen, "who for 33 years has dulled our

senses, sold offices and titles," etc., etc. "Since she will not give

up her wickedness and is hiding and plotting with low fellows, we

hereby depose her and degrade her to the lowest rank." The King

declared he would have both his hands cut off before he would sign this

infamous paper, which did not prevent its appearing with his name

attached.

After four months of this torture the wretched man escaped in disguise

and found safe asylum in the Russian Legation, where he remained for

one year.

One of these reforming edicts signed under compulsion had ordered the

immediate abolishment of the Top Knot. The Top Knot was the symbol of

nationality and personal dignity. A man without it was less than

nothing, and its assumption was the most important event in his life.

The ceremony was costly. But what money could be saved from the

officials was freely given to the sorcerers and astrologers, who must

determine the proper moment and place, and the sacrifices which would

be required when their ancestors were informed of the important event

which had taken place! Then, when this horn-shaped knot had been

covered by a high hat of gauze tied tightly on with ribbons, the Korean

arose transformed into a being of dignity and consequence. It was the

abolishment of this sacred adornment which brought about a rebellion.

Those who did not obey the order were hiding from the officials, while

those who did were mobbed and in danger of being killed by the populace.

The King's first act after his escape was to issue a royal proclamation

disclaiming with horror the edict degrading and casting infamous

reflections upon his beloved Queen. It also rescinded the edicts he

had signed under compulsion. It said: "As to the Top Knot, no one

shall be forced. Do as you please"; and he continues: "Traitors by

their crimes have made trouble. Soldiers, come and protect us! You

are our children! You are all pardoned. But when you meet the chief

traitors" (naming them) "cut off their heads at once and bring them.

"Soldiers, attend us at the Russian Legation."

Within an hour all were aware of the repeal of the Top Knot decree, and

several of the cabinet officers had been beheaded on the streets of

Seoul.

Although the Government of the Mikado was innocent of any complicity

with this crime, renegade Japanese officials had been leaders in the

plot, and Japanese ascendancy had received a severe blow. A point had

also been secured by Russia, when the King for one year ruled his

kingdom from her legation at Seoul. It is easy to conceive that the

distracted man, grateful for protection, did at this time, as is

supposed, consent to the purchase of lands and cutting of timber by the

Russians on the Yalu, which the following year (1896) expanded into a

grant of an extended tract, and became the centre of a large Russian

industry in Northern Korea. And it is significant that Admiral

Alexieff was one of the prime movers in this project, which to Japan

seemed to have a thinly veiled political purpose, and which became, in

fact, one of the chief _casus belli_.

In 1899 the Tsar issued an order for the creation of a city on the Bay

of Talien-Wan; and in two years Dalny stood in massive completeness,

with docks and wharves and defences which had cost millions of dollars.

Millions more had been expended upon Port Arthur, and still more

millions upon the railway binding Manchuria to Russia with bands of

steel. This did not look like temporary occupation; like pitching her

tent for a passing emergency. Still, in the frequent interchange of

notes with the powers, there was never an acknowledgment that a

permanent occupation was intended. In displeasure at these repeated

violations of solemn pledges the Western Powers held aloof; the United

States and Great Britain, however, insistently declaring that the

"open-door" policy must be maintained, _i.e._, that all nations must

have equal industrial and commercial opportunities in Manchuria and

Korea, and also that the integrity of China must be preserved.

In the hope of arriving at a peaceful adjustment of their differences,

Japan made a proposition based upon mutual concessions. She would

accept the Russian economic status in Manchuria if Russia would

recognize hers in Korea.

Russia absolutely refused to admit Japan's right to have anything

whatever to say concerning Manchuria--the land which eight years before

was hers by right of conquest, and from which Russia for her own

purposes had ejected her. Admiral Alexieff was Viceroy of the Eastern

Provinces, and to him the Tsar confided the issues of peace or war.

Confident in her enormous weight and military prestige, Russia

undoubtedly believed that the Japanese must in the end submit. But

after five months of fruitless negotiations the patience of the

Government at Tokio was exhausted. On Feb. 8, 1904, the Japanese fleet

made a sudden descent upon Port Arthur. This act, so audaciously

planned, resulted in the destruction of battle-ships, cruisers,

torpedo-boats--nine in all--to which were added the day following two

more battle-ships, destroyed at Chemulpo.

[Illustration: Scene during the Russo-Japanese War: Russian soldiers on

the march in Manchuria.]

There was dismay and grief at St. Petersburg. The Tsar, realizing that

he had been misled regarding the chances of peace and also the military

strength of the foe, recalled Admiral Alexieff from Port Arthur.

Admiral Makaroff, Russia's military hero and ablest commander,

succeeded him. Just as his invigorating influence was being felt in

awakened energy and courage, there came another disaster more terrible

than the first. The Petropavlovsk, flag-ship of the fleet, coming in

contact with a submarine mine or boat, was torn to pieces and sank in

two minutes, with all on board, including Admiral Makaroff and his

entire staff of seventeen officers.

Still benumbed by these crushing blows, the Russians were bewildered by

the electrical swiftness with which the campaign developed, moving on

lines almost identical with those in the war with China, ten years

before. A miracle of discipline and minute perfection in method and

detail, the Mikado's army of little men first secured control in Korea,

then the command of the sea. Then one army division crossed the Yalu

with three converging lines, moving toward Mukden, pressing a

retreating army before them. Then, still moving in the grooves of the

last war, there was a landing of troops at Pitsewo, threatening Dalny

and Port Arthur, the latter already isolated, with railroad and

telegraphic lines cut. Seeing the capture of Dalny was imminent,

without a pause the Russians mined the harbor, docks and defences which

had cost millions of dollars, and the city created by fiat was by fiat

doomed to destruction.

Behind this life and death struggle with a foreign foe, another

struggle nearer home was being profoundly affected by these unexpected

calamities. An unpopular war cannot afford to be an unsuccessful one.

This clash with Japan was distinctly the outcome of bureaucratic

ambitions and policy. It had not one single issue in which the people

who were fighting its battles and bearing its burdens were even

remotely interested. And then again--a despotism must not show signs

of weakness. Its power lies in the fiction of its invincibility.

Liberals and Progressives of all shades, wise and not wise, saw their

opportunity. Finns and Poles grew bolder. The air was thick with

threats and demands and rumors of revolt.

At this critical moment M. Von Plehve, the leader of the party of

reaction, the very incarnation of the spirit of old Russia, of

Pobiedonostseff and the Holy Synod, was in power.

In 1903 there had occurred a shocking massacre of Jews at Kishineff.

This culmination of a prolonged anti-Semitic agitation was quickly

followed by an imperial edict, promising, among other reforms,

religious liberty for all. With M. de Witte, the leader of the

progressive party, to administer this new policy, a better day seemed

to be dawning. But under the benumbing pressure of autocratic

influences, and with his characteristic infirmity of purpose, the Tsar

almost immediately removed M. de Witte, replacing him with M. Von

Plehve, in whose hands the reforming edict became practically

inoperative, and in fact all reforms impossible.

On June 15, 1904, General Bobrikov, the recently appointed Russian

Governor of Finland, was assassinated by the son of a Finnish Senator

within the walls of the Senate. Quickly following this, July 28th, M.

Von Plehve was killed on the streets of St. Petersburg by the explosion

of a dynamite bomb. The Tsar, recognized the meaning of these events,

and quickly appointed Prince Mirski, known by his liberal tendencies,

to Von Plehve's place in the Ministry of the Interior. One of the

first acts of the new minister was the authorizing of a meeting of all

the Presidents of the _Zemstvos_ for consultation over national

conditions. When it is recalled that the _Zemstvo_ is a Peasants'

Court, that it is a representative assembly of the humblest class in

the Empire, and a gift which accompanied emancipation bestowed for

their own protection--when this is remembered, we realize the full

significance of this act of M. Von Plehve's successor. This first

conference of the heads of the _Zemstvos_, which met at Moscow, Nov.,

1904, by permission of Prince Mirski, contained the germ of a

representative government. It was an acknowledgment of a principle

hitherto denied; a recognition never before made of the right of the

people to come together for the purpose of discussing measures of

governmental policy.

In the meantime the Japanese, irresistible as fate, were breaking down

one after another of the supposed impregnable defences about Port

Arthur; climbing over hills of their own dead, fathers, sons, and

brothers, in order to do it. Within the beleaguered fort the supply of

ammunition was running low, only one-quarter of the defenders were

left, and disease was slaying and incapacitating these. Nearer and

nearer came the rain of fire. In vain they listened for the booming of

Kuropatkin's guns sweeping down from the north. In vain they watched

for the smoke of the long-promised Baltic fleet approaching from the

south. No rescue came. On the last night of the year, after

consultation with his officers, General Stoessel signed the conditions

of capitulation to General Nogi. The key to the Russian power in the

East was lost. When the new year dawned the Japanese flag floated from

the Citadel on the Golden Hill, and the greatest siege of modern times

was ended.

On Jan. 1, 1905, General Stoessel wrote to his Imperial Master: "Great

Sovereign, pardon us! We have done everything humanly possible. Judge

us, but be merciful!" He then goes on to state the conditions which

would make further resistance a wanton sacrifice of the lives of those

remaining in the garrison.

St. Petersburg was stunned by the receipt of this intelligence; and

every day added to its dismay: Oyama, leaving the captured fortress

behind him, sweeping the Russians back from Mukden; Kuropatkin sending

despairing messages to the Tsar, who, bewildered and trembling before

his own subjects at home, was still vibrating between the two widely

opposing influences--the spirit of the old despotism, and that of a new

age which clamored to be admitted.

Rescript followed quickly upon rescript; one sounding as if written by

de Witte, the other as if dictated by Pobiedonostseff; while alarming

rumors were coming hourly from Moscow, Finland, Poland, the Crimea, the

Caucasus; and the great fabric before which the world had trembled

seemed threatened at every vital point.

In the midst of these colossal disasters stood a young man not

fashioned for great events--from whom the world and the situation

demand a statesmanship as able as Bismarck's, a political ideal as

exalted as Washington's, a prompt and judicious dealing with an

unprecedented crisis worthy of Peter the Great. And not finding this

ample endowment, we call him a weakling. It is difficult for the

Anglo-Saxon, fed and nourished for a thousand years upon the principles

of political freedom and their application, to realize the strain to

which a youth of average ability is subjected when he is called upon to

cast aside all the things he has been taught to reverence,--to abandon

the ideals he holds most sacred,--to violate all the traditions of his

ancestors,--to act in direct opposition to the counsel of his natural

advisers; and to do all these things at the dictation of men he has

been taught not only to distrust, but to hold in contempt.

Chief among his counsellors is the Procurator Pobiedonostseff, head of

the "Holy Synod,"--that evil genius of two reigns, who reminds him of

the sacredness of his trust, and his duty to leave his divine heritage

to his son unimpaired by impious reforms. Next to him stands

Muravieff, the wise and powerful Minister of Justice, creator of modern

Siberia, and member of the Court of Arbitration at The Hague, who

speaks with authority when he tells him he has not the _right_ to

change a political system created by his predecessors; and still nearer

than these are the Grand Dukes, a phalanx of uncles and imperial

relatives surrounding him with a petrified wall of ancient prejudices.

Confronting these imposing representatives of imperial and historic

Russia are a few more or less discredited men, like M. de Witte and

Prince Mirski, counselling and warning with a freedom which would once

have sent them to Siberia, and with a power to which the bewildered

Nicholas cannot be indifferent, and to which, perhaps, he would gladly

yield were it not for the dominating sentiment about him. Many a man

who could face a rain of bullets without a tremor, would quail and turn

coward if subjected to the same test before such a cumulative force of

opinion.

But this is not a crisis to be settled in the Council-Chamber, nor to

be decided by convincing arguments, but by the march of events. And

events were not slow in coming.

The assassination of the Grand Duke Sergius, uncle of the Tsar, and the

most extreme of the reactionaries at Moscow, of which he was governor,

was the most powerful argument yet presented for a change of direction

in the Government; and others were near at hand.

The derangement of industrial conditions induced by the war pressed

heavily upon the wage-earners; and the agitation upon the surface, the

threatened explosions here and there, were only an indication of the

misery existing in the deeps below. At all industrial centres there

were strikes accompanied by the violence which invariably attends them.

On the morning of Sunday, Jan. 22d, an orderly concourse of workmen, in

conformity with a plan already announced, were on their way to the

Winter-Palace bearing a petition to the "Little Father," who, if he

only knew their wrongs, would see that justice was done them. So they

were going to tell him in person of their grievances. The letter of

the preceding day ran thus:

"Sovereign. We fear the ministers have not told you the whole truth.

Your children, trusting in you, have resolved to come to the Winter

Palace tomorrow at 2 P. M. to tell you of their needs. Appear before

us and receive our address of devotion."

Had these 8,000 or 10,000 men been marching to the Winter-Palace with

rifles in their hands, or with weapons of any sort indicating a violent

purpose, there might have been cause for alarm. But absolutely

unarmed, even for their own defence, led by an orthodox priest carrying

an icon, these humble petitioners were met by a volley of rapid fire

from repeating rifles, were cut down by sabres and trampled by cavalry,

until "policing" had become an indiscriminate massacre of innocent

people upon the streets, regardless of age or sex. Before midnight the

Tsar was miles away at his Palace Tsarskoe-Selo; and there was a new

cry heard in St. Petersburg, a cry unfamiliar to Russian ears,--"Down

with the Tsar!" Those blood-stains in Nevski Prospect will be long in

effacing!

The long-looked-for Baltic fleet, commanded by Admiral Rojestvenski,

was detained at the outset of its voyage by an untoward incident,

having fired into a fleet of British fishermen, which was mistaken for

the enemy in disguise. After being acquitted by a court of inquiry,

the Admiral proceeded, his objective point now being changed from Port

Arthur to Vladivostock, the next most critical point.

On May 27-28th there occurred one of the most disastrous naval

engagements in the annals of war, in the Korean Straits, near Tsushima,

where Admiral Togo with sure instinct of the course which would be

taken, was lying in wait under the cover of darkness and fog.

Nineteen Russian vessels were destroyed, the Japanese ships sustaining

almost no injury. All that remained of the Russian fleet was

surrendered to Admiral Togo, and Rojestvenski, desperately wounded, and

all of his surviving officers, were prisoners of war in Tokio.

With this climax of Russian disaster the end had come. Although Russia

still doggedly refused to acknowledge defeat, and made feint of

preparation for reënforcements and future triumphs, the world saw that

there must be peace; and that the only existing obstacle was the

determination of a proud nation not to be placed in a humiliating

position.

The absolute neutrality of the United States enabled President

Roosevelt to intervene at this critical moment as no European sovereign

could have done. His proposal that there should be a meeting of envoys

for the discussion of some peaceable adjustment of their differences

was promptly accepted by both nations, and with the hostile armies

still facing each other in Manchuria, arrangements were made for the

Peace Conference to be held in the United States in August.

The envoys selected for this mission were M. de Witte and Baron Rosen,

Ambassador to the United States from Russia, on the one hand, and Baron

Komura, Minister of Foreign Affairs in Japan, and Kogaro Takahira,

Minister at Washington from that country, on the other. If the

appointment of M. de Witte had awakened expectation of a presentation

of the Russian cause from the view-point of a progressive leader, the

mistake was quickly discovered. M. de Witte, performing a duty

intrusted to him by his Imperial master, was quite a different person

from de Witte, the exponent of liberal ideas, pleading the cause of an

oppressed people before the Tsar; and an adamantine side of his

character, quite unexpected, was revealed. The fencing between the two

skilled diplomats, de Witte and Komura, afforded a fascinating study in

racial methods and characteristics at a high point of development; the

impression left being that the intense sincerity of purpose in the

Japanese, and the lack of it in the other, was the main point of

difference. The Russian argument throughout was upon a perfectly

insincere basis. The Russian envoy never once recognized that he

represented a defeated nation, steadily maintaining the attitude of a

generous foe willing to stop fighting to prevent the shedding of more

blood. In striking contrast to this was Baron Komura's calm

presentation of his twelve peace proposals, and the sad sincerity with

which he tenaciously maintained their justification by the results of

the war.

Eight of these proposals, of minor importance, were accepted, while the

four of real significance were at once rejected by M. de Witte. These

were: the cession of the Island of Saghalien, already partly occupied

by the Japanese troops; the interning of all Russian ships lying in

Japanese waters; an indemnity of $600,000,000 to reimburse Japan for

the cost of the war, and a limitation of the naval power of Russia.

Many times negotiations were on the verge of breaking; at the last of

these crises, when the hope of an agreement was actually abandoned and

preparations were making for departure, it is said, strong pressure was

brought to bear upon Japan by President Roosevelt which led to a

modification of the terms--a modification so excessive that deep

resentment existed in Tokio, and a satisfaction correspondingly great

was experienced in St. Petersburg. Japan withdrew her demands for

indemnity and for acquisition of territory in the following way: she

saved her adversary from the humiliation of reimbursing her for the

cost of the war by offering to sell to Russia the northern half of the

island in dispute,--Saghalien,--for two-thirds of the sum she had

demanded under the name of indemnity.

The Russo-Japanese treaty of peace, signed at Portsmouth in August,

1905, registers the concession of all the vital points in the demands

of the conquering nation. The popular saying, "to the victor belong

the spoils," does not hold good in Japan! Twice has she seen the

fruits of her splendidly won victories snatched from her by the same

hand; and twice has she looked with far-seeing eyes into the future,

and quietly submitted. Perhaps she realizes that a time may come when

Russia's friendship will be more valuable to her than Saghalien!

The war was over. The march of armies had ceased; but the march of

events, accelerated by the great upheaval, moved irresistibly on.

Realizing that something must be done to pacify the people, a new and

more liberal policy was announced, with de Witte, now Prime Minister,

in charge. Russia was to have a _National Assembly_, a law-making body

in which every class would have representation.

This Russian Parliament was to be composed of two bodies: an Upper and

a Lower House. The one to be called the "_Council of the Empire_," the

other the "_Duma_." These were to be convoked and prorogued annually

by Imperial Ukase. The President, Vice-President, and one-half the

members of the Council of the Empire (consisting of 178 members) were

to be appointed by the Tsar; twenty-four more to be elected by the

nobility and clergy, a very small number by some designated

universities and commercial bodies; each _Zemstvo_ (of which there are

fifty-one) being entitled to one representative. The members composing

the _Duma_, or Lower House, were to be elected by the Electoral

Colleges, which had in turn been created by the votes of the people in

the various provinces of the Empire for that purpose.

The two bodies were to have equal rights in initiating legislation.

But a bill must pass both Houses and then receive Imperial Sanction in

order to become a law; and failing in this, cannot come up again during

the same session. Thus hedged about and thus constituted, it is

obvious that a conservative majority was permanently secured and ways

provided to block any anti-imperial or revolutionary legislation in the

Duma. And when it is added that matters concerning finance and

treasonable offences were almost entirely in the hands of the Council,

we realize how this gift of political representation to the Russian

people had been shorn of its dangers!

The first National Assembly was opened by the Tsar May 10, 1906, with

the form and splendor of a court ceremonial. It was a strange

spectacle, that solid body of 100 peasants seated on the left of the

throne, intently listening to the brief and guarded speech of welcome

to the "representatives of the nation, who had come to aid him in

making laws for their welfare!" And the first jarring note came when

not one of these men joined in the applause which followed.

The first _Duma_ was composed of 450 members. The world was watching

this experiment, curious to find out what sort of beings have been

dumbly supporting the weight of the Russian Empire. Almost the first

act was a surprise. Instead of explosive utterances and intemperate

demands, the _Duma_ formally declared Russia to be a _Constitutional

Monarchy_. No anarchistic extravagance could have been so disturbing

to autocratic Russia as was this wise moderation, which at the very

outset converted Constitutional Bureaucrats into Constitutional

Democrats, thus immensely strengthening the people's party at the

expense of the Conservatives. The leaders in the _Duma_ knew precisely

what they wanted, and how to present their demands with a clearness, a

power, and a calm determination for which Russia,--and indeed that

greater audience, the world at large,--was quite unprepared. That this

seriously alarmed the Imperial party was proved by an immediate

strengthening of the defences about the throne by means of a change in

what is called the _Fundamental Laws_. These Fundamental Laws afford a

rigid framework, an immovable foundation for the authority of the

Emperor and his Cabinet Ministers.

Repairs in the Constitution of the United States have been usually in

the direction of increased liberties for the people. The Tsar, on the

contrary, aided by his Cabinet and high Government officials, drafted a

new edition of the Fundamental Laws suited to a new danger.

The changes made were all designed to build up new defences around the

throne, and to intrench more firmly every threatened prerogative. The

Tsar was deliberately ranging himself with the bureaucratic party

instead of the party of his people; and the hot indignation which

followed found expression in bitter and powerful arraignment of the

Government, even to the extent of demanding the resignation of the

Ministry. What was at first a rift, was becoming an impassable chasm.

If Count Witte had disappointed the Liberals by his lukewarmness and by

what they considered an espousal of the conservative cause, he was even

less acceptable to the Bureaucrats, to whom he had from the first been

an object of aversion--an aversion not abated by his masterly diplomacy

at Portsmouth, for which he received only a grudging acknowledgment.

Whatever may be the verdict of the future, with its better historic

perspective, whether justly or unjustly, Count Witte had lost his hold

upon the situation; and the statesman who had been the one heroic

figure in Russia was no longer the man of the hour. At all events, his

resignation of the head of the Ministry during this obnoxious attempt

to nullify the gift of popular representation was significant; and the

name of de Witte is not associated with this grave mistake made by the

master he has tried to serve.

The reforms insistently demanded by the _Duma_ were as follows:--The

responsibility of the Ministry to that body, as the representative of

the people; the distribution to the working peasants of the lands held

by the Crown and the clergy; a General Amnesty, with the release of all

political prisoners; and the abolition of the death penalty.

This was virtually a sweeping demand for the surrender of the

autocratic principle, the very principle the Fundamental Laws had just

been revised to render more inviolable. The issue was now narrowed

down within definite limits. It was a conflict for power, for

administrative control, and it was a life-and-death struggle between

the Tsar and his people.

Printed reports of the debates were sent broadcast, and for the first

time since Russia came into being the peasantry saw things as they

really were. They had always attributed their wrongs to the nobility,

who, they believed, had cheated them out of their land and their rights

under the Emancipation Act. But now it was not the nobility, not the

hated Boyars who were cruelly refusing to give them land and liberty,

but it was the Little Father, he whom they had always trusted and

adored!

It is a critical moment when the last illusion drops from the eyes of a

confiding people. The _Duma_ at this moment was engaged in a task of

supreme difficulty and responsibility. Millions of people hung upon

its words and acts. A group of inexperienced but terribly determined

men were facing an equally determined group of well-seasoned officials,

veterans in the art of governing. Never was there greater need of

calmness and wisdom, and at this very time a wild revolutionary faction

was doing its utmost to inflame the passions of a peasantry already

maddened with a sense of wrong and betrayal, who in gusts of

destructive rage were burning, pillaging, and carrying terror into the

remotest parts of the Empire.

Even while the _Duma_ was demanding this larger measure of liberty and

of authority over the Ministry, that body had already initiated and put

in force new and more vigorous methods of suppression. Under M.

Durnovo, Minister of the Interior, a law had been promulgated known as

the Law of Reinforced Defense. Under the provisions of this law, high

officials, or subordinates designated by them, were clothed with

authority to arrest, imprison, and punish with exile or death, without

warrant, without accusation, or any judicial procedure whatever.

On July 16, 1906, M. Makaroff, Assistant Secretary of the Interior,

appeared personally before the _Duma_; and in answer to thirty-three

interpellations concerning as many specific cases of imprisonment

without resort to the courts, frankly replied: "Yes. We have held the

persons named in prison for the time mentioned without warrant or

accusation; and some of these, and many others, have been exiled to

Siberia. But it is a precaution demanded by the situation and the

circumstances; a precaution we are authorized to take by the Law of

Reinforced Defense."

In October of last year (1905) the world was made glad by a manifesto

issued by the Tsar containing these words: "In obedience to our

inflexible will, we hereby make it the duty of our Government to give

to our beloved people freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom

of public assembly, freedom of association, and _real inviolability of

personal rights_." The Tsar had also, with the same solemnity,

declared: "No law shall take effect without the sanction of the _Duma_,

which is also to have _participation in the control of the officials_."

Yet, Ministers and Governors General, or subordinates appointed by

them, may at their own discretion imprison, exile, or kill in defiance

of Imperial command, and find ample protection in the Law of Reinforced

Defense!

The free handling of these governmental methods in the _Duma_, and the

immediate world-wide publicity given to these revelations, if allowed

to continue, must inevitably destroy the cause of Russian Bureaucracy.

There were but two courses open to the Tsar. He must either surrender

the autocratic principle, and in good faith carry out his pledges and

share his authority with his people, or he must disperse a

representative body which flagrantly defied his Imperial will. He

chose the latter course.

Five days after the examination of M. Makaroff, on July 21, 1906, the

first Russian Parliament was dissolved by Imperial ukase.

The reason assigned for this was that, "instead of applying themselves

to the work of productive legislation, they have strayed into a sphere

beyond their competence, and have been making comments on the

imperfections of the Fundamental Laws, which can only be modified by

our Imperial will."

The Tsar at the same time declared his immutable purpose to maintain

the institution of Parliament, and named March 5, 1907, as the date of

the convening of a new _Duma_.

A body of 186 Representatives, including the Constitutional and

Conservative members of the _Duma_, immediately reassembled at Viborg

in Finland, where, in the few hours before their forcible dispersion by

a body of military, they prepared an address to "The Citizens of All

Russia." This manifesto was a final word of warning, in which the

people were reminded that for seven months, while on the brink of ruin,

they are to stand without representation; also reminding them of all

that may be done in that time to undermine their hopes, and to obtain a

pliable and subservient Parliament, if, indeed, any Parliament at all

be convoked at the time promised by the Tsar.

In view of all this they were solemnly abjured not to give "one kopek

to the throne, or one soldier to the army," until there exists a

popular representative Parliament.

The hand of autocracy is making a final and desperate grasp upon the

prerogatives of the Crown. When the end will come, and how it will

come, cannot be foretold. But it needs no prophetic power to see what

that end will be. The days of autocracy in Russia are numbered. A

century may be all too short for the gigantic task of habilitating a

Russian people--making the heterogeneous homogeneous, and converting an

undeveloped peasantry into a capable citizenship. The problem is

unique, and one for which history affords no parallel. In no other

modern nation have the life forces been so abnormal in their

adjustment. And it is only because of the extraordinary quality of the

Russian mind, because of its instinct for political power, and its

genius for that instrument of power hitherto known as diplomacy--it is

only because of these brilliant mental endowments that this chaotic

mass of ethnic barbarism has been made to appear a fitting companion

for her sister nations in the family of the Great Powers.

It is vain to expect the young Tsar to set about the task of

demolishing the autocratic system created by his predecessors and

ancestors. That work is in charge of more august agents. It is

perishing by natural process because it is vicious, because it is out

of harmony with its environment, and because the maladjusted life

forces are moving by eternal laws from the surface to their natural

home in the centre. And we may well believe that the fates are

preparing a destiny commensurate with the endowments of a

great--perhaps the greatest--of the nations of the earth.

Let it not be supposed that it is the moujik, the Russian peasant in

sheepskin, with toil-worn hands, who has conducted that brilliant

parliamentary battle in the _Duma_. Certain educational and property

qualifications are required for eligibility to membership in that body,

which would of necessity exclude that humble class. It is not the

emancipated serf, but it is _rural Russia_ which the _Duma_

represented, and the vastness of the area covered by that term is

realized when one learns that of the 450 members constituting that body

only eighteen were from cities. It is the leaders of this vast rural

population, members of ancient princely families or owners of great

landed estates, these are the men who are coming out of long oblivion

to help rule the destinies of a new Russia. Men like Prince

Dolgorouki, some of them from families older than the Romanoffs--such

men it is who were the leaders in the _Duma_. They have been for years

studying these problems, and working among the _Zemstvos_. They are

country gentlemen of the old style,--sturdy, practical, imaginative,

idealistic, and explosive; powerful in debate, bringing just at the

right moment a new element, a new force. Happy is Russia in possessing

such a reserve of splendid energy at this time. And if the moujik is

not in the forefront of the conflict, he, too, affords a boundless

ocean of elementary force--he is the simple barbarian, who will perhaps

be needed to replenish with his fresh, uncorrupted blood the Russia of

a new generation.

LIST OF PRINCES.

GRAND PRINCES OF KIEF.

Rurik, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862-879

Oleg (Brother of Rurik, Regent), . . . . . . 879-912

Igor (Son of Rurik), . . . . . . . . . . . . 912-945

Olga (Wife of Igor, Regent), . . . . . . . . 945-964

Sviatoslaf, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 964-972

Vladimir (Christianized Russia, 992), . . . . 972-1015

Yaroslaf (The Legislator), . . . . . . . . . 1015-1054

(Close of Heroic Period.)

Isiaslaf, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1054-1078

Vsevolod, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078-1093

Sviatopolk, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093-1113

Vladimir Monomakh, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1113-1125

(Throne Disputed by Prince of Suzdal.)

Isiaslaf, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1146-1155

George Dolgoruki (Last Grand Prince of Kief) 1155-1169

(Fall of Kief, 1169.)

Andrew Bogoliubski (First Grand Prince of

Suzdal), . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169-1174

George II. (Dolgoruki), . . . . . . . . . . . 1212-1238

Yaroslaf II. (Father of Alexander Nevski and

Grandfather of Daniel, First Prince of

Moscow), . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1238-1246

PRINCES OF MOSCOW.

Daniel (Son of Alexander Nevski), . . . . . . 1260-1303

Iri (George) Danielovich, . . . . . . . . . . 1303-1325

Ivan I., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1328-1341

Simeon (The Proud), . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1341-1353

Ivan II. (The Debonair), . . . . . . . . . . 1353-1359

PRINCES OF MOSCOW AND GRAND PRINCES OF SUZDAL.

Dmitri Donskoi, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1363-1389

Vasili Dmitrievich, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1389-1425

Vasili I. (The Blind, Prince of Moscow,

Novgorod, and Suzdal), . . . . . . . . . . 1425-1462

GRAND PRINCES OF ALL THE RUSSIAS.

Ivan III. (The Great), . . . . . . . . . . . 1462-1505

Vasili II., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1505-1533

TSARS OF RUSSIA.

Ivan IV. (the Terrible), . . . . . . . . . . 1533-1584

Feodor Ivanovich, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1584-1598

Boris Godunof (Usurper), . . . . . . . . . . 1598-1605

The False Dmitri, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1605-1606

Vasili Shuiski, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1606-1609

Mikhail Romanoff, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1613-1645

Alexis (Son of former and Father of

Peter the Great), . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1645-1676

Feodor Alexievich, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1676-1682

Ivan V. and Peter I. )

Sophia Regent, ) Ivan died 1696 . . . 1682-1696

Peter I. (The Great), . . . . . . . . . . . . 1696-1725

Catherine I., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1725-1727

Peter II. (Son of Alexis and Grandson of

Peter the Great and Eudoxia), . . . . . . . 1727-1730

Anna Ivanovna (Daughter of Ivan V., Niece

of Peter I.), . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1730-1740

Ivan VI. (Infant Nephew of former Sovereign), 1740-1741

Elizabeth Petrovna (Daughter of Peter I. and

Catherine), . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1741-1761

Peter III. (Nephew of Elizabeth Petrovna;

reigned five months, assassinated), . . . . 1762

Catherine II. (Wife of Peter III.), . . . . . 1762-1796

Paul I. (Son of former), . . . . . . . . . . 1796-1801

Alexander I., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1801-1825

Nicholas I., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1825-1855

Alexander II., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1855-1881

Alexander III., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1881-1894

Nicholas II., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1894-

INDEX.

Absolutism, 244

Act of Union, 71

Adashef, 87, 88

Akhmet (Khan), 76

Alexander I, 164, 172, 175, 177, 178, 179, 183, 184, 186

Alexander II, 213, 217, 223, 228, 234, 236

Alexander III, 239

Alexieff, Admiral, 275, 276

Alexis, 105, 107, 109, 110, 111, 141, 142

Alexis Orlof, 154, 166, 168

Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, 224

Alice (Princess), 242

Alma (the), 210

Anarchism, 232

Anastasia, 86, 88, 95, 103

Andrassy, 227

Angles, 25

Anna, 28, 29

Anna Ivanovna, 142, 146, 148

Anthony, 75

Appanages, 26, 34

Apraxin, 144, 150

Arable Steppes, 4

Araktcheef, 185

Aryan, 8, 14

Asia Minor, 70

Asiatic Mongols, 46

Askold, 19

Austerlitz, 177

Austria, 170, 180

Azof, Sea of, 115

Bacon, Francis, 91

Baikal, Lake, 253

Balthazi, 133

Baltic (the), 13, 43, 59, 124

Baltic Fleet, 286

Barren Steppes, 4

Bashi-Bazuks, 225

Basil, 28

Batui, 48

Beaconsfield, 224, 227

Berlin, Treaty of, 227

Bessarabia, 227

Biron, 146, 148

Bismarck, 227

Black Lands, 4, 39

Black Sea, 6, 12, 115, 214

Bogoliubski (Andrew), 40, 62, 83

Bohemians, 13, 27

Book of Instruction, 161

Book of Pedigrees, 110

Boris Godunof, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101

Bosnia, 224, 226, 227

Bosphorus (the), 20, 71

Boxer War, 267

Boyars, 27, 38, 43, 48, 51

Bremen, 45

Britain, 25

Buddhism, 257

Bulgaria, 24, 74, 226, 227

Bulgarians, 11, 27

Burnett, Bishop, 120

Byzantine, 36, 49, 66

Byzantine Empire, 11, 13, 72

Byzantium, 19, 27, 31, 32, 33, 36, 72, 74

Calendar (new), 138

Candia, 204

Carpathians, 3

Caspian Sea, 12

Cathay, 47

Catherine I, 130, 132, 143

Catherine II, 155, 157, 159, 160, 165, 166, 169, 175

Catholics, 27

Caucasus, 3

Centaurs, 14

Charlemagne, 13

Charles Martel, 72

Charles I, 108

Charles II, 108

Charles X, 192

Charles XI, 124

Charles XII, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 132, 133, 140

Charlotte (Princess), 213

Charlotte of Brunswick, 142

Chemulpho (Battle of), 276

Chersonesos, 7

China, 47, 253

China-Japan War, 254, 259, 263

Chopin, 164

Christian IX, 224

Church of Bethlehem, 206

Cincinnati, Order of, 163

Circassia, 176

Code Napoleon, 180

Commune (the), 15

Confucianism, 257

Constantine, Grand Duke, 164, 172, 187, 188, 189, 193

Constantinople, 18, 20, 23, 28, 30, 39, 46, 64, 70

Constitution, 292

Cossacks, 101, 105, 106

Council of the Empire, 290, 291

Court of Arbitration, 281

Cracow, 50, 102

Crimea, 7, 77, 115, 164

Crimean War, 210

Cyprus, 227

Dagmar, 224

Daimios, 257

Dalny, 275, 278, 279

Daniel, 270

Danube (the), 23

Dir, 19

Dmitri, 95, 96, 101, 102

Dmitri Donskoi, 69

Dnieper (the), 4, 12, 19, 39, 42

Dolgorukis, 83

Dolgoruki (Yuri), 40, 61, 62, 63

Dolgoruki (Prince), 177, 301

Don (the), 69, 101

Drevlins (the), 21, 26

Drujina, 37, 38, 52

Drujiniki (the), 46

Duma, 290, 291, 292, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 301

Durnovo, M., 296

Eastern Empire (the), 38

Eastern Question, 198, 203

Ecclesiastical States, 30

Egypt, 170, 171

Electoral College, 291

Elizabeth Petrovna, 140, 142, 147, 148, 149, 152

Emancipation Law, 220, 295

Etrogruhl, 70

Eudoxia, 130, 141

Feodor, 95, 96, 97, 105, 110, 111

Ferdinand, 82, 201

Finland, 184, 222

Finns, 8, 11, 12, 17, 43, 44

Florence, 41

Formosa, 264

Francis II, 178

Francis Joseph, 202

Franks, 25

Frederick II, 50

Frederick the Great, 150, 153

Fundamental Laws, 293, 295, 299

Galitsuin (Prince), 113, 144

Gaul, 25

Gautama, 257

Genghis Kahn, 47, 48

Georgia, 176

German Knights, 68

German Orders, 45, 60

Glinski (Anna), 87

Glinski (Helena), 85

Glück, 130

Godwin, 96

Golden Horde, 69, 71

Gortchakof, 213, 223, 227

Goths (the), 10

Grand Principality (the), 66

Great Desert of Gobi, 52

Great Patriarchs, 66

Great Tower of Ivan, 183

Greece, 72

Greek Church, 30, 31, 71, 72, 226

Greeks (the), 6, 24, 27

Gustavus Adolphus, 105

Hague (the), 119, 281

Hague, the Congress, 242

Hamburg, 45

Hanseatic League, 45

Harold, 96

Hastings, Lady Mary, 92

Haynau, 202

Hedwig, 60

Helen, 22

Helsingfors, 241

Henry VIII, 82

Herodotus, 7

Herzegovina, 224, 226, 227

Hindostan, 170

Hohenzollern, 45

Holy Alliance, 85

Holy Roman Empire, 13

Holy Shrines, 206

Holy Synod, 135

Horde (the), 67

Hungary, 50, 68

Huns, 47

Iagello, 59, 60

Icon, 285

Igor, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25

Imperator, 138

Indemnity, 289

India, 171

Inouye, Count, 272

Ionian Isles, 170

Isabella, 82

Islamism, 56

Ito, Marquis, 262

Ivan I, 66

Ivan III (the Great), 72, 73, 74, 75, 81, 84

Ivan IV (the Terrible), 75, 84, 85, 86, 88, 92, 96, 101, 113, 249

Ivan (the Imbecile), 112, 130

Ivan Mazeppa, 127, 128, 130

Ivan V, 146

Ivan VI, 148, 154, 155

Ivan Shuvalof, 150

Japan, 256

Japan-Korea Treaty, 1876, 261

Japan Treaty with U. S., 1854, 258

Kaminski, Battle of, 163

Karz, 226

Kazan, 77

Khazarui, the, 17, 23

Kiel, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 34, 35, 36, 39,

40, 42, 49, 61

Kishineff, 279

Komura, Baron, 278, 288

Knout, 30

Königsberg, 45

Koreans, 259

Kosciusko, 163

Kossuth, 201, 202

Koulaks, 230

Kremlin (the), 62, 66, 101

Kublai-khan, 56

Kurland, Duke of, 153

Kuropatkin, 281

Kutchko, 62

Kutuzof, 181

Lacour (M. de), 206

Laharpe, 175

Latin Church, 31, 44, 45

Leipzig, 183

Leo VI, 20

Leo X, 80, 81

Liao-Tung, Gulf of, 253

Liberalism, 222

Li Hung Chang, 262

Li-Ito Treaty, 262

Lithuania, 59, 60, 63, 68, 84

Lithuanians (the), 13, 17, 59, 77

Little Russia, 106, 127

Livonia, 124

Livonian Knights, 44, 54

Livonian Orders, 74

Lombardy, 170

Louis IX, 50

Louis XI, 82, 83, 95

Louis XIV, 121, 126

Louis XV, 140

Louis Napoleon, 205

Louis Phillippe, 192, 201

Lubeck, 45

Magyar, 11

Makaroff, M., 297, 298

Makaroff, Admiral, 277

Malakof, 213

Manchuria, 253

Manchus (the), 255

Marco Polo, 47

Marfa, 90

Maria Theresa, 150

Marie, 224

Maximilian, 82

Menschikof, 131, 142, 144, 145, 206, 207, 210, 213

Merienburg, 130

Metropolitan (the), 66

Mickiewiz, 164

Mikhailof, Peter, 118

Mir, 15, 57, 98

Mir-eaters, 230

Mirski, Prince, 279, 280, 283

Mohammedanism, 208

Mongols, 48, 49, 51, 52, 56, 63

Monomakh, 40, 61, 63

Montenegro, 224, 226, 227

Moscow, 54, 61, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 70, 72, 74, 90, 181, 182

Moskwa (the), 62

Mukden, 256, 277

Muraviev, 250, 251, 283

Muscovite, 66, 67

Muscovy, 59, 65

Mussulman, 27

Napoleon Bonaparte, 169, 170, 171, 172, 177, 180, 183

Narva, Battle of, 125

Natalia, 108, 109, 111

National Assembly, 103, 290, 292

Nesselrode (Count), 207

Nestor, 22, 25

Neva (the), 4, 54

Nevski, Alexander, 54, 55, 63, 69, 103

Nevski, Daniel, 63, 66

Nicholas I, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 194, 196, 199, 201,

203, 208, 210

Nicholas II, 241

Nicholas III, 249

Nihilism, 232, 237, 238

Nikolaievsk, 250, 251

Nikon (Patriarch), 107, 109

Nikopolis, 226

Nogi, General, 281

Norse, 34

Norsemen, 18, 25

Novgorod, 14, 18, 26, 28, 35, 41, 42, 43, 54, 55, 57, 65, 67,

74,79, 90

Odessa, 210

Oka (the), 76

Oleg, 19, 20, 21, 26, 71

Olga, 21, 23, 28

Osterman, 148

Othman, 70, 71

Ottoman, 70

Ottoman Empire, 158, 166, 226, 227

Oyama, 281

Paleologisk, John, 73

Pantheon, 14

Paris, Treaty of, 184

Patkul, 124, 126

Patriarchalism, 217

Patriarchate (the), 135

Patriarchs, 30

Paul I, 159, 167, 168, 170, 171, 172, 173

Peace Conference, 287

Peace Congress, 242

Pechenegs, 20, 23, 24

Pechili, Gulf of, 253

Peloponnesus (the), 13, 24

Perry, Commodore, 258

Perun, 14, 20, 24, 27, 28, 29, 59

Pestel, 188, 189

Peter the Great, 95, 104, 109, 112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 118,

120, 121, 122, 125, 127, 132, 135, 139, 145, 174, 176

Peter III, 151, 168

Plague of Moscow, 158

Plevna, 226

Pobiedonosteeff, 278, 283

Poland, 13, 32, 50, 59, 60, 68, 105, 156, 162, 163, 164, 221

Poles, 77

Poliani (the), 13

Polovtsui (the), 46, 48

Poltova, 129

Pope, 44

Pope Leo VI, 38

Port Arthur, 253, 264, 278, 279

Portsmouth, Peace of, 290

Posadnik, 38, 42, 45

Potemkin, 166

Proteus, 14

Prussia, 45, 162

Pruth, Treaty of, 133

Pskof, 18, 74, 78, 79

Pugatschek, the Cossack, 158

Pushkin, 20

Pyrenees, 72

Raskolniks, 107, 109, 110, 137, 138

Reinforced Defense, Law of, 296, 298

Revolution of 1762, 155

Rojestvenski, 286

Rollo, 25

Roman Empire, 31, 32

Romanoff, 86, 301

Romanoff, Mikhail, 103, 104, 105, 107

Rome, 31, 32

Romish Church, 105

Rosen, Baron, 287

Roosevelt, President, 287, 289

Roumania, 226

Ruileef, 189

Rurik, 18, 21, 34, 46, 66, 71, 103, 249

Russian Academy, 160

Saardan, 118

Sagas, 38

Saghalien, 289, 290

Samurai, 257

San Stefano (Treaty of), 226

Saracen, 13, 50

Sarat, 55, 56, 65, 69, 271

Saxons, 25

Scandinavia, 37

Scandinavians, 17, 25, 26, 27, 29

Scythians, 6, 7, 14, 24

Sea of Azof, 12, 46, 48

Sebastopol, 7, 164, 210

Senate, 135

Sergius, Grand Duke, 284

Servia, 226, 227

Shantung, 266

Shintoism, 257

Shipka Pass, 226

Siberia, 93

Siberia, Maritime Provinces of, 252

Sienkiewicz, 164

Sigismund, 81, 102

Silvesta, 87

Sineus, 18

Sisalpine, 170

Slav, 8, 12, 15, 17, 18, 24, 26, 27, 32, 34, 36, 37, 43, 44

Slavonia, 19, 58

Slavonic, 15, 24, 25, 36, 50

Sobor, 95, 97, 135

Socialism, 232

Sophia, 73, 81, 111, 113, 114, 117, 118, 122

Sophia, Queen of Prussia, 118

Sophia Perovskaya, 238

Spain, 25

Speranski, 179, 185

St. Basil, Church of, 29

St. Bartholomew, Massacre, 92

Stoessel, General, 281

St. Paul, Cathedral of, 130

St. Petersburg, 125, 126

St. Vladimir, 101

Stratford de Redcliffe (Lord), 206, 207

Stribog, 14

Strultsui, 115, 116, 121, 123

Suez Canal, 224

Suleyman, the Magnificent, 197

Suvorov, 170

Suzdal, 40, 43, 46, 52, 61

Sviatoslaf, 22, 23, 24, 26

Sweden, 74, 124, 180

Swedes, 54

Sword-Bearers, 44

Tai-Tsiu, 255

Tartar, 8, 20, 21, 46, 49, 51, 63

Takahira, Kogaro, 287

Taxes, 229

Tchinovniks, 231

Teutonic Order, 44

Togo, Admiral, 286

Tokio, 287, 289

Tolstoi, 141, 144

Tong-Hak Rebellion, 263

Top Knot (the), 273

Topography, 1

Trans-Siberian Railway, 267, 270

Treaty of 1841, 203

Treaty with China, 1858, 251

Truvor, 18

Tsar, 23

Tsarkoe-Selo, Palace of, 286

Tsushima, 286

Turguenief, 200, 232

Turk (the), 8, 9, 17, 70, 71, 132, 153

Turkey,170

Turkish Empire, 204, 208

Tycoon, 258

United States, 202

Ural, 3, 93

Ussuri Region, 252

Usury, 229

Vampires, 14

Varangians, 18, 20

Vasili, 66, 67, 68

Vasili II, 71, 72, 78, 79

Vasili Shuiski, 102

Verestchagin, 245

Vernet, Horace, 128

Vetché, 15, 42, 55

Viborg, 299

Vich, 147

Victor Emmanuel, 213

Visigoths, 25

Vistula, 13

Vladimir, 26, 28, 29, 32, 34, 35, 182

Vladivostok, 252, 254, 286

Vna, 147

Volga (the), 3, 12, 42

Volkof (the), 28

Volost, 15, 98, 220

Volus, 14

Von Plehve, 278, 279, 280

Warsaw, University of, 194

Wei-Hai-Wei, Battle of, 1895, 264

Western Empire (the), 38

White Seat (the), 91

Winter Palace, 283, 285, 287, 288, 294

William I, 223

William III, 120

Witte (M. de), 278

Yalu, the, 264

Yaroslaf I, 35, 38, 54

Yaroslaf II, 52

Yaropolk, 26

Yellow Sea (the), 253

Yermak, 94, 250

Zemstvo, 220, 239, 280, 291, 302

Zoë, Princess, 73

Zone of Forests, 4

End of Project Gutenberg's A Short History of Russia, by Mary Platt Parmele