The New era. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1865-1871, 1866-04-19
The Russian Empire---History of
its Internal EcOnOnay--Its W0n-
eyerfuI Rise and PROGRESS.


ete1J'M Rise and Progress.
Over all who are subject to military
control the Emperor of Russia is SUI
preme, but his empire is composed of
hundreds Of little republics in which the
people govern themselves as exclusively
as if there We're no General Govern
ment.
In geographical extent it comprises
one-sixth of all the land on the globe
and its inhabitants, include four distinct
races, and nearly hundred different
pdtois.
In 1862 the population was six mil
lions, and to-day it is seventy millions
and increases at the rate of five millions
a year, the Sclavonic race always consti-
tuting the majority.
The Russian Government consists of
five experimentation Legislative,
War, Finances, and Poland. The Senate
is the guardian Ct the laws. Each PROV
ince has a Governor, charged exclusively
with the civil administration. There is
a superior at each chief place, both
criminal and civil, with right of APP
peal to the Senate. Smaller districts
have courts of judicature. Each COM
mune decide its rate of taxation, has its
court, prison, depot of army, granary,
and hospital, and the General Govern
ment seldom intervenes in its affairs.
Mobiles have assemblies to discuss their
interests and make reports. They pay
no poll tax, and do not suffer punish
ment for any offence. They dispose of
of their property as they please, and are
judged only by their peers.
It is the military power which is the
true despotism of Russia, and this, like
corfdC,,, af or;,r;,,
Before emancipation there were five
classes, mobiles, priests, bourgeois, mer-
chants and serfs. The nobility was ere
ated by Peter the Great, and subdivided
into fourteen classes, seven Of which
were not hereditary.
The clergy were divided into regular
and secular. The latter cannot exercise
religious functions unless they are mar
ried. Priests are exempt from poll tax,
and free from military service, and can
not be judged by civil tribunals.
The bourgeois and merchants are di-
vided into three guilds, to which they
belong in proportion to their wealth.
Those who belong to the highest must
possess $4,000 capital. They have the
right to extend their commerce to other
countries, to establish banks, fit out
ships on their own account, place their
children in certain establishments of
education, and may enter the service of
the State and acquire the hereditary
title of nobility. Those who remain
twelve years in this guild receive the
title of Notable Bourgeois, which secures
political rights to their children.
Those who enter the second guild must
have capital of $4,000 and possess the
right to carry on any species Of COM
merce within the limits of the Empire,
and engage in foreign commerce to the
value Of $4,000. Their children cannot
enter the highest schools, and they must
remain longer time in the guild to ac-
quire the title of Notable Bourgeois.
In the third guild are the small trades
people Of cities and villages. They are
exempt from corporal punishment and
poll-taN.
Besides these, before the emancipation
act, there were more than a million OF
free peasants, who owned land and serf.
'uf were liable to military day AND
pad poll-tax. livery commGne Is 4 re-
public. The Mayor is elected by the
people, as are also the police. Several
villages form a commune. The court
sits in the chief place, assesses taxes,
tries cases, and inf1icts punishments,
without any reference to the central
Government.
Several communes form a canton, the
Governor of which is elected for three
years and several cantons form an
reimbursement, as in France; but here
all these petty officers are appointed by
the Emperor.
FOrty-fve millions of the people are
engaged in agriculture. Between the
Ural and Carpathaian Mountains there
are sixty-fve thousand leagues of land
termed black soil, from its color, which
is so rich that it needs no manure for
any species of culture.
The ports of the Baltic alone give to
the world twenty millions of dollars
worth of cereals annually. We have
seen this year a description of the annual
fair held on the borders of the Caspian
Sea, at which are displayed all the rich
es of the East by merchants who come
from China, India, and Africa, to bring
their silks, teas, gold-cloths, precious
stones, spices and corals, to exchange
for the muslins, leather, iron, beads,
&C., of Russia. Beside these special
Interpretations, there are six thousand
camels employed in the regular COM
merce over the plains Of Tartary.
Peter the Great, as everybody knows,