The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1877-05-31
RUiSSI4 IND TURKEY.

The Governments of the BeUi0erent Ma
tions.
Russia. is the most absolute
hereditary monarchy of the civilized
world-in fact, the only one where legis-
lative, executive and judicial powers are
united in the monarch. His will is,
practically, the law, limited only by GER
tain rules of government, established by
past sovereigns, to which the reigning
house has given assent, and which are
therefore binding precedents. The
most prominent of these is the law of
succession to the throne, which is that of
regular descent to the frst-born male,
the females coming in for the succession
only in case of the failure of direct male
heirs. This law was established IN 1897,
up to which time the Gar had the right
of naming his successor from any of The
imperial family. The machinery of the
Government is briefly as follows:
The great primordial body, in which cen
tiers the whole executive authority Of the
empire, is the ''private Cabinet of the EN-
|
Gar. 1t is divided into four sections:
The first, presidency and superintend-
ence of the others, and is in commu-
nication with the Emperor. The second
is the Legislative department.; the third
looks after the army and the secret po-
lice; the fourth has charge of ecclesiastical
affairs.
Next below the private Cabinet comes
four great boards, each having its espe-
cial duties, but all controlled by the
private Cabinet, and thus by the Gar
The first is the "Council of the Empire, -
now numbering some forty persons, APP
pointed by the Emperor, and including,
as ex-officio members, the Ministers and
the imperial family.
This Council superintends the action
of the general administration, takes care
of the administration of laws, and sug-
gests to the Emperor such new laws as il
may think necessary. 1t is subdivided
into three departments, Legislative, civil
administration and finance, each with its
own separate organization, but all occa-
sionally meeting as a collective body.
The second great board is the "Direct-
ing Senate, which is the high court OF
justice of the empire, controlling all in
ferior tribunals, but itself controlled by
the private Cabinet. It has eight Sec
tions, five of which sit at ST. Petersburg,
and three at Moscow. It is composed
mostly of persons of high rank, but pre-
siding over each is a lawyer of high emf
nence, representing the Gear, and with
out whose signature the decree of the
court is null
The third great board is the "Holy
Synod composed Of the church dignita-
ries (the Greek church), and attending
exclusively to ecclesiastical affairs. Its
decisions are of no force until approved
by the Emperor.
The fourth of the great boards is the
Council of Minister'S 1t is divided
into eleven departments, representing
the Cabinet divisions of the constitutional
| Government.
This board, like the others, is in con
slant communication with the private
Cabinet, and subject to it.
We allnded above to one feature OF
local government wherein Russia is rep.
resentative. The empire is divided into
(irst) vice-royalties. (second govern
ments, and (third) districts. Of the first
there are fourteen, of the second fifty
one, and of the third 800. These are
governed by the appointees of the En-
peror, subject to the control of him and
his Cabinet. But each district is subdi-
vlded into communes, or mir, and these
are grouped into 90 volestes,' each con-
tanning population of about 1000.
Each of the volestes" is presided over
by an elder, or 'starshina," and each
has also tax collector and superin-
tendent of public stores. All of these
! officers, together with all other parish
officers, are elected annually, by ballot.
| by the peasants, and are always peasants
themselves. There are local legislatures,
or assemblies, also elected in the same
way, who regulate all local and social
affairs not Immediately concerning the
affairs of the state. This move toward
universal suffrage and popular govern
ment contributes immensely toward the
increase of patriotism and the strength
ening of the empire
Turkey.-In Turkey there was, even
| before q a. Of
law Of the empire, constitution, but it
was the Koran. All laws of the empire
must be in accord with the precepts of
that book, and herein we see the secret
OF the failure of all attempts at constitu-
tlonal reform which have been promised
and made. In whatever respect the new
constitution is hostile to the Koran. it at
once becomes dead letter. In this lies
also, the secret of Turkeys rapid decad-
ence since her power threatened the
| Christian world A written constitution
Especially if a religious one, which can
not change to meet changing conditions
and increase of knowledge, necessarily
becomes an ever-tightening moose about
the neck of people, slowly strangling
the life out of them.
The viii of the Sultan is absolute in
so far as it does not contravene the
principles of the Koran, and those Of
the Mulleko'-an additional code made
up of supposed sayings of Mohammed.
Next under the Sultan comes the Grand
Vizier, head of the civil government,
and the Sheik- Ill islam, head of the