The sun., 1902-03-09

ness 10 prevent him from leaving 'po CO
I tate on which he was tenant, unless some
landed proprietor would consent TO pay
! the amount OF his dues on condition OF re-
tanning him henceforth in his own service
either as a free tenant or bondslave.
| To sum up what Prof. Kovalevsky has to
tell US about tho political institutions oi
' the Carbon OF Muscovy under the first
| dynasty, we may say that the whole popu'
lation was divided into two strata; an
upper and lower stratum; the first, sub
| ject TO military service, the second. to
taxpaying. Between these strata were the
clergy. very numerous, very rich in land
| and exempted from all imposts, direct or
| indirect. The magnitude Of the wealth
| possessed by the Russian clergy under the
| first dynasty may be estimated from the
| following facts: in the single district OF
| Moscow the lands Of the clergy formed
| almost third part OF the whole cultivated
| area, and certain abbeys were among the
| largest landowners ever known in the world.
| For a moment. Ivan the Terrible thought
Of proceeding TO a secularization Of &C.
clesiastical estates comparable to that
effected in England under Henry VIII,
and in France at the time of the great Revo-
n =
was called, but a majority of the members
| rejected the plan of disappropriation, and
so 1t came to pass that the Russian clergy
retained their enormous holdings until
the time Of Catherine H., when the seculari-
zation Of it's estates was carried out.
1t was Ivan the Terrible who convoked
the assemblies known as Sobors. which
have sometimes been regarded as analogues
of the English Parliament and Of the French
States-General. These bodies were mainly
composed Of delegates Of the higher and
lower nobility. The few representatives
OF the Third Estate consisted of deputies
Of the merchant guilds Of Moscow or Of
Smolensk. The Muscovite Sober never
knew Of those deputies from cities or bor-
oughs OF which from the outset the English
House Of Commons was In part composed.
As might have been expected, the trans
fer OF the Czardom from the House OF
Rurik to the relatively humble family Of
Romanov was followed by a continual
discussion Of national affairs by the Coun-
Gil Of Boyars, and by frequent convoca-
tion OF the Sobors, which, as we have seen.
corresponded roughly to the Parliaments
and States-General Of Western countries.
During the first half of the reign Of Michael
Romanoh many important questions were
debated and settled by the Sobors, includ-
ing the authorization OF forced loans and be-
nevolences. The nomination Of a new Patri-
arch In 1919 was also a Sobor's work. Two
years later a new Sober was consulted on
the question as 10 whether Russia should
60 to war with Poland. II was only after
the return from Poland Of the new Cars
father, and his elevation to the Primacy OF
tbs Orthodox Church that the Sobors ceased
for a time to he summoned. In the reign
OF the next Gar, however, Alexis, the
Sobors regained the authority they had
exercised in the first years Of his fathers
reign. Although not periodically con-
voked, they were consulted concerning
almost every subject Of conspicuous i'm
portance. II was in ICES that the Sober
was convoked for the last time. II was then
called together to pronounce judgment
on the Princess Sophia, who. during the
absence Of Peter the Great in the Western
States Of Europe, had tried, by the help Of
the Streltzi Ia kind of Life Guards) TO seat
herself on the Russian throne. II is to be
noted that the Sobors were never abolished
by law. They simply ceased to be sum-
moned. just as did the States-General Of
France from the early part Of the seven
teenth until near the close Of the eighteenth
century. The author Of the book before
us points out that no legal bar lies in the
way of a new convocation Of representa-
tives Of the empire. Should the present
Emperor convoke them, he would act in
perfect accord with the first founders Of
his dynasty. and would simply be fulfilling
the promises contained in the Magma
Charta Of the first Romanov
What was the internal constitution OF
the Sobors, or Russian Parliaments under
the early Romanovs1 The seventeenth
century introduced a material change in
their composition. We have seen that
during the reign of Ivan the Terrible only
the administrative and military classes
had been represented; in the seventeenth
century, on the other hand, the Sobors
became meetings OF delegates from all the
different estates. The following classes
were represented, namely, the superior
clergy and the higher nobility, the lower
clergy and the lower nobility; the three
guilds of Muscovite merchants; the citizens
Of the different urban districts. and, on
two different occasions C16l4 and 1882,
the black hundreds" and villages, which,
In the technical language Of the time. meant
the peasants established on the lands OF
the State. Serfs and persons who had
lost their liberty on account Of debts. or
for any other reason. were never admitted
TO the right Of representation.
II was during the seventeenth century,
and under the early Cars Of the Romanov
dynasty that the Russian mobiles. with
the help Of their sovereigns. put the finish
ing touches to the long process by which
the Russian peasant was degraded from
q free occupier Of land into a bondman
A fact which had serious consequences for
the peasant leaseholder was the disap-
pearance Of the right once enjoyed by him,
when in arrear with his rent. 70 be bought
up by some neighboring landowner, who
would thereupon transport the delinquent
to his own estates, This practice had been
generally followed by the richer mobiles
In order 10 protect the less wealthy. the
Government restricted PEASANTS right Of
migration TO a certain day at the end OF the
harvest, and recognized the land proprie-
tors right Of rcclaiming a runaway peasant
at any time during period of five years fol-
lowing the day Of flight. Measures to this
end had been already taken toward the
close Of the sixteenth century, when Boris