The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-05

lative body. Henceforth no law Is to
be effective in Russia without the consent
of both houses of the bicameral parlia-
ment, the State Duma or national
assembly, and the Council Of the Empire,
which latter roughly corresponds to
the Prussian Herrenhaus and the ltal-
ian Senate. We say roughly, because IN
n important respect the Council OF
the Empire will be a much moro popular
body than either OF the upper cham
bers with which we have compared 1t,
1t Is to consist of an equal number oil
members appointed by the Car and OF
members elected by the clergy, the
mobiles, the zemstvos or provincial as
semblies, the Academy Of Science and
the University. Trade and industry will
also have elective representatives. Both
houses will be empowered to initiate
legislation upon all subjects except such
as affect the fundamental laws OF the
empire, as, for example, the question
Of succession. The members OF both
Houses are also to possess the right OF
interpellating Ministers with regard to
alleged unlawful acts. The Parliament
is to meet annually and Is, as was to be
expected, to be convoked and closed
by imperial ukase. To those who know
Russia 1t will seem amazing that the
debates In both Houses are to be public
and that elaborate arrangements have
been made to accommodate the press.
To appreciate the weight Of the con-
cession made in the provision that half
the members Of Russia's upper house
or Council of the Empire, shall be cleo
tive we should recall hat the present
Constitution Of Prussia, which was
granted in 1850, does not prescribe the
composition of the Herrenhaus or House
of Peers, but delegates the power to do
so to the King, only specifying that the
members shall be appointed by the
Grown In heredity or for life, and that a
royal ordinance on the subject, once
issued, shall not be changed without the
consent of the Landtag, the collective
term describing the bicameral Legisla-
ture. By an ordinance OF 1854, which
is still In force, the upper house con-
sists first of Princes Of the blood royal
summoned by the King; then of heredi-
tary mobiles whose ancestors were for
merly independent princes of the Holy
Roman Empire, and of hereditary men,
bers created at will by the Crown; then
of life members, four Of whom are the
holders of certain great offices of State
or of the household, while others are
appointed by the King at his pleasure,
and others again are appointed by him
on the nomination Of the larger land
owners, Of the universities, Of evangelical
bodies and Of certain cities. The men,
bers appointed at will by the King are
not limited in number, like the rest, and
hence the Crown by a creation Of peers
can control the House at any time. This
was done by BISMARCK in 1872.
By the Statute or Constitution granted
in 1s4s to Sardinia, which has since ex-
banded into the kingdom of Italy, the
Senate is composed Of the Princes Of the
royal family and of members appointed
by the King for life from certain cate
gories of persons defined by the Statute
itself. These are bishops, sundry high
officials, civil, military and judicial;
deputies who have served three terms
or six years, men who have been for
seven years members Of the Royal Acad-
envy of Science, men who pay wei 5000
a year in taxes, and men deserving ex-
ceptional honor for service to the State.
1t appears that owing to the extreme
severity Of the test applied by the Senate
to claims of such service no appointment
from the last class has been made since
1879, for, ouriously enough, the Senate
itself has the privilege Of deciding
whether a person selected by the King
belongs properly to n of the specified
classes. The Italian Senate has been
known (1S7S-sO) to refuse to yield to the
Chamber OF Deputies, but it would prob
ably not offer such resistance to-day,
for the number of Senators is unlimited
80 long as they are drawn from the
classes above named, and on several
occasions a large batch Of members has
been created in order to change the
party ooloring Of the body. In 1890 no
fewer than seventy-fve were appointed
for the purpose.
We see, then, that Russia's Council
Of the Empire as now reorganized may
much more fairly be described as repre-
sentative Of the Russian people than can
the Prussian Herrenhaus or the italian
Senate. From a Liberal point of view,
1t stands midway between those cham
beers and the French Senate as the latter
was. originally constituted In 1875, for
1t was to contain 225 members elected
by the departments, while rs were ap-
pointed for life by the same national
assembly which framed that law.
1t is not surprising that in view Of
these momentous supplemental conces-
sions the Social Democrats of st. Peters,
burg should have raised the boycott
hitherto maintained against the State
Duma and should have resolved to par
ticipate in the approaching elections.