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 andGrandfather 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 ofPeter 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 ofPeter 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- |