Page:Russian Realities and Problems - ed. James Duff (1917).djvu/58

 One may add to these 68 members representing the upper social stratum six dignitaries of the Church, which makes a solid majority of 74 out of the whole number of 98 elected members, on the side of Conservatism. There remain twelve representatives of commerce, a rather inadequate representation of capital if compared with that of the landed interest, and six intellectuals, representing the learned order of the Academy of Sciences and the Universities; and these generally form the extreme left wing in the Council of Empire. Six members for Poland, here as well as in the Duma, take an intermediate position between the two wings.

The activities of such an Upper House are directed as might be imagined. Not only the Duma, but even the Cabinet, even the Ministers, are often considered too Liberal by the Council of Empire. Every law which bears as they say "the stamp of the 30th of October"—the date of the constitutional manifesto—is sure to fall through, or to be relegated to the archives of the Upper Chamber. One must not forget that no Bills are able to reach the Upper House unless they have previously been approved by a majority of the Duma. You will see for yourselves what are the prospects of constructive and of Liberal legislation in Russia. As, on the other hand, the existence of the Duma does not admit of any reactionary legislation, the practical upshot is that all legislation of a constructive character is entirely paralysed: a state of things which cannot but be transitional.

Well, that is all now. But if you should think that with all these restraints, which are intended to hedge