Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1261

 REIGNING EMPEROR — CONSTITUTION D05

Tlie Emperor is in possession of the revenue from the Crown domains, con- sisting of more than a million of S(|uare miles of cultivated land and forests, besides gold and other mines in Siberia, and producing a vast revenue, the actual amount of which is, however, unknown, as no reference to the subject is made in the budgets or finance accounts, the Crown domains being con- sidered the private projierty of the imperial family.

The following have been the Tsars and Emperors of Russia, from the time of election of ^lichael Romanof. Tsar Peter I. was the first ruler who adopted, in the year 1721, the title of Emperor.

House of Romanof —Male Line. i Ivan VI,. . . 1740

Michael .... 1613

Alexei. . . . 1645

Feodor. . . . 1676

Ivan and Peter I. . 1682

Peter 1 1689

Catherine I. .. . 1725

Peter II. . . . 1727

House of Romawf — Female Line.

Anne .... 1730

Elizabeth. . . 1741

House of Romanof- Holstein.

Peter III. . . . 1762

Catherine II. . . . 1762

Paul. . . . 1796

Alexander I. .. 1801

Nicholas I. . 1825

Alexander II. . . . 1855

Alexander III. . . 1881

Nicholas II. . . . 1894

Constitution and Government.

The government of Russia is an absolute hereditary monarchy. The whole legislative, executive, and judicial power is united in the emperor, whose will albne is law. There are, however, certain rules of government which the sovereigns of the present reigning house have acknowledged as binding. The chief of these is the law of succession to the throne, which, according to a decree of the Emperor Paul, of the year 1797, is to be that of regular descent, by the right of primogeniture, with preference of male over female heii-s. This decree annulled a previous one, issued by Peter I., February 5, 1722, which ordered each sovereign to select his successor to the throne from among the members of the imperial family, irrespective of the claims of primogeniture. Another fundamental law of the realm proclaimed by Peter I. is that every sovereign of Russia, with his consort and children, must be a member of the orthodox Greek Church. The princes and princesses of the imperial house, according to a decree of Alexander I., must obtain the consent of the emperor to any marriage they may contract; otherwise the issue of such union cannot inherit the throne. By an ancient law of Russia, the heir-apparent is held to be of age at the end of the sixteenth year, and the other members of the reigning family with the completed twentieth year.

The administration of the Empire is entrusted to four great boards, or councils, possessing separate functions. The first of these boards is the CoimcH of the State, established in its present