Page:The National Geographic Magazine Vol 16 1905.djvu/354

Rh tial difference of race accentuated by history and environment. When discussing the French we are talking about a Celto-Eatin race ; when the Germans, a Teutonic race; when the United States of America, a cosmopolitan race, a min- gling of all the peoples ; when the Rus- sians, a Slavic race, a stock distinct from every other European race. From its very cradle, through the more than thousand years since, the Russian branch of the Slavic race is, in whatever per- tains to government, the direct antith- esis of our own. It is as difficult for the average Russian to appreciate our modern, twentieth -century sentiment as it is for us to appreciate their docile, submissive sentiment, which has been wrought out in the interminable forest and steppe.

So the Tsar is the all-controlling, all- comprehending political unit. He is the legislative, the executive, the ju- dicial. His authority extends over 8,500,000 square miles and 150,000,000 people. He cannot know the needs of all nor can he reach in relief to all. Consequently he summons to his service advisory boards, on whose intelligence and loyalty he must depend. There is the Ruling Senate — Pravitelstvuyushchiy Senat — established in 17 10 by Peter the Great. It is divided into six sections, each presided over by a lawyer of emi- nence, who represents the Tsar. The sections are at once courts of justice and examining boards. In behalf of the Tsar the Senate promulgates the laws. There is the Council of State, purely consultative, organized in i8or by Alexander I and reorganized on broader lines four years ago. It ex- amines proposed laws and discusses the budget. It is divided into four depart- ments, devoted respectively to legisla- tion, to civil and ecclesiastical adminis- tration, to economy and industry, and to commerce and sciences. There is the Committee of Ministers, varying, like the Cabinet of Great Britain, in num- ber and office, and, moreover, including several high functionaries and,. Grand Dukes. There is the Holy Synod, which superintends the religious affairs. The great metropolitans and bishops com- pose it, but its decisions have force only as approved by the Tsar and are issued in his name. There are several so-called cabinets, mainly philanthropic or eco- nomic. There are the 78 governors general, one over each province of the Empire, and 792 administrative coun- cils, one for each provincial district. The members of all these different Im- perial boards, of whatever name or dig- nity, are responsible to the Tsar.

The Tsar may be called the infinite unit. In Russia there is another or an atomic unit, just as real, but in compar- ison infinitely small. This is the mir. None the less mir is the most important word in the Russian language. It means the village and the village assembly. To the mind of the peasant it means the world. European Russia is made up of 107,676 communes or villages. Each is and has its mir. As in national af- fairs the Tsar decides or acts through his senate or council or synod, so in local affairs the mir acts for him. Apart from affairs of state, in the mir the peas- ant has a political existence of his own. Over the mir, in much akin to the town meeting of New England, presides the starosta, elected by it. Several com- munes united compose a volost or can- ton, of which there are 10,530 in Euro- pean Russia. To the cantonal and pro- visional assemblies, each composed of duly elected delegates, is applied the name, of late become so familiar, of the zemtsvo. The mir or volost decides all questions of local nature, such as con- cern roads, schools, health, justice, and acts as a peasants' court in cases not involving more than 60 dollars. But