Page:The National Geographic Magazine Vol 16 1905.djvu/371

Rh be a permanent body, self-perpetuating, and should be consulted by the Tsarina in all state affairs. (2) Without the consent of the council the Tsarina should make neither peace nor war, should levy no taxes, should alienate no public territory, and should appoint no public official of higher rank than colonel.

(3) No member of the nobility should be executed or condemned, and no prop- erty of a noble should be confiscated except after a fair trial by his peers. (4) The Tsarina should neither marry nor appoint a successor without the consent of the council. (5) Violation by the Tsarina of any of the aforesaid stipulations should constitute forfeiture of the crown. Anna accepted all these conditions, solemnly signed the document, and was then proclaimed Tsarina or Empress of Russia.

Magna Charta, with all its sublime provisions, seemed thus naturalized upon Russian soil. The homo liber of the Norman Latin in the English charter meant practically the same as the word tchin, or noble, in the paper of the High Secret Council. So from the banks of the Thames Runnymead had been trans- planted to the banks of the Neva. The 24 Norman barons who forced the sub- mission of King John lived again, 515 years after, in the eight Russian lords who had secured the acquiescence of Anna. Inviolability of person and prop- erty, habeas corpus, trial by jury, hith- erto the monopoly of distant English islanders, were now the guaranteed right of the Slav. The Slavic Empire, no longer autocratic, possessed a constitution.

The announcement of this constitution was received with general indignant pro- test. Under severe penalties the High Council forbade the people anywhere to assemble ; but they could not disperse and silence the crowds which got to- gether all over Russia and denounced the new system. The Tsarina was put under guard and only partisans of the new order allowed to approach her. Thus the council hoped she might be kept ignorant of the mounting tide of popular feeling. Yet the council found itself powerless, despite its being en- trenched in possession of the govern- ment and despite the rank and wealth and personal influence of its members. On February 25, 1731, a zemski sobor, a national assembly, dared to convene in Moscow. The eight hundred elected deputies belonged to the nobility, the clergy, the professions and trades, and the peasant class. They drew up a formal and unanimous protest against the constitution. The Tsarina entered the hall and was greeted with frenzied shouts, "We will not let laws limit our Tsarina!" "Let our Tsarina be an autocrat just like her predecessors!" The Tsarina calmed the tumult and adjourned the meeting. At the next session a formal petition was voted by the eight hundred for the reestablish- ment of autocracy. The council melted away. Autocracy reigned again as in all the days since the time of Rurik. Thus ended the first, if not the only, genuine attempt at a liberal government in the Muscovite Empire. This is the most important, the most significant, event in the history of Russia.

Through another century successive sovereigns sat upon the autocratic throne. In 1822 the childless Alexander I was Tsar. His brother, the Grand Duke Constantine, had been acknowledged as heir. Constantine desired to marry the Polish girl Jane Grodzinska. Because she was of humble origin, a Catholic, and a Pole, Alexander could not tolerate his brother's choice as the future Tsarina. Between the maiden and the throne Constantine was compelled to choose. To him her love was dearer than the Imperial crown. He solemnly renounced his rights as heir apparent in favor of his younger