RUSH-NUT. See CYPERUS.

RUSH-NUT-RUSSELL.

RUSHWORTH, JOHN, an English author, whose work entitled Historical Collections of Private Passages of State, Weighty Matters in Law, and Remarkable Proceedings in Parliament, is a most important contribution to our knowledge of the civil war, and the events that led to it, belonged to an ancient family in Northumberland, and was be there about 1607. He studied at Oxford, but left the university without taking a degree, and

settled in London as a barrister. His interest in

political affairs was, however, so strong, that he appears to have spent a great deal of his time, for many years, in attending the Star Chamber, the Court of Honour, the Exchequer Chamber, Parlia ment, &c., and in taking down short-hand notes of the proceedings. When the Long Parliament met in 1640, R was appointed assistant to Mr Henry Elsyngne, clerk of the House of Commons, an office which afforded him ample opportunities for adding to his Collections. He rendered a variety of important services to his party during the civil war. The restoration of Charles II., in 1660, was fatal to his fortunes. Though not molested, he was one of those to whom the cold shoulder' was shewn by the triumphant royalists. In 1677, Sir Orlando Bridg; man, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, appointed the old man, now (it is conjectured) in straitened circumstances, his secretary; and curious to say, we find him, two years after, a member of parliament. In 1684, when he had reached the age of 77, he was arrested for debt, and imprisoned in the King's Bench, where he died in 1690. His last years were rendered doubly miserable, partly by the loss of his understanding, and partly by his addicting himself to intemperance.

R.'s Historical Collections were published in four parts at different times. The first, embracing the period from 1618 to 1629, was published in 1659; the second, embracing the period from 1629 to 1640, in 1680; the third, embracing the next five years, in 1692; and the fourth, extending to 1648, in 1701. The whole was republished in 1721. The work has been violently attacked by royalist and High Church writers, as unfair, and even false, but their charges have not been substantiated.

Lamps of Architecture; and in 1851-1853, The Stones of Venice, both being efforts to introduce a tic architecture. They were illustrated by the author new and loftier conception of the significance of domeshimself, who proved himself in these volumes to be one of the best and most accurate draughtsmen in England. About this time, Pre-Raphaelitism began to develop itself as a distinctive phase of modern art, and R. warmly espoused its cause. His letters to the Times, his Pamphlet on the subject (1851), and his Times, his Pamphlet on the subject (1851), and his Notes' on the Royal Academy Exhibitions (18551860), besides numerous casual expressions of opinion, bear testimony to the ardour and sincerity of his ad miration. In 1854, he published four singularly pithy and ingenious Lectures on Architecture and Painting; in 1857, two Lectures on the Political Economy of Art; Notes on Turner's Pictures and Drawings exhibited in Marlborough House; Elements of Drawing, in Three Letters, for Beginners; Elements of Perspective; The Two Paths; in 1864, Sesame and Lilies; The Ethics of Dust; in 1865, Ten Lectures to Little Housewives on the Elements of Crystallisation; in 1866, The Crown of Wild Olive: Three Lectures on Work, Traffic, and War; and in 1869, The Queen of He is also the author of a great variety of review artithe Air: a Study of Greek Myths of Cloud and Storm. cles. He built a number of model houses for the poor of London. He was elected Slade professor of art at

Oxford in 1869.

RUSSELL, HOUSE OF.

The first dukedom of

Bedford (q. v.) expired in the person of the great Regent of France (in the time of Henry VI.), with whom the present dukes are unconnected by affinity. The early descent of the Russells, and their derivation from the Du Rozels of Normandy, have been traced by Mr Wiffen in his Memoirs of the House of Russell. This great historical family is said to derive its descent from Olaf, the sharp-eyed king of Rerik, in the 6th c., one of whose descendants, Turstain, a Scandinavian jarl, settled in Normandy, on its conquest by the Northmen, and became possessed of the barony of Briquebec, and the castle of Rozel, near Caen. In a charter of Matilda, wife of the Conqueror, dated 1066, Hugh de Rozel appears as a witness, and is no doubt the same knight who accompanied William in his invasion of England, and assisted at the battle of Hastings. RUSKIN, JOHN, the most eloquent and original His name, together with that of his brother, is of all writers upon art, is the son of a wealthy wine- found on the roll of Battle Abbey. They both merchant, and was born in London in 1819. He accompanied Duke Robert of Normandy in the studied at Christ Church, Oxford, where he gained first Crusade, where the elder died. The younger, the Newdegate prize for English poetry in 1839, and Hugh de Rozel, upon his return from the Holy took his degree in 1842. The year following ap- Land, established himself in England, and was the peared the first volume of his Modern Painters, the progenitor of Sir James Rozel, or Russell (as it had primary design of which was to prove the infinite then begun to be called), governor of Corfe Castle superiority of modern landscape-painters, especially in 1221, and of Sir W. Russell, who represented Turner, to the old masters; but in the later Southampton in the first parliament of Edward II. volumes (the 5th and last was published in 1860), From the later Russell directly descended Sir John the work expanded into a vast discursive treatise on Russell, one of the most valiant soldiers of the age the principles of art, interspersed with artistic and of chivalry. His son, Sir John Russell, was Speaker symbolical descriptions of nature, more elaborate of the House of Commons in the time of Henry VI. and imaginative than any writer, prose or poetic, The high fortune and eminence of the House of R. had ever before attempted. Modern Painters was date from his grandson, JOHN RUSSELL, one of the essentially revolutionary in its spirit and aim, and most accomplished gentlemen of his time, who, in naturally excited the aversion and hostility of the 1538, was elevated to the peerage, under the title of conservatives in art. But the unequalled splen-Lord Russell, Baron Russell of Cheyneys, county dour of its style gave it a place in literature; Buckingham.' His son, the second earl, was & crowd of aamirers and disciples sprang up; the person of eminence in Queen Elizabeth's reign, and views of art enunciated by R. gradually made was, like his father, a Knight of the Garter. way; and without alluding further to the fierce next notable member of the family was EDWARD and scornful controversies which they excited, it RUSSELL, who was bred to the sea, and was groom may be said that, with whatever abatements neces- of the bedchamber to the Duke of York, aftersitated by the conflict of criticism, they have sub-wards James II., but upon William Lord Russell's stantially rooted themselves in the English mind, judicial murder, retired from court. Strenuously and have largely determined the course and char- supporting the Revolution, he obtained high naval acter of later art. In 1849 appeared The Seven In 1849 appeared The Seven commands from William III., and distinguished

374

The

RUSSELL

himself as one of the most eminent naval heroes of became, in 1756, Lord-lieutenant of Ireland. In 1762,

the period, particularly by his victory over the French fleet at La Hogue, in 1692. His cousin

was

he was accredited Minister Plenipotentiary to the court of France, and signed at Fontainebleau the preliminaries of peace with France and Spain. He was President of the Council in the administration formed by Mr Grenville in the autumn of 1763. His concern with public affairs extended over the important term comprised between the fall of the administrations of Walpole and Chatham. When First Lord of the Admiralty (from 1744 to 1748, he shared with Mr Pelham, the premier, and the Duke of Newcastle, the substantial power of the government. His correspondence, preserved at Woburn Abbey, and given to the world by Earl Russell, contains authentic materials for the illustration of the political history of England from 1744 to 1770. The introduction to the first volume contains a brief but able historical sketch by the noble editor of the period from the administration of Walpole to 1748, and some interesting particulars of the private life and personal character of the duke. He died in 1771, and was succeeded by his grandson

FRANCIS, fifth duke, born in 1765. He was a steady friend to the cause of popular freedom, and was regarded by his friends, among the most devoted of whom was Charles James Fox, with feelings of attachment amounting to enthusiasm. He died unmarried in 1802, and was succeeded by his brother

JOHN, sixth duke, born 1766, father of Lord John (now Earl) Russell (q. v.). He died October 20, 1839, and was succeeded by his eldest son

LORD WILLIAM RUSSELL, son of William, 5th earl, who has left an imperishable name, as one of the most glorious martyrs of English liberty. He was born September 1639; was educated at Cambridge; passed some years at Augsburg and other places on the continent, and returned to England at the Restoration. In 1678-1679, he was returned to parliament for the county Bedford. His first public act was worthy of his subsequent career. He inveighed against the corruption of the Cabal, the influence of France, the dishonourable commencement of the war with Holland, and the fraud practised upon the bankers. He was ever afterwards found conspicuous wherever the designs of the court could be traversed, or the cause of constitutional liberty befriended. He appeared_publicly in the King's Bench at Westminster Hall, June 16, 1680, and presented the Duke of York as a recusant. He also carried up to the House of Lords the bill of exclusion against the duke, at the head of more than 200 members of the Commons. This bill, setting forth that the Duke of York was a papist, declared him incapable of succeeding to the crown. The king and duke determined to be revenged upon Russell and the other leaders of the Whig party. Charged as participators in the Rye House Plot (q. v.), Lord Russell, the Earl of Essex, and Algernon Sidney were arrested. Russell was, July 13, 1683, arraigned at the Old Bailey for high treason. Infamous witnesses easily satisfied a packed jury. As they were about to withdraw, the prisoner said: 'I call Heaven and earth to witness that I never had a design against the king's life.' But the jury pronounced the fiat that condemned Russell to the block, and the horrible sentence of death for high treason was forthwith pronounced. The king and the duke were determined to have his blood, and to crush the leaders of the Whig party. Some of the Tory ministry ventured to plead in his favour, but in vain. The Earl of Bedford had gained the king's favourite, the Duchess of Portsmouth, to his interest, and offered, through her, £100,000 for the life of his son. To satisfy his aged father, and at the earnest request of his afflicted wife, Russell himself petitioned the king. He solemnly disclaimed the least intention against the king's life, or the least design to change the constitution. There is reason to believe that Charles was disposed to relent, but that the Duke of York insisted upon the prisoner's death, which took place July 21, 1683. The simple relation of his last hours by Bishop Burnet, his intimate friend and companion, is justly considered one of the most pathetic passages in history. The murder of Russell, perpetrated for the most unconstitutional end by the most unconstitutional means, followed by that of Sidney, rendered the despotism of the Stuarts odious, and led, in the next reign, minister and statesman, third son of the sixth RUSSELL, JOHN RUSSELL, EARL, K. G., English to the overthrow of the family. R. died in the 42d Duke of Bedford, was born in Hertford Street, Mayyear of his age, leaving a name to be remembered fair, London, August 18, 1792, educated at Westand revered wherever truth has a sanctuary or minster School, whence he was sent to Edinburgh, liberty a shrine. His attainder was annulled after at that time preferred to the English universities the Revolution. His widow, LADY RACHEL WRIO- by the great Whig families. Here he pursued his THESLEY, second daughter and heiress of Thomas studies with industry and success, under the care Earl of Southampton, survived her lord more than of Professor Dugald Stewart; and here, at the forty years. She cherished the memory of her lord meetings of the Speculative Society, he first exerwith the most tender recollections. She died Sep-cised his powers of debate. In 1809, he proceeded tember 29, 1723, at the advanced age of 86. Her eld- on ૧ est son by Lord Russell was WRIOTHESLEY, second

Duke of Bedford.

JOHN, fourth duke, was First Lord of the Admiralty in the Pelham administration of 1744.

He

FRANCIS, seventh duke, who, after a short career in the Lower House, was summoned to the House of Lords in his father's barony of Howland. He declined office, but invariably supported the views and measures of the Whig governments, and in the dissensions among the Whig party, the political congresses at Woburn exercised great influence. He was much consulted by his distinguished brother, when First Lord of the Treasury, and on more than one occasion, his advice on political affairs was sought by his sovereign. He was an enthusiastic patron of the turf from early life, and his stud at Newmarket was of princely dimensions. Of late years, he devoted himself to the happiness of his tenantry and the comfort of the labourers on his extensive estates. He died May 14, 1861, and was succeeded by his only son

FRANCIS, eighth duke, born in 1809. He was M.P. for Tavistock from 1832 to 1841, but is most retired in his habits, and takes no active part in political affairs. The heir-presumptive to the honours and representation of the House of R. is the Hon. Colonel Francis C. H. Russell, M.P., born 1819, eldest son of the late Major-general Lord George W. Russell, second son of John, sixth duke.

The Dukes of Bedford have a magnificent mansion and park at Woburn, a few miles from Bedford.

against English travellers, he directed his steps continental tour, and France being closed to Portugal and Spain. In 1821 appeared his History of the British Constitution, and in 1824 Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe from the Peace of

RUSSELL.

An

In

Utrecht. In more recent years he has given to the Bill, making a new distribution of episcopal dioworld, from the family archives, the Correspondence ceses and incomes. In 1837, he carried a series of of John, fourth Duke of Bedford, which throws bills for further amending the criminal law, by much light on the secret history of the early part which capital punishment was finally removed of George III.'s reign; the Life, Diary, and Letters from forgery and all offences except seven. of Thomas Moore, in pursuance of a promise made Irish Tithe Bill was also passed, but the apto the poet several years before; the Correspondence propriation clause' being always rejected by the of Charles James Fox, and the first volume of the Lords, R. was obliged to accept the bill divested Life and Times of that great Whig statesman. of the clause. He exchanged the seals of the Having now noticed his career as an author, we Home for those of the Colonial Office, when the may briefly pass in review his long, honourable, Canadians broke into rebellion in 1839, and sent and consistent career as a politician. In 1813, he over Lord Durham, who recognised the right of was elected for the family borough of Tavistock. the Canadians to self-government; and who, with and vigorously but vainly opposed the repeal of his successor, Lord Sydenham, brought the Canadas the Habeas Corpus Act in 1817. He made his first into loyal and harmonious relations with the motion in favour of parliamentary reform in 1819, mother-country, which have never since been disand continued to bring the subject almost annu- turbed. ally before the Lower House, until he stood forward as a minister of the crown to propose the great measure of 1831. He was also the strenuous advocate of the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, Roman Catholic Emancipation, and other measures of civil and religious liberty. In 1828, he carried by a large majority his motion for the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, although it was opposed by the Duke of Wellington's government. In 1829, he supported the Catholic Emancipation Bill. At the general election of 1830, caused by the death of George IV., the rallying cry of Parliamentary Reform sent many additional Liberals into the House of Commons. The 'Great Duke' was driven from office; and Earl Grey being appointed prime minister, proceeded to form a cabinet pledged to peace, retrenchment, and reform. R. did not receive a seat in the cabinet, but he was appointed to the lucrative office of Paymaster of the Forces, and was one of the four members of the government to whom Earl Grey intrusted the task of framing the draft of the first Reform Bill. The great and imperishable honour next devolved upon R. of proposing the bill (March 1, 1831). The fortunes of the measure belong to the history of the time; suffice it to say, that on the 4th of June 1832, the bill obtained the royal assent, and that the country was saved from the throes of revolution and civil war, which at one period appeared imminent. R. left office with the Melbourne government (which had succeeded to that of Earl Grey) in November 1834. In March 1835, he brought forward a motion in favour of taking into consideration the temporalities of the Irish Church. It was opposed by the government, but after three nights' debate, was carried by 322 votes against 289. On the 4th April, he carried a resolution in committee in favour of appropriating any surplus which might remain, after fully providing for the spiritual wants of the members of the Irish Church, to the general education of all classes of Christians. The report of the committee having been affirmed by the whole House, the government of Sir Robert Peel was dissolved, and that of Lord Melbourne restored. R. now became Home Secretary, with a seat in the cabinet. On the 5th of June 1835, he brought in an important bill for the reform of the municipalities of England and Wales, which was carried after some mutilation, and secured an effective reform of municipal institutions. Next session, he proposed and carried the government plan for the commutation of tithes in England. Also a bill for a general registration of marriages, births, and deaths, the value of which, in social and statistical inquiries, can scarcely be overrated; and a bill for the amendment of the marriage laws, which enabled dissenters to be married in their own chapel. He likewise passed an English Church Reform

In 1841, R. proposed a fixed duty of 8s. per quarter on foreign corn, and a reduction of the duties on sugar and timber. Being defeated by the opposition, the Melbourne government appealed to the country without success; and R. and his colleagues made way for the administration of Peel. In this general election, he challenged the verdict of the city of London upon the free-trade measures of the government, by boldly leaving Stroud, and standing for the city. He was elected by the narrow majority of nine votes, and continued to represent the city until his elevation to the peerage. November 1845, R. wrote a letter from Edinburgh to the electors of the city of London, announcing his conversion to the total and immediate repeal of the corn laws. This letter led to the resignation of the Peel cabinet; and R. was commissioned by the Queen (December 11, 1845) to form an administration, which at first he failed to do through the antipathy of Earl Grey to Lord Palmerston, and Sir Robert Peel being recalled to power, had the honour of carrying the repeal of the corn-laws. His Irish Coercion Bill, however, being defeated by the combined Whigs and Protectionists, he resigned; and R. became nominally what he had been really during the greater part of the Melbourne administrationprime minister. In 1846, a series of assassinations in Ireland compelled him to propose a more stringent coercion act than that of the previous session. In 1847, he had to deal with the Irish famine ; and in 1848, with a miniature Irish rebellion. The papal bull, parcelling England into dioceses, extorted from R. an indignant protest, first in the form of a letter to the Bishop of Durham, and next in the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill of 1851, prohibiting the assumption of territorial titles by Roman Catholic prelates. R.'s advice to the Queen to dismiss her Foreign Secretary and his ancient colleague, Lord Palmerston, for communicating, without consultation with his colleagues, his approval of the French coup d'état, precipitated the downfall of the R. adminis tration, and in February 1852 he ceased to be First Lord of the Treasury. Lord Derby made an unsuccessful attempt to carry on the government; and in the succeeding cabinet of the Earl of Aberdeen, R. consented, December 1852, to fill the post of Foreign Secretary with the leadership of the House of Com mons. In the session of 1854, he brought forward a new Reform Bill, but was most reluctantly compelled to resign it in consequence of the Crimean War. He was next appointed Commissioner to the Congress of Vienna, and incurred so much unpopularity by recommending terms of peace, and a plan of counterpoise suggested by Austria, that he was forced by the pressure of unfavourable opinion to leave the ministry (July 1855). He voted against the govern ment on Mr Cobden's motion against Lord Palmerston's Chinese policy, which led to a dissolution. When the second administration of Lord Palmerston

RUSSELL-RUSSIA.

more than 78,000,000 in 1864. The following table gives the names, the areas, and the populations of the six governments of European Russia, and of the grand duchy of Finland, the kingdom of Poland, TransCaucasia, and Siberia and Central Asia:

Names of Governments in 1864.

7. Esthonia,

8. Grodno, 9. Jaroslav, 10. Kalouga, 11. Kazan, 12. Kharkov,

14. Kiev,
15. Kostroma,

16. Koursk,

17. Kovno,

18. Livonia,
19. Minsk,
20. Mogilev,
21. Moscow,
22. Nijni Novgorod,
23. Novgorod,
24. Olonetz,

25. Orenburg and Cossacks,
26. Orel,

27. Oufa,
28. Penza,

was formed (June 1859), R. became for the second
time Foreign Secretary, which office he held till Octo-
ber, 1865. He threw the moral influence of his name
and the nation he represented into the scale of Italian
unity and independence. He uttered warnings and
remonstrances against the annexation of Savoy and
Nice by France, which gave great offence to the
government of the Emperor Napoleon by their frank-
ness and candour. He preserved British neutrality in
the American civil war, except in allowing the Ala-
bama to leave Liverpool to prey on American com-
merce. He wrote spirited dispatches expressive of
the indignation with which the British government
regarded the despotic acts of Russia in Poland; but
he incurred many reproaches from the Poles and
their sympathisers in France and England, for with-
drawing from the Austrian and French alliance when
He took an
war with Russia appeared imminent.
active but not a successful part in the Slesvig-Holstein 13. Kherson,
dispute, which the peculiar policy of the French em-
R. has always taken a
peror brought to nothing.
prominent part in promoting the education of the
people, and, with the assistance of Lord Lansdowne,
laid the foundation of the present British system of
national education, supported by parliamentary grants,
and administered by the Committee of Privy Council
for Education. He brought forward for many years
a measure admitting the Jews to parliament, which
passed in 1858 upon a compromise suggested by the
Earl of Lucan. But the question with which he has
ever been identified in the public mind is parliamentary
reform. He brought in a Reform Bill in 1852, and a
second in 1854; moved the resolution which procured
the condemnation of the Derby Reform Bill in 1859;
and in 1860, brought in another government bill,
which failed to pass. In 1861, he was called to the
Upper House, and exchanged the courtesy title of
'Lord John,' by which he had been so long known,
for that of Earl Russell. In October, 1865, he was
made prime-minister, on the death of Lord Palmer-
ston, W. E. Gladstone being made chancellor of the
exchequer. In 1866, this ministry prepared a Reform
Bill which produced a long and exciting debate. The
bill was defeated, although the professed liberals were
in the majority, and the ministry resigned. His lan-
guage is simple, clear, plain, and terse, yet pregnant
with meaning. Upon great constitutional questions
and historical precedents, he is perhaps the best living
authority, and upon such themes his speeches rise to
a high order of eloquence. His indomitable self-
reliance and tenacity of self-assertion were sarcastic-
ally painted by the Rev. Sydney Smith, who called
him the 'Lycurgus of the Lower House,' and said
that he was utterly ignorant of moral fear.' He is
an admirable and fearless debater; but his voice is often
weak, his delivery somewhat hesitating, mincing, and
affected, and his action has little variety. He married,
in 1835, the daughter of Thomas Lister, and relict of
Lord Ribblesdale; and secondly, in 1841, the daugh-
ter of the Earl of Minto. For a list of his speeches,
essays, tales, &c., see Allibone's Dict. of Authors.

RUSSIA, EMPIRE OF, extending over a large proportion of the northern regions of the globe, includes the eastern part of Europe, the whole of Northern Asia, and a part of Central Asia. Lat. 38° 30′-78° N., long. 17° 19′ E.-169° W. It is bounded on the N. by the Arctic Ocean; on the E. by the Pacific Ocean; on the S. by the Chinese empire, Turkestan, the Caspian Sea, Persia, Asiatic and European Turkey, and the Black Sea, and on the W. by Austria, Prussia, the Baltic Sea, and Sweden. Its length from west to east, from the Prosna, on the Prussian frontier, to Behring's Straits, is about 6500 miles; its breadth from north to south is about 2667 miles. Its circumference is estimated at 20,000 miles, of which 11,000 miles are in coastline. The area is stated at 8,018,475 sq. m.; pop.

Area in Eng.

square miles.

3. Bessarabia,

13,445

5. Cossacks of the Don, Territory

55,680

of

25,950

14,655

13,200

11,885

23,675

20,935

27,905

19,606

30,775

The Russian Sea-board.-The northern shores of

the Russian territories, which are washed by the Arctic Ocean, are deeply indented. The White Sea (q. v.), an immense arm of the Arctic Ocean, penetrates 350 miles into the mainland, and is subdivided into the gulfs of Onega and Archangel or Dwina. The other chief inlets on the north of R. are the Kara Sea and the gulfs of Obi and Yenisei. Westward from Neva Zemla (usually, but less correctly, spelled Zembla), the Arctic Ocean is navigable for three months of the year; east from that island, the sea, even at the mildest season, is encumbered with floating icebergs. The chief islands in this ocean are Nova Zemla, Spitzbergen, and the Liakov Islands, or New Siberia. The eastern shores of R. are washed by the Pacific, subdivided into the Behring, Okhotsk, and Japan Seas; and the islands belonging to this country in these seas are Sakhalin and the northern part of the Kuriles. On the south are the Black Sea (q. v.) and the Sea of Azov

RUSSIA.

(q. v.), the latter communicating with the former by the Strait of Kertch, and so shallow that it is navigable for small craft only. Of the Caspian Sea, R. commands almost all the shore bordered by Persia and Khiva, and has (1871) a naval station at Astrabad, at the S. E. corner of the Caspian. The north and north-extensive hollow, covered with woods and with eastern banks of the Caspian are the seats of the chief fisheries of the empire. On the north-west of R. are the Baltic Sea, with the gulfs of Riga, Finland, and Bothnia; and in these waters, the islands of Aland, Oesel, and Dago belong to the empire. The freezing of the water near the shores of the Baltic renders the navigation of this sea impracticable during five months of the year, although a few ports are accessible throughout the whole year. Possessing means of easy communication with the most fertile governments of the interior, and sustaining chiefly the commerce of the Russian empire with the other parts of Europe and with America, the Baltic is of the highest commercial importance.

tract the woods disappear, and vast marshes, frozen
the greater part of the year, cover the country. The
middle zone reaches south-west to the government of
Volhynia and the south of Poland, and north-east to
the Ural Mountains. In the west, it consists of an
marshes, the chief of which are those of Pinsk (q. v.).
In the middle part of this zone, the soil is partly heavy
and covered with mould; and towards the north,
sandy. Beyond the Oka, luxuriant meadows abound;
and on the east, beyond the Volga, this tract forms an
extensive valley, covered with a thick layer of mould,
abounding in woods, and rising into hills in the vicin-
ity of the Ural range. The southern zone consists of
steppes extending along the shores of the Black and
Caspian Seas. The steppes of the Black Sea have
mostly a mouldy soil, covered with grass; but in the
south-east, shifting sands and salt marshes predomi
nate. The steppes of the Caspian consist of sand,
salt marshes, and salt lakes-the Elton lake, yielding
nearly 4,000,000 poods (about 1,290,000 hundred-
weight) of salt annually, being the most remarkable.
Constitution and Administration.
The govern-

Surface, Hydrography, and Soil.-European Russia consists of a vast plain bordered with mountains. | On the east are the Ural Mountains (q. v.), forming a broad range of no great elevation, ending on the north ment is an unlimited monarchy, the head of which is on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and on the south in the emperor, who unites in himself every authority a range of elevated plains on the left bank of the Volga. and power-that is to say, is the head of the military, On the south-east of the great plain is the lofty range the legislative, and the judicial system, and is also of the Caucasus (q. v.), crossed by the Pass of Der- the ecclesiastical chief of the orthodox Greek Church. bend and the so-called Military Georgian Road. The The order of succession is by primogeniture, herediCrimean Mountains, a continuation of the Caucasian tary in heirs male, and in females in default of males. chain, rise to 5000 feet in their highest summit. The Every military or civil officer of the crown is required districts in the south-west of R., between the Vistula to take an oath of allegiance. The expenses of the and the Pruth, are covered by hilly ranges from the imperial palace amount to about $5,325,000 annuCarpathian Mountains (q. v.), which in Poland are ally; the crown appanages, constituting the private known as the Sandomir Mountains. The Finland property of the imperial family, yield an annual reveMountains, on the north-west, are ranges of granite nue of $2,766,000. The administration of the empire rocks, embracing numerous lakes, and not rising higher is entrusted to four great boards or councils. The than 600 feet. The Alaunsky table-land, which con- first is the Council of the Empire, consisting of a nects itself with the Ural Mountains by a chain of hills president and an unlimited number of members apin latitude about 62° N., is the key to the configura- pointed by the emperor. In July, 1869, this council tion of European Russia. From this table-land, with consisted of 42 members, exclusive of the ministers, an elevation of about 1200 feet, the country, with who have a seat ex officio, and of the princes of the gradually declining slopes, falls away in four direc- | imperial house. The council is divided into three detions-north to the Arctic Ocean, north-west to the partments-namely, Legislative, Civil Administration, Baltic, south to the Black, and south-east to the Cas- and Finance. The council stands in direct communipian Seas. The sloping country on the north of the cation with the 'Private Cabinet of the Emperor.' Alaunsky heights is called, from its eastern and west- The second college, or board of government, is the ern limits, the Ural-Baltic table-land; that on the Directing Senate, which is the High Court of Justice south of the same dividing heights is called, for the of the empire. The third college is the Holy Synod, same reason, the Ural-Carpathian table-land. The to which is committed the superintendence of the reAlaunsky heights form the great water-shed, and reg-ligious affairs of the empire. The fourth board is ulate the course of all the great rivers in Russian the Council of Ministers, and is divided into eleven Europe. To the north, they throw off the Petchora, departments, viz.: 1. Imperial House; 2. Foreign the Northern Dwina, and the Onega; to the south, Affairs; 3. War; 4. Navy; 5. Interior; 6. Public the Dniester, Bug, Dnieper, Don, and Kouban; to Instruction; 7. Finance; 8. Justice; 9. Imperial the south-east, the Volga, with its great affluents the Domains; 10. Public Works; 11. General Control. Oka and Kama. The Western Dwina, the Niemen, The ministers communicate directly with the 'Private and the Vistula fall into the Baltic Sea. The im- Cabinet of the Emperor,' in which body centres the portant rivers of R. receive separate notice under their whole executive authority of the empire. The empire own names. At the foot of the north-west slope is divided into general governments or vice-royalties, from the central terrace is the lake-country of Euro- governments, and districts. In 1870 there were 14 pean Russia, and the great lakes (which are noticed of the first, 51 of the second, and above 320 of the separately) are Ladoga, Onega, Ilmen, Peipus, and last, and several extensive districts not organised into Pskov. The plain of European Russia naturally divides governments, but called provinces or oblasts. At the itself into three tracts or zones, each of which differs head of each general government is a viceroy or genefrom the others in the nature and quality of its soil. ral-governor, the representative of the emperor, who The northern zone extends between the Arctic Ocean has supreme control of all affairs, civil and military. and the Ural-Baltic table-land, the middle zone be- The government of the parish and part of the local tween the Ural-Baltic and the Ural-Carpathian table- administration are entrusted to the people. land, and the southern zone between the Ural-Carpathian table-land and the Black and Caspian Seas. The soil of the northern zone is marshy, and the climate inclement. In its middle part, between the rivers Onega and Mezen, and especially along the banks of the Northern Dwina, forests of fir-wood and large tracts of fodder-grass occur. Toward the east of this

The grand duchy of Finland preserves its ancient constitution (1772-89), which provides for a national parliament of four estates, nobles, clergy, burghers, and peasants. The right of legislation and general taxation is nominally in the hands of the assembly, but really in the senate appointed by the Emperor Grand Duke. Poland, which had a separate government from