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Having an unalterable faith in the mercy of God and in the intelligence of the Russian people, we shall expect from the new Douma of the Empire the realization of our projects and laws in conformity with the needs of renovated Russia.

Faithful sons of Russia! The Czar addresses you, as a father to his children, to induce you to unite with him for the work of the rejuvenation of our holy country.

We believe there can be found men of thought and action, and that their labors, full of abnegation, will restore the glory of Russia!

Given at Peterhof the 9th of July of the year of grace 1906, and the twelfth of our reign.

NICOLAS.

No. 728.]

Ambassador Meyer to the Secretary of State.

AMERICAN EMBASSY,

St. Petersburg, December 24, 1906.

SIR: I beg leave to report that an imperial ukase published December 22, in St. Petersburg, fixes the date of the elections for the Douma for February 19.

The fact that, with the exception of the 75 deputies from the Caucasus and Siberia, the elections of the remaining 449 members are to be held simultaneously has created great satisfaction.

A translation of the ukase will be found on overleaf.

I have, etc.,

[Inclosure. Translation.]

G. v. L. MEYER.

[Official Messenger, December 9/22, 1906.]

IMPERIAL UKASE.

Having recognized the necessity of fixing the date for the election of the new members of the Douma of the Empire in those parts of the Empire where at present the work of establishing and publishing the lists of electors has been ended, we, basing ourselves on article 128 of the election regulations of the Douma of the Empire (Collection of Laws, Vol. I, Pt. II, edition 1906), and in conformity with the special journal on the subject presented to us by the council of ministers, order: That the election of members to the Douma of the Empire, in the provincial election meetings of these governments which are conducted on the basis of provincial institutions (Collection of Laws, Vol. II, edition 1892) in the region of the Don and in the provinces of the Kingdom of Poland, is to take place on February 6, 1907.

The ruling Senate to issue in this respect the proper instructions.

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No. 638.]

Chargé Eddy to the Secretary of State.

AMERICAN EMBASSY, St. Petersburg, August 29, 1906. SIR: I have the honor to confirm herewith my cablegram of yesterday," and inclose herewith the text, in French, of the order in question.

I have, etc.,

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The Messager Officiel publishes the following official communication: "His Majesty the Emperor, with the purpose of increasing the real estate of the peasants, ordered, on the 12th of August instant:

"I. The sale through the Peasants' Real Estate Bank (a) of the leased crown lands not belonging to forest lots as fast as the leases expire; (b) of forest tracts surrounded by private lands; and (c) in the provinces of Arkhangelsk and of Vologda, of the forest tracts whose sale to the peasants shall be deemed practicable.

"II. Are excluded from the crown lands to be sold by the Peasants' Real Estate Bank (a) the lots occupied by manufactories, industrial establishments, or mining installations; (b) the crown lots occupied as country residences and other expensive constructions, by gardens, nurseries, or representing made ground not conforming to the ordinary conditions of rural economy and (c) crown lands in Crimea, in Transcaucasus, and in the forest of Bielovjsk.

"III. The allotment among the peasants of the lands transferred to the Peasants' Real Estate Bank, as well as the appraisement of each land lot, shall be made by the real estate organization commission created by the imperial ukase of March 4, with the participation of the Peasants.

"IV. The duty of drafting projects for the system to be followed in the transfer of the crown lands to the Peasants' Bank in settling the accounts of the bank with the land office for the transferred lands, and in establishing the conditions under which these lands shall be sold to the peasants, in order that these conditions correspond with the means of the Peasants' Bank, shall be intrusted to the minister of the court, who will consult the ministers of the interior and of finance, and with the director-general of land organization and of agriculture, provided that such said projects shall be submitted in the near future to the high appreciation of His Majesty the Emperor."

No. 687.]

Ambassador Meyer to the Secretary of State.

AMERICAN EMBASSY,

St. Petersburg, November 10, 1906. SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith a translation of the ukase of October 5/18 granting new privileges to the peasants and modifying their relations to their village communes.

The preamble states that the great reform law of 1861 was supplemented by the manifesto of October 17/30, 1905, with a view to giving the peasants gradually increasing share in legislation. In continuance of this policy it is stated that the local administrative authority needs radical revision, for in spite of the reforms made by the organi

a Supra.

zation of the Duma peasants and certain others have not yet received all the privileges corresponding to the spirit of the manifesto in question. The text of the new ukase is given in full in the inclosure, except for the preamble, which has just been outlined.

I have, etc.,

G. v. L. MEYER.

[Inclosure.]

PEASANT LAW; UKASE OF OCTOBER 5/18, 1906.

[Translated from the Petersburger Zeitung, 8/21 Octotber, 1906.]

The Czar orders, on the basis of the fundamental law of 1906, that the following reforms be made:

1. To accord all Russian subjects, without distinction of origin, with exception of the aborigines, equal rights with regard to the state service with persons of noble blood, and at the same time to abolish all special privileges of dress due either to official position or to the origin of the wearer.

2. Peasants and members of other classes formerly taxable are freed (a) from the presentation of discharge papers on entering an educational institution or the civil service; further, from personal payment in kind and the performance of communal duties during the whole time the persons in question may be either in the educational institution or civil service; (b) from the necessity of demanding for entry into holy orders or a monastery the permission of the commune. 3. The compulsory exclusion of peasant and other classes formerly taxable from the following ranks and careers is abolished: (a) From entering the civil service; (b) from receiving rank; (c) from receiving orders and other distinctions; (d) from attaining learned grades and honors; (e) from completing educational courses and particularly from winning higher class rights.

In all these cases the persons in question are allowed to retain all the rights arising from their connections with their commune, as well as the responsibilities thereof, until they have freely withdrawn from the commune or entered into other corporations of standing. With regard to the legal standing of the persons in question, there shall serve as a basis the regulations of the rank or profession which these persons have won.

4. Every peasant member of a village commune is allowed (a) to enter another commune without compulsory permission; and he retains until his voluntary withdrawal from the old community all its rights and naturally is responsible at the same time for all its obligations and burdens; (b) after renunciation of his shares in the profits of his communal land or his alienation of his portion of said land, the said peasant can withdraw unhindered from the commune, without regard for the peasant law, article 208, and article 165 of the law about the Baschkirs, on paying a certain compulsory subscription to the volost, and without the previous consent of the Volost assembly, except in the case when the peasant in question has attained membership in another commune, is in the state service, or has gained other class rights.

5. Peasants and members of other classes, formerly taxable, are allowed choice of domicile on the basis of the decisions provided for in the passport regulations, and have as permanent domicile not the place of registration but the place where they are employed, possess land, or are householders. Such persons, with the exception of those mentioned in the passport regulations in article 47, are to be given residence certificate permits, both by the guilds at their place of residence, and by the police administration in their domicile and in the residence of the pristaff. Finally the restrictive regulations with regard to the passports of the members of formerly taxable classes as provided for in the passport regulations are abolished.

6. From the 1st of January, 1907, the following are to be abolished: (a) The poll tax levied on peasants in certain parts of the Empire; (b) the general responsibility for the payment of the state and land tax as well as the commune tax in those parts of the country where the law of March 12, 1903, with regard to the abolishment of the tax responsibility has not yet extended: (c) the necessity for tardy taxpayers to work off their taxes, as well as the

naming the guardians or trustees for the collection of sundry taxes and liabilities due.

7. The following are repealed: (a), (b), (c) Certain fines incurred by peasants tried in the volost courts, etc., viz: (a) The special regulations re punishments for peasants and others tried before the volost courts for evading judgments of these courts which have not based the penalties inflicted on the list of penalties drawn for the justices of the peace; (b) the regulations permitting the forcible retention from the public service of persons of the taxable classes, as a means of special punishment, or in case of inability of the persons in question legally condemned to pay the fines inflicted; (c) the special measure of prosecution provided for the existing law in the volosts of the Baltic Provinces, that the injured person demand apology from the offender in any case, so that the guilt of the latter may be evident; otherwise the offender to be held for seven days' hard labor.

8. The following special regulations are annulled: (a) With regard to the method of dividing family lands among the members of a family; (b) the prohibition with regard to the right of peasants possessing no immovable property to incur "Wechselverbindlichkeiten;" (c) the existing prohibition with regard to former peasants cutting wood and setting up sawmills in mountain districts. 9. The right is to be given to all peasants belonging to a village commune, who possess the necessary census qualification, regardless of their possessing communal land, to take part in the second country electoral assembly (zemstvo?) without regard to their right to take part in the choice of delegates of the village community to the Zemstvo.

10. The rule by which governors have to confirm the delegates of the village communities to the zemstvo from among the number of candidates proposed by the volost assemblies is abolished and it is left to the elected candidates to make the final election of delegates from their own midst and to settle the succession of the delegates. For this purpose the following rules are made: (a) The delegates to the volost assembly are called together in a certain place by the district marshal of nobility, and on the order of business being announced to them by him they are to proceed to the election of the proper number of delegates from their own midst, in their due order; (b) after the opening of the assembly by the district marshal of nobility, or his deputy, the order of business is explained by him, and one of those present being elected chairman, the former resigns the chair to the chairman so chosen; (c) the election shall be conducted according to the rules of electing deputies to the zemstvos.

11. Articles 57 and 444 of the regulations with regard to the peasant's courts, by which persons subject to the authority of the parish, village, or "Fremvolkerverwaltung can be brought up for administrative punishment or fine on the action of the Zemski Natchalnik without formal judicial procedure, are abolished.

12. It is ordered that the district authorities can only annul decisions of the communal assemblies on the representation of the Zemski Natchalnik, when they infringe on an existing law or when complaints are made against them by members of the commune or those inscribed as members thereof. The acting Senate will not fail to take measures for the execution of the above order.

PETERHOF, 5 October, 1906.

NICOLAS.

No. 719.]

Ambassador Meyer to the Secretary of State.

AMERICAN EMBASSY,

St. Petersburg, December 15, 1906.

SIR: I have the honor to report that an Imperial ukase, dated November 22, has lately been published, granting peasants the right to withdraw from the communal land system and become personal owners of the land they cultivate.

A translation of this ukase is attached hereto.

I have, etc.,

G. v. L. MEYER.

[Inclosure 1. --'
-Translation.]

IMPERIAL UKASE TO THE RULING SENATE.

By our ukase of November 16, 1905, the collection of redemption payments for endowment lands (land granted to free peasants by their former masters) was abolished on January 1/14, 1907. From that date the said lands are relieved of the limitations placed upon them by virtue of the redemption debt and the peasants secure the right of freely withdrawing from the commune, while the right of possession of communal lands which become individual property is strengthened.

However, the actual realization of this legally recognized right in the majority of peasant communities encounters practical difficulties, owing to the impossibility of fixing the extent and making the divisions of the sections to be allotted to the house owners withdrawing from the communes.

On the other hand, the law does not establish the order of executing settlements in connection with expropriation of sections of endowment land in individual ownership whose owners do not possess individual title deeds.

Recognizing, in consequence of this, the necessity of immediately removing the present obstacles to the actual realization by the peasants of their rights to the endowment lands and approving the special report of the council of ministers drawn up in this relation, we, on the basis of section 87 of the fundamental laws of the Empire, edition of 1906, do ordain:

I. In supplement to section 12 of the general ruling with regard to peasants and the remarks in the same (Collection of Laws, special addition to Vol. IX, edition 1902), to establish the following regulations:

1. Every house owner, possessing endowment land under communal rights, can at any time demand that those sections of said lands which belong to him be formally made his individual property.

2. In those communities in which no common partitions were made for twentyfour years preceding the declaration of individual house owners of the desire to change from communal ownership to personal, each of such house owners becomes the individual possessor of all the sections of communal lands which are constantly worked by him (not rented), besides his farm section.

3. In those communities in which, during four years preceding the declaration of individual house owners of their desire to change from communal ownership to personal, there have been common partitions, each of such house owners becomes the individual proprietor, in addition to his farm section, of all those sections of communal lands which are allotted to him by the commune for constant use up to the time of a fresh general partition.

But if a house owner desiring to secure the right of individual possession has been assigned for constant use more land than would fall to his share on the basis of the last distribution, according to the number of distributory units in his family at the time of the said declaration, he becomes the individual proprietor of that quantity of communal land which is due according to the calculation indicated. The land thus left over becomes his personal property only on condition that he pay the commune its value, fixed on the basis of the original average redemption price per dessiatine of the lands granted the commune for partition and subject to redemption payments. In the contrary case all the said left-over land remains at the disposal of the community.

4. House owners who have become individual proprietors of sections of communal lands at his disposal for constant use (secs. 1-3), retain the right of use to the same extent of those arable, wooded, and other lands which are redistributed on a special basis (for example, according to its products, or separately from the lands divided under general partition and on other bases, etc.), and also the right to participate in the use of the undistributed lands, on the bases adopted in the commune, such as “mir," farm lands, pastures, tenant lands, etc.

5. The constant share in lands divided on special bases (sec. 4) is fixed in accordance with the extent to which each house owner who declares his wish to change from communal to personal ownership enjoys the use of the said lands at the time such declaration is made.

6. Demands for transfer of communal lands to personal ownership (sec. 1) are to be presented to the commune through the village elder, and the commune is obliged, under a decision made by a simple majority of votes, within a month from the date of the declaration, to indicate the sections which, on the basis of sections 2 and 3, become the property of house owners who adopt individual

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