is really the high
court of justice for the Empire. It is divided into six departments,
or sections.

The Holy Synod, founded by Peter I. in 1728, has charge of the
religious affairs of the Empire. Its members are the Metropolitans
of St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kief, the archbishop of Georgia and
several bishops who sit in turn. The President is Antonious, the
Metropolitan of St. Petersburg. The Emperor has to approve of all
the decisions of the Holy Synod.

European Russia consists of Russia Proper (50 Provinces), Poland
(10 Provinces), and Finland (Grand Duchy). The population in 1897
was respectively, 93,467,736; 9,401,097; and 2,527,801. Asiatic
Russia consists of Caucasia (11 Provinces; population 9,291,000);
Siberia (8 Provinces and Regions; population 5,726,719); and Central
Asia (10 Provinces and Regions; population 7,740,394). Russian
subjects in Khiva and Bokhara number 6,412. Of the total population
128,161,249, 64,616,280 were men and 64,594,883, women. In European
Russia the annual increase of population is at the rate of nearly
a million and a half. The chief cities of European Russia are St.
Petersburg (1,267,023); Moscow (988,614); Warsaw (638,208); Odessa
(405,041); Lodz (315,209); Riga (256,197); Kief (247,432); Kharkoff
(174,846); Tiflis (160,645); Vilna (159,568); Tashkend (156,414);
Saratov (137,109); Kasan (131,508); Ekaterinoslav (121,216);
Rostov-on-the-Don (119,889); Astrakhan (113,001); Baku (112,253);
Tula (111,048), and Kishineff(108,796). The population of Novgorod,
Samara, Minsk and Nikolaieff is between 95,000 and 90,000. Tiflis
and Baku in the Caucasus have respective populations of 160,000
and 112,000. The largest towns in the Trans-Caspia are Askhabad
(19,500) and Merv (8,750), and those of Turkestan are Tashkend,
Namangan Samarkand and Andijan. There are about 50,000 in each
of the Siberian towns of Tomsk, Irkutsk and Ekaterinburg.

[Illustration: THE TSARINA.]

There has been no census since 1897, but in 1900 the population of
St. Petersburg was 1,439,739; Moscow, 1,035,664; and Riga, 282,943.
The mortality in the towns is so great that the deaths exceed the
births. Emigration is on the increase, and, of late years, the
Russians, particularly the Jews, flock to the United States, chiefly
through Hamburg, Luebeck and Bremen. In 1900, 49,580 emigrated to
the United States; 1,253 to Argentina; and numbers to Canada and
Brazil. Emigration to Siberia varies from year to year, but is