tration, which was forced
upon them without their consent, was utterly unsuited to their nature.
If a young growing boy be compelled to wear very tight boots, he will
probably burst them, and the ugly rents will doubtless produce an
unfavourable impression on the passers-by; but surely it is better that
the boots should burst than that the feet should be deformed. Now, the
Russian people was compelled to put on not only tight boots, but also
a tight jacket, and, being young and vigorous, it burst them.
Narrow-minded, pedantic Germans can neither understand nor provide for
the wants of the broad Slavonic nature."

In its present form the Russian administration seems at first sight a
very imposing edifice. At the top of the pyramid stands the Emperor,
"the autocratic monarch," as Peter the Great described him, "who has
to give an account of his acts to no one on earth, but has power
and authority to rule his States and lands as a Christian sovereign
according to his own will and judgment." Immediately below the Emperor
we see the Council of State, the Committee of Ministers, and the Senate,
which represent respectively the legislative, the administrative, and
the judicial power. An Englishman glancing over the first volume of the
great Code of Laws might imagine that the Council of State is a kind of
Parliament, and the Committee of Ministers a cabinet in our sense of the
term, but in reality both institutions are simply incarnations of the
Autocratic Power. Though the Council is entrusted by law with many
important functions--such as discussing Bills, criticising the annual
budget, declaring war and concluding peace--it has merely a consultative
character, and the Emperor is not in any way bound by its decisions.
The Committee is not at all a cabinet as we understand the word. The
Ministers are directly and individually responsible to the Emperor, and
therefore the Committee has no common responsibility or other cohesive
force. As to the Senate, it has descended from its high estate. It
was originally entrusted with the supreme power during the absence or
minority of the monarch, and was intended to exercise a controlling
influence in all sections of the administration, but now its activity
is restricted to judicial matters, and it is little more than a supreme
court of appeal.

Immediately below these three institutions stand the Ministries, ten in
number. They are the central points in which converge the various kinds