ivisible part of our
state, was continued during the reign of his august successor, the
Emperor Alexander III., and led to the question of determining the
order of issue of general imperial laws. The rules drafted for this
purpose in 1893 formed the contents of the manifesto of 1899. Thus we
see that during six years they remained without application, there
being no practical necessity for their publication. When, however, this
necessity arose, owing to the lapse of the former military law, the
manifesto was issued. It was, therefore, the finishing touch to the
labor of many years at the determination of the manner in which the
principle of a united empire was to find expression within the limits
of Finland, and remained substantially true to the traditions which for
a century had reigned in the relations between Russia and Finland. It
presented a combination of the principle of autocracy with that of
local self-government without any serious limitations of the rights of
the latter. Moreover, while preserving the historical principle of
Russian empire-building, this law determined the form of the expression
of the autocratic power within the limits of the Grand Duchy in a
manner so much in accord with the conditions of life in Finland that it
did not touch the organization of a single one of the national local
institutions of the duchy.

This law, in its application to the new conscription regulations, has
alleviated the condition of the population of Finland. The military
burden laid on the population of the land has been decreased from 2,000
men to 500 per annum, and latterly to 280. As you will see, there is in
reality no opposition between the will of the Emperor of Russia as
announced to Finland in 1899 and his generous initiative at The Hague
Conference. But, you ask me, has not this confirmation of the ancient
principles of Russian state policy in Finland been bought at too dear a
price? I shall try to answer you. The hostility of public opinion
toward us in the West in connection with Finnish matters is much to be
regretted, but hopes may be entertained that under the influence of
better information on Finnish affairs this hostility may lose its
present bitterness. We are accustomed, moreover, to see that the West,
while welcoming the progressive development of Russia along the old
lines it, Europe, has followed itself, is not always as amicably
disposed toward the growth of the political and social
self-consci