n, this
ideal was abandoned, and gave way to a totally different one, which
found its most acute expression in February, 1899, when the Czar, a
year after the issue of his invitations to the first Peace Conference
at The Hague, suppressed by an Imperial manifesto the constitutional
right of Finland. The arbitrary and corrupt Russian bureaucratic regime
little by little forced its way into the country, while Finlanders
watched with bitter resentment the suppression, one by one, of their
most cherished national institutions.

This manifesto was condemned in many European countries at the time,
and a protest against it was signed by over a thousand prominent
publicists and constitutional lawyers, who presented an international
address to the Czar begging him to restore the rights of the Grand
Duchy.

In 1905, however, it seemed at last that a new era was about to dawn.
The change was brought about by the domestic crisis through which
Russia herself was then passing. An Imperial manifesto promulgated in
October, containing the principles of a constitutional form of
government in Russia, was followed as an inevitable sequel by the
manifesto of November 4th, which practically restored to Finland its
full political rights. In 1906, a new Law of the Diet was enacted.
Instead of triennial sessions of the Estates, annual sessions of the
Diet were introduced, while an extension of the franchise to every
citizen over twenty-four years of age without distinction of sex gave
to women active electoral rights. Moreover, the door was opened to new
and far-reaching reforms, the fulfilment of which infused fresh life
into the democratic spirit of Finnish national institutions. While,
however, so much was done to improve the political, social, and
economic condition of the country, the promises which were then made
have not been fulfilled. The principal reason for this failure to
redeem their pledges lies in a change of attitude among Russian
officials and their interference in Finnish affairs. It is by
consideration of this change and of its effect upon Finland that we may
best judge how much truth there is in M. Stolypin's claim that in
Russia "might can not dominate right."

Ominous signs of a reversal of policy had appeared before, but the
first official expression to it was given in the speech of M. Stolypin
already referred to. In this speech he claimed for Russia as the
sovereign power the right of control over Finnish administr