operations; (c) to give the local office of the Exchequer or its manager any supplementary information that may be required and any explanations that may be necessary for the auditing of the returns, being responsible for non-observance of the requirements of this (7) article under Articles 104 and 164 of the Imperial Industrial Tax Law; and (d) in the cases mentioned in Article 110 of the aforesaid law, to submit to the demands of the local Exchequer office in regard to the examination and verification, with the object of ascertaining the net profit, of books and documents, as well as the premises of the Company.

8. The time and place of the general meetings are to be announced in the publications mentioned in Article 5 at least a month before the date of the meeting, and such announcements are to contain an explanation of the subjects to be discussed, and the name and address of the bank in Russia where the shares of the Company must be presented in order to obtain the right of taking part in the general meeting.

9. Any disputes that may arise between the Company and Government institutions or private persons, in regard to the operations of the Company in the empire, are to be settled according to the laws in force in Russia by a Russian court

of law.

10. The operations of the Company in Russia are exclusively restricted to the objects mentioned in Article 1 of these conditions, and for the amalgamation or union with other similar companies or undertakings, as well as for any alteration or supplementing of the statutes (in particular, the increase or decrease of capital and the issue of debentures), the Company is first obliged to obtain the sanction of the Ministry of Finance, of Agriculture and State Domains in Russia; in case of liquidation the Company must inform the same ministries.

11. In regard to the cessation of its operations in Russia, the Company is obliged to submit to the laws and Government regulations now in force or which may hereafter be enacted.1

1 Cf. Beveridge, "Advance of Russia," pp. 483-6.

APPENDIX 5

THE RUSSIAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY

"Times," December 14th, 1903

A SECRET Congress of the Russian Social Democratic party was held recently and attended by more than fifty delegates sent by the secret local committees established in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kieff, Odessa, Kharkoff, Ekaterinoslaff, Rostoff, the Caucasus, and other parts of Russia, as well as by the Jewish Social Democratic Labour League and the various committees of the Russian Social Democratic party working outside Russia. The chief business of the congress was the election of a central executive committee with wide powers for directing the Social Democratic movement throughout Russia as a whole. Hitherto no such central authority has existed, and the separate local committees have worked practically independently of one another. The congress also adopted a party programme and confirmed the journal Iskra, which has appeared regularly since December 1900, in its position as the official organ of the party.

The programme, after stating the principles of Social Democracy as taught by Marx, declares that the immediate political objects of the party are the abolition of autocracy and the establishment of a democratic republic in its place, whose constitution shall ensure the sovereignty of a Parliament elected by universal adult suffrage; the institution of local self-government; the inviolability of person and domicile; the perfect freedom of religion, of the press, of meeting, and of workmen to combine; the abolition of the passport system; the removal of all restrictions on trade; the abolition of the ranks or castes (instituted by Peter the Great); the establishment of equal rights for all citizens, whatever may be their sex, religion, race, or nationality; the use in the schools of the mother tongue of the pupils and the permission to use the local dialects in all State institutions; the right of non-Russian nationalities to sever their political connection with Russia if they so wish; the right of every citizen to prosecute any official in the ordinary courts of law; the disestablishment of the Orthodox Church; the institution of secular and free education; the abolition of all indirect taxation and the introduction of a graduated income-tax and succession duties; the

substitution of the militia system for obligatory military service, and so forth.

For the special protection of the working-classes the party demands the eight-hours' day; the prohibition of overtime and of the employment of children under sixteen years of age; compensation to workmen for injuries; old age pensions; effective factory inspection, etc. For the peasants the party demands the abolition of all survivals of the state of serfdom, for which purpose committees of peasants should be appointed, the institution of land courts, etc.

The party pledges itself to support the middle-class movement in favour of constitutional reform as long as it has a democratic character and does not include a demand for special middle-class privileges. On the other hand, the party rejects the methods of terrorism, not, it may be remarked, on any moral grounds, but as calculated to disorganise the Social Democratic movement by inspiring the working masses with an expectant faith in the miraculous effects of isolated individual action.

APPENDIX 6

TREATY BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, SWEDEN
AND NORWAY

Signed at Stockholm, November 17th, 1855

HER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, His Majesty the Emperor of the French, and His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, being anxious to avert any complication which might disturb the existing balance of power in Europe, have resolved to come to an understanding with a view to secure the integrity of the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and have named Plenipotentiaries to conclude a Treaty for that purpose.

Article I. His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway engages not to cede to nor to exchange with Russia nor to permit her to occupy any part of the territories belonging to the Crowns of Sweden and Norway. His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway engages, further, not to cede to Russia any right of pasturage, of fishery, or of any other nature whatsoever,

either on the said territories or upon the coasts of Sweden and Norway, and to resist any pretension which may be put forward by Russia with a view to establish the existence of any of the rights aforesaid.

Article II. In case Russia should make to His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway any proposal or demand having for its object to obtain either the cession or the exchange of any part whatsoever of the territories belonging to the Crowns of Sweden and Norway, or the power of occupying certain points of the said territories, or the cession of rights of fishery, of pasturage, or of any other right upon the said territories and upon the coasts of Sweden and Norway, His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway engages forthwith to communicate such proposal or demand to Her Britannic Majesty and His Majesty the Emperor of the French; and their said Majesties, on their part, engage to furnish to His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway sufficient naval and military forces to co-operate with the naval and military forces of His said Majesty, for the purpose of resisting the pretensions or aggressions of Russia. The description, number, and destination of such forces shall, if occasion should arise, be determined by common agreement between the three Powers.

APPENDIX 7

BUDGET FOR 1904

THE Report upon the Budget for 1904 was presented by the Assistant Minister of Finance, M. de Pleske, the Minister, being absent through ill-health. Both receipts and expenditure show a considerable increase upon the previous year, in the case of the receipts of 83,000,000 roubles, and in that of ordinary expenditure of 86,000,000 roubles. The estimated increase in the receipts is due chiefly to the increases expected in the returns from the State railways (34,700,000 roubles), and the spirit monopoly (25,500,000 roubles). An increase of over 12,000,000 roubles is also expected from the customs duties.

The Report gives a favourable account of financial and economic conditions during 1903, due chiefly to a second good harvest as shown in the following table:

PRODUCTIONS (GROSS) OF CEREALS (INCLUDING PULSE).

The course of foreign trade was still more favourable than it had been in 1902, and showed a great advance upon former years. This is shown in the following table :

Some improvement is also mentioned in the trades which have suffered from depression during the past four years, particularly in the coal and metal trades. Moreover, the stock of gold in the country was considerably augmented during 1903. At the end of 1902 the gold in the Bank of Russia and the Treasury amounted to 927,500,000 roubles, and that in circulation to 737,300,000 roubles, whilst at the end of 1903 the stocks of gold in the Bank and the Treasury amounted to 1,058,500,000, and the gold in circulation to 787,000,000.

On the other hand it must be noticed that the estimated expenditure has increased more rapidly than the estimated revenue, so that over 195,000,000 roubles have to be taken from the inexhaustible "free balance" of the Treasury for 1904, as compared with over 172,000,000 roubles in 1903.

The points upon which special attention is directed in the Report are the measures taken for the extension and improvement of the roads in Russia, at the express desire of the Tsar; the freeing of the peasants from the corporate responsibility of the village community for taxes, as announced in the Tsar's Manifesto; and the new law for regulating employers' liability and compensation for accidents.