implanted by a sense of justice upon a
limited intelligence. It had been hammered into his head that the
Little Father at St. Petersburg was conferring a favor upon him, and
this was within his limited conception; but when he heard what the
favor was, the only solution which his cunning brain could devise was
that the nobles had cheated the czar, or that there had been some
juggling with the ukase. Thus grave disturbances occurred. In one
district, that of Kazan, 10,000 men rose at the call of the moujik
Petrof, who promised them the real article of liberty. Troops were
called out and a hundred peasants besides Petrof were shot. (p. 225)
Similar disturbances occurred in other provinces. The poor moujik did
not know that he was saddled with a debt which neither he nor his
children could hope to pay; but he did know that he was charged with a
debt which he had not incurred.

Nevertheless, the emancipation was a step forward. Under the liberal
impulse then rushing irresistibly over Russia's broad level the upper
classes clamored for reforms. They asked for the re-establishment of
the douma as the beginning of a constitutional government, but the
czar was not prepared to grant this, and he was right because
under existing circumstances the peasants would have to be
disfranchized,--and there is small choice between an autocracy and an
oligarchy.

It is to be regretted that the reforms in the judicial system,
introduced by Alexander in the ukases of 1862 to 1865, have since been
rescinded. Secret examinations were displaced by open sessions of the
courts, and criminal cases were decided by juries; the police was
forbidden to examine the accused, which duty was placed into the hands
of a qualified judge. Appeals could be taken to a higher court, and
the Senate acted as a Supreme Court in the last resort. Apart from
this system was the justice of the peace who adjudged ordinary police
cases, acted as an arbitrator, and decided civil suits when the amount
involved did not exceed 500 rubles ($250). No appeal could be taken in
cases involving less than thirty rubles in civil suits, or fifteen
rubles or three days' prison in police offenses. If an appeal was
taken the case was brought, not before a higher court, but before the
collective justices of the peace of the district, whose verdict (p. 226)
could be set aside only by the Senate.

The Russian _goubernii_, governments, were divided into districts
(_ouiezdi_). T