these sixty delegates, meeting
without discussion, vote by ballot, and a bare majority carries the day.
Measures are then referred to the Grand Duke, who, after consulting the
Senate, gives or witholds his assent[236].

[Footnote 235: A law of the autumn of 1902 altered this. It delegated
the administration to the Governor-General, _assisted by_ the Senate.]

[Footnote 236: For the constitution of Finland and its relation to
Russia, see _A Precis of the Public Law of Finland_, by L. Mechelin,
translated by C.J. Cooke (1889); _Pour la Finlande_, par Jean Deck;
_Pour la Finlande, La Constitution du Grand Duche de Finlande_ (Paris,
1900). J.R. Danielsson, _Finland's Union with the Russian Empire_
(Borga, 1891).]

A very important clause of the law of 1869 declares that "Fundamental
laws can be made, altered, explained, or repealed, only on the
representation of the Emperor and Grand Duke, and with the consent of
all the Estates." This clause sharply marked off Finland from Russia,
where the power of the Czar is theoretically unlimited. New taxes may
not be imposed nor old taxes altered without the consent of the Finnish
Diet; but, strange to say, the customs dues are fixed by the Government
(that is, by the Grand Duke and the Senate) without the co-operation of
the Diet. Despite the archaic form of its representation, the Finnish
constitution (an offshoot of that of Sweden) has worked extremely well;
and in regard to civil freedom and religious toleration, the Finns take
their place among the most progressive communities of the world.
Moreover, the constitution is no recent and artificial creation; it
represents customs and beliefs that are deeply ingrained in a people
who, like their Magyar kinsmen, cling firmly to the old, even while they
hopefully confront the facts of the present. There was every ground for
hope. Between the years 1812 and 1886 the population grew from 900,000
to 2,300,000, and the revenue from less than 7,000,000 marks (a Finnish
mark = about ten pence) to 40,000,000 marks.

Possibly this prosperity prompted in the Russian bureaucracy the desire
to bring the Grand Duchy closely into line with the rest of the Empire.
On grounds other than constitutional, the bureaucrats had a case. They
argued that while the revenue of Finland was increasing faster than that
of Russia Proper, yet the Grand Duchy bore no share of the added
military burdens. It voted only 17 per cent of its revenue for military
defen