34. Every Russian subject shall have the right to select his place of abode and his occupation, to buy and sell property, and to depart from the territory of the Empire without molestation; limitations upon these rights are established by law.

35. Property is inviolable. The forced taking of real property, when such is necessary for governmental or public interests, shall take place only for an equitable and adequate compensation.

36. Russian subjects shall have the right to assemble peacefully and without arms, for purposes allowed by the law. The law determines the conditions under which meetings may be held, the manner of closing them, and likewise the limitation as to the localities where they may take place.

37. Every one shall have the right, within the limits prescribed by law, to express his thoughts orally or in writing, and also to disseminate them through the press or by other means.

38. Russian subjects shall have the right to form societies and associations for purposes which are not forbidden by law. . .

39. The Russian subjects shall enjoy liberty of conscience. The conditions under which this liberty is enjoyed shall be determined by law. 40. All foreigners residing in Russia shall enjoy the same rights as Russian subjects, within certain limitations established by law.

41. Exceptions from the provisions of this chapter, with regard to localities in a state of war or in other exceptional state, shall be determined by the law.

IV. POLITICAL LIBERTY

128. Political rights. The following are the most important aspects of the rights of citizens to share in government :

Rights, as already said, are based on the law of the land and secured through governmental agencies. But if the citizen body as a whole has no voice in the making of laws, and if the government is controlled by a comparatively small per cent of the citizens, there would be no real assurance that general rights of life and property would be safeguarded. Experience shows that a small class in control of the law and its administration too easily inclines to neglect general interests, especially when these are in conflict with its own private interests. For such reasons there have been from time immemorial demands such as these:

(1) That office be considered not a private right but a public trust, to be administered by responsible persons, who may be called to account for violations of law. (2) That the law be definite, and open to the

knowledge of all. (3) That the citizen body have a determining voice in the making of law, either directly or through representatives. (4) That the electorate or body of voters include the largest possible per cent of the entire citizen body. (5) That the judicial system be so administered as to secure to all citizens their rights.

These demands are now acknowledged in democracies and in consequence a large proportion of the citizen body have the political right of suffrage. This power has been wielded so effectively that other important political rights have been secured one by one.

In addition to the right of manhood suffrage, there is: (1) The right of every voter to aspire to any office in the state. (2) The right to fill offices through election or through elected representatives, and the right to hold all officials responsible for inefficiency and misconduct in office. (3) The right to determine directly or through representatives the fundamental law of the land, whether expressed in a written or unwritten constitution; and, in addition, the right to formulate all other legislation. (4) The right to discuss freely and to criticize openly governmental measures, policies and officials. (5) In English-speaking countries, the right to assist in the settlement of judicial cases by jury service.

In these rights the essential point is that the citizens themselves directly participate in the exercise of governmental functions, or name from their ranks those who shall perform these activities in the name and for the welfare of the people. President Lincoln ably voiced the democratic ideal in his famous Gettysburg speech, in expressing his determination that "government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth." Naturally, the complete attainment of this ideal is possible only in high civilization, but all modern nations tend to enlarge more and more the political rights of their citizens.

These rights have sometimes been attained in advance of a general capacity to use them wisely, with the result that inefficiency and corruption become common. Experience, however, which is always the best teacher, brings home the lesson of misgovernment in heavy taxation, excessive death rates and economic disorders. Democracies, therefore, tend to emphasize at the present time character and intelligence as prerequisities for suffrage; with the proviso, however, that the state furnish free general education and further morality so as to develop its citizens into persons capable of an intelligent exercise of the suffrage. Compulsory education and an efficient system of schools are the safest guaranties of a democratic suffrage. Should these not be in evidence, a more aristocratic form is preferable until political intelligence becomes

common.

129. Political liberty in Oklahoma. New communities are often most radical in political experiments. The following sections from the recently adopted constitution of Oklahoma indicate the popular control over government there established:

SECTION 1. The legislative authority of the State shall be vested in a legislature, consisting of a senate and a house of representatives; but the people reserve to themselves the power to propose laws and amendments to the Constitution and to enact or reject the same at the polls independent of the legislature, and also reserve power at their own option to approve or reject at the polls any act of the legislature.

SEC. 2. The first power reserved by the people is the initiative, and eight per centum of the legal voters shall have the right to propose any legislative measure, and fifteen per centum of the legal voters shall have the right to propose amendments to the Constitution by petition, and every such petition shall include the full text of the measure so proposed. The second power is the referendum, and it may be ordered (except as to laws necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety), either by petition signed by five per centum of the legal voters or by the legislature as other bills are enacted. The ratio and per centum of legal voters hereinbefore stated shall be based upon the total number of votes cast at the last general election for the State office receiving the highest number of votes at such election.

SEC. 3.

...

The veto power of the Governor shall not extend to measures voted on by the people. . Any measure referred to the people by the initiative shall take effect and be in force when it shall have been approved by a majority of the votes cast in such election. Any measure referred to the people by the referendum shall take effect and be in force when it shall have been approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon and not otherwise.

The style of all bills shall be: "Be it Enacted by the People of the State of Oklahoma. . . ."

SEC. 4. The referendum may be demanded by the people against one or more items, sections, or parts of any act of the legislature in the same manner in which such power may be exercised against a complete

SEC. 5. The powers of the initiative and referendum reserved to the people by this Constitution for the State at large, are hereby further reserved to the legal voters of every county and district therein, as to all local legislation, or action, in the administration of county and district government in and for their respective counties and districts.

130. Manifesto summoning the First Russian Duma. Terrible disturbances in Russia, together with her defeat at the hands of Japan, compelled the extension of certain political rights to the people. The following manifesto was issued in August, 1905:

The empire of Russia is formed and strengthened by the indestructible union of the Tsar with the people and the people with the Tsar. This concord and union of the Tsar and the people is the great moral force which has created Russia in the course of centuries by protecting her from all misfortunes and all attacks, and has constituted up to the present time a pledge of unity, independence, integrity, material wellbeing, and intellectual development in the present and in the future.

In our manifesto of February 26, 1903, we summoned all faithful sons of the fatherland in order to perfect, through mutual understanding, the organization of the State, founding it securely on public order and private welfare. We devoted ourselves to the task of coördinating local elective bodies (zemstvos) with the central authorities, and removing the disagreements existing between them, which so disturbed the normal course of the national life. Autocratic Tsars, our ancestors, have had this aim constantly in view, and the time has now come to follow out their good intentions and to summon elected representatives from the whole of Russia to take a constant and active part in the elaboration of laws, adding for this purpose to the higher State institutions a special consultative body intrusted with the preliminary elaboration and discussion of measures and with the examination of the State Budget. It is for this reason that, while preserving the fundamental law regarding autocratic power, we have deemed it well to form a Gosoudarstvennaia Duma (i.e. State Council) and to approve regulations for elections to this Duma, extending these laws to the whole territory of the empire, with such exceptions only as may be considered necessary in the case of some regions in which special conditions obtain.

We have ordered the Minister of the Interior to submit immediately for our approbation regulations for election to the Duma, so that deputies from fifty governments, and the military province of the Don, may be able to assemble not later than the middle of January, 1906. We reserve to ourselves exclusively the care of perfecting the organization of the Gosoudarstvennaia Duma, and when the course of events has demonstrated the necessity of changes corresponding to the needs of the times and the welfare of the empire, we shall not fail to give the matter our attention at the proper moment.

We are convinced that those who are elected by the confidence of the whole people, and who are called upon to take part in the legislative

work of the government, will show themselves in the eyes of all Russia worthy of the imperial trust in virtue of which they have been invited to coöperate in this great work; and that in perfect harmony with the other institutions and authorities of the State, established by us, they will contribute profitably and zealously to our labors for the well-being of our common mother, Russia, and for the strengthening of the unity, security, and greatness of the empire, as well as for the tranquillity and prosperity of the people.

...

Given at Peterhof on the nineteenth day of August, in the grace 1905, and the eleventh year of our reign.

year of

NICHOLAS

131. Weakness of democracies. Bryce summarizes the accusations against states in which political liberty is extensive.1

The chief faults which philosophers . . . and popular writers repeating and caricaturing the dicta of philosophers, have attributed to democratic governments, are the following:

Weakness in emergencies, incapacity to act with promptitude and decision.

Fickleness and instability, frequent changes of opinion, consequent changes in the conduct of affairs and in executive officials.

Insubordination, internal dissensions, disregard of authority, a frequent resort to violence, bringing on an anarchy which ends in military tyranny. A desire to level down, and intolerance of greatness.

Tyranny of a majority over the minority.

A love of novelty: a passion for changing customs and destroying old institutions.

Ignorance and folly, producing a liability to be deceived and misled ; consequent growth of demagogues playing on the passions and selfish

ness of the masses.

1 By permission of The Macmillan Company.