REIGNING EMPEROR — CONSTITUTION D05
Tlie Emperor is in possession of the revenue from the Crown domains, con- sisting of more than a million of S(|uare miles of cultivated land and forests, besides gold and other mines in Siberia, and producing a vast revenue, the actual amount of which is, however, unknown, as no reference to the subject is made in the budgets or finance accounts, the Crown domains being con- sidered the private projierty of the imperial family.
The following have been the Tsars and Emperors of Russia, from the time of election of ^lichael Romanof. Tsar Peter I. was the first ruler who adopted, in the year 1721, the title of Emperor.
House of Romanof —Male Line. i Ivan VI, . . . 1740
Michael .... 1613
Alexei . . . . 1645
Feodor . . . . 1676
Ivan and Peter I . . 1682
Peter 1 1689
Catherine I. . . . 1725
Peter II. . . . 1727
House of Romawf — Female Line.
Anne .... 1730
Elizabeth . . . 1741
House of Romanof- Holstein.
Peter III. . . . 1762
Catherine II. . . . 1762
Paul . . . . 1796
Alexander I. . . 1801
Nicholas I. . 1825
Alexander II. . . . 1855
Alexander III. . . 1881
Nicholas II. . . . 1894
Constitution and Government.
The government of Russia is an absolute hereditary monarchy. The whole legislative, executive, and judicial power is united in the emperor, whose will albne is law. There are, however, certain rules of government which the sovereigns of the present reigning house have acknowledged as binding. The chief of these is the law of succession to the throne, which, according to a decree of the Emperor Paul, of the year 1797, is to be that of regular descent, by the right of primogeniture, with preference of male over female heii-s. This decree annulled a previous one, issued by Peter I., February 5, 1722, which ordered each sovereign to select his successor to the throne from among the members of the imperial family, irrespective of the claims of primogeniture. Another fundamental law of the realm proclaimed by Peter I. is that every sovereign of Russia, with his consort and children, must be a member of the orthodox Greek Church. The princes and princesses of the imperial house, according to a decree of Alexander I., must obtain the consent of the emperor to any marriage they may contract; otherwise the issue of such union cannot inherit the throne. By an ancient law of Russia, the heir-apparent is held to be of age at the end of the sixteenth year, and the other members of the reigning family with the completed twentieth year.
The administration of the Empire is entrusted to four great boards, or councils, possessing separate functions. The first of these boards is the CoimcH of the State, established in its present
