I
PREFACE.
Midway between Western Europe and Asia stretches a vast state, occupying more than ½ of Europe and ⅓ of Asia, or ⅙ part of all the land of the globe (about 19,000,000 square versts). This State, having in the 13 and 14 centuries screened European civilization from the frequent incursions of Huns and other barbarons Asiatics, and having accepted that same civilization for its own 120 million inhabitants, is now planting European culture among the denizens of Asia itself, and uniting in one compact mass a large number of races and peoples from the shores of the Baltic and Black Seas to those of the Pacific Ocean.
With all its variety of inhabitants, (over 140 different races), this State is the inheritance of the Russian people, who have gradually but persistently spread to the West, South, and East, and who comprise more than 70% of the total population. This is no artificial unification of separate and distinctive regions, but the Russian Empire, strong in unity and disinterested devotion to its Emperors.
Its importance from the civilizing, national, and political points of view stamps the Russian Empire as a first class power, and attracts the attention of foreigners to everything taking place in the political, social, and economical life of our country. Therefore foreign governments, statesmen, scientific men, and publicists now possess pretty accurate, and even detailed, information on
