Through Finland in Carts

When, in 1894, Nicholas II. ascended the throne, he signed, as had all his august predecessors, the Act of Assurance, in which he promised to maintain the Constitution.

For some time everything went on smoothly, until 1898, when General Bobrikoff was appointed Governor-General of the Grand Duchy, and grave misgivings began to be entertained in Finland. General Bobrikoff was preceded by a reputation of being the principal agent in the Russification of the Baltic Provinces, and it soon appeared that he was sent to Finland on a similar mission.

Simultaneously with General Bobrikoff's appointment, the Finnish Estates were summoned to an extraordinary session in January 1899, and in the summons it was said that a Bill for a new military law would be presented to them. The Bill, when it arrived in the Diet, turned out to be entirely subversive of the existing military organisation, and tended to a complete denationalisation of the Finnish army; it contained no provision as to the limitation of recruits to be taken out annually for service with the colours, and their number might be increased five or even six times, as compared with the number taken out under the old law. It soon became evident that the Diet would not accept this Bill, and while the deliberations were still in a preliminary stage, an event happened which was to mark a new epoch in the recent history of Finland.

A "Gracious Manifesto," dated February 15, 1899, was published, by which the legislative competence of the Finnish Diet was limited to minor local affairs, and the general effect of which was an overthrow of the Finnish Constitution. It is impossible to describe adequately the excitement created in Finland by this entirely unexpected measure. Meetings of protest were held everywhere, and in the course of a few weeks a monster address was signed by over half a million people, or about half of the adult population. A mass deputation of five hundred persons, representing all the parishes in Finland, went to St. Petersburg to present the address to the Tzar.

But it was not received by him.

The immediate effect of the "February Manifesto" was that the Finnish Diet was no longer required to exercise its legislative powers on the Army Bill, but it was declared that the Estates had only to give their "opinion" on the matter.

The Diet refused to submit to this curtailment of the constitutional rights of the country, and drew up a counter proposal, which, while maintaining the national character of the army, provided for a considerable increase of the Finnish troops. This proposal, as may have been expected, did not receive the Sovereign's sanction, and in 1901 a new Military Law was issued by means of an Imperial Decree, based almost entirely on the original Bill, which had been refused by the Diet.

When this new Army Edict was to be enforced it met with a vigorous opposition. The would-be recruits, summoned to the annual levies, failed in large numbers to put in their appearance. One of the effects of this opposition was the disbandment of the existing Finnish regiments.

In the meantime – both before and after the promulgation of the Army Edict – a long series of ordinances were issued, and other measures taken which were not only unconstitutional in principle, but also in direct conflict with the common law of the land, too numerous to be recorded in detail in this brief summary. We may here mention only the introduction of the Russian language in public departments, the appointment of Russians to important public posts, such as provincial governorships, the transfer of administrative powers from the Senate to the person of the Governor-General. To all these measures a "passive resistance" was organised in Finland.

It was inculcated on the minds of the people that every Finnish citizen, whether in an official position or not, affected by any illegal measures, should refuse to comply, and should act in accordance only with the indisputably legal rights of the country, irrespective of threats of punishment. Finland was struggling for her rights.

That this resistance would provoke repressive measures was fully expected, and the expectations were amply fulfilled. Scores of officials, though legally irremovable except by trial and sentence, were summarily dismissed; judges equally summarily removed; numerous domiciliary visits were paid by the Russian police and gendarmes to persons suspected of tendencies of opposition; illegal arrests were effected.

The newspapers were ruthlessly persecuted. In the years 1899 to 1901 scores of newspapers were suspended for short periods, and twenty-four were permanently suppressed.

In 1903 General Bobrikoff procured for himself dictatorial powers in Finland, of which he availed himself freely. Among other things, more than fifty Finlanders, many of them belonging to the most prominent citizens of the Grand Duchy, were exiled or deported to Russia. Some of the deportations, however, happened after the death of General Bobrikoff.

On June 16, 1904, a young official, Eugen Schauman, who had never been known to take an active interest in politics, shot General Bobrikoff dead, and immediately afterwards killed himself. A few weeks later, on July 28, M. de Plehve fell the victim of a plot of Russian revolutionaries, aided and abetted, it appears, by agents of the Russian secret police. M. de Plehve combined with his office of Russian Minister of the Interior the post as Secretary of State for Finland, which, by the way, also was illegal, as this post should be filled by a Finlander.

Thus two of the most prominent enemies of Finland were no longer among the living. M. de Plehve's immediate successor, Prince Sviatopolsk-Mirski, was a humane and liberal-minded man. The new Governor-General in Finland, Prince Obolenski, also was a man of a far less aggressive type than General Bobrikoff. Shortly after his arrival in Finland more lenient methods in dealing with Finland were adopted. In the autumn of 1904 the Diet was convoked, and those of the exiles who were either members by right of birth of the House of Nobles, or had been elected to either of the other Houses, were allowed to return.

At this time Russia was involved in the disastrous war with Japan. The grave difficulties which the Government experienced from the repeated defeats in the Far East were further enhanced by the revolutionary movement at home. At the end of October 1905 a general strike was proclaimed in Russia, which resulted in the Tzar's manifesto of October 30, in which the establishment of a Constitutional Government in Russia was promised. The same day a general strike broke out in Finland. All government offices, schools, industrial establishments, restaurants, public-houses, and shops were closed. The railway service, and to a great extent the steamship service, stopped; so also the telephones and the supply of electric light. Only a few telegraph lines were in operation. In the towns, the tramways and cabs no longer moved in the streets. Only the water and food supply was kept going. In Helsingfors, a deputation of leading citizens went to Prince Obolenski, and urged him to resign his post. The same demand was directed to the members of the Senate, who were too much compromised on account of their submissiveness to General Bobrikoff's régime.

On December 31, 1904, the Diet had adopted a "Humble Petition" to the Tzar for the restitution of Finland's constitutional rights, but no answer had been forthcoming. This petition was now brought to the Tzar's notice, and on November 4, 1905, he signed a Manifesto, in which he granted the petition and repealed all the more important of the previous unconstitutional measures. The Manifesto of February 15, 1899, was to be "suspended until the questions therein contained shall be arranged by an act of legislation." At the same time, the Diet was convoked for December 20, 1905.

The importance of this Diet is only surpassed by that held at Borgå in 1809, almost a century before, and it is equalled only by the Diet of 1863. It was the last Diet held under the system of four Estates, sitting in separate houses, and the last remnant of this time-honoured, venerable, but certainly somewhat cumbrous Swedish system of representation disappeared. For at this Diet the new law of the Diet, of which a brief account is given above, was adopted in May 1906. During the "Bobrikoff era," or "Era of Oppression," as the preceding years were called in Finland, women had done excellent service in the organisation of the passive resistance movement, and largely for this reason men were ready and willing that the suffrage should be extended to women on the same conditions as to men themselves. No vulgar rioting was necessary. Finnish men were wide-minded enough to see that as regards brains, employment, and politics, there should be no such question as sex.

The proportional system of voting was also adopted without any opposition.

The same year the principles of the freedom of the Press, of assemblies, and of associations were guaranteed by a law, invested with the sanctity of fundamental laws, which, for their repeal or alteration, require a qualified majority.

We can now return to the question of parties in Finland. Already before the commencement of the "Bobrikoff era," the Fennoman party had split up into two groups known as the Old-Finnish and the Young-Finnish party. The latter professed more liberal views on various questions, as in regard to religion and social problems. The Svecoman party had to a considerable extent abandoned its opposition to the Finnish claims, but it still remained as representing the interests of the Swedish population in Finland. When the Russian attacks first commenced, all party divergences were sunk into oblivion, and the country provided the spectacle of a completely united nation. General Bobrikoff was too much of a tactician to be pleased with this state of affairs, and he began to play up to the Old-Finns, not without success. Among other things, he filled all public posts, vacated by their former occupants, who had either resigned on constitutional grounds or had been dismissed, exclusively with Old-Finns.

The Swedish and Young-Finnish parties now entered on a powerful party alliance, and formed the "constitutional" bloc, which was also joined by many influential members of the Old-Finnish party, and strongly supported by the great masses, who had previously exercised very little political influence, and from the ranks of which the recent Social Democratic party was later on to be recruited.

It was by this bloc that the passive resistance campaign was principally carried on. The leaders of the Old-Finnish party adopted a policy of yielding to General Bobrikoff's demands, by which they hoped to save some remnants of the Finnish rights. The party was to some extent disfigured by a number of office hunters, but on the whole it was actuated by patriotic motives. General Bobrikoff was well aware that the Old-Finns at heart were much opposed to his policy, but from their submissive attitude, and their readiness to waive constitutional objections in return for temporary advantages, he took occasion to represent to the Tzar that his policy had the "support of the mass of the people."

When by the law of 1906 the suffrage was extended to the great masses of the people, two new parties arose. The most numerous of all parties in Finland is now the Social Democratic party, which is strongly opposed to the Russian demands. So also is the Agrarian Reform party, which takes up a radical platform in questions of land legislation, and is closely allied to the Young-Finns, with some leanings towards Socialism. A small group is formed by the "Christian Labourers."

Since 1906 no less than five elections have been held, and their results may be seen from the following table: —

The reason why so many elections have taken place – practically every year – though the members are elected for three years, is that the Diets have been dissolved by Imperial command, because they have protested against new breaches of the Constitution. Some of the more important instances may here be recorded. In June 1908 the Russian Council of Ministers was invested with far-reaching powers to interfere in the business both of the Finnish Senate and the Diet. In 1910 the Russian Legislature adopted a proposal, presented by the Tzar, and sanctioned by him on June 30, which provided that a vast number of questions, specified in the new law, were withdrawn from the competence of the Finnish Diet. Legislation on such questions was henceforward transferred to the Russian Legislature, and the Diet was placed in a position to give its opinion on them only. When a law relating to Finland was to be discussed in the Russian Duma or Council of State, Finland was to be represented by four members in the former, and two members in the latter Chamber. The Finnish Diet declared that it could not recognise the new law as legal, since it was unconstitutionally enacted, and in substance constituted a breach of Finnish laws.

In February 1912 the Russian Legislature passed a law, by which Russians coming to Finland were to enjoy all the rights accruing to Finns without acquiring Finnish citizenship. A serious question of principle is involved in this new measure, since it amounts to the negation of a separate Finnish citizenship, which has hitherto been recognised by the Russian rulers even in their dealings with foreign powers. One of the obvious motives for this law is to make it possible to appoint Russian officials to Finnish posts. Several such appointments have already taken place. In August 1912 the members of the Wiborg Town Court were arrested, and brought to St. Petersburg to be tried before a Russian Court for having refused to apply the law just mentioned.

The people of Finland are awaiting with grave anxiety further developments in the present Russian policy.

I am only an outsider, but I have travelled a little both in Finland and Russia. It seems to me that the characters of the two peoples are so fundamentally different, they should each have free hands; and that Russia, while retaining Finland as part of the Russian Empire, should allow her the administration of her own affairs, which she has always shown herself so capable of exercising.