The war was over.  The march of armies had ceased; but the march of events, accelerated by the great upheaval, moved irresistibly on.  Realizing that something must be done to pacify the people, a new and more liberal policy was announced, with de Witte, now Prime Minister, in charge.  Russia was to have a National Assembly, a law-making body in which every class would have representation.

This Russian Parliament was to be composed of two bodies:  an Upper and a Lower House.  The one to be called the “Council of the Empire,” the other the “Duma.”  These were to be convoked and prorogued annually by Imperial Ukase.  The President, Vice-President, and one-half the members of the Council of the Empire (consisting of 178 members) were to be appointed by the Tsar; twenty-four more to be elected by the nobility and clergy, a very small number by some designated universities and commercial bodies; each Zemstvo (of which there are fifty-one) being entitled to one representative.  The members composing the Duma, or Lower House, were to be elected by the Electoral Colleges, which had in turn been created by the votes of the people in the various provinces of the Empire for that purpose.

The two bodies were to have equal rights in initiating legislation.  But a bill must pass both Houses and then receive Imperial Sanction in order to become a law; and failing in this, cannot come up again during the same session.  Thus hedged about and thus constituted, it is obvious that a conservative majority was permanently secured and ways provided to block any anti-imperial or revolutionary legislation in the Duma.  And when it is added that matters concerning finance and treasonable offences were almost entirely in the hands of the Council, we realize how this gift of political representation to the Russian people had been shorn of its dangers!

The first National Assembly was opened by the Tsar May 10, 1906, with the form and splendor of a court ceremonial.  It was a strange spectacle, that solid body of 100 peasants seated on the left of the throne, intently listening to the brief and guarded speech of welcome to the “representatives of the nation, who had come to aid him in making laws for their welfare!” And the first jarring note came when not one of these men joined in the applause which followed.

The first Duma was composed of 450 members.  The world was watching this experiment, curious to find out what sort of beings have been dumbly supporting the weight of the Russian Empire.  Almost the first act was a surprise.  Instead of explosive utterances and intemperate demands, the Duma formally declared Russia to be a Constitutional Monarchy.  No anarchistic extravagance could have been so disturbing to autocratic Russia as was this wise moderation, which at the very outset converted Constitutional Bureaucrats into Constitutional Democrats, thus immensely strengthening the people’s party