The correspondent of the Times at St. Petersburg forwards an
Imperial ukase dated May 18th, to which he attaches extreme importance. It deprives all officials, from the Ministers downwards, of their power of giving appointments and promotions in the Civil Service, reserving all such power to a Committee of Inspection under the Emperor's own direct control. The measure is said to have created conster- nation in the official world, and to have been rendered necessary by serious abuses. It is probably intended both to prevent the sale of offices and to increase the control of the eentral power, which in Russia is apt to grow weak at a distance from St. Petersburg. The Emperor wishes to be sure that the whole service is filled with Russians and devotees such as he himself would approve. The decree is probably well meant, but will fail of its effect, the Com- mittee of Inspection, fatigued with the enormous mass of detail, appointing men recommended by Governors and the like, as a matter of course. The scheme broke down under the Emperor Nicholas for the same reason. A King must promote either by seniority—which gradually enfeebles a service—or on recommendations—which admit favouritism —or on his own judgment of character ; but the last to be accurate requires the assistance of a publicity foreign to the Russian system. The Emperor cannot prevent corruption in Russia because, as Czar Nicholas said, he is the only honest man in his own dominions.
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