ABSTRACT
Following on the Constitution of October 1905, the First Duma with legislative powers met in the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg in May 1906. One thanked Heaven the Duma had not been redecorated in the art nouveau style, for almost all the modern buildings in Russia, from Moscow to Harbin, are built in the mixture of Munich, Maple, and Japan which is called art nouveau, and in Russia 'decadent'. Most of the members spoke against the motion, and it seemed as if the matter was settled in the sense that the question of amnesty would be dealt with in the Reply to the Address and not before, when Professor Kovolyevsky proposed a third course, that the President of Duma should inform the Emperor of the unanimous desire of the Duma for a general amnesty. The increasing success of the Duma after 1909 was due to the brilliant leadership of Stolypin, who became Prime Minister in that year.
