ABSTRACT
Fate made Russia a link between two continents, Europe and Asia. Hence Russia's historical mission as the eastern vanguard or bastion of Europe. The Russian State's administrative machinery was, on the whole, quite satisfactory. Its officials, of all grades, comprised a large number of well-educated, competent, and devoted public servants. The judiciary reform which Alexander II carried out in 1864, had given Russia an easily accessible and speedy system of courts, which provided every guarantee of equity. The elective local self-government bodies—Zemstvos in the country, and municipalities in the towns—were among the main results of those Great Reforms of Alexander II which marked a decisive step in the direction of Russia's Europeanization. The Russian legislation still in force at the end of the XIXth and the beginning of the XXth century was thus profoundly out of harmony with the spirit of the period and the claims of modern life.
