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and Prussia. The constitutional outcome was similar tothat in Prussia, whose 1851 constitution (which lasted onsubstantially unchanged until 1918) was one of themodels for the Russian fundamental laws of 1906.There was no ministerial responsibility to the Duma,and the council of ministers was a committee withoutcohesion. The Duma was at first elected on a verywide male franchise, with very wide provisions as toeligibility and with secret voting. On the other hand, theelections were indirect, except in the largest towns, andwere based on a complicated grouping of the electors inseparate colleges, borrowed from Prussian and Austrianpractice. The intention was to secure the dominance ofthe conservative forces among which were reckoned thepeasants, still regarded in the main as faithful childrenof 'the Little Father,' Bitter experience of jacqueriesand the first two Dumas brought final disillusionment,and in 1907 Stolypin, the prime minister, in violation ofthe fundamental laws, drastically transformed the electorallaws to the disadvantage of the peasantry, as well as ofthe workers and the non-Russians. Thereby he secureda solidly conservative, upper-class Duma, which unlikeits two predecessors did not require to be promptlydissolved but lived out its legal term of five years.The tsar retained an absolute veto on legislation, fullcontrol of the army and foreign affairs, and very widepowers of legislation without the Duma when it was notsitting. Its financial control was very limited, thoughit was difficult for the government to embark upon largenew schemes, such as military reorganization, withoutsome arrangement with the Duma. Yet another brakeupon the Duma was provided by an upper chamber withconcurrent powers, trie Council of State, already existentfor a century as a nominated administrative and draftingbody, now refashioned with half its members elected.In contrast with the westernization of Japan and theconstitution granted by the Mikado in 1889, the Russianautocracy attempted to cope with the impact of thenineteenth-century Western world only after defeat intwo wars, the Crimean and the Russo-Japanese, andunder the direct challenge of revolution at home. 190569