The Royal Manifesto

The disturbances and unrest in the capitals and in many areas of Our Empire fill Our heart with a great and terrible grief. The welfare of the Russian Sovereign is inseparable from the welfare of the people, and the people’s sorrow is his sorrow. The unrest that has arisen may cause profound popular turmoil and be a threat to the integrity and unity of Our state.

The great vow of royal service commands Us to apply all the power of Our reason and authority in pursuing the speediest possible cessation of disturbances so perilous to the state. Having ordered the appropriate authorities to take measures to eliminate direct manifestations of disorder, lawlessness, and violence and to protect the peaceful population quietly seeking to fulfill its duties, We, in order to successfully carry out the general measures that we have conceived to restore peace to the life of the state, recognize the necessity of integrating the functions of the highest level of government.

We entrust the government with the execution of Our unwavering will:

1. To give to the population the unshakable foundations of civic freedom, based on the principles of the genuine inviolability of the person, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association.

2. To immediately involve in the Duma, to the extent possible given the short period remaining before it convenes and without delaying the planned elections to the State Duma, those classes of the population who are currently completely deprived of electoral rights, providing in this way that a new legislative order will henceforth develop the principle of general electoral rights, and

3. To establish as an unshakable rule that no law can take effect without the approval of the State Duma and that elected representatives of the people be able to truly participate in overseeing the legality of actions by the authorities We appoint.

We call upon all true sons of Russia to remember their duty before the Motherland, to help bring an end to this unprecedented time of trouble, and to join us in marshaling the strength to restore peace and tranquility to our native land.