by Russian armies be sent to St. Petersburg. Delegates were accordingly elected, and they started out for Russia under C. E. Mannerheim's leadership, but when they reached their destination they pointed out that they were not empowered to represent the entire Finnish people and requested that a Diet be called. To this the Czar agreed.

The Finnish Diet met in March 1809, in the town of Porvoo. All four Estates gave their oath of allegiance to the Czar-Grand Duke, and he for his part give his solemn pledge that the Finnish constitutional laws would be upheld. Thus Finland was raised to the position of a nation among nations, and a new life began for Finland as an autonomous, self-governing Grand Duchy attached to Russia.

When the Czar pledged that Finnish constitutional laws would remain in force, the reference was to the form of government which had been set up in 1772, to the confirmation of its status in 1789, as well as to the inherited parliamentary form of Diet plus House of Nobles, which extended back to the days of Gustavus II Adolphus. From Finland's point of view the unfortunate flaw in these arrangements was that there was no law requiring that the Diet be summoned ac any specific intervals. The calling together of the Diet depended, then, on the will of the ruler. While meeting in Porvoo, the Diet had received the impression that a new Diet would be called reasonably soon; there were many problems caused by Finland's new status which, it was assumed, would make a Diet imperative. Nevertheless, no order for such a meeting w as given.

Broader political considerations frequently interfered with Finland's internal governmental development. For example, in 1818 Alexander opened the first Polish Diet, being anxious to show that in that country which was attached to Russia, too, he was eager to proceed on a basis of constitutional government, but the results in Poland were not encouraging, and so he did not try to pursue this course in Finland, either. During the reign of his successor, Nicholas I, Finland now and then pointed out the necessity of calling the Diet, and the Czar himself is known to have made certain decisions with the remark that, according to the constitution, those decisions should have been made with the approval of the Finnish Diet, but also with the added remark that the times were not suitable for calling a Diet together. Consequently, if Nicholas, who also believed in absolute sovereignty, frequently did stress that he understood decisions on certain matters required approval of the Diet, during his reign it was never once

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