Autumn Auction

1905 Viewcard to St Petersburg posted from MANCHULI RAILWAY STATION 7 V 1905 with Red Cross free-frank cachet: REPRESENTATIVE OF UNITED ZEMSTVO ORGANISATION FOR RELIEF OF THE SICK AND WOUNDED
At the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War (1904), though outside the sphere permitted the zemstvos by law, fourteen zemstvos entered into a secret agreement to send field hospitals to the Far East. When the news reached the central government the Zemstvo Organisation was promptly declared illegal and other zemstvos were prohibited from joining it. The Ministry of the Interior who had banned the formation of the zemstvo field hospitals was murdered and as a concession to public opinion his successor gave the organisation official recognition and permitted other zemstvos to participate.