The emancipation of the Jews had been one of first acts of the new cabinet. All restrictions were removed and the Jews were recognized as Russian citizens, and as such to be distinguished from all other citizens in no way. Then the constitution of Finland was restored and its full autonomy recognized. The same recognition was granted all the other minor nationalities. Next the death penalty was abolished, and finally the Provisional Government declared itself in favor of the equal suffrage of women with men, a principle which is innate in the revolutionary movement of Russia, to which as many women as men have sacrificed themselves. The vast possessions of the ex-czar and most of his munificent income were confiscated. At the same time the grand dukes and other members of the Imperial family voluntarily gave up their landed possessions and at the same time expressed their loyalty to the new order. CHAPTER LXXXIV SOCIALISM SUPREME Within the church the same overturning of old authorities took place. The new procurator caused to be thrown out the gilded emblems of the autocracy, and priests known to be in sympathy with the revolution were elevated to the offices vacated by the reactionaries. Most of the vast landed estates of the church were confiscated, and the church was relegated to a position in which it could no longer interfere in matters of state. Probably a majority of the radicals would have liked to abolish the church altogether, but even they must have realized that the great body of Russia's population, the peasantry, had not yet arrived at this state of mind, corrupt though they knew the institution to be. For some weeks while these reforms, in which the vast majority of the people believed, were being promulgated the most enthusiastic harmony prevailed between the two elements constituting the Provisional Government. But those realizing the wide gulf lying between these two elements, the constitutionalists and the revolutionary radicals, were every day expecting the inevitable dissensions to arise. Eventually they came. They would have come much sooner had it not been for the fact that the nation was at war.