Most local government in the European part…

Most local government in the European part of Russia is organized in 1864 into provincial and district elected self-government (zemstvos), which are made up of representatives of all classes and are responsible for local schools, public health, roads, prisons, food supply, and other concerns.

Tsar Alexander II, at the beginning of his reign, had expressed the famous statement "No dreams" addressed to the Poles who inhabit Congress Poland, Western Ukraine, Lithuania, Livonia and Belarus.

The result had been the January Uprising of 1863–1864, which is suppressed in April, 1864, after eighteen months of fighting.

Hundreds of Poles are executed, and thousands are deported to Siberia.

The price for suppression is Russian support for the unification of Germany. (Years later, Germany and Russia will become enemies.)

All territories of the former Poland-Lithuania are excluded from liberal policies introduced by Alexander.

Martial law in Lithuania, introduced in 1863, will last for the next forty years.

Native languages, Lithuanian, Ukrainian and Belarusian are completely banned from printed texts, the Ems Ukase being an example.

The Polish language is banned in both oral and written form from all provinces except Congress Poland, where it is allowed in private conversations only.