, 1880-02-21

82WkU4 VII UNz4bll1ks VIA tNSOClCty luSb CDhO a
dixectaBharets m the preparations for that
oEgaitsanA Uca1s selfgovermnent is legally
institntefbit the provinces, but in practice
thUolNeAl coounciis are subjected to the
dictati0n Of the provincial governors. The
sef6s hHvebeen emancipated from the whips
Of their lorts,t ito find themselves in many
respects laid under the scorpions of the
~flnctionafies. "A scheme of Popular educa-
ton is introduced into the country one day
and supplanted by a second the next day
for political reasons. The serious effect of
these arbitrary changes has been to des-
troy in the breast of the people all respect
for the supremacy of law, and writer's of
opposite schools, like Schedo- Ferrotti and
Koscheleff, agree in a%ttributing to this
circumstance much of the lawless revolu.
ti0nary spirit which is so prevalent in Rus.
STA at present. If the Government breaks
it's own laws when it chooses, it cannot
expect the people tb honour them. Where
there is nothing fixed and sacred in law,
nobody feels quite secure for the morrow;
and if the authorities condemn Russian
subjects to Siberia without law, they cam
not complain, as Mirsky pointedly declared
at his trial, of the wild justice by which
Russian subjects in turn would assasslnate
the authorities without law.
This was the state of matters when che
recent war was undertaken, but that event
has introduced new elements OF the most
important kind into the situation. 1t has
for the first time i'll the modern history of
Russia, awakened in the people a sense of
their power as a factor in the political life
Of the country. It was a peoples war, EN-.
barked upon by the Emperor against his
own Judgment and that of his advisers,
who knew the political and military condi-
tions of the undertaking, and in direct Obe-
dience to the vehement demand OF the IA:
ton at large, under the ~instigation of the
S~lavophil and revolutionary parties, The
Russian people, which had been used for.
generations, to be led exactly as it's gov.
ernors listed and had done what it was
bid without any thought that it was in the
mature of things to do anything else,
had accidentally shaken its locks in an
access of holy ~fervour, and had discovered
that it was strong enough to control, and
even to coerce, it's masters. The circum.
stance u.s. one OF nndoubted moment. The
people has. come to the knowledge of its
strength, and felt itself as it never did
before, q something in the politics of the
country. An experience like this is q
thing, that "wunna ding" 1t is a fact,
which is done, and cannot be undone, but
must carry consequences after it with
which the Government must henceforth
reckon 1T is this that lends to the present
situation in Russia its central interest n
Importance, for virtually q new force has
been released upon the current of political
life in the country and, coming as it does,
at o time when a demand for change has
been,i after a long preparation, gathering
to q head in the public mind, it will be
strange if things can continue as they have
been. and Il the new era which has been
shaping can be much longer deferred.
If the existing crisis contains the first
germs of a new order of things, and if
Hegels axiom is correct, that blame is the
beginning of wisdom, then Russian society
must. be acknowledged to be making at
present an excellent start. 1t ailS all over,
and the extensive range of its complaints
against the Administration is only equalled
by their cumulative intensity. In these
complaints it is energetically led by the
SlavOphils, who have risen of recent years
into great influence, and who have been
bitterly disappointed with the poor results
of the war, aud now cause the fercest light
of criticism to beat abou, the throne and
the whole, system of government. The
SlavOphils are a party who arose forty
years ago, as a justifable reaction against
the superficial Europeanizing tendencies of
Russian society during what is called the
est. Petersburg period". At that time,
Russian society, as the author of "Russia
Before and after the War" reminds us, was
essentially barbaric in it's whole tone and
real being, and the upper classes INDUCED
in anIunpatriotic contempt for native habits
and ideas, .abjured the Russian dress and