POSTSCRIPT 185 



FOUR GOOD DEEDS OF THE CZAR 



No event of the war has pleased us more than the 

 news that Mr. Nicholas Romanov had retired to 

 private life. We trust that he will be able to spend 

 the rest of his life in peace and quietude, for as an 

 individual he does not deserve the enmity which 

 progressive Russians have felt toward him as a czar. 

 Few czars have been better; most of them have been 

 much worse. It is impossible to say in how far he 

 has been personally responsible for the good and evil 

 of his reign, but there are at least four acts that are 

 ascribed to him for which Russia owes him a great 

 debt of gratitude. 



The first was the calling of The Hague Conference. 

 This did not accomplish what he hoped for : the reduc- 

 tion of armaments, the elimination of the brutalities 

 of war, and the maintenance of world peace, but it was 

 a great step forward in the promotion of international- 

 ism and the idea of it is now dominant in all plans for 

 future peace. 



The second was when he called the representatives 

 of the people to assemble in a Duma. It may be said 

 that this was forced upon him by a threat of revolution 

 but, nevertheless, it was against the advice of the con- 

 servative court party that he made this concession to 

 popular demand. The first Duma was a chaotic and 

 incompetent body, but from it has grown the present 

 level-headed and efficient parliament. 



Thirdly, on the outbreak of the war he exercised his 

 autocratic power and banished vodka from Russia. 

 This meant, as his financial advisers pointed out, a 



