SECRET SOCIETIES AY RUSSIA. 



413 



of all progress, and sympathizing warmly with 

 every Liberal movement, whether at home or 

 abroad, could not well frown upon the political 

 aspirations of the Poles. The Liberal sentiment 

 of that time was so extremely philosophical and 

 cosmopolitan that it scarcely distinguished be- 

 tween Poles and Russians, and liberty was sup- 

 posed to be a good and grand thing in Warsaw as 

 well as in St. Petersburg. But underneath this 

 fair artificial growth of cosmopolitan liberalism 

 lay the volcano of national patriotism — dormant 

 for the moment, but by no means extinct. Though 

 the Russians are, in some respects, the most cos- 

 mopolitan of the European nations, they are at 

 the same time capable of indulging in violent out- 

 bursts of patriotic fanaticism ; and these two 

 contradictory elements in their character were 

 brought into contact by the news of the Polish 

 insurrection. The struggle was only momentary. 

 Ere long the patriotic feelings burst forth, and 

 carried all before them. The Moscow Gazette 

 thundered against the pseudo-Liberal sentimental- 

 ism which would, if unchecked, necessarily lead 

 to the dismemberment of the empire ; and Mr. 

 KatkofiF, the editor of that paper, became for a 

 time the most influential private individual in the 

 country. A few, indeed, remained true to their 

 convictions. Herzen, for instance, wrote in the 

 Kolokol a glowing panegyric on two Russian offi- 

 cers who had refused to fire on the insurgents, 

 and here and there a man might be found who 

 confessed that he was ashamed of the severity 

 displayed in Lithuania. 1 But such men were 

 few, and were commonly regarded almost as 

 traitors. The great majority of the public thor- 

 oughly approved of the severe energetic measures 

 adopted by the government, and, when the insur- 

 rection was suppressed, men who had a few 

 months previously spoken and written in mag- 

 niloquent terms about humanitarian liberalism 

 joined in the ovations given to Muravieff! At 

 a great dinner given in his honor, that energetic 

 and by no means too humane administrator, who 

 had systematically opposed the emancipation of 

 the serfs, and had never concealed his contempt 

 for the Liberal ideas recently in fashion, could 

 ironically express his satisfaction at seeing so 

 many " new friends" around him. 2 



! I have heard, at least, two genuine, nominally ortho- 

 dox Russians make statements of this kind. I must, how- 

 ever, in fairness add that the conceptions commonly held 

 in Western Europe regarding- Muravieff and his administra- 

 tion are, though not without a foundation of fact, in my 

 opinion, gross exaggerations. 



2 Count Muravieff has left a most interesting auto- 

 biographical fragment relating to the history of this time, 



Still the government, while repressing all po- 

 litical agitation, did not abandon its policy of 

 introducing reforms by means of the autocratic 

 power. The Zemstvo, a system of local self-gov- 

 ernment comprising periodical elective assem- 

 blies, was created, and preparations were made 

 for thoroughly reorganizing the law-courts and 

 the judicial procedure. But in 1866 a new event 

 came to strengthen the reactionary influence. A 

 foolish, misguided youth, called Karakozof, made 

 an attempt on the life of the emperor. The effect 

 of such an incident on his Majesty and on those 

 who surrounded him may easily be imagined. 

 Report says — though I must add that I have 

 never seen the official documents relating to this 

 affair — that the would-be assassin, formerly a 

 student, belonged to a little domestic community 

 composed of two or three youths of not very 

 satisfactory moral character, and calling itself by 

 the ill-sounding name of Ad, that is to say, Hell. 



This incident, in conjunction with the others 

 which I have indicated, induced the government 

 to take energetic measures. It was found that 

 the agitation proceeded in all cases from young 

 men who were studying, or had recently studied, 

 in the universities, the seminaries, and the techni- 

 cal schools, such as the Medical Academy and 

 the Agricultural Institute. Plainly, therefore, 

 the system of education was at fault. The semi- 

 military system of the time of Nicholas had been 

 succeeded by one in which discipline had been 

 reduced to a minimum, and the study of natural 

 science formed a prominent element. Here, it 

 was thought, lay the chief root of the evil. Eng- 

 lishmen may have some difficulty in imaginiug a 

 possible connection between natural science and 

 revolutionary agitation. To them the two things 

 must seem wide as the poles asunder. Surely 

 mathematics, chemistry, physiology, and similar 

 abstract subjects have nothing to do with politics. 

 Certainly they have not much to do with each 

 other in this country, but in Russia it is different. 

 This is one of the many curious and interesting 

 phenomena to be found in the present intellectual 

 condition of the Russian educated classes. To 

 explain it would require at least a long article, so 

 I must content myself for the present with simply 

 indicating the explanation. When an English- 

 man undertakes the study of any branch of natural 

 science, he gets up his subject by means of lect- 

 ures, text-books, and museums or laboratories, 



but it is not likely to be published during the lifetime of 

 the present generation. As an historical document it is 

 very valuable, but must be used with extreme caution. A 

 copy of it was fur some time in my possession, but I was 

 bound by a promise not to make extracts from it. 



