RUSSIAN STATESMEN -1892-1894 29 



form, and feel obliged to testify that, thus far, its main 

 purpose has been so thwarted by reactionaries that there 

 is, as yet, little, if any, practical difference between the 

 condition of the Russian peasant before and since obtain 

 ing his freedom. 



Take the dealings with Finland. The whole thing is 

 monstrous. It is both comedy and tragedy. Finland is 

 by far the best-developed part of the empire; it stands 

 on a higher plane than do the other provinces as regards 

 every element of civilization ; it has steadily been the most 

 loyal of all the realms of the Czar. Nihilism and an 

 archism have never gained the slightest foothold; yet 

 to-day there is nobody in the whole empire strong enough 

 to prevent sundry bigots military and ecclesiastical- 

 leading the Emperor to violate his coronation oath; to 

 make the simple presentation of a petition to him treason 

 able ; to trample Finland under his feet ; to wrong griev 

 ously and insult grossly its whole people ; to banish and 

 confiscate the property of its best men ; to muzzle its press ; 

 to gag its legislators ; and thus to lower the whole country 

 to the level of the remainder of Russia. 



During my stay in Russia at the time of the Crimean 

 War, I had been interested in the Finnish peasants whom 

 I saw serving on the gunboats. There was a sturdiness, 

 heartiness, and loyalty about them which could not fail 

 to elicit good- will ; but during this second stay in Russia 

 my sympathies with them were more especially enlisted. 

 During the hot weather of the first summer my family 

 were at the Finnish capital, Helsingfors, at the point 

 where the Gulf of Finland opens into the Baltic. The 

 whole people deeply interested me. Here was one of the 

 most important universities of Europe, a noble public li 

 brary, beautiful buildings, and throughout the whole town 

 an atmosphere of cleanliness and civilization far superior 

 to that which one finds in any Russian city. Having been 

 added to Russia by Alexander I under his most solemn 

 pledges that it should retain its own constitutional gov 

 ernment, it had done so up to the time of my stay ; and the 



