3^4 



The National Geographic Magazine 



votedly attached to the traditions of the 

 autocracy, and has a profound sense of 

 his obHgations to the memory of his 

 father and to the founders of the Roma- 

 noff dynasty, which makes him hesitate 

 about departing from the poHcies they 

 pursued. He has a deep vein of rehgious 

 sentiment and is intensely superstitious. 

 He believes in miracles and omens; he 

 wears amulets. In order to secure an 

 heir to the throne, he made a pilgrimage 

 incognito to the shrine of Saint Seraphim, 

 where women who have no children are 

 accustomed to go. He surrounds himself 

 with clairvoyants and often communicates 

 with the spirit of his father through 

 spirituaHstic mediums. Charlatans im- 

 pose upon his credulity and occupy time 

 which should be given to matters of state. 

 His ministers complain that he insists 

 upon discussing trifles when momentous 

 problems require his attention. He is 

 devoted to his family ; he is the first Czar 

 that any one can remember who lived a 

 moral life and his ministers complain that 

 he is playing with his children when he 

 should be in the council chamber. 



He is a voluntary prisoner, guarded by 

 an army of 6,000 men, and no one can see 

 him except in the presence of his guards. 

 He knows only as much about events and 

 affairs as his attendants think expedient. 

 They prepare a summary of the contents 

 of the newspapers for him every morning 

 and naturally do not include anything 

 that might interfere with their own plans 

 or weaken their own influence. He does 

 not comprehend the situation in Russia. 

 He has been the continual victim of mis- 

 representation and bad advice. If he 

 would break away from the influences 

 that surround him ; if he would talk with 

 well-informed and disinterested men, he 

 might adopt a different policy. 



the; officials are; not responsible; to 

 the; people or the courts 



The fundamental error in the Russian 

 system of government is that the officials 

 are in no way responsible to the people 

 or the courts. If an official offends his 

 neighbor, if he commits a crime, if he 



robs the treasury or murders an innocent 

 citizen, he is tried by his superior officers 

 in secret and not by a court. The prose- 

 cuting witness is not permitted to con- 

 front him or to be represented by coun- 

 sel, and neither he nor the public are per- 

 mitted to know what has occurred at the 

 trial or what punishment has been im- 

 posed. That is the reason why no one is 

 punished for the Jewish massacres. 

 Everybody knows that they were planned' 

 and carried out by the police in retalia- 

 tion for the activity of the Jewish revolu- 

 tionists. This has been admitted over and 

 over again, but no one has ever been 

 punished. Members of the recent minis- 

 try were guilty of revolting cruelties and 

 acts of barbarism, but they were allowed 

 to go without even a reprimand. When I 

 asked why this was permitted, a promi- 

 nent minister replied that it was impos- 

 sible to fix the responsibility under the 

 present system of government. 



At present any official knows that he 

 will be protected in anything he does, 

 provided his act does not offend the men 

 above him, and can defy the public and 

 the courts. Mr Herzenstein, one of the 

 ablest men in the Empire, the highest 

 authority on financial and economic ques- 

 tions, and of unimpeachable integrity and 

 patriotism, was assassinated last August 

 by a policeman under the orders of bis 

 superior officer. It was a deliberate mur- 

 der, and one of the government organs at 

 Moscow published the news twelve hours 

 before the deed was committed. The as- 

 sassin's name was Nishikin ; he was abso- 

 lutely identified, but he was never pun- 

 ished, because he was responsible to no 

 court and to no authority except the men 

 who directed him to commit the crime. 



It is easily understood why such a con- 

 dition has not been corrected. The entire 

 bureaucracy of the Empire has been 

 united in defense of their most important 

 prerogative. But until the officials are 

 made responsible to the courts like ordi- 

 nary citizens, there can be no genuine re- 

 form in the Russian civil service. 



In the third section of a famous mani- 

 festo of October, 1905, the Czar promised 



