20 
LAND & WATER 
March 29, igiyt. 
Rift of freedom. More than 15,000 men, women and 
children were killed throii.ulumt Russia in the days of 
the (3ctober pogroms, and jjroperty to the value of about 
100 million roubles was stoirn or destroyed. With 
such trumps the autocrary tried to re.tjain the lost 
Rauie. Then bef<an the terrible punitive expeditions 
a^'ainst tin- n volutionaries, led by (leneral Rcnnen- 
kam])f. now in prison cliarj^ed with treason. Scores of 
absolutely innoctut nun were shot and hanged and 
nniltitudes e.xikd to Siberia. 
In 11^)5 the Duma was given, but when it assembled 
in April lyoO, and endeavoured to express the urgent 
needs oi the people, it was dispersed. A General 
lilection was ordered and the second Duma was formed 
— (the Duma of narodnago gnieva. the people's wrath, 
as it was called). After two months the second Duma 
was also dissolved. Then the Government illegally 
changed the electoral law, and the franchise was limited. 
The tliird Duma assembled. Four years after, at the 
General Election for the fourth Duma, the admini- 
stration were experienced in the management of elections, 
and quite illegally interfi'red with the process of election, 
falsifying the lists of voters, disqualifying Liberals, and 
interpolating names of members ot Black Hundred 
and similar " patriotic " societies. In five years time, 
this purified fourth Duma was at the head of the revolu- 
tionary party. 
How did thpt happen ? The old regime, after 1905, did 
everything to undermine the prestige, not only of the 
monarchy, but of tlie principles of State.- We have 
seen how it undermined the Orthodox Church, and now 
the same thing happened both with the Law Courts, 
with the Administrative machine, and with the whole 
system of education. Absolutism tried to find in these 
institutions docile agents, and as a result the jjrcstige 
of the Law Courts which stood so high in the time of 
Alexander IL, fell, during the last ten years to as low 
a level as in the time of Nicholas I. The Minister of 
Justice instructed the judges to condemn, on slight and>,' 
ridiculous pretexts, very often professors, leaders of 
the Zemstvos, literary men and others whose opinions 
were displeasing to the Government. On the other _ 
hand, the Emperor and the Minister of Justice pro- ~ 
tected from the law highly placed embezzlers of public 
revenues, murdt'rers and traitors, if they belonged to 
the " Black Hundred." Autocracy in its blindness, 
cnicltyand gross stupidity had dug its own grave. 
The manner in which the late regime conducted the 
war convinced even the honest and loyal supporters of 
the monarchy not only that autocracy was a dead thing, 
but that the corpse was decaying and infecting every- 
thing with its virus. The leaders of the army, nobility, 
the State Council, and the Duma, realized that Russia 
would perish if tlie corpse were not removed, and on 
March i6th, it was thrown into its grave and buried. 
In Flaubert's novel Saldmbo, there is a description of 
the crucifixion of the Carthaginian leader. His body 
\\as so rotten with disease that it was impossible to 
nail him to the cross. This is a symbol of the old regime 
before it was flung into the grave. The second buttress 
had fallen to dust. 
The third buttress of the old regime was Narodnost — 
Nationality. Autocracy's idea of nationality was a 
nationality of oppressors — a nationality prepared to 
sing at a moment's notice, " God save the Tsar," to 
: march in, procession wearing the portrait of the ruler, 
and to organise pogroms against all who demanded 
reforms. The leader of the Black Hundreds, Dr 
Doobrovin (now in the Fortress) systematically invited 
the people, through the medium of his State-supported 
newspaper, to destroy the Duma and to massacre the 
" Intellectuals." Shortly before the present revolution 
it was discovered that Dr. Doobrovin paid a sum of 
300 roubles to one Podoroshni, an instalment of the price 
he was to receive for the murder of Professor Miliyoukov. 
The old regime wanted a nationality that would be ready 
to kill at command the enemies of autocracy, a nationality 
content with subsidies, and thinking not at all of political 
rights. Such an idea of nationality can be conceived 
only in the delirium of a senile organism. 
Dr. Doobrovin continually asserted that the Black 
Hundreds organisation comprised many millions of 
" true Russians " prepared at any moment to annihilate 
the enemies oJ autocracy. For the maintenance of 
these "millions" Ire received Government- grants, but 
when the Revolution began, the "millions " dwindled, 
to a handful of hoolifjans, some of whom hid themselves, 
others broke into the slio])s and made disturbances at 
night and were arrested by the soldiers. It could not be 
otherwise. The Russian nation is the aggregation of 
many races, living on the Great Plain, willing to work out 
together their civilisation fraternally , and peacefulh'. 
The Russian nation has given many jiroofs of wiiat liifjh 
culture values she can create. Wherever animosity 
between the races- is not purposely , instigated ■. and 
abetted, the Russian people show-the greatest toleration 
in the world. In my youth I • was deeply touched at 
seeing how the Siberian peasants lived on friendly and 
neighbourly terms with Poles, Jews, Chinamen and 
Yakouts, sliowing equal resjiect to the eight pointed 
cross of the " ()ld Believers," to the crescent of ,the 
Mahomedan, to the sacred Rolls of the Jews, a.n<^ 
even to the idols of the heathen. And why not ? 
They are all dift'erent forms of the search for Truth and 
(iod. .^nd of such great ideas the Russian peopk' will 
not speak lightly. 
I have tried to show liere how not only has the old 
regime fallen down, but that even the three buttresses 
which supported it have cnnnbled -into dust. We in 
Russia now, are like the jxjpulation of Messina on the 
day following the great earthquake.. We have moimds 
of fallen building material from which to create a new 
town on. a new plan. We have, in Russia talented 
architects. The provisional (jovernmcnt includes 
the flower of Russian " intejli^'entsia." Prince Lvoff, 
Miliyoukov, Manouilov, Singariefi are great statesmen ; 
moreover, all the members of the })rovisional go\-ernnunt 
are noble-minded, great-hearted men of flawless sincerity 
and • honesty. We have not only talented architects, 
but also willing and truly patriotic workmen. It may 
be that the creation of a hew "Messina" from the 
mounds of old material, will not be without difficulties. 
hut une nalion en revoliiiion est comme V airain qiti bout 
et se regenere dans le crcuset. 
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