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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022700045 
 
Cornell University Library 
 HN 526.P73 1898 
 
 Reflections of a Russian statesmai 
 
 3 1924 022 700 045 
 
THE RUSSIAN LIBRARY 
 EDITED BY W. T. STEAD 
 
 I 
 
REFLECTIONS OF A 
 RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 BY 
 
 K. P. POBYEDONOSTSEFF 
 
 fROCURATOR OF THE HOLY SYNOD OF RUSSIA 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT CROZIER LONG 
 
 WITH A PREFACE BY 
 
 OLGA NOVIKOFF 
 
 LONDON 
 
 GRANT RICHARDS 
 
 9 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. 
 1898 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Several years ago, Mr Kinglake, the author of 
 the "Crimean War," whom we, his friends, gener- 
 ally called "Eothen," wrote to me suggesting that 
 I should make a study of the Decay of Parlia- 
 mentarism. Here is a part of his letter: 
 
 " Now I am going ' to set you a subject,' as 
 your governess would have said in the days of the 
 schoolroom. 
 
 " I think it might suit your position to write on the 
 ' Fall of Parliamentary Government' You would 
 please Moscow, please Petersburg, please your 
 Emperor, and though not exactly pleasing England, 
 you would win her attention, and perhaps put her 
 on her mettle, and teach her to mend her ways. 
 Let me know what you think of this, and if I hear 
 that you incline to the subject I will revert to it." 
 
 Mr Froude urged me to do the same, but the 
 task to which I was invited was far beyond my 
 power. Besides, I should only have repeated what 
 was so much better said by Carlyle, Sir Henry 
 Maine, Mr Lecky, and others. But that difficult 
 duty was undertaken by a Russian, who possesses 
 all the scientific qualifications for such an examin- 
 ation. The book, which Mr Pobyedonostseff pub- 
 lished in Russian, and which was immediately, 
 translated into German, French, and Italian 
 referring principally to that subject, has been 
 extensively circulated on the Continent. It has 
 not until now been translated into English. 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 In securing its appearance in the present form, I 
 feel as if I were in some measure, though vicariously, 
 carrying out the wish of my two departed friends, 
 Kinglake and Froude. 
 
 Of the author of this remarkable and pregnant 
 volume of reflections upon the grandest problems 
 of Church and State, it is not necessary for me 
 to say more than a single word. 
 
 That word is his name, a name familiar through- 
 out Europe. It stands for Religion as opposed to 
 Atheism, for Orthodoxy as opposed to Romanism on 
 one hand and Protestantism on the other, and for 
 Authority as opposed to Anarchy. 
 
 In him all the irreligious forces of modem Nihilism, 
 as well as the theological quacks, with their sham 
 remedies for the ills of the soul, have long recognised 
 the supreme embodiment of all the principles against 
 which they wage unceasing war. 
 
 It is not his habit to descend into the arena. 
 For the most part of his long and remarkable 
 career he has been a silent witness, working, not 
 talking, serving his Emperor and his country in 
 the sphere to which he has been called. 
 
 As tutor to our late Emperor he had much to 
 do with implanting in the heart and soul of 
 Alexander III. those profound religious convictions 
 which made him afterwards so famous as the man 
 who, in his private life and in his policy, was domin- 
 ated by an almost fanatical hatred of all lies, and 
 who earned for himself the noble title of the Peace- 
 keeper of Europe by his not less passionate 
 detestation of war. 
 
 To train a pupil who, on the greatest of Imperial 
 
PREFACE vu 
 
 thrones, should never forget to hate a He, and to 
 regard as his most coveted ambition to keep the 
 peace — that was the first merit of Mr Pobyedonostseff. 
 
 Even the democratic West would not grudge him 
 that laurel, especially to-day when the French Re- 
 public, organised on all the principles of free thought 
 and equality, clings to the Russian alliance as the 
 anchor of all its confidence in the present, and its 
 hopes for the future. 
 
 But after fulfilling the duty of tutorship to the 
 Grand Duke, who, at the much-lamented death of 
 his beloved brother, became the heir to the throne, 
 Mr Pobyedonostseff was called to a post of great 
 difficulty and importance, that of Procurator of 
 the Holy Synod — a post tantamount to that of 
 Cabinet Minister. 
 
 It is not for me to speak here of the many 
 questions with which he has had to deal during 
 the tenure of his office. I am not writing a history 
 of Russia under Alexander II., Alexander III., and 
 Nicholas II. I only refer to the subject in order 
 to assert, what even his worst enemies will not 
 deny, that during the whole of his life, Mr 
 Pobyedonostseff has never even been accused of 
 acting on any other than the loftiest political and 
 religious principles. He certainly has carried out 
 his convictions with honest pertinacity. He is not 
 a man of compromise. He is a man of principle, 
 and he has been true to his convictions. 
 
 What his convictions are he has plainly stated 
 with characteristic frankness in this volume of 
 reflections upon the subjects which underlie all 
 modern political discussions. That they will be 
 
PREFACE 
 
 endorsed by readers in England and America, I 
 do not pretend to expect ; on the contrary, I am 
 afraid they will probably produce the effect of a 
 spray of iced water suddenly turned upon molten 
 lead. It js hardly to be expected that English 
 critics will be otherwise than scandalised by the 
 calm declaration of the typical Russian statesman 
 of our time that "the Parliamentary comedy is 
 the supreme political lie which dominates our age." 
 
 Nevertheless, considering the exceeding liberality 
 with which many Englishmen have showered upon 
 us criticisms of Russian institutions, which, for the 
 most part, have not even been studied or under- 
 stood at all, it is allowable to hope that modern 
 Democracy, carefully investigated by the most 
 scientific Russian authority, should get the same 
 hearing secured to it as in Germany and France. 
 
 To^ those who insist upon asserting that the 
 RussialT" views expressed in this volume belong 
 to the dark Middle Ages, and have nothing in 
 common with the "last word of civilisation," I 
 should like to say, " Strike, but hear." Mr Pobyedo- 
 , nostseff, by his deep learning and his lofty character, 
 has secured for himself one of the highest positions 
 in an Empire which even the blindest now begin 
 to see is the dominating power in Europe and 
 Asia. He is not afraid of speaking his mind 
 freely to his Emperor, and he is just as unbiassed 
 in appealing to the masses of his readers. 
 
 His worst foes cannot deny the perfect frankness 
 and honesty which permeate his book. 
 
 The opinions of a statesman who, for many years, 
 has held such a position in an Empire like Russia 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 are surely well worth the attention of the Western 
 nations. 
 
 Mr Pobyedonostseff is the critic in the stalls. 
 To him, as to all of us Russians, the parliamentary 
 theatre of the Western world performs a long tragi- 
 comedy, which occasionally ascends to tragedy and 
 sometimes sinks into farce. We can observe it 
 dispassionately, critically, and sometimes even sym- 
 pathetically. 
 
 However you may deplore the fact, we are outside 
 of it, and have never shown less disposition than 
 to-day to enrol ourselves in the Democratic troupe. 
 
 Even Count Leon Tolstoi, who may, perhaps, be 
 regarded as the most extreme and privileged critic 
 in Russia, treats Constitutionalism with the same 
 supercilious contempt as all the other forms of 
 government. 
 
 We have no parliamentary party in Russia, No 
 one, even in the abstract, as a matter of theory, 
 would wish to inoculate the Muscovite politician 
 with the passion of parliamentary faction ; hence 
 the observations of Mr Pobyedonostseff have an in- 
 dependeftee and a detachment from things impossible 
 to those who are themselves in the movement, and 
 who have to consider in all they write and speak the 
 effect which their action may have upon their own 
 future relations to the multitude. 
 
 It is not for me to follow every step of the Pro- 
 curator of the Holy Synod over the wide field 
 which he traverses with such a steady tread. My 
 task is done when, in these few words, I in- 
 troduce his book to the attention of English 
 readers. 
 
X PREFACE 
 
 But I cannot resist the temptation of noting 
 especially the prescient words of Mr Pobyedonostseff 
 as to the impossibility of reconciling the pretensions 
 of Nationality and Democracy, The recent develop- 
 ments in Austria have signally justified the grave 
 warnings of the Russian publicist, which were 
 written years before the conflict of national passions 
 which has made parliamentary government impossible 
 in the Cis-Leithan State. 
 
 In conclusion, I may remind those who protest 
 against giving a hearing to an advocate of autocracy, 
 that Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, 
 even in the sixty-first year of her reign, has not 
 deemed it expedient, or even possible, to govern 
 more than a mere fraction of her subjects on 
 Democratic principles. The government of three- 
 fourths of the British Empire is as autocratic and 
 as free from the chinoiseries of representative 
 government as the government of Russia itself. 
 
 April 1898. 
 
 Olga Novikoff. 
 ("O. K.") 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHURCH AND STATE 
 
 THE NEW DEMOCRACY 
 
 THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OF OUR TIME 
 
 TRIAL BY JURY 
 
 THE PRESS . 
 
 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 THE LAW 
 
 THE MALADY OF OUR TIME , 
 
 KNOWLEDGE AND WORK 
 
 FAITH 
 
 THE IDEALS OF UNBELIEF 
 
 THE NEW RELIGION AND THE NEW MARRIAGE 
 
 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 
 
 THE CHURCH .... 
 
 CHARACTERS .... 
 
 POWER AND AUTHORITY 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I 
 
 26 
 32 
 
 59 
 62 
 
 75 
 85 
 90 
 
 134 
 137 
 157 
 172 
 184 
 
 195 
 223 
 
 253 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 
 
 The conflict between religious and political prin- 
 ciples is one of the most remarkable phenomena of 
 our time. When discord once appears in the sphere 
 of religious and spiritual principles it is impossible 
 to predict by what limits it will be confined, what 
 elements it will involve, and whither will flow the 
 stream of passions aroused by the clash of convic- 
 tions and. beliefs. Where the religious convictions of 
 a people are concerned, it is essential that the State 
 shall establish its demands and regulations with 
 especial caution to avoid such collision with their 
 sentiments and spiritual necessities as would be 
 resented by the masses. For, however powerful 
 the State may be, its power is based alone upon 
 identity of religious profession with the people ; 
 the faith of the people sustains it ; when dis- 
 cord once appears to weaken this identity, its 
 foundations are sapped, its power dissolves away. 
 In spiritual sympathy with its rulers a people may 
 bear many heavy burdens, may concede much, and 
 surrender many of its privileges and rights. In one 
 domain alone the State must not demand conces- 
 sion, or the people concede, and that is the domain 
 where every believer, and all together, sink the foun- 
 dations of their spiritual existence and bind them- 
 
 A 
 
2 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 selves with eternity. There are depths in this domain 
 to which the secular power dare not, and must not, 
 descend, lest it strike at the roots of faith in each 
 and all. 
 
 The prime cause of the misunderstandings which 
 now exist, and which threaten to increase, between 
 the people and its rulers is the artificial theory, 
 popularly held, of the relations of Church to State. 
 In the course of events in Western Europe — events 
 indissolubly bound up with the development of the 
 Roman Catholic Church — there originated and took 
 root, as an element in political construction, the idea 
 of the Church as a religious and political institution, 
 with a power which, in opposition to the State, 
 carried on with it a political conflict, the incidents 
 of which crowd the pages of history in Western 
 Europe. This conception of the political mission 
 of the Church has driven into the background its 
 simple, true, and natural conception as a congrega- 
 tion of Christians organically bound by identity of 
 faith in divine alliance. Yet this innate conception 
 lies concealed in the depths of the popular conscience, 
 corresponding with the essential aspiration of the 
 human soul — the aspiration to faith and idsi^ity 
 ^ faith with others. In this sense the Church, as 
 a community of believers, cannot and must not 
 detach itself from the State, as a society united^Ty 
 a civil bond. Whatever perfection theories based 
 on the separation of Church and State may attain 
 in the minds of logicians, they do not satisfy the 
 simple sentiments of the mass of believers. They 
 may indeed content the political mind which sees 
 in them the best of all possible compromises, and 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 
 
 a perfect construction of philosophic ideas; but 
 in the depths of the soul which feels the living 
 necessity of faith, and of unity of faith with life, 
 these artificial theories are irreconcilable with truth. 
 The spiritual life needs and seeks above all things 
 spiritual unity ; to this it aspires as the ideal of its 
 '^existence, but when this ideal is realised in duality, 
 it scorns to accept it and turns away. By its nature 
 faith is uncompromising, and tolerates no accommo- 
 dations in its ideals. It is true that the actual life 
 of all and each of us is an uninterrupted history 
 of failure and duality, a melancholy discord between 
 thought and work, between faith and life ; but in this 
 ceaseless struggle the human soul is sustained by 
 nothing so much as by faith in an ideal ultimate unity, 
 a faith which it cherishes as the strongest sanctuary of 
 existence. Reduce a believer to the recognition of 
 this duality, he will be humiliated. Reveal to him 
 that end of all duality to which his soul aspires, — he 
 lifts his head, he feels his life renewed, and marches 
 onward armed with faith. Tell him that life and 
 faith are independent of one another, and his soul 
 rejects the thought with the abhorrence with which 
 it would reject the thought of ultimate annihilation. 
 
 It may be objected that this is a question of 
 personal belief But the faith of individuals can in 
 no way be distinguished from the faith of the 
 Church, for its essential need is community, and 
 of this need it finds satisfaction only in the 
 Church. 
 
 The struggle between Church and State in 
 Western Europe has now endured for many years. 
 The last word in this struggle has not yet been 
 
4 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 spoken, and what that word will be is still un- 
 known. Each party still measures its strength and 
 assembles its forces around it. The State relies 
 upon the forces of intelligence ; the Church relies 
 upon the faith of the people, and upon the recog- 
 nition of its spiritual authority. There can be no 
 doubt that in the end the victory will belong to 
 that party which displays the most perfect unity 
 in a living and spiritual faith. The intelligence of 
 the partisans of the State is in any case con- 
 fronted with a delicate task, the task of alluring 
 to its side and binding with it in firm alliance 
 the popular faith. But, to gain the sympathy 
 and alliance of faith, intelligence alone is vain. 
 The State must show in itself a living faith. Si 
 vis me flere dolenduin est primum ipsi tibi. The 
 popular mind is suspicious, and may not be seduced 
 by appearances of faith, or drawn by compromise; 
 for the living faith accepts no compromise, and 
 rejgcts the authority of rational logic. Though 
 " faith '' is vulgarly considered as identical with 
 "conviction," the conviction of reason must not be 
 confounded with the conviction of faith; and the 
 forces of intellect are sadly mistaken if they assume 
 in themselves the necessary elements of spiritual 
 force, independently of faith which is their very 
 essence. 
 
 This confusion of ideas is a great danger to 
 the State in its struggle with the Church. When, 
 at the time of the Reformation in Germany, the 
 State set itself at the head of the movement 
 against the old ecclesiastical power, and built a 
 new organisation for the Church, it possessed 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 
 
 actually the spiritual force of faith. The movement 
 which it led had its origin among the people; it 
 was animated by the deepest and strongest faith; 
 its first leaders represented the highest intelligence 
 of the community, and glowed with the fire of a 
 sincere faith uniting them with the people. Thus 
 in this movement were concentrated immense 
 spiritual forces, which, after many years of struggle, 
 compelled the surrender of the ancient faith. 
 
 To-day conditions differ altogether. From the 
 side of the State discord has arisen between the 
 religion of the people and the political organisation 
 of the Church. From the other quarter of intelli- 
 gence has sprung a still more striking disunion 
 between religion and its scientific construction. 
 Theological science— no longer restricted to its 
 original function of studying and comprehending 
 religious beliefs — threatens to absorb all belief by 
 submitting it as a phenomenon and external object 
 of investigation to the unsparing critical analysis 
 of reason. Political science has established a care- 
 fully elaborated doctrine of the definite severance 
 of Church from State, in consequence of which, by 
 the operation of a law admitting no division of 
 supreme power, the Church inevitably appears as 
 an institution subordinate to the State. Together 
 with this, the State appears, according to the new 
 conception, as an institution detached from every 
 religion and indifferent to all. It is natural that, 
 from this point of view, the Church appears merely 
 as an institution satisfying one of the needs of the 
 population recognised by the State — namely, the 
 need of religion ; and the modern State, while 
 
6 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 exercising over this institution control and super- 
 vision, in no way troubles about religion itself. For 
 the State, as the supreme political institution, such a 
 theory is attractive : it assures it complete autonomy, 
 the elimination of opposition, and the simplification 
 of all the operations of its ecclesiastical policy. But 
 such assurances are delusive; for this theory, evolved 
 in the studies of ministers and scholars, the con- 
 science of the people will not accept. In all that 
 relates to religion the masses demand simplicity 
 and completeness, which satisfy their minds, and 
 they reject all artificial ideas, instinctively discerning 
 their diversity from truth. Political theorists will 
 accept the retention of their offices by priests and 
 professors who — as unhappily often occurs in 
 Germany — publicly declare their disbelief in the 
 divinity of our Saviour. The conscience of the 
 people will never accept such an interpretation of 
 the priestly office, but will reject it with abhorrence 
 as a falsehood. Unhappy and hopeless is the 
 position of the ruling power when in its dispositions 
 in matters of religion the masses everywhere detect 
 falsehood and infidelity. 
 
 II 
 
 The separation of Church and State was treated 
 remarkably by the ex-priest Hyacinthe in his public 
 lectures delivered in Geneva, in the spring of 1863 
 War to the knife with the Church— this is the fancy 
 of the revolutionary party, or, at least, of its ex- 
 treme representatives, who in politics call themselves 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 
 
 Jacobins, and in the domain of religious ideas pro- 
 pagate materialism and infidelity. These men are 
 armed with two weapons, sophistry and violence. 
 They have long lost the confidence of men; they 
 are blind ; they lack the strength to continue the 
 struggle, because they confound all among their 
 adversaries, distinguish nothing, and exaggerate be- 
 yond measure their importance. 
 
 The aim of the French Revolution was to re- 
 generate society, but regeneration could only suc- 
 ceed through the application to civil society of 
 Christian principles. A struggle began between 
 the Revolution and the Roman theocracy, for the 
 Revolution confounded this theocracy with the 
 Catholic Church, the universe which surrounds all 
 believing Christians, the Evangel itself, and the person 
 of Christ. Thus war was declared, not only with 
 Rome, but with the kingdom of Christ on earth. 
 In the heart of Christendom these men began to 
 persecute the very religious feeling which, for nigh 
 two thousand years, had been inseparably associated 
 with Christianity. Such was the adversary they 
 challenged to battle, arming themselves with two 
 weapons — base and dishonoured both — the axe of 
 the headsman and the living word of the sophist. 
 
 Thanks to the Abbd freethinkers who thronged 
 the court, thanks to the admitted levity of con- 
 temporary morals, Catholicism in France was in 
 an evil state. Suddenly, it was summoned, awakened, 
 and dragged to prison. In its name ascended the 
 scaffold priests, young girls, and peasants, side by 
 side with distinguished nobles, with poets, and with ■ 
 statesmen, as in the epoch of the early Caesars. 
 
8 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 Till then its robes had been stained by the blood of 
 St Bartholomew's night, and traces of parents' and 
 orphans' tears caused by the revocation of the Edict of 
 Nantes : yet all these traces were suddenly effaced, 
 nothing was seen save the blood from its own veins, 
 the traces of its own tears. From this the Church 
 soon arose again to a great and stainless glory. For 
 this glory her executioners had prepared her. 
 
 Thus acted the sophist-philosophers also. They 
 opened questions which modern science declares in- 
 soluble ; they unveiled the secrets of death, seeing in 
 it only fantasy and delusion ; they strove to pierce 
 to the origin of humanity, and instead of the Adam 
 of our Bibles, called to its cradle some unknown 
 being, slowly developed from animal life, an ape at 
 first, and then a man. Having placed this man both 
 as to his origin and as to his end in an animal 
 medium, having degraded him to the limits of cor- 
 ruption, they changed their tone and began to glorify 
 his greatness : " How great art thou, man ! " they 
 cried. "How great art thou in thy atheism and in thy 
 materialism, and in thy freedom, submitting to nothing 
 in morals ! " But in the glory of this strange greatness 
 man seemed crushed with grief. He had forsaken 
 God, but he kept the need of religion. So imperious 
 is this need that religion may exist even without 
 God — such is Buddhism, a religion numbering its 
 millions of adherents. But what if it were true that 
 man first sprang from an animal matter? this in 
 no way changes the case of faith. In the Book of 
 
 Genesis man was made from a material baser still 
 
 mud and dust, a handful of earth. It is not the 
 envelope that makes the man. He took from his 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 
 
 Creator a living soul, a breath of religious and moral 
 life, of which, whatever he may wish, he cannot be 
 rid. And this forbids him ever to cut himself loose 
 from the Christian religion. 
 
 The Church must be separated from the State, 
 we are told. These are only words, expressing no 
 distinct idea, for the word separation may express 
 many things. We must first understand in what 
 the separation consists. If it consist in the clearer 
 delimitation of religious and secular society — a 
 sincere and permanent delimitation effected without 
 craft or violence — all men will approve of such separa- 
 tion. If, from a practical standpoint, it is demanded 
 that the State shall abdicate its right of appointing 
 the ministers of the Church, and shall repudiate its 
 responsibility for their maintenance, the concession 
 of this demand would establish a most desirable, an 
 ideal state of affairs, for which it is necessary to 
 .prepare under favourable circumstances and in legal 
 liprm. When this question matures, the State, if it 
 wishes so to decide it, is bound to restore to the 
 proper parties the right to elect priests and bishops ; 
 in such case, it will be impossible to surrender to 
 the pope that which belongs to the clergy and to 
 the people by historical and apostolic right. The 
 State is merely depository of this right, which in 
 no wayMjelongs to it. 
 
 We ar«i told that this separation is to be under- 
 stood in the widest sense. Able and learned men 
 define it thus : the State has no concern with the 
 Church, or the Church with the State. Thus 
 humanity is to revolve in two great circles. In one 
 circle will be the body, in the other the soul ; and 
 
REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 between these circles will be a void as between 
 heaven and earth. But this is impossible. The 
 body cannot separate itself from its soul— soul and 
 body live a single life. 
 
 Can we expect that the Church— I do not speak 
 of the Catholic Church in particular, but of the 
 universal Church — will consent to abdicate its 
 interest in civil society, in family society, human 
 society — all, in short, that is understood by the State ? 
 Since when has it been supposed that the function of 
 the Church is to train ascetics, to people monasteries, 
 to display in temples the poetry of its ceremonies 
 and processions? No; these are but a little part 
 of the duties entrusted to the Church. To it was 
 appointed another mission : to teach all peoples. 
 That is its work. Its duty is to train the peoples 
 of the earth that from the midst of the earthly city and 
 earthly family they may be not altogether unworthy 
 to step into the heavenly city and the heavenly 
 communion. At birth, at marriage, at death, in 
 the supi-eme moments of human existence, the 
 Church appears with its three solemn sacranients. 
 And yet we are told that the Church has no concern 
 with family life! Its duty is to inspire the people 
 with respect for the law and for power, and to inspire 
 in power respect for human freedom. Yet we are 
 told that the Church has no concern with society. 
 
 No ; the moral principle is indivisible. It cannot 
 be apportioned to provide one system of morals for 
 individuals, another for society — one for the body, 
 another for the soul. In a single moral principle 
 are embraced all the relations of life — personal, 
 domestic, and political ; and no church which retains 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 
 
 the consciousness of its own worthiness will ever 
 surrender its lawful influence on the family or on 
 civil society. To demand that the Church shall 
 abstain from intervention in civil affairs is scarcely 
 to give it new strength. 
 
 The State, we are told, has no concern with the 
 Church. Civil society was first established on the 
 basis of the primitive family, every head of a family 
 being a citizen : in that age the society of believers 
 was indistinguishable from the family or from the 
 entire people. In the course of time the structure 
 of civil society was perfected, and an universal 
 Christianity arose, embracing both families and 
 people. How can we justly say to the father and 
 the citizen : You and the Church are independent 
 of one another ? Unhappily both father and citizen 
 have long ago said this to themselves. The father 
 has grown indifferent to the tendencies and senti- 
 ments of religion in his family circle. He can find 
 no answer when his wife turns to him with her 
 doubts ; when his child with childish simplicity asks, 
 "Who is this God? And why dost thou not pray 
 to him ? And what is this death that comes and 
 bears children away?" If the father answers 
 nothing to these questions, what answer will the 
 child devise ? And if the father finds an answer, 
 the child hears in it a fable, and not the voice of 
 the living faith. The consequence is that children 
 become sceptical as their fathers, or superstitious as 
 their mothers and their confessors. Thus operates 
 the separation of the Church and State in the family 
 circle. In the place of the father is introduced into 
 the house a strange priest, in the capacity of a 
 
12 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 spiritual guide, and the guardian of consciences, 
 under aspect of a teacher. For this the priests with- 
 out doubt are to be blamed ; but still more guilty 
 are the parents, for permitting the priest to take 
 their places at the domestic hearth. With these 
 conditions, the citizens and the civil power must not 
 be surprised if the edifice they have erected tumbles, 
 and crushes them with its ruins. Such is the conse- 
 quence of the separation of Church and State. 
 
 Ill 
 
 When, early in the forties, the king of Prussia 
 learnt that some of the citizens of Berlin had 
 forsaken the Christian Church, he expressed sur- 
 prise, and asked with a smile : " What church, then, 
 they were about to join?" In the west of Europe, 
 this question would be meaningless, nowadays. Haif- 
 a-century ago it was believed that he who aban- 
 doned Christianity had left the firm ground to live 
 suspended in space. But, nowadays, to be without 
 religion is a symptom of steadfastness, not of levity. 
 
 In the Middle Ages an unbeliever was regarded 
 as a madman ; a madman at the same time so re- 
 pulsive and dangerous that he was delivered to the 
 stake. 
 
 At that time there was no place for unbelieving 
 citizens, but there were believers deprived of the 
 right of citizenship, vagabonds and outlaws to whom 
 the State refused the protection of the law, and 
 who sought the protection of their feudal lords, 
 those mighty vassals who repudiated the authority 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 13 
 
 of the State, and might even enter upon conflict 
 with their suzerains. 
 
 In our time a subject who declared himself in- 
 dependent of the State, who refused to pay taxes, 
 to render military service, and to recognise authority, 
 in short, to be his own government, would, as un- 
 believers in the Middle Ages, be declared insane ; 
 but, instead of being burnt at the stake, would 
 either be forced to submit to the lawful authorities 
 or be expelled his country. He might be trans- 
 ported to other territories, where also he would be 
 reduced to submission or expelled. 
 
 At the present day we may freely reject religion 
 and the Church, but we must not deny the State. 
 The State guarantees the enjoyment of social life 
 in all its plenitude, while the Church no longer 
 rules over social life as it ruled before. Our time 
 is distinguished by an attempt to subject all human 
 relations to the power of the State. If the Church 
 were to pretend to dominion over even half of them, 
 it would meet from all sides with obstacles and 
 opposition. 
 
 Notwithstanding the liberty everywhere extolled, 
 we tend in all things to fall under the power of the 
 State. We establish laws and regulations for every 
 important condition of our social life ; many formally 
 demand complete centralisation, and the assimila- 
 tion of individual conditions by legislative measures. 
 If but a shoe pinches we demand regulation by 
 the State ; if half-a-dozen individuals complain of a 
 burden, they must seek redress in a petition to the 
 Government. In former times they would have 
 sought redress in the Church. The doctrine that 
 
14 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 all individual life must be absorbed in the life of 
 the community, and that the life of the community 
 must be concentrated in the State, and regulated 
 by it, is the chief motive of the Socialist ideal ; 
 and as this doctrine in a distinct or indistinct form 
 has taken root in the strongest minds, the simplest 
 man is often unconsciously in sympathy with the 
 Socialist. 
 
 It is impossible to ignore that a change has taken 
 place in the relationship of the Church to the com- 
 munity of believers which sustains it. The people 
 will no longer admit of the re-establishment of the 
 old relationship of the Church to its flock with its 
 interference in individual and domestic life, in the 
 life of the community, in politics, and in the economy 
 of society. The State establishes law after law; 
 the Church not only no longer promulgates no new 
 dogmas, but cannot as before insist formally and 
 rigorously upon the interpretation and application 
 of its teachings. 
 
 In appearance, therefore, the Church has lost all 
 authority, as contrasted with the disproportionate 
 powers usurped by the State. In reality, however, 
 this is not so, for the Church relies on the spiritual 
 forces of the people {Riehl). 
 
 IV 
 
 The oldest and most familiar system of relation- 
 ship of Church to State is the system of Established 
 or State Churches. Out of the multitude of religions, 
 the State adopts and recognises as the true faith 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 15 
 
 one, which it maintains and protects exclusively, to 
 the prejudice of all remaining Churches and religions. 
 This prejudice in general means that the remaining 
 Churches are not recognised as true, or entirely true, 
 but practically it is expressed in many forms, with 
 innumerable shadows, from non-recognition and 
 alienation to persecution. In all cases where this 
 system is in force the estranged faiths submit to 
 more or less diminution in honour and prerogative 
 as compared with the established fajth. The State 
 must not be the representati|MB^he material in- 
 terests of society alone ; wen||H^Htt\rould deprive 
 itself of religious forces ^^'^^^K abandon its 
 spiritual community with the '.pdHBr The stronger 
 will the State be, the more impcmMt in the eyes of 
 the masses, the more firmly it stanHs as their spiritual 
 representative. 
 
 Under these conditions alone will the sentiment 
 of respect for the law, and of confidence in the 
 power of the State, be maintained and strengthened 
 among the people. No considerations for the safety 
 of the State, for its prosperity and advantage, no 
 moral principle even, is itself sufficient to strengthen 
 the bonds between the people and its rulers ; for 
 the moral principle is never steadfast, and it loses its 
 fundamental base when it is bereft of the sanction 
 of religion. This force of cohesion will, without 
 doubt, be lost to that State which, in the name of 
 impartial relationship to every religious belief, cuts 
 itself loose from all. The confidence of the people 
 in its rulers is founded on faith — that is, not only 
 on identity of religious profession, but on the 
 simple conviction that its rulers have faith them- 
 
i6 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 selves and rule according to it. Even the heathen 
 and Mahometan peoples have more confidence and 
 respect for a Government which stands on the firm 
 principles of faith — whatever that faith may be — 
 than for a Government which acknowledges no faith, 
 and is indifferent to all. 
 
 Such is the indisputable superiority of the Estab- 
 lished Church. Nevertheless, in the course of 
 centuries the circumstances in which this system 
 established itself have changed, and new conditions 
 have arisen which • combine to make its operation 
 more difficult than before. When the first founda- 
 tions of European civilisation and politics were laid, 
 the Christian State was strong by its whole and 
 indissoluble alliance with the united Christian 
 Church. Since then the Christian Church has 
 broken up into innumerable sects and religions, each 
 of which pretends to be the only true doctrine and 
 the only true Church. By such means the State 
 was confronted with many different doctrines, which 
 divided the support of the people. With the 
 destruction of universal communion in a single 
 faith, the time must come when the dominant 
 Church supported by the State becomes the Church 
 of an insignificant minority, and loses sympathy 
 with, or is deprived of the sympathy of, the mass of 
 the people. When this condition has once been 
 realised, grave troubles inevitably arise in the defini- 
 tion of the relationship of the State and its Estab- 
 lished Church to the Churches to which the majority 
 of the people belongs. 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 17 
 
 At the end of the eighteenth century there began 
 in Western Europe a change from the ancient system 
 to the system of equalisation of Christian beliefs 
 before the State, with the exception, however, from 
 this equality of sectarians and Jews. The State 
 accepted Christianity as the essential base of its 
 being and of social order, and adherence to one 
 or another of the Churches -or religions became 
 obligatory for every citizen. 
 
 Since 1848 this relation of the State and Church 
 has essentially changed ; the rising waves of Liberal- 
 ism have overthrown the ancient rampart, and 
 threaten to undermine the foundations of the 
 Christian State. The separation of Church and 
 State is advocated everywhere ; the State has no 
 concern with the Church— all men are free to 
 believe what they will, or not to believe at all. 
 The fundamental principles {Grundrechte) pro- 
 mulgated by the Frankfort Parliament in 1848-9, 
 are the embodiment of this doctrine, and, although 
 they soon ceased to be operative legislation served 
 and serve to-day as the ideal for the establishment 
 of Liberal principles in the legislation of Western 
 Europe in modern times. 
 
 Political and civil rights no longer depend upon 
 religion, or even upon adherence to one or another of 
 the Churches or sects. Concerning religion the State 
 asks no questions. The solemnisation of marriage, 
 and other acts of the civil condition, no longer 
 appertain to the Church. The full freedom of 
 
 B 
 
i8 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 mixed marriages is proclaimed, and the religious prin- 
 ciple of the indissolubility of marriage is destroyed 
 by facility of divorce, removed from the jurisdiction 
 of the ecclesiastical courts. 
 
 In view of all these changes, which in France 
 have gone so far as the official renunciation of faith, 
 and even so far as violence against the Church, 
 we may well ask : Can the modern State be 
 called a Christian State ? But here we observe the 
 inconsistency which we have noticed in indi- 
 viduals who, having severed their organic alliance 
 with the Christian Church, at the same time lead 
 a life in accordance with its principles. The 
 modern State, while severing its organic alliance 
 with the Christian Church, cannot dispense with 
 the forms and ceremonies which it practises. The 
 Churches and their ministers are maintained out 
 of the treasury of the State ; the army and all 
 public institutions are provided with spiritual 
 directors ; the Christian festivals are civil holidays : 
 in the public service, in the courts of justice, the 
 oath retains its obligatory force. In Germany there 
 is no State Church, nevertheless, the supre- 
 macy (Kirchenhoheit) in the Evangelical Church 
 appertains to the chief of the State; in Parlia- 
 ment, and in all social affairs the government may 
 not ignore the parties with their different religious 
 professions. In England with its absolute equality 
 of all religions on Liberal principles, not only the 
 sovereign but the greatest dignitaries of State must 
 belong to the Anglican Church. In the United 
 States also perfect religious equality obtains. To all 
 Churches, to all religious communities, the relations 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 19 
 
 of the State are identical with its relations to private 
 corporations. In the State schools the study of 
 the Law of God, and the obligatory reading of 
 the Scriptures are forbidden. Yet Congress opens 
 its sessions with prayer, with the participation of 
 an ecclesiastic. The State maintains ministers 
 of religion in the army and on the fleet. From 
 time to time the President appoints days for thanks- 
 giving and repentance. A stern law upholds the 
 sanctity of the Sabbath. In certain States the 
 severest punishments are ordained for swearing and 
 blasphemy. 
 
 Does it not follow then that the atheist State 
 is no more than an impossible Utopia, infidelity 
 being negation of the State? Religion and, above 
 all, Christianity is the source of every right in 
 political and civil life, and of all true culture. It 
 is for this reason, then, that those political parties the 
 most inimical to social order, parties radically denying 
 the State, are the first to declare that religion is 
 a personal thing in which private and individual 
 interests alone are concerned. 
 
 VI 
 
 The system of a " Free Church in a Free State '' 
 is founded on abstract principles and hypotheses. 
 It embodies not the principle of belief, but 
 the principle of religious indififerentism, and it is 
 associated with doctrines which inculcate, not toler- 
 ance and respect, but a manifest or tacit contempt 
 for religion, as an outworn factor of the psychical 
 
20 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 development of individual and national life. In 
 the abstract conception of this system, which is the 
 product of the latest rationalism, the Church appears 
 as a political institution of abstract construction, with 
 a definite aim ; or as a private corporation established 
 likewise with a definite aim, as other corporations 
 recognised by the State. The conception of this 
 aim is abstract also, for on it are reflected the diverse 
 shades associated with one or the other conception 
 of religion, from abstract respect for religion, as the 
 highest element of psychical life, to fanatical con- 
 tempt for it as the basest factor, and as an element 
 of danger and disintegration. Thus, in the construc- 
 tion of this system we see at the first glance the 
 ambiguity and indistinctness of its fundamental 
 principles and propositions. 
 
 What the consequence of this system in practice 
 will be must be proved by the experience of ages 
 and generations. Hitherto our experience has been 
 insignificant compared with the experience of the 
 many centuries through which the ancient system 
 acted and acts. But it is easy to foresee that the 
 new system cannot be durable, for it does not 
 correspond with the essential needs and conditions of 
 human nature. However logically we may affirm 
 the proposition, that " all Churches and all religions 
 are equal, and all the same," this proposition will 
 not be admitted unreservedly by a single man 
 who preserves religion in his soul, and feels the 
 need of it. Such a man will answer, " Yes, all faiths 
 are equal; but for me mine is best." Were the 
 State to establish to-day the severest and most precise 
 equalisation of all Churches and religions before the 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 
 
 law, to-morrow signs would appear that the relative 
 powers of the various religions were no longer 
 equal ; in thirty or fifty years from the time of 
 legal equalisation, we should find that one enjoyed 
 a preponderating influence, dominated minds, and 
 determined judgments ; and this, either because it 
 approximated more closely to canonical truth, or 
 because its doctrine and ritual corresponded better 
 to the character of the people, or because its 
 organisation and discipline were more perfect and 
 increased its opportunities for systematic activity, 
 or because it counted more devoted adherents and 
 workers. Of this there are many instances. In 
 Ireland British legislation has established equality of 
 the rival Churches. But it does not, therefore, result 
 that the Churches are equal. In reality, the Roman 
 Catholic Church, at the moment of its legal enfran- 
 chisement, received full power to extend and con- 
 solidate throughout the country its predominant 
 influence, not only on individual minds, but on all 
 the political institutions of the country — on the 
 courts of justice, the administration, and the schools. 
 The constitution of the United States requires 
 the non-interference of the State in religion. The 
 consequence is that the Roman Catholic is rapidly 
 becoming the dominant Church in America. In 
 North America it enjoys a greater liberty of 
 action than in any European state. Restricted by 
 no relation to the State, submitting to no control, 
 the Pope distributes dioceses, appoints bishops, 
 founds spiritual orders and convents in vast numbers, 
 and weaves over the whole territory a close network 
 of ecclesiastical agents and institutions. The Papacy 
 
22 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 controls the great mass of Catholics, yearly increasing 
 with the arrival of fresh immigrants, and counts 
 already as its own a fourth of the total population, 
 while the remaining three quarters is divided into 
 a multitude of sects. Taking advantage of all 
 opportunities to evade the law, the Catholic Church 
 has increased its power to immense proportions. 
 The administration of whole states is in its hand 
 or under its influence. In many large towns the 
 municipal government depends exclusively from the 
 Catholics. The Catholic Church disposes of millions 
 of votes in a country where from numbers alone 
 depends the whole administration of domestic and 
 foreign affairs. From the height of the principle of 
 religious equality, the State regards its dominion with 
 indifference. But the future will show how long this 
 favourite theory will obtain in the United States. 
 
 Meanwhile, its defenders ask what concern has 
 the State with inequalities which arise, not by virtue 
 of privileges or legal limitations, but in consequence 
 of the internal strength or internal weakness of 
 private corporations ? The law cannot prevent such 
 inequality. 
 
 But this is an evasion of the question, or a solution 
 only in theory. On paper any absurdity may be 
 justified, and raised to the dignity of a harmonious 
 system. On paper it is easy to establish a clear 
 boundary between the domain of politics and the 
 domain of religion and morals. In reality, it is not 
 so. Men must not be regarded as intelligent 
 machines to be disposed as the general disposes 
 his troops when he forms a line of battle. Every 
 man embodies"a world of moral and spiritual life, 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 23 
 
 from which proceed the impulses which determine 
 his activity in all the spheres of life ; but the chief, 
 the central impulse springs from faith and from 
 the conviction of truth. The theorist only, reason- 
 ing independently of actuality, or ignoring it, will 
 be satisfied by the ironical question : What is tf uth ? 
 In the souls of men this question lives as the 
 gravest question of life ; a question, requiring not 
 a negative, but a positive answer. 
 
 Thus the free State may decree that the free 
 Church concerns it not ; but the free Church, if it 
 be truly founded on faith, will not accept this pro- 
 position, and will not endure indiiiferent relations to 
 the free State. The Church cannot abdicate its 
 influence on civil and social life, and the greater 
 its activity — the stronger its consciousness of internal 
 working forces, the less is it possible for it to tolerate 
 indifferent relations to the State ; nor can such rela- 
 tions be tolerated if the Church is not to abjure its 
 duties and abandon its divine niission. On the Church 
 lies the duty of teaching and direction. To the 
 Church pertains the administration of the sacra- 
 ments, and the performance of ceremonies associated 
 with the gravest acts of civil life. In this activity 
 the Church of necessity is brought into constant 
 contact with public and civil life: of this, marriage 
 and education are suflficient instances. Thus, as 
 the State, denying the Church, assumes control 
 exclusively of the civil part of such affairs and re- 
 nounces all authority in the spiritual-religious part, 
 the Church assumes the functions surrendered by the 
 State, and, in separation from it, takes possession, 
 little by little but fully and exclusively, of those 
 
24 - REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 moral and religious influences which constitute for 
 the State an indispensable element of strength. 
 The State remains master alone of material and, 
 it may be, of intellectual forces, but both one and 
 the other are vain when unsupported by the forces 
 of faith. Little by little, therefore, instead of the 
 imagined equality of influence of the State and 
 Church in a political alliance, inequality and an- 
 tagonism appear. The position in any case is an 
 abnormal one, which must lead either to the pre- 
 dominance of the Church over the apparently 
 dominant State, or to revolution. 
 
 Such are the hidden dangers of the system, so 
 lauded by Liberal theorists, of severance of Church 
 and State. The system of State or Established 
 Churches has many defects, many inconven- 
 iences, and many difficulties; it does not preclude 
 the possibility of antagonism or conflict. But it is 
 absurd to suppose that it has outlived its time, 
 and that the formula of Cavour is the only 
 key to the solution of all the difficulties of the 
 most difficult of questions. The formula of Cavour 
 is the fruit of that political doctrinarianism which 
 regards all questions of faith merely as political 
 questions of the equalisation of rights. It lacks 
 spiritual insight, as lacked it another famous political 
 formula, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, which to 
 the present day weighs upon superficial minds with 
 a fatal burden. In both cases the passionate 
 apostles of freedom mistake in assuming freedom 
 in equality. Bitter experience has proven a hundred 
 times that freedom does not depend from equality, 
 and that equality is in no wise freedom. It is 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 25 
 
 equally absurd to believe that the equalisation of 
 Churches and religions before the State must result 
 in freedom of belief The history of modern times 
 demonstrates that freedom and equality are not 
 identical, and that freedom in no way depends 
 from equality. 
 
THE NEW DEMOCRACY 
 
 What is this freedom by which so many minds 
 are agitated, which inspires so many insensate actions, 
 so many wild speeches, which leads the people so 
 often to misfortune ? In the democratic sense of the 
 word, freedom is the right of political power, or, to 
 express it otherwise, the right to participate in the 
 government of the State. This universal aspiration 
 for a share in government has no constant limitations, 
 and seeks no definite issue, but incessantly extends, 
 so that we might apply to it the words of the 
 ancient poet about dropsy : crescit indulgens sibi. 
 For ever extending its base, the new Democracy 
 now aspires to universal suffrage — a fatal error, and 
 one of the most remarkable in the history of man- 
 kind. By this means, the political power so passion- 
 ately demanded by Democracy would be shattered 
 into a number of infinitesimal bits, of which each 
 citizen acquires a single one. What will he do with 
 it, then? how will he employ it? In the result it 
 has undoubtedly been shown that in the attainment 
 of this aim Democracy violates its sacred formula 
 of " Freedom indissolubly joined with Equality." It 
 is shown that this apparently equal distribution of 
 "freedom" among all involves the total destruction 
 of equality. Each vote, representing an inconsider- 
 able^^fragment of power, by itself signifies nothing ; 
 26 
 
THE NEW DEMOCRACY 27 
 
 an aggregation of votes alone has a relative value. 
 The result may be likened to the general meetings of 
 shareholders in public companies. By themselves in- 
 dividuals are ineffective, but he who controls a number 
 of these fragmentary forces is master of all power, 
 and directs all decisions and dispositions. We may 
 well ask in what consists the superiority of Demo- 
 cracy. Everywhere the strongest man becomes master 
 of the State ; sometimes a fortunate and resolute 
 general, sometimes a monarch or administrator with 
 knowledge, dexterity, a clear plan of action, and a 
 determined will. In a Democracy, the real rulers are 
 the dexterous manipulators of votes, with their place- 
 men, the mechanics who so skilfully operate the 
 hidden springs which move the puppets in the arena 
 of democratic elections. Men of this kind are ever 
 ready with loud speeches lauding equality ; in reality, 
 they rule the people as any despot or military 
 dictator might rule it. The extension of the right to 
 participate in elections is regarded as progress and 
 as the conquest of freedom by democratic theorists, 
 who hold that the more numerous the participants 
 in political rights, the greater is the probability that 
 all will employ this right in the interests of the public 
 welfare, and for the increase of the freedom of the 
 people. Experience proves a very different thing. 
 The history of mankind bears witness that the most 
 necessary and fruitful reforms — the most durable 
 measures — emanated from the supreme will of states- 
 men, or from a minority enlightened by lofty ideas 
 and deep knowledge, and that, on the contrary, the 
 extension of the representative principle is accom- 
 
28 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 panied by an abasement of political ideas and the 
 vulgarisation of opinions in the mass of the electors. 
 It shows also that this extension — in great States — 
 was inspired by secret aims to the centralisation of 
 power, or led directly to dictatorship. In France, 
 universal suffrage was suppressed with the end of 
 the Terror, and was re-established twice merely to 
 affirm the autocracy of the two Napoleons. In 
 Germany, the establishment of universal suffrage 
 served merely to strengthen the high authority of a 
 famous statesman who had acquired popularity by 
 the success of his policy. What its ultimate con- 
 sequences will be, Heaven only knows ! 
 
 The manipulation of votes in the game of 
 Democracy is of the commonest occurrence in most 
 European states, and its falsehood, it would seem, 
 has been exposed to all ; yet few dare openly 
 to rebel against it. The unhappy people must bear 
 the burden, while the Press, herald of a supposititious 
 public opinion, stifles the cry of the people with 
 its shibboleth, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." 
 But to an impartial mind, all this is nothing better 
 than a struggle of parties, and a shuffling with 
 numbers and names. The voters, by themselves 
 inconsiderable unities, acquire a value in the hands 
 of dexterous agents. This value is realised by 
 many means — mainly, by bribery in innumer- 
 able forms, from gifts of money and trifling 
 articles, to the distribution of places in the services, 
 the financial departments, and the administration. 
 Little by little a class of electors has been formed 
 which lives by the sale of votes to one or another 
 
THE NB W DBMOCRA CY 29 
 
 of the political organisations. So far has this gone 
 in France, for instance, that serious, intelligent, and 
 industrious citizens in immense numbers abstain from 
 voting, through the difficulty of contending with the 
 cliques of political agents. With bribery go violence 
 and threats, and reigns of terror are organised at 
 elections, by the help of which the respective cliques 
 advance their candidates ; hence the stormy scenes 
 at electoral demonstrations, in which arms have been 
 used, and the field of battle strewn with the bodies 
 of the killed and wounded. 
 
 Organisation and bribery — these are the two 
 mighty instruments which are employed with such 
 success for the manipulation of the mass of electors. 
 Such methods are in no way new. Thucydides 
 depicts in vivid colours their employment in the 
 ancient republics of Greece. The history of the 
 Roman Republic presents monstrous examples of 
 corruption as the chief instrument of factions at 
 elections. But in our times a new means has been 
 found of working the masses for political aims, and 
 joining them in adventitious alliances by provoking 
 a fictitious community of views. This is the art 
 of rapid and dexterous generalisation of ideas, the 
 composition of phrase and formulas, disseminated 
 with the confidence of burning conviction as the 
 last word of science, as dogmas of politicology, as 
 infallible appreciations of events, of men, and of 
 institutions. At one time it was believed that the 
 faculty of analysing facts, and deducing general 
 principles was the privilege of a few enlightened 
 minds and deep thinkers ; now it is considered an 
 
30 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 universal attainment, and, under the name of con- 
 victions, the generalities of political science have be- 
 come a sort of current money, coined by newspapers 
 and rhetoricians. 
 
 The faculty of seizing and assimilating on faith 
 these abstract ideas has spread among the mass, and 
 become infectious, more especially to men insuffi- 
 ciently or superficially educated, who constitute the 
 great majority everywhere. This tendency of the 
 people is exploited with success by politicians who 
 seek power; the art of creating generalities serves 
 for them as a most convenient instrument. All 
 deduction proceeds by the path of abstraction ; 
 from a number of facts the immaterial are elimin- 
 ated, the essential elements collated, classified, and 
 general formulas deduced. It is plain that the 
 justice and value of these formulas depend upon how 
 many of the premisses are essential, and how many 
 of those eliminated are irrelevant. The speed and 
 ease with which abstract conclusions are arrived at 
 are explained by the unceremonious methods observed 
 in this process of selection of relevant facts and in 
 their treatment. Hence the great success of orators, 
 and the extraordinary effect of the abstractions 
 which they cast to the people. The crowd is easily 
 attracted by commonplaces and generalities invested 
 in sonorous phrases ; it cares nothing for proof which 
 is inaccessible to it; thus is formed unanimity of 
 thought, an unanimity fictitious and visionary, but 
 in its consequences actual enough. This is called 
 the "voice of the people," with the pendant, the 
 
THE NE W DEMOCRA CY 31 
 
 "voice of God." It is a deplorable error. The 
 ease with which men are drawn by commonplaces 
 leads everywhere to extreme demoralisation of public 
 thought, and to the weakening of the political sense 
 of the people. Of this, France to-day presents a 
 striking example, and England also has not escaped 
 the infection. 
 
THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OF 
 
 OUR TIME 
 
 I 
 
 That which is founded on falsehood cannot be 
 right. Institutions founded on false principles can- 
 not be other than false themselves. This truth has 
 been demonstrated by the bitter experience of ages 
 and generations. 
 
 Among the falsest of political principles is the 
 principle of the sovereignty of the people, the 
 principle that all power issues from the people, and 
 is based upon the national will — a principle which 
 has unhappily become more firmly established since 
 the time of the French Revolution. Thence pro- 
 ceeds the theory of Parliamentarism, which, up to 
 the present day, has deluded much of the so-called 
 " intelligence," and unhappily infatuated certain foolish 
 Russians. It continues to maintain its hold on 
 many minds with the obstinacy of a narrow fanatic- 
 ism, although every day its falsehood is exposed 
 more clearly to the world. 
 
 In what does the theory of Parliamentarism con- 
 sist ? It is supposed that the people in its assemblies 
 makes its own laws, and elects responsible officers to 
 execute its will. Such is the ideal conception. Its 
 immediate realisation is impossible. The historical 
 development of society necessitates that local com- 
 munities increase in numbers and complexity ; 
 32 
 
THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OF OUR TIME 33 
 
 that separate races be assimilated, or, retaining their 
 polities and languages, unite under a single flag, 
 that territory extend indefinitely: under such 
 conditions direct government by the people is im- 
 practicable. The people must, therefore, delegate 
 its right of power to its representatives, and 
 invest them with administrative autonomy. These 
 representatives in turn cannot govern immediately, 
 but are compelled to elect a still smaller number 
 of trustworthy persons — ministers — to whom they 
 entrust the preparation and execution of the laws, the 
 apportionment and collection of taxes, the appoint- 
 ment of subordinate officials, and the disposition 
 of the militant forces. 
 
 In the abstract this mechanism is quite sym- 
 metrical : for its proper operation many conditions 
 are essential. The working of the political machine 
 is based on impersonal forces constantly acting and 
 completely balanced. It may act successfully only 
 when the delegates of the people abdicate their 
 personalities ; when on the benches of Parliament sit 
 mechanical fulfillers of the people's behests ; when the 
 ministers of State remain impersonal, absolute exe- 
 cutors of the will of the majority ; when the elected 
 representatives of the people are capable of under- 
 standing precisely, and executing conscientiously, 
 the programme of activity, mathematically expressed, 
 which has been delivered to them. Given such con- 
 ditions the machine would work exactly, and would 
 accomplish its purpose. The law ■ would actually 
 embody the will of the people; administrative 
 measures would actually emanate from Parliament ; 
 the pillars of the State would rest actually on the 
 
 C 
 
34 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 elective assemblies, and each citizen would directly 
 and consciously participate in the management of 
 public affairs. 
 
 Such is the theory. Let us look at the practice. 
 Even in the classic countries of Parliamentarism it 
 would satisfy not one of the conditions enumerated. 
 The elections in no way express the will of the 
 electors. The popular representatives are in no way 
 restricted by the opinions of their constituents, but 
 are guided by their own views and considerations, 
 modified by the tactics of their opponents. In reality, 
 ministers are autocratic, and they rule, rather than 
 are ruled by, Parliament. They attain power, and 
 lose power, not by virtue of the will of the people, 
 but through immense personal influence, or the in- 
 fluence of a strong party which places them in power, 
 or drives them from it. They dispose of the force 
 and resources of the nation at will, they grant 
 immunities and favours, they maintain a multitude 
 of idlers at the expense of the people, and they fear 
 no censure while they enjoy the support in Parlia- 
 ment of a majority which they maintain by the 
 distribution of bounties from the rich tables which 
 the State has put at their disposal. In reality, the 
 ministers are as irresponsible as the representatives 
 of the people. Mistakes, abuse of power, and arbitrary 
 acts, are of daily occurrence, yet how often do we 
 hear of the grave responsibility of a minister? It may 
 be once in fifty years a minister is tried for his crimes, 
 with a result contemptible when compared with the 
 celebrity gained by the solemn procedure. 
 
 Were we to attempt a true definition of Parliament, 
 we should say that Parliament is an institution serving 
 
THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OF OUR TIME 35 
 
 for the satisfaction of the personal ambition, vanity, 
 and self-interest of its members. The institution 
 of Parliament is indeed one of the greatest illustra- 
 tions of human delusion. Enduring in the course 
 of centuries the tyranny of autocratic and oligar- 
 chical governments, and ignoring that the evils of 
 autocracy are the evils of society itself, men of 
 intellect and knowledge have laid the responsibility 
 for their misfortunes on their rulers and on 
 their systems of government, and imagined that by 
 substituting for these systems government by the 
 will of the people, or representative government, 
 society would be delivered from all the evils and 
 violence which it endured. What is the result? 
 The result is that, mutato nomine, all has remained 
 essentially as before, and men, retaining the weak- 
 nesses and failings of their nature, have transfused in 
 the new institutions their former impulses and tenden- 
 cies. As before, they are ruled by personal will, and 
 in the interests of privileged persons, but this personal 
 will is no longer embodied in the person of the 
 sovereign, but in the person of the leader of a 
 party ; and privilege no longer belongs to an aristoc- 
 racy of birth, but to a majority ruling in Parliament 
 and controlling the State. 
 
 On the pediment of this edifice is inscribed : " All 
 for the Public Good." This is no more than a lying 
 formula : Parliamentarism is the triumph of egoism — 
 its highest expression. All here is calculated to the 
 service of the ego. In the Parliamentary fiction, the 
 representative, as such, surrenders his personality, and 
 serves as the embodiment of the will and opinions of 
 his constituents ; in reality, the constituents in the 
 
36 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 very act of election surrender all their rights in favour 
 of their representative. In his addresses and speeches 
 the candidate for election lays constant emphasis 
 upon this fiction ; he reiterates his phrases about 
 the public welfare ; he is nothing but a servant of the 
 people ; he will forget himself and his interests for 
 its sake. But these are words, words, words alone 
 — temporary steps of the staircase by which he 
 climbs to the height he aspires to, and which he 
 casts away when he needs them no longer. Then, 
 so far from beginning to work for society, society 
 becomes the instrument of his aims. To him his 
 constituents are a herd, an aggregation of votes, 
 and he, as their possessor, resembles those rich 
 nomads whose flocks constitute their whole capital 
 — the foundation of their power and eminence in 
 society. Thus is developed to perfection the art of 
 playing on the instincts and passions of the mass, 
 in order to attain the personal ends of ambition 
 and power. The people loses all importance for its 
 representative, until the time arrives when it is to 
 be played upon again ; then false and flattering and 
 lying phrases are lavished as before ; some are 
 suborned by bribery, others terrified by threats — 
 the long chain of manoeuvres spun which forms an 
 invariable factor of Parliamentarism. Yet this elec- 
 toral farce continues to deceive humanity, and to be 
 regarded as an institution which crowns the edifice 
 of State. Poor humanity! In truth may it be 
 said : mundus vult decipi, decipiatur. 
 
 Thus the representative principle works in practice. 
 The ambitious man comes before his fellow-citizens, 
 and strives by every means to convince them that he 
 
THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OF OUR TIME 37 
 
 more than any other is worthy of their confidence. 
 What motives impel him to this quest? It is 
 hard to believe that he is impelled by disinterested 
 zeal for the public good. 
 
 In our time, nothing is so rare as men imbued 
 with a feeling of solidarity with the people, ready 
 for labour and self-sacrifice for the public good ; this 
 is the ideal nature, but such natures are little 
 inclined to come into contact with the baseness of 
 the world. He who, in the consciousness of duty, is 
 capable of disinterested service of the community 
 does not descend to the soliciting of votes, or the cry- 
 ing of his own praise at election meetings in loud and 
 vulgar phrases. Such men manifest their strength 
 in their own work, in a small circle of congenial 
 friends, and scorn to seek popularity in the noisy 
 market-place. If they approach the crowd, it is 
 not to flatter it, or to pander to its basest instincts 
 and tendencies, but to condemn its follies and ex- 
 pose its depravity. To men of duty and honour 
 the procedure of elections is repellent ; the only men 
 who regard it without abhorrence are selfish, egoistic 
 natures, which wish thereby to attain their personal 
 ends. To acquire popularity such men have little 
 scruple in assuming the mask of ardour for the 
 public good. They cannot and must not be modest, 
 for with modesty they would not be noticed or spoken 
 of. By their positions, and by the parts which they 
 have chosen, they are forced to be hypocrites and liars ; 
 they must cultivate, fraternise with, and be amiable 
 to their opponents to gain their suffrages ; they must 
 lavish promises, knowing that they cannot fulfil them ; 
 andtheymust pander to the basest tendencies andpreju- 
 
38 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 dices of the masses to acquire majorities for themselves. 
 What honourable nature would accept such a r61e? 
 Describe it in a novel, the reader would be repelled, 
 but in elections the same reader gives his vote to 
 the living artiste in the same r61e. 
 
 Parliamentary elections are a matter of art, hav- 
 ing, as the military art, their strategy and tactics. 
 The candidate is not brought into direct relations 
 with his constituents. As intermediary stands 
 the committee, a self-constituted institution, the 
 chief weapon of which is impudence. The candi- 
 date, if he is unknown, begins by assembling a 
 number of friends and patrons. Then all together 
 organise a hunt among the rich and weak-minded 
 aristocrats of the neighbourhood, whom they con- 
 vince that it is their duty, their prerogative, and 
 their privilege to stand at the head as leaders of 
 public opinion. There is little difficulty in finding 
 stupid or idle people who are taken in by this 
 trickery; and then, above their signatures, appear 
 manifestoes in the newspapers and on the walls 
 and pillars, which seduce the mass, eager always 
 in the pursuit of names, titles, and wealtii. 
 Thus are formed the committees which direct 
 and control the elections. They resemble in much 
 public companies. The composition of the committee 
 is carefully elaborated: it contains some effective 
 forces — energetic men who pursue at all costs 
 material ends ; while simple and frivolous idlers con- 
 stitute the ballast. The committees organise meetings, 
 where speeches are delivered, where he who possesses 
 a powerful voice, and can quickly and skilfully 
 string phrases together, produces always an im- 
 
THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OF OUR TIME 39 
 
 pression on the mass, and acquires notoriety — thus 
 comes out the candidate for future election, who, 
 with favouring conditions, may even supersede 
 him whom he came to help. Phrases, and 
 nothing but phrases, dominate these meetings. 
 The crowd hears only him who cries the loudest, 
 and who with impudence and with flattery 
 conforms most artfully to the impulses and ten- 
 dencies of the mob. 
 
 On the day of polling few give their votes in- 
 telligently: these are the individual, influential 
 electors whom it has been worth while to convince 
 in private. The mass of the electors, after the 
 practice of the herd, votes for one of the candidates 
 nominated by the committees. Not one exactly 
 knows the man, or considers his character, his 
 capacity, his convictions ; all vote merely be- 
 cause they have heard his name so often. It 
 would be vain to struggle against this herd. If 
 a level-headed elector wished to act intelligently 
 in such a grave affair, and not to give way to the 
 violence of the committee, he would have to ab- 
 stain altogether, or to give his vote for his candidate 
 according to his conviction. However he might act, 
 he could not prevent the election of the candidate 
 favoured by the mass of frivolous, indifferent, and 
 prejudiced electors. 
 
 In theory, the elected candidate must be the 
 favourite of the majority ; in fact, he is the favourite 
 of a minority, sometimes very small, but representing 
 an organised force, while the majority, like sand, 
 has no coherence, and is therefore incapable of resist- 
 ing the clique and the faction. In theory, the election 
 
46 k'EFLBCTldNS OF A ROSSIA^ STATESMAN 
 
 favours the intelligent and capable; in reality, it 
 favours the pushing and impudent. It might be 
 thought that education, experience, conscientiousness 
 in work, and -wisdom in affairs, would be essential 
 requirements in the candidate ; in reality, whether 
 these qualities exist or not, they are in no way 
 needed in the struggle of the election, where the 
 essential qualities are audacity, a combination of 
 impudence and oratory, and even some vulgarity, 
 which invariably acts on the masses ; modesty, in 
 union with delicacy of feeling and thought, is 
 worth nothing. 
 
 Thus comes forth the representative of the people, 
 thus he acquires his power. How does he employ it, 
 how will he turn it to advantage? If energetic by 
 nature he will attempt to form a party ; if he is of an 
 ordinary nature, then he joins himself to one party 
 or another. The leader of a party above all things 
 requires a resolute will. This is an organic quality, 
 like physical strength, and does not by any means 
 inevitably accompany moral excellence. With 
 limited intellect, with infinite egoism, and even 
 wickedness, with base and dishonest tendencies, 
 a man with a strong will may become a leader in 
 Parliament, and may control the decisions of a party 
 which contains men far surpassing him in moral 
 and intellectuial worth. Such may be the character 
 of a ruling force in Parliament. To this should be 
 joined another decisive force — eloquence. This 
 also is a natural faculty, involving neither moral 
 character, nor high intellectual culture. A man may 
 be a deep thinker, a poet, a skilful general, a subtle 
 jurist, an experienced legislator, and at the same 
 
THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OF OUR TIME 41 
 
 time may not enjoy the gift of fluent speech, while, 
 on the contrary, one with ordinary intellectual 
 capacity and knowledge may possess a special 
 gift of eloquence. The union of this gift with a 
 plenitude of intellectual power is a rare and excep- 
 tional phenomenon in Parliamentary life. The most 
 brilliant improvisations, which have given glory to 
 orators, and determined grave decisions, when read 
 are as colourless and contemptible as descriptions of 
 scenes enacted in former times by celebrated actors 
 and singers. Experience shows that in great 
 assemblies the decision does not belong to reason, 
 but to daring and brilliancy ; that the arguments 
 most effective on the mass are not the most sym- 
 metrical — the most truly taken from the nature of 
 things, but those expressed in sounding words and 
 phrases, artfully selected, constantly reiterated, and 
 calculated on the instinct of baseness always dominant 
 in the people. The masses are easily drawn by out- 
 bursts of empty declamation, and under such influences 
 often "form sudden decisions, which they i-egret on 
 cold-blooded consideration of the affair. 
 
 Therefore, when the leader of a party combines 
 with a strong will the gift of eloquence, he assumes 
 his first r61e on an open stage before the whole 
 world. If he does not possess this gift he stands 
 like a stage manager behind the scenes and directs 
 thence all the movements of the Parliamentary 
 spectacle, allotting the parts to others, appointing 
 orators to speak for him, employing in his work all 
 the rich but irresolute intellects of his party to do 
 his thinking for him. 
 
 What is a Parliamentary party ? In theory. 
 
42 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 it is an alliance of men with common convictions, 
 joining forces for the realisation of their views 
 in legislation and administration. But this descrip- 
 tion applies only to small parties ; the large party, 
 which alone is an effective force in Parliament, is 
 formed under the influence only of personal ambition, 
 and centres itself around one commanding person- 
 ality. By nature, men are divided into two classes — 
 those who tolerate no power above them, and 
 therefore of necessity strive to rule others ; and 
 those who by their nature dread the responsibility 
 inseparable from independent action, and who shrink 
 from any resolute exercise of will. These were 
 born for submission, and together constitute a herd, 
 which follows the men of will and resolution, who 
 form the minority. Thus the most talented persons 
 submit willingly, and gladly entrust to stronger 
 hands the control of affairs and the moral responsi- 
 bility for their direction. Instinctively they seek a 
 leader, and become his obedient instruments, inspired 
 by the conviction that he will lead them to victory 
 — and, often, to spoil. Thus all the important 
 actions of Parliament are controlled by the leaders 
 of the party, who inspire all decisions, who lead 
 in combat, and profit by victory. The public ses- 
 sions are no more than a spectacle for the mass. 
 Speeches are delivered to sustain the fiction of 
 Parliamentarism, but seldom a speech by itself 
 affects the decision of Parliament in a grave affair. 
 Speech-making serves for the glory of orators, for 
 the increase of their popularity, and the mak- 
 ing of their careers; only on rare occasions does 
 it affect the distribution of votes. Majorities 
 
THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OP OUR TIME 43 
 
 and minorities are usually decided before the session 
 begins. 
 
 Such is the complicated mechanism of the Par- 
 liamentary farce; such is the great political lie 
 which dominates our age. By the theory of Parlia- 
 mentarism, the rational majority must rule ; in 
 practice, the party is ruled by five or six of its 
 leaders who exercise all power. In theory, de- 
 cisions are controlled by clear arguments in the 
 course of Parliamentary debates ; in practice, they 
 in no wise depend from debates, but are determined 
 by the wills of the leaders and the promptings of 
 personal interest. In theory, the representatives of 
 the people consider only the public welfare ; in 
 practice, their first consideration is their own ad- 
 vancement, and the interests of their friends. In 
 theory, they must be the best citizens ; in practice, 
 they are the most ambitious and impudent. In 
 theory, the elector gives his vote for his candidate 
 because he knows him and trusts him ; in practice, 
 the elector gives his vote for a man whom he 
 seldom knows, but who has been forced on him 
 by the speeches of an interested party. In theory, 
 Parliamentary business is directed by experience, 
 good sense, and unselfishness ; in practice, the 
 chief motive powers are a firm will, egoism, and 
 eloquence. 
 
 Such is the Parliamentary institution, exalted 
 as the summit and crown of the edifice of State. 
 It is sad to think that even in Russia there are 
 men who aspire to the establishment of this false- 
 hood among us ; that our professors glorify to their 
 young pupils representative government as the ideal 
 
44 REFLECTIONS O'E A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 of political science ; that our newspapers pursue it 
 in their articles and feuilletons, under the name 
 of justice and order, without troubling to examine 
 without prejudice the working of the parliamentary 
 machine. Yet even where centuries have sanctified 
 its existence, faith already decays ; the Liberal 
 intelligence exalts it, but the people groans under 
 its despotism, and recognises its falsehood. We 
 may not see, but our children and grandchildren 
 assuredly will see, the overthrow of this idol, 
 which contemporary thought in its vanity continues 
 still to worship. 
 
 II 
 
 The philosophy of the school of Rousseau has 
 done much evil to humanity. This philosophy took 
 possession of many minds ; but at the same time it 
 was all based on one false idea of human perfecti- 
 bility, and on the assumption in every individual 
 of capacity to comprehend and appreciate those 
 principles of social organisation which it proclaimed. 
 
 The prevalent doctrine of the perfection of 
 Democracy and of democratic government, stands 
 on the same delusive foundation. This doctrine 
 presupposes the capacity of the people to understand 
 subtleties of political science which have a clear and 
 substantial existence in the minds of its apostles 
 only. Precision of knowledge is attainable only 
 by the few minds which constitute the aristocracy 
 of intellect; the mass, always and everywhere, is 
 vulgus, and its conceptions of necessity are vulgar. 
 
THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OF OUR TIME 45 
 
 Democracy is the most complicated and the most 
 burdensome system of government recorded in the 
 history of humanity. For this reason it has never 
 appeared save as a transitory manifestation, with 
 few exceptions giving place before long to other 
 systems. It is in no way surprising. The duty 
 of the State is to act and to ordain : its disposi- 
 tions are manifestations of a single will ; without 
 this government is inconceivable.. But how can 
 a multitude of men, or a popular assembly act 
 with a single will? The upholder of Democracy 
 takes little trouble over the decision of this question, 
 but evades it by means of those favourite phrases and 
 formulas: — "The will of the people," "public opinion," 
 " the supreme decision of the nation," " the voice of 
 the people is the voice of God," and others of 
 a like nature. All these phrases signify that a 
 multitude of men on a multitude of questions may 
 form a common conclusion, and, conformably with 
 their conclusion, arrive at a common decision. This 
 may be possible sometimes, but only on the simplest 
 questions. Where questions present the slightest 
 complexity their decision by a numerous assembly 
 is possible only through the medium of men capable 
 of judging them in all their details, and of persuading 
 the people to accept their judgment. In the number 
 of complex questions may be counted all political 
 questions requiring great concentration of the intel- 
 lectual forces of the most capable and experienced 
 statesmen ; on such questions it would be absurd 
 to rely upon unanimity of thought and will in 
 a numerous assembly ; the decision of the people 
 could only be ruinous to the State. The enthusiasts 
 
46 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 of Democracy contend that the people may mani- 
 fest its will in affairs of State: this is a shallow 
 theory. In reality, we find that popular assemblies 
 are capable only of accepting — through enthusiasm 
 — the opinion expressed by individuals or by a 
 small minority — the opinion, for instance, of the 
 recognised leader of their party, of some local 
 worker of repute, of some organised association, or 
 the impersonal opinion of an influential journal. 
 Thus the discussions which precede decision become 
 an absurd comedy played on a vast stage by a multi- 
 tude of heads and voices, the greater the multitude 
 the more unintelligible is the comedy, and the more 
 the denouement depends upon fortuitous and disorderly 
 impulses. 
 
 To evade all these difficulties, the system of govern- 
 ment by representation has been devised, a system 
 first establishedj and first justified by success, in 
 England. Thence, through the influence of fashion, 
 it spread to other European countries, but proved 
 successful only in the United States of America, 
 and there by tradition and by right Yet even in 
 England, the land of their origin, representative 
 institutions are in a critical epoch of their history. 
 The very essence of the idea of representation has 
 submitted already to modifications which have 
 changed its primitive significance. In the beginning, 
 the assemblies of electors, on a strictly limited 
 franchise, sent to Parliament a certain number of 
 persons whose duty it was to represent the opinions 
 of the country, but who were not bound by any 
 definite instructions from the mass of their con- 
 stituents. It was assumed that these elected repre- 
 
THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OF OUR TIME 47 
 
 sentatives were men who understood the real needs 
 of their country, and who were capable of justly 
 controlling the politics of the State. The problem 
 was resolved simply and plainly : it was required to 
 lessen, as far as possible, the difificulties of govern- 
 ment by the people, by limiting in number the mem- 
 bers of the assemblies summoned for the decision of 
 questions of State. These men appeared in the 
 capacity of free representatives of the people, and 
 not as instruments of the opinions of factions ; they 
 were bound by no instructions. But in the course 
 of time this system changed under the influence of 
 that fatal delusion about the great value of public 
 opinion, as enlightened by the periodical Press 
 which gave to the people the capacity to participate 
 directly in the decision of political questions. The 
 idea of representation altogether lost its form, and 
 reappeared as the idea of a mandate ; or of specific 
 commission. From this point of view each repre- 
 sentative is accounted a representative of the 
 dominant opinions of his constituency, or of the 
 party under the banner of which his victory was 
 gained. Thus he is no longer a representative of 
 the country, or of the people, but a delegate bound 
 by the instructions of his party. This change in 
 the very essence of the idea of representation was 
 the germ of the disease which has since devoured the 
 whole system of representative government. With 
 the disintegration of parties, elections have taken 
 the character of personal struggles restricted by 
 local interests and opinions, but independent of their 
 primary purpose of subserving the advantage of the 
 State. With the great increase of the numbers 
 
48 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 in Parliament, most of the members, apart from 
 the interests of party strife, are characterised by 
 indifference to public affairs ; they neglect their duty 
 of attendance at all sessions, and of direct participa- 
 tion in the consideration of business. Thus the 
 work of legislation, and the direction of the gravest 
 political affairs, become a play composed of for- 
 mality, compromise, and fiction. The system of re- 
 presentation has falsified itself in practice. 
 
 These deplorable results are all the more manifest 
 where the population of a country is of hetero- 
 geneous composition, comprising nationalities of 
 many different races. The principle of nationality 
 may be considered the touchstone which reveals 
 the falseness and impracticability of parliamentary 
 government. It is worthy of note that nationality 
 first appeared as an active and irritant force in the 
 government of the world when it came into contact 
 with the new forms of Democracy. It is not easy 
 to apprehend the nature of this new force, and 
 the ends which it pursues; but it is unquestionable 
 that it contains the source of a grave and complex 
 struggle, impending in the history of humanity, and 
 it is vain to predict to what issues this struggle 
 will lead. To-day we see the various races of 
 composite States animated by passionate feelings of 
 intolerance to the political institution which unites 
 them in a single body, and by an equally passionate 
 aspiration to independent government with their 
 generally fictitious culture. We see this not only 
 among those races which have had a history and a 
 separate political life and culture, but, to an equal 
 extent, among races which have never known inde- 
 
THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OF OUR TIME .49 
 
 pendence. Autocracy succeeded in evading or con- 
 ciliating such demands and outbreaks, not alone by 
 means of force, but by the equalisation of rights and 
 relations under the unifying power. But Democracy 
 has failed to settle these questions, and the instinct of 
 . nationality serves as a disintegrating element. To 
 the supreme Parliament each race sends representa- 
 tives, not of common political interests, but of racial 
 instincts, of racial exasperation, and of racial hatred, 
 both to the dominant race, to the sister races, and to 
 the political institution which unites them all. Such 
 is the unharmonious consequence of parliamentary 
 government in composite States, as Austria, in 
 our day, so vividly illustrates. Providence has 
 preserved our Russia, with its heterogeneous 
 racial composition, from like misfortunes. It is 
 terrible to think of our condition if destiny had 
 sent us the fatal gift — an All-Russian Parliament ! 
 But that will never be. 
 
 Ill 
 
 The advocates of representative institutions point 
 to England as an illustration of their argument, but 
 to this reference we might apply the proverb, " They 
 hear a sound and know not where it is." Social 
 science in our day has begun to investigate the historic 
 and economic sources whence flow the peculiar in- 
 stitutions of the Anglo-Saxon, and to some extent 
 of the Scandinavian races, in comparison with the 
 institutions of the other European peoples. The 
 Anglo-Saxon race, from the time it appeared on the 
 
 D 
 
so REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 stage of history up to the present day, has been 
 distinguished by a strongly developed independent 
 personality ; and in the political and economic sphere 
 this attribute of the Anglo-Saxon race has been bound 
 indissolubly with the steadfastness of its ancient in- 
 stitutions, with the firm organisation of its family life, 
 with its local self-government, with those incompar- 
 able successes which it has attained by its energetic 
 action, and with the influence which it enjoys in both 
 hemispheres. By means of this personal energy, it 
 was able in the beginning of its history to overthrow 
 the strange Norman customs of its conquerors, and to 
 consolidate its polity on those principles which it pre- 
 serves unchanged to the present day. The essential 
 characteristic of this polity lies in the relation of the 
 citizen to the State, From early youth all are 
 accustomed to independence, to fashion their own 
 careers, and to earn their daily bread. Parents are 
 not burdened with the duty of providing for the careers 
 of their children, or of leaving to them inheritances. 
 Landlords maintain their own properties, and encour- 
 age husbandry and handicraft Local government is 
 carried on by the personal participation of the people, 
 inspired by sentiments of duty. The administrative 
 institutions work without an army of officials main- 
 tained by the State, and looking to it for affluence and 
 advancement. On these bases developed the repre- 
 sentative institutions of free England, and for these 
 reasons its Parliament is actually composed of repre- 
 sentatives of local interests in close association with 
 the land ; for these reasons its voice may be con- 
 sidered to a large extent as the voice of the people, 
 and as the organ of national interests. 
 
THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OF OUR TIME 51 
 
 The other European communities were organised 
 upon a different foundation — the foundation of 
 common interest. Individuals were characterised 
 less by an independent life than by their solidarity 
 with the social ■ alliance to which they belonged. 
 Thence, in the course of social and political develop- 
 ment, sprang the personal dependence of individuals 
 from some social alliance; and in the end of ends 
 from the State. These alliances, being in the be- 
 ginning firm institutions — family, political, religious, 
 social — strongly supported men in life and action, 
 and men in turn strongly upheld the social and 
 political edifice. In the course of time, these alli- 
 ances either were dissolved, or lost their ancient 
 political significance, yet men continued as before to 
 seek assistance in the niaking of their careers from 
 their families, their corporations, and finally from 
 the State, whether monarchical or republican, and to 
 lay on it the responsibility for misfortunes when these 
 supports gave way. To put it shortly, each citizen 
 looks to one of these powers to determine his career. 
 Such a state of society is commonly found deficient 
 in independent and self'reliant men, men who stand 
 upon their own feet and master their fates, thus 
 constituting an element of support to the State; 
 while on the other hand, there exists a great multitude 
 of men who seek support from the State, nourish them- 
 selves on its sap, and take from it much more than they 
 give. Thence in such societies springs the immense 
 increase on the one hand of the official class, and 
 on the other hand of the so-called liberal professions. 
 Thence, through decay of independent action, the 
 extreme complexity of the administrative and legisla- 
 
52 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 tive power which is obliged to provide for many, 
 where each should be sufficient for himself. Society, 
 in such a condition, gradually prepares for the advent 
 of Socialistic doctrines ; and general reliance upon 
 the State to provide for the prosperity of all gives 
 birth to the idiotic theory of State Socialism. 
 With such conditions of social development the 
 Continental states established among themselves re- 
 presentative institutions on the Anglo-Saxon pattern, 
 some with universal suffrage. It is plain that in 
 the condition of society described above, with its 
 light relation to social work, the people cannot 
 elect true representatives of the land and of its im- 
 mediate interests. The result of this we see in the 
 deplorable fate of representative assemblies of Europe ; 
 in the burdensome and hopeless position of the 
 governing power which is indissolubly bound with 
 them and of the people whose fate upon them depends. 
 What, then, shall we say of Slavonic races, peoples 
 distinguished as they are by their peculiar polity and 
 by the extreme youth of their culture — of Roumania, 
 of unhappy Greece? Representative institutions 
 established a disintegrating principle in the life 
 of the Slavonic peoples resembling in some 
 cases a bitter caricature of the West, which re- 
 minds us of KruilofTs fable "Martuishko and the 
 Spectacles." 
 
 IV 
 
 The greatest evil of constitutional government lies 
 in the formation of ministries on parliamentary or 
 party principles. Each political party aspires to 
 
THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OF OUR TIME 53 
 
 seize the reins of government at any cost. The 
 chief of the State must submit to the party which 
 commands a majority in Parliament; a ministry is 
 formed from the members of this party, and to 
 maintain itself in power, enters upon a contest with 
 the Opposition, which, in its turn, puts forth its whole 
 strength to overthrow its rivals and take their places. 
 If the chief of the State were to favour the minority 
 and nominate his own ministry from its ranks, the 
 new ministry would dissolve Parliament, and direct all 
 its strength towards gaining a majority at the general 
 election — with the support of this majority being 
 enabled to withstand the Opposition. The place- 
 men of the ministerial party vote always for the 
 Government, not for the sake of upholding authority, 
 not from intimate community of opinions, but be- 
 cause this Government in its turn supports the 
 members of its party in power, and in its concomi- 
 tant privileges, advantages, and emoluments. The 
 natural instinct of all parties is to support their own 
 in all circumstances, either on account of common 
 interests, or simply by virtue of that gregarious in- 
 stinct which impels mankind to unite in societies 
 and to march into battle side by side. 
 
 It is evident, then, that unanimity of opinion 
 has little influence, and that the pretended solicitude 
 for the public welfare serves as the concealment of 
 motives and instincts in no way related to it. This 
 is the ideal of parliamentary government! It is a 
 gross delusion to regard it as a guarantee of freedom. 
 The absolute power of the sovereign is replaced by 
 the absolute power of Parliament, with this difference 
 only, that the person of the sovereign may embody 
 
54 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 a rational will, while in Parliament all depends upon 
 accident, as the decisions of Parliament are brought 
 about by the majority. But as, by the side of the 
 majority constituted under the influence of party 
 gambling, a powerful minority exists, the will of the 
 majority is in no way the will of Parliament. Still 
 less can it be regarded as the will of the people, 
 the healthy mass of which abstains from participa- 
 tion in the comedy of parties, and turns away from it 
 with abhorrence. On the other hand, the corrupt 
 part of the population mingles willingly in politics, 
 and thereby is driven to a worse corruption, for the 
 chief motive of this comedy is appetite for power 
 and plunder. Political freedom becomes a fiction 
 maintained on paper by the paragraphs and phrases 
 of the constitution ; the principles of monarchical 
 power disappear ; the Liberal Democracy triumphs, 
 bringing into society disorder and violence with the 
 principles of infidelity and materialism, and proclaim- 
 ing Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity — ^where there is 
 place neither for Liberty nor for Equality. Such 
 conditions inevitably lead to anarchy, from which 
 society can be saved alone by dictatorship — that 
 is, by the rehabilitation of autocracy in the govern- 
 ment of the world. 
 
 The first example of representative government 
 by the people was set to modern Europe by 
 England. Towards the middle of the eighteenth 
 century French philosophers began to glorify 
 English institutions as models for universal imita- 
 tion. But at that time French intelligence was 
 fascinated less by the principles of political freedom 
 than by the principle of religious toleration — in 
 
THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OF OUR TIME SS 
 
 other words, by the principle of unbelief — dissemi- 
 nated by the English philosophers of the day. 
 Once sanctioned by France, which then gave tone 
 to the morals and the literature of the West, 
 the fashion of English institutions spread over 
 the whole European continent. Meantime, two 
 great events took place, of which one confirmed 
 this faith in representative institutions, while the 
 other shook it to its foundations. The republic 
 of the United States of America was established, 
 and its institutions, with the exceptions of monarchy 
 and aristocracy, modelled on the institutions of 
 England took root on the new soil steadfastly 
 and fruitfully. This success infatuated many minds, 
 above all, in France. On the other hand arose 
 the French Republic, and horrified the world 
 with the disorders, and violence of a revolutionary 
 Government. Everywhere arose a cry of indig- 
 nation and abhorrence of French and of all demo- 
 cratic institutions. The dread of revolution was 
 imaged even in the internal politics of the British 
 Government. In 1815, under the influence of 
 political events, this feeling began to abate; and 
 again the intellect of Europe aspired to combine 
 political freedom with civil order in forms resembling 
 those of the English constitution ; political Anglo- 
 mania was fashionable once more. Then followed 
 a series of attempts to realise the British ideal, 
 first in France, then in Spain and Portugal, then 
 in Holland and Belgium, and finally, in later times, 
 in Germany, in Italy, and in Austria. A faint 
 echo of this movement reached even Russia in 
 1825, in the insensate attempts of aristocratic 
 
S& REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 visionaries, ignorant both of their countrymen and of 
 their history. 
 
 It is interesting to follow the history of the new de- 
 mocratic institutions, and to contrast their instability 
 with the steadfastness of monarchical institutions, 
 the life of which is counted by centuries. 
 
 In France, from the date of the establishment of 
 political freedom, the Government, in all its strength, 
 was three times overthrown by the mob of Paris — in 
 1792, in 1830, and in 1848. Three times it was 
 overthrown by the army, or by military violence : on 
 the 4th September (i8th Fructidor) 1797, when 
 the majority of the Directory, with the co-operation 
 of military forces, annulled the elections of forty-eight 
 departments, and exiled fifty-six members of the 
 legislative assemblies. A second time, in 1797, 9th 
 November (i8th Brumaire), the Government was 
 overthrown by Bonaparte, and finally, in 1851, 2nd 
 December, by another Bonaparte, Napoleon .III. 
 Three times the Government was overthrown by 
 invasion from without: in 1814, in 1815, and in 
 1870. Thus, from the beginning of its political 
 experiments, up to 1870, France has had approxi- 
 mately forty-four years of freedom, and thirty-seven 
 years of rigorous dictatorship. Here we may notice 
 a remarkable fact. The monarchs of the elder branch 
 of the Bourbons, who made great concessions to the 
 demand for political freedom, at no time relied on 
 the principle of modern Democracy ; while, on the 
 other hand, the two Napoleons who governed France 
 despotically preached this gospel without reserve. 
 
 In Spain, popular government was proclaimed at the 
 time of the final overthrow of Napoleon. An extra- 
 
THE GREAT FALSEHOOD OF OUR TIME S7 
 
 ordinary session of the Cortes at Cadiz confirmed 
 the constitution, proclaiming in its first article that 
 the sovereign power belonged to the people. 
 Ferdinand VII., having been established in Spain 
 by France, annulled this constitution, and began 
 to govern autocratically. In six years General 
 Riego, at the head of a military insurrection, forced 
 the king to re-establish the constitution. In 1823, at 
 the instigation of the Holy Alliance, the French army 
 entered Spain and re-established Ferdinand in despot- 
 ism. His widow, as Regent, accepted the constitu- 
 tion anew for the preservation of her daughter's rights 
 against Don Carlos. Then began for Spain a series 
 of rebellions and revolts, rarely interrupted by short 
 intervals of comparative tranquillity. It is enough 
 to point out that, from the year 18 16 to the accession 
 of Alfonso XIII., there were in Spain nearly forty 
 military revolts, with the participation of the people. 
 Speaking of Spain, we may notice the monstrous 
 spectacle presented by the republics of South 
 America — republics of Spanish origin and Spanish 
 rnanners. The history of these republics records an 
 uninterrupted series of sanguinary conflicts between 
 \ the people and the army, interrupted by the rule 
 of despots who remind us of Commodus or Caligula. 
 It is enough to mention Bolivia, where, of fourteen 
 presidents of the republic, thirteen ended their 
 careers by igolent death or in exile. 
 
 The establishment of representative government in 
 Germany and Austria dates only from 1848. It 
 is true that as early as 181 5 the dull rumbling of 
 the young intelligence of Germany was heard 
 demanding the fulfilment of the promises given to 
 
S8 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 the people in the days of the great war of deliver- 
 ance. But, with a few trifling exceptions, representa- 
 tive institutions did not exist in Germany before 
 1847, when the King of Prussia established a peculiar 
 form of constitutional government which lasted no 
 longer than a year. But it needed only the success 
 of the Paris mobs in destroying the French charter, 
 and dethroning their constitutional king, to revive 
 in Germany the popular -movement with the co- 
 operation of the army. In Berlin, in Vienna, in 
 Frankfort, national assemblies were established on 
 the model of the French. Hardly a year had passed 
 when the Government overthrew them by military 
 violence. The modern constitutions of Germany 
 and Austria emanated from the will of the sovereign, 
 and still await the judgment of history. 
 
TRIAL BY JURY 
 
 The following is the judgment of a famous English 
 writer * a profound student of history, on the jury 
 system of his country : — 
 
 " Popular Government and Popular Justice were originally the 
 same thing. The ancient democracies devoted much more time 
 and attention to the exercise of civil and criminal jurisdiction than 
 to the administration of their public affairs ; and, as a matter of 
 fact, popular justice has lasted longer, has had a more continuous 
 history, and has received much more observation and cultivation, than 
 popular Government. . . . We have in England a relic of the ancient 
 Popular Justice in the functions of the Jury. The Jury — technically 
 known as the 'country' — is the old adjudicating Democracy, limited, 
 modified, and improved, in accordance with the principles suggested 
 by the experience of centuries, so as to bring it into harmony with 
 modern ideas of judicial efficiency. The change which has had 
 to be made in it is in the highest degree instructive. The Jurors 
 are twelve, instead of a multitude. Their main business is to say 
 •Aye' or 'No' on questions which are doubtless important, but 
 which turn on facts arising in the transactions of everyday life. In 
 order that they may reach a conclusion, they are assisted by a system 
 of contrivances and rules of the highest artificiality and elaboration. 
 An expert presides over their investigations — the Judge, the repre- 
 sentative of the rival and royal justice — and an entire literature is 
 concerned with the conditions under which evidence on the facts 
 in dispute may be laid before them. There is a rigid exclusion of 
 all testimony which has a tendency to bias them unfairly. They are 
 addressed, as of old, by the litigants or their advocates, but their 
 inquiry concludes with a security unknown to antiquity, the 
 summing-up of the expert President, who is bound by all the rules 
 of his profession to the sternest impartiality. If he errs, or if they 
 * Sir Henry Maine. 
 
 59 
 
6o REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 flagrantly err, the proceedings may be quashed by a superior Court 
 of experts. Such is Popular Justice, after ages of cultivation. Now 
 it happens that the oldest Greek poet has left us a picture, certainly 
 copied from reality, of what Popular Justice was in its infancy. 
 The primitive Court is sitting ; the question is ' guilty ' or • not 
 guilty.' The old men of the community give their opinions in 
 turn ; the adjudicating Democracy, the Commons, standing round 
 about, applaud the opinion which strikes them most, and the 
 applause determines the decision. The Popular Justice of the 
 ancient republics was essentially of the same character. The adjudi- 
 cating Democracy simply followed the opinion which most impressed 
 them in the speech of the advocate or litigant. Nor is it in the least 
 doubtful that, but for the sternly repressive authority of the pre- 
 siding Judge, the modern English Jury would, in the majority 
 of cases, blindly surrender its verdict to the persuasiveness of 
 one or other of the counsel who have been retained to address 
 it." — " Popular Government," pp. 8 9-9 1 . London 1885. 
 
 These are the words of an Englishman, a profound 
 student of his country's history, and a deep thinker. 
 We involuntarily remember the fate of this unhappy 
 institution in countries where the historical and 
 economic conditions from which in England it 
 sprang do not exist. To those who introduced this 
 institution into Continental countries we might apply 
 the Russian proverb, " They hear a sound, but know 
 not where it is." It was at once reckless and 
 irrational to entrust to the justice of the people 
 the decision as to the guilt of an accused person 
 without devising practical measures of discipline, 
 and without preparatory study of this alien institu- 
 tion in the land of its origin and with all its complex 
 surroundings. 
 
 The consequences are apparent. After tests ex- 
 tending over many years, in every country where 
 trial by jury modelled upon the English system 
 
TRIAL BY JURY 6i 
 
 has been established, the question has arisen by 
 what it is to be replaced to avoid the inconsequence 
 of the judgments of which it has been the cause. 
 Such difficulties multiply daily, and have permeated 
 even those States where there is a strong judicial 
 system, the product of centuries of experience and 
 of rigorous discipline in science and practice. 
 
 It is not hard to understand the consequences 
 of popular justice in those younger States which 
 lack these saving elements — where, instead, we find 
 an innumerable host of advocates who, impelled 
 by ambition and selfishness, quickly attain that 
 remarkable skill in the arts of casuistry and verbal 
 subtlety needed to influence a jury of incongruous 
 constitution, chosen at random, or with ulterior 
 design, by whom the elements of justice are 
 inaccessible, and the necessity for subjecting to 
 analysis the mass of facts requiring consideration 
 ignored. Behind these comes the motley crowd, 
 attracted as to a play, to dissipate the monotony 
 begotten of idleness — the mob, in the phraseology 
 of idealists, denominated "the people." It is not 
 to be wondered at that with such conditions the 
 consequence so often corresponds with the judgment 
 which I have taken from Sir Henry Maine, that " the 
 modern jury, in the majority of cases, surrenders its 
 verdict to the persuasiveness of one or other of the 
 counsel who have been retained to address it." 
 
THE PRESS 
 
 I 
 
 From the day that man first fell falsehood has ruled 
 the world — ruled it in human speech, in the practical 
 business of life, in all its relations and institutions. 
 But never did the Father of Lies spin such webs of 
 falsehood of every kind, as in this restless age when 
 we hear so many falsehoods uttered everywhere 
 on Truth. With the growing complexity of social 
 problems increases the number of relations and insti- 
 tutions pervaded with falsehood through and through. 
 At every step appears some splendid edifice bearing 
 the legend, "Here is Truth." Do you enter — you 
 tread on falsehoods at every step. Would you ex- 
 pose the falsehoods which have angered you, the 
 world will turn on you with anger greater still, and 
 bid you trust and preach that this is truth, and 
 truth unassailable. 
 
 Thus we are bidden to believe that the judgments 
 of newspapers and periodicals, the judgments of the 
 so-called Press, are the expression of public opinion. 
 This, too, is a falsehood. The Press is one of the 
 falsest institutions of our time. 
 
 But who will dare to stand against the forces of 
 opinion — the opinion of the world on men and insti- 
 tutions? Such is the nature of man that each one 
 of us, whatever his words or actions may be, takes 
 62 
 
THE PRESS 63 
 
 care that he shall conform with the opinions of the 
 people. The man is yet unborn who can truly boast 
 himself free from this servility. 
 
 In our age the judgment of others has assumed 
 an organised form, and calls itself Public Opinion. 
 Its organ and representative is the Press. In truth, 
 the importance of the Press is immense, and may 
 be regarded as the most characteristic fact of our 
 time — more characteristic even than our remarkable 
 discoveries and inventions in the realm of technical 
 science. No government, no law, no custom can 
 withstand its destructive activity when, from day 
 to day, through the course of years, the Press repeats 
 and disseminates among the people its condemnations 
 of institutions or of men. 
 
 What is the secret of this strength?. Certainly 
 not the novelties and sensations with which the news- 
 paper is filled, but its declared policy — the political 
 and philosophical ideas propagated in its articles, 
 the selection and classification of its news and 
 rumours, and the peculiar illumination which it 
 casts upon them. The newspaper has usurped the 
 position of judicial observer of the events of the 
 day; it judges not only the actions and words of 
 men, but affects a knowledge of their unexpressed 
 opinions, their intentions, and their enterprises ; it 
 praises and condemns at discretion; it incites some, 
 threatens others ; drags to the pillory one, and others 
 exalts as idols to be adored and examples worthy 
 of the emulation of all. In the name of Public 
 Opinion it bestows rewards on some, and punishes 
 others with the severity of excommunication. The 
 question naturally occurs: Who are these repre- 
 
64 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 sentatives of this terrible power, Public Opinion? 
 Whence is derived their right and authority to rule 
 in the name of the community, to demolish existing 
 institutions, and to proclaim new ideals of ethics and 
 legislation ? 
 
 But no one attempts to answer this question; 
 all talk loudly of the liberty of the Press as the 
 first and essential element of social well-being. 
 Even in Russia, so libelled by the lying Press of 
 Europe, such words are heard. Our so-called Slavo- 
 philes, with amazing inconsistency, share the same 
 delusion, although their avowed object is to reform 
 and renovate the institutions of their country upon 
 a historic basis. Having joined the chorus of 
 Liberals, in alliance with the propagandists of 
 revolution, they proclaim exactly in the manner of 
 the West: "Public Opinion — that is, the collective 
 thought, guided by the natural love of right in all — 
 is the final judge in all matters of public interest; 
 therefore no restriction upon freedom of speech can 
 be allowed, for such restriction can only express the 
 tyranny of the minority over the will of the mass." 
 
 Such is a current proposition of the newest 
 Liberalism. It is accepted by many in good faith, 
 and there are few who, having troubled to analyse 
 it, have discerned how it is based upon falsehood 
 and self-deception. 
 
 It conflicts with the first principles of logic, for 
 it is based on the fallacious premiss that the 
 opinions of the public and of the Press are identical. 
 
 To test the validity of this claim, it is only 
 needful to consider the origin of newspapers, and 
 the characters of their makers. 
 
THE PRESS - 6s 
 
 Any vagabond babbler or unacknowledged genius, 
 any enterprising tradesman, with his own money 
 or with the money of others, may found a news- 
 paper, even a great newspaper. He may attract 
 a host of writers and feuilletonists, ready to deliver 
 Judgment on any subject at a moment's notice; he 
 may hire illiterate reporters to keep him supplied 
 with rumours and scandals. His staff is then com- 
 plete. From that day he sits in judgment on all 
 the world, on ministers and administrators, on 
 literature and art, on finance and industry. It is 
 true that the new journal becomes a power only 
 I when it is sold in the market — that is, when it cir- 
 jjculates among the public. For this talent is needed, 
 'and the matter published must be attractive and con- 
 genial for the readers. Here, we might think, was 
 some guarantee of the moral value of the under- 
 I taking — men of talent will not serve a feeble or 
 contemptible editor or publisher; the public will 
 not support a newspaper which is not a faithful 
 echo of public opinion. This guarantee is 
 fictitious. Experience proves that money will 
 attract talent under any conditions, and that talent 
 is ready to write as its paymaster requires. 
 Experience proves that the most contemptible 
 persons — retired money-lenders, Jewish factors, 
 newsvendors, and bankrupt gamblers — may found 
 newspapers, secure the services of talented writers, 
 and place their editions on the market as organs 
 of public opinion. The healthy taste of the public 
 is not to be relied upon. The great mass of readers, 
 idlers for the most part, is ruled less by a few 
 healthy instincts than by a base and despicable 
 
 E 
 
66 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 hankering for idle amusement; and the support of 
 the people may be secured by any editor who 
 provides for the satisfaction of these hankerings, 
 for the love of scandal, and for intellectual pruriency 
 of the basest kind. Of this we meet with evidence 
 daily : even in our own capital no search is necessary 
 to find it ; it is enough to note the supply and 
 demand at the newsvendors' shops, and at the 
 railway stations. All of us have observed the 
 triviality of conversation in society ; in provincial 
 towns, in the government capitals, the recrea- 
 tions of the people are well known — gambling, 
 scandal, and anecdotes are the chief Even 
 conversation on the so-called social and political 
 questions takes in a great measure the form of 
 censure and aphorisms, plentifully supplemented 
 with scandal and anecdote. This is a rich and 
 fruitful soil for the tradesmen of literature, and 
 there, as poisonous fungi, spring up organs of 
 calumny, ephemeral and permanent, impudently 
 extolling themselves as organs of public opinion. 
 The great part which in the idle life of govern- 
 ment towns is played by anonymous letters and 
 lampoons, which, unhappily, are so common among 
 us, is played in the newspaper by " correspondence," 
 sent from various quarters or composed in the 
 editorial offices, by the reports and rumours invented 
 by ignorant reporters, and by the atrocious practice 
 of blackmailing, often the strongest weapon of the 
 newspaper press. Such a paper may flourish, attain 
 consideration as an organ of public opinion, and 
 be immensely remunerative to its owners, while no 
 paper conducted upon firm moral principles, or 
 
THE PRESS 67 
 
 founded to meet the healthier instincts of the 
 people could compete with it for a moment. 
 
 This phenomenon is worthy of close inspection, 
 for we find in it the most incongruous product of 
 modern culture, the more incongruous where the 
 principles of the new Liberalism have taken root, 
 where the sanction of election, the authority of the 
 popular will, is needed for every institution, where 
 the ruling power is vested in the hands of individuals, 
 and derived from the suffrages of the majority in 
 the representative assemblies. For the journalist 
 with a power comprehending all things, requires no 
 sanction. He derives his authority from no election, 
 he receives support from no one. His newspaper 
 becomes an authority in the State, and for this 
 authority no endorsement is required. The man 
 in the street may establish such an organ, and 
 exercise the concomitant authority with an irre- 
 sponsibility enjoyed by no other power in the world. 
 That this is in no way exaggeration there are in- 
 numerable proofs. How often have superficial 
 and unscrupulous journalists paved the way for 
 revolution, fomented irritation into enmity, and 
 brought about desolating wars ! For conduct such 
 as this a monarch would lose his throne, a minister 
 would be disgraced, impeached, and punished ; but 
 the journalist stands dry above the waters he has 
 disturbed, from the ruin he has caused he rises 
 triumphant, and briskly continues his destructive 
 work. 
 
 This is by no means the worst. When a judge has 
 power to dishonour us, to deprive us of our property 
 and of our freedom, he receives his power from the 
 
68 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 hands of the State only after such prolonged labour 
 and experience as qualify him for his calling. His 
 power is restricted by rigorous laws, his judgments 
 are subject to revision by higher powers, and his sen- 
 tence may be altered or commuted. The journalist 
 has the fullest power to defame and dishonour me, 
 to injure my material interests, even to restrict my 
 liberty by attacks which force me to leave my place 
 of abode. These judicial powers he has usurped ; 
 no higher authority has conferred them upon him ; 
 he has never proven by examination his fitness to 
 exercise them ; he has in no way shown his trust- 
 worthiness or his impartiality ; his court is ruled by 
 no formal procedure ; and from his judgment there 
 lies no appeal. Its defenders assure us that the 
 Press itself heals the wounds it has inflicted; but 
 any thinking mind can see that these are mere 
 idle words. The attacks of the Press on indi- 
 viduals may cause irreparable injury. Retrac- 
 tions and explanations can in no way give them 
 full satisfaction. Not half of those who read the 
 denunciatory article will read the apology or the 
 explanation, and in the minds of the mass of frivolous 
 readers insulting or calumnious suggestions leave 
 behind an ineffaceable stain. Criminal prosecution 
 for defamation is but the feeblest defence, and civil 
 action seldom succeeds in exposing the offender, 
 while it subjects the offended to fresh attack. The 
 journalist, moreover, has a thousand means of 
 wounding and terrifying individuals without 
 furnishing them with sufficient grounds for legal 
 prosecution. 
 
 It is hard to imagine a despotism more irrespon- 
 
THE PRESS 69 
 
 sible and violent than the despotism of printed words. 
 Is it not strange and irrational, then, that those who 
 struggle most for the preservation of this despotism are 
 the impassioned champions of freedom, the ferocious 
 enemies of legal restrictions and of all interference by 
 the established authority. We cannot help remem- 
 bering those wise men who went mad because they 
 knew of their wisdom. 
 
 11 
 
 There is nothing more remarkable in this century 
 of advancement than the development of journalism 
 to its present state as a terribly active social force. 
 The importance of the Press first began to increase 
 after the Revolution of July 1830, it doubled its 
 influence after the Revolution of 1 848 ; since then 
 it has grown in power not only year by year but 
 day by day. Already Governments have begun 
 to measure their strength against this new force, 
 and it has become impossible to imagine not only 
 public but even individual life without the news- 
 paper ; so -that the suppression of newspapers, if 
 it were possible, would mean as much to daily 
 life as the cessation of railway communica- 
 tions. Without doubt, the newspaper serves 
 the world as a powerful instrument of culture. 
 But while we acknowledge the convenience 
 and profit derived from the dissemination of 
 knowledge among the people, and from the 
 interchange of thought and opinion, we cannot 
 ignore the dangers imminent from the unbounded 
 
JO REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 growth of the Press ; we cannot refuse to recognise 
 with a feeling of terror, the fatal, mysterious, and 
 disintegrating force which threatens the future 
 of humanity. 
 
 Every day the newspaper brings us a mass of 
 varied news. How much of this is of real use 
 to our lives, and to our educational development? 
 How much is fit to feed in our souls the sacred 
 flame of aspiration unto good? How much is 
 there not to flatter our baser instincts and im- 
 pulses ? We are told that the newspaper gives 
 what the taste of readers demands, that its level 
 reaches the level of the reader's taste. But to this 
 we may reply that the demand would not be so 
 great were the supply less energetically pushed. 
 
 If news alone were published the case would 
 be different ; but no, it is offered in a special form, 
 embellished with personal opinions, and accom- 
 panied by anonymous but very decided com- 
 mentaries. Papers controlled by serious persons 
 of course exist, but such are few, while to the 
 making of newspapers there is no end ; and no 
 morning passes without some writer, unknown to 
 me, whom, perhaps, I should not care to know, 
 obtruding upon me his views, expressed with all the 
 authority of public opinion. What is graver still, 
 however, is that this newspaper addresses not only 
 a single class, but all men, some of whom can barely 
 spell out a page of print, and offers to each a 
 ready-made judgment upon everything, in such a 
 seductive form that, little by little, by force of habit, 
 the reader loses all wish for, and feels absolved 
 from the duty of, forming his own opinions. Some 
 
THE PRESS J I 
 
 have no ability for forming opinions, and accept 
 mechanically the opinions of their newspapers ; 
 while others, born with a capacity for original 
 thought, in the trials and anxieties of daily life 
 have not the time to think, and welcome the news- 
 paper which does their thinking for them. The harm 
 that results from this is too visible, especially in 
 our time when powerful currents of thought are 
 everywhere in action, wearing down the corners 
 and distinctions of individual thought, reducing to 
 uniformity the so-called public opinion, and weaken- 
 ing all independent development of thought, of 
 will, and of character. Moreover, for many of the 
 people the newspaper is the only source of education 
 — a contemptible, pretended education — the varied 
 mass of news and information found in the news- 
 paper being taken by its readers as real know- 
 ledge, with which he proceeds to arm himself 
 complacently. This we may take as one of the 
 reasons why our age brings forth so few complete 
 individuals, so few men of character. The modern 
 Press is like the fabled hero who, having inscribed 
 upori his visor some mysterious characters, the 
 symbols of divine truth, struck all his enemies with 
 terror, till one intrepid warrior rubbed from his 
 helm the mysterious letters. On the visor of our 
 Press to-day is written the legend " Public Opinion," 
 and its influence is irresistible. 
 
 Ill 
 In the present constitution of society the Press has 
 
72 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 become an institution which cannot be ignored, but 
 which must be considered side by side with the exist- 
 ing institutions which constitute the State and are 
 subject to control and responsibility, for there is 
 no institution which may be accounted uncontrolled 
 and irresponsible. The greater the growth of the 
 Press, the more clearly appear, side by side with 
 the apparent advantages of rational and conscien- 
 tious publicity, those social dangers which it creates. 
 One of these dangers is the production and multi- 
 plication of a class of journalists, adventurers, and 
 writers, who feed and grow fat upon the pen. 
 The more serious workers on the serious Press 
 never cease to complain bitterly of the multipli- 
 cation of these fellows, with whom they are 
 ashamed to be associated, even in name. In all 
 the great States, in all the great markets, out of 
 this rabble of scribbling brethren springs a class 
 of men whom it is no exaggeration to describe as 
 parasites on society. 
 
 In fact, these men stand on a special footing in 
 relation to the general welfare, which should unite 
 and inspire all institutions. They are in no way 
 directly interested in the preservation of social 
 order, in the reconciliation of opposing minds and 
 contending parties. This is in the nature of things. 
 The newspaper lives and is nourished by daily 
 events and news. In troubled times its circulation 
 increases; then its energies are expended in the 
 dissemination of rumours and sensations which 
 alarm and irritate the minds of the people ; while 
 on the other hand in times of quietude its circulation 
 is sensibly diminished. Hardly has trouble begun 
 
THE PRESS 73 
 
 when the streets are flooded with new publications 
 which discord nourishes till peace returns, when they 
 vanish as quickly as they appeared. But even in 
 quiet times some must live, and for that end, new 
 agitations -are fomented, new interests developed, 
 and sensations invented or exaggerated. 
 
 Those journals which pretend to seriousness find 
 matter in the consideration of political questions, 
 and in the frothy polemics which daily appear. The 
 journalist is ready at a moment's notice to decide 
 any imaginable political question ; and by his posi- 
 tion he is bound to consider and decide it imme- 
 diately, for he is a servant not of thought, or of 
 reason, but a servant of the actual day. No sooner 
 does the thought occur than it flies to paper, thence 
 to the printing press ; there must be no delay, 
 no time is allowed for the ripening of his thought. 
 You ask these men are they ashamed. Not at 
 all. They would laugh in your face at such a 
 question, they are persuaded that they render great 
 services to society. They resemble, in this the 
 ancient augurs who made merry both over them- 
 selves and over their dupes. 
 
 ■ If th& journalist is to attract attention, he must raise 
 his voice to a scream. This his trade requires, and 
 exaggeration capable of passing into pathos becomes 
 for him his second nature. When he enters upon 
 a controversy he is ready to denounce his adversary 
 as a fool, a rascal, or a dunce, to heap upon him 
 unimaginable insults — this costs his conscience 
 nothing; it is required by journalistic etiquette. 
 His cries resemble the protestations of a trader in 
 the market-place when he cheats his customers. 
 
74 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 These are the practices and qualities which un- 
 happily flourish in the Press and among its workers. 
 It would be very laughable were it not so harmful. 
 It is harmful because the Press now occupies an 
 arena in which are discussed and decided the gravest 
 questions of internal and external policy — questions 
 of economy and administration indissolubly bound 
 with the vital interests of peoples. For all this passion 
 is but a weak equipment; sage reasoning and maturity 
 and sanity of thought are also needed ; needed, too, is 
 knowledge of the history of peoples, and of practical 
 life. Yet in Europe things have gone so far that 
 from the ranks of journalism rise orators and states- 
 men who, together with the advocates with whom 
 they share the capacity for abusive language, con- 
 stitute in Parliament an overwhelming force. In the 
 French Chamber there are but twenty-two repre- 
 sentatives of large and fifty of small property, while 
 all the talking strength belongs to journalists, of 
 whom there are fifty-nine, and to advocates, of whom 
 there are a hundred and seven. 
 
 And these are the representatives of their country, 
 and the judges of the lives and requirements of the 
 people ! The people groans at this confusion of 
 legislators. But it cannot deliver itself 
 
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 I 
 
 When reason is severed from life it becomes at 
 once artificial, formal, and, in consequence, sterile. 
 Problems are then regarded and solved from the 
 point of view of abstract propositions and principles 
 taken on faith ; and thought glides along the surface 
 of things, never seeking to penetrate its object, and 
 ignoring the facts of actual life. Of such abstractions 
 and generalities- the number has multiplied incredibly, 
 especially since the end of the last century ; they have 
 filled our lives, they have made our legislation inde- 
 pendent of the facts of existence, and have set up 
 science itself in opposition to life and its phenomena. 
 In the wake of the doctrinaires of science, whose 
 doctrinarianism often approaches infatuation, in the 
 wake, of the adepts of scholasticism, marches the 
 great herd of intellect. Abstract propositions attain 
 the rank of indisputable axioms, which to oppose 
 would be a heavy and often impossible task. It is 
 difficult to estimate the damage which legislation has 
 suffered from such abstractions, and how they have 
 fettered, hand and foot, the living organism of social 
 life with artificial formulas imposed by force. In the 
 van of this movement marched the French, who first 
 gave the sanction of fashion to the movement for 
 the equalisation of the national life by means of 
 
 75 
 
76 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 abstract principles deduced from hypothetical pre- 
 misses. The example of France has been followed 
 by all, even by those States in which the conditions 
 of life, and the ethnical, geographical, and climatic 
 conditions are infinitely varied. How much even 
 our own country has suffered from such experiments 
 there is no need to remark. 
 
 Take, for instance, the phrases, repeated unto 
 weariness among us, and everywhere: Free Educa- 
 tion, Obligatory Attendance, the Restriction of 
 Child - Labour During the Years of Obligatory 
 Attendance. There can be no question that learning 
 is light, and that ignorance is darkness, but in the 
 application of this rule we must take care to be ruled 
 by common-sense, and to abstain from violating 
 that freedom, of which we hear so much, and which 
 our legislators so ruthlessly restrict. Inspired by 
 an idle saying that the schoolmaster won the battle 
 of Sadowa, we multiply our model schools and 
 schoolmasters, ignoring the requirements both of 
 children and of parents, of climate, and of nature 
 itself We refuse to recognise, what experience has 
 shown, that the school is a deceptive formality where 
 its roots have taken no hold among the people, 
 where it fails to meet the people's necessities, and to 
 accord with the economy of its life. That school alone 
 is suited to the people which pleases them, and the 
 enlightening influence of which they see and feel ; 
 but all schools are repugnant to them to which 
 they are driven by force, under threats of punish- 
 ment, or which are organised, in ignorance of the 
 people's tastes and necessities, on the fantasies 
 of doctrinaires. In such schools the work becomes 
 
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 77 
 
 mechanical ; the school resembles an office with 
 all the formality and weariness which office life 
 involves. The legislator is satisfied when he has 
 founded and organised in certain localities a 
 certain number of similar institutions adorned with 
 the inscription — School. For these establishments 
 money must be raised ; attendance is secured under 
 penalty; a great staff of inspectors is organised 
 whose duty is to see that parents and poor and 
 working men send their children to school at 
 the established age. Already all Governments have 
 transgressed the line at which public instruction 
 begins to show its reverse side. Everywhere official 
 education flourishes at the expense of that real 
 education in the sphere of domestic, professional, 
 and social life which is a vital element of success. 
 
 But infinite evil has been wrought by the pre- 
 valent confusion of knowledge and power. Seduced 
 by the fantasy of universal enlightenment, we mis- 
 name education a certain sum of knowledge acquired 
 by completing the courses of schools, skilfully 
 elaborated in the studies of pedagogues. Having 
 organised our school thus, we isolate it from life, 
 and secure by force the attendance of children 
 whom we subject to a process of intellectual training 
 in accordance with our programme. But we ignore 
 or forget that the mass of the children whom we 
 educate must earn their daily bread, a labour for 
 which the abstract notions on which our programmes 
 are constructed will be vain ; while in the interests 
 of some imaginary knowledge we withhold that 
 training in productive labour which alone will bear 
 fruit. Such are the results of our complex educa- 
 
78 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 tional system, and such are the causes of the aversion 
 with which the masses regard our schools, for which 
 they can find no use. 
 
 The vulgar conception of education is true enough, 
 but unhappily it is disregarded in the organisation 
 of the modern school. In the popular mind the 
 function of a school is to teach the elements of read^ 
 ing, writing, and arithmetic, and, in union with these, 
 the duty of knowing, loving, and fearing God, of 
 loving our native land, and of honouring our parents. 
 These are the elements of knowledge, and the senti- 
 ments which together form the basis of conscience 
 in man, and give to him the moral strength needed 
 for the preservation of his equilibrium in life, for the 
 maintenance of struggle with the evil impulses of his 
 nature and with the evil sentiments and temptations 
 of the mind. It is an unhappy day when education 
 tears the child from the surroundings in which he 
 first acquired the elements of his future calling, 
 those exercises of his early years through which he 
 acquires, almost unconsciously, the taste and capa- 
 city for work. The boy who wishes to become a 
 bachelor or a master of arts must b^in his studies 
 at a certain age, and in due time pass through a 
 given course of knowledge ; but the vast majority of 
 children must learn to live by the work of their 
 hands. For such work physical training is needed 
 from the earliest age. To close the door to such 
 preparation, that time may be saved for the teaching 
 of schools, is to place a burden upon the lives of 
 the masses who have to struggle for their daily 
 bread, and to shackle in the family the natural de- 
 velopment of those economic forces which together 
 
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 79 
 
 constitute the capital of the commonwealth. The 
 sailor qualifies for his calling by spending his 
 boyhood on the sea; the miner prepares for his 
 work by early years spent in the subterranean 
 passages of mines. To the agriculturist it is even 
 more essential that he shall become accustomed to 
 his future work, that he may learn to love it in child- 
 hood, in the presence of nature, beside his herds 
 and his plough, in the midst of his fields and 
 his meadows. 
 
 Yet we waste our time discussing courses for 
 elementary schools and obligatory programmes 
 which are to be the bases of a finished education. 
 One would include an encyclopzedic instruction 
 under the barbarous term Rodinovyedenie (knowledge 
 of the fatherland) ; another insists on the necessity 
 for the agriculturist to know physics, chemistry, 
 agricultural economy, and medicine; while a third 
 demands a course of political economy and juris- 
 prudence. But few reflect that by tearing the 
 child from the domestic hearth for such a lofty 
 destiny, they deprive his parents of a productive 
 force which is essential to the maintenance of the 
 home, while by raising before his eyes the mirage 
 of illusory learning they corrupt his mind, and subject 
 it to the temptations of vanity and conceit. 
 
 II 
 
 The new school of civilisers has but one receipt 
 for the improvement of humanity — war with the 
 prejudices and ignorance of the people. In the 
 
8o REFLECTIONS OF A. RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 opinion of the writers of this school all the mis- 
 fortunes of humanity have had their origin in a few 
 irrational sentiments and convictions which the 
 masses have adhered to through the course of 
 centuries, and which it is necessary to uproot and 
 destroy. Among such dangerous sentiments and 
 convictions they classify all the things that do not 
 admit of logical demonstration. " Were all men," say 
 these philosophers, "to develop their minds, and to 
 train their judgments, instead of thinking, feeling, 
 and living by convictions taken on faith, the golden 
 age of humanity would soon begin. The world in 
 one generation would move as far as it has moved 
 in the course of centuries. If the intellectual faculties 
 of man could be raised but one d^ree the results 
 would be inestimable. Almost every one of us has 
 one syllogism which has become rooted in the 
 mind through immediate impressions received in 
 infancy. If to this syllogism we could add another, 
 and acquire the faculty for uniting both in one chain 
 of speculation, the face of the universe would be 
 transformed, and the destiny of humanity changed." 
 Such is the end to which we are to be led, and such 
 the problem of progress and enlightenment as stated 
 by the philosophers of the nineteenth century. 
 
 Why quarrel with this? we are asked. But to 
 this problem there is another, a reverse and threaten- 
 ing side, which is too often ignored. 
 
 Humanity is endowed with another very effective 
 force — inertia. As the ballast in a ship, inertia 
 sustains humanity in the crises of its history, 
 and so indispensable has it become that without 
 it all measured progress would be impossible. This 
 
PUBLIC mSTRVCTIOlSf ti 
 
 force, which the superficial thinkers of the new 
 school confound with ignorance and stupidity, is 
 absolutely essential to the prosperity of society. 
 Destroy it, and you deprive the world of that 
 stability which serves as the fulcrum of progress. 
 Contempt or ignorance of this force is the great 
 failing of modern progressives. 
 
 What, let us ask, is a prejudice? A prejudice, 
 we are told, is an opinion without a rational base, 
 an opinion which admits of no logical demonstration. 
 All such opinions must be eradicated. But how? 
 By awakening in every man the faculty of thought, 
 and by placing the opinions of every man in 
 dependence upon logical deduction. Very true ; but 
 true, unhappily, only as an abstract theory. In 
 actual life we find that we can seldom trust the 
 operations of the logical faculty in man ; that in 
 practical affairs we rely more upon the man who 
 holds, stubbornly and unreservedly, opinions which 
 he has taken directly — opinions which satisfy the 
 instincts and necessities of his nature — than on him 
 who is ready at a moment's notice to change his 
 opinions at the guidance of logic because it appeals 
 to him as the unanswerable voice of reason. Such 
 men soon become the slaves of every argument 
 which they cannot answer at a moment's notice ; 
 they surrender unresiervedly themselves and all their 
 experience to every onslaught of logical argument 
 on every imaginable subject. They are defenceless 
 against theories and deductions unless they possess 
 an arsenal of logical weapons with which, at a 
 moment's notice, to confound their adversaries. Let 
 us once grant that the syllogism is the highest and 
 
 F 
 
82 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 the infallible form of truth, and practical life becomes 
 the, slave of speculation; common -sense surrenders 
 to folly and stupidity parading in the armour of 
 formulas ; and wisdom, tried by life, must yield to 
 the first youth it meets skilled in the alphabet of 
 formal reasoning. It is easy to foresee the fate 
 of the masses if our reformers succeeded in con- 
 verting them to unreserved faith in the infallibility 
 of formal logic. The precious virtue of steadfastness, 
 which has hitherto sustained society, would vanish 
 in a day. 
 
 Further, we would ask, must it be admitted that 
 obstinacy in convictions accepted on faith stands of 
 necessity in opposition to logic, that the so-called 
 prejudice indicates always slowness or inactivity of 
 thought? This has not been proved. We have no 
 reason to suppose that a man who is willing 
 to surrender his opinions and beliefs at the bidding 
 of demonstrative logic is necessarily more logical 
 and rational than he who, admitting no argument, 
 stubbornly holds to his beliefs. On the contrary, 
 the obstinacy of the simple man in opinions which 
 he holds on faith proceeds, although for the most part 
 without recognition by himself, from instinctive but 
 in the highest degree logical impulses. The simple 
 man instinctively feels that the change of opinion 
 which is thrust upon him by arguments apparently 
 irrefutable, would involve the modification of his 
 whole system of outlook upon life, a system for which, 
 perhaps, he has no conscious justification, but which 
 is indissolubly bound up with his being, and constitutes 
 his spiritual life. This is the chain which with 
 subtle dialectics contemporary educators seek to 
 
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 83 
 
 break, and, unhappily, too often succeed in breaking. 
 But the simple, common-sense man knows that, 
 surrendering unresistingly to the first assault of 
 logical argument, he must surrender to all, and 
 that the great world of his spiritual conceptions 
 cannot be abandoned merely because he is not in 
 a position logically to overthrow the arguments 
 directed against one of its facts. In vain the 
 cunning adversary seeks to ridicule him, to convict 
 him of absurdity; he is in no way absurd, but far 
 abler than his opponent ; he may not indeed analyse 
 in all their relations the phenomena of his spiritual 
 life, he may not dispose of the dialectical skill of 
 his adversary, but, relying on his own good sense, 
 he shows thereby that he cherishes his opinions, 
 guards them, and values the truth of his convictions, 
 not in the view of rational formalities, but in all 
 their completeness. 
 
 Such are the methods employed by those who 
 wish to enlighten the people. Such methods may 
 be classified under the title of "subtle." At night 
 when men are sleeping the subtle one appears, 
 disguised in the mask of benevolence and charity, 
 and sows his tares. For him neither knowledge nor 
 ability is needed, subtlety only is required. Little 
 intellect is needed, for instance, to approach a 
 simple man at an opportune moment, and sow 
 distrust in his soul : " Why dost thou pray to thy 
 Saint Nicholas ? Hast thou ever seen Saint Nicholas 
 helping those who pray to him ? " Or to seek some 
 young girl of humble family, and say : " Who has 
 proven to thee that it is thy lot to depend upon 
 others for ever, to be the slave of thy husband? 
 
84 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 Reason tells thee that thou art his equal in all things, 
 that thou hast equal rights with him in all." Or to 
 steal between a young man and his parents with 
 such words as these : " By what logic art thou 
 bound to obey thy parents? Who told thee to 
 respect them, when thy reason tells thee they are 
 unworthy of respect? What are the bonds between 
 you but an accident of nature? Thou art a free 
 man, the equal of the best." Armed with speeches 
 such as these the subtle wander among the simple 
 and the weak throughout the four quarters of our 
 land, under the pretext of guidance stealing the 
 sheep from the flock, and leading or driving them 
 into the wilderness. 
 
THE LAW 
 
 How many ancient ideas have become obscured 
 and confused in our time ! How many ancient 
 terms have changed, or change before our eyes 
 to-day, their original significance ! 
 
 Thus has changed, and changed by no means 
 for the better, the conception of the law. From 
 one side regarded, law is a regulation, from the 
 other a commandment, and on this conception of 
 a commandment is based its moral acceptation. 
 The prototype of all law remains the decalogue, 
 " Honour thy father and thy mother . . . Thou 
 shalt do no murder . . . Thou shalt not steal . . . 
 Thou shalt not covet." Independently of what in 
 modern phrase we denominate " sanction," independ- 
 ently of punishment for its violation, the command- 
 ments have the power of affecting the consciences 
 of men by establishing, with the authority of supreme 
 power, the distinction between light and darkness, 
 between equity and iniquity. And not in the 
 material punishment for its violation is the funda- 
 mental, invincible sanction of the law, but in the 
 conscience of man, rebuking his iniquity. Material 
 punishment he may flee, the imperfection of human 
 justice may cast it on the innocent, but from this 
 internal chastisement he can in no way be delivered. 
 
 This deep significance of the law is entirely over- 
 looked in the new theories and new practices of 
 
 85 
 
86 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 legislators. For them the law has but one signi- 
 ficance, as the regulation of external action, the 
 preserver of mechanical equilibrium of the diverse 
 operations of human activity in their juridical 
 relations. In the preparation of the law great 
 labour is expended on analysis and technicality. 
 The importance of technicality and analysis cannot 
 be gainsaid ; but is it wise in providing for these 
 to forget the essential significance of the law? Yet 
 this significance is often not only forgotten, but 
 actually abjured. 
 
 Thus we encumber beyond measure the immense 
 edifice of the law, and live incessantly devising rules 
 and forms and formulas of every kind. In the name 
 of freedom and the rights of man we do this, yet we 
 have gone so far that no man can move in freedom 
 from the network of rules and ordinances extending 
 everywhere, threatening everyone — all in the name of 
 freedom. We seek to define, to measure, and to weigh 
 all things by formulas, formulas human — therefore 
 imperfect, and often delusive. We strive to emanci- 
 pate the individual, but everywhere we dig pitfalls 
 about his feet, the victims of which more often are 
 the innocent than the guilty. When we consider 
 the infinite multitude of laws and regulations, and 
 the bewilderment of legislators and judges, the fiction 
 that ignorance of the law is in no way justification 
 assumes an appalling significance. The simple man 
 cannot know the law, or vindicate his rights, or 
 defend himself against attacks and accusations ; he 
 falls then into the hands of attorneys, the sworn 
 mechanics of the machine of justice, whom he pays 
 for every step which his case advances in the courts. 
 
THE LAW 87 
 
 Meantime the immense network multiplies its meshes 
 around him. It was not without cause, even in the 
 sixteenth century, that the famous Bacon condemned 
 this network in the words of ancient prophecy. 
 
 In the land of Bacon, since the sixteenth century, 
 this network, which even then seemed intolerable, 
 has multiplied its meshes daily until it has attained 
 monstrous dimensions. A mass of enactments, 
 ordinances, and precedents are mingled in grotesque 
 and inexplicable chaos. No mind can penetrate and 
 reduce it to order," or separate the accidental from 
 the permanent, the obsolete from the active, the 
 essential from the unessential. The roll of statutes 
 resembles a great warehouse, through which only 
 those who know it can find their way, and satisfy 
 their needs. Yet on such conditions is justice based : 
 from this depends the working of all public institu- 
 tions and of all departments of State. If the voice 
 of right has not been stifled in the conscience of the 
 people this must be ascribed to the experience, 
 dexterity, and knowledge to rule and to judge, and 
 the preservation through tradition from immemorial 
 time of ancient authorities and institutions. For 
 there exist, in addition to the law, a rational force and 
 a rational will which powerfully aid its administration, 
 and to which all submit. Thus, when we speak of 
 respect for the law in England, the word law is not 
 to be taken in its most limited signification: the 
 power of the law is supported, in reality, by respect 
 for the authority which is armed with the law, and 
 by confidence in its equity, skill, and learning. In 
 England the chief indispensable condition for the 
 support of law and order is the clear definition of the 
 
88 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 jurisdiction and authority of the judges, so that they' 
 may not doubt the steadfastness or vacillate through 
 consciousness of the limits of their authority. The 
 judges, therefore, are not armed alone with the letter 
 of the law, or slavishly subservient to it through fear 
 of responsibility, but armed with the law as a whole, 
 and charged with its rational interpretation as a 
 moral force proceeding from the State. 
 
 Where this essential element of strength is absent, 
 where ancient institutions do not exist to serve as 
 the sanctuary of reason and skill in the application 
 of the law, the increasing number and complexity 
 of statutes create a labyrinth in which all those who 
 enter are lost, for there is no deliverance from the 
 net which is cast around them. The law becomes 
 a snare not only to the people, but what is graver 
 still, to the very authorities engaged in its adminis- 
 tration, restricting by a number of limitary and con- 
 tradictory interpretations that freedom of judgment 
 which is essential for the intelligent exercise of their 
 power. When wickedness and violence have to be 
 exposed, the injured to be justified, order to be 
 restored, and his due to be given to each, most 
 necessary of all things is a powerful exercise of will, 
 inspired by ardour for justice and for the welfare of 
 the people. But if at every step the executor of the 
 law finds in the law itself restrictive prescriptions and 
 artificial formulas, if at every step he fears to trans- 
 gress the limits by law established, if in addition the 
 jurisdiction of co-ordinate institutions is obscured by 
 detailed limitations, then all authority is lost in doubt, 
 weakened by the laws which ought to be the source 
 of its strength, and crushed by the fear of responsi- 
 
THE LAW 89 
 
 bility in that moment when not fear but the con- 
 sciousness of duty and right should be the only guide 
 and impulse. The moral influence of the law is 
 sapped by a multitude of provisions and definitions, 
 accumulated in the incessant activity of the legislative 
 machine ; and, as result, the law in the popular con- 
 ception assumes the aspect of a mysterious power, 
 existing for a purpose inexplicable, and everywhere 
 restricting and paralysing the operations of life. 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 
 
 I 
 
 In our time discontent is universal. With many 
 this discontent has developed into chronic irrita- 
 bility. By what is it caused? By their lots, their 
 rulers, social order, other men, by all and everything 
 except themselves. 
 
 Men grow discontented when their expectations 
 are deceived ; this is the discontent of disenchant- 
 ment, borne for a day, atoned for often by the 
 next. It is a passing malady, not to be con- 
 fused with the present complaint, a permanent and 
 epidemic disease which has tainted all the younger 
 generation. We grow up with infinite expectations, 
 begotten of immeasurable vanity and innumerable 
 artificial needs. In ancient times the number 
 of restful and contented persons was greater, 
 for men expected less of life, were satisfied with 
 less, and did not hasten to extend their sphere of 
 life. Each was held to his place and to his work 
 by a sentiment of duty associated with them. The 
 humble watched the lives of the rich and idle, and 
 thinking, "This is not for us," resigned themselves 
 to the impossible. Now this impossibility has 
 become possible and attainable in the imaginations 
 of all. The private soldier aspires to the dignity 
 of a general, and seeks to attain it, not with hard 
 90 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 91 
 
 service, with duty performed, or distinction gained, 
 but by accident and sudden acquisition. Success 
 is now believed to be the result of accident or good 
 fortune, and by this belief all are incited, as the 
 gambler by the hope of gain. 
 
 In business transactions the credit system rules. 
 Credit has become the most powerful instrument 
 for the creation of new values, and this instrument 
 is accessible to all ; and, owing to the comparative 
 facility with which it is employed, by no means 
 all the values created are real or subserve the 
 purposes of production, while many are fictitious 
 and ephemeral, for the satisfaction of adventitious 
 and temporary interests created for the purpose of 
 sudden enrichment. As a consequence, the success of 
 an enterprise is no longer proportionate to the personal 
 activity, the energy, aptitude, and knowledge of 
 , its promoter. In the economic sphere, towards every 
 undertaking are drawn a multitude of unseen currents 
 and intangible eventualities, which cannot be fore- 
 seen or provided for. The worker has no longer 
 to strive merely with jdefinite obstacles but also with 
 a complex network of diiKculties which surrounds 
 him on every side. Calculations fail, because 
 circumstances essential to their accuracy have 
 escaped consideration. Hence the condition of 
 uncertainty, alarm, and weariness from which so 
 many suffer. All activity is paralysed by mental 
 conditions in which the worker feels that he lacks 
 the strength to conquer circumstances, that his will 
 and intellect are feeble before the obstacles which 
 confront him. His energies are weakened, the man 
 of action becomes a fatalist, and relies for success 
 
92 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 no longer upon foresight and sagacity, but upon 
 blind accident and good fortune. This is the 
 prime cause of the pessimism which infects so many 
 of our generation ; and, to some extent, also the 
 cause of another prevalent ailment, practical material- 
 ism — the craving for sensual pleasures. The sensual 
 instincts awaken with peculiar strength in a life 
 spent in anxious and feverish activity, and founded 
 upon infidelity and accident. 
 
 The same phenomena appear in other spheres of 
 social work. Everywhere credit is the strongest 
 instrument, everywhere we see created with aston- 
 ishing ease swollen and fictitious values, which, 
 under favouring circumstances, bring fortunes to 
 some, while in the hands of others, at the first 
 contact with the actualities of life, they crumble 
 into dust. Reputations are gained with amazing 
 speed. The required training once obtained or 
 evaded, appointment to responsible positions may 
 be obtained with commensurate emolument and 
 authority. The illiterate journalist becomes the 
 celebrated litterateur and publicist; the mediocre 
 lawyer wins the glory of a great orator ; the char- 
 latan of science appears a learned professor ; the 
 ignorant, inexperienced youth becomes a procurator, 
 a judge, an administrator, the draughtsman of im- 
 portant laws ; and a young slip, yesterday breaking 
 through the earth, stands to-day in the place of a 
 great tree. All these values are swollen and fictitious, 
 but they multiply daily in the market of life, and 
 their possessors traffic with them as brokers traffic 
 with worthless shares. Many maintain their false 
 values throughout life, remaining, nevertheless. 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 93 
 
 shallow, feeble, frivolous, and unproductive. But 
 the honours of most are quickly dissipated in dust, 
 and the worthlessness of their owners exposed. 
 Meantime their vanity has swollen to unnatural limits, 
 their pretensions and needs have grown beyond 
 measure, their desires have been inflamed, and in 
 the moment of trial when action is needed their 
 resources fail them, in strength, in reason, in 
 character, in knowledge. Thence comes the number 
 of moral bankruptcies, which spring from causes 
 identical with the causes of bankruptcies in the 
 economic world. It is hard to estimate the amount 
 of energy wasted in our time through its irregular, 
 abortive, and thoughtless application, and through 
 the irregular circulation of capital of all kinds in our 
 markets. As a result, we see around us young 
 people broken, ruined, and mutilated for life. Some 
 cannot bear their own burdens, and, as overheated 
 ves&els, burst asunder : in exasperation, they end by 
 suicide lives which thenceforth are worthless to those 
 who have been accustomed to consider themselves the 
 centre of life, and to measure all things by a purely 
 material standard, which the moment it slips from 
 their hands sends all their calculations astray.' Others 
 shuffle through the world, multiplying the number 
 of the discontented and the irritated against life and 
 society. It will be a sad day when their number 
 shall so increase as to give occasion for satisfying 
 their vengeance and desire. 
 
94 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 II 
 
 The ancients, we are told, were accustomed to 
 place a skeleton or a skull in the midst of their 
 banquet halls that they might be reminded of the 
 proximity of death. This custom has decayed : we 
 feast and make merry and strive to banish all 
 thoughts of death. Nevertheless, at the back of 
 each stands death, and his threatening face at any 
 moment may appear before us. 
 
 Every morning brings news of suicides, those 
 suicides unexplained and inexplicable, which threaten 
 to become a familiar feature of our lives. It is 
 terrible to think that some day we may become 
 accustomed to this feature. Never has there been 
 a time when the human soul was valued at so 
 low a price, when there reigned such indifference to 
 the fate of men created in the image of God and 
 redeemed by the blood of Christ Rich and poor, 
 learned and ignorant, age and youth which has 
 hardly begun life, nay, the very tottering infant, 
 throw away their lives with inconceivable reckless- 
 ness ; some without a word, others in their last 
 moments extolling to the world themselves and 
 their deed. 
 
 What is the cause? That life has become de- 
 formed, false, and meaningless beyond belief, that 
 order has disappeared, that all rational sequence in 
 human development has vanished, that all discipline of 
 thought, of sentiment, and of morals has disappeared. 
 Corruption and disintegration have destroyed the 
 simple, organic relations of public and family life; their 
 place has been usurped by institutions and abstract 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 95 
 
 principles for the most part false in themselves, or 
 in false relations to life and actuality. The simple 
 needs of the soul and body have been expelled by 
 a multitude of artificial requirements, and the 
 simplest sentiments have given way to sentiments 
 complex and artificial, which seduce and irritate the 
 soul. Vanity, which once grew commensurately with 
 our environment and conditions, has suddenly ' been 
 magnified to the immensity of the human ego, 
 which violates all discipline and usurps an absolute 
 dominion over life, liberty, and happiness, claiming 
 to rule alike over circumstance and fate. The minds 
 of men, strong and weak, high and low, great and 
 small, all alike have lost the faculty of recognising 
 their own ignorance, and the capacity to learn — 
 that is, to submit to the law of life ; while men exalt 
 themselves to that visionary height, from which each, 
 great or small, holds himself as judge of life and 
 of the universe. 
 
 Thus has accumulated an infinite mass of false- 
 hoods, pervading all relations, poisoning the atmos- 
 phere which we breathe, the medium in which we 
 live and move, the thought that controls the 
 will, the word with which the thought is expressed. 
 Among such falsehoods what can we seek but 
 a feeble growth, a feeble existence, and feeble 
 deeds? The very conception of life and of its 
 aims becomes falsified, our relations are disordered, 
 and life has lost the harmony essential to tranquil 
 development and normal activity. Is it strange, 
 then, that so many cannot bear the burden, and 
 lose the balance of moral and intellectual forces 
 essential to life ? A crystal vessel heated equably 
 
96 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 will bear a high temperature, while heated suddenly 
 or inequably it bursts asunder. Is it not thus with 
 those unhappy suicides of whom daily we hear? 
 Some perish from the inherent falsehood of their 
 conceptions of life, which reality shatters in the 
 dust. The miserable man who knows no support 
 in life other than himself, who seeks outside him- 
 self no moral principle to sustain him in the 
 struggle, flees from the field, and seeks oblivion 
 in effacement. Others perish from inability to 
 reconcile their exalted ideals of life and action 
 with the falsehoods around them, the falseness of 
 men and the falseness of institutions ; these lose 
 faith in their ideals, and having no true faith to 
 console them, they lose their balance, and, as 
 cowards, cast away their lives. Many are ruined 
 by sudden and unmerited success, victims of the 
 power which they coveted so madly, but the burden 
 of which they are unable to bear. For ours is a 
 time of fictitious, artificial greatness and celebrity 
 for the mutual deception of men, and real merit 
 finds it hard to arise and justify itself from 
 obscurity, because in the market of human vanity 
 only glittering money is gold. Men recklessly 
 undertake responsibilities, imagining themselves 
 capable of all things, and with little ability, without 
 great effort, attain the highest positions. The 
 prospect of power is seductive to human vanity : it 
 brings a vision of honours and privileges, of power 
 to bestow favours, and to create other powers. Yet, 
 whatever be the vulgar conception, the moral prin- 
 ciple of power is simple and immutable, " Whosoever 
 of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all." 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME i)>j 
 
 Were this not forgotten, who would seek to bear the 
 unbearable burden ? Nevertheless, all men are eager 
 to accept power, and the burden has crushed and 
 ruined many, for in our time the exercise of power 
 is more arduous and complicated than ever. Great 
 is the number of those for whom power, recklessly 
 conferred, and recklessly accepted, becomes a sphinx, 
 and asks its fatal riddle. He who cannot solve it 
 must perish. 
 
 Ill 
 
 If we would reason aright, we must regard the 
 object of our reasoning from the proper point of 
 view ; all depends upon this, and all human error 
 proceeds from failure to observe this rule. We are 
 accustomed to trust to our impressions, but impres- 
 sions are received merely from the surfaces of the 
 objects along which we glide with such remarkable 
 speed and agility. Delighted with our first im- 
 pression, with human impatience and vanity we 
 hasten to impart it to others. By transmission of 
 our impressions to receptive natures, error is formed, 
 develops, and matures, percolates to the masses, 
 and too often is accepted as the opinion of the 
 public. 
 
 This holds true in great matters as well as in small. 
 Whole systems of astronomy obtained acceptance 
 through the course of centuries, were considered in- 
 disputable, yet in the end were proven to be false, 
 being formed from a wrong point of view. Such was 
 the Ptolemaic system. For centuries astronomers 
 persisted in looking at the universe from the earth 
 
 G 
 
98 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 as the central point of view — the earth seemed so 
 infinitely vast that no other centre could be con- 
 ceived. The system was full of contradictions and 
 inconsistencies, for the removal of which men of 
 science had recourse to an artificial system of cycles 
 and epicycles. Centuries passed before Copernicus 
 appeared and drew the false centre out of the system. 
 All was plain when once it was shown that the 
 universe did not revolve about the earth, that the 
 earth held no ruling position among the heavenly 
 bodies at all, but was merely one of many planets, 
 controlled by forces in power and importance 
 immensely exceeding its own. 
 
 The system of Ptolemy has long outlived its day, 
 yet in our time its errors obtain in a new sphere 
 of ideas and conceptions. For does not modern 
 philosophy, which deals with man as the centre of 
 the universe, assuming that all existence revolves 
 around him as science once made the sun revolve 
 around the earth, fall into a similar pit ? It is plain 
 indeed that there is nothing new under the sun. This 
 outworn creed is offered us as a novelty, as the last 
 word of science. Then follow, one after another, 
 contradictions, rejection of accepted propositions, new 
 theses categorically expressed, their categorical re- 
 futation, then wondrous discoveries, no sooner made 
 than forgotten. All this is termed progress, and 
 "the onward march of science." But in truth are 
 these not the cycles and epicycles of the Ptolemaic 
 system? When will the new Copernicus appear to 
 break the spell, and prove that the centre is not 
 in man, but outside him, and infinitely higher than 
 he, than the earth, than the universe itself? 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 99 
 
 The same phenomena appear in the history of 
 all sects, from the Gnostics and the Arians to the 
 Nihilists of to-day, the disciples of Pashkoff,, of 
 Sutayeff, of Tolstoi. Man, pursuing impressions, 
 regards all things from the false point of view which 
 he finds in himself, vainly imagining that the 
 universe revolves around him ; he looks for truth 
 in all things and everywhere, and is wrathful with 
 all whom he convicts, save himself, of passion and 
 sin. It is a fatal error. 
 
 IV 
 
 Obstinacy and dogmatism in belief will always, 
 it seems, be the attributes to our poor and narrow 
 humanity, while men of deep and liberal thought 
 must always be few. Faith gives place to faith, dogma 
 hastens after dogma, the objects of fanaticism change 
 for ever. In our day enlightened intelligence is 
 ruled by generalisation, and seeks for a logical con- 
 stitution of life and society on abstract principles. 
 These are the new fetishes that have taken the place 
 of the old idols, for we, as our forefathers, set 
 up graven images, and bow down before them. 
 Our modern idols are phrases and generalities, 
 such as Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, with all 
 their variations and extensions. And are not as 
 idols, also, the abstract propositions propounded by 
 scholars, and raised to the rank of dogmas, as, for 
 instance, the " Origin of Species," and " The Struggle 
 for Existence"? 
 
 Faith in abstract principles is the prevailing 
 
loo REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 error of our time. This error consists in the dog- 
 matic and absolute faith by which we disregard the 
 facts of life with all its conditions and needs, ignoring 
 distinctions of time and place, the characteristics 
 of individuals, and the peculiarities of history. 
 
 Life is not a science, or a philosophy, but a living 
 organism. Neither science nor philosophy, as external 
 forces, can rule our lives ; both have their origin in life, 
 for they are built upon the observation, analysis, and 
 classification of its phenomena : but it would be vain 
 to think that they can exhaust and comprehend life 
 in all its infinite manifestations, endow it with new 
 elements, or reconstruct it upon new foundations. In 
 their application to life, the propositions of science and 
 philosophy have the value of hypotheses, and in all 
 cases must be tested by common-sense, by clear reason- 
 ing, and by the facts and phenomena to which they 
 are applied ; other application would lead to violence 
 and falsehood. The fact that there exist so few indis- 
 putable propositions in science and philosophy ought 
 to be a warning to us. Most of the theses of science are 
 the subjects of contention between schools and parties ; 
 many are shaken by fresh experiment and research. 
 Not a single practical science may be likened to a 
 seamless garment : all are stitched from rags, more or 
 less skilfully, the shape following the fashion, often 
 with fragments hanging down in tatters, torn by the 
 polemics of the different schools. Nevertheless, 
 the representatives of the schools maintain their 
 propositions absolutely, and demand their uncon- 
 ditional application to life. As an example. Political 
 Economy is enough : political economists have 
 earned the reputation of dogmatic and intolerable 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 
 
 pedants for wishing to apply to legislation and 
 industry their abstract laws of production and of 
 division of labour and capital, while they forget 
 more or less the living forces and phenomena which 
 in practice controvert these laws and destroy their 
 operation. Their formulas have been deduced from 
 a multitude of facts and phenomena, the infinite 
 variety of which they cannot exhaust in all the 
 combinations which present themselves. These 
 formulas have been of great advantage to science, 
 which, thanks to them, has gained simplicity and 
 advancement, yet not one of them is thfe unalterable, 
 absolute law of life ; each serves only to show the path 
 to those who follow, each expresses only a certain 
 movement, a certain direction of forces which in a 
 given case must balance or contend with other forces 
 acting in opposite directions. To calculate mathe- 
 matically the action of these forces is impossible ; 
 only the just instincts of common -sense may 
 estimate it ; thus the general conclusions of 
 political economists, although deduced from indis- 
 putable premisses, have only a contingent, hypo- 
 thetical value, and not the value of absolute and 
 unalterable laws. As such are they regarded by 
 every true scholar uninfected with the pedantry of 
 the schools. But this cannot be said even of all 
 scholars. What, then, shall we say about the mass 
 of superficial readers, whose knowledge, as a rule, 
 is derived from a few pages of a text-book or from 
 contemporary newspapers, and who expect, at a 
 moment's notice, without any research, to find an 
 answer to all questions by turning to the pages 
 indicated in the contents table. For them every 
 
102 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 generality serves as the supreme authority of 
 science, as an easy means to the decision of the 
 gravest questions, and as a convenient arm with 
 which to resist the impulses of common-sense, and to 
 overthrow all the teachings of history and experience. 
 Thanks to these abstract propositions and principles, 
 it is easy for the emptiest and most superficial men, 
 the idlest intriguers, to pass as profound philosophers, 
 statesmen, and administrators, and to gain a cheap 
 victory over common -sense and experience. Such 
 scholars, in the vulgar phrase, leap at once to "the 
 height of contemporary science and thought." Once 
 on this height, who shall have strength to withstand 
 them? 
 
 The minds of the people are quite incapable of 
 understanding general propositions in their true, con- 
 ditional significance ; all formulas, all phenomena, are 
 embodied by them in living, concrete images and 
 forms. There is no more deplorable error than that 
 through which we, inspired by a baseless faith in 
 abstract propositions, would inspire the people with 
 it also. This new play with the abstract conceptions 
 circulated by the idealist educators of the masses is 
 only too dangerous, for it involves the demoralisation 
 of the public conscience. Too often, unhappily, it is 
 indulged in by our schools, but most of all it has 
 been practised by democratic Governments; and many 
 Governments have dearly paid for it by the sacrifice 
 of sincerity in their moral relations to the people. 
 One falsehood brings forth another ; once false con- 
 ceptions, false expectations, and false beliefs have 
 taken root in the minds of the people, it is difficult 
 for a Government, itself corrupted by falsehood, to 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 103 
 
 extirpate them : it becomes necessary for the Govern- 
 ment to accept such falsehoods, to play with them 
 anew, and to maintain its power artificially by a fresh 
 network of subterfuges in its institutions, its language, 
 and its actions — a network inevitably woven from 
 its earliest compromise with untruth. 
 
 The example of France is a clear demonstration 
 of this. In the last century the fantasy of idealist 
 philosophers fashioned a new evangel for humanity — 
 an evangel constructed wholly upon ideals and abstrac- 
 tions. The disciples of Rousseau had painted in a rosy 
 colour the natural man, predicting through return to 
 Nature universal content and felicity upon earth : 
 they had revealed to all the newly-solved mysteries 
 of social and political life, and fabricated a fictitious 
 social contract between the people and its rulers. 
 The celebrated programme of popular happiness was 
 revealed as the secret of peace and concord and con- 
 tent for peoples and Governments. The revelation 
 was constructed upon monstrous generalities in no way 
 related to actual life, on the wildest, most extravagant 
 fantasies ; yet this falsehood which, it would seem, 
 must have vanished at the faintest touch of actuality, 
 infected the minds of men with a passionate desire to 
 realise it in practice, and to construct upon its basis 
 a new society and a new government. But one step 
 more, and the theories of Rousseau gave birth to the 
 celebrated formula : Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. 
 These ideas, in indissoluble union with the ideas of 
 duty and sacrifice, on which is set, as the living 
 head upon the body, the whole organism of the moral 
 universe, contain in themselves the eternal truth of the 
 ideal moral law. But when it was sought to turn this 
 
lo4 REFLMCTjOm OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 formula into a law binding upon society — ^when it was 
 sought to embody it in a formal law defining the rela- 
 tions of the people to its rulers — when it was to become 
 the basis of a new religion for the nations, its fatal 
 falseness was betrayed, and the perfect seed of love 
 and peace and tolerance sown in the soil of formal 
 legislation sprang up as violence and discord and 
 fanaticism. For these maxims were proclaimed, not 
 as the evangelic commandment of love, not as a 
 summons to duty in the name of an ethical ideal, but 
 as a covenant between the people and its rulers — as 
 the annunciation of a new era of natural happiness, 
 a promise of perpetual felicity. In no other way could 
 the people accept or understand. The masses are not 
 philosophers ; Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity they 
 accept as their right, as privileges they have won. 
 How then can they be reconciled to all the evils that 
 afflict mankind, the poverty, the lowliness, the depriva- 
 tion, the self-denial, the subjection. Tolerate these 
 they cannot, they murmur, they are exasperated, 
 they protest, they rise and overthrow institutions and 
 Governments which have not kept their word and 
 have disappointed expectations. Misled by fantastic 
 delusions they build up new institutions again to 
 destroy them, they rush into the arms of new rulers 
 whose flattering words have seduced them, to over- 
 throw them in turn upon fresh disillusion. To rule 
 the people by the direct exercise of authority becomes 
 impossible without the aid of flattering words and 
 false institutions, and Governments are driven to dis- 
 honesty that they may evade destruction. Terrible 
 indeed is this chaos in our institutions. Tumultuously 
 the waves of passion roll on every side, tranquillised 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 105 
 
 only for a moment by the magic sounds of Liberty, 
 Equality, Publicity, the Sovereignty of the People : 
 and he who best can play with these words becomes 
 the master of the people. 
 
 In ancient Rome an abyss appeared which 
 threatened to engulf the whole city. All efforts to 
 remedy the disaster were vain. The people appealed 
 to the oracle, which answered that the abyss would 
 be closed when Rome gave up in sacrifice its 
 greatest treasure. We know the sequel. Curtius, 
 the first citizen of Rome, the bravest of the brave, 
 flung himself into the gulf, which closed for ever. 
 
 Among us, also, in the modern world a terrible 
 chasm has appeared, the chasm of pauperism, which 
 separates the poor from the rich by an impassable 
 gulf What have we not sacrificed to fill it up? 
 Mountains of gold, and wealth of every kind, masses 
 of sermons and instructive works, floods of enthusiasm, 
 a hundred social institutions organised expressly, 
 all are swallowed up, yet the gulf yawns open as 
 before. We, too, have invoked the oracle to reveal 
 to us a certain remedy. The word of this oracle 
 has long been spoken, and is well known to all. 
 " A new commandment I give unto you. That ye love 
 one another : as I have loved you that ye also love 
 one another." Could we find the true meaning of 
 this precept, could we rise to its height, could we 
 cast into the gulf all that is most precious to us — 
 the theories, the prejudices, the practices which are 
 
io6 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 bound with our respective callings, and confirmed in 
 the hearts of each, we should sacrifice ourselves 
 to the abyss and close it for ever. 
 
 VI 
 
 The justest sentiments of the human soul remain 
 true only while they preserve their independence and 
 simplicity, for there is nothing simple which is not also 
 right. The danger for every simple sentiment is its 
 image in the consciousness — its reflex action. Senti- 
 ment acquires a new force when confirmed by reason 
 and sanctioned by ideas ; but at the same time it 
 meets with the new danger of absorption by the 
 reflective faculty, and of consequent loss of simplicity. 
 It may happen that sentiment, leaning upon thought 
 for support, partakes of its nature, and re-issues eis 
 a conscious formula, from which the element of 
 sentiment has disappeared. The form, as the letter, 
 may kill the living spirit; the form deceives, for 
 beneath it insensibly develop hypocrisy and the 
 seductions of human vanity. Is there one thing 
 more splendid, more precious, more fruitful than the 
 sentiment of love in the human soul ? Yet, from the 
 moment it unites with reason, a danger threatens it 
 from this reflex action. It may create itself a form, 
 divide itself into classes, doctrines, categories, orders, 
 and schools. At last the time must come when it is 
 no longer a simple sentiment, filling and enlivening 
 the soul, but our poor human vanity imagines that 
 it masters the sentiment, and makes it its bonds- 
 man and instrument. Here simplicity disappears, 
 
THE MALADY OF. OUR TIME icfj 
 
 decomposition begins, and, with but little more, 
 hypocrisy may end it. The works of love, it may 
 be, will multiply, order will replace impulse, but 
 simplicity of feeling has flown, the perfume has 
 departed. 
 
 These thoughts are inspired by consideration of 
 our organised philanthropic institutions and bene- 
 volent societies, with their regulations, their com- 
 mittees, their honorary members and their honorary 
 rewards. In principle, all institutions are devoted to 
 charity and beneiicence. But in view of their proceed- 
 ings we are forced to ask. Where is there room here 
 for active, sympathetic love ? We watch the meetings 
 of boards, where speeches are delivered, and the 
 committees where men and women sit wearied and 
 indiifferent, ignorant of affairs, discussing regulations 
 and paragraphs; we read reports prepared by paid 
 officials; we hear the magniloquent verdicts of self- 
 appointed pedagogues on systems of instruction ; we 
 attend, O height of hypocrisy! the charity bazaar, 
 where the lady stall-keepers, who have sacrificed not 
 a penny, are dressed in costumes costing double the 
 profit on their sales. And these we call the works 
 of Christian charity! 
 
 Such is love as a social institution. There is still 
 justice on which the world is based, justice without 
 which life would become the nightmare of a wild 
 imagination : how stands justice in its modern artificial 
 European dress of a judicial institution? We find 
 a machine for the artificial execution of justice, but 
 justice itself is dumb in the triumphant turmoil of 
 mechanical production, its voice is stifled in the 
 tumult of the wheels of the great machine. We 
 
io8 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 seek here a moral force — alas, the only force is con- 
 sumed in the turning of the wheels which keep the 
 machine in incessant motion, the only moral strength 
 of the workers is spent in the greasing of these 
 wheels and their connections. There sit the judges 
 in proud consciousness of their priestly dignity, and, 
 like the ancient augurs, listen with more or less 
 attention while lawyers bring forth magniloquent and 
 sonorous phrases from the narrow byeways of the 
 pettifogging mind, carefully estimating first the 
 money value of their long periods. Thus pass away 
 the wearying hours of trials, while the chief victim 
 of the sacrifice to unhappy Justice must reach the 
 promised land by the thin hair of Mahomet's bridge, 
 and woe unto him who relies for safety upon his own 
 strength. He only finds justice who, having studied 
 the arts of the acrobat, on his pathway neither 
 stumbles nor trips. 
 
 VII 
 
 All human life is a search for happiness. The 
 unquenchable thirst for happiness burns in man from 
 the awakening of consciousness, and is sated never 
 at his latest breath. The hope of happiness has no 
 limits ; it is infinite as the universe ; it knows no ulti- 
 mate aim, for its beginning and its end are in eter- 
 nity. The Mongol fabulist symbolises "this incessant 
 chase of joy in the story of a mother who has lost 
 her dearly-loved daughter— her only child. The rude 
 imaginations of the dwellers on the steppes conceive 
 this mother as an old woman, with one eye on the top 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 109 
 
 of her head. With bitter sobs she wanders through 
 the world, seeking her lost child, and stopping time 
 after time at some object in which she thinks she sees 
 its face. She takes it up, bears it away, and then 
 lifts it high above her head to satisfy herself that she 
 has really found her treasure. Scarcely has she 
 looked at it when' she sees that she has been mis- 
 taken, and in despair throws it to the earth, dashing 
 it to pieces, and starts again on her unfruitful ^quest. 
 The happiness sought by man determines his fate, 
 and brings forth loo often unhappiness as its fruit. 
 The wretchedness of man, says Carlyjcf^&mes from 
 his greatness ; he is wretched because of the infinite 
 within him, and with all his art he cannot imprison 
 this infinite within the limits of the finite. 
 
 Therefore is unhappiness, being infinite, unattain- 
 able. Why, then, does man, conscious of this, so 
 gaily hasten on his fruitless journey? Why, aban- 
 doning the present, and turning aside in despair from 
 the future, does he look to the past and find the 
 possibility there ? There are few men who have not 
 in their past some time of which they may say, 
 " Happiness was possible then — so near." 
 
 But happiness forsook man at that moment when 
 first he sought to master the infinite, to make it 
 his own domain, to know it. " And ye shall be as 
 gods, knowing good and evil." This knowledge he 
 has not attained, only a dual nature has been given 
 to him. From that day one-half of his spiritual being 
 has sought the other, to establish an unity and in- 
 tegrity in life. 
 
 If there is one thing on this earth which may rightly 
 be called happiness, it is the state of the few in that 
 
no REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 period of simple existence and simple consciousness 
 when the soul feels life, in itself, and finds in that feel-' 
 ing rest, seeking not to know at all, but imaging 
 in itself eternity, as a drop of pure water on a twig 
 reflects the splendour of the sun. Where such a state 
 exists Heaven grant that it may endure ; that its sub- 
 ject by his will may strive not to escape from the limits 
 of his destiny ! The door of such happiness opens 
 not towards the. inside ; push it from the inside it will 
 shut no more. It opens from the inside, and he who 
 wishes that it remain closed must nat even touch it. 
 
 We condemn our past, because we seek there vainly 
 those principles which constitute for us the standard 
 of truth and happiness. From this material of 
 principles, of which the chief is equality, we wish 
 to reconstruct life, to divert those ancient springs 
 which nourished former generations, to reconstitute 
 our lives upon our newest plans, and to delineate 
 these plans by the rules of science, while forced 
 often to admit our ignorance of science itself. At 
 every step life reveals records of injustice instead of 
 the justice with which we promised to enrich it ; 
 egoism, interest, and violence instead of love and 
 peace ; the sores of poverty and wretchedness instead 
 of wealth and growing prosperity; tears and com- 
 plaints instead of the joy which we foretold. Never 
 mind ! we repeat, each time louder and louder, to still 
 the questionings, doubts, and objections — "At least 
 the principles of our century are preserved and upheld. 
 Does it matter if the generations of to-day suffer, if, 
 in place of the strong, a weak people appears about 
 us ?— evil may reign to-day, to-morrow all will be well. 
 A new generation will arise on the ruins of the old ; 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 
 
 our principles will be . justified in a new world by 
 posterity in futurity. The dreams which fill our lives 
 and inspire our labours will be realised some day." 
 Alas, they will be realised as realised were the dreams 
 of Swift ! In youth he built an asylum for the mad ; 
 in old age he found a refuge there. 
 
 VIII 
 
 How seldom do we find simplicity and directness in 
 social intercourse. How seldom do we meet with men 
 with whom conversation is the simple and natural 
 interchange of thought! When we mix in society 
 we find ourselves daily brought into communication 
 with men with whom we have nothing in common 
 but humanity. We find no time to rest, none to 
 observe, none to await in silence ; if one should wish 
 to act so, his partner would not allow it. Relation- 
 ship must at once be established, and etiquette 
 demands that this relationship appear natural. 
 Conversation must begin, and once begun upon 
 the barren soil of trivialities, it becomes a mere 
 e:^change of phrases on subjects touching upon 
 ordinary life. Men approach one another on the 
 basis of triviality, in which all are liberal, and at 
 later meetings the conversation thus begun seldom 
 leaves the footing on which it was established 
 first. Or it may be worse. At the first meeting men 
 strike attitudes, and pose to one another. This 
 happens most often between persons of different 
 positions, when one of the parties is in some way 
 remarkable or distinguished, and the other wishes 
 
112 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 to place himself upon an equal social footing. For 
 who does not imagine in himself some remarkable 
 gift? Thus begins a duel between two insignificant 
 personalities. Each strives to display his good 
 qualities, to concede nothing, to awaken the interest 
 and admiration of the other. To shine in conver- 
 sation commonly implies intelligence, and who, 
 nowadays, does not lay claim to intelligence, to 
 wit, or to that knowledge of the world which often 
 surpasses intelligence itself? What a vast field, what 
 an infinite career for vanity and self-love! 
 
 To this is joined the affectation of amiability. 
 Every social virtue has its reverse of baseness, 
 which is most openly revealed where the virtue 
 assumes the aspect of propriety, and is changed 
 into social small coin of a familiar stamp. What 
 quantities of this coin have we not in circulation 
 among us! How dulled has it become in passing 
 through so many hands — and such hands! The 
 noblest words have lost their primitive significance 
 in ceasing to be the expression of sincere thought; 
 the deepest truths have become degraded by associa- 
 tion with vulgar words ; the most precious sentiments 
 have become outworn and defiled by exhibition to all. 
 
 The affectations of cleverness and amiability, these 
 are the two great stimulants to conversation in 
 society. We excuse the baseness of the first 
 motive by the apparent respectability of the second. 
 Conscience may convict us of folly, of pretence, of 
 playing with words. We have an answer ready : " I 
 tried to be agreeable ; I had to keep the conversation 
 alive to aid my host and hostess, and to prevent their 
 guests being bored." 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 113 
 
 But conscience judges justly, and amiability in 
 no way covers or justifies baseness. Without the 
 impulse of childish vanity, amiability alone will not 
 induce one who respects himself and his words to 
 play with phrases for hours, to assume, as necessity 
 demands, the accents of love and indignation, to 
 walk perpetually on stilts, to tell imaginary tales, 
 and to give a free course to raillery and to sarcasm 
 at the expense of a neighbour's weaknesses and 
 faults. 
 
 IX 
 
 The nineteenth century justly boasts itself a 
 century of reform. But these reformatory move- 
 ments, beneficent in many of their operations, in 
 others constitute the most terrible affliction of our 
 time. The speed with which thoughts of analysis 
 and reform circulate has brought to our veins a 
 fever, to allay which — with rest and diet — the time 
 has long since arrived ; but while the paroxysms of 
 disturbed thought continue, one cannot think that 
 reform can be healthy or fruitful. Life has marched 
 so quickly that many ask with terror, "Whither 
 do we go, where shall we stop? If we fly upward 
 we shall not be able to breathe, if downward 
 then we shall fall into the pit." 
 
 The idea of reform is passing through the same 
 stages as every new and sound idea after it has 
 attained popularity. At first it is the privilege 
 of a few master spirits, burning with the fire of 
 thought, of long experience, and of sincere feeling, 
 who strive for its realisation. Then, when the idea 
 
 H 
 
Ii4 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 has become familiar, it becomes the property of the 
 masses, it is accepted on faith, and at last circulates 
 in the market-place and loses its sincerity and 
 worth. In a moment of enthusiasm the great 
 apostles of the movement raise the standard, and 
 while they bear it this standard is the symbol of a 
 great work, drawing servants to its ministry. But 
 when it passes into the hands of the people, and 
 little boys find pleasure in bearing it from place to 
 place with meaningless cries, it loses its- prestige, and 
 serious persons turn away when they see it approach. 
 
 There are periods when reform is the ripe fruit 
 of social evolution, the expression of a necessity 
 felt by all, when it loosens the knots bound by 
 immemorial social relations; then the reformer 
 appears a prophet who speaks with the voice of 
 the public conscience, and realises the thought which 
 all bear in themselves. 
 
 His words and his works master all because 
 they bear witness to the truth, and all who are of 
 the truth echo and emulate them. But when his 
 work is done, sometimes arise after him legions of 
 false prophets. All men, great and small, wish to 
 be prophets : each bears a new word upon his lips 
 which has never been borne in his soul, or ripened by 
 experience — a catch-word, cheap, and therefore feeble, 
 stolen from the market-place, and therefore base. 
 He who has never done useful work, to whom 
 idleness is the work of life, prepares projects for 
 new legislation, or raises himself a little chair 
 from which to preach reform, demanding that work 
 which he has never done, and knows not how to 
 do, be placed upon a new foundation. Such are 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 115 
 
 the little. What shall we say of the great, who 
 suffer equally from the fever of reform ? 
 
 The prevalent ailment from which our so-called 
 statesmen suffer is ambition, or the thirst for 
 renown. In our time life flows with immeasurable 
 speed, statesmen succeed statesmen, each while in 
 power burning with impatience for celebrity while 
 there is yet time. He will not trouble to collect 
 the threads laid down by his predecessor, he cannot 
 waste his time with the little labours of organisa- 
 tion, the amelioration of established institutions, or 
 current affairs. Each must begin his work from the 
 beginning, clear himself a field, make tabula rasa on 
 which to create anew, for all men flatter themselves 
 that they possess creative powers. What he shall 
 create from, what are his materials — this question he 
 seldom troubles to answer from a. practical con- 
 sideration of affairs. It is the act of creation 
 which attracts him : he aspires to create from nothing, 
 and his excited imagination answers all questions 
 with the familiar phrases: "The institution will 
 support itself, it will make its men, they will 
 appear in due time." It is remarkable that the 
 more infatuated the statesman is with this belief, the 
 less is he prepared for his work by knowledge and 
 experience. This desire for creation is the more 
 seductive, as it requires no real knowledge, while 
 it gives a wide field for the activity of the political 
 charlatan, and makes celebrity attainable by the 
 vulgarest means. Where active management, the 
 knowledge of work, and the direction and improve- 
 ment of existing institutions are required, it is easy 
 to distinguish the man of knowledge and experience 
 
Ii6 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 from the charlatan and dunce; but where under- 
 takings are to be begun by criticism and condemna- 
 tion of existing institutions, where institutions are 
 to be organised anew on vaunted Hnes and principles, 
 it is easy without immediate knowledge of affairs 
 to contend in generalities, to show external perfec- 
 tion of construction, and to appeal to precedents 
 existing, perhaps, beyond mountains and seas. On 
 this field it is harder to distinguish the efficient 
 from the inefficient, and the charlatan from the 
 man of action. Here every great man, knowing 
 little of affairs, and troubling less to understand 
 them, may easily justify any project of reform 
 fabricated in subordinate offices by petty reformers 
 themselves incited by a desire for cheap notoriety. 
 
 This extraordinary phenomenon must be numbered 
 among the characteristic elements of our political 
 life : in different measures it may be observed 
 everywhere — in administrations, in privy councils, in 
 committees. It is seen most plainly, of course, in 
 those countries where institutions lack the sanction 
 of historic precedent, where discipline has not 
 been affirmed by centuries, where society by its 
 historic development has brought out no defined 
 classes or ramparts to guard against the gusts of 
 thought and aspiration. The wider and freer the 
 historic and economic field, the greater the room for 
 the fantasies of reformers. In such circumstances, 
 there is no conflict, and little need for reformers to 
 measure themselves with affirmed ideas, interests, 
 and parties ; then licence reigns without control. 
 
 While these appearances are seen on high, analo- 
 gous action proceeds in the depths and abysses of the 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 117 
 
 earth. In its nature this movement also is reform- 
 atory, but it seeks a more radical reform. Masses 
 of men dissatisfied with their condition, dissatisfied 
 with social institutions, blinded by the wildest instincts 
 of their nature, or infatuated by ideals born of the 
 fantasies of narrow thought — rejecting all existing 
 institutions sprung from the historic development of 
 society, abjuring the Church, the State, the family, 
 the rights of property, — aspire to the realisation of 
 their wild ideals on earth. These men demand that 
 the reforms they extol shall begin at the beginning 
 upon a clear field, which they desire first to dis- 
 encumber of the ruins of all existing institutions. 
 
 " These are the enemies of civilisation ! " cry the 
 statesmen of Europe ; and in the name of civilisation 
 arm themselves against the mass of improvised 
 reformers. But the defenders of the existing order 
 would do well to remember that they themselves 
 have been the first to raise a daring hand against 
 existing things, to overthrow the ancient edifices, 
 and to build others in their places ; that often 
 with reckless confidence they hasten to condemn 
 that order, and to destroy the traditions and customs 
 sprung from the genius and history of the people. 
 By establishing new laws which ignore and can- 
 not correspond with life, they have violated those 
 same conditions of actuality which the enemies of 
 civilisation refuse to acknowledge. Victory over such 
 enemies may be gained only in the name of these 
 vital principles, and in the domain of sound reality. 
 
 The word reform is so often repeated that we have 
 begun to confound it with improvement. In the 
 popular opinion the apostles of reform are the apostles 
 
ii8 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 of improvement, or, as we say, progress ; while on the 
 other hand, those who question the need or utility of 
 reform upon new principles are enemies of progress, 
 enemies of advancement, enemies almost of good, of 
 justice, and of civilisation. In this opinion, so widely 
 disseminated by our publicists, there is a great error and 
 delusion. With such errors current a common-sense 
 judgment on any subject finds it hard to make a 
 path through prejudices ; and concrete, actual, healthy 
 thought must surrender to abstraction and fantasy. 
 Men of action and knowledge are forced to give place 
 to dreamers armed with abstract ideas enveloped in 
 loud phrases. On the other hand, he enjoys credit 
 from the first who poses as the representative of new 
 ideas, the advocate of reform, who carries plans in his 
 hands for the construction of new buildings. The 
 political profession is crowded with architects, and all 
 who would be workmen, landlords, or tenants must 
 needs be architects first. It is plain that with such 
 tendencies of thought and taste an infinite field is 
 open for all manner of charlatanry, for all the dex- 
 terity of the hypocrite, and the daring of ignorance ; 
 while practical work is hampered beyond measure 
 when accomplished in the midst of a disposition to 
 analysis and criticism, and subjected to the test of the 
 general principles and phrases which obtain currency 
 in the world. He who ought to concentrate all his 
 attention and all his strength upon his work, and upon 
 devising means the better to fulfil it, must constantly 
 take into account the opinions of others, and the im- 
 pression it will produce on the world and on superiors, 
 more especially if those superiors are infected with 
 the new ideas. Thus, on criticism and resistance to 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 119 
 
 criticism, for the most part quite absurd, is wasted 
 much force which might have accomplished great 
 work ; so much time goes in friction, in unfruit- 
 ful struggle, that but little remains for real, con- 
 centrated labour. The worker is surrounded on all 
 sides by illusory work, while the real and needed 
 work slips from his hands and is left undone. Such 
 a position is intolerable by good and earnest men. 
 When concerned with life itself, with facts and living 
 forces, they feel themselves strong ; they trust in 
 their work, and this trust gives them the power to 
 create wonders in the actual world. But they lose 
 heart when they deal with images, symptoms, forms, 
 and phrases ; then they have no faith, and without 
 faith all work is fruitless. Shall we wonder then 
 that the best workers retire, or — what is worse and 
 what more often happens — without leaving their posts, 
 become indifferent to their duties, fulfilling them 
 outwardly only for the sake of influence and emolu- 
 ment? 
 
 Such are often the consequences of the fever for 
 reform when it extends too far. Where shall we find 
 a physician to cure the evil ? What hero will direct 
 our strength to that actual amelioration which we so 
 much need, for which in reality we thirst so much ? 
 " Wait a little," we are told ; " the mysterious veil of 
 reformation will be lifted, and a new and virgin life 
 spring forth in the plenitude of beauty and strength ; 
 a new dawn will appear, revealing a country flowing 
 with milk and honey." We have waited long, but 
 the curtain has not been lifted, the new world has 
 not appeared ; but across the ancient veil another has 
 been drawn, 
 
120 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 Meantime it is enough to pass through the streets 
 of cities, great or small, to see at every step the ameli- 
 orations we need. Everywhere round lie formless 
 masses of abandoned work, forsaken institutions, 
 and ruined temples. There are schools where the 
 teachers have forsaken the pupils to compose papers 
 on methods of instruction, or wordy discourses for 
 public meetings ; colleges where, under the externals 
 of education, nothing is learnt, and the bewildered 
 teachers, in the confusion of orders and instructions, 
 know not what to teach ; there are hospitals where the 
 afflicted fear to go because of the cold, the hunger, and 
 the disorder, caused by the indifference of interested 
 managers ; there are administrations with large funds 
 at their disposal, where each official neglects all save 
 his interests and ambition; there are libraries where 
 all is disordered or destroyed, where we cannot under- 
 stand either the employment of the income or the 
 disposition of the books ; there are streets which we 
 cannot pass without terror or abhorrence from un- 
 cleanliness poisoning the air, and from the houses 
 of drunkenness and disorder which encumber them ; 
 there are courts of justice, dedicated to the greatest 
 of all the functions of government, through the 
 incapacity of officials ruled by a chaos of disorder 
 and injustice; there are departments from which 
 the officials are absent; churches, a lamp unto the 
 people, forsaken and closed, without service or song, 
 or from which, through the irregularity of their services, 
 the worshippers bring away nothing save confusion, 
 ignorance, and irritation. 
 
 Is there not here a harvest for which gleaners are 
 needed? where all the forces of thought, of love. 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 
 
 of indignation might well be directed ; where we 
 need, not legislation to divert these forces, but the 
 measures of masters and rulers, concentrating their 
 efforts on a single spot for culture and improvement. 
 There lies the real need of our time, which we sacri- 
 fice to abstract questions and sounding words. " Do 
 not trespass beyond the limits of thy destiny," was 
 the advice of the ancient oracle, "Do not undertake 
 a charge beyond thy strength." How excellent the 
 advice ! All wisdom is in the concentration of 
 thought and power, all evil is in its dispersion. To 
 work is not to dissipate our strength on a multi- 
 tude of generalities and aspirations, but to choose 
 a work and a field according to our measure, and 
 to dig, and plant, and cultivate, to spend our living 
 strength thereon, and to raise ourselves from work 
 to knowledge, from knowledge to perfection. 
 
 X 
 
 Wealth sets in motion a multitude of the basest 
 impulses of human nature. It imposes on men great 
 responsibilities, and binds and restricts their freedom 
 in many things. It becomes the object of exploita- 
 tion, and is surrounded by a web of falsehoods of 
 every kind. If the feelings of the rich were not 
 benumbed, they would daily feel that their relations 
 to men had changed, that many, even of their nearest 
 friends, behaved no longer with simplicity ; and that 
 for a great number of the people with whom they 
 dealt, their personalities did not exist but had been 
 replaced by their external figure, their capital. By 
 
122 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 men of sensibility such a position is unbearable, and 
 the rich man must possess great simplicity of heart 
 to continue in pure and benevolent relations to the 
 people around him, and to escape the demoralisa- 
 tion and perversion which arise under the influence 
 of his wealth. 
 
 To a similar fate is subjected another great human 
 force — intellect, more particularly intellect above the 
 general level, and, above all, the intellect of the ruler. 
 When an able man attains authority, when his name 
 has become celebrated, all the basest impulses of 
 human nature awaken around him. To approach 
 him is an honour : he is no longer approached 
 simply, but with the ulterior motive of appearing 
 clever and awakening his attention. When the clever 
 man is in fashion there is no baseness too low to put 
 on the mask of ability, and to display before him all 
 the affectations of which baseness is capable. The 
 consciousness of this falsehood and affectation would 
 be intolerable, and would force him to avoid his kind 
 if he were not himself the victim of similar weak- 
 nesses. Thus, too often we find clever men who, 
 accustomed to the affectation of others, pose before 
 their subordinates with all the absurdities of little 
 minds, and find more pleasure in such society than 
 in the society of their equals. Few minds are free 
 from this weakness. 
 
 In one of her caustic letters to her husband Mrs 
 Carlyle says : 
 
 "Geraldine came yesterday afternoon. ... I fancy you 
 would find our talk amusing if you could assist at it in a 
 cloak of darkness, for one of the penalties of being 'the wisest man 
 and profonndest thinker of the age,' is the royal one of never 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 123 
 
 hearing the plain ' unornamented ' truth spoken j everyone striving 
 to be wise and profound iwuita natura in the presence of such a 
 one, and making himself as much as possible into his likeness. 
 And this is the reason that Arthur Helps and so many others talk 
 very nicely to me, and bore you to distraction. With me they are 
 not afraid to stand on the little ' broad basis ' of their own 
 individuality, such as it is. With you they are always balancing 
 themselves like Taglioni, on the point of their moral or intellectual 
 great toe." — "Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle ; Ed. 
 by J. A. Froude," vol. i. p. 321. 
 
 XI 
 
 In the dark ages of history a condition of society 
 existed in which over all citizens hung a feeling of 
 suspicion and distrust. Contemporary writers speak 
 with terror of cities where men feared to look into 
 each other's eyes, to speak to their neighbours — 
 even to the members of their households — a frank 
 word devoid of artifice, or to give rein to the simplest 
 impulses of their minds, for fear of malevolent inter- 
 pretation which might lead to persecution in the 
 name of the State or in the interest of public safety. 
 From the dark corners and lowest strata of society 
 appeared a body of prosperous professional informers, 
 actually formed into corporations — a mysterious 
 power before which all prostrated themselves in 
 silent terror, or, when silence could not be, expressed 
 their thoughts in false, flattering, and hypocritical 
 words. 
 
 When we read such accounts of the times of 
 Duke Biron in Russia, and of the Terror in France, 
 we rejoice that we live in another age, and that 
 the events of those days are but traditions for 
 
124 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 US. Yet, if we examine more closely the appear- 
 ances around us, we shall have to admit that 
 symptoms of similar conditions are not unknown. 
 We might indeed go further, and say that mutual 
 suspicion has driven its roots deeper into our 
 inner life than even in those ages. What strikes 
 us most in recent years is the absence of that 
 simplicity and sincerity in our relations which 
 constitute the chief interest of social life, inspire 
 it with the breath of freshness, and serve as a 
 symptom of healthiness. How seldom do we find 
 simplicity in the conduct of men ! How delightful 
 would it be to approach men simply, without those 
 artifices and ulterior motives which bring forth 
 dark shadows confounding our relations to our 
 fellow-creatures ! Of such shadows an innumerable 
 multitude has formed in these later times, resembling 
 a host of evil spirits sowing discord in the air. 
 Whence have they come? Did they reflect defined 
 ideas, we might oppose them with similar ideas. 
 But no ; for the most part they are engendered by 
 inipressions unconsciously inspired with the air we 
 breathe, as atoms of infected matter in a time of 
 pestilence. The air to-day is tainted with the germs 
 of moral and intellectual epidemics of every kind : 
 their name is legion, and other name it would be 
 hard to find. 
 
 Observe how men, strangers or friends, behave in 
 society, upon business or pleasure. Hardly have they 
 met, hardly have they exchanged a greeting, when 
 shadows arise between them. With the first word 
 uttered by one, through the mind of the other a re- 
 servation has passed: "Ah, these are his opinions. 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 125 
 
 this is his school, these are his convictions (the 
 favourite of modern terms, and one of the most 
 deceptive). This man is a Liberal, a Clerical, a 
 Reactionary, a Socialist, an Anarchist, a Free-Trader, 
 a Protectionist — ^he is a disciple of the Moscovski 
 Vedomosti, a supporter of the Nedel, of the Vestnik 
 Yevrofui" — and so on. Observe how, after this first 
 impression, mutual distrust burns more and more 
 fiercely, degenerating at last to irritation, till all 
 rational exchange of thought becomes impossible ; 
 then sharp and caustic phrases relieve intermittently a 
 constrained silence, till at last the new acquaintances 
 part in total ignorance of one another, yet with mutual 
 condetnnation. Each at once classified the other 
 in a certain category with which he had before 
 decided he had nothing in common. Whence does 
 this absurd irritation spring ? From convictions ? In 
 the majority of cases neither one nor the other has 
 any reasoned convictions, or belongs to any recognised 
 party. He has repeated something read in the news- 
 papers a day before, or taken from the conversation 
 of a friend, who himself seeks his opinions at an 
 equally childish source. 
 
 How much great strength is lost or sterilised by 
 this childish play with impressions and symptoms of 
 conviction ! Men, in reality honest, virtuous, and 
 capable, instead of working as hard as may be at the 
 practical, actual work to which they are called, cross 
 their arms, waste their energy, exhaust themselves in 
 fruitless irritation and anger, because work on certain 
 principles, with certain theories and certain views, is 
 impossible. They have scarcely put their hands to 
 their work before it has repelled them ; they lose 
 
126 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 faith in it because it does not correspond with their 
 conceptions of usefulness. Everywhere we see the 
 same absurd failing. Masters, from fanatical attach- 
 ment to principles, systems, and methods of education, 
 neglect their schools, where the unhappy pupils are 
 sacrificed to stupid or idle teachers, yet each of these 
 teachers in turn is ready at a moment's notice to 
 argue on the abstract principles of a work which he 
 cannot do, and does not understand. Our courts cry 
 out for lawyers of experience, devoted to their profes- 
 sion for love of it ; our universities for jurisprudents 
 who love their work as the work of their lives: but 
 our jurists, professors and practitioners alike, have 
 hardly met when, through mutual suspicion, they seek 
 to tear each other asunder as Reactionaries, Clericals, 
 or Radicals, or over ideas of punishment, of trial by jury, 
 of civil marriage, or the administration of prisons on 
 one system or another. Go to the meetings of the in- 
 numerable commissions for consideration of new pro- 
 jects, observe the wild disorder, listen to the interrup- 
 tions of members from the various departments across 
 the green table, see the glances they cast at one another 
 — what distrust, what suspicion ; what affectation in 
 the delivery of speeches, what turgid and empty 
 phrases ! Whence does it spring ? From the task 
 appointed, which is seldom performed? No; from 
 some petty idea which the speaker has picked up 
 elsewhere, and which he brings with himself, rather 
 on which he brings himself ad astra, or from some 
 theory, on rare occasions taken carefully from a good 
 book. In our salons hardly has the conversation 
 passed from banal phrases and the latest news, when 
 the same phenomenon is reproduced. A confusion 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 127 
 
 of tongues with like confusion of ideas is heard, 
 an inconsistency of thought, from which we shrink 
 with amazement and repulsion. Often we meet men 
 whose speeches and actions protest against their 
 names, their callings, the work which they outwardly 
 perform and by which they live. The heads of 
 schools contemptuously refer to pedagogues who 
 insist upon rigorous discipline ; the soldier condemns 
 the old-fashioned persons who maintain the necessity 
 of military discipline; the priest condemns the 
 practice of attending mass on festival days ; judges 
 and jurists discuss the ignorance of those who require 
 the punishment of thieves, or the obedience of servants 
 to their masters. All fly asunder over theories, few 
 can unite for action, because from their first steps 
 they differ in their conceptions of work, or rather in 
 those obscure phrases with which they express their 
 conceptions. 
 
 Whence does all this proceed ? We must seek the 
 cause in the monstrous, immeasurable development of 
 vanity in all and each. This is the same petty self- 
 love as inspires a youth, ignorant of the world of 
 men, on entering the society of strangers, to assume 
 an inimical tone, to lose his self-possession, to affect 
 bitterness, irony, and arrogance. He bears to this 
 unknown exchange his only capital, a high opinion 
 of himself; and the knowledge that others value him 
 below his own estimate irritates him, deprives him of 
 his simplicity, sets him, as it were, perpetually on his 
 tiptoes, and gives him an air of meaningless protest 
 against his surroundings. Conceive a company wholly 
 formed of persons as sickly, as immeasurably vain as 
 he. Taken by itself, such a group would be ludicrous 
 
128 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 enough, yet, absurd as it appears, it serves as a true 
 image of assemblies of persons met by accident, or for 
 the purpose of some common action. 
 
 XII 
 
 There are many terms which have been outworn to 
 worthlessness through constant employment by every 
 one without precise application ; terms by use of 
 which the fool in his own mind is made wise, and 
 the most ignorant exalted to the height of know- 
 ledge. Current words may be vulgarised to such an 
 extent that serious men have scruples in employing 
 them. They feel that these terms, bandied every- 
 where, have taken permanently the associations of 
 baseness and triviality inseparable from vulgar use. 
 The time has then come for such words to be laid 
 away in the lumber room of thought : they must rest 
 awhile and be purified in the crucible, before they 
 may again appear in the world as precise and com- 
 prehensible expressions. 
 
 With such a fate is threatened that favourite 
 word — evolve or evolution. In books, in pamphlets, 
 in leading articles and feuilletons, in intercourse at 
 table, in sermons at church, in the conversation of 
 salons, in oificial documents, in lectures, in the lessons 
 of gymnasia and elementary schools — everywhere 
 flies the sound of this magic word, till we feel wearied 
 when it is pronounced. It is indeed time to test the 
 idea which this word expresses. It is time to reflect 
 that this term evolution, in disunion from its comple- 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 129 
 
 mentary term involution, has no definite meaning at all. 
 It is time to turn to our common mother and teacher, 
 Nature, for the explanation of the idea. By her we 
 are taught that all development proceeds from a 
 centre, and without a centre is inconceivable ; that 
 no plant can rise from the soil, that no flower can 
 bear fruit if the centre of creative force, of develop- 
 ment and production of sap, is withered. Unhappily 
 we have forgotten Nature, and so, without regarding 
 her, we construct our childish schemes of development. 
 With rude hand we would open the bud mechanically 
 before the time has come for its opening by the inter- 
 nal action of natural forces. We rejoice, and call this 
 evolution. We destroy the bud, and its opened petals 
 wither, without a healthy blossom, or hope of healthy 
 fruit. Is not this madness ? Is it not like the folly of 
 the child in the fable, who strove to dry up the sea 
 with a spoon ? 
 
 How many of such foolish children have we in our 
 self-appointed developers and teachers ! In them the 
 passion for evolution becomes fanaticism, and there 
 is no blockhead or dunce who does not consider him- 
 self capable of evolving something. Yet, were these 
 the sole victims of the infatuation it would be well. 
 What is most remarkable is that, beside them, 
 and sometimes behind them, stand men of apparent 
 ability, serious thinkers, enchanted by the magic 
 word, bought with the current money of the market- 
 place, who repeat it, affirm it, and on this shibboleth 
 and the vague conceptions it expresses, organise 
 whole systems of educational training. 
 
 And all these fantasies arise, all these plans are 
 composed for the purpose of operating in anima 
 
 I 
 
130 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 vili on the mass of the so-called uncultivated classes, 
 on the body of the people. A campaign is planned, 
 but there are neither leaders nor soldiers ; no one 
 will trouble to mingle with the masses, to live their 
 lives, to examine their psychic nature, their soul, for 
 the masses have a soul, with which those who would 
 understand them must enter into communion. No, 
 our reformers and educators see in them only a certain 
 mass, an aggregation of intellectual forces on which 
 to try their experiments. And what astonishing 
 audacity ! They demand in the name of some 
 supreme and absolute aim that submission to these 
 experiments be obligatory, and by force. How they 
 are to be conducted — on this our teachers are at 
 variance, but there are as many systems and methods 
 as there are heads. In one thing only all agree — in 
 a determination to act on the thought and develop it. 
 In vain our weak voices protest that the simple 
 man is not mind alone, but soul also ; that, like all 
 other men, he has in his heart a base on which he 
 builds his whole life, by which the edifice of the church 
 is supported. No, our educators will address them- 
 selves to the mind alone, and strive to incite in it an 
 idle activity on those questions which the enlighteners 
 have themselves so cheaply aad cheerfully solved. 
 What a ludicrous error ! If, abandoning their baseless 
 assurance — their exaggerated conception of their own 
 intelligence — these men were to descend to the dark 
 masses beneath, and enter into communion with them, 
 they would find that while those who live in dark- 
 ness seek and cry for light, and thirst for enlighten- 
 ment, yet they will let it enter only from that side 
 from which they feel that it will truly enlighten 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 131 
 
 them, leaving their souls untroubled and their lives 
 undestroyed. They feel that of all things dear to 
 them their spiritual nature is the dearest, and 
 through their hearts alone will they let in the light. 
 When the light of reason dawns from this side it 
 does not blind them, or ruin their lives, or disturb 
 the equilibrium of existence. But when the opera- 
 tions of development are directed exclusively to 
 the mind, when they are begun with the imparting 
 of generalities and the so-called knowledge of text- 
 books, our educators act as men who would stand a 
 cone upon its apex. 
 
 XIII 
 
 All life is movement. Never, it seems, has the 
 movement been so swift as in our time ; but this 
 movement is intermittent, feverish, sickly, not a 
 natural succession, but an involuntary course of 
 sensations ; not a constant aspiration to a single 
 aim, but a sequence of diverse desires affected by 
 every wind. 
 
 " Can this be life ? " we ask ourselves as we watch 
 a crowd devouring and devoured by life, in thought 
 and anxiety for ever. 
 
 " The highest gift of God and of Nature," said 
 Goethe, "is life, the revolution of the monad about 
 itself, a movement which knows no stoppage or 
 repose ; while to each is given a congenital impulse 
 which incites him to sustain and develop it, although 
 its nature remains a mystery for all men living.'' 
 To live — what a simple matter it seems. " Quel est 
 
132 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 mon mestier?" asked Montaigne, and answered him- 
 self, " Mon mestier dest vivre." 
 
 But how complex are the lives created by men, 
 above all by men of modern times, when each day 
 they meditate more deeply upon life, its purpose 
 and its aim, concentrating upon one object all 
 their thoughts. Life without thought would be the 
 life of animals, but thought should be a living thing, 
 turned to the practical purposes of life. Yet 
 in our day men live for thought — and life, the 
 simple and precious gift of God, is swallowed up 
 by it. Life is the free movement of all the powers 
 and impulses of human nature. In this movement 
 itself is its end, and therefore, to state the aim of 
 life as a movement of intellect only, of heart only, 
 of passion only, is to restrict and deform it. Life 
 has been artificially deformed by these thoughts upon 
 itself Goethe in his time cried with disgust, " Poor 
 men to whom the head is everything" {Armer 
 Mensck, an dem der Kopf alles isf). " Do we live ? " 
 he continues. " We have worked ourselv^' out of life 
 by its analysis {herausstudirt aus dem Leben), and 
 must attempt to enter it again." Goethe's words 
 were inspired by thought of the professors, the 
 scholars, and the young students of his time. Since 
 his time how much farther has this analysis gone, 
 and how much of life has been devoured by it. In 
 Goethe's time, in the latter half of the eighteenth 
 century, thinkers were struck by the growing dis- 
 cord between thought and life, by the prevalence 
 of that of weariness of life {Weltschmerz), then in 
 fashion among the younger generation. This com- 
 plaint is no longer common, but its place has been 
 
THE MALADY OF OUR TIME 133 
 
 taken by the theory of pessimism, a new conception 
 of life, which rules men's minds with a hopeless and 
 intolerable dominion. This is no simple disillusion 
 sprung from the contradiction between actuality and 
 the highest ideals of the soul, it is a set negation 
 of the world in which we move ; not a simple weari- 
 ness of life awakened by struggle with the ills of 
 humanity, but a wicked, hopeless, and destroying 
 denial, which admits of but one issue from the 
 gulf of despair — to pluck from the soul itself the 
 very desire to live. 
 
 To this extent have we perverted life. We 
 trusted that thought alone would serve for the 
 direction of life, for the better ordering of its 
 movements ; we believed that it would help us to 
 live; yet we find that life has been annihilated by 
 thought, till neither life nor thought remains. Such 
 is the fashionable theory of life, greedily seized by 
 the readers of its illustrious apostle ; a theory which 
 has made life more illusive — illusive enough before ; 
 for the partisans and supporters of this theory con- 
 tinue to satisfy freely all their animal impulses, 
 in themselves proving the contradiction between 
 life and their artificial theory of life, a theory in 
 which there is no room for faith, or justice, or 
 energy of will striving to embody itself in activity. 
 What then remains? There remains a negation of 
 life stolen from books, without experience of life, 
 a sterile scheme of truth taken from books also, a 
 dead effigy of Nature in the dress of a chemical 
 formula, and a feeble will, inclined to renunciation 
 of a life which from the material point of view has 
 been a failure. 
 
KNOWLEDGE AND WORK 
 
 Since the first awakening of thought, and its first 
 manifestation in our society, the value and necessity 
 of knowledge have been preached on every side, until 
 the very idea of enlightenment in the minds of the 
 most intelligent has been confounded with extent 
 of learning. Everywhere we see an extension of 
 programmes in the higher, intermediate, and even 
 elementary schools ; everywhere we find incompetent 
 masters hastily appointed merely to fill vacancies; 
 everywhere the formalism of examinations and in- 
 specting commissions ; everywhere a host of journals 
 treating de omni re scibili et quibusdam aliis, which 
 swell the heads of their readers with a mass of con- 
 fused and disordered information. The deplorable 
 result is the increase of a pretended intelligence with 
 a high opinion of itself, which lacks that for which 
 all true knowledge is meant, that is, the ability to 
 acconiplish work, to accomplish it with conscience 
 and skill, and to make it the interest of life. 
 
 To every man a task is appointed, which, to 
 understand, he must make a part of himself, and 
 concenti-ate his powers upon. " Do not go beyond 
 the limits of thy destiny," said the ancient oracle; 
 " do not go beyond the limits of thy work." He who 
 dissipates his powers in many directions distracts 
 his thoughts, enfeebles his will, and loses the power 
 of concentration upon work. Distracted by the 
 134 
 
KNOWLEDGE AND WORK 135 
 
 impulse of curiosity and the desire to know, men 
 cannot amass and concentrate the reserve of vital 
 force necessary for the free transition from know- 
 ledge to action. However great the knowledge 
 acquired by the trifler, all is unfruitful if he cannot 
 concentrate his powers and direct them to work. 
 
 By itself, knowledge educates neither the under- 
 standing nor the will. Of this we see examples 
 daily. Daily we meet clever men, gifted with strong 
 memories and imaginations, cultivated and learned, 
 yet resourceless in the decisive moment when a 
 judgment is required for work, or a firm word in 
 council. Our life, both private and public, through 
 the complexity of its relations, and the confusion of its 
 ideas and tastes, demands continually a quick and firm 
 decision. Yet, when such decisions are required, we 
 find men approaching questions, not with firm steps, 
 but by roundabout paths. In these moments a man 
 of clear conscience and will, capable of apprehending 
 all the relations of the subject, is more valuable for 
 practical work than a multitude of feeble and vacil- 
 lating minds. 
 
 From such causes spring the formalism and un- 
 fruitfulness of the many councils and conferences 
 which are held among us : men deliver judgments 
 without troubling to concentrate their minds upon the 
 subject of speech. The best orator is not he who 
 searches for means to confound his adversary with 
 the little arm of casuistry or with torrents of 
 splendid imprecation, but he who, inspired by a 
 clear apprehension of the affair he deals with, 
 expresses his thoughts clearly and firmly — not 
 he who, confusing light and shade, can prove that 
 
136 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 white is black and that black is white, but he who 
 straightly and firmly says that white is white and that 
 black is black. The best judge is not he who analyses 
 by the standard of a hair every claim and defence, 
 and delivers judgment conformably to the formalities 
 of jurisprudence, but he who, looking only to essential 
 rights, with clear thought penetrates to the essence 
 of the relations between the litigants. The best 
 general is not he who has studied in detail the history 
 of all battles and of all strategy, but he who, in the 
 critical moment, realises his condition, his locality, 
 and his strength, and with a strong exertion of will 
 decides the fate of battle. 
 
FAITH 
 I 
 
 On earth we walk by faith and not by sight ; and 
 he is mistaken greatly who thinks that having extin- 
 guished faith in himself, he can walk thenceforth by 
 sight alone. However high the human mind has 
 risen above the world, it cannot rid itself of the soul, 
 which aspires to belief — and to unconditional belief 
 — for without belief man cannot live. And is not 
 that a pitiable delusion which, rejecting faith in that 
 which exists — in that which is revealed to the soul 
 as real truth, accepts the theory and the formula as 
 objects of faith, of honour, and of adoration, as idols 
 to which men sacrifice themselves, the whole world 
 in their souls, their freedom and that of their neigh- 
 bours. Theories and formulas cannot in them- 
 selves embrace the absolute, and each is of necessity 
 incomplete, questionable, conditional, and false. That 
 which is infinitely above me, which from ages was and 
 is, which is infinite and immutable, which I cannot 
 comprehend, but which comprehends and sustains me : 
 in that I wish to believe as absolute truth — not in 
 the work of my hands, the creations of my mind, or 
 the logical formulas of my thought. The infinity of the 
 universe and the principle of life cannot be expressed 
 by any logical formula. The unhappy man who relies 
 on such a formula to cross the chaos of existence will, 
 
 137 
 
138 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 with his wretched formula, be swallowed up by the 
 chaos he defies. The recognition of an immortal self, 
 faith in the only God, the consciousness of sin, the 
 yearning for perfection, the sacrifice of love, the feel- 
 ing of duty : these are the truths in which the soul 
 may trust — not in the idols of formula and theory. 
 
 II 
 
 What a mystery is the religious life of a people 
 such as ours, uncultivated and left to itself! We ask, 
 whence does it come ? and strive to reach the source, 
 yet find nothing. Our clergy teach little, and seldom ; 
 they celebrate the service in the churches, and direct 
 the administration of the parishes. To the illiterate 
 the Scriptures are unknown ; there remain the church 
 service and a few prayers, which, transmitted from 
 parents to children, serve as the only link between 
 the Church and its flock. It is known that in some 
 remote districts the congregation understands nothing 
 of the words of the service, or even of the Lord's 
 Prayer, which is repeated often with omissions and 
 additions which deprive it of all meaning. 
 
 Nevertheless, in all these untutored minds has been 
 raised, as in Athens, one knows not by whom, an altar 
 to the Unknown God ; to all, the intervention of Pro- 
 vidence in human affairs is a fact so indisputable, so 
 firmly rooted in conscience, that when death arrives 
 these men, to whom none ever spoke of God, open 
 their doors to Him as a well-known and long-awaited 
 guest. Thus, in the literal sense, they give their souls 
 to God. 
 
FAITH 139 
 
 III 
 
 "In the beginning was the Word." Thus pro- 
 claims the Evangel. . . . The great German poet 
 wished to improve the thought of the Evangelist 
 by passing it through the mind of Faust. " No," 
 said Faust ; " In the beginning was the Deed." Had 
 Goethe written his " Faust " in our age, he certainly 
 would have said : " In the beginning was the Fact." 
 This Fact is the favourite idea of contemporary 
 materialists, the alveole from which they develop an 
 universe, the base and fundament of all that they 
 call truth. 
 
 How false is it all! Truth is absolute, and only 
 the absolute may be the foundation of human life. 
 Things not absolute are unstable ; all else vanishes 
 in the midst of images, which cannot serve as a 
 base. A fact is something by its nature indissolubly 
 bound with the conditions of the material world, 
 and- only conceivable thus. But hardly have we 
 tried to detach this fact from its material surround- 
 ings, to determine its spiritual principle, to ascertain 
 its true nature, than we are entangled in the net- 
 work of propositions, hypotheses, and doubts which 
 arise in the mind of every individual thinker, till we 
 feel our utter incapacity to discern the truth. Hence 
 history presents such confusion of judgment on 
 events when we try to analyse their spiritual sig- 
 nificance. The most conscientious student can do 
 no more than paint a faithful picture of events in 
 their relations to contemporary conditions of life and 
 action, recounting them with their material surround- 
 
I40 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 ings, analysing the causes, efifects, and motive prin- 
 ciples of historic activity. Here, it is plain, science 
 must seek refuge in art: thus, all true historians are 
 artists of necessity. For art an ideal is needed ; con- 
 sequently, the writers of history in their appreciation 
 of events and men must ceaselessly aspire to an ideal, 
 the form of which will be peculiar to each. All his- 
 torians are inclined to be carried away by their ideals 
 — that is, by the conceptions which they form of 
 perfection in human motives, acts, and institutions. 
 To events taken together the historian stands in the 
 position of a critic, and the character of the critic 
 is determined by his general philosophy of life. For 
 this reason, the judgments of historical critics on 
 celebrated persons and events are so various and 
 irreconcilable. Whom one to-day has exalted the 
 other to-morrow degrades ; while in him whom yes- 
 terday history depicted as a monster to-morrow she 
 finds a pattern of moral excellence. It is unlikely 
 that the differences of historical critics will ever be 
 settled, for the very ideal of their criticism is mutable, 
 and changes with every generation of historians. 
 
 Long before the dawn of pragmatic history, 
 tradition sprang from the depths of the popular 
 imagination, and to the present day continues to 
 develop side by side with history. It serves as 
 a source of history, and as one of the objects 
 of its criticism ; but, in addition, it remains the 
 precious heritage of the people, preserving in 
 itself the freshness of immediate impressions. The 
 masses understand and love tradition, and con- 
 tinue to create it, not merely because they 
 incline to the marvellous, but because they in- 
 
FAITH 141 
 
 stinctively see there a profound truth, an absolute 
 truth of idea and sentiment — a truth which they 
 cannot discern in the subtlest and most artistic 
 analysis of facts. Those heroes of popular song 
 whom history condemns are worshipped still by the 
 people ; in them it sees the embodiment of its 
 ideals — the ideals of strength, beneficence, and piety, 
 in which, and not in persons, or in the passing 
 images of life, it finds an absolute truth. The 
 learned do not understand that the masses see 
 with their souls — ^that this absolute truth cannot be 
 seized materially, displayed visibly, determined by 
 numbers and weights, but that it may yet be seen 
 and trusted in, for absolute truth is accessible through 
 faith and only through faith. There is nothing perfect, 
 nothing complete, nothing unique in the actions, the 
 sentiments, or the impulses of men ; all things human 
 are of dual nature, and men aspiring to unity totter 
 and fall at every step. To those who analyse every 
 exploit, every event, every historic figure, not one 
 hero will remain. All great deeds are preceded by 
 chains of moral vacillation, surrounded by a network 
 of diverse sensations, impulses, and adventitious cir- 
 cumstances, which direct, modify, and counteract one 
 another so that investigation leaves not a single deed 
 as the complete expression of a free will directed to 
 an ideal. In the conception of the people, all exploits 
 appear as the complete and living manifestation 
 of strength. Thus the masses judge ; without this 
 faith they cannot live ; on faith the life of man 
 sustains itself in the midst of the tears, the regrets, 
 the misfortunes and falsehoods with which it is 
 afflicted. 
 
142 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 Hence the error of those who would deprive the 
 people of their faith, under the pretext of reverence 
 for a pretended historical truth. All men feel the 
 need of faith in some ideal of truth and virtue, but 
 how shall this faith be satisfied if it be not embodied 
 in a living image? To destroy these images is to 
 destroy the faith of which they are the expression — the 
 faith in an absolute truth, in an ultimate perfection. 
 And this faith explains why the favourite reading of 
 the Russian people is those Lives of the Saints which 
 are composed of living pictures of heroic deeds, 
 of beneficence, of moral perfection. Each of these 
 hero-saints was a man, with all the weaknesses of 
 human nature, the vacillation of thought, of impulse, 
 and of will, with all the baseness of fallen humanity ; 
 and if we could analyse, his soul we should see 
 the, mystery of original sin, and all the impotence 
 of the man in his struggle with himself. But out 
 of this conflict he issued conqueror, and this conflict 
 was carried on in the name of that high ideal of 
 perfection, the measure of which is not on earth 
 but in heaven, in the domain of the absolute. The 
 heroic deeds of the conflict are painted in living 
 colours by the sympathetic pens of pious chroniclers 
 inspired to their work by a living love of the same 
 truth, a living aspiration to the same ideal. In 
 such works the masses instinctively discern the 
 truth, and accept it without question, while the 
 sceptical philosophy of the learned agnostic examines 
 facts, thinks to extract from them the material truth, 
 and abjuring the spiritual truth which echoes through 
 every faithful soul, asks the ironical question, " What 
 is truth?" 
 
FAITH 143 
 
 IV 
 
 In the classic myth of Prometheus nailed by Zeus 
 to the Caucasian cliff, we may easily recognise the 
 idea of modern scepticism in contradistinction with 
 the idea of an Almighty God, the Creator of the 
 universe. It is the protest of the proud soul 
 against the general belief in the existence of God, 
 the negation of that feeling of reverence for God- 
 head which pride cannot bear; the revolt against 
 submission and adoration of the divinity. It 
 matters little that from Godhead was stolen the 
 sacred fire, which animates, warms, and fructifies 
 mankind. The sceptic cares nothing for this — 
 while enjoying the fire of divinity, he strives to 
 live separate from divinity, as his own master. 
 
 The Sphinx of ancient fable sat at the cross- 
 roads, and put a riddle to every passer-by. He 
 who could not solve it was the Sphinx's prey, and 
 disappeared into the pit; only the wise man who 
 found a solution overcame the monster. 
 
 What is the sphinx in our life? Our whole life 
 is an endless chain, a mechanical sequence of 
 phenomena and facts. One succeeding another, one 
 with another uniting, all on their flight bear questions 
 to the human soul, and every instant in the course 
 of time they bring to us the questions of the day. 
 What wisdom do we need to solve them ! He who 
 does not possess that wisdom remains the slave 
 of facts and phenomena — the slave of his time — of 
 which he boasts himself the master. On all sides 
 he is crushed by facts; they rule over him, till he 
 
144 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 becomes a man of vulgar routine, going so far in his 
 blind submission to facts, that at last he loses the 
 last gleam of that light which enlightens every being 
 worthy of the calling of humanity. But when he 
 remains faithful to the highest spiritual impulses 
 of his nature ; when he learns to appreciate the 
 fundamental principles of spiritual life ; when he 
 firmly takes his stand in the domain of the soul, 
 submitting to no facts, but ruling over them — then 
 facts range themselves around him, each in its 
 appointed place ; they have not conquered him, for 
 he has conquered them. 
 
 The sphinx of ancient Egypt differs from the 
 sphinx of Greece, although both may be taken to 
 symbolise the mystery of the human soul. 
 
 The sphinx of Egypt was a peaceful being, half 
 human, half animal. Passing the long line of 
 sphinxes before the temples and the royal sepulchres, 
 man feels the proximity of God and the mystery of 
 death. The sphinx is the symbol of mysterious 
 contemplation absorbed in itself and in the idea of 
 divinity. The ancient Egyptians personified in it the 
 divinity of the sunlight 
 
 Not such was the sphinx of the new world, the 
 creation of Grecian fantasy. This sphinx was of 
 demoniacal origin, the offspring of the monstrous 
 Typhon and Echidna, the personification, not of the 
 bright divinity, but of the dark powers of Tartarus, 
 a being ferocious, predatory, and destroying. In it 
 also is expressed a mystery, not the mystery of 
 inspired contemplation, but the mystery of passion- 
 ate, denying, violent, and destructive tiiought. 
 
 To the present day this sphinx has never ceased 
 
FAITH t4S 
 
 to set to humanity riddles, terrible, mysterious, and 
 insoluble. Thousands of minds have sought to find 
 a solution of the riddle of life and of religion, but 
 have failed. Each failure to find a solution but pre- 
 cipitates the thought and sentiment into new abysnfis, 
 and each enigma brings forth hundreds and thousands 
 insoluble as itself Meanwhile, before our poor human- 
 ity gapes the monstrous pit of destruction, wherein 
 each must fall if he does not stand on the rock of 
 simple unshakeable faith and calm contemplation. 
 
 V 
 
 A great questiort which never ceases to trouble the 
 conscience of humanity is the absence in human 
 relations of the love and justice preached by Christ, 
 and proclaimed by the Christian Church as the 
 foundations of its doctrine. No human mind has yet 
 found a key to this contradiction, yet no human 
 conscience has escaped disturbance by it. When 
 we consider the endless tale of sanguinary war- 
 fare, dissension, violence, injustice, ignorance, and 
 superstition in public as in private life, with terror 
 we ask ourselves. Where is the fulfilment of the 
 law of Christ in the hell in which we live and 
 move? How can we escape this tyranny where 
 religion itself appears but as a mirror of false- 
 hood and hypocrisy — a symbol of the contradiction 
 that exists between conscience and action, a curtain 
 of rites and formalities concealing an ensnared con- 
 science, and a pretended justification of injustice? 
 There are, indeed, the elect, men of justice, the humble 
 
 K 
 
146 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 in Spirit ; there are works of charity and of reason, 
 on which our minds may rest for a time. But con- 
 sider Hfe as a whole. We see authority abusing its 
 mission ; the unjust distribution of honour and glory ; 
 wealth acquired by rapine overmastering power itself 
 and possessing the earth ; insolent lawlessness veiled 
 in external piety ; thousands and millions borne in 
 sacrifice to the god of war, to the idol of violence 
 and enmity ; finally, we see the innumerable multi- 
 tude vegetate in insensibility, racked by privation, 
 living and dying in wretchedness. Where is the 
 kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of love and justice? 
 where is the effective strength of religion? what is 
 the aim and object of our miserable human life? 
 
 How often have we heard in the past, as we hear 
 to-day, the proclamation of a golden age for humanity, 
 ending in disillusionment if not in hopelessness — for 
 the Christian may not abandon hope. The prophets 
 of the Old Testament foretold a future condition of 
 peace and prosperity for the world. Christ bore to 
 the earth a commandment of love and peace, but not 
 the realisation of His commandment, which would 
 have left no freedom to men ; this same commandment 
 brought not peace but a sword, and lit a fire in the 
 hearts of humanity. When, on His resurrection, from 
 hearts inflamed with hope for the regeneration of the 
 world the timid question rose, "Lord, wilt thou at 
 this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" His 
 answer was : " It is not for you to know the times or 
 the seasons which the Father has put in his own 
 power." Time, measured by little periods among 
 men, is infinite to God. To Him a thousand years 
 are as a day, and a day is as a thousand years. 
 
FAITH 147 
 
 The young Christian Church of the first centuries 
 through persecution and calamity was sustained by 
 hope for the re-establishment of the kingdom of 
 Israel : this hope for justice on earth was a new force 
 which was borne by Christianity to the joyless pagan 
 world. Then terrible times came when this force 
 seemed to fail, and hope changed into despair. The 
 destruction of Rome by Alaric struck the Christian 
 world with inexpressible terror, and many trusting 
 souls were darkened by doubt. Where was the 
 Christian strength, where was its salvation? The 
 pagan world cried out, " Behold the calamities which 
 this new religion of Christ has brought!" Then 
 Saint Augustine calmed the troubled conscience and 
 revived the hopes of Christendom by his inspired 
 book, " The City of God," in which he explained the 
 ways of Providence in the history of the world, and 
 the infallibility of the Christian teachings on the 
 kingdom which is not of this world. 
 
 Since then in times of public calamity, in outbreaks 
 of violence and social depravity, how many times has 
 the same question been asked in the Christian world ? 
 We live in a time when the dead Paganism comes to 
 life again, and, raising its head, strives to overcome 
 Christianity, denying its dogmas, its ordinances, even 
 the principles of its moral teaching. Like the pagan 
 philosophers of the past, new prophets, with malicious 
 irony, turn to the remnant of the faithful with the 
 bitter reproach, "See to what a pass your Christianity 
 has brought the world ! What is the worth of a 
 religion which has mutilated human nature, stealing 
 from it that freedom in the satisfaction of its desires 
 which alone constitutes happiness ? " Can it be pos- 
 
148 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 sible that that "victory which has vanquished the 
 world " is to perish at the onslaught of Paganism ? 
 
 No, for faith remains ; the Holy Church, of which 
 its Creator has said, " And the gates of hell shall not 
 prevail against it," still holds the key of truth, and 
 to-day, as in the past, those who are of the truth 
 shall hear its voice. Through the medium of symbols 
 and images it maintains the truth, and the power to 
 collect that which is dispersed and to renovate the face 
 of the earth. But He alone who holds the times and 
 seasons in His hand knows when that day will 
 come. 
 
 Meantime, from the day of its foundation, the 
 proud and impatient have not ceased to seek outside 
 the Church, and in opposition to it, new gospels to 
 regenerate humanity, to fulfil the law of love and 
 justice, to realise the ideal of peace and prosperity 
 upon earth. Struck by the monstrous inconsistencies 
 between the teachings of Christ and the lives of 
 Christians, they impeach the Church and its works ; 
 abjuring an institution established since the founda- 
 tion of Christianity, they aspire to replace it by a 
 Church of Christ, in their opinion purified, severed 
 from the universal Church, and based on their own 
 interpretation of single precepts of the Gospel. 
 
 It is a strange error. Here are men subject to the 
 passion and the sin to which all their fellow-creatures 
 are given — men, in common with all the world, 
 afflicted with a dual nature — condemned to will what 
 they cannot do and to do what they do not will, 
 priding themselves on unity of spirit, and taking up 
 the unappointed work of the teacher and the prophet. 
 While all the world, and they together with it, turn 
 
FAITH 149 
 
 around, they delude themselves that they stand upon 
 an immovable point. They begin with the destruc- 
 tion of the law, yet they are unable to establish a new 
 law from the scraps and fragments of the teaching 
 which they reject. They deny the Church, yet they 
 must needs build a Church for themselves, with 
 their own preachers and ministers, repeating among 
 themselves that which they condemned and rebelled 
 against, with the added faults of falsehood and 
 hypocrisy, and an insensate pride which lifts them 
 above the world. The pride of intellect and contempt 
 for men of their own flesh and blood impel them to 
 destroy the old law and to establish a new. They 
 forget that the Divine Master whose name they 
 invoke, being meek and humble of heart, would not 
 change a single word of the law, but inspired each 
 with the spirit of love and charity which He found 
 concealed there. 
 
 While condemning dogma and ceremony, they 
 themselves end as narrow and masterful dogmatics ; 
 revolting against fanaticism and intolerance, they 
 become the fiercest fanatics and persecutors. Un- 
 consciously they themselves are corrupted by malice 
 and passion. Blinded by pride they know not the 
 scandal they bear to the faith, destroying its sim- 
 plicity and completeness in the souls of those simple 
 ones whom the Church has not yet enlightened and 
 taught to know it well. 
 
 It is easy — but how mad, how iniquitous it is — to 
 seduce a simple soul in which there is a pure, clear 
 field of religious feeling, a soul uncultured and virgin 
 to the influence of belief. It is sad to think that such 
 souls are approached with confident denial of the 
 
150 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 Church, and persuaded that the Church, with its 
 doctrine and mysteries, its symbols, its ceremonies, 
 and its traditions, with its poetry which has inspired 
 from generation to generation a multitude of Chris- 
 tians, is a false and execrable institution. These 
 souls in themselves are humble, sectarianism leads 
 them to the heights of pride, while faith decays in the 
 narrow prison of sectarian formulas. There is no 
 soul, however virgin, which cannot be imbued with 
 this insensate pride, this confidence in its own justice. 
 And this before the whole people which constitutes 
 the Church, living in humble consciousness of its 
 sinfulness before God, with the humble hope of 
 forgiveness, and salvation through the prayers of 
 the Church ! The fruits of this pride in its ultimate 
 development are known. They are, first, hypocrisy 
 in the pretence of righteousness ; then malice and 
 intolerance of all other faiths ; and, lastly, a passionate 
 desire to lead astray from the Church its scattered 
 flock, to attain which end all means are allowable. 
 The Church is truly a lifeboat for inquiring minds, 
 tortured by questions of what and how to believe. 
 To start laden with these questions on the shoreless 
 sea of research, doubt, and logical deduction, is 
 perilous equally, to the narrow mind of man, to his 
 capricious imagination, and to his vanity seeking for a 
 new path. Affirmed in a faith created by himself, 
 abjuring the dominion of the Church, he may end by 
 regarding himself as the prophet of a new faith ; he 
 may become intolerant and fanatical; a terrible 
 delusion may ensnare him to make faith alone the 
 necessary element of salvation, independent of life 
 and work. 
 
FAITH 151 
 
 Christ, in His terrible denunciation of the scribes and 
 pharisees of His time, not to them alone uttered a 
 stern word of warning and condemnation. His words 
 should be remembered by all the brainless fanatics of 
 our time, the self-appointed teachers of new religions. 
 " Neither be ye called masters, for one is your master, 
 even Christ, and woe unto you, ... for ye compass 
 sea and land to make one proselyte ! " The Christian 
 Church has its teachers, appointed by Christ Himself 
 as head of the Church. But who has appointed and 
 sent these teachers of new religions ? The spirit of 
 vanity and pride has sent them, the spirit of the 
 discord and hatred which they disseminate in men 
 by their teachings. They fancy that by destroying 
 the fence which guards the doctrine of Christ they 
 will draw the people to the new teaching which 
 they alone can understand. They speak of love, 
 while, in seducing their fellow-man from communion 
 with the Church, they instil in his heart feelings 
 of pride, of malice, and hatred to his fellows who 
 remain behind ; and, using an instrument which 
 they themselves have fashioned and name truth, they 
 base their truth on negation of what has been accepted 
 as truth by the Church which they have forsaken. 
 
 "Truth," these prophets tell us, "is the most 
 precious attainment of the human soul. And if we 
 be convinced that we possess the truth, shall we 
 remain in inaction, when we may communicate it 
 to our. neighbours who have fallen away and know 
 it not?" But who can assure these self-appointed 
 teachers that this truth is not affirmed merely on 
 personal conceptions and experience ? where is their 
 testimony? Can they maintain that it bears the 
 
1S2 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 stamp of divine revelation? Have they a right to 
 proclaim it in the words of the ancient prophets, 
 " Thus spake the Lord." Their pretended authenticity 
 is nothing better than personal conviction, sincere 
 it may be : if for them this is enough, to their neigh- 
 bours it is nothing. Have they received commands 
 from above to go into the world with a gospel and 
 teach humanity an inspired religion? Can they 
 show such commands, and prove their authenticity ? 
 No. So each prophet of a new religion, 'however 
 irresistible his convictions, must show respect to the 
 convictions of his fellow-men. 
 
 But the fanatic of the new religion will not 
 admit the necessity for this respect, he casts it 
 away as something unworthy of him. He begins 
 his operations, advancing against the stronghold 
 of his neighbour's faith with intent to destroy all 
 its defences, bringing to bear at once the whole 
 religious system with which he would replace it. 
 The ancient faith, consecrated by centuries, for 
 those who hold it is the main support of life; 
 and the deeper and sincerer, the firmer its founda- 
 tions the more provocative is his attack, the 
 more he is inflamed by desire to destroy it, 
 and on its ruins to raise the religion devised 
 by himself His aim, in appearance, is construc- 
 tive, but all his actions are destroying. Having 
 overthrown the ancient edifice, our architect wishes 
 to raise it anew, but he has never reflected how 
 easy it is to destroy and how difficult to rebuild. 
 The ruined building stood on foundations rooted 
 in the depths : the new building must have new 
 foundations in a new soil. With a daring hand 
 
FAITH I S3 
 
 he strives to surpass the immemorial work of the 
 human soul. Who gave strength and authority for 
 this to the destroyer? He has taken his victim, 
 and led him — whither? Into the wilderness, where 
 a hundred sinuous paths diverge, but no straight 
 road js found. Whatever the aim, such is the end 
 of the fanatical religious reformer— the wilderness. 
 
 VI 
 
 The founders of religion recognising from the 
 heights of contemplation the idea of Godhead and 
 its relations to man, evolved in conformity therewith 
 an order of rites and ceremonials inspired by that 
 idea. But the mass of the people remains in the 
 valley, and the light of pure contemplation shining 
 above the hills does not reach it at once. To the 
 people religious sentiments are expressed by a 
 number of ceremonies and traditions which from 
 the austerest standpoint may seem superstition and 
 idolatry. Zealous defenders of the faith, alarmed and 
 indignant, sometimes attempt with violent hand to 
 destroy these external expressions of the vulgar 
 faith, as Moses destroyed the golden calf raised 
 by Aaron at the demand of the people, when 
 the prophet was lost in high contemplation on the 
 summit of Mount Sinai. Thence springs the Puritan 
 zeal of the leaders of religion, passing often to 
 fanaticism. 
 
 But in this envelope of the popular religion, often 
 rude, are hidden elements of faith susceptible of de- 
 
154 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 velopment and sublimation, the germs of eternal truth. 
 In tradition and in ceremonial, in symbolism and in 
 custom, the people sees the actual incarnation of that 
 which expressed in abstract formula would be neither 
 real nor effective. What if destroying the husk we 
 deaden the kernel of truth ; if pulling up the tares we 
 pull up also the wheat? What if in striving to purify 
 the faith of the people under the pretext of enmity 
 to superstition we destroy the faith itself? If the 
 forms by which simple men express their faith in 
 the living God repel us, let us remember that it is 
 to us, perhaps, the command of our Divine Master 
 was given : " Take heed that ye despise not one of 
 these little ones that believe in Me." 
 
 In an Arabic poem we find the instructive parable of 
 the celebrated teacher Djelalledin. Once Moses, while 
 wandering in the wilderness, came upon a shepherd who 
 was praying fervently to God. This was the shepherd's 
 prayer : — " How shall I know where to find thee, and 
 how to be thy servant ? How I should wish to put on 
 thy sandals, to comb thy hair, to wash thy garments, 
 to kiss thy feet, to care for thy dwelling, to give 
 thee milk from my herd ; for such is the desire of my 
 heart." Moses, when he heard the words of the shep- 
 herd, was angered, and reproached him. " Thou blas- 
 phemest! The Most High God has no body, he 
 wants neither clothing, nor dwelling, nor service. 
 What dost thou mean, unbeliever?" The heart of 
 the shepherd was saddened, because he could not 
 conceive a being without bodily form and corporeal 
 needs : he was taken by despair and ceased to serve 
 the Lord. But God spoke to Moses and said : "Why 
 hast thou driven away from me my servant ? Every 
 
FAITH ISS 
 
 man has taken from me the form of his being and 
 the manner of his speech. What to thee is evil, to 
 another is good, to thee it is poison, to another it is 
 sweet honey. To me words are nothing. I look into 
 the heart of man." 
 
 VII 
 
 The Persian poet, Mohammed Roumi, who lived in 
 the thirteenth century, is the author of the celebrated 
 poem " Masnava." It contains some remarkable 
 verses on prayer which are worthy of a trusting 
 soul : — 
 
 " A certain man cried out in the silence of the 
 night, 'Oh, Allah!' But Satan answered, 'Be 
 silent, thou fool, thou hast babbled enough already ! 
 Thou wilt never hear an answer from the height of 
 the throne, however much thou mayst cry " Allah ! " 
 and look disheartened.' 
 
 "The man's heart was troubled, and he hung his 
 head. Then appeared to him the prophet Kisr, and 
 asked : ' Why hast thou ceased to call on God, and 
 repented of thy prayers ? ' The man answered, ' I 
 got no answer from Allah ; I heard no voice saying, 
 " I am here," and I fear that the gates of salvation are 
 shut against me.' Kisr answered, ' Thus has Allah 
 commanded me, " Go thou to him and say, ' Oh, 
 man, tried by much, have I not commanded thee 
 to serve me ; have I not commanded thee to call on 
 me. And my reply, " Here am I " is the same as 
 -» thine " Oh, Allah ! " Thy suffering, thy ardour, and 
 thy zeal, all these are my messengers to thee : when 
 
iS6 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 thou strugglest with thyself and cryest for help, by 
 this struggle and cry I draw thee to myself, and 
 answer thy prayer. Thy fear and thy love are the 
 signs of my forgiveness, and in thy words, "O 
 Allah ! " is a multitude of answers, " I am with 
 thee." ' " 
 
THE IDEALS OF UNBELIEF 
 I 
 
 The ancient words, " The fool hath said in his heart, 
 there is no God," apply with especial force to-day. 
 Their truth is plainer than the sun, although now 
 all " progressive minds " are possessed by a passionate 
 desire to live without God, to conceal Him, to deny 
 His presence. Even men at heart benevolent and 
 honourable ask themselves how they may realise 
 benevolence, honour, and conscience without God. 
 
 The Government of France, in the last stage of 
 political disintegration, has organised its national 
 schools without God. Among us, unhappily, certain 
 representatives of intelligence have rivalled the 
 Moscow princess, who said, " Ah, France, no better 
 country in the world ! " — for not long ago a cele- 
 brated schoolmaster pointed out the French scholastic 
 system as a model worthy of imitation. 
 
 Among the latest books officially prescribed for 
 study in the female schools of France is one entitled, 
 " Instruction Morale et Civique des Jeunes Filles." 
 This is in the nature of a secular catechism of morals, 
 appointed to replace the study of the Word of God. 
 
 This book is worthy of notice. It is divided into 
 three sections, each bearing a different title. The 
 first is composed of certain moral precepts on duty, 
 honesty, conscience, and so forth. The second part 
 
 IS7 
 
IS8 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 contains a short description of the State and of the 
 national institutions. The third part treats of woman, 
 her mission, faculties, and virtues. The matter in the 
 book is concise, simple, and clear, written as a text- 
 book ought to be with a multitude of clear examples 
 and illustrations. No exception can be taken 
 to the manner of this book ; it preaches order, 
 good morals, purity of thought and intention, kind 
 deeds ; it approves with emphasis the sentiment and 
 recognition of duty, and carefully sets forth a 
 woman's duties in social and domestic life. 
 
 One thing alone is notable. On no single page is 
 mentioned the name of God, nor is there the slightest 
 reference to the religious feeling. The author, after 
 explaining the great importance of the part played 
 in man by conscience, defines it thus: "Conscience 
 is our conception of the opinion which others 
 have about us and our actions" (consideration de 
 Vopinion des autres). On this treacherous and 
 mutable base, the opinion of others, is affirmed the 
 moral foundation of our lives. How excellently this 
 illustrates the ancient proverb, "Who thinks himself 
 too wise becomes a fool." 
 
 Unhappily, to this stream of idiotcy flooding France 
 to-day are drawn even froni our poor Russia little 
 rills of native intelligence ; and in our newspapers 
 and gazettes, in our leading articles and feuilletons 
 are repeated in chorus the words of the Moscow 
 princess. To the same chorus too often are drawn 
 those well-meaning, but simple and inexperienced 
 men, who fancy newspapers must bring to them some 
 " new word " of civilisation. 
 
 Nothing is more deplorable than the reasoning on 
 
THE IDEALS OF UNBELIEF 159 
 
 the subject of education of our journalist critics, 
 who tell us that while religion and religious training 
 are indispensable, churches and ministers must be 
 abolished. Sometimes they speak more plainly. " We 
 do not reject religious teaching, we even demand it ; 
 we cannot understand education without it ; but we 
 object to Clericalism." By this term we must under- 
 stand the Church and everything appertaining thereto. 
 This Jesuitical casuistry, which the apostles of popular 
 education have made peculiarly their own, misleads 
 many readers who cannot appreciate subtlety in 
 writing. 
 
 These good men do not know that the word 
 religion, as many other words, has changed its signi- 
 fication, and is made by many to imply something 
 from which, if they but understood it, believers in 
 God would recoil with abhorrence. They do not 
 know that in our time religion may exist without 
 God, and that the very word God, in its application 
 by so-called men of science, has a double meaning. 
 
 In 1882 appeared a remarkable book which 
 awakened general interest. Therein the negation of 
 God, by the enemies of all religion, was expressed 
 with ferocity, with reckless and malicious irony, with 
 a demand for the exclusive consideration of matter 
 in the universe. The first part of the work ex- 
 pressed, in a tranquil tone, with dignity, with an 
 ideal outlook on life, the whole teaching of the 
 religion without God. This book was entitled 
 "Natural Religion" (London, 1882). Its author, 
 Professor Seeley of Oxford, was he whose former 
 "Ecce Homo," which appeared ten years before, 
 had attracted the attention, not only of men of 
 
i6o REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 science, but of religious idealists who sought in it 
 some new word on Christ and the Christian faith. 
 A Russian translation of this latter work has been 
 published by an adipirer. 
 
 But to the adherents of the Church Mr Seeley's 
 work seemed strange and questionable. Few Could 
 look on it without distrust. 
 
 This book contained an artistic analysis of the 
 earthly life and character of Jesus Christ, treating 
 exclusively of his human nature. It was written 
 in a spirit of deep piety, in the language of philo- 
 sophy, with occasional recourse to the terminology 
 of theologians. The object of the work seemed to 
 be to hold up the image of Christ to pious imita- 
 tion. The author, it seemed, was a Christian, full of 
 religious feeling. But many religious readers took 
 alarm, as if their views and sentiments of Christianity 
 were not in accord with the views and sentiments 
 of the author. The picture of Christ was a picture of 
 supreme holiness, purity, and goodness, but not that 
 picture which we have been taught to venerate from 
 childhood — not the Christ honoured by the Christian 
 Church. Something discordant appeared throughout 
 the book, as if the author had either lost all faith, 
 or was on the point of losing it. Nevertheless, the 
 writer plainly affirmed his faith in the existence 
 of a personal God ; in the immortality of the human 
 soul ; in the Messianic significance of the appearance 
 of Christ ; and even, although with some hesitation, 
 in the reality of His miracles. 
 
 Ten years passed ; again Mr Seeley appeared as 
 the inspired prophet of religion, this time a new 
 religion, and not the religion of Christ. The ancient 
 
THE IDEALS OF UNBELIEF i6l 
 
 revelation, he said, had done its work ; instead, a 
 new revelation had come ; the naturalists, historians, 
 and philologists of the age had borne us a revela- 
 tion of which the ancient prophets had never dreamed. 
 The Biblical criticism of German scholars was greater 
 and more perfect than the Bible itself With uncommon 
 simplicity, turning to the believers and members of 
 the Church, he asks : " Why should we quarrel, why 
 should there be strife between us? We may unite 
 in a single faith. We, men of science, also trust in 
 God. Our God is Nature, which in one sense is a 
 revelation too. Therefore we are not atheists," he 
 repeats, "and the battle between us, men of science, 
 and you, men of faith, is merely a battle of words. 
 Is it not the same? For us God is Nature, and 
 the scientific theory of the universe is a theory of 
 theism also. Nature is a force existing outside of us ; 
 its law for us is absolute : there is the divinity which 
 we adore." 
 
 Is it not strange that the author, while rejecting 
 the personal existence of God, at the same time pro- 
 tests with energy against the accusation of atheism, 
 which he rejects and condemns? What is atheism, 
 then? This question Mr Seeley answers with a 
 tortuous subtlety which to a simple mind must seem 
 insanity. 
 
 "There is an atheism which is a mere speculative crotchet, 
 and there is an atheism which is a great moral disease. . . . 
 The purest form of such real atheism might be called by the 
 general name of 'wilfulness. All human activity is a transaction 
 with Nature. It is the arrangement of a compromise between 
 what we want on the one hand, and what Nature has decreed on 
 the other. Not to recognise anything but your own will, 
 to fancy anything within your reach if you only will strongly 
 
 L 
 
i62 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 enough, to acknowledge no superior power outside yourself which 
 must be considered, and in some way propitiated, if you would 
 succeed in any undertaking : this is complete wilfulness, or, in 
 other words, pure atheism." — Seeley, " Natural Religion," p. 27. 
 
 To illustrate this obscure and disorderly argument, 
 our author takes as example a country in its fate 
 a symbol of pure atheism, and points to Poland. 
 
 " Sedet aternumque sedeUt^ says he, " that unhappy Poland, not 
 indeed extinguished, but partitioned, and every thirty years deci- 
 mated anew, expiates the crime of atheistic wilfulness, the fatal 
 pleasure of unbounded individual liberty, which rose up against the 
 very nature of things." — Ibid. p. zg. 
 
 Having disclosed this theory of religion, he 
 describes in detail how the religious feeling is born 
 from science, and, passing through the prism of 
 imagination, is refracted in the moral nature of 
 man into a religious trinity : the religion of Nature, 
 the religion of Humanity, and the religion of Beauty. 
 
 In this book, written with talent and spirit, is a 
 doctrine by no means new, although for the first 
 time expressed with such completeness. The reader 
 finds there the well-known features of the Positivism 
 so fashionable in our time — features familiar through 
 the writings of Kant, George Eliot, and Herbert 
 Spencer — ^the well-beloved of Russian translators. Not 
 one of these writers exposes so clearly the internal 
 weakness of this fashionable theory as the author of 
 " Natural Religion." To what idiotcy must the mind 
 have sunken when, drawn by the pride of self-adora- 
 tion, it rejects the supernatural in life and nature, 
 and strives to build a theory of life in relation to the 
 universe. This theory is condemned to turn in an 
 
THE WEALS OF UNBELIEF 163 
 
 enchanted circle, and to contradict itself for ever. 
 Denying a personal God, in vain it would sustain 
 religion and establish an object of religious feeling; 
 for, except the living God, there can be no object 
 of religion. Rejecting the invisible world, the 
 immortality of the soul, and the future life, it 
 proclaims that the end of life is happiness, and 
 would confine humanity within the limits of matter 
 and of its earthly nature. Condemning revelation 
 as invention or fantasy, and every dogma as false- 
 hood, it seeks to support itself by a new dogma, 
 proclaiming as an indisputable axiom the constant 
 and endless progress of humanity. 
 
 This theory, in a flash, reflects that wilfulness and 
 that obduracy of thought which our author combines 
 in his conception of atheism. It shows no sign of 
 that clear and simple confidence which serves as 
 a symptom of the truth and durability of doctrines. 
 In their sermons on the happiness of humanity, its 
 prophets all stumble on an actuality which they 
 cannot deny. This actuality is the inevitable 
 presence of evil and of evil works, of violence and of 
 injustice in human life — the argument of pessimism. 
 This argument cannot be lived down, although 
 some of the apostles of Positivism strive to 
 stifle its voice or hypocritically to ignore it, while 
 others, more conscientious, stand by it with grief 
 and questioning. To the number of the last belongs 
 our author. While extolling the new religion of 
 Nature, Humanity, and Beauty, and proving the 
 strength and actuality of the cult it preaches, at the 
 same time he admits that hardly have we found satis- 
 faction in these ideas when pessimism raises its head 
 
i64 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 and brings us to despair. If it were not for pessi- 
 mism, he declares, nothing would destroy our religious 
 beliefs. And at the end of the book, when crowning 
 his edifice, he makes these remarks : 
 
 "The more our thoughts widen and deepen, as the universe 
 grows upon us and we become accustomed to boundless space and 
 time, the more petrifying is the contrast of our own insignificance, 
 the more contemptible become the pettiness, shortness, fragility of 
 the individual life. A moral paralysis creeps upon us. For a while 
 we comfort ourselves with the notion of self-sacrifice ; we say, What 
 matter if I pass, let me think of others ! But the other has become 
 contemptible no less than the self j all human griefs alike seem little 
 worth assuaging, human happiness too paltry at the best to be worth 
 increasing. The whole moral world is reduced to a point 5 the 
 spiritual city, ' the goal of all the saints,' dwindles to the ' least of 
 little stars ' ; good and evil, right and wrong, become infinitesimal, 
 ephemeral matters, while eternity and infinity remain attributes of 
 that only which is outside the realm of morality. Life becomes 
 more intolerable the more we know and discover, so long as every- 
 thing widens and deepens, except our own duration, and that remains 
 as pitiful as ever. The affections die away in a world where every- 
 thing great and enduring is cold ; they die of their own conscious 
 feebleness and bloodlessness. 
 
 "Supernatural Religion met this want by connecting Love and 
 Righteousness with eternity. If it is shaken, how shall its place 
 be supplied ? And what would Natural Religion avail then ? " 
 Ibid. p. z6i. 
 
 Who would believe that these words were written 
 by the ardent prophet of Natural Religion? Thus 
 may a serious mind be entangled in the intellectual 
 network it weaves. 
 
 The essence of this work, with all its moderation 
 of tone, with all the sincerity of its author, is a joyless 
 paradox. That the various systems of cosmology, 
 the scientific, the artistic, and the humanist, con- 
 tain elements of religious feeling cannot be denied. 
 
THE IDEALS OF UNBELIEF 165 
 
 But they do not embody the elements of a new 
 faith, of a new church ; they are separate limbs — 
 disjecta membra — of the Christian philosophy of life. 
 Religion is impossible without the recognition of 
 axiomatic truths unattainable by the path of induc- 
 tion. To such truths belong the existence of a 
 personal God, and the immaterial nature of the 
 human soul, whence springs supernaturalism, with- 
 out which religion is inconceivable. With the ex- 
 ception of mathematics, scientific truths are by 
 their nature hypothetical : they exist consciously 
 only for scholars, and only by deception may be 
 imparted to the mass in dogmatic form. This 
 deception obtains among us and progresses — of this 
 we find fresh evidence every day. 
 
 II 
 
 Intolerance of strange beliefs and strange opinions 
 has never been so sharply expressed as it is nowadays 
 by the apostles of radical and negative beliefs, among 
 whom such intolerance is merciless and bitter, and joined 
 with animosity and contempt. When we consider the 
 relations of these teachers to the new doctrines they 
 proclaim, their intolerance is more abhorrent than 
 the old religious intolerance which expressed itself in 
 sanguinary persecution. Then persecution was based 
 on unqualified faith in a truth which absolutely existed. 
 When men believe that they possess an absolute truth, 
 sprung from the ultimate principle of life and involving 
 happiness for all, as the Moslem believes in the Koran, 
 it is conceivable that they may consider it a duty 
 
i66 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 not only openly to preach their doctrine, but, if need 
 be, by violence to enforce it upon others. But when 
 it is merely an opinion, although it may be that 
 nothing is more probable for him who formed it, 
 how can we understand fanaticism so great that its 
 advocate does not admit not only contradiction but 
 even compromise, although conditional and tempor- 
 ary, with adverse opinion? Yet such passionate 
 attachment to their own convictions or to the doctrines 
 of their schools is an attribute to all the prophets of 
 negation. Rejecting, as if it were not, the whole 
 former history of the spiritual development of 
 humanity, ignoring all ancient faiths and the spiritual 
 conditions of peoples, denying all rights of independent 
 existence, repelled not by the sanctity of personal faith, 
 they claim admittance to every soul, and ever)Avhere 
 strive to establish their new religion. This they call 
 the truth of their convictions. One of the representa- 
 tives of the doctrine of Comte and the Positivists 
 (John Morley "On Compromise") maintains that 
 the first duty of every man to himself and to 
 humanity is to solve in his heart the question. Does 
 he or does he not believe in the existence of God? 
 Should he reach the conviction that faith in God is no 
 better than a blind and unhealthy superstition, it is his 
 sacred duty to break in with this conviction on every 
 soul, to take advantage of every occasion to convert, 
 firstly, his kinsmen and neighbours, and then, if possible, 
 the people ; to proclaim it everywhere, and in private 
 and public life wholly to renounce all forms and 
 ceremonies which, directly or indirectly, express 
 a faith opposed to his conviction. What is this 
 but a terrible violence against the conscience of 
 
THE IDEALS OF UNBELIEF 167 
 
 others — and in the name of what ? In the name of 
 a personal opinion. 
 
 In this hell of vanity we can find neither love nor 
 faith. But without love and without faith there can 
 be no truth. How different to listen to the voice 
 of the old true teacher ! What faith and love, what 
 knowledge of the human soul is there in those words 
 in which the Apostle to the Corinthians enjoins 
 respect for human conscience. He knows the truth, 
 but with his deep spiritual knowledge how cautiously 
 would he approach the human soul ! His purpose is 
 that the soul shall accept and embrace the new belief 
 in the spirit of sincerity and truth by faith alone, with- 
 out disunion, without discord with itself All that 
 comes not from faith is sin. And the Apostle teaches 
 the strong and learned that they must spare the con- 
 sciences of their weaker brethren even in superstition, 
 when the soul is not ripe to accept the truth with 
 entire faith. 
 
 The Apostle, the herald of Christian freedom, acting 
 from conviction, sacrifices freedom itself to the sanc- 
 tity of conscience, knowing that conscience is dearer 
 than all. You know, says he, that meat commendeth 
 us not to God ; for neither if we eat are we the better ; 
 neither if we eat not are we the worse. You know 
 that the idol is nothing, that the false God does not 
 exist, therefore with quiet conscience buy meat and 
 eat it, which was brought as sacrifice to the idol. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Nothing is more surprising than the fatuity of 
 clever men who have grown up in estrangement from 
 
i68 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 actual life, and who are blinded by confidence in 
 the infallibility of logic. By adoration of reason they 
 are seduced from religion, and at last incited to 
 hatred of every faith in the only living God. But 
 those who at the same time are men of conscience, 
 find that they cannot rid themselves of the aspiration 
 to faith innate in humanity ; those whose hearts are 
 unhardened by the severity of logic admit the law- 
 fulness of religious feeling in man, and strive to 
 satisfy it by some religion devised by themselves. 
 We may wonder at the fancifulness of plans 
 contrived by minds apparently striving to drive 
 away everything like fancy out of their reasoning 
 and deliberations. Strauss, in his work on "The 
 Old and the New Faith," while rejecting Christianity, 
 speaks with enthusiasm of the religious sentiment, 
 but as its object and centre replaces the living God 
 with the idea of the World, the so-called Universum. 
 After the death of Mill, his occasional thoughts 
 on religion appeared in London under the title, 
 " Three Essays on Religion : Nature, the Utility 
 of Religion, and Theism." The utility of religion 
 he admits without reserve, and, while rejecting Chris- 
 tianity, he speaks of the individual Christ with the 
 greatest enthusiasm. 
 
 "The value of religion to the individual, both in the past 
 and present, as a source of personal satisfaction and of elevated 
 feelings, is not to be disputed. But it has still to be considered 
 whether, in order to obtain this good, it is necessary to travel beyond 
 the boundaries of the world which we inhabit j or whether the 
 idealisation of our earthly life, the cultivation of a high conception 
 of what it may be made, is not capable of supplying a poetry, and, 
 in the best sense of the word, a religion, equally fitted to exalt the 
 feelings, and (with the same aid from education) still better calcu- 
 
THE IDEALS OF UNBELIEF 169 
 
 lated to ennoble the conduct, than any belief respecting the unseen 
 powers." "Three Essays on Religion" (Utility of Religion), pp. 
 104.-5. London, 1874.. 
 
 The question is worthy oi Mill as we know him by 
 the history of his education. It is interesting to note 
 how in his decision of this question, Mill could not, 
 with Strauss, accept as decisive the idea of the 
 Universe, for Mill, strange to say, did not trust in 
 Nature. In the beginning of the same book, true 
 as ever to his estrangement from reality, he 
 speaks of 
 
 " Enquiry into the truth of the doctrines which make Nature a 
 test of right and wrong, good and evil, or which in any mode 
 or degree attach merit or approval to following, imitating, or 
 obeying Nature." — Ibid. (Nature), p. 13. 
 
 These doctrines Mill rejects, for in Nature he sees 
 blind force and nothing more. Nature inspires 
 desires which it does not satisfy ; it builds great 
 edifices, powers, and actions, in a moment to over- 
 throw them ; it destroys blindly and indiscriminately 
 all that it has created. For this reason Mill declines 
 to construct on Nature any system of morals or 
 of religion. 
 
 What, then, does he think ? These are his own 
 words : 
 
 "When we consider how ardent a sentiment, in favourable cir- 
 cumstances of education, the love of country has become, we cannot 
 judge it impossible that the love of that larger country, the world, 
 may be nursed into similar strength, both as a source of elevated 
 emotion and as a principle of duty. He who needs any other lesson 
 on this subject than the whole course of ancient history affords, let 
 him read Cicero De Officiis. It cannot be said that the standard 
 of morals laid down in that celebrated treatise is a high standard. 
 To our notions, it is on many points unduly lax, and admits capitu- 
 
170 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 lations of conscience. But on the subject of duty to our country- 
 there is no compromise. That any man, with the smallest preten- 
 sions to virtue, could hesitate to sacrifice life, reputation, family, 
 everything valuable to him, to the love of country, is a supposition 
 which this eminent interpreter of Greek and Roman morality cannot 
 entertain for a moment. If, then, persons could be trained, as we 
 see they were, not only to believe in theory that the good of their 
 country was an object to which all others ought to yield, but to feel 
 this practically as the grand duty of life, so also may they be made 
 to feel the same absolute obligation towards the universal good. A 
 morality grounded on large and wise views of the whole, neither 
 sacrificing the individual to the aggregate nor the aggregate to the 
 individual, but giving to duty, on the one hand, and to fireedom and 
 spontaneity, on the other, their proper province, would derive its 
 power in the superior natures from sympathy and benevolence and 
 the passion for ideal excellence ; in the inferior, from the same feelings 
 cultivated up to the measure of their capacity, with the superadded 
 force of shame. This exalted morality would not depend for its 
 ascendency on any hope of reward ; but the reward which might 
 be looked for, and the thought of which would be a consolation in 
 sufi^ering, and a support in moments of weakness, would not be a 
 problematical future existence, but the approbation in this of those 
 whom we respect, and ideally of all those, dead or living, whom we 
 admire or venerate. For, the thought that our dead parents or 
 friends would have approved our conduct is a scarcely less powerful 
 motive than the knowledge that our living ones do approve it ; and 
 the idea that Socrates, or Howard or Washington, or Antoninus, 
 or Christ, would have sympathised with us, or that we are attempt- 
 ing to do our part in the spirit in which they did theirs, has operated 
 on the very best minds as a strong incentive to act up to their 
 highest feelings and convictions. 
 
 "To call these sentiments by the name of morality, exclusively 
 of any other title, is claiming too little for them. They are a real 
 religion; of which, as of other religions, outward good works (the 
 utmost meaning usually suggested by the word morality) are only 
 a part, and are indeed rather the fruits of the religion than the 
 religion itself. The essence of religion is the strong and earnest 
 direction of the emotions and desires towards an ideal object, 
 recognised as of the highest excellence, and as rightfully paramount 
 
THE IDEALS OF UNBELIEF 171 
 
 over all selfish objects of desire. . This condition is fulfilled by the 
 Religion of Humanity In an eminent degree, and in as high a sense, 
 as by the supernatural religions even in their best manifestations, 
 and far more so than in any of their others." Ibid. (Utility of 
 Religion), pp. 107-9. 
 
 The foregoing words explain themselves. They 
 show the narrowness, we should say rather the idiotcy, 
 of human wisdom when it seeks an abstract concep- 
 tion of life and of humanity, while ignoring life itself, 
 and rejecting the human soul. Such a religion may 
 indeed be sufficient for thinkers like Mill, secluded 
 from the world in abstract speculation, but how shall 
 the people accept and understand it ? — the people, a 
 living organism held in communion only by living 
 sentiment and conscience, and repelled by ab- 
 stractions and generalities. In the people, such a 
 religion, if it bore fruit at all, would bear fruit in rever- 
 sion to paganism. The people — which we cannot 
 conceive detached from Nature — if it forgot the faith 
 of its fathers, would again personify the idea, either 
 of the universe, resolving it into separate forces, or of 
 that humanity which stands as a binding spiritual 
 principle, resolving it also into its representative 
 spiritual forces; and there would result so many false 
 gods instead of one true God. It cannot be that we 
 are condemned to suffer this? 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AND THE 
 NEW MARRIAGE 
 
 We are told that our religion is drawing to its end, 
 that a new faith will replace it, the dawn of which is 
 on the point of appearing. God grant that this may 
 be delayed, and that, if it must come, it may not be 
 for long ! For it will not be a time of enlighten- 
 ment, but of darkness. 
 
 The ancient faith contains all that human nature 
 has of sincerity — the sincerity of direct sensations 
 and conscience, the sincerity which, from the depths 
 of our spiritual nature, corresponds to the words of 
 divine revelation. This is a living truth, and its roots 
 are sunken in the souls of all. Of it was it said : 
 " Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." 
 
 The ancient faith was founded on the consciousness 
 of every man of a living soul which is immortal 
 and one, a living soul he confounds neither with 
 Nature nor with humanity. By this he knows 
 himself before God and before his fellow-men, by 
 this he wishes to live eternally. By this he enters 
 into the free alliance of love with others, and, as he 
 lives in his soul, so he answers for it himself. Through 
 this the existence of his Creator is revealed as simply as 
 his own life, and by this simple feeling, independently 
 of reason, he maintains his faith. 
 
 The prophets of a new religion appear. Some 
 laugh at the ancient faith, and would destroy it, 
 172 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AND THE NEW MARRIAGE 173 
 
 without the will to create anew. Others appear 
 more serious ; they seek supreme wisdom, and strive 
 to impose on us a wisdom of their own. Each offers 
 us his own conception of truth, his favourite system 
 of religion, for all apprehend the necessity of religion, 
 and each would create one himself. How pitiable 
 are these creations ! They lack the power to draw 
 the living soul and inspire it with a living idea, for 
 not one of them sets the living spirit of God in the 
 centre of his faith. 
 
 In recent times many various systems have ap- 
 peared from the pens of philosophers, each at will 
 attempting to construct for humanity a faith without 
 God. Each would constitute his system on the basis 
 of reason, by its nature an absurdity. .For human 
 reason in a straight path, ignoring and rejecting no 
 facts of Nature or of the human soul, can never 
 eliminate the idea of God. The true source of atheism 
 is not in the mind but in the heart, for, as the prophet 
 said, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." 
 In the heart, that is, in the will, is the source of all 
 error, however reason may seek to explain it. Error 
 is born by the desire of the heart for full freedom, 
 by rebellion against the commandments, and against 
 Him who is the beginning and the end of all command- 
 ments. To free oneself of the commandments, there 
 is no other path than to reject their supreme authority, 
 and to replace it by the authority of self. The oldest 
 of human histories is repeated from generation to 
 generation, " Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and 
 evil." This has been the source of atheism from 
 immemorial time. 
 
 It is wonderful, indeed, how reason deceives itself 
 
174 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 Without God it seems that there can be no religion, yet 
 such a religion is proclaimed by atheists. They say, 
 " In the place of these outworn tales of God let us 
 put the truth. God is nowhere visible, while Nature 
 and humanity are actual facts. Humanity is not 
 only a fact, it is a force able, by the paths of reason 
 and experience, to attain in the course of centuries 
 unimaginable perfection. This idea of progression 
 contains such internal force and profundity that it is 
 enough to compensate man for religious sentiment, 
 and to bind the race in the universal religion of human- 
 ity." Is this not the Biblical, " Ye shall be as gods " ? 
 Such are the doctrines of modern Positivist science, 
 and of the so-called Utilitarianism. 
 
 From another side appears the celebrated apostle 
 of the Tubingen school, the pillar of Biblical 
 criticism, who lived to an old age in denial of 
 the historic foundation of Christianity. This is 
 Dr Strauss, the author of the " Life of Jesus " ; the 
 author of " The Old and the New Religion," in 
 which he himself says he has made his confession, 
 and given to the world the result of all his learned 
 labours and philosophical speculations on God, on 
 Nature, and on humanity. In youth, in the "Life 
 of Jesus," he undertook, with some respect and 
 caution, the analysis of those facts consecrated by 
 the traditional belief of man, touching with ten- 
 derness the fundamental ideas of faith. In this 
 work is seen a remnant of respect for God. But 
 later we find a furious irritation against the Godhead, 
 as a false and pernicious fable which has corrupted 
 the minds of mankind. 
 
 But while rejecting God, by a strange incon- 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AND THE NEW MARRIAGE 173 
 
 sistency of thought, he does not abandon the 
 religious feeling. In himself he feels the necessity, 
 and affirms the existence, of religious devotion. 
 What is the object of this devotion, which at the 
 same time has power to possess and inspire the 
 soul? Not a personal divinity which exists not, 
 but the world {Universuni) which constitutes the 
 source of all good and power — which exists by the 
 law of pure reason. We demand, he says, for this 
 Universe the same devout feeling as a good man 
 of the ancient faith cherished towards God. 
 
 What is this Universe, and what its spiritual ele- 
 ment? Answering that question, Strauss reveals 
 himself as a disciple of the Positivist philosophy, and 
 of the new materialism. The doctrine of Kant and 
 of Laplace on the exclusive activity of mechanical 
 forces in the planetary system, he applies absolutely 
 to all the phenomena of animal and spiritual life ; 
 he regards the soul of man as nothing better than 
 the result of the complex interaction of mechanical 
 forces. The soul as a spiritual essence Strauss rejects. 
 As might be expected, he accepts triumphantly the 
 theories of Darwin on the Origin of Species, limit- 
 ing not their application to the phenomena of the 
 external world, but extending them capriciously to 
 all the manifestations of life. The imperfection and 
 inconsistency of Darwin's reasonings do not alarm 
 him in "the least. All doubt is eliminated by his 
 new religion, by faith in his own hypothesis, incom- 
 patible, he tells us, with the existence of God. It 
 matters not that such abstract hypotheses as spon- 
 taneous generation remain unproven. He cannot 
 say how or when, but without doubt some day they 
 
176 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 will be proven. In considering the origin of man, 
 he does not trouble to explain and reconcile the 
 origin of his intelly./ual powers, his moral ideas, 
 and his jesthetic conceptions. All is explained by 
 the magic words, " Natural Selection." Surely, if this 
 capricious infatuation with theory constitutes the 
 new religion, that religion is nothing better than a 
 new superstition. 
 
 The doctrine of Darwin could not have appeared 
 at a time more opportune for the prophets of the 
 new religion. It enlightened them with a new light, 
 it gave them the keystone which they sought to 
 crown the vault of their system. They seized upon 
 his teaching with eagerness, and then proclaimed 
 that the ancient faith was finally overthrown and 
 annihilated. From every point they hastened to 
 apply his principles to all the phenomena of social 
 life, deducing conclusions of which, it may be, 
 Darwin never dreamed. As often happens, the 
 pupils out-distanced the master, and the day is 
 near when they will condemn him as a reactionary. 
 Meantime, the doctrines of Darwin, restricted in 
 application to the facts from which they sprang, 
 hardly justify those apprehensions for the safety of 
 the faith which they awakened in its jealous ad- 
 herents. The system of Galileo, the theories of 
 Newton, all new discoveries in geological science, in 
 their day awakened more agitation and fear; yet 
 the faith of believers has in no way suffered. So 
 will it be with the teachings of Darwin. As yet, 
 these are not recognised as confirmed by science^ 
 and the first enthusiasm they awakened is beginning 
 to wane. They are accepted without reserve only by 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AND THE NEW MARRIAGE 177 
 
 the dii minorum gentium. Leading men of science 
 are beginning to learn that these doctrines in reality 
 are hypotheses, more or less in accord with prob- 
 ability, but still unconfirmed by sufficient data ; and 
 that the conclusions drawn by the illustrious scholar 
 from his numerous experiments, in reality are bold 
 and ingenious generalisations, which leave a great 
 field for question and incertitude. 
 
 These propositions, exalted to the dignity of 
 absolute truth, are echoed by the masses as verbum 
 magistri, they are catch-words on the lips of the 
 base chatterers of Liberalism, and, on the other 
 hand, they lend to many serious minds a basis for 
 new intellectual combinations. Who has not Darwin 
 on his lips to-day? Who does not play with 
 the phrases, Natural Selection, Sexual Selection, 
 the Struggle for Existence? The discoveries of 
 Darwin have forced not only superficial thinkers, 
 but earnest and studious men, to make strange 
 leaps in their reasoning, and to make still stranger 
 speeches, which, to a healthy judgment, seem no- 
 thing better than fantasy or madness. This is the 
 more common among those who wish, with the aid 
 of Darwin's teaching, to construct or perfect a 
 system of cosmology independent of God. But 
 above all, the doctrines of Darwin are most useful 
 to the reasoning of modern materialism. Man, in 
 the opinion of Darwin, has wrongly appropriated 
 to himself and to his soul a privileged position in 
 the universe ; of the animal creation he fancies himself 
 alone under the immediate and personal direction of 
 divinity. This, says Darwin, is a "pernicious idea." 
 Like every other animal, man is nothing more than 
 
 M 
 
178 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 a product of the successive and illimitable evolution 
 of natural forms of animal life. To those who wish 
 to do so, it is easy to conclude from this that there 
 is no God and no immortal soul. It follows, further, 
 from the teaching of Darwin, that all existing forms 
 of life have sprung — as all their successors will spring 
 — from the eternal and unceasing progression of 
 matter, one form evolving another, with fresh develop- 
 ments and proper instruments to supply its needs. To 
 those who are so inclined, it is easy to deduce from 
 this that creative power is constituted by this eternal 
 movement, and is inherent in matter which therefore 
 holds in itself the future of Nature and humanity, being 
 capable of indefinite progress and perfection ; hence 
 there is no need to seek an external ultimate creative 
 power, or a Providence directing the universe and 
 humanity. It may easily be conceived how such 
 reasoning accords with the tastes of those who have 
 rejected God, and put their faith in humanity. But 
 it is incredible that common-sense, rejecting a 
 first cause, can believe in the eternity of matter, 
 and trust that movement alone, although through 
 eternal time, is capable of producing all that may 
 be conceived. 
 
 It will be an unhappy time — if ever it should come 
 — when the new cult of humanity shall dominate the 
 world. The personality of man at once would lose 
 its value, and the moral barriers existing against 
 violence and arbitrary power would soon be destroyed. 
 In the name of a doctrine, for the attainment of an 
 imaginary end— the perfection of the race— will be 
 sacrificed without scruple the most sacred privileges of 
 personal freedom. Conscience will not be considered, 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AND THE NEW MARRIAGE 179 
 
 for the very idea will be denied. Our present- 
 day reformers, trained in a school of conceptions, 
 ideas, and sentiments which they afterwards abjure, 
 are in no state to realise the terrible emptiness 
 which the moral world will present when these ideas 
 shall have been destroyed. Whatever the infatuation 
 of modern lawgivers, modern administrators, and 
 modern authority, over all nevertheless inevitably 
 hangs, though sometimes unconsciously, the concep- 
 tion of a human personality which cannot be crushed 
 as a worm. This conception is rooted in the know- 
 ledge that every man has a living soul, one, indivis- 
 ible and immortal, enjoying, therefore, an absolute 
 existence which cannot be destroyed by any human 
 power. Hence there is no criminal who, in the midst 
 of his crime, does not look on the living soul he 
 injures with terror and respect. Uproot this senti- 
 ment, and what will be the fate of our legislation, 
 our government, our social life? The friends of 
 individual freedom strangely deceive themselves when 
 in its name they join the rising cult of humanity. 
 
 But happily we may hope that the dawn promised 
 us in the future by the humanist philosophy will 
 never be revealed to mankind, or, at least; will not 
 be revealed to all, or for long. Of the consequence 
 of the new doctrines on religion and life we may judge 
 by some of their political applications indicated 
 from time to time. Here is a specimen of the 
 application of Darwinism to the sphere of practical 
 legislation. A favourite speculation of Darwin treats 
 of the benefit to humanity of restrictions on the 
 liberty of marriage. In the beginning of his treatise 
 Darwin explains that one of the essential elements 
 
i8o REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 of Christianity is the personal responsibility of men 
 for their souls and their independence in the spiritual 
 sphere from one another. In consequence of this 
 it is assumed that men have a right to dispose, on 
 their own responsibility, of their bodies also. This 
 right, according to Darwin, must give way to the 
 action of the new law which he has discovered, the 
 so-called doctrine of evolution. Man has a right to 
 dispose of his body and to seek the satisfaction of 
 his bodily needs only in so far as is compatible 
 with the normal development of the race. Thus in 
 measure as the science of Darwinism, from its obser- 
 vations of material life, makes new generalisations 
 from the law of evolution, legislation must restrict 
 the personal freedom of man even in the satisfaction 
 of his organic needs. 
 
 After citing statistics, gathered from two or three 
 learned works on the physiological influence of 
 heredity on the human organism, Darwin declares 
 that in England one in every five hundred is insane, 
 that this insanity proceeds in many cases from 
 hereditary disposition, transmitted by marriage and 
 birth, and that the number of lunatics increases in 
 geometrical progression. Thus humanity is threatened 
 with the infinite spread of an evil against which 
 measures must be taken. Our author then proposes 
 the rigorous restriction of the liberty of the marriage 
 contract. It is necessary, he tells us, to improve and 
 strengthen the physical organism in the human race, 
 and for this end we must take artificial measures to 
 compensate for the weakening of the forces of natural 
 selection. Only with such conditions, we are assured, 
 is human progress possible. Mens sana in corpore 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AND THE NEW MARRIAGE i8l 
 
 sano. The triumphs of the medical art in this matter 
 are not of general advantage, but a general evil. 
 Darwin has no doubt that the level of health in 
 contemporary society has become lowered to an 
 alarming extent, and that medical art, by sustaining 
 the weaker organisms, only increases the evil for 
 future generations. It is necessary, he tells us, to 
 lessen the number of the weak in conflict with the 
 strong in the struggle for existence. 
 
 The following are the means by which Darwin 
 proposes that legislation shall attain this end. The 
 legal obstacles to marriage, which now exist, shall 
 remain in force. In addition, the law shall, in the 
 first place, recognise the appearance in one of the 
 parties of certain diseases as cause for obligatory 
 divorce. What are these diseases? Darwin gives 
 a long list of ailments transmitted by heredity ; we 
 find there diseases of the lungs, of the stomach, 
 of the liver, gout, scrofula, rheumatism, and others ; 
 so that every married person who does not enjoy 
 herculean health must tremble daily for the security 
 of the marriage contract, with all the more reason 
 because its dissolution would accord with the 
 interests of the State, or, we should rather say, with 
 the interests of mankind. That Darwin had in view 
 the institution of an inquisitorial process, we must 
 assume, because, in the second place, he proposes to 
 establish, a general system of medical inspection to 
 search for the diseases mentioned above, on the 
 model of the German system of testing the fitness of 
 recruits. Darwin proposes to establish the following 
 rule. No one may contract marriage without pro- 
 ducing evidence that he has never suffered from 
 
l82 
 
 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 insanity. But that is not enough. He must pro- 
 duce an untainted pedigree— that is, he must prove 
 that his parents, and even his most distant relations 
 in ascendant and collateral lines, have never suffered 
 from such complaints. All this is necessary, that 
 among the mass the capacity for happiness may 
 be augmented by the extermination of disease — ^the 
 chief obstacle to happiness. 
 
 Is it possible to establish such restrictions? asks 
 Darwin, and answers. Of course. Restrictions of a 
 similar nature already exist in the marriage laws 
 of many countries. As evidence of this, he adduces 
 three pages of examples of the different restrictive 
 laws, mostly from barbarous countries, citing indiscrim- 
 inately the regulations of Prussia, Siam, China, and 
 Madagascar, even of the Ostiaks and Tunguses. If 
 we may judge by appearance, he is pleased by every 
 restriction of marriage, and every facility for divorce. 
 He ends his dissertation without considering the 
 simple question, What end will be served by legal 
 restrictions on marriage, when it will be impossible 
 to prevent natural unions with the same effect in 
 the birth of children? It may be, indeed, this 
 question has occurred to the author; if so, he has 
 found a reply, which he 0ves, in the example of 
 Japan, where prostitution is not only tolerated, but 
 even protected by the State, as a means of pre- 
 venting an undue increase of population. 
 
 Thus reasons the herald of Darwinism. It is 
 plain that to him the fundamental law of life is the 
 preservation of the strong and the extirpation of the 
 weak. And apparently he would establish this 
 principle as a law of civil society. It is a strange 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AND THE NEW MARRIAGE 183 
 
 specimen of the infatuation of a scholar with a 
 principle discovered by himself. The legislator of 
 a future society is to accept such ideas as these, 
 and to acknowledge in life and progress no other 
 motives than the interests of physiology — of moral 
 factors he will not even dream. To him all 
 organisms, weak and strong, are numbers, abstract 
 quantities, for the purpose of mathematical calcu- 
 lation. He will not ask himself the question. Will 
 the strong be stronger for having destroyed the 
 weak? He knows not the truth that all strength 
 grows in action, experience, and practice; that the 
 strong will have no occasion to prove and develop 
 their strength when there shall be no weak who re- 
 quire assistance and protection ; and that the weakest, 
 trained in favourable conditions, may become strong, 
 and be capable of transmitting their strength to future 
 generations. And lastly, will the victors in the 
 struggle of nature be capable of ministering to the 
 perfection of the race, if their strength be sustained 
 by a mechanical process at the expense of the 
 weak? 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 
 
 How precious are the old institutions, the old 
 traditions, the old customs! The people guards 
 them as the ark of the covenant of its forefathers. 
 But how often has history shown that popular 
 governments do not value but regard them as an 
 old garment of which they must be rid. Rulers 
 condemn them without mercy, or re-cast them in 
 new forms, and expect a new spirit to animate 
 them at once. Their expectations are seldom ful- 
 filled. The old institutions are precious and indis- 
 pensable because they have had their origin not in 
 invention but in the life of the past ; they are con- 
 secrated in the minds of the people by that high 
 authority which history alone can give. This autho- 
 rity cannot be replaced, for its roots rest in that 
 unconscious part of our being where the moral 
 principles are firmly set. It is vain to suppose that 
 the sanction of history can be replaced in the minds 
 of the people by the spirit of an institution newly 
 founded. Few individuals acquire sentiments of rever- 
 ence through reason, or find in reason the source of 
 inspiration and faith. Such sentiments remain in- 
 accessible to the mass; if we wish to inspire them from 
 without we fail, and awaken false and fantastic ideas. 
 The masses assimilate ideas only through direct senti- 
 184 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 185 
 
 merit, which is educated and strengthened by history, 
 and transmitted from father to son, from generation 
 to generation. These traditions may be destroyed ; 
 to revive them is impossible. 
 
 Often in the depths of the old institutions there is 
 embodied some profoundly true idea which springs 
 directly from the spirit of the people. Although such 
 inspiring idea is sometimes hard to recognise through 
 the multitude of forms, excrescences, and veils which 
 have lost to-day their primitive significance, yet the 
 masses apprehend it by instinct, and firmly cling 
 to their institution by its associated forms. They 
 cherish their institution with its excrescences, some- 
 times ugly and often objectless, because their 
 instinct is to guard the hidden germs of truth against 
 shallow attack. These germs are all the more 
 precious because they symbolise the immemorial 
 needs of the soul, protecting the truth hidden in their 
 depths. What if the forms that invest the institutions 
 of the people are rude, the product of rude customs, of 
 a rude temper, these are phenomena temporary and 
 accidental. When manners and customs are softened, 
 the forms themselves also are ennobled and inspired. 
 Purify the mind, elevate the spirit, enlighten the ideas 
 of the people, and the rude forms disappear, making 
 way for others more perfect, until all are simple 
 and pure. 
 
 This the reformers of the people ignore when they 
 rave over the rudeness of form, and the abuses of the 
 ancient institutions. Engaged with ceremonies and 
 forms alone, they neglect the spirit of the institution, 
 which they would destroy altogether, seeing there no- 
 thing but rudeness and ceremonial superstition. They 
 
i86 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 know that they have outlived the form, but they forget 
 the millions to whom, by the state of their spiritual 
 development, the spirit is accessible only through rude 
 ceremonial. Destroy this ceremonial, and the people 
 will think its institution destroyed, and lose, it may 
 be for ever, the occasion of learning aright the 
 ancient ideas it symbolises. Would it not be well 
 to begin reform from the inside, to enlighten the 
 spirit of the people, to inspire it with thought, to 
 purify and enrich its moral and intellectual life? 
 Then the fundamental idea would be saved, the life 
 of the people would be spared, and the rude forms 
 themselves would be transfigured in the new. 
 I quote the following passages from Carlyle: 
 
 " Great truly is the Actual ; is the Thing that has rescued itself 
 from the bottomless deeps of theory and possibility, and stands 
 there as a definite indisputable Fact, whereby men do work and live 
 or once did so. Wisely shall men cleave to that while it will 
 endure ; and quit it with regret, when it gives way under them. 
 Rash enthusiast of Change, beware ! Hast thou well considered all 
 that Habit does in this life of ours ; how all Knowledge and all 
 Practice hang' wondrous over infinite abysses of the Unknown, 
 Impracticable ; and our whole being is an infinite abyss, (yverreached 
 by Habit, as by a thin Earth-rind, laboriously built together ? 
 
 " Herein too, in this its System of Habits, acquired, retained how 
 you will, lies' the true Law-Code and Constitution of a Society ; the 
 only Code, though an unwritten one, which it can in no wise 
 disobey. The thing we call written Code, Constitution, Form of 
 Government, and the like, what is it but some miniature image, 
 and solemnly expressed summary of this unwritten Code ? Is — or 
 rather, also, is not ; but only should be, and always tends to be ! 
 In which latter discrepancy lies struggle wthout end?" — "The 
 French Revolution," vol. i. p. 46. 
 
 « Where thou findest a Lie that is oppressing thee, extinguish it. 
 Lies exist there only to be extinguished ; they wait and cry earnestly 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 187 
 
 for extinction. Think well, meanwhile, in what spirit thou wilt 
 do it : not with hatred, with headlong selfish violence j but in clear- 
 ness of heart, with holy zeal, gently, almost with pity. Thou 
 wouldst not replace such extinct Lie by a new Lie, which a new 
 Injustice of thy own were 5 the parent of still other Lies ? Where- 
 by the latter <nd of that business were worse than the beginning." — 
 lUd., p. 47. 
 
 II 
 
 An eternal struggle is waged in the cause of 
 freedom in the world of human institutions and human 
 relations. But where shall we iind this freedom if 
 not in the human soul? Everywhere reason arms 
 against the old authority, seeking to overthrow it, 
 ostensibly in the name of freedom, in reality to 
 replace it with new authorities of the minute, 
 constituted yesterday, and doomed to-morrow to 
 give way in turn. The modern champion of reason 
 and liberty looks with contempt on the orthodox 
 believers who cling to the faith transmitted by their 
 fathers and forefathers, and remain faithful to tradi- 
 tion, but he himself has evolved what he considers 
 elemental convictions on the Church, and on the 
 chief objects of the spiritual life. He laughs at the 
 pious sentiments of the churchman, and condemns 
 them as superstition. Yet himself he is filled with 
 pious terror of the so-called " public opinion " : is this 
 not a superstition still greater? To us our past is 
 dear : we respect our history. He ridicules this, he 
 despises the past, and believes only in the present ; 
 but he cannot explain in what way his adoration 
 of the present is better than the sentiment which 
 he reviles. He will say, " Cast away the yoke of the 
 
i88 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 law, break the immemorial chains of tradition, and 
 you will be free." But what is freedom, when the 
 present is set up as a law, oppressing us with a yoke 
 heavier than before, when instead of the inspired and 
 infallible scriptures of which we are to be deprived, 
 we are bidden to believe in the infallibility of the 
 opinions of the crowd, and to find in the majority 
 of voices the unerring and unanswerable words of 
 truth? 
 
 Ill 
 
 Only fools have clear conceptions of everything. 
 The most cherished ideas of the human mind are 
 found in the depths and in twilight : around these 
 confused ideas which we cannot classify revolve clear 
 thoughts, extending, developing, and becoming ele- 
 vated. If this deeper mental plane were to be 
 taken away, there would remain but geometricians 
 and intelligent animals ; even the exact sciences 
 would lose their present grandeur, which depends 
 upon a hidden correlation with eternal truths, of 
 which we catch a glimpse only at rare moments. 
 Mystery is the most precious possession of man- 
 kind. Not in vain did Plato teach that all below 
 is but a weak image of the order reigning above. 
 It may be, indeed, that the grandest function of 
 the loveliness we see is the awakening of desire 
 for a higher loveliness we see not; and that the 
 enchantment of great poets springs less from the 
 pictures they paint than from the distant echoes 
 they awaken from the invisible world. 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 189 
 
 IV 
 
 Life, the springtime of youth, of passion, and of 
 aspiration ; life, full of pleasure ; life, in the eternal 
 sunlight, plunges man in dreams which he would 
 never surrender — dreams with enchanting visions 
 and indescribable joy. 
 
 But these dreams must be broken by sorrow, 
 anxiety, and disenchantment, the loss of happiness 
 and of justice. The sun must vanish — the night, 
 with all its terrors, draw near. 
 
 But in the midst of this night, in the firmament 
 appear to the troubled soul, in all their mysterious 
 beauty, the heavenly stars which it saw not while 
 the sunlight shone. Mystery embraces and calms 
 the troubled soul ; the stars of childhood and youth 
 appear — the simplicity of early sensations, the 
 counsel and caresses of disinterested parental love, 
 the lessons of reverence of God and of duty — all 
 that eternity has made innate in man, all that has 
 nourished, taught, and enlightened him at the begin- 
 ning of life. It was necessary that the soul should be 
 plunged into the darkness of night for the heavenly 
 stars to be revealed out of the depths of the past 
 
 In his celebrated work Psyche, Carus says that the 
 key to comprehension of the conscious life lies in the 
 sphere of the unconscious. He traces the correlation 
 of the conscious and unconscious in human life, with 
 many profound reflections. The divine in us — what 
 
igo REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 we call the soul — he says, is not something intermit- 
 tent or immovable, but incessantly changes form in 
 a steady process of development, destruction, and 
 reformation. Each phenomenon is an extension or 
 development of the past, and contains the promise 
 of future development. The conscious life of man 
 is decomposed into separate moments of time ; it has 
 but an indistinct apprehension of its existence in 
 the past and its prospects in the future ; while the 
 present escapes it, , for hardly is it born before it 
 mingles with the past. The reduction of all these 
 moments to unity, the consciousness of the present — 
 that is, the determining of a distinct limit between 
 the past and the future, is feasible only in the 
 domain of unconsciousness, where there is no time, 
 but eternity. The famous myths of Epimetheus 
 and Prometheus have a profound meaning, and it 
 was not without reason that the Greek wisdom 
 embodied therein its conception of the higher de- 
 velopment of humanity. All organic life recalls 
 to us these conflicting sides of the creative idea 
 in the domain of unconsciousness. Even in the 
 vegetable and animal worlds each impulse or 
 form reminds us of something related to the past, 
 and foretells to us something to be formed, and 
 to appear in the future. The more we think 
 on the nature of this phenomenon, the more 
 are we persuaded that all that in the conscious 
 life we denominate memory, foresight, or fore- 
 knowledge, serves but as a pale reflection of the 
 exactitude with which they exist in the unconscious 
 life. 
 
 Carus examines certain cases where the conscious 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 191 
 
 life has been suddenly interrupted, and absorbed in 
 the domain of the unconscious. Nothing is more 
 remarkable, he says, than the sudden and involun- 
 tary apparition in our souls of images which have 
 long disappeared, yet which are preserved in the 
 depths of the unconscious souL Ideas of men, of 
 objects, of places, even our peculiar feelings and sensa- 
 tions, which in the course of long years seem to have 
 vanished, suddenly awaken into life, and prove that 
 in reality they were not lost at all. There have been 
 some remarkable instances in which consciousness, 
 in a moment, embraced a whole life with all its events. 
 A case is known of a certain Englishman who was 
 subjected to the strong action of opium : once, in 
 the fierce agitation which precedes the complete 
 prostration of the senses, he suddenly saw a picture 
 of his former life with all its events and sensations. 
 A similar experience was that of a girl who had 
 fallen into the water, the moment before complete 
 loss of consciousness. 
 
 Carus gives no details, or references to evidence 
 of the cases cited ; but all have heard such cases 
 in more or less confused forms. The following, 
 however, is the unique, curious^ and fully authenti- 
 cated account, of such an occurrence given by the 
 person chiefly concerned. 
 
 This happened with the English Admiral 
 Beaufort, who, when a young man, fell out of a 
 boat at Portsmouth, and, not knowing how to 
 swim, sank to the bottom. He was taken from 
 the water, and afterwards, at^ the request of the 
 well-known Dr Wollaston, recounted the strange 
 history of his experiences. After describing the 
 
192 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 circumstances of the accident he continues to the 
 following effect : 
 
 " What I have told you so far is based on confused memories 
 of my own, and on the testimony of eye-witnesses ; for a drowning 
 man is, of course, entirely absorbed in the consciousness of his own 
 peril land the struggle between hope and despair. For all which 
 happened immediately afterwards, however, I can vouch with a 
 good conscience, for there took place in my mind a revolution so 
 sudden, and so extraordinary, that all the details have remained 
 deeply impressed upon my memory with a freshness and distinct- 
 ness as complete as if all had happened yesterday. From the 
 moment I ceased to move (which occurred, I suppose, after com- 
 plete suffocation), the violent sensations were superseded by a feeling 
 of perfect calm and tranquillity, a state which one might perhaps 
 describe as one of apathy, but yet not an attitude of submission to 
 fate. 1 felt no pain of any kind, nor did I think any longer of either 
 peril or rescue ; on the contrary, the sensation was rather agreeable, 
 resembling the languor which precedes sleep after some fatiguing 
 physical exertion. My senses were paralysed. The opposite, how- 
 ever, was the case as regards my mind, the activity of which 
 increased to an extent which entirely defies description, thought 
 following thought with such rapidity that not only would it be 
 impossible for me to describe what happened, but nobody, unless he 
 should have passed through a similar experience, could form an idea 
 of what I felt. 
 
 "I still recall with the greatest distinctness the course of these 
 thoughts, beginning with the accident which had just happened, the 
 awkwardness to which it had been due, the panic that followed 
 (I had seen men jumping into the water immediately after me), 
 the effect which the event would produce upon the mind of my 
 tender father, the announcement of the terrible news to my family, 
 and a thousand other circumstances of my private life. Such 
 was the first sequence of my thoughts. After this the circle of 
 my ideas began to grow wider : first, our last voyage came back 
 to my memory; then the first of our campaigns, with the ship- 
 wreck that occurred on that occasion ; then my school-life, its 
 successes, all its blunders, the follies, the boyish tricks, the little 
 adventures of the time, and so on, always receding further. In 
 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 193 
 
 this way all the experiences of my life unfolded themselves in my 
 memory in an order opposite to that in which they had occurred, 
 not, however, merely in general outline, as I have given them here> 
 but like living pictures, with their most circumstantial features 
 and details. In one word, the whole history of my life unrolled 
 'itself before me as in a panorama, and in recognising each event, 
 I was able even to discern its character, to think of its cause 
 and effect. But what is most remarkable is that almost all 
 the most trivial facts, which I had long forgotten, were revived in 
 my mind with such precision and accuracy, that it seemed as if 
 they had just happened. Does not this prove the infinite power 
 ai the memory? Does it not prove, that one day we will awaken 
 lin another world in possession of a complete recollection of all 
 that we have passed through in this, and that we shall have to 
 contemplate our former life from beginning to end ? And, on the 
 other hand, does not all this justify also the belief that death is 
 merely a modification of our being which continues to exist without 
 any real interruption or break in its continuity? However that 
 may be, what is extremely notewothy is the fact that all the 
 thoughts passing before my soul in such great number were turned 
 toward the past. I had been educated in the principles of religion ; 
 my ideas regarding our future life and the fears and hopes insepar- 
 ably connected with those ideas had undergone no modification, 
 and at any other time, therefore, the probability of an imminent 
 peril would have sufficed to produce in me the most terrible 
 emotion ; but in that indescribable moment, although fully con- 
 vinced that I had passed the line separating me from eternity, I 
 had not a single thought for the future : I was entirely absorbed 
 in the past. I am not able at present to estimate exactly the 
 time occupied by the passing of this torrent of ideas before my 
 mind, or, rather, during what fraction of time these recollections 
 occurred, but this much is certain, that less than two minutes 
 intervened between the moment in which suffocation began and 
 the moment in which I was taken from the water. 
 
 " When I began to revive, my sensations were of a totally different 
 nature from those that I had experienced before. Instead of 
 the multitude of clear and precise ideas which had passed before 
 my soul, there was now but one confiised thought weighing 
 heavily upon it — namely, the danger and the risk which I had 
 
 N 
 
194 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 undergone. While I was drowning there was not the slightest 
 physical suffering, now the most atrocious pain seemed to rend 
 ray entire body; never since have I had to endure such tortures, 
 although I have been wounded on several occasions, and hare had 
 to submit more than once to surgical operations. In one instance, 
 a bullet passed through my lungs ; I spent the whole night on 
 the bridge of the vessel. Believing that a wound in the lungs 
 must be fatal, I had the fullest apprehension of death. But in 
 that moment I felt nothing like that which I underwent during 
 my drowning experience ; and when I came to, after swooning, 
 I recovered immediately full consciousness of my position." 
 
THE CHURCH 
 I 
 
 The more we consider the distinctive ethnical 
 features of religion the more firmly we are convinced 
 how unattainable is an union of creeds — by a facti- 
 tious accord in dogma, — on the principle of reciprocal 
 concessions in immaterial things. The essential in 
 religion cannot be expressed on paper, or categori- 
 cally formulated. The most essential, the most 
 persistent, and the most precious things in all 
 religious creeds are as elusive and as insusceptible of 
 definition as varieties of light and shade — as feelings 
 born of an infinite series of emotions, conceptions, and 
 impressions. The essential elements are so involved 
 with the psychical nature of the race, with the 
 principles of their moral philosophy, that it is futile 
 to separate one from the other. The children of 
 different races and different faiths, in many relations 
 may feel as brethren, and give to one another their 
 hands ; but to feel themselves worshippers in the 
 same temple, joined in religious communion, they 
 must have lived together long and closely, they must 
 sympathise with the conditions of each other's exist- 
 ence, they must be bound by the most intimate links 
 in the depths of their souls. A German who has lived 
 long in our country may come unconsciously to 
 believe as Russians believe, and to feel at home in 
 
 195 
 
196 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 the Russian Church. He becomes one of us, and is 
 in complete spiritual communion with us. But that 
 a Protestant community, situated far away, judging 
 us by report, could, through abstract accord in dogma 
 and ritual, combine with us in one church in organic 
 alliance, and become one with us in spirit, is in- 
 conceivable. No reunion of churches based upon 
 accord in doctrine has ever succeeded ; the false 
 principle of such an alliance must sooner or later 
 manifest itself, its fruit is everywhere an increase 
 not of love but of mutual estrangement and hatred. 
 
 May God forbid that we should condemn one 
 another because of faith; let each believe as he will! 
 But each man has a faith which is his refuge, which 
 satisfies his spiritual needs, which he loves ; and it 
 is impossible for him when brought into contact with 
 another faith not to feel that it is not his own, that 
 it is inhospitable and cold. Let reason prove, with 
 abstract arguments, that all men pray to one God. 
 Sentiment is repelled by reasoning such as this; 
 sometimes sentiment feels that in a strange church it 
 prays to a strange god. 
 
 Many will laugh at this sentiment, or condemn it . 
 as superstition and fanaticism. They will be wrong. 
 Sentiment is not always delusive, it sometimes ex- 
 presses truth more directly and justly than reason 
 itself. 
 
 The Protestant Church and the Protestant faith 
 are cold and inhospitable to Russians. For us to 
 recognise this faith would be as bitter as death. 
 This is a direct sentiment. But there are many 
 good reasons to justify it. The following is one 
 which especially strikes us by its obviousness. 
 
THE CHURCH 197 
 
 In the polemics of theologians, in religious dissen- 
 sions, in the conscience of every man and of every 
 race, one of the greatest questions is that of works. 
 Which is the greater, works or faith? We know 
 that on this question the Latin doctrine differs 
 from the Protestant. In his theological com- 
 positions, the late M. KhomyakofT well explained 
 how deceptive is the scholastic-absolute treatment 
 of this question. Union of faith with works, like 
 identity of words and thought, of deeds and words, 
 is an ideal unattainable by human nature, as all 
 things absolute are unattainable — an ideal eternally 
 troubling and eternally alluring the faithful soul. 
 Faith without works is sterile. Faith opposed to 
 works offends us with the consciousness of internal 
 falsehood ; but in the infinite world of externals 
 around mankind what can work, what can any 
 possible work signify without faith? 
 
 Prove me thy faith by thy deeds, — a terrible 
 command ! What can a believer answer when his 
 questioner seeks to recognise the faith by the 
 works. If such a question were put by a Protestant 
 to a member of the Orthodox Church, what would 
 the answer be? He could only hang his head. 
 He would feel that he had nothing to show, that 
 all was imperfect and disorderly. But in a minute 
 he might lift his head and say : " We have nothing 
 to show, sinners as we are, yet neither are you 
 beyond reproach. Come to us, live with us, see 
 our faith, study our sentiments, and you will learn 
 to love us. As for our works, you will see 
 them such as they are." From such an answer 
 ninety-nine out of a hundred would turn with a 
 
igS REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 contemptuous laugh. The truth is that we do not 
 know, and dare not show our works. 
 
 It is not so with them. They can show 
 their works, and, to speak the truth, they have 
 much to show — works and institutions existing, 
 and preserved for centuries in perfect order. See, 
 says the Catholic Church, what I mean to the 
 community which hears me and which serves me ; 
 which I created, and which I sustain. Here are 
 works of love, works of faith, apostolic works ; 
 here are deeds of martyrdom ; here are regiments 
 of believers, united as one, which I send to the 
 ends of the earth. Is it not plain that grace is 
 in me, and has been in me from the beginning 
 until now? 
 
 See, says the Protestant Church, I do not 
 tolerate falsehood, deception, or superstition. My 
 works conform to faith, and reason is reconciled 
 with it. I have consecrated labour, human re- 
 lations, and family happiness ; by faith I destroy 
 all idleness and superstition ; I establish justice, 
 honesty, and social order. I teach daily, and my 
 doctrine accords with life. It educates generations 
 in the performance of honourable work, and in 
 good manners. My teaching renews humanity in 
 virtue and justice. My mission is to destroy with 
 the sword of words and deeds corruption and 
 hypocrisy everywhere. Is it not plain that the 
 grace of God is in me, since I see things from 
 the true standpoint? 
 
 To the present day Protestants and Catholics 
 contend over the dogmatic signification of works in 
 relation to faith. But in spite of the total contra- 
 
THE CHURCH 199 
 
 diction of their theological doctrines, both set 
 works at the head of their religion. In the Latin 
 Church works are the justification, the redemption, 
 and the witness of grace. The Lutherans regard 
 works, and, at the same time, religion itself, from 
 the practical point of view. Works for them are 
 the end of religion ; they are the touchstone which 
 proves religious and canonical truth, and it is on this 
 point more than on any other that our doctrine 
 differs from the doctrine of Protestantism. It is 
 true that these doctrines do not constitute a dogma 
 of the Lutheran Church, but they pervade its teach- 
 ing. Beyond all dispute they have an important 
 practical value for this world ; and therefore many 
 would set up the Protestant Church as a model and 
 an ideal for us. But the Russian, in the depths of a 
 believing soul, will never accept such a view. " Godli- 
 ness is profitable unto all things," says the apostle, but 
 utility is hardly one of its natural attributes. The 
 Russians, as others, know that they ought to live by 
 religion, and feel how ill their lives accord with 
 their beliefs ; but the essence, the end of their 
 faith is not the practical life, but the salvation of 
 their souls, and with the love of religion they seek 
 to embrace all, from the just man who lives accord- 
 ing to his faith, to the thief, who, his works notwith- 
 standing, would be pardoned in an instant. 
 
 This practical basis of Protestantism is nowhere 
 shown more plainly than in the Anglican Church, 
 and in the religious spirit of the English people. It 
 accords with the character of the nation as formed 
 by history to direct all thought and action to prac- 
 tical aims, steadfastly and tenaciously pursuing 
 
200 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 success, and in all things taking those paths and 
 measures which are short and sure. This innate 
 tendency must seek a moral base, and must construct 
 a system of morals; and it is natural that these moral 
 principles shall seek a sanction in a religious spirit 
 corresponding to their nature. Religion indisputably 
 consecrates the moral principle of activity ; its precepts 
 teach us how to live and act ; it demands laborious- 
 ness, honesty, and justice. This no one will dispute. 
 But, in the practical consideration of religion, we 
 pass directly to the question : What of the faith of 
 those who live in idleness, who are dishonest and 
 false, corrupt, and disorderly, who cannot control 
 their passions ? Such men are heathen, not Christian ; 
 he only is a Christian who lives by the law, and in 
 himself bears witness to its power. 
 
 This reasoning is logical in appearance. But who 
 has not asked the question: What is the part in 
 the world and in the Church of the wanton and 
 dishonest, who, in the words of Christ, shall take 
 a higher place in the kingdom of heaven than the 
 just according to the law? 
 
 It would be too much to suppose that such 
 religious opinions constitute a positive formula of 
 the Church of England. Such a formula would be 
 a direct negation of the precepts of the Evangel. 
 But such is precisely the spirit of religion among the 
 most zealous and conscientious representatives of 
 the so-called National Established Church, which 
 they defend and extol as the first bulwark of the 
 State, and as the last expression of the national 
 genius. In English literature, both religious and 
 profane, this view is expressed, sometimes in 
 
THE CHURCH 
 
 trenchant words which would excite doubt and 
 almost terror in the mind of a Russian reader. 
 
 In a work remarkable for depth and clearness of 
 thought, written evidently by a believer deeply and 
 jealously attached to his Church, the following 
 remarks occur upon religion : — 
 
 "Some forms of religion are distinctly unfavourable to a sense 
 of social duty. Others have simply no relation to it whatever, and 
 of those which favour it (as is the case in various degrees with 
 every form of Christianity) some promote it far more powerfully 
 than others. I should say that those which promote it most power- 
 fully are those of which the central figure is an infinitely wise and 
 powerful Legislator whose own nature is confessedly inscrutable to 
 man, but who has made the world as it is for a prudent, steady, 
 hard, enduring race of people, who are neither fools nor cowards, 
 who have no particular love for those who are, who distinctly know 
 what they want, and are determined to use all lawful means to get 
 it. Some such religion as this is the unspoken deeply-rooted con- 
 viction of the solid, established part of the English nation. They 
 form an anvil which has worn out a good many hammers, and will 
 wear out a good many more, enthusiasts and humanitarians not- 
 withstanding." — Stephen (Sir James F.), " Liberty, Equality, 
 Fraternity," pp. 305-6. London, 1873. 
 
 Such is the conception of religion held by a con- 
 vinced Anglican churchman. The passage I have 
 quoted is a direct negation of the words of the 
 Evangel, for it says : Happy are the strong and 
 powerful, for they shall possess the kingdom ; to 
 which we reply : Yes, the kingdom of the earth, but 
 not the kingdom of heaven. The author makes no 
 such limitation ; he sees no distinction between the 
 kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of earth. What 
 a terrible and despairing doctrine ! 
 
 Such tendencies of religious thought were indisput- 
 
202 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 ably of the greatest practical value in Protestant coun- 
 tries, especially in England ; and it cannot be denied 
 that Protestantism was a strong and beneficent in- 
 fluence towards social development among the peoples 
 who accepted it, and with whose nature it accorded. 
 But is it not plain that certain races, by their nature, 
 could never accept or submit to it, because they 
 do not find in this doctrine of Protestantism the vital 
 principle of religion? They see not unity but a duality 
 of the religious conscience ; not the living truth, but a 
 factitious composition of speculation and falsehood. 
 
 "Woe to the weak and fallen ! Woe to the 
 vanquished!" Truly in this life this is inevitable 
 truth, and the voice of worldly wisdom cries to us: 
 Fight, get and hold by force if you would live — in 
 this world there is no place for the weak. But 
 the soul will no more allow the absolute and dog- 
 matic application of this rule to religion than it will 
 accept the terrible Calvinist doctrine that some are 
 predestined from eternity to virtue, to glory, to 
 salvation, and to happiness ; while others, no matter 
 what their lives may be, are condemned from eternity 
 to the abyss of despair and eternal torment. 
 
 It is terrible to read those English writers who 
 sound with special emphasis this chord of English 
 Protestantism. Carlyle, for instance, is seized with 
 rapturous emotion through the strength and talent 
 of the conqueror, while he despises the conquered. 
 He honours his strong men as the incarnation of 
 Godhead, and treats with thin, contemptuous irony 
 the weak and unhappy, the incapable and the fallen, 
 crushed by the triumphal chariot of the conqueror. 
 His heroes personify the idea of light and order in the 
 
THE CHURCH 203 
 
 darkness and disorder of the cosmic chaos ; they 
 create their own universe ; all whom they meet on 
 their path who refuse to submit and to serve, yet 
 have not the strength to resist, are justly and utterly 
 destroyed. Carlyle's extraordinary talents infatuate 
 the reader, but it is painful to read his historical 
 writings, and see the name of God invoked in the 
 struggle of the strong with the weak. The pagans of 
 the classic age, with better sense, sent, by the chariot 
 of the conqueror, a jester, who represented the moral 
 principle, pursuing with his irony, not the conquered 
 but the conqueror himself 
 
 Most painful of all is it to read Froude, the cele- 
 brated historian of the English Reformation, and the 
 best representative among historians of the principles of 
 the English people in religion and in politics. Carlyle, 
 at least, is a poet, while Froude speaks in the tranquil 
 tones of the historian, loves dialectics, and knows no 
 iniquity which he cannot justify by dialectics in the 
 interest of a favourite idea. There is no hypocrisy 
 which he does not glorify as truth in his justification 
 of the Reformation and of its protagonists. Un- 
 shakeable and fanatical, he holds to the principles of 
 Anglican orthodoxy, the base of which he declares 
 is the recognition of social duty, devotion to the 
 political idea and to the law, and the implacable 
 chastisement of vice and crime and idleness, and all 
 that is designated the betrayal of duty. In human 
 affairs, all this is excellent; but can we make such 
 principles the beginning and end of religion, when 
 we think how the words, duty, law, vice, and crime 
 are variously interpreted day by day, and that men 
 to-day call justice and courage what to-morrow may 
 
204 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 be condemned as falsehood and crime. For charity 
 and compassion the religion of Froude has no place. 
 How can he reconcile charity with indignation for 
 vice and crime, for the violation of the law ? Speak- 
 ing of the terrible punishments sometimes endured 
 by the innocent as well as the guilty, this stern 
 judge of human affairs eulogises his compatriots 
 as a strong and severe people who know no pity 
 where there is no legal cause for pity, and who, on 
 the contrary, are filled with a sacred and solemn 
 horror of crime, a sentiment which, as it develops 
 in the soul, of necessity hardens it, and results in 
 forming an iron character. The man of severe 
 morality is inclined to compassion only when the 
 disposition to good remains in conflict with evil : 
 in cases of total corruption compassion is unjusti- 
 fiable, and is conceivable only when in our hearts 
 we confound crime with misfortune. Such, in effect, 
 are the sentiments of Froude. 
 
 How the author would have despised us Russians, 
 in whose minds there actually is such confusion, and 
 who from time immemorial have called the culprit 
 unfortunate {nestchastnui). 
 
 The characters of churches, as the characters of men, 
 and the characters of races, have their merits and de- 
 fects. The merits of Protestantism are well explained 
 by the history of the German and Anglo-Saxon races. 
 The spirit of Puritanism has created the Britain of the 
 present day. The principle of Protestantism gave to 
 Germany strength, and discipline, and unity. Yet we 
 see with this some defects and tendencies with which 
 we cannot sympathise. As every spiritual force. 
 Protestantism is most inclined to fall where it seeks 
 
THE CHURCH 205 
 
 its firmest spiritual foundation. In aspiring to 
 absolute truth, to the purifying of faith and its 
 realisation in life, it is over-confident of its own 
 righteousness, it is infatuated to idolatry with its justice, 
 and it despises the strange faith which temporises with 
 untruth. Thence springs the danger of hypocrisy and 
 of Pharisaical pride. And, indeed, how often do we 
 hear with bitterness from the Protestant world that 
 hypocrisy is the plague of rigorous Lutheranism ! On 
 the other hand, while beginning by preaching tolera- 
 tion, and liberty of thought and belief. Protestantism, 
 in its ultimate development, is inclined to fanaticism 
 of a peculiar nature, the fanaticism of the pride of 
 intellect, the fanaticism of a rectitude above all 
 other faiths. Rigid Protestantism treats with con- 
 tempt every faith which appears to it unclean, un- 
 inspired, defiled by the superstition and ritual which 
 it has cast off as the fetters of slaves, the garments of 
 children, the attributes to ignorance. Creating for 
 itself a system of beliefs and ceremonies, it maintains 
 its doctrine as the doctrine of the elect, the enlightened 
 and the rational, and regards all those who hold to 
 the ancient Church as beings of a lower race, who 
 cannot rise to the height of pure reasoning. This 
 contemptuous attitude is expressed unconsciously, 
 but it is only too sensible by the adherents to other 
 faiths. No religion is free from fanaticism, but the 
 height of all absurdity is reached when Lutherans 
 turn to us with such accusations. In spite of the 
 tolerance which is inherent in our national character, 
 we meet, of course, individual cases of exclusiveness 
 and bigotry in religion ; but there never has been, and 
 never can be, anything Uke to that contempt with 
 
2o6 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 which rigid Lutherans regard the attributes to our 
 Church, and the qualities of our faith, which to them 
 are incomprehensible, but to us are filled with a deep 
 spiritual significance. 
 
 II 
 
 The difference between the social spirit and com- 
 position of the Anglo-Saxon and the Russian races 
 is noticeable nowhere so much as in the Church. In 
 an English church, more than anywhere else, the 
 thought occurs to the Russian, There are many good 
 things here, yet I am thankful that I was born in 
 Russia. In our churches all social distinctions are 
 laid aside, we surrender our positions in the world 
 and mingle completely in the congregation before the 
 face of God. Our churches for the most part have 
 been built with the money of the people ; between 
 rouble and grosh there is no distinction ; in all cases 
 our churches are the work and the appanage of the 
 whole people. The poorest beggar feels, with the 
 greatest noble, that the church, at least, is his. The 
 church is the only place (how happy are we to have 
 one such place !) where the poorest man in rags will 
 not be asked, "Why art thou here, and who art 
 thou ? " It is the only place where the rich may not 
 say to the poor, "Your place is not beside me, but 
 behind." 
 
 Enter an English church and watch the congrega- 
 tion. It is devout; solemn it may be, but it is a 
 congregation of "ladies and gentlemen," each with 
 a place specially reserved ; the rich in separate and 
 embellished pews, like the boxes of an opera-house. 
 We cannot help thinking that this church is merely 
 
THE CHURCH 207 
 
 a reunion of people in society, and that there is place 
 in it only for what society calls "the respectable." 
 All use their prayer-books, but each has his own, 
 which makes it plain that he wishes to be alone 
 before God, and in no way to sacrifice his individu- 
 ality. It is said that in the last twenty or thirty 
 years a remarkable change has taken place in this ; 
 the places in the churches are to a great extent free, 
 and access to them is easier than before ; but in 
 former times, more particularly in the provinces, the 
 pews were constructed with closed partitions, so that 
 the occupant might pray in peace, alone, and undis- 
 turbed by any neighbour. How plainly these disposi- 
 tions reveal the history of a feudal society, and even 
 the history of the Reformation in England. " Nobility 
 and gentry" lead in all, because they possess and 
 appropriate all. All is bought by conquest, even 
 the right to sit in church. The celebration of 
 divine service is a privilege sold at a fixed price. 
 In England the preferment of clergymen, with right to 
 fixed incomes, is the hereditary right of " patronage," 
 and the power of election to the ministry is the ap- 
 panage either of the local proprietors or of the Crown, 
 by virtue not so much of the rights of the State as of 
 the rights of the feudal possessors. Thus the clergy, 
 appointed independently of the people, and inde- 
 pendent of the people for their maintenance, appear 
 above it as princes placed above their subjects. The 
 offices of the Church*are, first of all, a " preferment," 
 an appanage ; and, it is shameful to say so, this 
 appanage is the object of traffic. The office of 
 incumbent may be bought for a certain sum, deter- 
 mined by the capitalisation of the income, as in 
 
2o8 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 our country the positions of attorneys, notaries, and 
 brokers. In any English newspaper you may find 
 a special department for the advertisement of these 
 so-called "preferments," you may see a series of 
 offers of the office of incumbent, with a statement 
 of the income ; the amenities of the position will be 
 praised, the house and its situation described, the 
 price indicated, with the information that the present 
 incumbent is so many years old, and is not likely 
 to enjoy his position long. In London appears a 
 journal {The Church Preferment Register) specially 
 devoted to this traffic, with a detailed description 
 of every office, its amenities and revenue, for the 
 information of those who might buy. 
 
 We are told that, from the political point of view, 
 every right, personal or social, should be attained 
 by competition alone. This observation may be 
 generally true, but it cannot be applied to the right 
 of praying in church. We must not wonder, then, 
 that the conscience of the people is not satisfied with 
 the constitution of the Church, and that England, 
 the country of an Established State Church, the 
 classic country of theological learning and religious 
 discussion, has become, since the Reformation, the 
 country of dissidence too. The need of religion 
 and the need of prayer in the mass of the people, 
 finding no satisfaction in the Established Church, 
 seek issue in free and independent congrega- 
 tions and in diverse sects. The different sects 
 which flourish in the most insignificant village are 
 innumerable. The Established Church itself is 
 divided into three schools, the so-called High, 
 Low, and Broad Churches, and the partisans of 
 
THE CHURCH 209 
 
 each have their own churches, and will not enter 
 the churches of others. In the smallest villages, with 
 a settled population of no more than five hundred, 
 three Anglican churches may sometimes be found, 
 and, in addition, three Methodist churches of dif- 
 ferent denominations, distinguished only by verbal 
 subtleties and capricious details, yet cut off from all 
 communion with one another. There will be one 
 chapel for Primitive or Wesleyan Methodists, another 
 for Congregationalists, one for the so-named Bible 
 Christians — these last are also Methodists, who 
 severed their connection some years ago because they 
 opposed the others in believing that those invested 
 in the office of the evangelists ought not to be 
 married. Such a number of churches, large, hand- 
 some, and roomy, may be found in a single village. 
 All these sects are distinguished by peculiarities of 
 doctrine, sometimes very subtle and capricious, or 
 altogether absurd, but, apart from differences of 
 doctrine, all are inspired by a desire for a popular 
 Church, free to all, and many by implacable hatred 
 of the Established Church and of its ministers. 
 In addition to these separate sects, in the midst 
 of the Established Church itself a numerous party 
 has been formed under the name of the Free Church 
 Movement. Individuals and societies procure for 
 simple folk the means of participating in divine ser- 
 vice ; for this purpose they build special churches, and 
 hire buildings, theatres, sheds, and halls. This' move- 
 ment has produced a visible reaction in the practice 
 of the Established Church, and has forced it to throw 
 its doors more widely open. But is it not strange 
 that in England the masses have been forced to 
 
 O 
 
2IO REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 conquer in battle what among us has always been 
 free as the air we breathe? 
 
 How often do we hear in Russia strange words 
 about our Church from men who have been abroad, 
 who love to judge everything after the manner of 
 strangers ; and, on the other hand, from simple men 
 infatuated with ideals to the estrangement of reality. 
 These men have no limit to their praise of the Anglican 
 and German Churches, and of the Anglican clergy, and 
 to their condemnation of our Church and our clergy. 
 If we believe them, there all is living activity, while 
 among us all is death, rudeness, or sleep; there is work, 
 here ceremonial and inactivity. It is not surprising 
 that people speak thus. Men judge by appearance. 
 To judge by dress is easy, but much thought and 
 observation are needed to learn the spirit and signifi- 
 cance of things. Men seize on impressions and cling 
 thereto. There are many for whom the first and 
 final factors in creating impressions are external 
 perfection, manner, dexterity, purity, and respecta- 
 bility. Judged by this standard, there is much to be 
 admired in the Anglican Church, and much to be 
 lamented in our own. Few of us have not met men of 
 the world, and, unhappily, even ecclesiastics, who exalt 
 the simplicity which they find in religion abroad, and 
 condemn our own for " immaturity." Such judgments 
 are as much to be deplored, as the conduct of a 
 young man who, having spent some time in the 
 fashionable world in the midst of the refinements 
 of a metropolis, returns to the village where he has 
 spent his childhood, and looks with contempt on his 
 modest surroundings, and on the rude and simple 
 manners of his family circle. 
 
THE CHURCH 
 
 By nature we are much inclined to be infatuated 
 with beauty of form, with organisation, with the 
 external perfection of things. Thence springs the 
 passion for imitation, and for transplanting to our soil 
 those foreign institutions which attract us by their 
 external symmetry. But we forget, or remember too 
 late, that those institutions were historically evolved ; 
 they sprang and developed from historical conditions, 
 and are the logical consequence of the past, created 
 of necessity. History cannot be changed or evaded ; 
 and history itself, with its actions, its actors, and 
 its complex polity, is the product of the national 
 spirit, as the history of the individual is the pro- 
 duct of his living soul. The same may be said of 
 all systems of church organisation. Therein all 
 things conform to the spiritual basis whereon they 
 have gfown ; too often charmed with the super- 
 structure, we neglect the base ; otherwise, we should 
 not, perhaps, have hesitated to reject this ready-made 
 symmetry, but with gladness should have clung to 
 our old and rough form, or deformity, until such day 
 as our spiritual nature had evolved a new one for us. 
 In all human institutions the spirit is essential : hence 
 we should zealously preserve it from distortion and 
 alloy. 
 
 From its dawn to the present day our Church has 
 been the church of the people, inspired by love, and 
 all-embracing, without distinction of class. The faith 
 has sustained our peoples in the day of privation and 
 calamity, and one thing only can sustain, strengthen, 
 and regenerate them, and that is faith, the faith of ^he 
 Church alone. Our people is reproached with ignor- 
 ance in its religion ; its faith, we are told, is defiled 
 
212 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 by superstition ; it suffers from corrupt and wicked 
 practices; its clergy is rude, inactive, ignorant, and 
 oppressed, without influence on its flocks. In this 
 reproach is much truth, but these evils are in no way 
 essential, but temporary and adventitious. They 
 spring from many circumstances, from political and 
 economic conditions, with the disappearance of which 
 they also will disappear. What then is essential? 
 The love of the people for its Church, the conception 
 of the Church as a common possession, a congrega- 
 tion common in all things, the total absence of social 
 distinctions, the communion of the people with the 
 ministers of the Church, sprung from the people, and 
 differing neither in manner of life, in virtues, nor 
 in failings, who stand and fall with their flocks. 
 This is a soil which would bring forth rich fruits 
 with good cultivation, with less concern for the 
 amelioration of life than the bettering of the soul, 
 with less desire that the number of churches exceed 
 not the needs of the people than that those needs 
 shall not remain unsatisfied. Is it for us to covet, 
 through rumour from afar, the Protestant Church 
 and its ministers? May Heaven withhold from us 
 the time when our priests shall be officials, placed 
 above the people as princes above their subjects, in the 
 position of men of society with complex needs and 
 desires, while surrounded on every side by privation 
 and simplicity. 
 
 By reflection on life we are convinced that for 
 every man in the course of his spiritual development, 
 the thing most precious and essential is to preserve 
 inviolate the simple inborn feeling of humanity in 
 his human relations, and to nourish truth and freedom 
 
THE CHURCH 213 
 
 in his spiritual conceptions and impulses. This is 
 the impregnable fortress which guards and delivers 
 the soul from the onslaught of rank, and from all 
 artificial theories which corrupt insensibly the simple 
 moral sentiment. However precious in some respects 
 these forms and theories may be, when rooted in the 
 soul they corrupt its simple and healthy conceptions 
 and sensations, they confound the notions of truth 
 and untruth, and destroy the roots from which healthy 
 men develop in relation to their fellow-creatures. 
 This is the essential which so often we neglect when 
 seduced by externals. How many men, how many 
 institutions have been perverted in the course of a 
 false development, for these rooted principles in our 
 religious institutions are of all things the most pre- 
 cious. May God prevent them ever being destroyed 
 by the untimely reformation of our Church ! 
 
 HI 
 
 We are reproached by Protestants with the for- 
 malism of our service, but when we examine their 
 ritual we continue to prefer our own ; we feel that 
 our service is simple and majestic in its deep, mysteri- 
 ous significance. The office of our priest is so simple, 
 that it needs but pious attention to the words he utters 
 and to the actions he accomplishes : from his lips 
 the sacred words are their own interpretation, their 
 deep and mysterious voices reach the souls of all, 
 and unite our congregations in sentiment and in 
 thought. Thus the simplest, most artless man 
 may without exertion repeat the prayers, feeling in 
 
214 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 communion with the congregation. The Protestant 
 service, with all its external simplicity, demands that 
 the prayers be recited in a certain tone. Only deeply 
 spiritual and very talented preachers may retain 
 their simplicity, the immense majority is driven into 
 that artifice and affectation which we notice first of 
 all things in Protestant churches, and which produce 
 in unaccustomed witnesses a sensation of weariness. 
 When we hear the preacher, with his face turned 
 to a congregation seated on benches, pronounce 
 the prayers, lifting his eyes towards heaven, and 
 crossing his hands conventionally while giving his 
 words an unnatural intonation, we experience a pain- 
 ful sentiment : how uncomfortable, we think, he must 
 be! Still more painful is it when, having ended 
 the service, he ascends the pulpit and begins a long 
 sermon, turning from time to time to drink from a 
 glass of water and to recover breath. Seldom do 
 we hear in these sermons a living word, and then only 
 when the preacher is a man of talent or of rare 
 spiritual nature. For the most part the preachers 
 are the journeymen of the Church, with extraordinary, 
 whining voices, infinite affectation, and vigorous 
 gestures, who turn from side to side, repeating in 
 varying tones conventional phrases. Even when read- 
 ing their sermons, which seldom occurs, they have 
 recourse to gestures, intonations, and intermissions. 
 Sometimes the preacher, pronouncing a few words 
 and phrases, cries out and strikes the pupit to give 
 emphasis to his thoughts. We feel here how faith- 
 fully our Church has been adapted to human nature 
 in excluding sermons from its services. By itself, our 
 whole service is the best of sermons, all the more 
 
THE CHURCH aij 
 
 effective since each hears in it, not the words of man, 
 but the words of God. The ideal of that sermon is 
 to lead to faith and love, according to the Scriptures, 
 and not to awaken emotion in a congregation which 
 has come together for prayer. 
 
 IV 
 
 We are sometimes told that ritual is a trivial and 
 secondary consideration. But there are ceremonies 
 and practices which to abandon would be to deny 
 oneself, for they reflect the spiritual life of man, 
 they express his spiritual nature. In differences of 
 ceremony are most clearly expressed the fundamental 
 and deep diversities of spiritual conceptions hidden 
 in the unrecognised domains of the soul. It is this 
 diversity which prevents the communion and assimi- 
 lation of peoples of different race, and forms the 
 elemental cause of distinctions of churches and 
 religions. To deny, from the abstract, cosmopolitan 
 point of view, the action of these attractive and 
 repulsive forces, attributing them to prejudice, would 
 be to deny the affinities {walverwandschafi) which 
 analogously interact in the relations of individual 
 men. 
 
 How remarkable, for instance, are the diversities in 
 the funeral ceremonies of different peoples, and in 
 their conduct towards the bodies of their dead. The 
 Southerner, the Italian, flies the presence of a corpse, 
 and hastens to rid his house of it, committing to 
 strangers the duty of its burial. In Russia, on the 
 contrary, a religious feeling towards the dead body. 
 
2i6 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 full of love and tenderness and piety, is a feature of 
 the national character. The immemorial lament for 
 the dead, accompanied by poetical ceremonies and 
 exercises, on our conversion to a new faith was 
 transformed into the solemn prayers of the Church. 
 
 Nowhere outside our own country are the burial 
 rites and ceremonies so elaborate ; and there can be 
 no doubt that this is an outgrowth of our national 
 character, in special conformity with our nature and 
 our outlook upon life. The features of death are 
 everywhere repulsive and terrible, but we veil them 
 in splendid veils, we surround them with the solemn 
 stillness of contemplative prayer; we chant over them 
 songs in which the terror of stricken nature is relieved 
 by love and hope and pious faith. We do not flee 
 from the presence of death ; we adorn it in its coffin ; 
 we are drawn to bend our eyes to the abode of the 
 departed soul ; we reverence the body, we grant it 
 the last kiss, and watch over it three days and three 
 nights with reading and chanting and prayer. Our 
 funeral prayers are full of beauty and magnificence ; 
 they are prolonged by hesitation to surrender to the 
 earth the body tainted by corruption ; around the 
 grave not only do we hear the last blessing, but 
 witness a great religious solemnity enacted in the 
 supreme moment of human existence. How dear 
 is this solemnity to the Russian, how well he under- 
 stands it ! The stranger seldom understands it, because 
 — because it is strange. Among us the sentiment 
 of love, defeated by death, expands in the funeral 
 ceremony ; the stranger is repelled by the ceremony, 
 and stricken by terror alone. 
 
 A German Lutheran resident of Berlin lost in 
 
THE CHURCH 217 
 
 Russia a dearly -loved sister who belonged to the 
 Orthodox Church. When, on the morning of the 
 burial, he arrived and saw his sister lying in the 
 coffin he was stricken by terror, his heart ceased to 
 beat, the feeling of love and piety which he felt 
 in parting with the dead gave place to repulsion. 
 In this, as in many other things, the German who 
 does not live among us and enter into the depths of 
 our spiritual life, cannot understand us. Nothing 
 repels the Lutheran so much as the adoration of the 
 sacred relics — a practice which to us, who venerate 
 our dead, embrace them, and honour them in burial, 
 seems simple and natural. Not living our life, he 
 sees in this veneration but a barbarous superstition, 
 for us an act of love, the most simple and natural. 
 
 Even as he cannot understand our ritual, so we find 
 coarse and repugnant the agitation carried on in 
 Germany and in England for the practice of a new 
 mode of disposing of the dead. It is demanded that 
 corpses shall be buried no more, but burnt in furnaces, 
 specially constructed ; and this is required for 
 utilitarian and hygienic reasons. This propaganda 
 is gaining strength, its adherents hold meetings, 
 societies are formed, perfected furnaces constructed 
 at the expense of individuals, chemical experiments 
 made, and funeral marches composed to solemnise 
 the incineration. The demand for cremation is made 
 in the name of science, in the name of civilisation, 
 in the name of social well-being. To us these 
 voices seem to come from a distant world, a world 
 so strange to us, so inhospitable and cold. May 
 God deliver us from dying in the land of strangers, 
 far away from our native Russian soil ! 
 
2i8 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 He who is truly Russian, heart and soul, knows 
 what the Church of God means to the Russian 
 people. Piety, experience, and respect for religious 
 feelings are not enough in order to understand the 
 import of the Church for the Russian people, or 
 to love this Church as one's own. It is necessary 
 to live the life of the people, to pray with it in 
 congregation, to feel the heart beating in accord, pene- 
 trated by the same solemnity, inspired by the same 
 words and the same chants. Thus, many who know 
 the faith only from their private chapels, frequented 
 by select congregations, have no true understanding 
 of the Church, or of religious sentiment, and regard 
 with indifference or repulsion those rites and customs 
 which to the people are especially dear, and con- 
 stitute the beauty of the Church. 
 
 The beauty of the Orthodox Church is its con- 
 gregation. On entering, we feel that all are 
 united, all is the work of the people, and all is 
 maintained by them. In the Catholic Church, 
 all seems empty, cold, and artificial to the Orthodox 
 worshipper. The priest officiates and reads alone, 
 as if he were above the people, and independent of 
 them. He prays alone from his book, the members 
 of the congregation from theirs ; having prayed, and 
 attended one or another part of the service, the 
 congregation departs. On the altar the mass is per- 
 formed, the worshippers, while present, do not seem 
 to participate by common prayer. The service is 
 addressed to sentiment, and its beauty, if beauty 
 there be, is strange to us, and not our own. The 
 
THE CHURCH 219 
 
 actions of the service, mechanically performed, to 
 us seem strange, cold, and inexpressive ; the sacred 
 vesture is unsightly ; the recitative inharmonious and 
 uninspired ; the chants — in a strange tongue which 
 we do not understand — are not the hymns of the 
 whole congregation, not a cry coming from the 
 soul, but an artificial concert which conceals the 
 service, but never unites with it. Our hearts yearn 
 for our own Church, as we yearn for our homes, 
 among strangers. How different with us : in our 
 service there is an indescribable beauty which every 
 Russian understands, a beauty he loves so much 
 that he is ready to give up his soul for it. As our 
 national songs, the chants of our service flow in wide, 
 free streams from the breasts of the people — the 
 freer they are the more they appeal to our hearts. 
 Our religious melodies are the same as among the 
 Greeks, but they are sung otherwise by our peoples, 
 who place in them their whole souls. He who would 
 hear the true voice of this soul must not go where 
 famous choirs sing the music of new composers ; 
 he should hear the singing in some great 
 convent or parish church : there he will hear in 
 what wide, free streams flows the hymn from the 
 Russian breast, with what solemn poetry is sung 
 the dogmatic, what inspiration sings in the canticles 
 of Easter and Christmas. We hear the word 
 of our chants echoed by the congregation, it 
 illumines upturned faces, it is borne over bowed 
 heads, borne everywhere, for to all the congrega- 
 tion the words and melodies are known from child- 
 hood, till the very soul seems to give forth song. 
 This true, harmonious service is a festival for the 
 
220 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 Russian worshipper; even outside his church he 
 preserves its deep impressions, and is thrilled 
 at the recollection of some solemn moment: he 
 is exalted with the harmony, when in his soul 
 echoes again the song of the Easter or Christmas 
 canticle. 
 
 In him to whom these words and sounds have 
 been known from childhood, how many recollections 
 and images arise out of that great poem of the past 
 which each has lived, and each still carried in him- 
 self! Happy is he who has known these words 
 and sounds and images ; who from childhood has 
 found in them the ideal loveliness to which he aspires, 
 without which he cannot live; to whom all is clear 
 and congenial, all lifts his soul out of the dust of 
 life ; who in them gathers up again the scattered 
 fragments of his happiness ! Happy is he whom 
 good and pious parents have brought in childhood 
 to the house of God, teaching him to pray among 
 the people, and to celebrate its festivals with it! 
 They have built him a sanctuary for life, they have 
 taught him to love the people and to live in com- 
 munion with it, making the church for him 
 his parents' house, a place of pure; and true com- 
 munion with the people. 
 
 But what shall we say of the host of churches lost 
 in the depths of the forests and in the immensity 
 of the plains, where the people understands nothing 
 from the trembling voice of the deacon, and the 
 muttering of the priest? 
 
 Alas! the Church is not the cause of this, our 
 poor people is in no way guilty, it is the fault of 
 the idle and thoughtless ministers, the fault of the 
 
THE CHURCH 
 
 ecclesiastical authorities, who carelessly and indiffer- 
 ently appoint them, sometimes the consequence of 
 the poverty and helplessness of the people. Happy, 
 then, is the man in whom burns a spark of love 
 and zeal for the spiritual life, who leads the forsaken 
 church back to the world of loveliness and song. 
 He will truly enlighten with a light in the place of 
 darkness, he will revive the dead and raise the fallen, 
 he will save the soul from death, and redeem a multi- 
 tude of sins. It is for this cause the Russian sacrifices 
 so much in the building and adornment of churches. 
 How blindly they judge who condemn him for his 
 zeal, ascribing it to rudeness and ignorance, fanaticism 
 and hypocrisy ! They ask, Would it not be better to 
 devote this money to the instruction of the people, to 
 the founding of schools, to institutions of beneficence? 
 For these, also, sacrifice is made, but this sacrifice is 
 another thing, and the pious Russian, with healthy 
 common-sense, will think twice before opening his 
 purse in support of formal educational and philan- 
 thropic institutions. 
 
 As for the Church of God, it pleads for itself, it 
 is a living institution, an institution of the people. 
 In it alone the living and the dead are happy. 
 In it alone all seek light and freedom ; in it the 
 hearts of young and old rejoice, and find rest after 
 suffering; in it the proud and the lowly, the rich 
 and the poor, are equal. It is adorned more splendidly 
 than the palaces of kings ; it is the House of God, 
 and the poor and feeble stand in it as in their homes. 
 Each may call it his own ; it was built, and is main- 
 tained, by the roubles, and, what is more, by the 
 groshes of the people. There all find that refuge 
 
222 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 in prayer and consolation which the Russian loves 
 the most 
 
 Such are the sentiments, conscious or unconscious, 
 of the Russian soul towards the Church, such are 
 the sentiments which inspire him to sacrifice for the 
 Church without hesitation or thought. He knows 
 that in this he can make no mistake, and that he 
 gives for a true and holy work. 
 
CHARACTERS 
 I 
 
 My schoolfellow, Nicander, has always been the 
 object of astonishment to me. His character, out- 
 wardly, was in no way enigmatic, yet I never learnt 
 to penetrate its nature. Access to him it seemed 
 would be easy, but when I approached him I felt 
 between us a troubled, empty space which I never 
 could bridge, and felt that I should never get 
 nearer to him. He was on good terms with all, and 
 all were on good terms with him ; he took part in 
 everything that engaged or interested us ; he under- 
 stood and could speak to anyone on any subject, 
 yet it seemed that never was he carried away by 
 enthusiasm for anything. When our conversation 
 consisted of scandalous stories he seemed always to 
 have his story ready, but it never seemed original ; 
 when we spoke seriously he always had a wise word ; 
 when we were Liberals, he was never behind in his 
 Liberalism, yet his words seemed always to have been 
 taken from a book. When we had committed some 
 breach of discipline, and were up to our necks in hot 
 water, he never forsook us — he could not be re- 
 proached with cowardice ; but, strange to say, after 
 the trouble had passed, while we were still wet and 
 wretched, he was dry in a moment. I cannot say 
 that he was disliked, but intimate friends he had 
 
 323 
 
224 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 none. His talents were admired by none, the words 
 he dropped accidentally never awakened the soul or 
 elevated the thought ; yet all considered him capable, 
 and although he was always successful, success in him 
 never awakened envy. He was diligent without being 
 a book-worm, and his success apparently came to him 
 without especial effort. No one could remember any 
 absurd answer he had made: all with him passed 
 easily and in good order. Our masters regarded him 
 as the gem of the class ; they set him at the head 
 on all great occasions, and spoke of him as a man 
 who would go far. They were enraptured by his 
 answers, by his compositions, by his conduct, and 
 by his clean and orderly appearance. But I can 
 remember finding little satisfaction in his composi- 
 tions and his answers ; I admired only the polish 
 and smoothness of his work, and all that he did 
 gave me an impression of deficiency and incomplete- 
 ness, as a breakfast well served from which the guest 
 arises hungry. 
 
 The prophecies of our teachers were fulfilled. 
 Nicander advanced with great steps on his career ; 
 and when, in a few years, I returned to the capital, 
 I found him in an important position. In the service 
 Nicander's name was constantly heard from the lips 
 of his chiefs with rapturous praise. Everywhere I 
 heard, " What a capable man ! " " What a pen he 
 has!" And, truly, judged by the general standard, 
 Nicander was a master of that exposition which his 
 chief so much admired. But I was again surprised 
 by the universal praise of Nicander's "expository 
 powers," when I happened to read some papers he 
 had prepared. On me these papers created precisely 
 
CHARACTERS 225 
 
 the same impression as his answers at our school 
 examinations, the impression of a well-served meal 
 at which there was nothing to eat. I was tortured 
 by hunger while others seemed sated and content. 
 In Nicander's papers, in his memoranda and reports, I 
 saw clearly ability only to blunt and seduce the taste, 
 to obscure the kernel of the question, to envelop it 
 in rounded phrases, so that the reader, while losing 
 sight of its essence, should concentrate his attentioh 
 on the covering, details, and formal attributes ; and, 
 together with this, insistence on the paths by which 
 the matter must progress, dexterously expounded to 
 lead the susceptible reader to the decision required or 
 to some point marked where the matter might be laid 
 aside. It seemed that all was expounded clearly 
 in these rounded phrases; in reality nothing was 
 clear, all was shrouded in mist; but the question 
 was settled — on paper at any rate — -e sempre bene. 
 
 Having spent some years in retirement, where from 
 time to time arrived fresh praises of Nicander's 
 ability, I went to the capital again, and found him 
 in occupation of a new and even more important 
 post. Here I had fresh opportunities for examining 
 his work, and admiring his knowledge of affairs 
 which still, as before, seemed to me the product of 
 a strange dexterity. Being older in years and ex- 
 perience, I had learned to understand that there are 
 many things iri the working world which are not 
 dreamt of in the philosophy of the young. The 
 features of Nicander's moral physiognoitty became 
 clearer to me, and I found in hitti a curious object 
 of study, not so much by himself, as in the i^phefe 
 in which he lived and worked. He speaks little, but 
 
 P 
 
226 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 listens attentively, although apparently with in- 
 difference. His features are rarely animated by 
 interest, but sometimes one may observe a shadow 
 of unrest when arguments threaten to become too 
 warm, or when sharp differences of opinion are 
 expressed. This unrest is changed to agitation if 
 questions of a delicate nature are introduced, especi- 
 ally when a scandal is threatened. All Nicander's 
 instincts tend towards the removing of inequalities 
 in characters, in impressions, in opinions, and towards 
 the reconciling of contradictions, and the establishment 
 of concord and tranquillity everywhere. When dis- 
 cussions threaten to pierce to the nature of things, 
 he becomes alarmed ; the application of abstract 
 principles to individual questions, the search for 
 fundamental ideas, horrifies him ; by experience he 
 knows that discigreements in fundamental ideas are 
 the most stubborn and provoking, and he puts in 
 action all his tactics to reconcile them. It is im- 
 possible not to admire the dexterity with which he 
 draws opponents away from dangerous fields, leading 
 them to the level plain of trifles, accidents, and 
 bagatelles. On this field he is master, he finds little 
 trouble in convincing opponents that they are in 
 complete agreement, that questions so immaterial as 
 those which they discuss are unworthy of thought. 
 His exploits, indeed, are wonderful. He can reconcile 
 opponents, in appearance separated by an impassable 
 gulf of contradiction in fundamental opinions. A 
 struggle, apparently of contending elements, begins. 
 It seems irreconcilable. Yet in ten minutes Nicander 
 has filled the gulf with light down and covered it with 
 brushwood, which the adversaries are crossing, holding 
 
CHARACTERS 227 
 
 out their hands to one another. Nicander has no 
 love for fundamental ideas, his experience has not 
 been in vain. He knows that fundamental ideas are 
 seldom deeply rooted in the mind, and that it is always 
 possible to divert the uncertain thought or dim im- 
 pression from the depths to which it yearns. To attain 
 this end he has a practice almost infallible : against 
 the fundamental ideas he places his so-named prin- 
 ciples, abstract propositions, and decided opinions, 
 which are seldom opposed. There are magic words 
 which throw a spell over us in every discussion, and 
 no one knows better than Nicander how to bring 
 them up in the moment of need. Such sayings, like 
 the classic Quos ego, in a moment appease the rising 
 waves : — " Everyone recognises nowadays," " Modern 
 civilisation has arrived at this conclusion," " Statistics 
 prove," " In France, in Prussia, this rule was established 
 ages ago," "This European scholar, on such and 
 such a page, declares," " Nowadays no one disputes 
 that price is determined by relation of supply to 
 demand," and a number of like aphorisms. Such 
 are the magic phrases which work enchantment in 
 our discussions. But the most magical of magic 
 phrases is "Science tells us — it is admitted by science." 
 Nicander knows that we fear this word science as 
 the devil, and dare not contend with it. We know 
 that it is a stick with two ends, and fear to take 
 hold of either when he offers it to us. To object 
 to science would be to raise a host of questions : 
 What is science ? where is it ? whence comes it ? why ? 
 and a multitude of others which would prolong the 
 quarrel forever — in which we know we should be lost. 
 In general, therefore, our discussions end with 
 
228 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 "science," and we accept its conclusions without 
 questioning their origin, their import, or their aim. 
 The more we live the more we learn. It is only 
 now that I begin to understand why our masters 
 praised Nicander so, why to-day all are satisfied with 
 him, and extol his capacity for work. We are told 
 that the genius is he who can answer the questions 
 of the day, who can diagnose the needs of his time 
 and country, and satisfy them. What matters it that 
 these questions are trifling, that these needs are 
 artificial? He is a great man, nevertheless, and, 
 alas, he is a representative of the great workers 
 of our time ! Around him is formed a school of like 
 workers. All are polished and respectable, all with- 
 out difficulty gain the reputation of capable men. 
 When I watch them I recall involuntarily the scene 
 from "Faust." '(The spirits vanish without leaving 
 smell.) The marshal in surprise asks the bishop: 
 " Do you smell anything? " " I smell nothing," answers 
 the bishop. Then Mephistopheles explains : " This 
 kind of spirit has no smell, gentlemen" {Diese art 
 Geister stinken nickt, tneine Herren).' 
 
 II 
 
 It is with calm, and without repulsion, that I look on 
 Lais as she passes in her splendid carriage, answering 
 with smiles the salutes of passing notables, or as she 
 sits, half-dressed, half-undressed, at the opera, while 
 the great ladies of society cast at her glances of envy 
 mingled with contempt — a contempt which does not, 
 nevertheless, prevent them quietly appropriating 
 
CHARACTERS 229 
 
 certain features of her manner and of her dress. She 
 bears openly on her face what she is, what she seeks, 
 for what she lives, dresses, and enjoys herself, and she 
 bears her name without hypocrisy, although without 
 shame. When she gazes boldly through her glasses 
 at the great ladies of society her impudence in no 
 way surprises me, or repels me ; her glance seems 
 to say to them, " I am truly that for which you take 
 me, my face is uncovered ; but, you, why do you 
 wear masks?" I think of the fate of Lais and 
 pity her ; I ask what circumstances of life have set 
 her on that path, from what class she sprang, and 
 whence she drew that thirst for wild enjoyment. 
 The thought arises. How will this path end for her, 
 to what sad old age will that youth, burnt away in 
 the intoxication of passion, lead? 
 
 Lais lives in her own circle ; the doors of the salons 
 of society are closed against her. But when in these 
 salons I meet the proud and splendid Messalina my 
 soul revolts : I cannot look on her without indigna- 
 tion. To her the doors of the great world are opened 
 wide ; there is no entertainment where she is not 
 invited and received with honour ; she is beset by a 
 host of young men of great family ; an illustrious 
 name, sumptuous surroundings, and splendid hospi- 
 tality attract to her salons all who consider themselves 
 as numbered among the elect. All sing praises 
 of her beauty, her taste, her kindness, her gaiety : 
 " Crowned with flowers as the graces, she advances 
 smiling over the blessed earth." But when I ask 
 myself what is the difference between the splendid 
 Messalina and the despised Lais, alas, I pity Lafs, 
 while for Messalina I feel contempt. 
 
230 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 At balls, although many admire her, I look on 
 her with abhorrence. The practice of exposing not 
 only the neck and breast, but the back and arms, 
 goes with her to limits that Lais herself has not 
 attained, and many of the friends of LaJs cannot 
 repress a smile at the toilette of Messalina. Others 
 assert that no one has heard from Lafs such loose 
 speech and cynical witticisms as have been heard from 
 Messalina to her partner in the mazurka or her 
 neighbour at roulette ; but Lafs bears the stamp of 
 infamy, while Messalina rules in the salons of society. 
 
 Lais has no family or home, she stands outside 
 the family circle. Messalina has a husband whose 
 illustrious name she bears, a magnificent house, a 
 cohort of liveried servants on her marble staircase. 
 What is the bond between her and her husband, and 
 why do they live beneath the same roof? This is a 
 secret known to Messalina alone. Her husband is 
 present in her salon, he accompanies her to the 
 salons of others, and protects her with his name. 
 But when in winter you meet Messalina in her troJka, 
 or, in spring, on the noisy boulevard in a splendid 
 carriage with splendid horses, it is not her husband 
 who shares her hours of gaiety and recreation ; even 
 in her husband's presence, others stand nearer 
 to her, and behave more freely with her. On 
 meeting Lais with one of her cavaliers many look 
 aside with shame ; but when they meet Messalina 
 with a favourite from the same circle, they bow 
 politely, and whisper among themselves with a smile. 
 O virtue, O honour of society, who shall ever know 
 thy ways ! 
 
 Messalina is a mother, she has children, but what 
 
CHARACTERS 231 
 
 are the moral bonds which unite her with her children 
 no one can tell. She seldom sees them, and seldom 
 knows their affairs. They live in a special apartment 
 with their governesses ; and at certain hours appear 
 like butterflies, in costumes of the latest fashion, with 
 bare hands and legs, to receive from their mother a 
 kiss, then to return to their rooms. Messalina has no 
 time to think about children in the excitement in 
 which her days and nights roll by. Retiring early 
 in the morning, awakening late, she has hardly time 
 to collect her thoughts before some guest arrives with 
 whom she must go for a walk ; afterwards she receives 
 more guests in her salon to discuss the latest 
 scandals and intrigues, and to draw up programmes 
 of amusements and entertainments to come. She 
 dresses in the morning, she dresses for dinner, she 
 dresses for the opera, she dresses for the ball or 
 evening party. What is her interest in life? what 
 are the intellectual and moral springs which keep her 
 in movement? Where do her thoughts and desires 
 converge? To these questions you will no longer 
 seek an answer when you see the hollowness of her 
 life. On her table lie books which no one has seen 
 her read. Solitude is intolerable to her, she feels 
 that she must have society, and why? To seek 
 incessant distraction. Her life is something in the 
 nature of an endless holiday, after the manner of 
 Watteau, with the addition of electric light. The 
 ordinary mortal, however determined to enjoy his 
 life, must stumble sometimes upon sickness, grief, or 
 loss : the mysterious idea of life and death must 
 sometimes rise before his eyes. To these Messalina 
 is invulnerable. What does she care for house 
 
232 REFLECTIONS OP A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 and family and children? These are the affairs of 
 her housekeeper, or, if they cannot otherwise be man- 
 aged, of her husband. Sickness ? But she is strong 
 beyond belief, she has learnt to control her nerves, 
 and are there not the doctor and strong doses of 
 chloral. Grief? There is no grief which cannot be 
 dissipated by those who can go to Baden, to Monaco 
 with its strong excitements, to Paris, where, with the 
 aid of Worth, one can rid oneself of every woe. In 
 some homes shame appears uninvited, but how would 
 shame dare to cross the thresholds of the splendid 
 rooms where so many famous and honourable men 
 gather to eat and drink and make merry, and admire 
 their hostess ; where women in splendid dresses 
 recount their intrigues and adventures ; where from 
 all sides may be heard the tumult of mutual satis- 
 faction and careless gaiety ; where all is forgiven, 
 save severe devotion to the moral principle of life. 
 It would seem, old age, at least, is terrible for the 
 woman of the world ! But then, has not Parisian 
 science devised good means against the natural decay 
 of beauty? How many old women are there who 
 appear young by the aid of false blushes, false skins, 
 false hair, and even false bodies ? But death, at any 
 rate, stands behind the shoulders of all — death — death 
 — mais—franchement, apres tout — ^who now thinks of 
 death? 
 
 Yet there is one point whence threatens a tempest 
 of dread. All is false in the life and surroundings of 
 Messalina. The luxury around her, her house with 
 its sumptuous appointments, the majestic servants 
 who crowd her staircases, her thousand toilettes — all 
 these are illusions which may vanish in an hour. For 
 
CHARACTERS 233 
 
 years her home has not belonged to her ; she and her 
 husband have long lost all account of theii' debts ; for 
 years the bills sent to her from shops have formed a 
 chaotic heap, which no one would attempt to order. 
 Their estates are mortgaged, the day of public sale 
 is appointed, their factories stop work, they are beset 
 by money-lenders with demands and actions. But 
 at the critical moment their troubles vanish by en- 
 chantment, their estates are freed, their factories work 
 again, their creditors disperse as conquerors seized 
 by inexplicable panic, and Messalina announces a 
 ball, which is attended by select guests, gushing with 
 rapturous praise of her splendour, taste, and magni- 
 ficence. For not one of her guests is it secret that 
 all this splendour is a figment, yet all, as moths, fly 
 to the bright light and sumptuous luxury, asking 
 not whose it is and whence it comes ; all are satisfied, 
 all are charmed, for such are the bonds of friendship 
 which bind a crowd thirsty for enjoyment and excite- 
 ment, and together worshipping the idol of vanity. 
 Once, when it seemed that ruin was near for 
 Messalina, and there was no salvation, what pity- 
 ing words were heard about her in salons ! " Have 
 you heard— poor Messalina — things are going very 
 badly with them. I am told that they have only 
 twenty thousand roubles income left, it is terrible, it 
 is beggary, is it not?" Is it possible to allow the 
 ruin of such a house? From all sides come inter- 
 cession and entreaty, and then, as if by a magician's 
 wand, a favouring wind brings great sums for the 
 settlement of her affairs. Shall we wonder then that 
 Messalina has no trouble or fear ? Proudly she walks 
 through the world looking into the eyes of all : how 
 
234 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 often when we meet her do we recall the lines from 
 Racine's " Ph^dre," 
 
 " . . . . Dieux, qui la connaissez 
 Est-ce done sa vertu que vous recompensez ! " 
 
 Messalina and her kind live upon the mountain-tops, 
 and never descend into the valleys. We look up- 
 wards towards them with astonishment, and ask, How 
 do they breathe the air of the mountain-tops without 
 being stifled ? Or are they, as the Olympians, nour- 
 ished on ambrosia ? They see and hear only those 
 like themselves, and all the work, the troubles, the 
 joys of the lower world rise up to them in a misty 
 picture, as the distant buzzing of insects. Is it 
 possible that poverty and pain can penetrate their 
 gilded palaces, not as ideas or images, but in the 
 concrete forms of suffering men ? Can they feel sym- 
 pathy for such? God preserve us from condemning all 
 as evil : many are good, full of the best intentions ; their 
 misfortune is that they can never examine themselves. 
 Time for introspection there is none in the revolution 
 of a day dedicated from hour to hour to the search 
 for enjoyment and distraction, to the conventional 
 duties and conventional proprieties of the circle in 
 which they turn. Some, when conscience awakens, 
 curse their manner of life, and say, " To-morrow I 
 will begin to live as a human being." But this 
 to-morrow never comes ; to-morrow, the inexorable, 
 enchanted circle draws up a new list of pleasures and 
 conventional obligations. 
 
 One of the subtlest of arts is the art of self-decep- 
 tion and of lulling conscience to sleep ; and this art 
 humanity has practised well from the beginning of 
 
CHARACTERS 235 
 
 time. It is not strange then, that many have attained 
 perfection. Those who live the conventional life 
 of a restricted circle cannot find rest in the thought 
 that they have no concern with the lives of ordinary 
 mortals, with beggary, privation, and misery. They 
 feel it necessary to prove that nothing human is 
 strange to them. With this object, institutions 
 of beneficence have been founded — a splendid 
 means to clear the consciences of individual men. 
 These institutions exist by themselves, and, like 
 other institutions, work by statute and regulation, 
 while the individual man, with his conscience, his 
 feelings, his personal energy of will, lives freely alone, 
 and all unhappiness which would spoil his life, 
 shackle his liberty, or occupy his time, is sent to the 
 institution. 
 
 By means of this inspired contrivance, in the 
 enchanted circle where Messalina rules poison is 
 turned into food, from bitterness sweetness proceeds, 
 and the work of benevolence, the work of pity, the 
 work of mutual sympathy among the children of 
 dust in the name of the high spiritual principle of 
 love, is turned into a social entertainment — a fair of 
 all the vanities. 
 
 Thus Messalina appears as the protectress of the 
 poor, the benefactress of suffering humanity, the 
 patroness of the charity bazaar. I have seen her 
 standing in a blaze of electric light, to the sound 
 of a splendid orchestra, at a stall ingeniously built 
 in the magnificent salon of a great house. She 
 looked dazzlingly lovely in a splendid toilet just re- 
 ceived from Paris, and worth an unimaginable sum. 
 Around her thronged buyers, attracted by her glances 
 
236 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 and her smiles, her profits every day awakening envy 
 in the neighbouring stalls. She leaves her post with 
 the proud consciousness of duty fulfilled, with the 
 emotion of a new triumph, although her receipts, 
 as those of her companions, do not equal the price 
 of the toilette which she wore. The thought in- 
 voluntarily occurs: What an immense sum might 
 have been collected if we could have put together 
 the values borne upon the shoulders of these resplen- 
 dent ladies ! 
 
 In this assembly there is no place for Lais, and 
 why, indeed, should she be there ? Lais is a despised 
 being, and her infamy is notorious. Yet once there 
 was one such as she who bore in herself the fire of 
 love through long wandering on the way of evil. 
 Long and deeply had she sinned, yet all her sins 
 were forgiven because she had loved much, although 
 in ignorance where to place her love until that day 
 when at last she met with the true principle of all 
 love. But whom, except herself, has Messalina ever 
 loved, what fire does she bear in herself? 
 
 Ill 
 
 There are men with arid and limited minds, whom, 
 nevertheless, we may take seriously, because they 
 have firm, decided views — a certain character which 
 constantly reveals itself. There are able and inter- 
 esting men whom we never take seriously, because 
 they have no firm opinions, but only sensations which 
 perpetually change. Such very often is the nature 
 of artistic men, their lives are a constant play of shift- 
 
CHARACTERS zyj 
 
 ing sensations, the expression of which sometimes 
 goes to virtuosity. In the expression of their views 
 they deceive neither themselves nor their hearers ; 
 like talented actors, they adopt a role to which they 
 abandon themselves with true art. But when in 
 real life they are called upon to act, it is impossible 
 to foresee how they will direct their action and 
 express their will, or what colour they will give to 
 their words in the moment of crisis. 
 
 Such constitution of thought and feeling is unhappily 
 familiar among us, more particularly among people 
 by nature gifted. The artistic faculties develop, 
 while those clear and defined ideas which sustain 
 mankind in life and action are absent. With such 
 men all is impression. They are inspired by every 
 medium into which they accidentally fall ; they are 
 preachers and prophets of every idea which they find 
 current there. Falling into endless inconsistency, 
 to-day contradicting to-morrow, they learn dexter- 
 ously to reconcile their inconsistencies, and pass from 
 one to another, skilfully playing with subtleties of 
 thought and sentiment. In politics and administration 
 such men, often unconsciously, become opportunists, 
 practised in sailing with every wind from whatever 
 quarter it may blow, and of drawing inspiration from 
 every wind which is favourable to them. Among 
 statesmen in Parliament, among attorneys and advo* 
 cates examples of this are common ; inspired by the 
 impression of the moment, the man who but yester- 
 day was the stern, inexorable enemy of injustice, 
 to-morrow appears as its apologist; he will defend 
 with ardent, inspired conviction ideas entirely in- 
 consistent ; he will find features of beauty to-day in 
 
aaS REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 that which yesterday he condemned for its moral 
 deformity. 
 
 The attribute to the talented actor is susceptibility 
 to inspiration by his part and capacity for enter- 
 ing into the soul and character of the person whom 
 he personates. But if the actor can abandon himself 
 to his art, if he is able to live again in the charac- 
 teristic adventures of the individual he represents, it 
 is because before him is a mass of observers whose 
 souls unite with his own ; and, inspired by his part, 
 he is, at the same time, inspired by the souls of his 
 audience. This is the cause of the attractiveness of 
 acting, which grows to a passion almost, both in the 
 actor and in his audience. It is the same with every 
 speaker in public assemblies when advocating ideas or 
 doctrines ; inspired by his subject, he is at the same 
 time inspired by the medium on which he acts, and, 
 while never abdicating his personality, this personality 
 aspires to awaken in the medium sentiments of 
 sympathy and enthusiasm. Such aspirations may 
 lead a talented nature to passion ; unrestrained he 
 seeks a scene for his art, practising it ever3nvhere, 
 in great assemblies, in the conversations of the salon 
 and the study ; adapting himself to the nature of his 
 audience, and inspired by the colour of its opinions. 
 
 Such actors abound in all deliberative and legis- 
 lative assemblies. It may be said that they constitute 
 the majority which decides all matters of moment. 
 As a counterbalance, we have men of serious action 
 and firm opinions, but these are seldom strong in 
 words; they cannot wield the weapons which their 
 opponents, the men of impressions and sensations, 
 make use of with ease. The more numerous the 
 
CHARACTERS 239 
 
 assembly, the more heterogeneous its composition, the 
 less is it able to examine the nature of questions, to 
 comprehend their data, to distinguish their truth or 
 falsehood, and the more is it likely to be carried away 
 by sensation, sometimes the sensation of the moment 
 which a speaker has produced. Few approach 
 questions with conscience or after preparatory study ; 
 the majority either has no precise apprehension of the 
 question, or approaches it with prejudice and precon- 
 ception. In such assemblies the artist in words is 
 master of emotions. Skilfully armed with his disposi- 
 tion of facts and figures, casting upon them light or 
 shadow according to his own views, he seduces some 
 by pathos, entangles others by irony, and holds the 
 field against all who struggle for truth, yet who can- 
 not arm themselves with phrases, but work with a 
 strong chain of logical reasoning. Their arguments 
 are inaccessible to a majority drawn by sensations ; 
 the more conscientious they are — the more they feel 
 the moral responsibility for their opinions — the 
 harder it is to conquer the irresponsible majority, 
 which lacks conscience, for how can there be conscience 
 in a crowd without unity or wholeness, united only 
 in the numbering of votes ? This numbering of votes 
 unhappily serves as the final criterion of truth, and 
 the final sanction of conclusions which sometimes 
 determine the gravest questions of State. 
 
 IV 
 
 The avarice typified in Moli^re's " Harpagon " has 
 many varieties which have been little investigated. 
 
240 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 It is strange that hitherto no humorist has called 
 attention to that peculiar species of avarice, the 
 avarice of time. For it is a subject rich in interest. 
 As Molifere's miser amasses wealth and trembles 
 over it, this other miser economises time, not to 
 employ it productively, but to admire his capital as 
 the miser takes pleasure in his hoard of gold. Gold 
 would live if a living soul possessed it. In the hands 
 of a true man it would become a mighty instrument of 
 fruitful productiveness and of wise beneficence, for, 
 as every other force, money requires circulation. 
 The English tell us that "Time is money." A living 
 man must put it into circulation, and expend it 
 productively, without parsimony or extravagance. 
 
 Society is rich in these extreme types. On one 
 hand, we find too many idle forces, and too much 
 squandering of time by men who know not what to do 
 with it ; and the meeting of men of this type with men 
 of action who value their time is a situation not devoid 
 of absurdity. On the other hand, we often meet 
 with misers of time, and, unhappily, meet with them 
 sometimes among men of business, and even among 
 men in authority. 
 
 In such men the dread of losing time some- 
 times degenerates to a nervous irritation, which forces 
 them to lock themselves up from the world, and 
 to regard as thieves and robbers all those who 
 approach them on actual work with explanations 
 or requests. This explains the difficulty of seeing 
 some men of authority on the most necessary affairs. 
 The only means of communication with them is by 
 letter. Written communications have a soothing 
 effect, although the routine work inseparable from 
 
CHARACTERS 241 
 
 correspondence wastes more time than any personal 
 interview. In this, perhaps, we may find the cause 
 of the immense development of correspondence in 
 our time. Ask such a man why he treasures his time 
 and secludes himself so jealously. He will answer 
 that every moment -is precious. But if we examined 
 more closely how he employs those moments we 
 could only wonder at the cause of his self-seclusion 
 from life, from men, from living action — the cause 
 of his sitting like Harpagon over his hoarded gold. 
 
 Xenophon, in his recollections of Socrates, records 
 the instructive history of a young Athenian of 
 under twenty years of age, who wished to become 
 a statesman, and began zealously to deliver speeches 
 to the public, in the hope of attaining popularity. At 
 last he came to Socrates, who said, " I hear, Glaucon, 
 that you wish to take part in the direction of State 
 affairs?" "Yes, that is my ambition." "It is a 
 splendid career," said Socrates, "to govern a State 
 — what infinite good you can do to your native land ! 
 What honour you will gain for yourself and for your 
 house! You may attain celebrity in Athens; yes, 
 and not in Athens only ! Themistocles was famous 
 even among the barbarians. Excellent! But I 
 think you will admit that such honours are not given 
 for nothing; something must be done to deserve 
 them ? " " Undoubtedly," Glaucon hastened to reply. 
 " Tell me," continued Socrates, " with what would 
 you begin, for instance?" The young man made 
 
 Q 
 
242 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 no answer ; he had never thought, of how he would 
 begin. " Let us see, we are told that of all things 
 wealth is the most necessary for the State. You, 
 of course, would do your utmost to increase the 
 revenue?" "Unquestionably." "I am curious to 
 know how you would begin. You know, of course, 
 from what sources the treasury receives its revenue, 
 what sums it receives, and from what quarters?" 
 The young man was compelled to admit that he 
 did not know exactly. "Well, in such a case, tell 
 me what expenditure you think superfluous and 
 what you would wish to curtail." " I confess I have 
 never had time to think about this in detail. But 
 it seems to me, Socrates, that we need not trouble 
 about this when we can fill our treasury at the 
 expense of our enemies." " Quite true ; but for this 
 we must first conquer the enemy ; we must be 
 stronger than he. If he be stronger, it is he who 
 will fill his treasury from ours. If you rely upon 
 war you must know exactly our strength and the 
 strength of the enemy. Can you tell me the strength 
 of our forces on land and sea, and the strength of the 
 forces of the enemy ? " "I cannot tell them out of 
 my head at a moment's notice." "That does not 
 matter," answered Socrates ; " if you have them noted 
 somewhere let us go and examine them." But 
 Glaucon had no memoranda. "Very well," began 
 Socrates again, " I see that we must abandon this 
 subject ; its time has not yet come. But, of course, 
 you know of all that relates to the internal security 
 of the State; how many posts of police there are, 
 how many are required, where they are lacking, 
 where there are too many, and where they may be 
 
CHARACTERS 243 
 
 diminished ? " " To tell the truth," answered Glaucon, 
 " I should have abolished them all if it had depended 
 on me. For what purpose does our police serve, 
 and why should we maintain it, when everywhere 
 robbery takes place, so that no man feels safe?" 
 "What! Why, if we abolished the police, then 
 thieves would plunder at free will in the open day. 
 But can you truly say, from your own knowledge, 
 that our police is of no use ? " " So it seems to me ; 
 everyone says that it is so." "No, Glaucon, you 
 must not be satisfied with seeming ; you must know 
 exactly." Glaucon was forced to assent. "Come 
 now," said Socrates, "you wish to rule the State. 
 Do you know how much wheat is needed by the 
 inhabitants of our city in a year, what is our home 
 production, and how much we have to buy abroad ? " 
 " How should I know this, Socrates ? " answered the 
 young man. "You ask so many questions that it 
 would be a great labour to reply to them." "But, 
 Glaucon, you cannot govern your own house with- 
 out knowing this, and it is harder to govern a 
 State than a household. Go to your uncle's house, 
 which is in disorder. Begin with it — manage your 
 uncle's house, and you will then find the knowledge 
 and the strength you lack." "I should willingly 
 undertake it, but my uncle will not listen to my 
 advice." "What!" cried Socrates, "you are not 
 able to convince your uncle, yet you imagine that 
 you are able to convince all Athens, your uncle 
 among them ! " The discussion ended ; the young 
 man reflected, began to study, and ceased to 
 make speeches in the assemblies of the people. 
 It is well to recall this old, simple tale at the present 
 
244 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 day, when the earth is overrun by Glaucons, who aspire 
 to political careers by beginning with all manner of 
 reforms ; when young men, who have scarcely left the 
 benches at school, often without success, hasten to com- 
 pose, in questionable grammar, projects for new legis- 
 lation, and to deliver speeches swollen with inflated 
 phrases. In the past there was a Socrates to whom 
 parents might send their young aspirants when they 
 saw them made ridiculous by empty eloquence. 
 In our unhappy age there is no Socrates, and if 
 there were, our Glaucons would not go near him or 
 listen to his advice. To audiences like themselves 
 resound the empty speeches of inflated orators, 
 filled with impudence and unfailing assurance. 
 Their projects are received without criticism, and 
 awaken admiration instead of contempt. Before 
 them rise the easy steps of that desired staircase 
 which they ciscend on the stilts of phrase. 
 
 VI 
 
 When first reflection awakens in man, the desire 
 to define himself, to determine his place in life, to 
 make his ideal of life accord with his activity awakens 
 also. The restless mind trembles in the midst of an 
 eternally shifting, various, and inconstant activity, 
 in the midst of a changing circle of aspirations, 
 impressions, and desires. The thinking mind desires 
 a resting-place in this uncertainty ; a point on which 
 to affirm the balance of life, to create for itself a 
 character. 
 
 There are fortunate men who attain this equi- 
 
CHARACTERS 24^ 
 
 librium at once without great effort. Making no 
 deductions or conclusions, asking no questions — why ? 
 whence ? for what purpose ? such meA themselves un- 
 consciously find in action a decision of all questions. 
 Their ideas correspond to their organic require- 
 ments, and settle equably in the soul, never opposing 
 their wishes or sensations. Their interests are 
 restricted by a circle of action which they choose 
 for themselves, and which they wish not to transcend. 
 In ordinary life this type is often met with, awaken- 
 ing sympathy everywhere, for the simplicity of its 
 relations to life generally imparts to it a character of 
 directness and sincerity. It is true that this type 
 presents little interest on the lower grades of its 
 development, because we do not find in it creative, 
 force. But on the higher steps, it numbers men 
 of culture, of developed intellect, who may be 
 numbered among those of well-balanced life. They 
 do not aspire to creation, but are generally masters 
 of thought and action ; and are gifted with the capa- 
 city of assimilating, understanding, and transmitting 
 creative thought, because they possess talent. Their 
 nature makes possible a harmonious union of life and 
 work, ideas and images ; and their thoughts, while 
 never ceasing to work, never aspire to destroy this 
 harmony. This class numbers a multitude of men 
 who acquire honourable celebrity in administrative 
 work, in literature, in art, in science. And their 
 work is precious, because they educate the thought 
 and taste of society ; not in the name of creative, 
 but of accepted ideas and images. They accomplish 
 a great work with small pretensions. They inspire 
 imitation through sympathetic tendencies of mind. 
 
246 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 but they cannot create new schools, or attract en- 
 thusiasts to a new gospel. 
 
 Others strive to form an equilibrium in life by 
 conscious efforts of will. All reasoning in man begins 
 from the knowledge of good and evil. The sensations 
 of evil and error produce in the soul perplexity, from 
 which the human mind seeks an issue ; and, dissatis- 
 fied with the instinctive feeling sufficient for others, 
 it flies to the aid of reason to find a path to the 
 attainment of truth. Thus are formed rationalists, 
 who seek to attain truth in the duality of human 
 nature. General principles, accepted on the blind 
 confidence of the intellect, constitute for them im- 
 pregnable propositions, with which they attempt to 
 classify all the phenomena of life. The reason which 
 they worship becomes a divinity, solving all questions 
 of practical life, and their convictions they regard as 
 the conclusions of truth, which every rational being 
 must accept. Such tendencies of mind sometimes 
 develop to the fanaticism of formal logic. The 
 fanatical worshipper of abstract principles acknow- 
 ledges nothing that will not accord with his system of 
 speculation, and he is in no way embarrassed by the 
 plain facts and phenomena of actuality. I see, he 
 replies, but I do not believe. Among the higher speci- 
 mens of this type we find philosophers, theologians, 
 moralists, naturalists, whose one desire is to recon- 
 cile with reason not only all that they see, think, 
 and feel, but all that others think and feel, and 
 even things that never were thought, but may some- 
 where occur or appear. The highest representatives 
 of this type were Auguste Comte and Stuart Mill, 
 both true patterns of abstract thinkers with 
 
CHARACTERS 247 
 
 absolute faith in the infallibility of reason and 
 analysis. 
 
 Such are the great ! The lower varieties found in 
 the different domains of knowledge and action are 
 very different in nature, and of late their number has 
 multiplied immeasurably. Pretended philosophers 
 appear, investing themselves with some fashionable 
 religion or philosophical doctrine, or founding 
 schools themselves simply by denying the ideas 
 accepted by those around them. All, however, 
 imagine that they drink from the spring of universal 
 knowledge — in politics, in science, in philosophy. 
 By its nature reason is an art, and feeds on the 
 artistic instinct. The mind is naturally inclined to 
 build more or less symmetrical edifices of proofs, 
 deductions, and conclusions. By some this instru- 
 ment is used to subserve their passions, their caprices, 
 and their material interests, while others are drawn 
 by passion to licence in speculation, and strive to 
 accord in formal unity the whole domain of observa- 
 tion. This passion is one of the strongest that rules 
 mankind. To the number of the first belong the 
 passionate propagandists of social and religious 
 ideas who wish to reform humanity — of such is 
 the upper grade. On the lower steps stand sophists 
 Qf all kinds, who employ their arts in defence or 
 advocacy, at the impulse of caprice, or for the sake 
 of selfish interests. To this class belong advocates 
 and journalists of the baser sort. 
 
 Men of this type seek to establish harmony in their 
 souls by means of the balancing and co-ordination 
 of its ideal elements. But there are minds which, 
 having evolved certain ideas from within, or adopted 
 
248 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 them from without, seek to subordinate all other ideas 
 to them, and what they cannot subordinate refuse to 
 recognise or accept. These are, indeed, the fanatics 
 of preconception. So convinced are they of the truth 
 of their convictions that they worship them, and, 
 when the real truth appears, reject it as they reject 
 phenomena irreconcilable with their conceptions of 
 truth. Pursuing one idea to its extreme limits, they 
 refuse to regard any other idea, or consider other 
 facts or phenomena. Having affirmed thus their lives 
 on the basis of a favourite idea, they reject violently 
 all ideas and sentiments irreconcilable with it, but 
 cannot, nevertheless, annihilate them ; and often those 
 rejected forces, in spite of theories and a faith which 
 knows no limits, continue to determine their activity, 
 their personal relations, and their feelings to real life. 
 These sentiments, concealed in the depths of the 
 human soul — sentiments which such men will not for 
 anything recognise — unconsciously manifest them- 
 selves in their actual lives, although they have rejected 
 and buried them. This is especially noticeable where 
 the dominant idea is sharply opposed to the ideas 
 accepted in the sphere around it. Thus we see that 
 the atheist, whose denial of religion goes to hatred, 
 falls into gross superstition in his domestic life, or 
 creates himself a faith from the refuse of those forms 
 he has rejected. The theorist who, by his theory of 
 the struggle for existence, condemns as falsehood 
 and evil all beneficence, when he sees poverty hastens 
 to relieve it ; the ardent apostle of free love, who denies 
 all marriage and family life, shows himself a tender 
 and careful husband and father; the fanatical advocate 
 of celibacy and asceticism rejoices at the birth of 
 
CHARACTERS 249 
 
 children ; the fiercest foe of wealth and of capital 
 lets no occasion pass for the increase of his capital 
 and his wealth. Such phenomena, so common among 
 us, serve as a striking exposure of the falsehood of 
 all theories constructed independently of life. The 
 fatal duality of human nature is everywhere revealed ; 
 on the tongue is a proud and triumphant word ; the 
 deeds correspond in no way. In the depths of the 
 souls of men, both great and small, hypocrisy is 
 concealed. When evil appears clothed in the vest- 
 ments of religion and philanthropy we are horrified. 
 But in addition to such conscious and shameless 
 hypocrisy, how often is unconscious hypocrisy re- 
 vealed, when men, blinded by pride, glorify their faiths 
 and speculations as the images of truth, flattering 
 their hearts with a multitude of worshippers and 
 disciples, who bear their gospels to the four winds. 
 Sometimes these disciples develop the system of 
 their master, with new applications of its essential 
 ideas, as formulas destined to enlighten humanity, to 
 reveal to it the mystery of the Godhead, of the world, 
 and of life, and to reform, in the sudden light of truth, 
 religion, and art, and science, and philosophy. More 
 often the pupils do a vain service to their master by 
 building a system on the fallacies and imperfections 
 of his doctrine. 
 
 What are the impulses which drive the human mind 
 to such narrowness and extremity ? Some characters 
 by nature are inclined to contradiction and to protest 
 against received opinions and convictions rooted in 
 the social polity, or existing and consecrated by 
 tradition. This innate tendency may degenerate to 
 fanaticism when seeking issue and satisfaction. At its 
 
250 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 prompting, the subtle thinker elaborates a system of 
 tenuous dialectics, which serves as an instrument for 
 the attainment of his ends — that is, the conversion of 
 others to what, with all the energy of a strained will, 
 he regards as truth. Immersed in scientific theories, 
 in doctrines of religion or sociology, the mind strives 
 to extract from them a truth which no one sees ; and 
 on this truth aspires to establish unity of science, 
 faith, and life. Another, the seeker after truth, lost in 
 the study of the Gospel, and seeking there an ideal of 
 religious truth, rejects as incompatible all but a few 
 words and phrases. On these scattered fragments he 
 builds himself the temple of a new faith, proclaims 
 it as the revelation of his own intellect, and charms 
 disciples from that multitude which wanders over the 
 world, seeking to affirm on unity its scattered thoughts 
 and desires. From the time when man began to see 
 and think upon the phenomena of social life, the 
 host of such prophets has been innumerable, sow- 
 ing among peoples of different faiths not love, but 
 infinite hatred and intolerance. 
 
 Among the higher representatives of this class we 
 cannot but observe much genial imagination and in- 
 genuity. The architect of ideas is ever)nvhere a master 
 of art ; seduced by external symmetry he builds his 
 house ; he is charmed by its form and harmony, 
 and ignores the essential absurdity of the materials. 
 Such, for instance, was the system of the inspired 
 madman, Fourier. All the higher creators of such 
 systems were distinguished as artists in thoughts and 
 words. It is remarkable that few of them took part 
 in the realisation of their theories ; most were satisfied 
 with proclaiming their teaching, troubling little about 
 
CHARACTERS 251 
 
 its consequences. Having worked upon the letter of 
 their doctrine, they send it out into the world to care 
 for itself, where, seizing minds in a state of transition, 
 it creates fanatical advocates, who seldom attempt to 
 realise, but extend and proclaim it, according to their 
 own interpretations. Often the most fanatical preacher 
 of anarchy proves a quiet citizen, a wise parent, and a 
 virtuous man, while his pupils and adherents do san- 
 guinary deeds by virtue of his teaching and in his 
 name. The prophet of Socialism issues works, delivers 
 speeches, and maintains his own welfare, while his 
 teaching incites the people to infamous misdeeds. The 
 prophet troubles little how many lives have been ruined 
 by his doctririe, how many falsehoods have been sown 
 in unripe minds, how many new misfortunes he has 
 brought upon humanity, how many feeble, trusting 
 souls he has destroyed. Why should he think of 
 this ? Has he not faith in his formula for the unity 
 of human life, which early or late is destined to 
 regenerate the world? 
 
 Ours is a time of restless and wandering thought, a 
 time richly abounding in abnormal and unbalanced 
 minds. In all ages the life of man has been afflicted 
 with violence, injustice, falsehood, and misfortune ; but 
 never so widely as to-day was opened before us the 
 infinite roll of evil and untruth. It is not surprising 
 that among such unhealthy sentiments the mind, 
 seeking an ideal, should lose itself, and, finding no 
 issue, be compelled to cleave a way. And woe to 
 it if it find no issue save denial, indignation, and 
 protest! The path of negation too often leads to 
 fictitious formulas of life : engendering new false- 
 hoods in the mind, while striving with other formulas. 
 
2S2 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 it exhausts itself in fruitless denials, until it in turn 
 gives way to some new doctrine. One after another 
 stretch infinite files of men seeking an answer to 
 Pilate's question: What is truth? And he only 
 who is of the truth may find in himself an answer 
 without search. 
 
POWER AND AUTHORITY 
 
 In human souls there exists a force of moral gravity 
 which draws them one to another ; and which, 
 made manifest in the spiritual interaction of souls, 
 answers an organic need. Without this force man- 
 kind would be as a heap of sand, without any bond, 
 dispersed by every wind on every side. By this 
 inherent force, without preparatory accord, are men 
 united in society. It impels them out of the crowd 
 of men to seek for leaders with whom to commune, 
 whom to obey, and whose direction to seek. Inspired 
 by a moral principle, this instinct acquires the value 
 of a creative force, uniting and elevating the people 
 to worthy deeds and to great endurance. 
 
 But for the purposes of civil society this free and 
 accidental interaction is not enough. The natural in- 
 stinct of man seeks for power in unbroken activity, to 
 which the mass, with its varied needs, aspirations, and 
 passions may submit ; through which it may acquire 
 the impulse of activity, and the principles of order ; in 
 which it may find amid all the subversions of wilful- 
 ness a standard of truth. Thus, by its nature, power 
 is founded on truth, and inasmuch as truth has as its 
 source the All-High God and His commandments 
 written indelibly in the consciences of all, we find 
 a justification in their deeper meaning of the words, 
 " There is no power but of God." 
 
 2S3 
 
2S4 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 These words are addressed to subjects, but they 
 apply with equal force to power itself, and O, -that 
 all power might recognise their import! Power is 
 a great and terrible, because it is a sacred thing. 
 This word sacred {svyastchennut) in its primitive sig- 
 nification means elect {otdyelennui), dedicated to the 
 service of God. Thus, power exists not for itself 
 alone, but for tlve love of God ; it is a service to 
 which men are dedicated. Thence comes the limit- 
 less, terrible strength of power, and its limitless and 
 terrible burden. 
 
 Its strength is unlimited, not in the material 
 acceptation of the word, but in its spiritual meaning, 
 because it is the strength of reason and of creation. 
 The first act of creation was the appearance of the 
 light and its separation from darkness. Thus, the first 
 act of power must be the finding of truth and its dis- 
 crimination from falsehood ; on this is founded the faith 
 of the people in power, and the gravitation towards it of 
 all mankind. Many times and everywhere this faith 
 has been deceived, but its fount remains intact, and 
 cannot dry up, because without truth no man can 
 live. From this also springs the creative force of 
 power, the strength to attract just and rational men, 
 to animate them, and to inspire them to work and 
 to great deeds. To power belongs the first and last 
 word — it is the alpha and omega of human activity. 
 While humanity exists it will not cease to suffer, 
 sometimes from power, sometimes from impotence. 
 The violence, the abuse, the folly and selfishness of 
 power raise rebellion. Deceived by their ideals of 
 power, men seek to dispense with it, and to replace it 
 by the authority of the law. This is a vain fancy. 
 
POWER AND AUTHORITY 255 
 
 In the name of the law arise a multitude of un- 
 authorised factions, which struggle for power, and the 
 distribution of power leads to violence worse than that 
 which went before. Thus poor humanity, searching 
 for an ideal organisation, is borne on the waves of 
 an infinite sea, without a guide, without a harbour 
 in sight. 
 
 To live without power is impossible. After the 
 need of communion the need of power is of all 
 feelings most deeply rooted in the spiritual nature 
 of man. Since the day duality entered into his soul, 
 since the day the knowledge of good and evil was 
 vouchsafed to him, and the love of good and justice 
 rose in his soul in eternal conflict with evil and in- 
 justice, for him there has been no salvation save 
 to seek sustenance and reconciliation in a high judge 
 of this conflict ; in a living incarnation of the principle 
 of order and of truth. And, whatever may be the 
 disenchantment, the betrayal, the afflictions which 
 humanity has suffered from power, while men shall 
 yearn for good and truth, and remember their 
 helplessness and duality, they can never cease to 
 believe in the ideal of power, and to repeat their 
 efforts for its realisation. To-day, as in ancient 
 times, the foolish say in their hearts : There is 
 no God, no truth, no good, no evil ; and gather 
 around them pupils equally foolish, proclaiming 
 atheism and anarchy. But the great mass of man- 
 kind stands firm in its faith in the supreme principle 
 of life, and, through tears and bloodshed, as the blind 
 seeking a guide, seeks for power with imperishable 
 hope, notwithstanding eternal betrayal and disillusion. 
 
 Thus the work of power is a work of uninter- 
 
2S6 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 rupted usefulness, and in reality a work of re- 
 nunciation. How strange these words must seem 
 beside the current conception of power! It is natural, 
 it would seem, for men to flee and to avoid renuncia- 
 tion. Yet all seek power, all aspire to it ; for power 
 men strive together, they resort to crime, they de- 
 stroy one another, and when they attain power they 
 rejoice and triumph. Power seeks to exalt itself, and 
 falls into the strange error that it exists for itself and 
 not for service of men. Yet the immutable, only true 
 ideal of power is embodied in the words of Christ: 
 "Whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be 
 servant of all." These words pass through our heads 
 as something in no way concerning us, as especially 
 addressed to a vanished community in Palestine. In 
 reality, they apply to all power, however great, which, 
 in the depth of conscience, does not recognise that the 
 higher its throne, the wider the sphere of its activity, 
 the heavier must become its fetters, the more widely 
 must open before it the roll of social evils, stained 
 by the weeping of pity and woe, and the louder must 
 sound the crying and sobbing of injustice which 
 demands redress. The first necessity of power is 
 faith in itself and in its mission. Happy is power 
 when this faith is combined with a recognition of 
 duty and of moral responsibility! Unhappy is it 
 when it lacks this consciousness and leans upon itself 
 alone! Then begins the decay which leads to loss 
 of faith, and in the end to disintegration and 
 destruction. 
 
 Power is the depository of truth, and needs, above 
 all things, men of truth, of clear intellects, of strong 
 understandings, and of sincere speech, who know the 
 
POWER AND AUTHORITY zyj 
 
 limits of yes and no, and never transcend them, whose 
 thoughts develop clearly in their minds, and are 
 clearly expressed by their words. Men of this nature 
 only are the firm support of power, and its faithful 
 delegates. Happy is the power which can distinguish 
 such men, appreciate their merit, and firmly sustain 
 them ! Unhappy is the power which wearies of such 
 natures, promoting men of complaisant character, 
 flexible opinions, and flattering tongues! 
 
 The just man is one. complete in himself, who 
 tolerates no duality. He looks straight in the 
 faces of others ; his eyes reflect one image, one 
 thought, one feeling. His presence is calm and un- 
 terrified, and his words change not. His thoughts 
 accord with his character, and are expressed, not 
 tentatively, but without regard for the mental sus- 
 ceptibilities or the desires and caprices of others. 
 His words are simple, and seek no crooked paths 
 or cunning methods to convert others to doctrines 
 which he does not trust himself 
 
 How different is the man of unstable thought, the 
 flatterer, with a double soul. He looks in your face, 
 but in his eyes you see not him, but another, and 
 know not which to believe. He speaks, and while 
 his words are ardent and eloquent, his mind is 
 busy considering whether the impressions he creates 
 are in accord with your caprices and desires. If you 
 assent he will yield his opinions to you, declaring 
 that you are their author, that he has taken them 
 from you. He will seize your casual words as 
 they are uttered, invest them with definite forms, 
 and express them as concrete thoughts and firm 
 opinions. The abler such a man the more skilfully 
 
 R 
 
2S8 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 he will exploit and direct you. You are embarrassed 
 — you hesitate ; he has a solution ready to relieve 
 you from your embarrassment and to lead you into 
 the calms of complacency. You hesitate to define the 
 truth — ^he has reasons and formulas ready to con- 
 vince you that what you questioned is absolutely 
 true. 
 
 Paper will tolerate all things — so says an old 
 proverb, spoken in a time when learning was 
 almost wholly literary and paper served as the chief 
 material and instrument of chicane. Since then a 
 great change has taken place. Paper remains, but 
 oral speech is master, and modern chicanery 
 seeks as an instrument the words of innumerable 
 orators. A new school has been founded, in which 
 the ignorant as well as the learned and able may 
 acquire the art of speaking well on everything, 
 of proving the truth or falsehood of what they 
 will, and of carrying on a skilful game by playing 
 with the susceptibility of their audiences. A new 
 class has sprung up to fill the ranks of practical 
 workers, of administrators, of judges and school- 
 masters. He is a happy man who, having passed 
 through this school, has yet preserved clear 
 thoughts, a conscientious judgment, and the ability 
 to recognise truth in the midst of the host of ab- 
 stract propositions, ahd the formulas of modern 
 sophistry — in a word, who, having passed through 
 the school of dissimulation, has been able to 
 remain sincere. 
 
 Men in authority must always remember the 
 dignity of power. Dignity once forgotten, power 
 decays, and relations to subordinates are falsified. 
 
POWER AND AUTHORITY 259 
 
 With dignity is coincident, and should be insepar- 
 able, that simplicity which is necessary to impel 
 subordinates to work, to inspire them with in- 
 terest in their duties, and to maintain with them 
 sincerity of relations. The consciousness of dignity 
 engenders also freedom in relations to men. Power 
 must be free within the limits of the law; being 
 conscious of its worth, it need not consider the 
 appearances it makes, the impressions it creates, 
 or the conduct it should observe in its relations 
 to men. But the consciousness of merit must be 
 inseparable from the recognition of duty ; as the 
 recognition of duty is enfeebled, the consciousness 
 of merit swells, till, swollen beyond measure, it 
 degenerates to a disease which may be called the 
 hypertrophy of power. As this disease advances 
 on its course, power may fall into a moral 
 obscurity, in which it considers itself as independent 
 and as existing for itself alone. Then begins the 
 disintegration of power. 
 
 While preserving the dignity of power, authority 
 must not forget that it serves as a mirror and 
 example for all its subordinates. As the man in 
 authority conducts himself, so those who will 
 succeed him are preparing to conduct themselves 
 in their relations to others, in their methods 
 of work, in their regard for their work, in their 
 tastes, in their standards of propriety and im- 
 propriety. It would be wrong to imagine that 
 power, when it takes off its robe of authority, 
 may without danger mingle in the daily life of 
 the crowd in the fair of human vanity. 
 
 Nevertheless, while cherishing his dignity, the 
 
26o REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 leader must as steadfastly guard the dignity of 
 his subordinates. His relations to them must be 
 founded on trustfulness, for, in the absence of 
 trustfulness,, there can be no moral bond between 
 him and them. He is a foolish man who 
 fancies that he can know and judge all things 
 without intermediaries and independently of the 
 knowledge and experience of his subordinates ; who 
 wishes to decide all questions by his word and 
 command, without recourse to the thoughts and 
 opinions of those who stand directly beneath him. 
 Such men, recognising their helplessness without 
 the knowledge and experience of their subordinates, 
 often end by becoming altogether dependent upon 
 them. Still worse is the case of the leader who falls into 
 the fatal habit of tolerating no objections or contra- 
 dictions ; and this is the attribute not only of narrow 
 minds, but often of able and energetic, but vain 
 and over-confident men. A conscientious worker 
 must avoid everything absolute and arbitary in 
 his decisions, the fruit of these is indifference — 
 the poison of democracy. Power must never forget 
 that papers and reports represent living men and 
 living works, and that life itself demands and expects 
 decisions and directions which conform with its nature. 
 Truth must be in the leader himself, in his sincere, 
 conscientious, and practical views of work, and truth 
 also corresponding to the social, moral, and economic 
 conditions of the national life and the national 
 history. Such truth is absent where the ruling 
 principle of power is abstract theory, detached from 
 life with its manifold conditions and needs. 
 
 The wider the field of the activity of a leader, the 
 
POWER AND AUTHORITY 261 
 
 more complex the mechanism of government, the 
 more he needs subordinates capable of work, and 
 able to combine in single directions to a common 
 end. Men are needed in all times and by all 
 governments, but perhaps more than ever to-day. 
 In our time governments must consider a multi- 
 tude of forces now rising and affirming them- 
 selves — in science, in literature, in the criticism of 
 public opinion, in social institutions with their 
 independent interests. Ability to find and to 
 choose men is the first essential attribute to power ; 
 the second is ability to direct them and to establish 
 due discipline upon their activity. 
 
 The choice of men is a matter of labour, and 
 the ability to distinguish their capacities an art 
 acquired with trouble only. Unhappily, power seeks 
 often to shirk this labour, and is satisfied with 
 external symptoms of ability. The proofs most 
 often demanded are diplomas of courses of higher 
 education, acquired by means of examinations. This 
 test, it is well known, is quite untrustworthy, for 
 its value depends upon a multitude of adventitious 
 circumstances, and it cannot prove the knowledge, 
 while it proves still less the capacity of candidates for 
 the work they are to undertake. But it serves to 
 deliver power from the labour of studying men itself 
 Guided by such untrustworthy tests, power falls 
 into errors fatal to its work. Capacity and know- 
 ledge, even education, in no way depend upon the 
 completion of courses of study on the multitude of 
 subjects which compose the regimen of the schools. 
 The numberless examples of clever students who 
 have turned out good-for-nothing, and of distin- 
 
262 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 guished men of action who failed as students, demon- 
 strate the contrary. Often the capacity of men is 
 discovered only the moment they deal with the 
 living realities of work ; until then, science in the 
 form of lessons and lectures leaves them indifferent, 
 because they find in it no actual interest. Such has 
 been the history of many eminent public men. 
 
 The head of a great administration with a wide 
 sphere of activity cannot act with success if he tries, 
 beyond due measure, to extend his immediate 
 authority over all the component departments of his 
 administration, and over all the details of work. The 
 most energetic and experienced man may waste his 
 strength, and confound the issues of work among 
 his subordinates, if he pay the same attention to 
 trifling details of routine work as to those essential 
 questions which it is his duty generally to direct. 
 His place is above all work, whence he may survey 
 the whole horizon of subordinate activity ; by 
 descending personally into the byeways of adminis- 
 tration he breaks the measure of his work and of 
 his strength, he loses his capacity for comprehensive 
 survey, he destroys the division of labour necessary 
 in all practical affairs, and weakens the interest of 
 his subordinates in their work and their sense of 
 moral responsibility for their appointed tasks. A 
 supreme leader rpistakes if he reserves to himself the 
 choice of men not only depending from him directly, 
 but the secondary officials subordinate to the heads of 
 the different departments of his administration. In 
 such cases he undertakes a labour beyond his 
 strength, to the detriment of his work, merely for 
 the satisfaction of his own will and absolute authority. 
 
POWER AND AUTHORITY 363 
 
 The head of every department is responsible for the 
 success of the work entrusted to him ; to deprive him 
 of the right of selecting his collaborators personally 
 is to relieve him of responsibility for the successful 
 issue of his labours, to weaken his authority, and to 
 restrict his free action within the lawful limits of his 
 power. 
 
 Unhappily, as the moral principle of power decays, 
 the chief becomes possessed by the fatal passion of 
 patronage, the passion of playing the protector, and 
 of sharing places high and low. The spread of this 
 vice, hypocritically covered with the veil of generosity 
 and benevolence, is one of the greatest evils of our 
 time. Too often this benevolence is mingled 
 with servility to the great who desire to do kind- 
 nesses to their clients. Unhappily, benevolence such 
 as this flourishes only at the expense of the public 
 welfare, at the expense of the efficient organisation 
 of the public service, and, finally, at the expense of 
 the treasury and of the people. Let power once 
 forget itself, and it loses the sentiment of the great- 
 ness of its service, and that consideration for the 
 public welfare to which it is called. 
 
 The chief motive of favouritism is flattery, an 
 ancient source of temptation, which attacks not 
 only weak, but also strong natures, for the art of 
 flattery is inexhaustible in the variety of its methods. 
 One of its subtlest courses is the insinuation to 
 men in authority that all creative power proceeds 
 from them, that all reforms originate in them, that 
 all the successes of subordinates are by them inspired. 
 Thus, little by little, the flatterer becomes a welcome 
 guest ; he appears a capable man, and creates in his 
 
264 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 patron an impression of attachment. When once 
 the disposition of a chief to such agreeable conduct 
 is observed, to acquire his good opinion becomes a 
 customary part of the internal economy of his 
 department. 
 
 But men with clear outlooks on life, who have 
 trained themselves and their wills to reasoned work, 
 clearly knowing to what they aspire, are free in 
 their relations to their fellow-men, and in this freedom 
 of relations find full opportunity for judging character. 
 They know the strong and able when they see them, 
 for they are in no way alarmed by the thought that 
 their dignity suffers injury from the dignity of others. 
 They have attained power, but they have not lost 
 their freedom. 
 
 But men unprepared for power by disciplined 
 work and disciplined character lose their freedom 
 in their relations to men. The external dignity of 
 power corrupts them and steals away their strength, 
 because they do not join with it worthiness of soul 
 and understanding, and do not value worthiness of 
 soul in others, but take alarm at it. They feel 
 themselves free only with men of mean spirits and 
 worldly instincts, who flatter them with flattery 
 adapted to their tempers and tendencies. Thus is 
 formed about the chief a body of confidential friends 
 and favourites, from which he is able at will to select 
 men for the work of his administration. Himself 
 undisciplined by labour, he has no clear conception 
 of what labour means and what is its value ; each 
 thought strange to him he appropriates as his own, 
 and issues in his name. 
 
 To the motive of favouritism is joined the motive of 
 
POWER AND AUTffORITY 265 
 
 comradeship. The relations established in early life 
 at school, in the amusements of y.outh, and in military 
 life, create among men ties, founded less on sympathy 
 of intellect than on the habit of constant association. 
 But among ma.ny habit is the chief guiding prin- 
 ciple of life and action, both in personal and in public 
 affairs. Thus, when a friend appears as a candidate 
 for some appointment, the choice is determined by 
 personal favour, or anxiety for a man with scanty or 
 disordered means, sometimes without consideration 
 whether the candidate be suited to his work, or 
 whether he be capable of protecting the interests to 
 be entrusted to him. Still nearer to the favour of a 
 leader than his friends are his relations, often numerous, 
 who seek to carve out careers in some of the services, 
 and regard provision for this as the moral duty of their 
 powerful kinsman. 
 
 The most precious gift of a statesman is ability to 
 organise. It is a talent seldom met — a talent inborn, 
 which no study will produce. Of men of this character 
 it may be said as was said of poets, nascuntur, non 
 fiunt. It is enough to reflect how many different 
 abilities are needed to constitute the organising 
 talent. Strength of imagination must unite to the 
 capacity of promptly choosing the means of realisa- 
 tion. A comprehensive and foreseeing intellect is 
 demanded, resolution in action, ability to seize the 
 proper moment, to embrace rapidly the details of all 
 work, without losing sight of its fundamental prin- 
 ciples. Fine observation of men and knowledge of 
 character are indispensable ; knowledge of whom to 
 trust, and experience that the best of men are not free 
 from low instincts and interested motives. 
 
266 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 Happy is the statesman who recognises such talent, 
 and makes no mistake in his choice. Error is easy ; 
 and cases are not few where statesmen have mistaken 
 for organising talent great intellect and eloquence. 
 Yet these qualities are not only distinct, but almost 
 incompatible. Logical development of thought and 
 dialectical ability seldom go with ability to organise, 
 while the man ready to devise means of action is 
 not often capable of the demonstrative exposition of 
 the plans which have developed in his mind. The 
 organising talent is made manifest in work alone, 
 while eloquence, acting on the mind by means of 
 reason, and by criticism of the opinions of others, 
 attracts men at once, and evokes instantaneously 
 enthusiasm and admiration. 
 
 Great and sacred is the vocation of power. 
 Worthy of its mission, it animates men, it lends 
 their activity wings, it holds up to all a mirror 
 of justice, energy, and worth. To see such power, 
 to feel its inspiring influence, is a great happiness 
 for every man who loves truth, and yearns for 
 light and virtue. But, unhappy is he who seeks 
 power and cannot find it, or finds instead the pre- 
 tended power of majorities, the power of mobs — 
 despotism in the mirage of freedom. More deplor- 
 able is it still to see power lost to the sentiment 
 of duty and to the knowledge of its calling ; 
 power fulfilling its work unconsciously and formally, 
 under the shield of its dignity. The same forms 
 of procedure remain, the wheels of the mechanism 
 turn as before, but the spirit of life is not in them. 
 Little by little is enfeebled the will to choose men 
 prepared and capable for their work, till men are 
 
POWER AND AUTHORITY 267 
 
 no longer chosen at all, but appointed at random 
 through casual impulses and fortuitous interests. 
 Then vanish the traditions of procedure preserved 
 by tried and devoted workers. The school in which 
 the young were trained by the experience of the 
 old is destroyed, while those who undertake the 
 work for the sake of personal interest or to build 
 their careers, shifting ceaselessly in the eager chase 
 for advancement, leave behind them no abiding trace 
 of their labours. 
 
 In all practical activity art is needed as a factor 
 of animation. This art is acquired by rational and 
 conscientious labour, which in its turn has need of 
 a guide also. Thus, every institution established 
 for practical work must at the same time be a 
 school, in which the younger generations of workers 
 may study the art of their work, under the guidance 
 of their elders. On this are affirmed the essential 
 interests of every work and the moral forces which 
 animate it. With such conditions an institution 
 may develop and be perfected, keeping before itself 
 a clear horizon ; a path whereby to advance. But 
 when institutions, restricted to the vulgar paths of 
 formalism, decay and become moribund, they cease 
 to be schools of art, and remain mere machines, 
 around which hireling labourers pass in succession. 
 The horizon is obscured, aspiration dies, and progress 
 ceases. Such may be the fate of the new institutions 
 which multiply with the increasing complexity of 
 political and civic life. Such is the fate of the 
 school, with its multitude of pupils, masters, and 
 subjects of study, when its chairs are filled by teachers 
 unprepared and incapable, who make their teaching 
 
268 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 a trade for the sake of bread ; the spirit of life departs, 
 and the institution becomes incapable of educating 
 and training the young generation. Such is the fate 
 which overtakes the institutions of justice, however 
 complex and perfect their procedure may be, when 
 they cease to be schools for the cultivation of know- 
 ledge and experience in jurisprudence; the forms 
 wither and die, the spirit of life vanishes, and justice 
 becomes a mere machine, operated by hirelings. 
 
 The conceptions formed of power by those who 
 seek it are various as the passions and aspirations 
 of mankind. The masses, whose speculations are 
 restricted to their daily life, are possessed by a desire 
 to improve their condition, without any other con- 
 siderations. Among others, the ruling impulse in the 
 search for power is ambition. The self-love of every 
 man, however insignificant by nature, is susceptible 
 of rapid and infinite development, and may attain 
 monstrous dimensions. Each, however small, sees 
 others with still less capacity, who, under favourable 
 circumstances, have contrived to climb to the roof 
 of some building, and look complacently down on 
 the masses that crawl upon the earth. To belong 
 to the congregation, even of these dii minorum 
 gentium, is seductive for the little man ; then he sees 
 on the horizon buildings higher still, and from his 
 little perch how pleasant it is to see a higher roof 
 to climb to it, and to see on the far horizon 
 the clouds on which the dii majorum gentium are 
 rutrfhis."'^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^" many cases^of elevatL^ 
 Such are the planes on which aspire the imagina- 
 tions of the mediocre and the little. Seldom does one 
 
POWER AND AUTHORITY 269 
 
 of them ask himself, " Who am I ? Am I capable of 
 the work which I undertake with my elevation? Can 
 I accomplish it? And how shall I answer for it?" 
 And such questions are quickly dimmed in the light 
 of an imaginary glory ; the questioner compares 
 himself with many enthroned around him, and 
 regains his shaken confidence. 
 
 Leaving these lower paths, how varied and exalted, 
 and, alas, how deceptive are all the aspirations 
 to power ! Knowledge of two things is essential for 
 the consecration of a man in power. ,The first is shown 
 in the eternal precept, " Know thyself " ; the other, 
 " Know thy surroundings." Both are necessary to 
 the conscious expression and execution of the human 
 will, to influence on the wills of others, and to creation 
 on whatever field of action, great or small. Action 
 takes place in the world of reality ; the laws of reason 
 are at the same time the laws of nature and of life. 
 He who ignores these laws and will not submit to 
 them is unworthy of his work. 
 
 The imagination of man, nourished on the vague 
 although ennobling aspirations of the spirit, but 
 neglected by reality, exalts to infinite heights the 
 human soul, impelling men to conceive themselves 
 capable of work, by painting before them illusory 
 pictures of happiness and truth. Thus is engendered 
 a deceptive confidence, which by slow degrees may 
 develop into faith in a destiny. And when with this 
 faith is joined the adoration of abstract ideas and 
 axioms, which, as seemingly they work by themselves, 
 apparently only need application to human relations 
 to renovate the world in order and equity, this con- 
 fidence acquires the nature of dogmatism, and, by 
 
270 REFLECTIONS OF A RUSSIAN STATESMAN 
 
 inciting the mind, begets a passionate aspiration to 
 power, avowedly in the name of the higher principles 
 of truth and virtue, but in reality in the name of the 
 overgrown self 
 
 " I will command," says the aspirant to power, " and 
 my word will work wonders," for he fancies that words 
 of command, as a magic wand, can act by them- 
 selves. Poor man, before he commands he has first 
 to learn to obey! Before he has given orders, he 
 must learn to hear them, and to listen to questioning. 
 He must pass through the school of duty, where each 
 in his place and time must faithfully and duly play 
 his part in harmony with the parts of a host of 
 others. He must learn to remember that orders 
 do not spring forth armed as Minerva from the head 
 of Jupiter, but are the last links in an infinite chain 
 of reasoning ; an infinite chain of causes and effects. 
 
 The imaginations of benevolent men draw pictures 
 of good works ; they wish to do good and to serve as 
 instruments of good. Alas, goodness is but a little 
 way on the path to the doing of good ! Even he who 
 wishes to do good after the precept of the Evangel 
 out of his own estate, will at last be taught by 
 experience that the doing of good to men in its 
 truest sense is a wearying and burdensome task. 
 How much more difficult is it to do good out of 
 the capital of power with which men are invested ! 
 It is well for a man if when thinking of himself and of 
 his power he does not for a minute forget that power 
 belongs to him for the sake of the general welfare 
 and for the benefit of the State ; that in his sphere of 
 action the little store of strength he has cannot and 
 must not be transformed into a horn of plenty, 
 
POWER AND AUTHORITY 271 
 
 from which to scatter liberal gifts and many rewards. 
 It is well if he does not forget that the power 
 entrusted to him by the State to judge the merits 
 of men, the justice of things, and the lawfulness of 
 needs which cry for help, cannot, and must not, in his 
 hands be perverted into favouritism and protection, 
 for the temptation is strong to good men and 
 to vain men, and goodness and vanity too often 
 are joined. How sweet it is to meet on all sides 
 grateful and affectionate glances ! The seduction of 
 this vanity may lead power to extreme weakness, 
 to the confusion of merit and capacity with baseness 
 and stupidity, to the demoralisation of subordinates 
 by the general hunt for promotion and by an in- 
 creased desire for honours, rewards, and monetary 
 gratifications. 
 
 The first essential of righteous power is "a just 
 standard." It gives the strength to judge by merit, 
 and to allot to each a task no higher and no lower 
 than his deserts. It teaches the preservation of 
 human dignity in self and in others, and the distinc- 
 tion of faults which may not be tolerated from human 
 weaknesses which ask for indulgence and care. 
 It maintains all power in allegiance to its high 
 calling, impelling and inspiring it to study the men 
 and the work confided to its charge. It gives stead- 
 fastness to the orders that issue from power, and to 
 the words of power a creative force. And he who 
 has lost this standard through idleness or indiffer- 
 ence forgets that the work which he neglects is a 
 work of God. 
 
 W. ». WHIT« AND CO. LIMITED, SIVBRSIDIt FRISS, EDINBURGH. 
 
By W, T, STEAD, 
 
 Crown 8vo, Cloth, 6s, 
 
 Blastus, the King's Chamberlain j 
 
 A Political Romance, 
 
 AN EXTRACT FROM Mr STEAD'S PREFACE. 
 
 " Why Blastus just now? First, because for some time the question 
 of peace and war largely turned upon the personality and power of 
 the Colonial Secretary ; and secondly, I cannot resist the temptation 
 of republishing the story because it — although written nearly three 
 years ago — anticipates so curiously the leading features of the existing 
 situations to-day. . . . What I refer to is the extraordinarily lucky guess 
 which made me predict in 1895 that Lord Salisbury and Mr Chamber- 
 lain would come into antagonism with each other upon a West African 
 dispute, involving issues of peace or war with France. The dispute 
 in West Africa has arisen almost precisely in the way in which I 
 described it — viz. by the intrusion of a French force, under cover 
 of an invitation from a native chief, into territory which lay unmis- 
 takably within our sphere of influence, but over which we had not 
 established any effective occupation. Readers of the story will find 
 that the phrases, the pretexts, the arguments, which have been used 
 so frequently of late in the French and English Press, were anticipated 
 three years ago in the pages of Blastus. ... I think the perusal 
 of ' Blastus ' will enable many of those who do not follow closely 
 the trend of events in West Africa to understand better than they 
 otherwise would the questions on which hang our recent controversies 
 with France. Whether the scene is in Downing Street, in West 
 Africa, or in Paris, I think the reader will find the case for both 
 the contending parties stated sympathetically and accurately." 
 
 GRANT RICHARDS, 
 
 9 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. 
 
 s 
 
By GRANT ALLEN. JDemy Svo, Cloth, 20s. net. 
 
 The Evolution of the Idea of Godj 
 
 An Enquiry into the Origins of Religions. 
 
 SOME PRESS OPINIONS. 
 The WotMi 
 
 " This book, the outcome of twenty years of thought and ten 
 years of writing, is certainly one of the most important contri- 
 butions to the history of the human mind which the last decade has 
 given us. . . . We have no space to trace further the unfolding 
 of these suggestive ideas, which are developed and illustrated 
 with a brightness uncommon in books of serious purposes. The 
 present work, Mr Allen says, is but a sketch which will be 
 filled in and amplified if the public is sufficiently interested." 
 The Daily Chronicle i 
 
 " The sympathetic spirit in which Mr Allen treats a delicate 
 and complex subject should have kindly consideration from those 
 to whom the story of man's beliefs and guesses about the unseen 
 makes appeal. ... A book which is the outcome of careful 
 scholarly research." 
 The Times I 
 
 " One of the most ambitious and not the least successful of 
 Mr Allen's works. ... It is needless to say that the book 
 is clever, showing marks of wide reading, ingenuity, and a 
 certain z/erve — one might say dash — and that it attracts by the 
 very reason that the writer is cumbered with few doubts or 
 misgivings as to the soundness of his theories. . . . The true 
 student will profit much by Mr Grant Allen's erudition and 
 his criticisms of the work of his predecessors." 
 Mr H. G. Wells, in the Daily Maili 
 
 " A work of extraordinary interest and suggestion. ... It 
 is on the whole a worthy treatment of an immensely interestii^ 
 subject, a book for the intell^ent general reader; one of the 
 books that bristle with the always plausible, and frequently 
 convincing, reason why." 
 The Scotsman I 
 
 " It will be understood by every one that the subject Mr 
 Allen has chosen would be handled by him in a thoroughly 
 scientific manner, and in absolute independence of all theological 
 theories. . . . The writer has collected an immense number 
 of fects bearing on the development of religion, and has put 
 them together in a most interesting way. The more educated 
 part of the world is prepared for a work like this, and we 
 have no doubt it will be read by many with the deepest interest." 
 
 GRANT RICHARDS, 
 
 9 HENRIETTA STREET, CO VENT GARDEN, W.C. 
 
Letters from Julia j 
 
 or 
 
 Light from the Borderland; 
 
 A Series of Messages as to the 
 Life beyond the Grave received by 
 Automatic Writing from One who 
 has gone before. 
 
 Edited by W. T. STEAD. 
 
 Second Edition. i6mo. Cloth, 2s. 
 
 AN EXTRACT FROM Mr STEAD'S PREFACE 
 
 "Automatic writing is writing that is written by the hand of a 
 person which is not under control of his conscious mind. The 
 hand apparently writes of itself, the person to whom the hand 
 belongs having no knowledge of what it is about to write. It is a 
 very familiar and simple form of mediumship, which in no way 
 impairs the writer's faculties or places his personality under the 
 control of any other intelligence. This writing may proceed from 
 his subconscious mind, or it may be due to the direct action of in- 
 dependent but invisible intelligences. What is certain is, that it does 
 not emanate from the conscious mind of the writer, who often receives 
 messages containing information as to past events of which he has 
 never heard, and sometimes perfectly accurate predictions as to events 
 which have not yet happened. It was in this way that I began to 
 receive the communications, some few of which are collected in this 
 little volume. All the 'Letters from Julia' were received by me 
 in the same manner. Sitting alone, with a tranquil mind, I consciously 
 placed my right hand, with the pen held in the ordinary way, at 
 the disposal of Julia, and watched with keen and sceptical interest 
 to see what it would write. The bulk of the first series was written 
 as letters from Julia to Ellen. They were written as from one friend 
 to another, beginning and ending just as if the writer were still in 
 the body instead of having to rely upon the loan of my hand. The 
 second series was written for publication at irregular intervals. The 
 first series is really a compost of extracts from letters which were 
 written every week for nearly six months, with some interculated 
 observations made to me at the time of writing. The second series 
 is composed of the communications written as printed at the dates 
 given in the text." 
 
 GRANT RICHARDS, 
 
 9 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. 
 
BOOKS NOW READY, ARRANGED IN 
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 Labour in the Longest Reign. 
 
Spring, 1898 
 
 ANNOUNCEMENTS 
 
 ■^V O -Qy 
 
 A new volume will be added to Mr. Grant Allen's 
 series of Historical Guides. 
 
 Venice 
 
 Three volumes in the series have already appeared, Paris, 
 Florence, and Cities of Belgium ; and Rome 
 and Cities of Northern Italy are in prepara- 
 tion. Of the general need for the series, the Morning 
 Post says : — 
 
 " That much-abused class of people, the tourists, have often been taunted with 
 their ignorance and want of culture, and the perfunctory manner in which they hurry 
 through, and ' do * the Art Galleries of Europe. There is a large amount of truth, no 
 doubt, but they might very well retort on their critics that no one had come forward to 
 meet their wants, or assist in dispelling their ignorance. No doubt there are guide- 
 books, very excellent ones in their way, but on all matters of art very little better than 
 mere indices ; something fuller was required to enable the average man intelligently to 
 appreciate the treasures submitted to his view. Mr. Grant Allen has offered to meet 
 their wants, and offers these handbooks to the public at a price that ought to be within 
 the reach of every one who can afford to travel at all. The idea is a good one, and 
 should ensure the success which Mr. Allen deserves." 
 
 Grant Allen's Historical Guides are bound in green 
 cloth, with rounded corners, to slip into the pocket. Fcap. 
 8vo. 3s. 6d. each, net. 
 
 3 
 
Beto iTiction 
 
 BY FREDERIC BRETON 
 Author of " The Black Mass," " The Trespasses of Two," etc. 
 
 True Heart 
 
 Being Passages in the Life of Eberhard Treuherz, 
 
 Scholar and Craftsman, telling of his Wanderings 
 
 and Adventures, his Intercourse with People 
 
 of Consequence to their Age, and how 
 
 he came scatheless through a 
 
 Time of Strife 
 
 While doing his best to retain ample romantic interest, 
 Mr. Breton's intention has been to present a true picture of 
 the time rather than to produce a mere novel of incident. 
 
 In One Volume, 6s. 
 
 •S2y -si' 
 
 BY GEORGE EGERTON 
 Author of " Keynotes," " Discords," etc. 
 
 The Wheel of God 
 
 Hitherto "George Egerton's" books have been made 
 up of short stories. " The Wheel of God " is her first long 
 novel, and deals with woman's life" both in America and in 
 England. Its note is one rather of reaction than of revolt. 
 
 In One Volume, 6s. 
 
 BY G. B. BURGIN 
 Author of " ' Old Man's ' Marriage," " Tuxter's Little Maid," etc 
 
 The Cattle Man 
 
 In One Volume, 6s. \Ready. 
 
 4 
 
iQetD Jiction 
 
 BY LEONARD MERRICK 
 Author of " One Man's View," " Cynthia," etc. 
 
 The Actor- Manager 
 
 Mr. Merrick writes of theatrical life in London and the 
 provinces from a fulness of knowledge : he has been both 
 actor and dramatist. His story here is that of an actor's 
 progress, social and artistic, and of the clash of ideas with 
 the hard necessity of the box-ofiice. 
 
 In One Volume, 6s. 
 
 BY HUGH CLIFFORD 
 Author of " In Court and Kampong." 
 
 Studies in Brown Humanity 
 
 Being Scrawls and Smudges in Sepia, White, 
 and Yellow 
 
 Mr. Hugh Clifford, who occupies the important post of 
 British Resident at Pahang in the Malay Peninsula, achieved 
 considerable success with his first book, "In Court and 
 Kampong," of which this book is in some sense a con- 
 tinuation, dealing ^s it does with the tragic, eventful lives 
 of the varied peoples among whom lies his work. 
 
 " The chief aim is to portray character,.to reveal to the European thoughts, passions, 
 and aspirations which unfold themselves but slowly even tO' him who lor long years 
 has lived the life of his Asiatic associates in places remote from the sound of western 
 civilisation, ... In this effort Mr. Clifford has achieved a considerable success ; and 
 as he writes also in a bright style, which has a distinctly literary flavour, his work is 
 not less welcome for the information which it gives than interesting as a story- 
 book." — Atheneeum on " In Court and Kampong." 
 
 In One Volume, 6s. 
 BY GRANT ALLEN 
 
 Linnet: a Romance 
 
 The story_ of a Tyrolese peasant-girl who becomes a 
 great singer. The scenes are laid in the Tyrol, in London, 
 Monte Carlo, and elsewhere : the treatment varying between 
 the idyllic and the novel of society. 
 
 In One Volume, 6 s. \June. 
 
 S 
 
jSeto iFiction 
 
 By marie and ROBERT LEIGHTON 
 
 Convict 99 
 
 A True Story of Penal Servitude 
 
 With 8 Full-page Illustrations by Stanley L. Wood. 
 In One Volume, 3s. 6d. 
 
 By haldane macfall 
 The Wooings of Jezebel Pettyfer 
 
 Being the Personal History of Jehu Sennacherib Dyle, 
 Commonly called Masheen Dyle 
 
 A realistic story of West Indian n^^ro life, written with S3mipathy 
 and knowledge, Mr. Macfall having held, for a considerable period, a 
 commission in a West Indian regiment. " He has aimed at giving 
 us," says The Literary World in an advance note on the book, " negro 
 views of life, negro religious prejudices, and negro superstitions. The 
 hero is a Zouave, and the chief characters are negroes — acting and 
 living like negroes — and not, as in most books of the kind, travesties 
 
 of the white man." , y-. -.t- 1 , 
 
 In One Volume, 6s. 
 
 By Dr. J. CAMPBELL OMAN 
 
 Where Three Creeds Meet 
 
 A Tale of Indian Life 
 In One Volume, 3 s. 6d. 
 
 By W. T. stead 
 
 Blastus, the King's Chamberlain 
 
 A reprint, with a new introduction of considerable length, of an old 
 Christmas number of the Review of Reviews, long out of print. In the 
 tale, Mr. Stead made the experiment of prophesying the immediate 
 future of a prominent politician whose identity is only thinly veiled. 
 Events have given that prophecy an extreme interest, which Mr. Stead's 
 new introduction greatly enhances. 
 
 In One Volume, 6s. 
 6 
 
iBetD jFiction 
 
 By W, C. morrow 
 
 The Ape, the Idiot, and other People 
 
 Mr. Morrow, an American, has produced here a collection of short 
 stories of the weird, the horrible, and the grotesque, reminding us now 
 of Robert Louis Stevenson, now of Edgar Allan Poe, and now of Mr. 
 H. G. Wells, but retaining at the same time a note of bis own that is 
 likely to make his volume a considerable success. 
 
 In One Volume, 6s. 
 
 By M. p. SHIEL 
 Author of " Prince Zaleski," etc. 
 
 The Yellow Danger 
 
 The plot of this story is laid in the present year, the first chapters 
 dealing with those incidents in the Far East that have so fluttered the 
 chancelleries of the West. A great leader — ^half Chinese, half Japanese 
 — unites the yellow races, and conceives the idea of setting the nations 
 of Europe at war by giving to the three great Continental powers vast 
 tracts of Chinese land. The policy of the " open door " forces England 
 to fight the coalition, and, as a result, the object of the East is achieved 
 — Europe is decimated and enfeebled, lying open to the locust swarm 
 of the yellow races (the "Yellow Danger" of the Spectator). And 
 then — then England saves the world. Although dealing with so vast a 
 subject, there is no lack of personal interest and individual incident in 
 Mr. Shiel's work. 
 
 In One Volume, 6s. 
 
 By F. C. constable 
 Author of "The Curse of Intellect." 
 
 Aunt Judith's Island 
 
 A Comedy of Kith and Kin 
 
 A satirical novel of society and European politics. In Aunt Judith 
 the author has added to that gallery of resourceful women (which akeady 
 is graced by Mrs. Poyser and Betsy Trotwood, Gainor Wsfnne, Old 
 Pummeloe, and Mrs. Major O'Dowd) a millionaire with pronounced 
 views on Socialism and enough opportunism to stock three Prime 
 Ministers. How Aunt Judith reconciles the various branches of her 
 family, and conducts the Concert of Europe, one must read the story 
 to discover. 
 
 In One Volume, 6s. 
 
2Dtama 
 
 By GEORGE BERNARD SHAW 
 
 Plays: Pleasant and Unpleasant 
 
 /. Unpleasant. II. Pleasant. 
 
 With special Portrait in photogravure of the Author. 
 
 The existence of a number of unpublished and un- 
 performed plays by Mr. Shaw has been, for some time 
 past, discussed with the interest which his work never fails 
 to arouse. Mr. Shaw has his own views about the printing 
 of work intended for the stage : he holds that the mere 
 printing of the "prompt copy" is insufficient, and that 
 " the institution of a new art " is necessary. So, in the 
 two volumes now in the press, the customary meagre stage 
 directions and scenic specifications will be found replaced 
 by finished descriptions, vivid character-sketches, physio- 
 logic notes, sallies, and comments, in which the author's 
 literary force is as conspicuous as in the dialogue. There 
 is a lengthy introduction to the first volume, and prefaces 
 to each play. 
 
 In Two Volumes. Fcap. 8vo. Cloth. 5 s. each. 
 
 ^ ^ {Heady April 6. 
 
 By victor HUGO 
 
 Hernani 
 
 Translated into English Verse, with an Introduction 
 By R. Farquharson Sharp. 
 
 Small 4to. Boards. 3s. 6d. net. \£eady. 
 By LOUISA SHORE 
 
 Hannibal 
 
 With Portrait in photogravure of the Author. 
 
 Mr. Frederic Harrisoa writes : " I have read ^and re-read * Hannibal ' with _ad- 
 miration. As a historical romance, carefully studied &om the ori^al historus, it is 
 a noble conception of a great hero. . . . The merit of this piece is to have seized the 
 historical conditions with such reality and such truth, and to have kept so sustained 
 a flight at a high level of heroic dignity." 
 
 Crown 8vo. Cloth. 5s. net \£eady. 
 
 8 
 
By LAURENCE BINYON 
 Author of " London Visions " 
 
 Porphyrion and other Poems 
 
 Crown 8vo. Cloth. 53. net. \Ready. 
 
 By WALTER LEAF, LL.D. 
 
 Versions from Hafiz 
 
 An Essay in Persian Metre 
 
 " For Hafiz, at least as much as for any poet," says Dr. Leaf in his 
 introduction, "form is of the essence of his poetry," and an attempt 
 is here made " to give English readers some idea of the most intimate 
 and indissoluble bond of spirit and form " in his odes. " And with it all 
 one must try to convey some joint reminder of the feet that Hafiz is, 
 as few poets have been, a master of words and rhythms." 
 
 Small 4to. Linen. 53. net. Also ten copies on Japanese vellum, 
 numbered and signed by the Author, 21s. net. \Ready. 
 
 By EUGENE LEE-HAMILTON 
 Author of " Sonnets of the Wingless Hours," etc. 
 
 The Inferno of Dante translated with 
 Plain Notes 
 
 Mr, Lee-Hamilton's aim has been to secure a line-for-line translation, 
 Fcap. 8vo. Half Parchment. 53. net. \Ready. 
 
 By LAURENCE HOUSMAN 
 Author of " Gods and their Makers," etc. 
 
 Spikenard 
 
 A Book of Devotional Love Poems 
 With Cover designed by the Author. 
 Small 4to. Boards. 3s. 6d. net. \Ready. 
 
 By W. p. REEVES 
 Agent-General for New Zealand 
 
 New Zealand, and other Poems 
 
 Fcap. 8vo. Paper Wrapper, as. net. \Ready. 
 9 
 
Poetrg 
 
 By KATHARINE TYNAN (MRS. HiNKSON) 
 
 The Wind in the Trees 
 
 A Book of Country Verse 
 
 Fcap. 8vo. Cloth. 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 '^^ -^t. -^^ 
 
 A SERIES OF LITHOGRAPHED DRAWINGS 
 
 BY 
 
 WILL ROTHENSTEIN 
 
 With an Introduction by the Artist, and Short Texts 
 by various hands. 
 
 The following Portraits are included in this Collection, 
 each from sittings specially given to Mr. Rothenstein : — 
 
 Mr. Grant Allen 
 
 Mr. William Archer 
 
 Lord Charles Beresford, M.P. 
 
 Mr. Robert Bridges 
 
 Mr. Walter Crane 
 
 Right Rev. Dr. Creighton 
 
 Mr. Sidney Colvin 
 
 Mr. George Gissing 
 
 Marchioness of Granby 
 
 Sir F. Seymour Haden 
 
 Mr. Thomas Hardy 
 
 Mr. W. E. Henley 
 
 Sir Henry Irving 
 
 Mr. Henry James 
 
 Mr. W. E. H. Lecky, M.P. 
 
 Professor A. Legros 
 
 Mrs. Meynell 
 
 Mr. A. W. Pinero 
 
 Sir Frederick Pollock 
 
 Mr. Charles Ricketts 
 
 Mr. John Sargent, R.A. 
 
 Mr. Charles Haselwood Shannon 
 
 Mr. George Bernard Shaw 
 
 Miss Ellen Terry 
 
 "Admirably life-like, . . . and the style of publication makes it very attractive." 
 — Speaker, 
 
 * The diawinn are lithographs, rough sketches rather than elabozate drawings, but 
 they show that Mr. Rothenstem has thoroughly mastered his method, and knows how 
 to use it with most commendable self-restramt. They are admirable examples of the 
 style of drawing which he has made his own, and which has much to recommend it." 
 
 -^COistHOH. 
 
 Folio. In Buckram Cover specially designed by 
 
 the Artist. 35 s. net. 
 
 Also in Parts, each containing Two Portraits. 
 
 2S. 6d. net. [Ready. 
 
By The Rev. A. G. B. ATKINSON, M.A. 
 
 St. Botolph, Aldgate 
 
 The Story of a City Parish, compiled from the Record 
 
 Books and other Ancient Documents. With a 
 
 Supplementary Chapter by the Vicar 
 
 Crown 8vo. Cloth. 53. net. \Ready, 
 
 -^ '<C:y "si. 
 
 By temple SCOTT 
 
 A Bibliography of Omar Khayyam 
 
 With Prefatory Note by Edward Clodd, Ex-President of 
 the Omar Khayyam Club. 
 
 Fcap. 8vo. Buckram. 5 s. net. 
 Edited by W. T. STEAD 
 
 Letters from Julia 
 
 Or, Light from the Borderland: a Series of Messages 
 
 as to the Life beyond the Grave received by 
 
 Automatic Writing from, one 
 
 who has gone before 
 
 .i6mo. Cloth. 2s. 
 
 \Second Edition ready. 
 II 
 
By CARVETH read, M.A. 
 
 Logic : Deductive and Inductive 
 
 Crown 8vo. Cloth. 6s. 
 By EMMA BROOK 
 
 A Tabulation of the Factory Laws of 
 European Countries 
 
 In so far as they Relate to the Hours of Labour 
 
 and Special Legislation for Women, 
 
 Young Persons, and Children 
 
 Demy 8vo. Half Cloth. 2S. 6d. net 
 
 H.R.H. The Prince of Wales 
 
 An Account of his Career, including his Birth, 
 
 Education, Travels, Marriage, and Home 
 
 Life and Philanthropic, Social, 
 
 and Political Work 
 
 With one hundred Portraits and other Illustrations. 
 
 *' It is pleasant to be reminded of these things in the interesting manner in which 
 the writer reminds us of them, and to study the numerous and well-selected illostra- 
 tions which reach hack to the infancy of the Prince. On the whole the execution of 
 the book is to be commended. ... It is easy to see that the anonymoos author is 
 very well informed, and has had access to other sources of information than the books 
 mentioned in the preface." — Tht Times. 
 
 " The author shows throughout the skill which one expects of an accompUshed 
 writer. The book is brightly written ; it is interesting from beginning to end, and it 
 contains an amount of information about His Royal Highness which is quite surpris- 
 ing in so small a compass. Few things are more difficult than to write a biography 
 of a distinguished living person which shall be at once truthful, adequate, unim- 
 peachable in the article of good taste, and yet not dull. Every reader of thb life, of 
 the Prince of Wales will admit that thb difficulty has been faced and successfully 
 overcome." — Literature, 
 
 Royal 8vo. Cloth. Gilt Extra. los. 6d. [Ready. 
 
Spring, 1898 
 
 ALLEN, GRANT. 
 
 Linnet : a Romance. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 6s. 
 
 The Evolution of the Idea of God : an Inquiry 
 into the Origins of Religions. Demy 8vo. Buck- 
 ram. 2 OS. net. {Second Edition. 
 
 Grant Allen's Historical Guides : 
 
 Paris. [J^eady. 
 
 Florence. „ 
 
 Cities of Belgium. „ 
 
 Venice. [In prepm'ation. 
 
 Rome. „ 
 
 Cities of Northern Italy. „ 
 
 Fcap. 8vo. Cloth. 3s. 6d. each, net. 
 
 ^ " Good work in the way of sbcLwing students tJie right manner of approaching the 
 history of a great city. . . . These useful little volumes," — Tifnes. 
 
 "Those who travel for the sake of culture will be well catered for in Mr. Grant 
 Allen's new series of historical guides. . . . There are few more satisfactory books 
 for a student who wishes to dig out the Paris of the past from the immense super- 
 incumbent mass of coffee-houses, kiosks, fashionable hotels, and other- temples of 
 civilisation, beneath which it is now submerged. Florence is more easily dug up, as 
 you have only to go into the picture galleries, or into the churches or museums, 
 whither Mr. Allen's guide accordingly conducts you, and tells you what to look at 
 if you want to understand the art treasures of the dty. The books, in a word, 
 explain ^rather than describe. ^ Such hooks are wanted nowadays. . . . The more 
 sober-minded amon^ tourists will be grateful to him for the skill with which the new 
 series promises to minister to theirj needs." — Scotsman. 
 
 " Mr. Grant Allen, as a traveller of thirty-five years' experience in foreign lands, 
 is well qualified to command success in the task he has set himself, and nothing in 
 the two volumes under notice is more striking than the strong sense conveyed of his 
 powers of observation and the facility with which he describes the objects of art and 
 the architectural glories which he has met and lingered over. ... It would be a 
 pity indeed were his assiduous researches and the fruits of his immense experience, 
 now so happily exemplified, to pass unnoticed either by 'elobe trottera' or by 
 students of art and history wao have perforce to stay at home.' — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 ' ' No traveller going to Florence with any idea of understanding its art treasures, 
 can afford to dispense with Mr. Grant Allen's guide. He is so saturated with in- 
 formation gained by close observation and close study. He is so candid, so sincere, 
 so fearless, so interesting, and his little book is so portable and so pretty." — Queen. 
 
 " Not only admirable, but also, to the intelligent tourist, indispensable. . . . Mr. 
 Allen has the artistic temperament. . . . With his origins, his traditions, his art 
 criticisms, he goes to the heart of the matter, is outspoken concerning those things he 
 despises, and earnest when describing those in which his soul delights. . . . The 
 books are genuinely interesting to the ordinary reader^ whether he have treeuelled 
 or not J and unlike the ordinary guide-book may be read with advantage both before 
 and c^er the immediate occasion of their use." — Birmingham Gazette 
 
 13 
 
<Sxmt Eicbattiis'g Publications 
 
 An African Millionaire: Episodes in the Life of 
 the Illustrious Colonel Clay. With over Sixty Illus- 
 trations by Gordon Browne. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 
 6s. [MyiA Edition. 
 
 " It is not often that the short stonr of this class can be made as attractive and 
 as exciting as are many of the Colcmef's episodes. Let as be thankfnl for these, and 
 hasten to conmiend ' An African MiUion^re ' to the notice of all travellers. We can 
 imagine no book of the season more stutable for an afternoon in a hammodc or a 
 lazy- day in the woods. And the capital illustrations help an excellent dozexi of stories 
 on their way." — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 " For resourcefulness, for sardonic humour, for a sense of the comedy of the utua- 
 tion, and for nluck to carry it through, it would be difficult to find a more entertain- 
 ing scoundrel than Colonel Clay." — Daily News^ 
 
 ' * This book is a good example of Mr. Grant Allen's talents. It is only a collection 
 of tales describing how a very rich man is again and again victimised by the same 
 adventurer, but it has not only plenty of dramatic incident, but of shrewd and wise 
 reflection, such as is seldom found in the modem novel." — Mr. Jabiss Payn in the 
 Illustrated London News. 
 
 ALMA TADEMA, LAURENCE. 
 
 Realms of Unknown Kings : Poems. Fcap. 8vo. 
 Paper Wrapper. 2s. net. Buckram. 3s. net. 
 
 ANSTEY, F. 
 
 Paleface and Redskin, and other Stones for 
 Boys and Girls. With Illustrations by Gordon 
 Browne. \In preparation. 
 
 ATKINSON, A. G. B., M.A. 
 
 St. Botolph, Aldgate : The Story of a City Parish, 
 compiled from the Record Books and other Ancient 
 Documents. With a Supplementary Chapter by 
 the Vicar. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 5s. net. 
 
 BELL, R. S. WARREN. 
 {See Henrietta Volumes.) 
 
 BINYON, LAURENCE. 
 
 Porphyrion and other Poems. Crown 8vo. 
 Cloth. 5s. net 
 
 o 
 
 BRETON, FREDERIC. 
 
 True Heart : a Novel Crown 8vo. Cloth. 6s. 
 14 
 
0tmt laicljatns's publications 
 
 BROOK, EMMA. 
 
 A Tabulation of the Factory Laws of Euro- 
 pean Countries, in so far as they relate to the 
 Hours of Labour and Special Legislation for Women, 
 Young Persons, and Children. Demy 8vo. Half 
 Cloth. 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 BURGIN, G. B. 
 
 The Cattle Man : a Novel. 
 " Old Man's " Marriage : A Novel. (A Sequel to 
 "The Judge of the Four Corners.") 
 Crown 8vo. Cloth. 6s. each. 
 
 " Mr. Bursin's best qualities come to the front in * " Old Man's" Marriage.* . - . 
 Miss Wilkes has nearly as much individuality as any one in the story, which is SE^ing 
 a good deal, for reahty seems to gather round all the characters in spite of the 
 romance that belongs to them as well ... the story is fresh and full of charm."— 
 Siandard, 
 
 " Mr. Burgin's humour is both shrewd and kindly, and his book should prove as 
 welcome as a breath of fresh air to the weary readers of realistic fiction." — Daily 
 Ttlegraph, 
 
 "*01d Man's' Marriage is told with such humour, high spirit, simplicity, and 
 straightforwardness that the reader is amused and entertained from the first page to 
 the last._ Once I had begun it I had to go on to the end ; when I put it down 
 it was with a sigh to part with such excellent company. ... As thoroughly enjoy- 
 able and racily written a story as has been published for a long time." — Mr. Coulson 
 Kernahah in the Star. 
 
 " It would be difficult to speak too highly of the delicate pathos and humour of 
 this beautiful sketch of a choice friendship in humble life. ... A study at once 
 simple and subtle and full of the dignity and sincerity of natural man." — Manchester 
 Guardian, 
 
 CLIFFORD, HUGH (British Resident at Pahang). 
 
 Studies in Brown Humanity: Being Scrawls and 
 
 Smudges in Sepia, White, and Yellow. Crown 8vo. 
 
 Cloth. 6s. 
 In Court and Kampong : Being Tales and Sketches 
 
 of Native Life in the Malay Peninsula. Large 
 
 Crown 8vo. Cloth. 7s, 6d. 
 
 " Mr. Clifford undoubtedly possesses the gift of graphic description in a high 
 degree, and each one^ of these stories grips the reader's attention most insistently. 
 The whole book is alive with drama and passion ; but, as we have said, its greatest 
 charm lies in the fact that it paints in strikingly minute detail a state of things which, 
 whether for good or ill, is rapidly vanishing from the face of the earth." — Speaker. 
 
 "These tales Mr, Clifford tells with a force and life-likeness such as is only to be 
 equalled in the stories of Rudyard Kipling, Take, for instance, the gruesome story 
 of the were-tiger, man by day and man-eater by night. . . , Every one of these tales 
 leaves its impression, dramatic yet lifelike. Moreover, they are valuable as giving . 
 n picture of strange, distorted dvilisation which, under the influence of British 
 residents and officios, will soon pass away or hide itself jealously from the gaze of 
 Western eyes." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 15 
 
(3tmt )aic{)arD!S'0 PtitiUcations 
 
 CLODD, EDWARD. 
 
 Pioneers of Evolution from Thales to Huxley, 
 
 with an intermediate chapter on the Causes of Arrest 
 of the Movement. With portraits in photogravure 
 of Charles Darwin, Professor Huxley, Mr. A. R. 
 V/allace, and Mr. Herbert Spencer. Crown 8vo. 
 Linen. 5s. net, [Second Edition. 
 
 " We are always glad to meet Mr. Edward Clodd. He is never dull ; he is always 
 well informed, and he says what he has to say with clearness and incision.- . . . The 
 interest intensifies as Mr. Clodd attempts to show the i)art really played in the growth 
 of the doctrine of evolution by men like Wallace, Darwin, Huxley, and Spencer. Mr. 
 Clodd clears away prevalent misconceptions as to the work of these modem pioneers. 
 Especially does he give to Mr. Spencer the credit which is his due, but which is often 
 mistakenly awardedto Darwin. Mr. Clodd does not seek in the least to lower Darwin 
 from the lofty pedestal which he rightly occupies ; he only seeks to show predsely why 
 he deserves to occupy such a position. We commend the book to those who want to 
 know what evolution really means ; but they should be warned beforehand that they 
 have to tackle strong meat." — Times, 
 
 " There is no better book on the sul^ect for a general reader^ and while its matter 
 is largely familiar to professed students of science, and indeed to most men who are 
 well read, no one could go through the book without being both refreshed and newly 
 instructed by its masterly survey of the growth of the most powerful idea of modem 
 times. " — Scotsman. 
 
 CONSTABLE, F. C. 
 
 Aunt Judith's Island: a Comedy of Kith and 
 Kin. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 6s. 
 
 DANTE. 
 
 (See Lee-Hamilton.) 
 
 DIXON, H. SYDENHAM (" Vigilant " of the Sportsman). 
 
 From Gladiateur to Persimmon: Turf History 
 for Thirty Years. With portraits. Demy 8vo. 
 
 DUMPY BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. 
 
 Edited by E. V. Lucas, and with End-papers designed 
 by Mrs. Farmiloe. i8mo. Cloth, is. 6d. each. 
 
 1. The Flamp, the Ameliorator, and the 
 Schoolboy's Apprentice : Three Stories. By 
 Edward Verrall Lucas. 
 
 2. Mrs. Turner's Cautionary Stories. 
 
 EGERTON, GEORGE. 
 
 The Wheel of God : a Novel. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 
 6s. 
 
 i6 
 
®tant !aicf)artis's puWicationg 
 
 ETHICS OF THE SURFACE SERIES. 
 
 1. The Rudeness of the Honourable Mr. 
 
 Leatherhead. 
 
 2. A Homburg Story, 
 
 3. Cui Bono? 
 
 By Gordon Seymour. i6mo. Buckram. 2 s. each, 
 
 "The stories are remarkable for their originality, their careful characterisation, 
 their genuine thoughtfulness, and the sincerity of their purpose. They certainly 
 open up a fresh field of thought on the problems set by the phHosopher of the super- 
 ficial, problems which, though they seem to lie on the surface, strike their roots deep 
 down into human life ; and they make us think for ourselves (though perhaps some- 
 what eropinely), which is more than can be said for the general run of modem 
 novels/'— Paii Mali Gazette. 
 
 " An able and well-written little bit of fiction. . . . Amongst the short descriptive 
 portions of the book there are some excellent examples of graceful prose, and if the 
 dialogues occasionally resolve themselves into disquisitions on life and_ society too 
 elaborate for the reader who is chiefly concerned to get the story, they will repay the 
 reader who can appreciate the analysis of delicate shades of thought and feeling." — 
 Aberdeen Free Press, 
 
 FLEMING, GEORGE. 
 
 Little Stories about Women. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 
 3s. 6d. 
 
 " All novel readers nmst welcome the decision which has caused these stories, many 
 of which are gems, to appear in volume form. . , , Story is hardly the name to em- 
 ploy in the case of these impressionist pictures. Th^y have the suggestive merit of 
 the school and none of its vagueness." — Morning Post. 
 
 " It is impossible to read 'Little Stories about Women ' without a feeling of blank 
 astonishment that their author should be so ver^ little more than a name to the read- 
 ing public. ... It is difhcult to imagine anytmng better in its way— and its way is 
 thoroughly modem and up to date — than the first of the collection, ' By Accident.' 
 It is very short, very terse, but the whole story is suggested with admirable art. 
 There is nothing unfinished about it, and the grip with which the carriage accident 
 which opens it is presented never relaxes." — World. 
 
 GILCHRIST, R. MURRAY. {See Sylvan Series.) 
 
 HENRIETTA VOLUMES, THE. 
 
 The Cub in Love : in Twelve Twinges ; with Six 
 additional Stories. By R. S. Warren Bell. With 
 Cover by Maurice Greiifenhagen. Tauchnitz size. 
 IS. 6d. {Copies also oMainahk in Cloth, 2j.) 
 
 " Light and amusing withal is Mr, Warren Bell's sketch of a very young man 
 suffering from the bitter-sweet of an unretmited aflfection. . . . The Cub seems to be 
 a near relation of Dolly (of the ' Doll^^ Dialogues ')> and the sprightliness of his 
 dialogue nuJces him worthy of the kinship.'" — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 "The book makes excellent reading for travelling or a holiday, or, indeed, for 
 any occasion on which amusement is the thing desired. Il th^ subsequent volumes 
 of the Henrietta series are up to this standard, there need be no question of their 
 silcceS& " — Siatsman. 
 
 '* This is one of the most brightly written books we have read for some time. . . . 
 We cannot conceive a more enjoyable book for a couple of hours' reading at the sz^- 
 side."— Bel/ast Mveninff Telegraph. 
 
 17 
 
mmt JRicljarBs'jBi IPutiUcations 
 
 HOUSMAN, LAURENCE. 
 
 Spikenard: a Book of Devotional Love Poems. 
 With Cover designed by the Author. Small 4to. 
 Boards. 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 H.R.H. The Prince of Wales: an Account of His 
 Career, including his Birth, Education, Travels, 
 Marriage, and Home Life and Philanthropic, Social, 
 and Political Work. Royal 8vo. Cloth. los. 6d. 
 With one hundred Portraits and other Illustrations. 
 
 HUGO, VICTOR. 
 
 Hernani : a Drama, translated into English Verse, 
 with an Introduction by R Farquharson Sharp. 
 Small 4to. Boards. 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 LEAF, WALTER, LL.D. 
 
 Versions from Hafiz : an Essay in Persian Metre. 
 Small 4to. Linen. 5 s. net. (Also Ten Copies 
 on Japanese Vellum, numbered and signed by the 
 Author, 21s. net.) 
 LEAKE, MRS. PERCY. 
 
 The Ethics of Browning's Poems. With Intro- 
 duction by the Bishop of Winchester. Fcap. 8vo. 
 Cloth. 2s. 6d. 
 
 LEE, VERNON. 
 
 Limbo and other Essays. With Frontispiece. 
 Fcap. 8vo. Buckram. 53. net. 
 
 " The brilliant and versatile writer who adopts the pseudonym of Vernon Lee 
 affords a dainty feast to her readers in this cbazming little volume." — TYmer. 
 
 " For charm, that * delicate and capricious foster-child of leisiu%,* Vernon Lee's 
 latest work, small as it is, is the equal of anything that she has yet produced." — 
 MorHitif; Past, 
 
 " This little volume might he called a manual of the cultivated soul adventuring 
 among masterpieces of art and natural beauties. It brings to the enjoyment of diese 
 a power of association which traverses seas and years, and refreshes the mind with 
 images summoned from the recesses of memory. They are pitched in a pleasant 
 conversational way, frankly, even daringly, peisonal, and are strewn wiui vivid 
 descriptions of Italian scenes and places." — Ma$tchester Guardian, 
 
 '* ' Limbo and other Essays * is amon^t the most welcome of recent books. . . . 
 Few essayists see so many beautiful tiungs as Vemon Lee, and fewer still, having 
 seen them, say so many beaudfiil things about them." — Mr. Richard lb Gallxbnnb 
 in the Star, 
 
 LEE-HAMILTON, EUGENE. 
 
 The Inferno of Dante translated with Plain 
 Notes. Fcap. Svo. Half Parchment. 5s. net. 
 18 
 
(25tant iRicl)attis'0 PutUcationis 
 
 LE GALLIENNE, RICHARD. 
 
 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam : a Paraphrase from 
 several Literal Translations. From the press of 
 Messrs. T. and A. Constable of Edinburgh. Long 
 Fcap. 8vo. Parchment. 5 s. Also a very limited 
 Edition on Japanese Vellum, numbered and signed 
 by the Author. 15s.net. [All sold. 
 
 LEIGHTON, MARIE CONNOR and ROBERT. 
 
 Convict 99 : a Novel With Eight full-page Illustra- 
 tions by Stanley L.Wood. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 3s. 6d. 
 
 LOWNDES, FREDERIC SAWREY. 
 
 Bishops of the Day : a Biographical Dictionary of 
 the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of 
 England, and of all Churches in Communion there- 
 with throughout the World. Fcap. 8vo. Cloth. 55. 
 
 "While the assembly of nearly 200 ^Bishops of the Anglican Communion at the 
 Lambeth Conference makes the publication of the volume at the present time 
 especisdly opportune, Mr. Lowndes's work is likely to command a more permanent 
 interest. It gives a full and lucid sketch of the career of each Bishop, without any 
 suggestion of partisan bias on the part of the author." — Times. 
 
 Few works of reference could be more acceptable to Churchmen of the present 
 time. . . . Plenty of dates of the right sort, as well as matters of more human 
 interest. "—<r«ff?^ia«. 
 
 " The work is thoroughly up to date, as one may see from the Episcopal events of 
 i8g6 and 1897 here recorded. It abounds in persoiial incidents and anecdotes not to 
 be found elsewhere, and evidently derived from original and accredited sources. . , . 
 Much valuable information on Church matters generally incidental to Episcopal 
 administration."— il/or»j;(f Post. 
 
 "Mr. Lowndes has spared no pains to make his compendium as perfect as 
 possible. . . . This book is, as far as we can know, the first of the kind that has 
 been published, and supplies, in good time, a want that would have soon become 
 urgent." — Standard. 
 
 ^* Valuable for reference on account of much of the information contained in the 
 neatly got-up volume being supplied by the prelates themselves." — World. 
 
 " The book should be bought and r^d at once. There is no Churchman whom it 
 will not interest, and it contains a sufficiency of blank spaces to admit of MS. addi- 
 tions, whidi may record the inevitable changes brought about by death or by 
 translation. Mr. Lo^vndes deserves our very cordial Ubanks for a piece of work 
 which few would have undertaken, and none could have achieved more perfectly." — 
 Sheffield Daily Telegraph. 
 
 LUCAS, EDWARD VERRALL. 
 
 A Book of Verses for Children. With Cover, 
 Title-page, and End-papers designed in colours by 
 F. D. Bedford. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 6s. 
 
 \Third Edition. 
 (See also Dumpy Books for Children.) 
 19 
 
(25rant iRicfjattJg's putilicatKins 
 
 MACFALL, HALDANE. 
 
 The Wooings of Jezebel Pettyfer: a Novel. 
 Crown 8vo. Cloth. 6s. 
 
 MAETERLINCK, MAURICE. 
 
 Aglavaine and Selysette : a Drama in Five Acts. 
 Translated by Alfred Sutro. With Introduction by 
 J. W. Mackail, and Title-page designed by W. H. 
 Margetson. Globe 8 vo. HalfBuckranu 2s.6d.net. 
 
 " To read the play Is to have one's sense of beauty quidcened saad enlarged, to be 
 touched by the inward and spiritual grace of thin^ . . . Mr. Sutro is the most 
 conscientious, and at the same time the most ambitious, of translators ; not content 
 with reproducing the author's thought, he strives after the same effect of language — 
 the plaintive note, the dying cadence, the Maeterlincked sweetness long drawn out 
 And more often than not he succeeds, — ^which is saying a good deal when one con- 
 siders the enormous difficulties <^ the task." — Mr. A. B. Walklbt in the Spctiher. 
 
 " The book is a treasury of beaut^ul things. No one now writing loves beauty as 
 M. Maeterlinck does. Sheer, essential beauty has no such lover. He will have 
 nothing else." — Acadetny, 
 
 "Mr. Alfred Sutro's careful and delicate translation of M. Maurice Maeterlinck's 
 new play gives readers of English every opportunity of appreciating a work which, 
 so to speak, is at the tip of the century. . . . The book, as a whole, is perhaps the 
 best yet published by miich an English-speaking stranger to M. Maeterlinck could 
 make his acquaintance." — ScotsmafU 
 
 MERRICK, LEONARD. 
 
 The Actor - Manager : a Novel. Crown 8vo. 
 
 Cloth. 6s. 
 One Man's View : a Novel. Cr. 8va Cloth. 3s. 6d. 
 
 "A novel over which we could at a pinch fency CHirselves atting up till the small 
 hours. . . . The characters are realised, the emotion is felt and communicated." — 
 Daily Chronicle^ 
 
 " An unconunonly well-written story. . . . The men in the book are excellent, and 
 the hero ... is an admirable ^xtj?dt,"-~Standard, 
 
 " Mr. Leonard Merrick's work is exceptionally good : his style is literary, he has 
 insieht into character, and he can touch on delicate nmtters without being coarse or 
 unpleasantly suggestive. ' One Man's View ' is keenly interesting. . . . 'One Man's 
 View ' is one of those rare books in which, without a superfluous touch, each character 
 stands out clear and individually. It holds the reader's attention firom firet to last."— 
 Guardian. 
 
 MEYNELL, ALICE. 
 
 The Flower of the Mind : a Choice among the 
 best Poems. With Cover desigtred by Laurence 
 Housman. Crown 8vo. Buckram. 6s. 
 
 " Portia] collections of English poemSi dedded by a common subject or bounded 
 by the dates and periods of literary history, are made more than once in every year, 
 and the makers are safe from the reproach of proposing their own personal taste as a 
 Buide for the reading of others. But a general Anthology gathered from the whole 
 of English literature— the whole from Chaucer to Wordsworth— by a gatherer intent 
 upon nothmg except the quality of poetry, is a more rare attempt."— Ejciraci AviH 
 iHtroduction. 
 
 20 
 
©tant Eicfjartis's PutJlication0 
 
 MORROW, W. C. 
 
 The Ape, the Idiot, and other People. Crown 
 8vo. Cloth. 6s. 
 
 OMAN, DR. J. CAMPBELL. 
 
 Where Three Creeds Meet : a Tale of Indian 
 Life. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 3s. 6d. 
 
 READ, CARVETH, M.A. 
 
 Logic : Deductive and Inductive. Crown 8vo. 
 Cloth. 6s. 
 
 REEVES, W. P. 
 
 New Zealand, and other Poems. Fcap. Bvo. 
 Paper Wrapper, zs. net. 
 
 ROTHENSTEIN, WILL. 
 
 English Portraits : a Series of Lithographed 
 Drawings. With an Introduction by the Artist, and 
 Short Texts by various hands. Folio. In Buckram 
 Cover designed by the Artist. 3Ss. net. Or in 
 Twelve Parts, 2s. 6d. each, net. {See f. 10.) 
 
 "The portraits, which are of a large portfolio size, are vivid likenesses, and their 
 appearance is a gratifying indication of the revival of lithography in fine art." — 
 Aberdeen Free Press. 
 
 " The introductory examples fulfil to the full the promises made in the publisher's 
 announcements, and it is certain that the series will be keenly appreciated by art 
 lovers." — Dundee Advertiser. 
 
 SCOTT, TEMPLE. 
 
 A Bibliography of Omar Khayyam. With a 
 Prefatory Note by Edward Clodd. Fcap. 8vo. 
 Buckram. 5s. net. 
 
 SCHWARTZE, HELMUTH. 
 
 The Laughter of Jove: a Novel. Cr. 8vo. CI. 6s. 
 
 SEYMOUR, GORDON. 
 
 {See Ethics of the Surface Series.) 
 
 SHAW, GEORGE BERNARD. 
 
 Plays : Pleasant and Unpleasant. 
 
 I. Unpleasant. II. Pleasant. 
 
 With special Introduction, Prefaces to each Play, and 
 
 a portrait of the Author in photogravure. Fcap. 
 
 8vo. Cloth. 5s. each. 
 {See also Politics in 1896.) 
 
iStant Eicfjartis's putJlicationsi 
 
 SHIEL, M. P. 
 
 The Yellow Danger: a Novel. Crown 8va 
 Cloth. 6s. 
 
 SHORE, ARABELLA and LOUISA. 
 
 Poems by A. and L. Crown 8yo. Cloth. 5s. net. 
 
 SHORE, LOUISA 
 
 Hannibal : a Poetical Drama in Two Parts. New 
 Edition. With Portrait. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 5s.net. 
 
 SPENCER, EDWARD ("Nathaniel Gubbins"). 
 
 Cakes and Ale : a Memory of Many Meals ; the 
 whole interspersed with various recipes, more or 
 less original, and anecdotes, many veracious. With 
 Cover designed by Phil May. Small 4to. Cloth. 5s. 
 
 [Third Edition. 
 
 " Exceedingly readable, clever, and, moreover, highly informative. . . . From 
 racy chapter to racy chapter the reader is irresistibly earned on. . . . Hie mistress 
 of the house will read it carefully for the sake of the valuable recipes and hints, and 
 mine host will esteem it for the smart style in which it is written, and for the 
 plenitude of humour displayed in anecdote, story, and reminiscence." — Dundee 
 Advertiser. 
 
 "Allow me to say that it is a little book on a great subject that deserves to 
 occupy an honourable place in every library, on the same shelf as Kettner's ' Book of 
 the Table,' Sala*s_* A Thorough Good Cook,' and perhaps tiat over-j)rjused but un- 
 doubtedly entertaining classic, * Gastronomy as a Fine Art,' by Bnllat-Savarin." — 
 Sporting Life. 
 
 "This little volume should have its place among the wedding presents of every 
 bride." — Lady's Pictorial. 
 
 " There are many useful hints on table matters, and the recipes are all eminently 
 practical. No country house should be without it." — Guardian. 
 
 STEAD, W. T. 
 
 Real Ghost Stories: a Revised Reprint of the 
 ■ Christmas and New Year Numbers of the 
 "Review of Reviews," 1891-92. With new Intro- 
 duction. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 5s. 
 
 Letters from Julia ; or, Light from the Border- 
 land : a Series of Messages as to Life beyond the 
 Grave received by Automatic Writing from one who 
 has gone before. i6mo. Cloth. 2s. \Second Edition. 
 22 
 
(J5rant iRic&atDis'is Publications 
 
 STILLMAN, W. J. 
 
 The Old Rome and the New, and other 
 Studies. Crown 8vo, Cloth. 5 s. 
 
 SYLVAN SERIES, THE. 
 
 A Peakland Faggot : Tales told of Milton Folk. 
 By R. Murray Gilchrist. Fcap. 8vo. Cloth. 2s. 6d. 
 
 - " Not only are the sketches themselves full of cbarm and real literary vahje, but 
 the little volume is as pleasant to the eye and to the touch as its contents are 
 stimulating to the imagination. . . . We do not envy the person who could lay down 
 the book without feeling refreshed in spirit by its perusal. . . . We cannot give our 
 readers better counsel than in advising them to procure without delay this charming 
 and cheery ■volume."— Speaker. 
 
 <* We have no hesitation in saying that this is die very best work which Mr. 
 Gilchrist has given us. As studies of Black Country diaracter it is superb. In fact 
 he is a master of our feelings and emotions in this damtily produced little volume, and 
 ' A Peakland Faggot ' will solidify that reputation which he has been steadily building 
 up of late years, "the style is thoroughly poetic. . . . Our hearty congratulations to 
 Mr. Murray Gilchrist upon this performance — the magic he has used is the magic of 
 true genius." — Birmingham Gazette. 
 
 " The writer who gives us glimpses into the p^chology of the poor and illiterate 
 ought always to be welcome. . . . Mr. Murray Gilchrist has introduced us to a new 
 world of profound human interest." — Mr. T. F. O'Connor in the Gra^kic. 
 
 " I have read no Isook outside Mr. Hardy's so learned in such minutiae of country 
 ' wit* and sentiment." — Mr. Richard le Galuenne in the Star. 
 
 TROUBRIDGE, LADY. 
 
 Paul's Stepmother, and One Other Story. 
 
 With Frontispiece by Mrs. Adrian Hope. Crown 
 8vo. Cloth. 3s. 6d. 
 
 "There is a iiae natural interest in both these stones, and Lady Troubrid» 
 recounts them so well and gracefully that to the critical reader this interest is greatly 
 enhanced." — Dundee Advertiser. 
 
 " It is with a genuine feeling of pleasure that the reader will linger over ' Paul's 
 Stepmother,' a story that one is inclined to wish were longer, . . . The pathos of the 
 situation is treated with real feeling, and there is not a discordant note throughout 
 the story. . . . Both stories are marked as the work of a fine and cultured writer." 
 —IVeekly Sun. 
 
 TURNER, ELIZABETH. 
 
 (&e Dumpy Books for Children.) 
 
 WALDSTEIN, LOUIS, M.D. 
 
 The Subconscious Self and its Relation to 
 Education and Health. Fcap. 8vo. Cloth. 
 3s. 6d. 
 
 WARBOROUGH, MARTIN LEACH. 
 
 Tom, Unlimited : a Story for Children. With 
 Fifty Illustrations by Gertrude Bradley. Globe 
 8vo. Cloth. 5s. 
 
 23 
 
(3tmt Jaic|)ariis'0 PuWication^ 
 
 WEBB, SIDNEY. 
 
 Labour in the Longest Reign (1837 -1897). 
 
 Issued under the Auspices of the Fabian Society. 
 Fcap. 8vo. Cloth, is, 
 
 " It is, considering the source from which it comes, a singularly temperate and 
 just review of the changes in the lot of the laboiirer which the reign has brought." — 
 Scoisman. 
 
 " Mr. Sidney Webb has set forth some expert and telling comparisons between the 
 condition of the working-classes in 1837 and 1897. His remarks on wages, on the 
 irregularity of employment, on hours of labour, and on the housing of the poor, are 
 worthy of earnest consideration." — Daily Mail. 
 
 WHELEN, FREDERICK (Editor). 
 
 Politics in 1896. With Contributions by H. D. 
 Traill, D.C.L. ; H. W. Massingham ; G. Bernard 
 Shaw; G. W. Steevens; H. W. Wilson; Captain 
 F. N. Maude; Albert Shaw, and Robert Donald. 
 Globe 8vo. Cloth. 3s. net. 
 
 " For more reasons than one Mr. Whelen's Political Annual, of which die present 
 is the first issue, deserves a welcome. Not only does it constitute a bandy work of 
 reference, that besides merely enumerating the ^tolitical-wants of the past ^ear shows 
 also the light in which they are regarded by various shades of public opinion, but it 
 calls for recognition as a record of the development of political thought, that, if 
 regularly issued, will be of value to the future historian. . , . The book has attrac- 
 tions for those who wish to understand the various ideas actuating contending parties, 
 and such readers will certainly find entertaining matter in the several contr^utions. 
 — Morning Post. 
 
 ^ , "Mr. Whelen has undertaken a difficult task, but the volume which he has just 
 issued is a verjr interes^g and useful retrospect^ and all who are interested in con- 
 temporary affairs will be. glad to know that it is mtended to be an annual. The plan 
 is simple and comprehensive. . . . Mr. Whelen has done a usefiil work in starting 
 this adventure, and we wish him all success." — Daily Ckronicle. 
 
 "Those who can afford it, which includes at least every Labour Club, ought to 
 possess a copy for their library." — Mr. Keir Hardie in the Labour Leitder. 
 
 WRITTEN, WILFRED. 
 
 London in Song^: an Anthology of Prose and 
 Poetry inspired by London. With an Introduction. 
 Crown 8vo. Buckram. 6s. [In Preparation. 
 
 WILLSON, BECKLES. 
 
 The Tenth Island : Being some Account of New- 
 foundland ; its People, its Politics, and its Peculiari- 
 ties. With an Introduction by Sir William Whiteway, 
 K.C.M.G., Premier of the Colony, and an Appendix 
 by Lord Charles Beresford. Globe 8vo. Buckram. 
 3s. 6d. With Map. 
 
 Printed ^ R. & R. Clask, Limited, Bdmiurgh.