celebration. But do not deceive yourself. There is no revolution with
us. Our country is too thinly populated. Let us say that ten, fifty, or
one hundred thousand inspired intellectuals would willingly sacrifice
themselves if they could help us thereby; how many Cossacks and
gendarmes would there be for each revolutionist, when we are spending
millions to maintain an army against the nation? There is only one
revolution that can be really dangerous, and I will not assert that such
a revolution could not break out if the present war should end
disastrously. That would be a peasant revolution, directed, not against
the régime itself, but against all property-owning and educated persons;
it would begin by all of us being killed and thrown into the river. And
the odds would be a hundred to one then that the police would not be
actively against this revolution, but secretly would be for it, in order
to rid themselves quickly and surely of their real antagonist, the
educated classes. A Kishinef may be arranged here at any day, not only
against the Jews, but against every one with whom the police wish to get
even."
"Then your highness believes that the Kishinef massacres were arranged
by the police?"
"This is not a mere belief; it is a proved fact. Their real authors,
Krushevan and Pronin, are the special protégés of Plehve; and Baron
Levendahl received a direct order from the higher authorities to refrain
from any intervention."
"And what was the purpose of it?"
"To intimidate the Jews, who, by their temperament, bring a little more
life to the radical parties, and to create the impression in the higher
circles that there is discontent in the country, not against the
government, but against the usurious Jews."
"And is not that true?"
"Usury with us is carried on by good, orthodox Christians much more
successfully than by the Jews, who are comparatively few in number, and,
besides, do not enjoy the protection of the authorities. No; the mob
massacres the Jews because in the name of the Czar they are proclaimed
outlaws. It is a kind of annual picnic. The Kishinef massacres are
condemned by the whole country, not only by the philo-Semites--to whom,
by-the-way, I do not belong. It has showed to all of us what may be done
in our land when an assumed purpose requires it. And for this reason the
entire public opinion takes sides with the Jews, who were merely
intended to serve as scapegoats for the educated and the discontented."
"But in what respect is the present régime so essentially different from
the preceding ones that such a fermentation could arise? Surely the
people have not been spoiled by anything better?"
"Now it is worse than ever before. There is perhaps an explanation for
this. Czar Nicholas is inspired by the best of motives. He is the first
of the malcontents. He would give his heart's blood to help his people.
The clique knows that, and is, therefore, risking everything on one
card, to prevent the Czar from drawing nearer to the people or creating
institutions that would put an end to bureaucratic omnipotence. The
terrors of revolution are painted on the wall, and the daily arrests are
intended to prove that it is only the mailed fist of the present
government that can curb a popular uprising."
"I know from sources near the Czar's family that the Czar is again
finding threatening letters in his coat-pockets, under his pillow, and
elsewhere."
"This is an old police trick. It was used to frighten Alexander III.,
and it almost drove him insane. Naturally, it is only the police that
can carry out such devices, for others could not reach the Czar's room.
But Plehve retains his ascendency through the illusion that his
dismissal would mean the way to the scaffold for the Czar's family."
"Has the Czar really anything to fear should the police relax its
vigilance?"
"Heaven forbid! The Czar is a sort of deity to the people, and the
educated classes know only too well that no man is less responsible for
existing conditions than he, in whose name these conditions are
inflicted upon us. But the Czar is made to believe that every attempt to
free public opinion from its fetters would lead to popular
representation, to a constitution, and finally to the scaffold."
"And all that is done by Plehve?"
"By him alone. His predecessor, Sipyagin, was an honest, narrow
reactionary, who regarded the state as the private property of the
dynasty, something like a great estate with property in souls as well as
in inanimate things. The nation has no more right to complain against
the impositions of the master than the cattle on the estate to complain
about the methods of feeding. Plehve is of an entirely different
caliber. A political cheat, an intriguer, an unscrupulous cynic, the
playing on the key-board of power tickles his blunted nerves. He has as
much conscience, sympathy, and humanity as my tiger here. His talent
consists of cunning and the art of dealing with men. There is no one
with whom he has exchanged three words that he has not lied to. His
patriotic overzeal, however, as a non-Russian--he naturally overdoes his
patriotism--commends him to the 'camarilla,' and so he becomes
omnipotent."
"You say that Plehve is not Russian?"
"He is partly Lettish, partly Polish, partly Jewish. Men like this are
always the worst here; they must see that their non-Russian names are
forgotten."
"And what do you mean by 'camarilla'?"
"The servile courtiers, the high officials, but above all, the entire
system. Do not forget that we are being ruled by a Camorra of
bureaucrats, that have no interest at all in the real welfare of the
country, but have their primary interest in the uncurtailed maintenance
of their power. If the Czar wished to hear, to-day, the truth about the
condition and sentiments of the country, he would never succeed, because
they do not expose one another in the Camorra; for there is only one
god--the career with all its chances of legitimate and illegitimate
gain."
"Your highness, I must allow myself an indiscreet question. It is said
that you are a friend of the Czar. You are surely not the only one. You
must have colleagues among the nobility, statesmen, and patriots who
cannot be prevented from being heard by the Emperor. Are you not in a
position to break through the iron ring of the bureaucrats, and to tell
the Czar the truth about the men who possess his confidence?"
"I appreciate your question. But what could single individuals do
against the abuses of centuries? Something is being done in the
direction indicated by you. The Czar receives, often enough, honest and
unreserved statements. But a lasting effect from such occasional
impulses is out of the question. Moreover, one must know the spirit of
the antechamber, the slanders and suspicions, the burden of routine. It
would require the power of a Hercules to escape from the net of these
forces, and the Czar is of a timid, modest, kindly nature. And how
quickly is every suggestion or initiative paralyzed! And what influences
cross one another at such a court! Who is strong enough to oppose a
grand vizier who works with unscrupulous falsification, and weaves about
the sovereign an impenetrable fabric of false dangers by means of
documentary calumnies and misstatements?"
"And so your highness can see no deliverance?"
"Only when God in heaven shall decree it, not otherwise. We live between
the anarchists in office and the anarchists with dagger and revolver.
These are only active forces, the latter as the logical sequence of the
former, and more than once their tools as well. All else is inactive,
limited to dissipating demonstration. The fountain of public opinion is
not tolerated; the organization of a progressive party is prevented; the
system anxiously guards the people from any contact with the educated
classes. There is no room for sentimentality in repelling every attempt
to render the Camorra harmless. An unguarded word, a simple
denunciation, are sufficient to send honorable and respected men where
they lose all desire for criticism. Whence, then, can help come? And we
need it, for the war places before us entirely new problems, that may be
solved only by unshackling intelligence. But now our bankruptcy will
become evident to all the world."
"And Witte! Has he no longer any influence?"
"None whatever. He is not a convenient and acceptable minister, for he
has a statesman's ambition and political ideas. He could, perhaps,
inaugurate a new system, but this is not allowed. In this country there
rules only the ministry of the interior--that is, the secret police; the
other departments are merely figure-heads."
"And a constitution would change nothing of this?"
"The Liberals and Radicals believe so, but I do not. I am of a different
opinion. 'Men and not measures,' is my motto, especially in an
autocracy. You know my views on the war. I am convinced that our brave
army will win. That will only mean a greater strengthening of the
system, till the complete financial and economic, social and moral
collapse, or till the first collision with a real power like the United
States of America. I see no relief and no salvation, especially since
foreign public opinion also forsakes us. We are fawned upon for
political or commercial reasons. Tell them abroad that we deserve
something better than this contemptible, statesman-like reserve and
these affected expressions of respect before a régime that we ourselves
denounce without exception. We deserve honest sympathy, for no other
nation has yet been made to struggle for its civilization against so
pitiless an adversary. Europe must further distinguish between the
Russian nation and this adversary. Russian society is full of noble
impulses; it is generous, warm-hearted, capable of inspiration, and free
from odious prejudices. Our common oppressor, the danger to the world's
peace as well as the author of this unhappy war, I repeat it again, is
the Camorra of the officials, a thoroughly anarchistic class. I do not
know, I must admit, when and how our release will come. I fear that we
shall, ere that, pass through sad trials, and even more terrible misery
of our flayed and hunger-enfeebled people, before Heaven shall take pity
on us."
I left the noble-minded prince with feelings that are usually awakened
in us only by tragedy.
X
SÄNGER'S FALL
The sudden dismissal of the minister of public instruction, the former
university professor Sänger, led me to discuss it more exhaustively with
several high dignitaries who willingly gave me information during my
sojourn in St. Petersburg. I had the opportunity of conversing with
persons exceptionally well-informed, but, for reasons easily
conceivable, I am not permitted to mention their names. I report here,
from my notes, an interview with a person standing near to the retired
minister, and still in active government service, because it seems
interesting to me even now.
"In the first place," said my informant, "you must not believe that
Sänger was dismissed. He himself insisted that his resignation,
repeatedly offered, be finally accepted. Scarcely two days ago the Czar
asked a general, highly esteemed by him, who came here from Warsaw,
where Sänger had formerly acted as curator of the university, as to his
opinion of Sänger, and the general answered that he considered Sänger a
very honest and learned man. 'I have just that opinion of him myself,'
said the Czar, complainingly, 'but he positively would not remain.'"
"Why does your excellency believe that Sänger had become so tired of his
position?"
"There are permanent and special reasons. The permanent ones are harder
to explain than the special ones. I therefore begin with the more
difficult. A minister of public instruction--'lucus a non lucendo'--has
here a very difficult post when he is an honest man and really desires
to live up to his duties. For what he is really asked to do is, that he
do _not_ enlighten the people, that he do _nothing_ for education, that
he merely pretend activity. We need no education; we need obedience.
That, of course, is not said to the Czar, who really believes that he is
being served honestly. But in the end it amounts to this, that only one
man rules here, the minister of the interior and chief of the secret
police, and that all the other ministers must dance to his music. I make
exception here, to a certain extent, of the ministers of war and of
finance. But if in any case there be a possibility of conflict between
any other department and the omnipotent police ministry, that other
department must subordinate itself to the rule of the latter. For von
Plehve stands guard over the security of the empire. You understand that
all other considerations are silenced here. The third division (the
secret police) and the Holy Synod are the pillars of our empire. Of what
importance is here an inoffensive minister of instruction, or culture,
as he is called in your country?"
"I should be obliged to your excellency for concrete examples."
"Here they are. There was, for instance, General Wannowski, a really
competent and influential man. While he was at the head of the
department of instruction he could not be so easily turned down at the
court as our ordinary university professor. Wannowski even effected some
reforms in our universities, but finally he, too, found it desirable to
retire from the field. Do you think it possible for a minister to remain
in office when a regulation prepared by him, approved by the Czar, and
made public, must next day be withdrawn because the minister of the
interior states in a special report that this regulation is in
opposition to the general government policy and is a danger to the
security of the country?"
"And has that occurred?"
"Something of that kind was a secondary cause also of Sänger's
resignation. As former curator of the University of Warsaw, he knew
Poland well. With the Czar's approval, he framed a regulation for
instruction in Poland that was pedagogically wise and politically
conciliating. Instantly Plehve made objection--for a relief of the
tension everywhere prevailing does not suit his system--and secured the
withdrawal of the regulation."
"But could not Sänger defend his measures?"
"His position was already weakened. Above all, his enemies succeeded in
placing him under suspicion as guilty of philo-Semitism. You know, or
perhaps do not know, that it is also a part of the system here to keep
the Jews--particularly the Jews--from higher education; and this higher
education in itself runs contrary to the desire of the dictator-general
of the Holy Synod and to that of the police. A minister of public
instruction, particularly when he hails from the learned professions,
may easily commit the error of making science readily accessible to all
properly qualified. Sänger granted some alleviation to the Jews, so that
the most gifted among them, especially when their academy professor had
already taken a warm interest in them, could enter the university
without great difficulty. He was reproached with that, and that would
have been sufficient to weaken the position of a stronger man."
"I am not familiar with the disabilities of Jewish students."
"A detailed description of these disabilities would carry you too far
afield. Suffice it to state that we possess a very complicated system,
particularly developed in Moscow, for the exclusion of Jewish children
from the schools. The ratio of three to one hundred must, however, be
conveniently tolerated. Now it happens quite frequently that, no matter
how strict the director at admission, on promotion from the lower to the
higher class this relation is shifted in favor of the Jews, because of
their diligence and sobriety in contrast to the characteristics of the
sons of the Russian officials. Then the trouble begins anew. Splendidly
qualified candidates cannot enter the university, since the prescribed
percentage has already been reached. The professors, however, who are
not pronounced anti-Semites really like these Jewish students who have
survived this process of selection, for they are really studious. But
that again is opposed to the principles of the accepted policy. And
whoever is inclined to take sides with the professors rather than with
the bulwarks of this general policy may easily find himself in the
toils, as it happened, for instance, in Sänger's case."
"Who are these bulwarks of this general policy?" An involuntary glance
towards the door, as if to see whether some uninvited listener was not
accidentally near--a glance I have frequently seen only in Russia--was
the first answer. Then, even in lower tones than before, he proceeded.
"That is still a portion of the legacy of Alexander III., rigidly
guarded by the dowager-empress, and particularly by the Grand-Duke
Sergius in Moscow. When in the Russo-Turkish war enormous peculations of
the military stores were discovered, the heir to the throne, then
commander of a corps in the reserve, was persuaded that the Jewish
contractors had defrauded the army, and the officer of the secret
police, Zhikharev, exerted himself to prove that two-thirds of all the
revolutionaries were Jews. That belief remained, just as a great portion
of the French still cling to the belief that Dreyfus is a traitor
because he is used as a scapegoat for the information-mongers of high
rank on the general staff. Something similar happened here. I really
have no desire to defend any Jewish contractor; but when there was in
our stores lime-dust instead of flour in the sacks, quite other people
than the Jews pocketed the difference. However, that is another story.
Grand-Duke Sergius, of Moscow, has among his other passions bigotry and
a fanatical hatred of Jews. And he is the uncle and brother-in-law of
the Czar."
"Then Sänger found himself in a rather dubious position mainly as a
philo-Semite?"
"At least as a man of not sufficiently pronounced anti-Semitism. But
also because he was not really the man to hold his own with the generals
and talents of the career-maker von Plehve. Finally, he was blamed for
adverse criticism of the general principles of the government expressed
at various conventions."
"At what conventions?"
"There was lately a convention of public-school teachers that presumed
to criticise by speaking the truth about an intimate of Plehve's,
Pronin, of Kishinef. I must emphasize here, by-the-way, that there was
only an insignificant minority of Jews at that convention. Then there
was a medical congress whose hygienic resolutions hid under a very thin
hygienic disguise an arraignment of the system of stupefying the
populace. The Lord knows Sänger had surely no premonition of these
occurrences. But they concerned his department; the spirit of his staff
was not right, and he alone was to blame for it, especially since von
Plehve knew very well what Sänger thought of him."
"Always Plehve, and only Plehve!"
"He is our little Metternich. A representative man, to quote Emerson.
The régime cannot be discussed without the mention of his name. Here is
another little sample of Plehve. There is a Professor Kuzmin-Karavayev
at the academy of military and international law. He was elected member
of the St. Petersburg city council, and is a member of the zemstvo of
Tver, a highly respected, upright man, interested in popular education.
But now he has been forbidden any public activity by the following
letter of von Plehve. Plehve wrote to Kuropatkin, the minister of war:
'By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Emperor on January 8,
1904, I would simply dismiss Professor Kuzmin-Karavayev as politically
inconvenient. But since he is in the government service I ask you to
insist that the aforesaid professor renounce all public activity.' This
is literally true. You see how the omnipotent Plehve treats even a
favorite like Kuropatkin, to say nothing of a timid, good professor like
our Sänger! You may rest assured that, with all his upright views, we
lost little in his resignation; he was without influence and too weak."
"And who will succeed him?"
"That is quite immaterial. Major-General Shilder, superintendent of the
cadet corps, has already been offered the position, but he declined it.
As long as Plehve's spirit and that of his minions is sweeping over the
waters nothing will happen save what favors the suppression of public
enlightenment and the prevention of revolution. The name is but an empty
sound."
"Your excellency, should I commit an indiscretion by publishing our
conversation just as it took place?"
"With the necessary precaution of leaving out my name, for I naturally
have no inclination to attract the especial anger of our
dictator-general. For the rest, I do not believe I have told you
anything that could not be said in almost the same words by any one at
all familiar with conditions as they are."
"That, your excellency, I must confirm. One of the greatest riddles for
me is the formation of a public opinion in St. Petersburg, where the
papers dare not even hint of what is spoken in the circles of the
intelligent classes."
"Russia also has its constitution," said he, rising, and smiling
significantly. "That constitution consists of the dissensions among the
ministers. And when among ourselves, a certain discretion assumed, we
do not stand on ceremony. Here you have the sources of public
opinion"--again the significant smile--"you will perhaps understand why
no minister fares well."
"Hence also Plehve?"
(A motion of despairing defence.) "He? No! speaking seriously. It is the
curse of our country. May the Lord save us!"
XI
THE PEOPLE'S PALACE OF ST. PETERSBURG (NARODNI DOM)
In Potemkin's fatherland the art of government consists principally in
hiding the truth not only from the people, but also from the Czar, who
must be made to believe that he really strives for the welfare of the
people, and not only for that of the all-powerful bureaucracy.
Potemkin's art, as is well known, consisted in deceitfully showing to
his beloved Empress, in a long journey, prosperous peasant farms, where
in reality wretchedness and misery had established their permanent home.
What the all-powerful favorite had accomplished by means of pasteboard
and bushes, costs the modern Potemkins somewhat more comfort; but like
their predecessor, they are in a position to supply it from the richly
filled imperial treasury. The "Narodni Dom," the people's institute on
the St. Petersburg fortress, is utilized to persuade the philanthropic
Nicholas that in his paternally governed empire more ample provision is
made for the common people and their welfare than in the heartless,
civilized Western countries.