Nicholas I was brought up in the traditions of autocracy and believed
in them with all his heart. He hated liberal thought and detested the
idea of educating the masses.
Tens of thousands of copies of the New Testament and the Psalter were
burned by his orders. He said such books were for the priests, not for
the common people. Incidentally it may be remarked that the priests had
to teach what he wanted or lose their jobs.
To speak against his government, or even to criticize czars who reigned
hundreds of years before him was a crime.
The little band of dreamers who formed the Society of Cyril and
Methodius actually hoped to convert this autocrat, and secure his
assistance in freeing the people. They had visions of a free
Confederation of Slavonic states, after the pattern of the United
States of America, but with the czar as head. But they sadly misjudged
their man.
Shevchenko had actually spoken impertinently of the Autocrat in his
poems. He refused to retract.
The government really wished to he lenient, if he would only be good
and confess that he had done wrong. But Shevchenko was not of those who
are willing to admit that black is white.
The gloomy autocracy now pronounces his doom—a sort of living death in
Siberian barracks. The czar added to the sentence, with his own hand,
the proviso that he should not be allowed either to write or to paint.