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If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The dawn in Russia - -Author: Henry Woodd Nevinson - -Release Date: February 9, 2023 [eBook #69996] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Peter Becker, Karin Spence and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAWN IN RUSSIA *** - - - - - - THE DAWN IN RUSSIA - - - - - BY THE SAME AUTHOR - - - NEIGHBOURS OF OURS - IN THE VALLEY OF TOPHET - THE THIRTY DAYS’ WAR BETWEEN GREECE AND TURKEY - LADYSMITH: THE DIARY OF A SIEGE - THE PLEA OF PAN - BETWEEN THE ACTS - A MODERN SLAVERY - - [Illustration: - - _Art Reproduction Co._ - - “PACIFICATION.” - - THE KREMLIN OF MOSCOW, CHRISTMAS, 1905. - - From _Sulphur_ (_Jupel_).] - - - - - THE - DAWN IN RUSSIA - - OR - - SCENES IN THE RUSSIAN - REVOLUTION - - - BY - HENRY W. NEVINSON - - - [Illustration] - - - _ILLUSTRATED_ - - - LONDON AND NEW YORK - HARPER & BROTHERS - 45 ALBEMARLE STREET, W. - 1906 - - - - - TABLE OF CONTENTS - - - INTRODUCTION - PAGE - - Summary of chief events since the outbreak of the Japanese - War, February 1904--Scandals of the War--Tolstoy’s - protest--The Königsberg case--Assassination of Bobrikoff - and Plehve--The Zemstvo Petition of Rights--The appearance - of the workman--Father Gapon--Petition to the Tsar--Bloody - Sunday--Trepoff--Assassination of Grand Duke Sergius--Promises - of a State Duma--Outbreak in the Caucasus--The - Moscow Zemstvoists--Death of Troubetskoy--End of the - Japanese War--The railway strike--The general strike--The - Manifesto of October 30, 1905--Restoration of Finland’s - liberties--Mutiny at Kronstadt--Refusal of Zemstvoists - to serve under Witte--Martial Law in Poland--Second - general strike declared--Its failure--Manifesto to - the Peasants 1 - - - CHAPTER I - - THE STRIKE COMMITTEE - - The Hall of Free Economics--Description of Delegates--The - Women--The Executive--Khroustoloff--The Eight-hours’ - Day--The Russian “Marseillaise”--Meeting against Capital - Punishment--Freedom in the balance--Beginnings of reaction--But - hope prevailed 25 - - - CHAPTER II - - THE WORKMEN’S HOME - - The Schlüsselburg Road--The River--The People and the - Cossacks--Casual massacres--The Workmen’s Militia--The - Alexandrovsky ironworks--The mills--The hours of - labour--Wages--Prices and the standard of living--Standard - of work and food--Housing and rent--Washing--Holidays - and amusements--Connection of work-people - with villages--Passion for the land--The Peasant’s - Congress--The Sevastopol mutiny--The post and telegraph - strike 37 - - - CHAPTER III - - FATHER GAPON AGAIN - - Meeting of December 4th--The Salt Town--Gapon’s - followers--Barashoff, the Chairman--The Hymn of the - Fallen--Russian music--Police spies--Russian - Oratory--Moderate demands of the Gaponists--Opposition - of the Social Democrats--Scarcity of Anarchists--Conversation - with Father Gapon--His apparent Nature--Charges of - Opportunism 50 - - - CHAPTER IV - - THE FREEDOM OF THE WORD - - Effect of the post strike--Volunteer sorters--Epidemic of - strikes--Joy in public speaking--The power of speech--Sudden - outburst of newspapers--_The Russian Gazette_--_The New - Life_--_The Son of the Country_--_The Beginning_--_Our - Life_--_Russia_--The Jewish Papers--The Reactionary - Press--_Novoe Vremya_--_The Citizen_--_The Word_--The satiric - papers and Cartoons--Character of Russian satire--The Social - Revolutionists had no paper--Nor had the Radicals--The - dangers of division--The split in a Polish restaurant--The - joy of life--The assassination of Sakharoff--The protest - of the Strike Committee against Government finance--Arrest - of Khroustoloff and the Executive 60 - - - CHAPTER V - - THE OPEN LAND - - The town of Toula--The road to the country--The travelling - peasant--The wayside inn--A country house--Landowners - at home--A typical village--A cottage - interior--The stove and the loom--Doubts on the Mir--A - beggar for scraps--Flogging for taxes--Tolstoy on the - End of an Age--How Empires will now cease--The aged - prophet--The restoration of the land--The rotting towns--New - ideals of statesmanship--Indifference to poets and - Shakespeare--The grace of sanctity and the limitations of - logic 81 - - - CHAPTER VI - - THE STATE OF MOSCOW - - The return of the Army--How they were received--Fears and - hopes about their return--Would the soldiers obey?--The - Rostoff regiment--The Cossacks and the crowd--Instinct - of mutual aid--The post strike--Private assistance--Formation - of unions--The tea packers--The shop assistants--Failure - of gaiety--University closed--Lectures for - the Movement--Soldiers in revolt--The Zemstvoists--Miliukoff’s - paper--A Moscow factory--The barrack system--Wages--The post - strike and freedom of speech--Gorky on the rich and - educated--_The Children of the Sun_--The street murders 97 - - - CHAPTER VII - - THE OLD ORDER - - St. Nicholas’ Day--Fears and expectations--The Black Hundred - Perils of night--The new Governor-General--The sacred - Banners--The crowd of worshippers--The procession--The - bishops and the Iberian Virgin--The Krasnaya--Incitements - to massacre--Appeal to Dubasoff--The stampede of the - patriots 120 - - - CHAPTER VIII - - THE DAYS OF MOSCOW--I - - My start for the Caucasus--The railway strike begins--The - peasants on the train--General strike--Provisions cut - short--Friendly discussions with soldiers--A red flag - procession--A Cossack charge--Silence at night--Government - preparations--Revolutionists unwilling to rise--The - Government’s design to bring on the outbreak--The attack - on Fiedler’s house--Revolutionary force and arms--Reported - danger of English overseers--The guns begin--The district - of fighting--The revolutionary plan--The - barricades--Difficulties of the spectator in street - fighting--Interest of the crowd--Casualties begin--The red - cross--Assistance to the wounded--The Government guns 129 - - - CHAPTER IX - - THE DAYS OF MOSCOW--II - - Reports of the revolution--Guns on the Theatre - Square--Explosion in a gun-shop--Increase in the - fighting--Sledges refuse the wounded--The merciful - soldier--A schoolboy killed--The revolutionist - position--The barricade forts--Barricades never held--The - revolutionist tactics--Varieties in barricade--The troops - protect their right flank--Barricades still growing--Police - in disguise 155 - - - CHAPTER X - - THE DAYS OF MOSCOW--III - - The beginning of the end--My attempts at - photography--Unsuspected presence of revolutionists--Search - for revolvers--Labels for identification--Fresh fighting on - the Government’s left--But the main movement was - failing--Revolutionists appeal for volunteers--Official - estimate of casualties--Assassination of the chief of secret - police--The Sadovaya at dawn--The police receive rifles--The - barricades destroyed--Business resumed by order--Relief of - business people--Fighting continues in Presnensky - District--Mills held for the revolution--Arrival of the - Semenoffsky Guards--Bombardment of the district--The murder - of Dr. Vorobieff for assisting the wounded--The district from - the inside--Attempts to escape--End of the rising--Various - estimates of dead and wounded--The executions--The slaughter - of prisoners--The flogging of boys and girls--Christmas - Day--The ceremony in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour 169 - - - CHAPTER XI - - IN LITTLE RUSSIA - - Results of the rising--Revolutionists claim some - success--Some gain in unity--But the movement lost - prestige--Hopes of winning over troops proved vain--Reasons - of this--Consequent elation of the Government--Hopes of a - new loan--Witte laments his lost faith--My journey to - Kieff--Harvest rotting on the platforms--Kieff as religious - centre--Pilgrimages to the catacombs--An intellectual - centre--Character of Little Russians--Their costume--No - thought of separation--Apprehension of Poles--The Little - Russian movement--The recent riots of Loyalists--Attack on - the British Consulate--Persecution of Jews--Crowded prisons - and typhus--The Black Earth--Grain as Russia’s chief - export--Poverty of the villages--Reasons for this--The - country districts quiet 198 - - - CHAPTER XII - - THE JEWS OF ODESSA - - Joy over the Manifesto--Violent suppression--Trepoff and - Neidhart--The days of massacre--Present state of Jewish - quarters--Habits of Jews--Refusal of concealment--A type of - Israel--Attempts at relief--Difficulties of - organization--Flight of the rich and distress of their - parasites--Dockers and their poverty--The Constitutional - democrats--Their programme--The Jewish Bund--Jewish - disqualifications--The English Aliens Act 215 - - - CHAPTER XIII - - LIBERTY IN PRISON - - Murder of the student Davidoff--Precautions for the - anniversary of Bloody Sunday--Strike Committee orders a - memorial of silence--The day on the Schlüsselberg - road--The Navy and telescopic sights--Silence in the - workmen’s districts--The Vampire and Freedom--Wholesale - arrests--Methods of imprisonment and sentence--The House of - Inquiry--A letter from prison--The Peter-Paul - fortress--Khroustoloff’s prison--The Cross - prison--Imprisonments and executions--Why Russia has no - Cromwell--The Schlüsselberg converted into a mint--Statistics - of suppression--The committee of ministers--Siberian exile - continued--Meetings of Constitutional Democrat - delegates--Their methods and programme--Their - leaders--Miliukoff still hopeful 228 - - - CHAPTER XIV - - THE PRIEST AND THE PEOPLE - - Over the ice to Kronstadt--Father John and his shelter--The - service of the altar--His blessing--His miraculous life and - powers--His influence in reaction--A revolutionary - concert--The proletariat of intellect--Russian - democracy--The use of the parable--The bond of danger--The - advantage of tyranny 248 - - - CHAPTER XV - - A BLOODY ASSIZE - - The Baltic Provinces--Lists of floggings and - executions--Vengeance of the German landowners--They are - weary of town life--Letts driven to execution--The Irish - of Russia--Character of the people--Their songs--Their - religion--Their buildings--Their isolated farms--Disaster - of Russification--The burning of country houses--“We have - condemned you to death”--Mixture of social and national - grievances--Refusal of Germans to appeal to Berlin--The - case of Pastor Bielenstein--A Lettish scholar--A rebel’s - funeral--The assize in the country--Executions ordered by - telephone--The case of a schoolmistress--Reprisals and - rescues 262 - - - CHAPTER XVI - - THE PARTIES OF POLAND - - Polish tendency to division--The reactionary position - stated--Supposed beneficence of martial law--Suppression - good for Poles--Absurdities of Socialists and - Nationalists--Reconquest of Finland necessary--Poland - essential as barrier against Germany--The Polish - workman--Disasters in Polish trade--Loss of credit--The - landless labourers--Education--Wages--Rent--Polish - brides and demand for ancestral relics--The Realist - party--The National Democrats--A meeting to practice for - elections--A Nationalist programme--The Progressive - Democrats--The National Socialists--The Social - Democrats--The Proletariat Socialists--The Jewish - Bund--Attempts to influence the Army--Executions of - so-called Anarchists and Jews--The Warsaw citadel--Two - brave Jewesses 282 - - - CHAPTER XVII - - THE DRAMA OF FREEDOM - - The struggle between Freedom and Oppression--The early - hopes--The Government’s uncertainty--The plot to overthrow - Freedom--Its apparent success--The new loan - secured--Difficulty of realizing the actual truth beneath - abstractions--Persistence of the revolution--Summary of - events--Finance and the elections--Execution of Lieutenant - Schmidt--Victory of the Constitutional Democrats--Germany - refuses to share in the loans, but France and England - subscribe largely--Resignation of Count Witte--Reported death - of Father Gapon--Attempt to assassinate Admiral - Dubasoff--Assassination of General Jeoltanowski--Fundamental - Law--New Ministers--Preparing for the Duma 301 - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - THE FIRST PARLIAMENT - - Baleful prophecies--Provocations--Meeting of Constitutional - Democrats broken up by police--Ministerial - figureheads--Birthday of freedom--Trepoff’s - precautions--Ceremony in Winter Palace--The Old Order - confronted by the New--The Church intervenes--The Tsar’s - address--“Unwavering firmness,” and the “Necessity of - Order”--No promise of amnesty--Officials applaud--The people - silent--The cry of the prisoners--The Duma assembles in the - Taurida Palace--President elected by 426 to 3--Petrunkevitch - speaks first--The demand for amnesty--A languid afternoon in - the “Nobleman’s Assembly”--Golitzin greeted with holy - kisses--Witte and Durnovo side by side--Prayers and - compliments--The Duma at work--Taurida Palace closely - guarded--Difficulties about procedure--Drafting the reply to - the Tsar’s speech--An honourable impatience--Congratulations - from many lands--Telegrams from imprisoned - “politicals”--Russia’s representatives unanimous for - amnesty--Freedom and Justice versus Tradition and the Sword 317 - - - - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - “PACIFICATION.” THE KREMLIN OF MOSCOW, CHRISTMAS, - 1905 _Frontispiece_ - From _Sulphur_ (_Jupel_) - - TO FACE PAGE - - A DEMONSTRATION BY THE KAZAN CHURCH, ST. PETERSBURG 2 - From _The Marseillaise_ - - “HOMUNCULUS” AND THE S.D. (SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC) RATS 12 - From _Burelom_ (_The Storm_) - - “AN AUTUMN IDYLL” 40 - From _Sulphur_ (_Jupel_) - - WITTE AND THE CONSTITUTION 72 - From _Sprut_ - - PEASANT SLEDGES 80 - - A PRIVATE SLEDGE 80 - - TOLSTOY’S HOME 90 - - PEASANTS 90 - - TOLSTOY IN MIDDLE AGE 96 - - FIEDLER’S HOUSE 140 - - EFFECT OF SHELLS 140 - - A MINOR BARRICADE 146 - - A MILITARY POST AT MOSCOW 146 - - “GOD WITH US!” 152 - From _Sprut_ - - BARRICADES ON THE SADOVAYA 162 - - “THE NEW ERA” 176 - From _Sulphur_ (_Jupel_) - - “INTERCOURSE IS RESUMED” 182 - From _Streli_ (_Arrows_) - - DUBASOFF’S ROLL CALL 194 - From _Burelom_ (_The Storm_) - - A LITTLE RUSSIAN 206 - - A TRAMP 206 - - A PEASANT’S HOME 212 - - THE LAVRA AT KIEFF 212 - - THE JEWS’ GRAVE AT ODESSA 216 - - AFTER THE MASSACRE 216 - - “I THINK SHE’S QUIET AT LAST” 232 - From the _Vampyre_ - - 1905–1906 300 - From _Sulphur_ (_Jupel_) - - PLAN OF MOSCOW 350 - - The design on the cover is from a cartoon in the Russian - revolutionary paper _Pulemet_ (_The Machine Gun_). - - The illustrations are from Russian cartoons and from photographs, - most of which were taken by the author. - - - - - THE DAWN IN RUSSIA - - OR - - SCENES IN THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION - - - - - INTRODUCTION - - -I have not attempted in this book to do more than describe some of the -scenes which I witnessed in Russia during the winter of 1905–1906, -while I was acting there as special correspondent for the _Daily -Chronicle_. For the most part, the descriptions are given in the -same words which I wrote down at the time, either for my own memory or -for the newspaper. But the whole has been re-arranged and rewritten, -while certain scenes have been added for which a daily paper has -no room. I have also inserted between the scenes a bare outline of -the principal events that were happening elsewhere, so that the -significance of what I saw may be more easily understood, and the dates -become something better than mere numbers. - -But to realize the meaning of the earlier chapters, a further -introduction is necessary, and it is difficult to know where to begin. -For there is never any real break in a nation’s history from day to -day, and the movement of 1905 was not the first sign of change, but -only the brightest. The story of the undaunted struggle for freedom -in Russia during the last fifty years has been admirably told by -Stepniak, Kropotkin, Zilliacus, Miliukoff, and many other writers. In -books that are easily obtained, any one may learn the course of that -great movement--the changes in its aims and methods, the distinctions -in its parties, and the martyrdoms of its recorded heroes. So for this -present purpose of chronicling a few peculiar or unnoticed events and -situations which would hardly have a place in history at all, perhaps -it will be enough if I begin the skeleton annals with the outbreak of -the war between Russia and Japan in February, 1904. - - [Illustration: A DEMONSTRATION BY THE KAZAN CHURCH, ST. PETERSBURG. - - From _The Marseillaise_.] - -It is true that for some time earlier the revolutionary movement -had obviously been gathering strength. Within two years there had -occurred outbreaks among the peasants, student risings in Moscow, and -a demonstration in front of the great classic building called the -Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Some soldiers at Toula had actually -refused to kill the work-people. The Zemstvos, or District Councils of -landowners and upper-middle classes, had ventured to recommend economic -reforms, and a student from Kieff had assassinated Sipiaguine, the -Minister of the Interior. To counteract these evils, heightened by -a period of industrial depression, Plehve had been promoted from the -Governorship of Finland to the Ministry of the Interior; a manifesto -had been issued (March 12, 1903), removing the responsibility of the -village communes for individual taxation, and promoting religious -toleration; and the Jews of Kishineff had been massacred, with the -connivance of the Government, and probably at its direct instigation -(April 20, 1903). The Armenian Church in the Caucasus was deprived -of £3,000,000 of its funds, the public debt of Russia rose to -£700,000,000, about half of the interest on which had to be paid to -foreign countries, and Witte was appointed President of the Committee -of Ministers, while his assistant Pleske succeeded him in what was then -regarded as the far more important position of the Ministry of Finance. - -It was obvious that the Government--which we may call Tsardom or -Oligarchy as we please--had in any case entered upon the way to -destruction, and that the revolution was already at work. Indeed, the -Social Democrats had met in secret in 1903, and published a “minimum -programme” demanding a Republic under universal adult suffrage. But -still the disastrous war with Japan hastened these tendencies, and its -outbreak may conveniently be taken to mark a period, for the dates of -wars are definite and the results quick. - -The course of that ruinous campaign, unequalled, I suppose, in history -for the uninterrupted succession of its disasters, need not concern -us now. It wasted many millions of money, borrowed by a country which -is naturally and inevitably poor. It revealed an incompetence in the -ruling classes worse than our own in South Africa, together with a -corruption and a heartlessness of greed compared to which even the -scandals of South Africa seemed rather less devilish. It kept from -their work in fields and factories about a million grown men, who had -to be fed and clothed, however badly, by the rest of the population, -and it killed or maimed some two or three hundred thousand of them. -Otherwise the war can hardly be said to have concerned the Russian -people any more than ourselves, so general was their indifference -both to its cause and to its failure. “It is not our war, it is the -Government’s affair,” was the common saying. Tolstoy is a prophet, -and the mark of a prophet is that he speaks with the voice of God -and not with the voice of the people; but in his protest against the -war (published in the _Times_ of June 27, 1904) he uttered a -denunciation of the Government with which nearly the whole of Russia’s -population would have agreed. Of the head of that Government himself, -he wrote:-- - - “The Russian Tsar, the same man who exhorted all the nations in - the cause of peace, publicly announces that, notwithstanding - all his efforts to maintain the peace so dear to his heart - (efforts which express themselves in the seizing of other - people’s lands and in the strengthening of armies for the - defence of those stolen lands), he, owing to the attack of the - Japanese, commands that the same should be done to the Japanese - as they had begun doing to the Russians--namely, that they - should be slaughtered; and in announcing this call to murder he - mentions God, asking the Divine blessing on the most dreadful - crime in the world. This unfortunate and entangled young man, - recognized as the leader of 130,000,000 of people, continually - deceived and compelled to contradict himself, confidently thanks - and blesses the troops which he calls his own for murder in - defence of lands which he calls his own with still less right.” - -While the myth of Russia’s military and naval power--a myth which -for fifty years had misguided England’s foreign policy, checked any -generous impulse on the part of our statesmen, and driven them to -breach of national faith, callousness towards outrageous cruelty, -and every moral humiliation that a proud and ancient people can -suffer--while this overwhelming myth was being dissipated month by -month in the Far East, the characteristic methods by which the Russian -Tsar and Oligarchs sought to maintain their hold upon the wealth and -privileges of State were being revealed in the so-called Königsberg -case. It was discovered that even in a foreign capital like Berlin, the -Russian Government employed a little army of spies, under a recognized -and highly-paid official, to search the homes of Russian Liberals, to -watch their goings, and open their letters. It was also shown that, -even under a comparatively civilized government like the German, -the authorities were ready to bring their own subjects to trial for -alleged verbal attacks upon the Tsar; while a Russian Consul, probably -in obedience to orders from home, would tell any lie and garble any -document to support the charge. - -On June 17th the air was cleared by the assassination of General -Bobrikoff, the Russian tyrant of Finland, and on July 8th that deed -was followed by the assassination of Plehve. In all the history of -political murder, I suppose, there has never been a case in which the -victim received less pity, or the crime less condemnation. The pitiless -hand of reaction was for the moment stayed. The birth of an heir to the -uneasy crown inspired the Tsar with such amiability that, as father -of his people, he abolished the punishment of flogging among his -grown-up subjects. Prince Sviatopolk Mirski, who was justly regarded as -something of a Liberal as princes go, succeeded Plehve at the Interior, -released some political prisoners, advocated decentralization with the -development of the Zemstvos, and promised better education, liberty of -conscience, and freedom of speech. - -Again the Zemstvoists, taking their courage as moderate Liberals -in both hands, met secretly in St. Petersburg, and drew up a kind -of Petition of Rights to be presented to the Tsar. There were one -hundred and six members present at the secret conferences, thirty-six -of them belonging to the caste of the nobility, and their Petition -began with the complaint that the bureaucracy had alienated the people -from the Throne, and that by its distrust of self-government it had -shown itself entirely out of touch with the people. In place of the -bureaucratic system, the Petition demanded an elected Legislature of -two Houses, together with freedom of conscience, the press, meeting, -and association, equal civil and political rights for all classes and -races, and similar methods of justice for the peasants as for other men. - -The Zemstvo petition was issued on November 22, 1904. A month later -(December 26th) it was repeated in still more direct and urgent terms -by the Moscow Zemstvo, which had always taken the lead in reform, being -inspired by its President, Prince Sergius Troubetzkoy, Professor of -Philosophy in the University since 1888. But, in the meantime, student -riots had again occurred in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the censorship -had been renewed, and on the same day as the Moscow petition there -appeared an Imperial manifesto proclaiming “the unshakable foundations -of the Russian State system, consecrated by the fundamental laws of -the Empire,” and announcing the Tsar’s determination to act always in -accordance with the revered will of his crowned predecessor, while he -thought unceasingly upon the welfare of the realm entrusted to him by -God. The manifesto went on to admit that when the need of this or that -change had been proved to be mature, the Tsar was willing to take it -into consideration, and upon this principle he undertook to maintain -the laws, to give local institutions as wide a scope as possible, to -unify judicial procedure throughout the Empire, to establish State -insurance of workmen, and to revise the laws upon political crime, -religious offences, and the press. But the tone of the whole manifesto -was felt to be reactionary, and there was no guarantee that its -promises would be observed. When our own Charles I. made concessions, -the people shouted, “We have the word of a King!” But they soon found -that assurance was a shifty thing to trust to, and since then the words -of kings have counted for no more than the words of men. - -But the opening of the next year (1905) was marked by the appearance -of a new element in revolution. Certainly, there had been strikes and -riots in the great cities before; there had been peasant risings and -other forms of economic agitation in various parts. But as a whole the -revolutionary movement as such had been inspired, directed, and even -carried out by the educated classes--the students, the journalists, the -doctors, barristers, and other professional men. It had been almost -limited to that great division of society which in Russia is called -“The Intelligence.” The word is fairly well represented by our phrase -“educated classes”--a phrase which embodies our greatest national -shame. It includes all who are not workmen or peasants, and so is much -wider in significance than the French term “The Intellectuals,” with -which it is often confused. In England, for instance, it would include -the House of Lords, the clergy, army officers, country gentlemen, and -the leaders of society whom no Frenchman would dream of classing among -the intellectual. - -It was “the Intelligence” who hitherto had fought for the revolution. -It was they who had suffered scourgings and exile and imprisonment and -madness and violation and the gallows in the name of freedom. It was -they who had endured the horror that most people feel in killing a man. -And, above all, it was they who had devoted their lives, their careers, -and reputations to going about among the peasants and working-people -to show them that the misery and terror under which they lived were -neither necessary nor universal. At length the firstfruits of their -toilsome propaganda, continued through forty years, were seen, and the -revolutionary workman appeared. - -He was ushered in by Father George Gapon, at that time a rather -simple-hearted priest, with a rather childlike faith in God and the -Tsar, and a certain genius for organization. His personal hold upon the -working classes was probably due to their astonishment that a priest -should take any interest in their affairs, outside their fees. We have -seen the same thing happen in England, when Manning and Westcott won -the reverence due to saints because they displayed some feeling for the -flock which they were paid large sums to protect. Father Gapon, with -his thin line of genius for organization, had gathered the workmen’s -groups or trade unions of St. Petersburg into a fairly compact body, -called “The Russian Workmen’s Union,” of which he was President as -well as founder. In the third week in January the men at the Putiloff -iron works struck because two of their number had been dismissed for -belonging to their union. At once the Neva iron and ship-building -works, the Petroffsky cotton works, the Alexander engine works, the -Thornton cloth works, and other great factories on the banks of the -river or upon the industrial islands joined in the strike, and in two -days some 100,000 work-people were “out.” - -With his rather childlike faith in God and the Tsar, Father Gapon -organized a dutiful appeal of the Russian workmen to the tender-hearted -autocrat whose benevolence was only thwarted by evil counsellors and -his ignorance of the truth. The petition ran as follows:-- - - “We workmen come to you for truth and protection. We have - reached the extreme limits of endurance. We have been exploited, - and shall continue to be exploited under your bureaucracy. - - “The bureaucracy has brought the country to the verge of ruin - and by a shameful war is bringing it to its downfall. We have - no voice in the heavy burdens imposed on us. We do not even - know for whom or why this money is wrung from the impoverished - people, and we do not know how it is expended. This is contrary - to the Divine laws, and renders life impossible. It is better - that we should all perish, we workmen and all Russia. Then good - luck to the capitalists and exploiters of the poor, the corrupt - officials and robbers of the Russian people! - - “Throw down the wall that separates you from your people. Russia - is too great and her needs are too various for officials to - rule. National representation is essential, for the people alone - know their own needs. - - “Direct that elections for a constituent assembly be held by - general secret ballot. That is our chief petition. Everything is - contained in that. - - “If you do not reply to our prayer, we will die in this square - before your palace. We have nowhere else to go. Only two paths - are open to us--to liberty and happiness or to the grave. Should - our lives serve as the offering of suffering Russia, we shall - not regret the sacrifice, but endure it willingly.” - -On the morning of Sunday, January 22, 1905, about 15,000 working men -and women formed into a procession to carry this petition to the Tsar -in his Winter Palace upon the great square of government buildings. -They were all in their Sunday clothes; many peasants had come up from -the country in their best embroideries; they took their children with -them. In front marched Father Gapon and two other priests wearing -vestments. With them went the ikons, or holy pictures of shining -brass and silver, and a portrait of the Tsar. As the procession moved -along, they sang, “God save our people. God give our Orthodox Tsar the -victory.” - -So the Russian workmen made their last appeal to the autocrat whom they -called their father. They would lay their griefs before him, they would -see him face to face, they would hear his comforting words. - -But the father of his people had disappeared into space. - -As the procession entered the square, the soldiers fired volley after -volley upon them from three sides. The estimate of the killed and -wounded was about 1500. That Sunday--January 9th in Russian style--is -known as Bloody Sunday or Vladimir’s Day, after the Grand Duke -Vladimir, who was supposed to have given the orders. - -Next morning Father Gapon wrote to his Union: “There is no Tsar now. -Innocent blood has flowed between him and the people.” - - [Illustration: “HOMUNCULUS” AND THE S. D. (SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC) RATS. - - From _Burelom_ (_The Storm_).] - -Innocent blood has flowed before and tyrants still have reigned. They -have been feared, they have won their way, and men have served them. -Mankind will endure much in the name of government, but to be -governed by a coward is almost beyond the endurance of man. - -On January 24th a new office of Governor-General of St. Petersburg was -created, and Trepoff received the first appointment. - -Disturbances continued in Warsaw, Lodz, and Sosnowice, the industrial -centres of Poland, and on January 31st 200 work-people were killed and -600 wounded in the streets of Warsaw. - -On February 17th the Grand Duke Sergius, Governor-General of Moscow, -uncle to the Tsar, conspicuous for his cruelty, and, even among the -Russian aristocracy, renowned for the peculiarity of his vices, was -assassinated as he drove into the Kremlin. - -This event and other outbreaks that were continually occurring in the -great centres of industry, inspired a remarkable manifesto and rescript -that appeared on March 3rd and were characteristic of the hesitating -fugitive in Tsarkoe Selo. The manifesto took the form of a pathetic -address to the people whom he had misgoverned with such disaster:-- - - “Disturbances have broken out in our country” (it said) “to the - joy of our enemies and our own deep sorrow. Blinded by pride, - the evil-minded leaders of the revolutionary movement make - insolent attacks upon the Holy Orthodox Church and the lawfully - established pillars of the Russian State.... - - “We humbly bear the trial sent us by Providence, and derive - strength and consolation from our firm trust in the grace - which God has always shown to the Russian power, and from the - immemorial devotion which we know our loyal people entertain for - the Throne.... - - “Let all those rally round the Throne who, true to Russia’s - past, honestly and conscientiously have a care for all the - affairs of the State such as we have ourselves.” - -In the rescript that followed on the same day a form of Legislative -Assembly was promised in these words-- - - “I am resolved henceforth, with the help of God, to convene - the worthiest men, possessing the confidence of the people - and elected by them, to participate in the elaboration and - consideration of legislative measures.” - -Buliguine, who had now succeeded Mirski as Minister of the Interior, -and was probably the author of the rescript, was appointed to organize -the elections. But a counterblast of reaction swept over the distracted -Tsar; Trepoff was made Assistant-Minister of the Interior and Chief of -the Police, with full power to forbid all congresses, associations, -or meetings, and Buliguine resigned, though he remained nominally in -office till the end of October. - -Outbreaks in the country became continually more serious. In June there -was fierce rioting in Lodz, the great manufacturing town of Poland, and -in the Baltic port of Libau. In the same month the great battleship -_Potemkin_ of the Black Sea fleet mutinied at Odessa, threw two -big shells into the town, burnt the docks, and steamed away to the -mouth of the Danube for refuge. - -Mid-August brought another manifesto, which began with the usual -precepts of maudlin falsehood-- - - “The Empire of Russia is formed and strengthened by the - indestructible solidarity of the Tsar with the people and the - people with the Tsar. The concord and union of the Tsar and the - people are a great moral force, which has created Russia in the - course of centuries by protecting her from all misfortunes and - all attacks, and has constituted up to the present time a pledge - of unity, independence, integrity, material well-being, and - intellectual development. - - “Autocratic Tsars, our ancestors, constantly had that object in - view, and the time has come to follow out their good intentions - and to summon elected representatives from the whole of Russia - to take a constant and active part in the elaboration of laws, - attaching for this purpose to the higher State institutions - a special consultative body, entrusted with the preliminary - elaboration and discussion of measures, and with the examination - of the State Budget. - - “It is for this reason that, while preserving the fundamental - law regarding autocratic power, we have deemed it well to form a - State Duma, and to approve regulations for the elections to this - Duma.” - -This consultative Duma was to lay its proposals before the Council of -State, which might submit them to the Tsar if it approved. The Duma -was to meet not later than January, 1906, and was to consist of 412 -members, representing 50 governments and the military province of the -Don, only 28 of the members representing towns. The members were to -be paid £1 a day and fares, and were to sit for five years, unless the -Tsar chose to dissolve them. Their meetings were to be secret, except -that the President might admit the Press if he chose. - -On September 7th a race-feud broke out between the Mohammedan Tartars -and the Armenians at Baku, on the Caspian, and spread to Tiflis and -all along the southern slopes of the Caucasus. The destruction of the -great oil-works at Baku involved a loss of many millions of pounds, and -further embarrassed the railways and manufacturing districts, which -depended almost entirely on naphtha for their fuel. - -On September 25th an assembly of 300 representatives of the Zemstvos of -the empire was gathered in a private house at Moscow to consider their -attitude towards the promised Duma, which was regarded as a concession -to their previous representations during the year. They recognized that -the Duma of the August manifesto would not be either a representative -or legislative assembly, but, regarding it as a possible rallying-point -for the general movement towards freedom, they agreed to obtain as many -seats as possible, so as to form a united group of advanced opinion. - -They further drew up a programme of their political aims, including -the formation of a National Legislative Assembly; a regular budget -system; the abolition of passports; equal rights for all citizens, -including peasants; equal responsibility of all officials and private -citizens before the law; the liberation of the villager from the petty -official (natchalnik); inviolability of person and home; and freedom of -conscience, speech, press, meeting, and association. - -The programme is important, as indicating what to the average Liberal -politician in England would appear the most obvious abuses of the -Russian system, because nothing is here demanded which has not long -ago been obtained for our own country by the efforts of our upper and -middle classes in the past. - -As soon as the assembly broke up, Prince Sergius Troubetzkoy, the true -leader of these Liberal or Zemski delegates, the President of the -Moscow Zemstvo, and for a month past the Rector of the University, went -to St. Petersburg to urge the Government to allow public meetings, -and while speaking on behalf of free speech at the Ministry of Public -Education, he suddenly died. He was only forty-three, and it is -tempting to speak of him as the first of the Girondists to fall. But -all through what I have seen in Russia, I have avoided even a mental -reference to the French Revolution as carefully as I could. For history -is a great hindrance in judging the present or the future. - -The manifesto of October 19th, announcing the final conclusion of the -peace with Japan, by which the Russian Government was compelled to -abandon all for which it had striven during many years in the Far East, -was hardly noticed in the gathering excitement of the days. - -On October 21st, the workmen again appeared unexpectedly upon the -scene, and delivered their first telling blow by declaring a general -railway strike. The strength of the movement was that it disorganized -trade, made the capitalist and commercial classes very uncomfortable, -and, above all, that it prevented the Government from sending troops -rapidly to any particular point of disturbance. The weakness was that, -as in all strikes, the strikers were threatened with starvation while -their employers suffered only discomfort; that the peasants, being -unable to get their produce to market, began to regard the revolution -with suspicion; and that the Government succeeded in running a military -train between St. Petersburg and Moscow (only a ten hours’ journey) -nearly all the time. - -The objects of the strikers were in the main political, as could be -seen from the demands presented to Witte by a deputation on October -24th-- - - “The claims of the working classes must be settled by laws - constituted by the will of the people and sanctioned by all - Russia. The only solution is to announce political guarantees - for freedom and the convocation of a Constituent Assembly, - elected by direct, universal, and secret suffrage. Otherwise the - country will be forced into rebellion.” - -To this petition Witte’s reply was peculiarly characteristic-- - - “A Constituent Assembly is for the present impossible. Universal - suffrage would, in fact, only give pre-eminence to the richest - classes, because they could influence all the voting by their - money. Liberty of the press and of public meeting will be - granted very shortly. I am myself strongly opposed to all - persecution and bloodshed, and I am willing to support the - greatest amount of liberty possible.... But there is not in - the entire world a single cultivated man who is in favour of - universal suffrage.” - -Undeterred by any fear of exclusion from the circle of culture, -the workmen continued their demands for universal suffrage and -a Constituent Assembly, and on October 26th the Central Strike -Committee--or Council of Labour Delegates, as it was properly -called--sitting in St. Petersburg, declared a general strike throughout -Russia. About a million workers came out. - -This was the second workmen’s blow, and it shook Tsardom from top to -bottom. - -Four days after the beginning of the strike, the famous Manifesto of -October 30th (17th in Old Style) was issued, promising personal freedom -and a constitution. The document began with the harmless necessary -cant-- - - “The troubles and agitations in our capitals and numerous other - places fill our heart with great and painful sorrow.... The - sorrow of the people is the sorrow of the sovereign.... We - therefore direct our Government to carry out our inflexible will - in the following manner:-- - - “I. To grant to our people the immutable foundations of civil - liberty, based on real inviolability of person, and freedom of - conscience, speech, union, and association. - - “II. Without deferring the elections to the State Duma already - ordered, to call to participation in the Duma (as far as is - possible in view of the shortness of time before the Duma - assembles) those classes of the population now completely - deprived of electoral rights, leaving the ultimate development - of the principle of electoral right in general to the newly - established legislature. - - “III. To establish it as an immutable rule that no law can ever - come into force without the approval of the State Duma, and that - it shall be possible for the elected of the people to exercise - a real participation in supervising the legality of the acts of - authorities appointed by us.” - -This manifesto was greeted by an outburst of joy unequalled in the -melancholy annals of Russia. Righteousness and peace kissed each other -upon the streets; and so did professors, students, and even working -people. Red flags paraded the squares, generals saluted them, soldiers -joined in the Marseillaise of labour. But the Central Strike Committee -was not overcome by the general hallucination. They rightly refused to -trust the Tsar without guarantees, and they continued to press their -demands for a political amnesty and the convocation of a Constituent -Assembly. They also demanded the restoration of its old liberties to -Finland, and the dismissal of Trepoff. When anti-Jewish riots broke out -at Kieff, Warsaw, and especially at Odessa, they steadily and justly -maintained that the “Black Hundred” or “Hooligans” of the massacre and -pillage were encouraged by the police and the priests, who wished to -make out that the Russian people were opposed to political liberties. - -The panic of the Government continued. They could not measure the -strength of this new force among the work-people, or of this new -instrument, the general strike. They were uncertain, also, about the -army, which, together with the police and officials, formed their sole -protection from ruin. Pobiedonostzeff, the aged Procurator of the Holy -Synod, and the embodiment of an obstinate and narrow tyranny in Church -and State, resigned. On November 4th, an amnesty was proclaimed for -political offenders, though certain qualifications and categories were -added. - -On the same day a manifesto restored the old liberties of Finland, -abolishing the decree of February 15, 1899, by which the autocratic -principle, the dictatorship, and the employment of Russian gendarmes -had been imposed upon the duchy contrary to its original constitution, -and repealing also the military law of July 12, 1901, which compelled -recruits to serve outside their own country. - -On November 9th Trepoff sent in his resignation, and Durnovo, since -infamous for his brutality, took office. The same day a violent but -ill-considered mutiny broke out among the sailors and gunners at -Kronstadt. - -From that moment the Government began to recover courage, and we may -mark the gradual revival of reaction. Perhaps it was immediately due -to the refusal of the Liberal Zemstvoists to take part in a ministry -under Witte, unless the promises of the manifesto were guaranteed, -and a Constituent Assembly convened. In any case the change was quite -apparent in a manifesto of November 12th, declaring the present -situation unsuitable for the introduction of reforms, which would only -be possible when the country was pacified. - -Next day a ukase proclaimed martial law in Poland, and excluded that -country from the manifesto, on the pretence that the Poles were -plotting against the integrity of the Russian Empire by establishing a -separate nation of their own. - -The Central Strike Committee answered this ukase on the morrow -(November 14th) by declaring another general strike in sympathy with -Poland, and Witte, on his side, retaliated by posting an appeal to the -work-people, conceived in his most unctuous and fatherly style. It ran-- - - “Brothers! Workmen! Go back to your work and cease from - disorder. Have pity on your wives and children, and turn a deaf - ear to mischievous counsels. The Tsar commands us to devote - special attention to the labour question, and to that end has - appointed a Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which will - establish just relations between masters and men. Only give us - time, and I will do all that is possible for you. Pay attention - to the advice of a man who loves you and wishes you well.” - -This appeal was immediately followed (November 17th) by a manifesto to -the peasants, reducing their payments for the use of land by one-half -after January, 1906, and abolishing it altogether after January, -1907. These payments were still being made under the land settlement -that followed the emancipation of the serfs in the early sixties, and -their nominal value to the Government was seven million pounds a year. -But the apparent generosity of the remission is diminished by the -consideration that the peasants had already paid the economic value of -the land many times over, and pressure could still be brought upon them -to make up the heavy arrears due to successive famines. - -Three days later (November 20th), the Central Strike Committee declared -the strike at an end. This second general strike was felt to have -been a failure. People and funds were still exhausted by the first. -Comparatively few of the great factories came out; the object of the -strike was too remote from the workman’s daily life to persuade him to -endure the starvation of his family for it. So the strike failed. It -produced nothing; it did not frighten or paralyse the Government. - -Nevertheless, the Strike Committee remained the most powerful body -of men in the Empire, and their order commanding the cessation of -the strike called hopefully upon the working classes to continue the -revolutionary propaganda in the army, and to organize themselves into -military forces “for the final encounter between all Russia and the -bloody monarchy now dragging out its last few days.” - -Such was the situation when, on November 21st I landed at the -revolutionary little port of Reval, and went on to St. Petersburg by -the first train which had run since the strike ended. - - - - - CHAPTER I - - THE STRIKE COMMITTEE - - -Away in the western quarter of St. Petersburg, at some distance from -the fashionable centre, stands a rather decrepit hall of debased -classic. In England one would have put it down to George II.’s time, -but in St. Petersburg everything looks fifty years older than it is, -because fashions used to travel slowly there from France. Among the -faded gilding of stucco pilasters and allegorical emblems of the -virtues and the arts, are hung the obscure portraits of long-forgotten -men--philosophers, governors, and generals--who were of importance -enough in their day to be painted for the remembrance of posterity. -Glaringly fresh among the others hangs the portrait of the hesitating -gentleman whom the accident of birth has left Autocrat of Russia, -whether he likes it or not. The hall was dedicated to the discussion -of “Free Economics” by some scientific body, but never before had -economics been discussed there with such freedom as during those -November nights when the Central Strike Committee, or Council of Labour -Delegates, chose it for their meetings. - -Admission was by ticket only, and I obtained mine from a revolutionary -compositor, hairy as John the Baptist, and as expectant of a glory to -be revealed. On the first night that I went, the big chamber, with its -ante-room half separated by plaster columns, was crowded with working -people. So was the entrance hall, where goloshes are left, in Russian -fashion, so that the floors may not be dirtied. Some of the men wore -the ordinary dingy clothes of English or European factory-hands, making -all as like as earwigs. Some had come dressed in the national pink -shirt, with embroidered flowers or patterns down the front and round -the collar. But most wore the common Russian blouse of dark brown -canvas, buttoned up close to the neck, and gathered round the waist by -a leather belt. - -Many women were there, too, but as a rule they were not working women -from the mills. Some may have been artisans or the wives of artisans, -but most were evidently journalists, doctors, or students, from the -intellectual middle classes, which in Russia produces the woman -revolutionist--the woman who has played so fine a part in the long -struggle of the past, and was now elated above human happiness by -the hope of victory. For Russian women enjoy a working equality and -comradeship with men, whether in martyrdom or in triumph, such as no -other nation has yet realized. - -The workmen were delegates from the various trades of the capital -and some of the provinces--railway men, textile hands, iron workers, -timber workers, and others. About five hundred of them had been chosen, -and each delegate represented about five hundred other workers. But -round the long green table in the middle of that decrepit hall, under -the eyes of the hesitating little Tsar’s portrait, sat the chosen few -whom the delegates had appointed as their executive committee. Between -twenty and thirty of them were there--men of a rather intellectual type -among workers, a little raised above the average, either by education -or natural power. A few wore some kind of collar, a few showed the -finest type of Russian head--the strong, square forehead and chin, the -thoughtful and melancholy eyes, the straight nose, not very broad, and -the dense masses of long hair all standing on end. A few seemed to be -bred just a trifle too fine for their work, as dog-fanciers say. There -they sat and spoke and listened--the members of that Strike Committee -which had won fame in a month--just a handful of unarmed and unlearned -men, who had shaken the strongest and most pitiless despotism in the -world. - -In the middle, along one side of the table, was their president, the -compositor Khroustoloff--or Nosar, as his real name was--a man of about -thirty-five, pale, grey-eyed, with long fair hair, not a strong-looking -man, but worn with excitement and sleeplessness. For there was no time -now for human needs, and his edge of collar was crumpled and twisted -like an old rag. Yet he controlled an excited and inexperienced meeting -with temper and ease, showing sometimes a sudden flicker of laughter -for which there is very little room in Russian life. Neither for -sleep, nor human needs, nor laughter, was there time, but in front of -Khroustoloff and of all those men lay the prison or the grave, and in -them there is always time enough. - -That night, as long as I was there, the meeting was occupied with the -discussion of the eight-hours’ day. One of the executive read out -the reports received from all the factories represented by delegates -as to the hours of labour at present. In some cases, the masters had -conceded an eight-hours’ day after the first strike. In others, they -had come down to nine, in others to ten. Most had absolutely refused a -reduction. These reports, though monotonous and many, were listened to -with the silence that characterizes a Russian meeting. It was broken -only now and then by a little laughter or a murmur of anger. I have -never heard a Russian speaker interrupted even by applause. - -The evening before I had attended a meeting where a dull but deserving -speaker, to whom no one wanted to listen, went on for an hour and -twenty minutes in a silence like an African forest’s, with only -an occasional whisper of breezy dresses as the audience changed -their position at the end of some uninteresting clause. Ages of -dumb suffering have given these people the interminable patience of -mountains, and a public meeting is so new to them that they find a -fearful pleasure in speeches which our free-born electors would howl -down in three minutes. Any meeting of British trade-unionists would -have polished off the Strike Committee’s business in an hour, but when -I came away, though it was past two in the morning and the meeting had -begun at six in the afternoon, the discussion was still proceeding -with healthy vigour, and there were plenty of other subjects of equal -importance still to be settled. The Committee, in fact, sat almost in -permanence night and day. - -As soon as the reports were all read, the executive gathered up -their papers and adjourned into an upper room to consider their -decision. During their absence, the other delegates broke up into -groups according to trades, for the discussion of their own affairs. -Standing on a chair, a man would shout, “Weavers, this way, please!” -“Engineers, here!” or “Railway-men, this way!” and the various workers -clustered round in swarms. A fine hum of business arose, and a buzz -of conversation with outbursts of laughter too, for all spirits still -were high with success and the confidence of victory. At last, as -the executive remained over an hour in conference, a yellow-haired -young workman with a voice like the Last Trumpet, raised the Russian -“Marseillaise,” and in a moment the room was sounding to the hymn of -freedom. Russian words--rather vague and rhetorical words--have been -set to the old French tune, and even the tune has been altered at the -end of the chorus, to make room for the words, “Forward, forward, -forward!” which come in suddenly, like the beating of a drum. It was -sung in all the streets of all the cities, but I heard it first in the -midst of German territory, upon the Kiel canal. For as I was coming -over, the only passenger upon the Russian boat, we met an emigrant ship -bound for the refuge of freedom, as England still was at that time, and -at the sight of our Russian flag the emigrants all burst into the song, -the men waving their hats and the women their babes in defiance. - -After the “Marseillaise,” the workmen turned to national songs, one -of which was almost as magnificent, and was touched with the immense -sorrow of Russia. All had one burden--the hatred of tyrants, the love -of freedom, the willingness to die for her sake. To us, such phrases -have come to bear an unreal and antiquated sound, for it is many -centuries since England enjoyed a real tyranny, and the long comfort -of freedom has made us slack and indifferent to evil. But in Russia -both tyranny and revolt are genuine and alive, and at any moment a man -or woman may be called upon to prove how far the love of freedom will -really take them on the road to death. - -A few days before this workmen’s meeting, I had been at an assembly -of the educated classes to protest against capital punishment. One -speaker--a professor of famous learning--was worn and twisted by long -years of Siberian exile. He was the worst speaker present, but it -was he who received the deep thunder of applause. Another had, with -Russian melancholy, devoted his life to compiling an immense history of -assassination by the State. Before he began to speak, he announced that -he was going to read the list of those who had been executed for their -love of freedom since the time of Nicholas I. Instantly the whole great -audience rose in silence and remained standing in silence while a man -might count a hundred. It was as when a regiment drinks in silence to -fallen comrades. But few regiments have fought for a cause so noble, -and few for a cause in which the survivors still ran so great a risk. - -The executive returned from their consultation, and at once the -meeting was quiet. President Khroustoloff, in a clear and reasonable -statement, announced that, in the opinion of the executive, a fresh -general strike on the eight-hours’ question would at present be a -mistake. The eight-hours’ day was an ideal to be kept before them; -they must allow no master who had once granted it to go back on his -word; they must urge the others forward, little by little, and in the -meanwhile organize and combine till they could confront both capitalism -and autocracy with assurance. Another member of the executive spoke -in support of this decision, and then the delegates of the opposite -party had their turn. It was the old difference between the responsible -opportunist, who takes what he can get, and the man of the ideal, who -will take nothing if he cannot have all. The idealists pointed to -the evident intention of Witte’s Government to thwart the workmen’s -advance. They pointed, with good reason, to the gradual renewal of -police persecution during the last few days, and to the encouragement -given to masters who declared a lock-out. They urged that it was best -to fight before the common enemy regained his full power, and that -the general strike, so efficient before, was still the only weapon -the workmen had. It was all true. Yet the recent strike had almost -failed, and it was just because a general strike was the workmen’s only -weapon that it should be sparingly used. A second failure within a -fortnight would show the Government that freedom’s only weapon was not -so dangerous after all. In the end the executive had its way; they were -supported by three hundred votes against twenty; and there could be no -question of the wisdom. The weapon of a general strike is too powerful -to be brought out, except for some special and all-important crisis. It -is like an ancient king, more feared when little seen. - -Freedom at that moment was just hanging in the balance. One almost -heard the grating of the scales as very slowly the balance began to -swing back again. Already things were not quite so hopeful as they had -been, and many good revolutionists spoke of the future with foreboding. -The first fine rapture of liberty was over, and people who had eagerly -proclaimed themselves Liberals three weeks before, now began to feel in -their pockets, to hesitate and look round. In subdued whispers commerce -sighed for Trepoff back again, and the ancient security of a merchant’s -goods. They pretended terror of peasant outbreaks, and the violence of -“Black Hundred” mobs, organized by the police just to show the dangers -of reform. But it was reform itself that they dreaded, and the name of -Socialism was more terrible to them than the tyranny. - -Day by day the police were becoming active again. As family men with -a stake in the country, they could not be expected to see their -occupation taken from them without a struggle. They had the same -interest in the ancient _régime_ as the Russian aristocracy in -Paris or Cannes; and for their livelihood the misery of the people was -equally essential. Whenever they dared, they planted themselves in -front of the doors and drove the audience away from a meeting; and -the audience had to go, for except to bombs and revolvers there was -no appeal. Every day I watched the police hounding groups of tattered -and starving peasants or workmen along the streets, because they had -ventured to come to St. Petersburg without passports, and had to be -imprisoned till a luggage train could take them back to their starving -homes. In spite of the manifesto, the censor of the post-office was -active again. It is a terrible thing for a civil servant to feel that -his work does not justify his pay. So the censor blacked out a cartoon -in _Punch_ representing the Tsar as hesitating between good and -evil, and then he felt he could look the world in the face. - -Already the people recognized that as yet they had no guarantee of -freedom. As long as the Oligarchs controlled the police and the army, -freedom existed only on sufferance. No one knew what the army would do, -and no one knew what the fighting power of the revolution was. Those -unknown factors alone terrified the Oligarchs into reform. But all the -promises were only bits of paper. It had long been proved that the -Tsar’s word went for nothing. At the birth of his son he had abolished -flogging, but the taxes had been “flogged out” of the peasants just as -before. Manifesto after manifesto had been issued without the least -result, beyond winning the applause of an English writer or two. So -far the Tsar’s pledges of reform had been no more effectual than his -Conference of Peace and he could only become harmless if he had no -power to harm. - -Yet the outward appearance of freedom surpassed all hope and -imagination. Nothing like this had ever been seen in Russia before. -Newspapers dared to tell the truth. Meetings were held which a few -weeks before would have sent every speaker to the cells. The Poles -gathered in a great assembly demanding the overthrow of absolutism and -solidarity for the revolution among all the states of the Empire. Women -and children taunted the patrols of Guards and Cossacks as they rode -the streets. Ladies threw open their nice clean rooms for workmen to -meet in. The students’ restaurants hummed with liberty. The air sounded -with the “Marseillaise.” - -“In Russia now, everybody thinks,” said a revolutionist to me, “and -where people think, liberty must come.” Thought and liberty were to -bring him death in a few weeks, but for the moment it seemed impossible -that any reaction could bring the old order back. All the king’s -horses and all the king’s men could not restore that ancient tyranny. -The spring of freedom had come slowly up that way, but at last it was -greeted as certain, and so it seemed to me when in the darkness of -early morning I left that workmen’s meeting still hot with discussion -in the mouldering hall, and tramped home through slush and thawing -snow, watching the rough floes of drifting ice as they settled down -into their winter places upon the Neva. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - THE WORKMEN’S HOME - - -The Schlüsselburg road runs nearly all the way beside the great stream -of the Neva, which was still pouring down in flood in those November -days, though it sounded incessantly with the whisper of floating ice. -The road leads from St. Petersburg along the whole course of the -river up to that ill-omened fortress in the Ladoga lake, where so -many of the martyrs of freedom have enjoyed the imprisonment or death -with which Russia rewards greatness. For six or seven miles the road -passes through a series of villages, now united into one long and -squalid street, inseparable from the city, though only a few hundred -yards behind the mills and workmen’s dwellings lie flat fields, and -woods, and dull but open country. This is the largest manufacturing -district of the capital. Its factories had already become historic with -bloodshed, and it was here that the workmen’s party was organized, and -the Council of Labour Delegates first formed. - -The mills stand on both sides of the river, but as a rule the -work-people live on the south or left bank, where the road runs; for -there is no passable road on the other side. In summer they pay a -farthing toll to steam ferry-boats. In winter they walk across the ice -to work, guided by little rows of Christmas trees stuck on the ice, as -is the Russian way. But between whiles, twice a year, there come a few -days when they cannot go to work at all. Those days ought to have come -by the time I visited the region first, but the frost was late. - -Everything was strange that year. For months together no work had -been done, and though some of the mills had just re-opened after the -second general strike, the road was crowded with shabby men and women, -who gathered at the corners, or trampled up and down in the filth, or -sat stewing in the dirty tea-rooms, quieting their hunger with drink. -Fully 60,000 of them were out of work, for in answer to the strike many -masters had declared a lock-out. - -Backwards and forwards among them marched little sections of six or -seven soldiers, their bayonets fixed, their rifles loaded, their warm -brown overcoats paid for by the work-people and the peasants. Groups -of four or five Cossacks clattered to and fro with carbine and sword, -while on the saddle, ready to the right hand, hung the terrible nagaika -or Cossack whip, paid for by the work-people and the peasants. It is -heavy and solid, with twisted hide, like a short and thicker sjambok; -at the butt is a loop for the wrist, and near the end of the lash a -jagged lump of lead is firmly tied into the strands. When a Cossack -rises in his stirrups to strike, he can break a skull right open, and -any ordinary blow will slit a face from brow to chin, and cripple a -woman or child for life. - -The Manifesto had not changed the Cossack nature. A week before, at a -workmen’s meeting held to discuss the strike, it was proposed to stop -the steam trams which run along the road. But the Cossacks had received -orders not to allow the trams to be stopped. So down they trotted to -the meeting; a pistol shot is said to have been heard somewhere in the -darkness, and in a moment the horses were plunging through the midst -of a confused and helpless crowd, while swords and nagaikas hewed the -people down. The number of killed and wounded was variously given, as -is usual in massacres. - -On one of my later visits down the road, I became acquainted with a -man who had survived a scene even more terrible. As a small patrol of -Cossacks was riding by, a little boy of eight, who had come to the mill -with his mother, shook his tiny fist at them from a window. By command -of their officer, the men rode into the mill yard, dismounted, entered -the machinery rooms, bayoneted the child, and began firing at random -upon the people at their work. Eight were killed where they stood. -The man who told me of the deed escaped through a side door, and hid -himself under the boilers till the soldiers rode away elated with -victory. Then the workmen dragged out the dead, and the boy’s body was -given to his mother. - -Tired of being slaughtered like fowls, the workmen themselves were -collecting arms, and had organized a kind of volunteer service, or -“militia,” as they called it. Armed groups crept through the fields and -back lanes from one point of vantage to another. Even in the daytime, -firing was common in the streets, and almost every night the workmen -met the soldiers in sharp encounter. The factories, whether at work or -not, were all guarded by sentries inside and out. The Alexandrovsky -ironworks, which belong to Government, and had been shut down the day -before I was there, were at once filled with troops, and the hands, -some five thousand in number, remained outside to increase the shabby -and indignant crowd upon the street. - - [Illustration: - - _Art Reproduction Co._ - - AN AUTUMN IDYLL. - - From _Sulphur_ (_Jupel_).] - -The ironworkers were the best paid of all the workmen in the district. -The works are in an old red-brick factory, built originally for making -guns, but long used for the locomotives on the straight line from St. -Petersburg to Moscow. Many charming personages in Russian society had -justly regarded that factory as the source of human happiness. But in -their trepidation to enjoy, they had neglected the fount of enjoyment, -and the place had long been sliding down to ruin. Already it was much -cheaper to buy new locomotives from Germany, Belgium, or Zurich, in -spite of the high tariff, than even to repair the old engines here. At -last, I suppose, just the one inevitable day had come when the thing -became too ludicrous even for a Government’s methods of industry. The -gates were shut, and the five thousand hands turned out to meditate on -the source of human happiness. - -It was thought at the time that, like the master of finesse who pays -his tailor by ordering more clothes, the management would open again -soon, because one per cent. of the wages had always been stopped for a -pension fund. This fund was estimated at something like £2,000,000, and -the Government might well prefer to go on paying out several thousands -a year in dead loss rather than be called upon for a solid £2,000,000 -when nothing more could be flogged out of the starving peasants, and -France was beginning to look twice at a sou before lending it. What -happened in the end I did not hear, but I passed down that road some -months later, and the works were still shut up. - -Other mills, which did not rest upon State credit (that is to say, -on drink and the flogging of peasants), and were struggling not to -keep shut, but to keep open, were naturally in a different position. -There are cotton mills, wool mills, paper mills, and candle mills -along the river, many of them run by English capital, and managed by -English overseers. In most of the textile mills, the machinery is -also English, this being almost the only import in which England still -rivals Germany. There is a greater spaciousness about the buildings -and yards than in England, due, I suppose, to the cheapness of land; -though, in fact, our old economic theories of rent are valueless here, -for, in spite of the vast extent of uncultivated land in Russia, the -rents in the capital towns are far higher than in London. But, apart -from this spaciousness and a certain easy-going slackness in the -labour, one might imagine one’s self in a Lancashire or Yorkshire mill. -It was in mills like these that the labour questions arose which were -really the causes of the strike that shook the Russian despotism. Of -course, political questions came in--the war scandals, the demands for -home rule, amnesty, universal suffrage, and a constituent assembly. But -a revolution, like a war, goes upon its belly, and it is difficult to -get working men to move if they are fairly content with their food and -lodging. It is still more difficult to get working women to move. - -Till ten years ago the hours in these mills were seventy-five a week, -or twelve and a half a day, not counting the dinner hours. They then -fell to sixty-seven, and the strike of last October brought them down -to sixty-two and a half. For the first week of November (just after the -manifesto), the hands proclaimed an eight-hours’ day, and walked out -of the mills when the time was up. After a week of that, the managers -shut the gates, preferring to pay the hands the fortnight’s wages to -which they are entitled on dismissal, and then to let the mills stand -idle. About a fortnight later, the textile managers agreed to come down -to sixty and a half hours a week, and on that arrangement the hands -came in again. Thus in ten years the workmen had reduced their hours by -nearly fifteen a week, and seven of these had been knocked off in two -months, simply by combination in strikes. As I said, the general strike -is a powerful weapon, though, unhappily, dangerous to those who use it. - -At the time there was a general opinion that a nine-hours’ day would -be enforced by an Imperial ukase. Even the employers believed it, -and looked forward to making up the loss by increased duties on -imports, and higher prices for their goods. The workmen would probably -acquiesce, for a strike falls most heavily on themselves, and under the -Russian factory laws any one who incites to a strike or joins in it may -be imprisoned for four to eight months. Till December, 1904, all trade -unions and meetings of workmen were also illegal. During his period of -ill-omened power, Plehve had affected to encourage meetings in this -very district, but his sole object was to ascertain who were the real -leaders among the people, and who were the best speakers. When that was -known, in the middle of the night, knocking would be heard at a man’s -door. He would open it to a group of soldiers or police, and from that -moment he disappeared, spirited away, no one knew where. It was the -Government’s method of protecting vested interests. - -Wages nearly always go by piecework, and they vary according to skill. -In the cotton mills a man may earn anything between 15_d._ and 4_s._ -4_d._ a day, and a woman between 10_d._ and 2_s._ 4½_d._ In the woollen -mills a weaver makes about 3_s._ 5_d_. a day, and he has two assistants -(generally girls) who make from 1_s._ 10_d._ to 2_s._ 4_d._ each. The -ironworkers, as I said, get a rather higher wage, but the maximum, I -think, in no case is over 30_s._ a week, and I doubt if the average, -including women and girls, is over 15_s._ - -The mere amount of money in wages is unimportant. A handful of bay-salt -or three yards of cheap cotton may be good wages to an African native. -All depends on what the payment can buy and what work it represents, -and I am inclined to think from what 1 have seen in many lands that in -reality the wage of the working class is much the same all the world -over. The standard of tolerable existence certainly varies a little, -but the wage is always regulated by the lowest standard that will be -endured. Wherever I have consulted an overseer or mill-owner as to -the standard of living in Russia, he has almost always told me that I -must not judge by English ideas, “because the people here are quite -satisfied with black bread and cucumbers.” By cucumbers he meant the -small pickled gherkins in barrels, such as form one peculiar ingredient -in the smell of Petticoat Lane. At the same time all English overseers -were agreed that the Russian workman’s standard of work is far lower -than the English. A Russian will mind only two looms, they told me, -where an Englishman will mind four or even six. It had not occurred to -them that there might be some connection between the standard of food -and the standard of work, nor, indeed, did that concern them much, for -in the end they obtained about the same amount of work for the same -amount of wage. - -When I became more acquainted with the work-people’s life and had -been into several of their homes, I found that, as long as they were -in work, most of them had soup every day, because bad meat was cheap. -Beyond the soup, black bread was the duty, pickled cucumber the -pleasure; and the drink was almost unlimited tea--very weak and without -milk, but syruppy with sugar--varied by an occasional debauch on the -State’s vodka, which pays the greater part of the tyranny’s expenses. - -On the Schlüsselburg road the work-people live in wooden huts built up -wandering courts or lanes off the main street. I have not seen a family -occupying more than one room. If they rent two or three, they sub-let. -A room costs from 15_s._ to 22_s._ a month, and the larger -rooms are usually divided between two or more families. In some cases -each of the four corners is occupied by a different family, separated -by shawls or strings, and dwelling as though in tents, as used to be -the fashion in the East End. Till quite lately a very large proportion -of the work-people lived in special barracks built for them inside -the mills, but during that year of strikes most of the overseers had -cleared their work-people out because they were dangerously near to -themselves and the machinery, and I did not see the “living-in” system -really at work till I got to Moscow, where it was still general, though -probably soon to disappear. - -In the work-people’s rooms there was hardly ever any furniture beyond -the bed, the table, some stools, and a chest for clothes. I never -saw washing things of any kind. Even in winter the family clothes -are washed in the river, the women cutting square holes in the ice -and dipping the clothes into the water below. As to the people, in -accordance with the one salutary rubric of the Orthodox Church, all men -(I am not quite sure about women) must wash before they go to service. -In preparation for this sacred duty, they pay a few pence at the public -baths, sluice themselves down with hot water, and then lie steaming on -shelves, brushing their skin with branches of birch. The effect is very -satisfactory, and the Russians as a whole are a cleanly people, both -in themselves and their houses, compared to ourselves. - -The work-people have the further advantage of twenty-three -ecclesiastical holidays in the year, not counting Sundays, and the -masters are obliged to provide a hospital or to pay for medical -assistance, even for women with child. In an English mill across the -river, a clubroom for lectures, concerts, and amusements had just been -erected, but the revolution had arrested culture of that kind. It had -also arrested football, which was just becoming popular. Cricket had -been tried, but was found too mysterious and pedantic, too much like -the British Constitution with all its growths and precedents. The only -native amusements that I could find were cards, knucklebones, and -the fortnightly debauch in vodka when the wages are paid. But at the -time of my first visit, there was some chance that the vodka would be -dropped, for on the previous Sunday night the Strike Committee had -decided that the work-people should for the present give up spirits, -tobacco, and other Government monopolies, not for abstinence but to -deprive the Government of revenue. The truly Nationalist party has -urged the same course in Ireland. - -There is one peculiarity which complicates the Russian labour question. -Some of the work-people have now lost all connection with the land, -but a great majority are still bound by the closest links of duty -and affection to their village, and to the little strips of earth -which have been allotted to their family. Probably most of the hands -in any mill have come there in hopes of paying the taxes on the land, -and keeping the family alive in the starving village at home. Between -the village and the factory they are continually passing to and fro. -Sometimes as many as half the hands in a mill will set off to their -villages during the year, and come back again. I have seen the books of -one factory, employing nearly 2000 hands, from which over 1000 had gone -and returned. If a working son on the land is called to the army, a -mill hand walks away to take his place. If labour is short at harvest, -they go. If the village community is re-dividing the land, they go. The -father of the house at home can always send for them, and they go. It -comes of that touching passion for the land which is the great motive -of the Russian people. Mercilessly robbed as they have been, nothing -has yet induced them to believe that land can belong to Tsar, or -Prince, or idle proprietor. Land, they say, cannot belong to people who -do not work it; of course it cannot. The land belongs to the peasants. -If only the good Tsar know what the people suffer because their land is -kept from them, he would give it them back. As Stepniak said long ago, -that simple faith is one of the tragedies of Russian life.[1] - - - DIARY OF EVENTS - - On November 20th, a Peasant’s Congress met at Moscow. There - were 300 delegates including several women. Their main demands - were for a Constituent Assembly and Nationalization of the - land. Sixty followers of Tolstoy were present, and most of - the delegates spoke for revolution by peaceful means. Yet on - November 27th they were all arrested. - - On November 26th, a serious mutiny broke out in the army and - fleet at Sevastopol, under the leadership of Lieutenant Schmidt, - who had already been expelled from the navy as a Socialist. For - a few days the Government suffered panic, but the mutiny was put - down without much difficulty. - - On November 28th, the post and telegraph hands struck at Moscow - for the right of union. The strike extended through the service - and paralysed business and Government action. The average wage - of the assistants was £5 a month. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - FATHER GAPON AGAIN - - -The morning of December 4th was damp and misty, but from an early hour -crowds of working people were standing in the slushy snow outside -the queer old arrangement of two or three huge sheds which is known -as “Salt Town.” It is across the Fontanka canal from the School of -Engineers, not very far from the two churches that commemorate the -murder of two Tsars. I suppose it has been used at some time or other -as a depôt for a Government salt monopoly, and so received its name. In -ordinary peaceful years, it now serves as a suitable place for military -lectures and engineering experiments such as trained the Russian -officers for their overwhelming defeats. But in the stir of revolution, -popular meetings of every kind assembled there, because its gaunt white -walls and iron roofs would hold such large crowds of work-people under -cover, and it supplied accommodation for the coats and goloshes of the -intellectual. - -I had already attended an immense all-night meeting there to denounce -the Government for encouraging the priests and hooligans in their -slaughter of the Jews. That very morning of December 4th the school -teachers were assembled in one of the halls to discuss whether they -too should strike and claim the right of union. But the main interest -of the day was centred in the other large hall, where the followers -of Father Gapon--the men who had appealed in procession to the Tsar -himself on the 22nd of January before--were now gathering together -for the first time since that childlike appeal had been answered by -massacre. - -The meeting was called for ten o’clock in the morning, either to elude -the police or to save the expense of light. A Russian meeting is, I -think, very seldom less than an hour late, because the Russians are -by nature a courteous people, and it is obviously impolite to begin -before every one who wishes to come has had a chance of being in time. -But long before eleven there was not standing room for another soul, -and fifteen hundred men and women were waiting with that inexhaustible -Russian patience. Their pallid faces, many of them grim with hunger, -looked spectral under the dim twilight of a Russian morning, as I -watched them turned upwards in silence to the platform. - -Two whispered rumours were going round. One that the Social Democrats -intended to break up the meeting; the other, that Father Gapon was not -coming after all, and both rumours were almost unique among the rumours -I have heard in wars and revolutions, for both were true. - -At last the meeting was called upon to declare whom it would have -for chairman, and one great shout went up for “Barashoff.” I do not -know who Barashoff was, or how he had gained the confidence of the -work-people, but his election was at once taken to prove that the -Social Democrats present were comparatively few. He came forward--a -middle-aged, reddish-bearded man, with no apparent gift of voice or -influence--and I do not know what has become of him since, or what -prison received him. But there he stood beside me on the platform and -announced to the meeting that first they would sing the Hymn of the -Fallen, in honour to the victims of that Bloody Sunday when last they -had met together. - -The whole audience rose, and stood in absolute silence till some one -gave out the first note. The hymn consists of only one line, three -times repeated, and its only words are, “To their eternal memory.” Yet -all the church services I have heard were frivolous compared to it. -For it celebrated the martyrdom of men and women whom the worshippers -had known, and whose danger they had shared. I do not know what it is -that gives so profound a solemnity to Russian popular music, or how -it comes that a Russian crowd produces such a deep volume of musical -sound. Perhaps there is an unconscious influence from the old Church -music, always so solemn and grave, so free from sentiment and tune. -More likely the nature of both arises from the monotonous unhappiness -of Russian life, the melancholy of long oppression, and the nearness of -death from day to day; at all events, it must have a different origin -from the comfortable and profane spirit that produces “A little bit off -the top” or “The old bull and bush.” - -When the hymn had been sung, we were definitely told that Father Gapon -would not be present, but had sent a letter, which was read. It called -upon the work-people to take courage again, and to set about rebuilding -the unions and clubs which had been destroyed by the massacre. While -the letter was being read, great excitement arose among the audience -because police spies had been discovered among the teachers’ conference -in the neighbouring hall. Spies, disguised as schoolmasters, disguised -as women! Teachers are not a militant race; should not the hard-handed -work-people flow over into the conference and protect the innocent -instructors of the coming State? It is spies that drive men crazed with -hatred, and even the reptile governments that use them shoot them. -That very morning the post and telegraph clerks had proclaimed that -they would never end their strike until the enormous system of spying -into letters, newspapers, and telegrams had been abolished. Of all -the methods by which a cowardly government can harass the people who -feed it, none is more despicable than the entanglement of espionage -with which it surrounds itself. But as to abolition, what would then -become of all those swarms of censors, blackers-out, interpreters, -letter-openers, secret police, cabdrivers, porters, and provocative -agents who seek their meat from Government? Will not all these men -struggle for existence like others, being human creatures, though no -one would suppose so? Or who will pay the rent of all those houses, -like that house beside the Moika Canal where muffled figures hang -carelessly about the doors, and sledges stop for no apparent reason, -and the men and women who come out have acquired the look of vultures? - -But for the moment the Government which feeds the vultures was afraid -for its own skin. The police and spies slunk out of the conference -without compulsion, and in the workmen’s meeting the five-minutes’ -speeches began. They went with that extraordinary dash and fire which -appear to be the common heritage of nearly all Russian speakers. How -they have managed to inherit such a power is one of the mysteries of -this mysterious revolution. In a land where public speaking has usually -been punished by exile or death, we find a whole race of orators. -Carlyle used to speak of a “great dumb Russia” with admiration, and -foretell a strange time when Russia found her voice. That autumn -she had found her voice, and certainly the time was strange. One -workman after another got up and said his brief say, without pause -or hesitation, inspired by that passion of conviction which only -unendurable wrong can give. A woman also spoke, with similar brevity -and power. - -The demands made in those little speeches of condensed flame and -rushing words were for rights which English workmen have long ago won -for themselves. The object of the meeting was to re-establish the -eleven unions of workmen which Father Gapon had instituted before the -massacre of last January. Such unions were hardly to be distinguished -from the trade unions of our country, and there was nothing in the -least Utopian or savage about the Gapon programme. His followers -refused even to call themselves a party. They had no newspaper as their -organ. The _Word_ (_Slovo_), which had once most befriended -them, had lately gone over completely to the reaction. One of the most -applauded speakers at that morning’s meeting denounced the leaders who -urged the workmen to organize themselves into armed bands, whereas -knowledge, he said, must come before arms, and not battalions but -unions must be organized. Only one other purpose remained before the -meeting--to demand complete amnesty for Father Gapon and all political -offenders, especially for those who had taken on themselves the -hateful task of political assassination in the time of darkness before -freedom appeared. - -From time to time a Social Democrat raised his arm and burst into a -violent and threatening speech against the meeting. Once there was a -deliberate attempt to empty the hall by a free fight, and the timid -began edging out at the doors, chiefly under the belief that the -yelling democrat who was denouncing the Gaponists was secretly an agent -of the police. It may have been so, but I think he was only a Social -Democrat insisting upon the creed by which alone the Marxists would -drive the world to salvation. This Catholic kind of Social Democrat is -often distinguished by a certain intolerance and pedantry which give -a power and consistency such as religious Catholicism has, but form a -barrier against wider sympathies and human freedom. “No salvation but -by us” is their motto, and when an erring meeting cries them down, they -feel defrauded of their right to redeem mankind. - -On the other hand, a speaker who brought greetings from the Belgian -Anarchists was politely listened to, though in the towns Russia has no -Anarchist party now. Tolstoy bears an honoured name such as Rousseau -bore in France, and his portrait is welcome in shop-windows; but among -revolutionists his Anarchism is too gentle, and his Christianism too -dull. Outside his own circle of disciples among the peasants, the flame -of his spirit may kindle many, but his actual followers are few. When -every one is remodelling the State with impassioned zeal, it seems -hardly opportune to raise the question whether it is not better to have -no State at all. - -The speeches were over by about one, and then the meeting split up into -groups to reorganize the unions. By an arrangement among one or two -friends, we left the Salt Town separately, and gradually reassembled in -a room above a little restaurant, some distance away. There we found -Father Gapon himself hiding from the police, with a bottle of beer -before him, and a few supporters at his side, rather obviously his -inferiors. At the time he was not afraid of political arrest. Probably -Durnovo himself would hardly have dared to strike at him then. But the -danger was that he might be handed over to the Church as a renegade -priest and imprisoned till death in some monastery for the good of his -soul. - -Outwardly there was little of the priest left about him then, unless -it was his evident want of the commonplace kinds of knowledge that -most people have. It was said that his stay in England that summer -had changed him so much that his own friends could not recognize him, -and he had been present at the meeting unobserved. But there was not -really much difference, except that he had cut his hair and beard like -ordinary men, and put on modern clothes instead of the survival of -classical raiment which most European priests prefer. The transparent -eyes of lightish brown, generally looking down or cast a little -sideways--these were the same. So were the nose and thin face, the -thin and delicately arched eyebrows, the thin hands and slight figure, -the blood just showing under the pale brown skin--a rare thing in a -Russian; and, indeed, both by name and race I believe he comes of a -Dnieper Cossack or, some say, a Greek stock. If the Russian police -cannot see these things, Scotland Yard could beat them. The outward -look seemed to reveal at once a delicate and sensitive nature rather -than strength of resolution or fire of purpose--one of those natures in -which we easily detect the child still lying hid beneath the maturity -of manhood. Something of a child’s craft, perhaps, lay there too, and -of a woman’s methods, unwilling to be hated or despised even by the -enemy. Equally childlike was that evident love of pleasure which made -him rejoice in Paris and London as in glorious bazaars where the toys -were all real things, and the dolls were living women, all made to -squeak and shut their eyes. - -Yet this was the man who struck the first blow at the heart of tyranny -and made the old monster sprawl. At first, perhaps, his heart was -simpler in its ignorance, and pleasure, being unknown, did not move -him. But when theorists condemned him for opportunism, as they did -daily, I remembered that he, at all events, knew the work-people in -their daily life and not as an abstract proletariat, and that he, at -all events, had accomplished something. It is much to be regretted, -but it sometimes happens that the opportunist is the only man who does -accomplish something. - -The conversation naturally ran upon the meeting, and upon a danger to -the movement that would very likely arise from the unbending attitude -of the Social Democrats, who with impracticable pride hated a Social -Revolutionary more than a Grand Duke, just as true Catholics enjoyed -burning a Protestant more than a pagan. To Father Gapon the great -danger before the country appeared to be the immense conflict between -the Social Democrats, representing the town work-people, and the host -of peasants, numbering over four-fifths of Russia’s population. But as -he spoke, warning voices were heard, a danger appeared before us all, -and suddenly the picturesque little figure had vanished, and the rest -of us were drinking beer over a sleepy game of cards, till with a yawn -we rose, and one by one made our way down the busy street. - -That afternoon Father Gapon escaped into Finland, and France swallowed -him for a time. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - THE FREEDOM OF THE WORD - - -In those happy weeks when freedom still was young and living, two -things ruled the country--speech and the strike, the word and the blow. -The strike was everywhere felt. No letter or telegram went or came. -Each town in Russia was isolated, and the whole Empire stood severed -from the world. Banks sent their money to Europe by special messengers, -like kings. Telegrams were carried a twenty-four hours’ journey to the -frontier. Almost every night I was down at the Warsaw station watching -the passengers, to see if any could be trusted to take a letter home. -When I travelled further into Russia, I organized an elaborate private -post by stages, engaging hotel-porters, students, lady-doctors, -tram-conductors, and barmaids in my service. On one occasion the scheme -worked with real success, and brought me a halfpenny paper which -cost me three pounds. Later I found it best to give my own letters -to Lancashire women, going home for safety--wives of the managers or -engineers in cotton-mills--and they posted them under their skirts. - -At St. Petersburg, the well-to-do classes, who were losing most by -the postal strike, made a heroic effort to assist the Government and -themselves. Having first seen that strong patrols of horse and foot -were stationed at all corners of the General Post Office, and at every -door, they organized a volunteer service of sorters among their own -number, and one saw elegant young men and white-haired gentlemen who -had passed an honoured existence in avoiding work, now struggling to -make out how it was done. Enthusiastic girls, in the prettiest of furs -and the smallest possible goloshes, hastened by eleven o’clock to -their stools in the stuffy office, and sat there till four, with the -self-sacrificing zeal of young ladies at a church bazaar. One must do -something for one’s country when the lower classes are giving so much -trouble. So with a smile and a flash of rings, they plunged into the -honest toil of sorting the stacks of letters which had been arriving by -half a million a day; and some of the letters reached the right address. - -Other strikes were of almost equal interest. In Moscow the cooks -struck, and paraded the streets with songs never heard in the -drawing-room. The waiters struck, and heavy proprietors lumbered about -with their own plates and dishes. The nursemaids struck for Sundays -out. The housemaids struck for rooms with windows, instead of cupboards -under the stairs, or sections from the water-closets. Schoolboys -struck for more democratic masters and pleasanter lessons. Teachers -struck for higher pay and, I hope, for pleasanter pupils. All had -one’s sympathy, as all rebels necessarily have. There was a solidarity -about the grievances of all, and each movement proved how far the -revolutionary spirit had spread. The only danger was that the people -were making a good thing too common. The strike was the guillotine of -the Russian revolution in those days, and even the guillotine had once -been worked too hard. - -But at the back of the strikes and all the revolutionary movement -lay the motive force of speech. In Russia, even more than in other -countries, was seen the power of the creative word. A strain of -unwonted idealism has long been audible in all Russian literature, and -has led to the hope that when Russia’s hour came she would advance -on finer and higher lines than the more material and self-satisfied -peoples of Europe. The hour seemed now to have come, and the hope to be -justified. The people were drunken with ideas. After these centuries of -suppression, all Russia was revelling in a spiritual debauch of words. -Meetings were held almost every night. Entrance could only be gained by -ticket; but crowds fought at the doors to hear discussions on the first -principles of government, taxation, or law, just as eagerly as English -people fight for a place at a football match or an indecent farce. To -Russians the power of the word was all so new and delightful. I myself -remember the first and only time I listened to a debate in the House -of Commons. It was the day when Mr. Wyndham was treading “with fairy -footstep” through the mazes of Irish statistics. I knew those mazes at -least as well as he did, but I have never heard anything so interesting -as that debate. And for Russians to listen to a man speaking was like -an escape from gaol. - -I had noticed it in the Strike Committee and in Gapon’s meetings. -Without practice or tradition in public speaking, Russia was suddenly -found to be a nation of orators. At all the meetings it was the -same: speaker after speaker rose, and not one of them faltered for a -moment. There was no muddle, or shyness, or hesitation--none of that -weary up-and-down cadence, like riding over ridge and furrow, none of -that harking back and beating round the bush for words to which our -sporting legislators of the shires have long accustomed us at home. In -some cases, no doubt, the speeches were dull; but often, even without -understanding a thousandth part of what was said, one could tell how -true an orator the speaker was from the breathlessness of his hearers, -from the feeling of diffused unity in the crowd, and from the deep gasp -of applause which greeted the end. - -The high level of thought in the speeches might be sneered at as an -idealist level by dull people who do not believe in ideas. But strength -was given to the speakers by the continual danger of the moment and the -reality of the horror waiting at the door. As though apologizing for -his impertinence in taking any part in such a mighty thing as politics, -a workman said humbly to me once: “I know nothing but the street, the -factory, and the prison. But I would die for the movement.” When his -turn came to speak, of course he spoke well. With such a training, he -could hardly fail to speak well; and as to law-making, his life was a -far more genuine preparation for it than English universities. - -There was a similar outburst in newspapers as in speeches. Hitherto -most Russian journalists who were not mere hirelings, writing in -support of the bureaucracy, had been obliged to work underground, or to -write abroad and trust to the ruses of war for a circulation in their -own country. During the six weeks after the Manifesto the change was -astonishing. For a time there was not a country, except England, where -the freedom of the press was so complete. A new paper appeared almost -every other day. Now and then a number or two would be confiscated, and -sometimes the paper would cease to appear for a while. The first and -most notorious case of this suspension was when a little satiric paper, -called _The Machine Gun_ (_Pulemet_), printed a copy of the -Tsar’s manifesto with the impression of a bloody hand stamped upon -it, and the superscription, “Signed and Sealed.” This was seized as -an insult to the dynasty. The editor was imprisoned, the price of the -cartoon went up from five farthings to almost as many pounds, and, when -the paper appeared again, its fame was established. - -But at the time a cartoon of that kind was mainly prophetic, and most -of the papers said what they pleased, and said it with seriousness and -self-restraint. Among the very best was the workmen’s little paper -called _The Russian Gazette_, sold at one farthing. It had been -started soon after Father Gapon’s petition, and since the Manifesto -only one number had been confiscated. Written in the common workman’s -language which all could understand, it had a very large circulation, -but its price kept the funds low, and its news from outside was small. -In politics it called itself Social Democratic, but being concerned at -first hand with the real workmen and their interests, it touched solid -ground, and its tone was the same as one heard at the meetings of the -labour delegates. - -Next in revolutionary influence came the _New Life_ (_Novaya -Zhisn_), generally known as Maxim Gorky’s paper. He certainly -supplied the money and its general policy. Sometimes he wrote a -long letter or address in it, and his present wife, the actress of -his plays, was nominally editor. But, even when Gorky was in St. -Petersburg, which was very seldom, the paper was really conducted by -the poet Minsky and a few other Social Democrats of high education -and theoretic knowledge. The sternest and most official organ of that -sect, it followed Marx with doctrinaire exactness, and its teaching -was impeded by the stiffness and pedantry that characterize the -Social Democrats even in England. No one could question the skill and -enthusiasm of its attacks upon the oligarchy and capitalists, but it -often devoted more space to sour depreciation of other good Socialists -who doubted if Marx had said the last word in human history. It was -like a really clever staff officer who, on the morning of the battle, -goes from brigade to brigade telling the soldiers what fools all the -other officers have made of themselves, and what an immense disaster -will ensue if his own plan of attack is not adopted. So it often -happened that the truest friends of the movement were in despair at -the vanity and exclusiveness of the _New Life_, and irretrievable -opportunities passed by while its staff of editors were arranging the -future of humanity in neat little circles and squares, as though they -were the Creator and men were as obedient as the stars. If you work on -German first principles, you are likely to arrive at queer conclusions, -because mankind was not made in Germany. But still there was no denying -the paper’s honesty and zeal, nor its great influence within its own -wide circle of well-disposed and intelligent people. - -_The Son of the Country_ (_Syn Otetchestva_) was an old paper; it had -been running off and on for nearly a century; but, since the manifesto, -it had become extreme in its Liberalism, and could be grouped as a new -paper among the Social Democratic organs. All Russians admitted that -it was particularly well written, and being far less pedantic than the -_New Life_, it was read by every advanced party and promised to become -one of the strongest papers of the revolution. - -While I was still in St. Petersburg, at the end of November, some of -the famous exiles, who had begun to return to Russia under the promised -amnesty, started a paper called the _Beginning_ (_Natchalo_). -It was distinctly Social Democratic, and perhaps the leading spirit on -it was Vera Sassoulitch, who had failed in an attempt to assassinate -Trepoff’s father during the most gloomy period of tyranny, twenty -years before. She had returned from Geneva, old and grey and wrinkled, -but almost any night she was to be seen sitting out the revolutionary -meetings, talking, writing, or stitching with unflagging energy, and on -her face and in her pale grey eyes a fixed and beaming smile, as though -at the fulfilment of hopes for which she and so many others had been -willing to give their lives. - -Not definitely connected with social democracy, but extreme in its -opposition to the Government, there was another new paper called _Our -Life_ (_Nacha Zhisn_), which was started in September and at -once was recognized for its excellent news and management. It has since -increased its reputation, and become one of the leading papers in -Russia. - -But at that time perhaps the very best of all the papers, both for news -and leading articles, was _Russia_ (_Russ_). It had been -founded three years before, but began to redate its numbers from the -Manifesto of October 30th. During the war, it won a reputation by an -overwhelming exposure of army scandals, and under the movement it was -almost universally read for its progressive policy and fearlessness of -speech. At the time, it was edited by one of the sons of Suvorin, the -famous editor of the _Novoe Vremya_. Such divergence of political -views must have strained the conversation at the family dinner-table, -and perhaps it was really a relief at home when the son was shut up in -prison, and the paper appeared under the new title of _Molva_. - -The two Jewish papers--the _News_ (_Novosti_) and the _Stock Exchange -Gazette_ (_Birshevza Viedomosti_)--were both old, one being nearly the -oldest paper in Russia, and the other having run twenty-five years, -but both had become very Progressive or even revolutionary. For in -Russia, Jews are inevitably revolutionists, however much against their -own nature, and the Stock Exchange paper was one of the most advanced -political organs in the Empire, and had the best news. - -At that time, two other Progressive papers had just been -started--_Dawn_ (_Rassiojet_) and _Russia Renewed_ (_Obnovlionnaya -Rossiu_), and at Moscow, Professor Miliukoff was on the point of -bringing out his new paper called _Life_ (_Zhisn_) of which I may -speak later on. But there seemed no end to the number of excellent -journalists that Russia could supply, just as there seemed no end to -the number of excellent speakers. When I think of that sudden outburst -of talent, I remember the saying of an Englishman who had lived thirty -years in Russia and professed a good-humoured contempt for the whole -people from the Court to the dustmen; “But unquestionably,” he always -added, “they are the most intelligent race in the world.” In reality, -however, it was intensity of conviction and present sense of wrong -which converted those inexperienced men into such effective writers -and speakers. Where conviction is sincere, habit and training are best -away, just as really sincere and original dramas should be performed -only by actors unhabituated to the stage. - -To oppose these battalions of progress, there were only three or four -journals on the reactionary side, and it is significant that none of -these were new and nearly all were subsidized. First came the _New -Time_ (_Novoe Vremya_), almost the only Russian paper which is -well known by name outside Russia. It is the _Times_ of Russia, -steadily on the side of the Government, the reaction, and the moneyed -classes. Scornful of enthusiasm, deaf to every idea, incredulous of -every hope, always ready to impute the vilest motives to reform, it -stands like an impenetrable barrier on the road of human progress. -Proclaiming itself the champion of stability, and taking law and order -for its motto, and the price of funds for its test, it succeeds in -pleasing the financier and the official, and its cynical disregard of -humanity is matched by its unquestioned influence for evil. A certain -dignity of tone, combined with the excellence of its foreign news, has -given it a reputation for sobriety and truth, but against the rights of -freedom it is virulent in its animosity, and against a leader of the -people it will welcome any libel without reserve. To discover where -justice lies, one has but to take the opposite view to its own, and to -agree with it is a danger-signal that one’s sense of right has gone -astray. Yet in moments of deep indignation against some governmental -shame, it will affect the popular tone and act the reformer’s part with -whines and deprecations. The scandals of the Japanese war were too -flagrant even for its compliant worship of birth and rank, and after -the Manifesto had granted freedom of speech it began to demand that -freedom with righteous solicitude. - -On the same side, though inferior in skill and reputation, stood -the _Citizen_ (_Grashdanin_), heavily subsidized by the Government, -and possessing, it was said, a particular influence over the Tsar’s -perplexed little mind; and the _Petersburg News_, also subsidized, but -indignant none the less about the war scandals and the Grand Dukes. - -Last of this group came the _Word_ (_Slovo_), once famous for its -violent attacks upon errors in high places, and for its fearless -defence of freedom, especially on behalf of the Old Believers. But -after the Manifesto appeared, the tone of the paper changed, and -instead of joining like others in the joy of victory, it grew more and -more sullen and distrustful of progress. Whether money was the motive -of the change, as rumour said, I did not discover, but the paper’s -influence had to be counted among the reactionary forces, and it was a -strong paper. - -Even more significant than the printed daily papers were the satiric -and illustrated sheets, which appeared as suddenly and in greater -numbers. Perhaps the best managed and most constant was the _Observer_ -(_Zritel_), but the _Signal_ (same word in Russian) was almost as -good, and below them came the _Arrows_ (_Streli_) and the _Libel_ -(_Strekoza_). The _Vampyre_ (same word in Russian) came later, and -so did the _Sulphur_ (_Jupel_), which was the most artistic of them -all, but so bloody and savage that it survived only three numbers. The -character of nearly all the cartoons was, indeed, bloody and savage -rather than humorous. The satire was hardly ever kindly, as it has -become in England now that politics are so seldom a matter of life and -death. Sometimes, it is true, in those early weeks, Witte was treated -with a raillery that might be called gentle. He would be represented as -a cook trying in vain to make the dinner come right; or as a chemist -watching an empty bottle labelled “Constitution;” or as a brood hen -sitting on an egg with the same label; or as an old nurse cherishing -a sickly little figure; or as an acrobat balancing on a slack-rope, -while Trepoff held one end, and the red flags of the revolution surged -below; or as a cunning old tailor threading his needle to stitch up -the two-headed eagle, which lay dead or stuffed on his board, while -an inverted imperial diadem held the flat-iron, and the candle stood -in a vodka bottle representing Witte’s spirit monopoly. But as a rule -the design was far more savage, and the savagery grew as the reaction -became stronger, till after the Days of Moscow all the cartoons might -have been printed in blood, and most appeared in that colour. Then -we were shown the skeleton of death stalking through the devastated -streets, or the skeleton of hunger crawling upon the stage from the -flies, or the Kremlin floating in blood like an island, or Dubasoff -as butcher in a human meat-shop, or foul monsters brooding over -the corpses beneath the gallows of freedom. Right through its past -history, all Russian art that counts has been either horrible or -melancholy--a thing of skeletons and vampires and desolation. The -subjects chosen by painters are cruel scenes from war or history, and -dreary views of the steppe. The subjects chosen by writers are almost -invariably sad. It is part of the unbroken melancholy which pervades -all Russian life, and is no less visible on the faces of the people -than in the sound of their music. And all this sorrow and savagery -and blood lie at the door of a Government which has kept the people -poor and depressed, exposed to the constant peril of the scourge, the -prison, and secret death. - - [Illustration: WITTE AND THE CONSTITUTION. - - WITTE: “I’ve bought a pipe, and now I can’t play it.” - - From _Sprut_.] - -On the reactionary side, I think, the only satiric paper was the -_Harlequin_ (_Chout_) and though it was fairly clever, there -is an eternal law which forbids the service of satire or letters or any -other form of art to the enemies of freedom. - -The crowd of Liberal and revolutionary papers was but the visible -sign of a grace that took many forms. In reality, perhaps, there -were even more parties than papers, and certainly there were many -parties that had no paper to represent them. The Anarchists, as I have -shown already, could hardly be called a party, at all events in the -towns, and no paper was occupied with the abolition of the State as a -fetish, when all were insisting upon the strengthening of the State -as against the government of the few. But even such a large party as -the Social Revolutionists had no organ of their own. Next to the -Social Democrats, they were the most powerful of the advanced parties. -Probably they were even more numerous, but their organization was not -so complete, and as they devoted themselves mainly to the peasants, -their voice was not so loud in cities. They were the Terrorists of the -time; they were what Europe confusedly calls the Anarchists, and it was -they who kept the agents of the Government in peril of their lives. Yet -they had no paper of their own. - -Neither had a large and growing party of the Left Centre, which we may -call the Radical as distinguished from the Socialists. They issued a -programme which nearly all the advanced parties would have accepted -when the time for business came. Like all the rest, they demanded -first a Constituent Assembly elected by universal suffrage, and beyond -that their ideal of the Russian State consisted in a single chamber, a -ministry chosen from the majority, home rule for Poland, Finland, the -Caucasus, and the Baltic Provinces, the right of referendum, separation -of Church and State, expropriation of Crown and Church lands and of -private estates beyond a fixed maximum, free education, and a general -militia for defence. Moderate as these demands were, nearly all the -revolutionists, except the more starchy among the Social Democrats, -would have been content to fight for them and welcome them with joy; -but the Radicals had no special organ for their views. - -As in all movements of intense and vital interest, the danger to reform -came from division. All were united in their final purpose, but as to -methods and strategy the divisions of parties were many and violent. It -was the same thing as in a restaurant of Polish students to which I was -often invited. There was a long, low room, furnished only with benches -and tables. At one end was a piano; at the other a counter where the -student could buy excellent meals at all hours of the day and night for -very small payment. Though the university had long been closed owing -to the disturbances, the place was always crowded with young men and -girls, living in perfect comradeship and much at their ease. One night, -a young girl, with clear grey eyes, a demure little face, and pale hair -tightly braided, was giving me a very satisfactory lecture in German -upon the minute distinctions between all the Polish parties. I heard -afterwards that in her zeal for knowledge, she had gained the necessary -passport to St. Petersburg by going through the form of marriage with -a student whom she had never seen since the ceremony. It is not an -unusual device, and I have known girl-students who have even taken “the -yellow ticket” as prostitutes in order to reach a university town. - -In the midst of her disquisition, she suddenly burst into an attack -upon two or three girls at another table who were suspected of -betraying true comradeship by ordinary flirtation. “I suppose they -think themselves rather pretty,” she said, “but neither logically nor -psychologically do I understand their behaviour.” At that moment a few -notes sounded on the piano, and to distract her wrath I suggested she -should ask for some Polish music. - -“Oh, I couldn’t speak to that end of the room,” she replied; “the other -party has captured it, and the piano besides.” - -“But you hold the kitchen end,” I remarked consolingly. - -“I am sorry to say our possession is not exclusive,” she answered, with -a look that was bloodthirsty in its conviction of righteousness. Then -she took a shining revolver from her pocket, examined its action, said -good-bye to her friends, and stalked through the enemy’s camp without a -sign either of fear or pardon. - -She was herself a Social Democrat of the most attractive though -sternest type, and as such, she believed in international fraternity. -But “the other party” were Polish Revolutionists, or Democratic Poles, -or something just wrong, and they followed the old-fashioned faith of -nationality; and so the room was split by an invisible but impassable -barrier. To me it all seemed rather a pity, when I thought of the long -years of conflict which must pass before they reached the separating -point in their ideals, and how few would live to see a single item in -their programme fulfilled. Yet I know that at the first note of the -revolution, Social Democrats, Polish Revolutionists, Democratic Poles, -flirtatious girls, and all would be ready to die together for Poland’s -freedom. And so probably they will have to die. - -It was the same throughout the length and breadth of Russia in those -happy weeks. Divisions are the evidences of life, and Russia was -seething with life like the world in the days of creation. But one -thought exhilarated all young and happy minds--the thought of liberty. -And if to a middle-aged man and a stranger in the country it was a joy -then to be alive, to the young and to the Russian it must indeed have -been very heaven. - - - DIARY OF EVENTS - - _December 6._--General Sakharoff, who had succeeded - Kuropatkin as Minister of War, and had lately been appointed - Governor-General of the Saratoff district on the Volga, was shot - in his office at Saratoff by a woman, a Social Revolutionist, - who said, when she was arrested, “Now he can cause the peasants - no more suffering.” - - _December 7._--The Strike Committee (Central Labour - Committee in St. Petersburg) called on the work-people to - withdraw their money from the savings-banks. They rightly - believed that bankruptcy was the best way of overthrowing the - Government. - - _December 9._--Khroustoloff, the President of the Strike - Committee, and three other leading delegates were arrested at - the Printers’ Union and imprisoned. - - At this time severe fighting was renewed in the Caucasus between - the Tartars and Armenians. - - There was also a violent outbreak of revolution in Riga, and the - Letts of the three Baltic Provinces of Esthonia, Livonia, and - Courland, rose against the Government, and burnt some of the - country houses belonging to German landowners who had inherited - estates from the Teutonic Orders of Knight and other Prussian - conquerors in the Middle Ages. - - _December 16._--The Council of Workmen’s Delegates (Strike - Committee), combined with the Committee of the Peasants’ - Congress, the Committee of the Social Democratic Workmen’s - Party, and the Committee of the Social Revolutionists, issued - another manifesto on Government finance. The following extracts - show its tendency:-- - - “The Government is on the verge of bankruptcy. With the capital - obtained by foreign loans, it has built railways and fleets - and fortresses, and supplied itself with arms. The foreign - sources of capital are now dried up. The Government orders have - ceased, and the merchants and factory-owners, accustomed to - enrich themselves at the expense of the State, are closing their - offices. No one is sure of the morrow. - - “The Government has wasted all the State revenues on the - army and the fleet. There are no schools, and the roads are - neglected. Troops throughout the country are disaffected, - impoverished, and hungry. The Government has robbed the State - savings-banks. The capital of small investors has been played - with on the Bourse. The gold reserve of the State Bank is - insignificant compared with the demands of the State loans and - commercial transactions. - - “The Government covers the interest on old loans by contracting - new loans. Year by year it publishes false estimates of the - revenue and expenditure, so as to show a surplus instead of the - real deficit. - - “Only after the fall of the autocracy can a Constituent Assembly - put an end to this financial ruin. The national representatives - must then liquidate the debts as soon as possible. - - “There is but one way out of this abyss--the overthrow of the - Government, and the removal of its last weapon. We must take - from it the last source of its existence--its financial revenue. - - “The Government is issuing orders against the people as though - Russia were a conquered country. We have decided not to allow - the payment of debts contracted by the Tsar’s Government, since - it has openly waged war against the whole nation. - - “We call on you to withdraw your deposits from the savings - banks, and to refuse to pay taxes, or to take banknotes, or to - subscribe to loans.” - - This manifesto showed how clearly the leaders of the working - classes realized that the control of finance is the basis of - political power. - - The Government recognized it too, and took immediate measures. - - On the 14th the Tsar had proclaimed “his inflexible will to - realize with all possible speed the reforms he had granted.” - - On the 16th came a Government message denouncing “the groups who - are threatening the Government, society, and all the population - who do not share their views,” and threatening imprisonment - against all strikers and inciters to strike. - - That evening the hall of the Free Economic Society, which I - described in the first chapter, was surrounded by troops and - police. Three hundred men and women were arrested, and two - hundred and sixty-four of them were imprisoned, including twenty - of the Executive. - - At the same time the editors of all the papers which had - published the Committee’s manifesto were arrested, and their - papers suppressed. Of the leading dailies, only the reptile - _Novoe Vremya_ continued to appear. - - _December 18._--An entirely new council and executive were - appointed for the Strike Committee, and at once they determined - on another general strike. “The Government has declared civil - war,” ran the decree, “and, as it wants war, it shall have it.” - - In the mean time, on December 8th, I had gone to Moscow, and it - was to Moscow that the centre of revolution now shifted. But - before I take up the narrative of the rising in that city, I - will describe a few days’ visit I made from there into the open - country and the villages where peasants live. The change in the - order of date is unimportant, and the story of Moscow can then - follow continuously. - - [Illustration: PEASANT SLEDGES.] - - [Illustration: A PRIVATE SLEDGE.] - - - - - CHAPTER V - - THE OPEN LAND - - -Under the waning moon, before the dawn of a December day, I drove out -of the town of Toula in my tiny sledge--so close to the snow that -the great black horse with his high yoke looked monstrous in the -twilight. It is a typical Russian town, about a hundred miles south of -Moscow, and as nearly as possible in the centre of the country. Two -great roads cross each other there, and pass on to the points of the -compass. Oldish churches, surrounded by a fortified wall, make a kind -of Kremlin. Ancient houses conceal cavernous shops in the thickness -of their own walls. Across a wooden bridge stands the Government -small-arms factory, with workmen’s villages beyond. Strange figures in -filthy rags moved up and down, beggars and shaggy peasants, high-school -boys, and fur-capped girls. It has long been rather a revolutionary -little town, and during the strike, ten days before, nineteen workmen -had been shot upon the street. - -In spite of solemn warnings, I had come out from the cities to see -something of the country, having with difficulty induced a ruined -German-Russian to venture with me as interpreter, for the sake of -bread. As usual, the danger was nothing compared to the fear. What -danger there was in the villages came from the police agents and -officials, who hounded on the peasants with the cry that every stranger -was a revolutionist conspiring against the Tsar to rob them of God and -the land. For in those progressive days the police were dreading lest -they should lose their livelihood of flogging and brutality at fifteen -shillings a week. - -My road went uphill to a high and bare plain, over which the snow was -driven by the wind in showers so blinding that the horse kept turning -round and appealing to us as reasonable beings to return. Horizon, -road, and every mark were lost in whirling grey. But, after we had -struggled on for two or three hours, the snow ceased to fall, and the -wintry sun appeared low in the sky, making the distant ridges of the -wide country shine with pale crimson or gleam like a far-off sea. -Most of the land was bare and open ground, the snow blotting out the -“stripes” where the peasants grew their crops in summer. But as we went -further, lengths of forest came into view, looking brown at a distance, -though generally made up of young silver birch, their silky white stems -flecked with black. Birch woods supply the fuel of the country; next to -food, the first necessity of the peasant’s life. There was some oak, -but very little fir or pine. The birch in this region is the favourite, -either because it grows best or burns best; and it is almost the only -fuel in Moscow. - -The peasants’ wooden sleighs passing to and fro bore loads of sawn -birch, dragged by miserable little ponies, so caked with mire that -their coats looked like a crocodile’s armour. At their side floundered -the peasants in sheepskin jackets, with the wool side turned inwards. -The jacket was gathered with a belt round the waist, and the skirt -stuck out all round, reaching to the knees. Then came the high -top-boots of felt or bast, rarely of leather. Men and women were not -to be distinguished, except that, instead of a cap, the women usually -wore a handkerchief or shawl knotted over head and ears. There was no -special grace about the costume; but even the rich ladies of Russian -cities find it hard to appear graceful when padded round with fur and -wool six or seven inches deep. At the best, they can only appear rich. - -Beside the road at one place stood a mouldering wooden inn -(_tractir_), where passers-by could get thawed and have a glass -of tea at three farthings. The owner of the estate, being something -of a philanthropist or a teetotaller for others, had forbidden beer -and spirits, so that the innkeeper was pale with anxiety how to pay -his £4 rent, to say nothing of the taxes. Should he borrow, and go to -ruin that way, or allow himself to be flogged to prove his poverty? I -suggested that times were changing, and flogging might cease, but he -only smiled with the politeness of superior knowledge. “No flogging, no -taxes,” was to him the law of government. - -In one corner hung three great icons, or holy pictures of the saints, -glittering with tin and brass--very different in size and expense from -the miniature icon which hangs in every bedroom of the wealthy Russian -hotels, as a kind of apology to God, like our grace at a City dinner. -Otherwise, there was no ornament in the house, except one of those -ill-omened iron mugs, for which the crowd crushed each other to death -on the coronation day of the present unhappy Tsar, nine years before, -when the plain of Khodinsky Polé, on the north-west outskirts of -Moscow, stood thick with suffocated peasants. - -I next passed a great smelting works, newly finished, its fine furnaces -and machinery never used, but already deserted and allowed to go -to ruin. I could not discover whose money had been devoted to this -characteristic fraud, or into whose pockets it had passed. Then came a -few small gardens and summer residences built on the Crown land; for -most of the land in that district is part of the Tsar’s vast estates, -amounting to a fortieth part of the whole of European Russia, not -counting the landed property of the Imperial family. But all the -houses were deserted and empty, and one was burnt, and smouldered still. - -Driving further on, I came to a large country house, where one of the -ancient families of the Russian nobility was still living in the midst -of its own land. I happened to be bringing them letters from friends, -as the post was not working, and I found a house-party there, beguiling -the winter day with much the same occupations as a house-party in -England--doing embroidery, playing battledore with racquets and a -soft ball, pushing a marble up a kind of bagatelle-board, examining -their guns, and taking the dogs for walks in the woods. At a wandering -luncheon of various courses, they maintained a quiet converse, marked -by the gracious silliness, the “cheerful stoicism,” which is the -justification of the aristocrat’s existence. - -It was all a fine piece of self-reserve, for inwardly their mood was -serious and apprehensive. They had just heard that the country-house of -a friend and neighbour had been burnt to the ground by his peasants, -though the family had escaped with their lives. One of the ladies had a -son in the army, and they had just heard of a terrible riot and mutiny -in his garrison town. Another lady’s son had married a rich heiress, -and they had just heard that the three country residences of her -parents had been utterly destroyed by the peasants, and now she was -rich no more. From every side came tales of loss and danger, and no one -could say what the end would be. - -For themselves, they were just waiting helplessly to see what would -happen. Polite, charming, highly educated, well dressed, healthy, fond -of sport and country life, full of good will and high intentions, -they were so like our own country squires and aristocracy at their -best--so like the people who used to be held up to us as the school -of manners and the producers of the fine old English stock--that only -the dreariest of Social Democrats could have refused them sympathy. -They were themselves fairly conscious of the absurdities in their own -position, but the only protest or complaint that they made was to -say they were getting a little tired of perpetual parallels between -themselves and the aristocrats of the French Revolution, whose heads -were cut off so rapidly. - -In the afternoon my sledge took me further into the unlimited and -desolate country, till at last we came to a village fairly typical of -that district--not a rich part of Russia nor yet so starving poor as -the famine provinces which lay close by it. The village was built in -one long street, with about forty separated cottages on each side. -A few of the cottages had bits of brick in the walls or round the -windows, but wood was almost the only building material, and the -roofs, though sometimes of flat iron plates, painted green, were -generally thatched. In this particular village there was no school -and no church, but from the high ground above it I could see a church -about two miles off, and that, no doubt, was near enough. There were -two shops and an inn, all just like the other cottages. Each house had -a separate wattle shed near it, for fodder, stores, and perhaps to -shelter the beasts in summer. In winter they have to be brought into -the dwelling-house for warmth. - -By the invitation of a peasant I went into his cottage. The man was -rather above the ordinary type, being tall and straight. But he had -the thoughtful and quiet look of the average peasant, as well as the -long, dark hair and shaggy appearance. His wife was quite the usual -woman--short, ungainly, and possessing no visible beauty except, -perhaps, patience. On the faces of both was the green look of hunger, -almost invariable in the peasants I have seen. The outside door of the -house opened into the cattle-room, where a sickly cow was dragging out -the winter. There was room for a horse, but the people had been obliged -to sell their horse that autumn to pay the taxes and their debts to the -Koulak or village usurer. From the Koulak, too, I suppose, they would -borrow the money to hire another horse in the summer, as they said they -intended. For no peasant can get through his work without a horse. - -A wooden partition separated the cattle from the dwelling-room, the -house being designed exactly like an Irish cabin, except that the -white brick construction of the stove projected on both sides of the -partition, thus warming the cow and the family both. As every one -knows, the peasant’s stove is a large and wonderful edifice, full of -mysterious holes and caverns for cooking and baking, and even for the -dry roasting process which serves the family as a bath. Close beside it -were two broad, wooden shelves on which the inmates slept--the parents -above, the five children underneath. There was no bedding of any kind, -except one worn coverlet or shawl on each shelf. - -The children had made their shelf into a day-nursery as well as a bed, -for they were all rolling about on it and biting each other, imagining -a game of wolf, I think, though wolves are not common there. All were -bare-legged, and quite naked but for loose red shirts reaching to their -knees. Of course, they went out sometimes, but there were not enough -clothes to send them all out together at once in winter. The furniture -of the home was a wooden box, which was the seat of honour, a short -bench, a table, and a small wooden loom, on the universal model of -primitive manufacture. Both man and woman could weave, and they were -making yards of a coarse stuff dyed with red madder, exactly the same -as the women make for their petticoats on Achill Island. - -Probably the loom brought in an important part of the family’s income, -for the sale of the horse showed that they could not live off the -land alone. Yet the man boasted that his bit of land, on which he -grew potatoes, oats, and rye, was his absolute property, and when I -tried to ask him whether the village community did not redistribute -his land with the rest every twelve years, as I had read in books, he -became very violent and showed no scientific interest at all in the -sociological importance of the Mir. The working of the Mir was the only -thing I thought I did understand when I came to Russia, and it was -disconcerting to find that the first peasant I spoke to had never heard -of such an arrangement. I still do not know what mistake he or I can -have made. He may have been only insisting on the peasant’s touching -faith that the land is the natural possession of the man who cultivates -it, and can never be taken from him, even by the Tsar. Anyhow, he was -terribly afraid that I had come to shake that belief in some way, and I -thought it best to turn the conversation to the cow. - -As to the Tsar’s recent promise to remit next year half the annual -payment still due to the Treasury for the original purchase of the -land, this peasant, in common, I believe, with all others, thought -nothing of it. To them the manifesto was so much “dirty paper.” They -knew very well that even if half were remitted, the Crown agents would -come down upon them for arrears. They also knew dimly that since the -liberation of the serfs more than forty years ago, the peasants have -paid the extreme value of the land twice over. So they have ceased to -concern themselves about any manifesto which does not surrender to them -the mass of land which they regard as rightfully theirs. - -While I was in the cottage, an old man came up with a canvas bag over -his shoulder, and knocked at the door. Though obviously in the sink of -poverty, he was not a professional beggar, but only one of that large -class of peasants who are driven by age or misfortune to go round the -villages and ask for scraps to keep them alive till better times. -Accordingly he came in as if for a friendly call, laid his bag on the -table with its mouth open, and joined in the conversation. When we were -going out again, the woman slipped some squares of black bread into -the bag as though by stealth, and he took it up and walked off without -further remark on either side. It was the perfection both of appeal and -kindliness. - - [Illustration: TOLSTOY’S HOME.] - - [Illustration: PEASANTS.] - -At parting, I looked again at the peasant and his wife, in their clean -poverty, with the marks of their almost passionate labour upon them -and their five children growing up round their knees, and certainly it -did seem incredible that these were just the people who are marched -off to the village police-court, are tied face downwards to a sloping -bench, have their clothes turned up, and are flogged with whips or -rods by officials and police because they cannot pay the taxes for the -Japanese war, or for the interest on the French loans. - -Yet, in the last resort, it is upon violence almost as brutalizing and -indecent that all Empires are founded, and I was all the more ready -to welcome what Tolstoy said to me next day, when he received me--as -generously as he receives every one--in his “Bright Home” (_Jasnaia -Poliana_) as the country-house is called. He told me that, among the -many other plans of work which he could not live to finish, he was then -engaged on a book to be called “The End of an Age.” - -“You are young and I am old,” he said, “but as you grow older you will -find, as I have found, that day follows day, and there does not seem -much change in you, till suddenly you hear people speaking of you as an -old man. It is the same with an age in history; day follows day, and -there does not seem to be much change, till suddenly it is found that -the age has become old. It is finished, it is out of date. - -“The present movement in Russia is not a riot, it is not even a -revolution, it is the end of an age. And the age that is ending is the -age of Empires--the collection of smaller States under one large State. -There is no true community of heart or thought between Russia, Finland, -Poland, the Caucasus, and all our other States and races. Or what have -Hungary, Bohemia, and Styria, or the Tyrol to do with Austria? No more -than Canada, Australia, India, or Ireland have to do with England. -People are now beginning to see the absurdity of these things, and -in the end people are reasonable. That is why the age of Empires is -passing away. - -“They tell me, for instance, that if the Russian Empire ceased to -exist, swarms of Japanese would overrun our country and destroy our -race. But the Japanese also are reasonable people, and if they came and -found how much better off we were without any Empire at all, they would -go home and imitate our example.” - -The whole argument, which ran on with a half-ironic simplicity of this -kind, was magnificent, not so much for its daring as for its quiet -confidence in human reason. I remembered how for the last twenty years -all the brazen trumpets of vulgarity had been sounding the note of -Empire over us as the one great and stirring purpose of existence. -And here was this rugged old man calmly telling me, as though it -were something of a platitude, that we had just come to the end of -an age--the age of Empires. There he sat in the familiar grey shirt -without coat or collar, the belt round the waist, and the high leather -top-boots (for he had just tramped round his land in the snow), quietly -following out the exact logic of his principles, no matter where it -might lead him. He was seventy-seven, and in terms of years one was -forced, as he said, to call him old. The spirit had retired more deeply -into the shrunk and wrinkled form. But under the shaggy brows, the -grey-green eyes still looked out with the clearness of profound thought -and fearless simplicity which have made him the greatest rebel in the -world. - -As to the present condition of his own country, he believed, as is well -known from his writings, that the return of the land to the peasants -is the only possible cure for Russia’s misery. He told me that he -would accept Henry George’s method of nationalization, or any other -which gave the peasants a true hold on the land they work. He quoted -Kropotkin’s investigations into “intensive culture” to prove that, -with improved methods, there is plenty of land in Russia to maintain -an immensely increased population. As things stood, less than a third -of the cultivated land was held by peasants or village communities, -and less than a quarter of the cultivable land was used at all. The -Tsar should at once restore the land to the peasants. With their long -experience of the communal system, they could then manage very well -for themselves without any State at all, as they had successfully -proved in the Siberian colonies; for communism ran in the Russian -blood, and its ideal had never been lost in the country. - -When I suggested that a town question had also arisen now, besides the -claim of peasants to the land, he admitted that town influence was the -greatest danger. “Towns,” he said, “are the places where mankind has -begun to rot, and unhappily the rottenness spreads. The mistake of our -Liberal politicians in the towns is that they are always preaching the -blessings of some English or American constitution. But constitutions -of that kind, having once been realized, have already become things -of the past. They belong to a different age from ours, and an ideal, -whether in statesmanship or art, is never a thing of the past, but -always of the future. For Russia as she exists now, we ought to aim at -something entirely different from your worn-out methods of government.” - -So he conversed through the winter morning, eager to speak, and as -eager to hear. He asked much about Central Africa from which I had -lately returned, and much about the new national movement in Ireland, -nor should I have been surprised if he had continued the conversation -in Gaelic, so fresh and vigorous was his interest in the world. Only -when I told him rather carelessly, that the intellectual movement -there was producing a large number of poets, his face fell, and he -turned to other things, merely remarking that poets were very little -good. In passing, he said he had been pleased to find that his fellow -Puritan, Mr. Bernard Shaw, thought very lightly of Shakespeare, in whom -he had never himself discovered any satisfaction, though he had read -him once all through in English, and twice in German. - -But it was not his interest in the common affairs of the world that -gave him his true attraction. Apart from all this, there hung over -him that separate and distinguishing grace which our fathers called -sanctity and considered a thing to be worshipped. It was the grace of -a toilsome and abstemious life, unflinchingly devoted to one high aim, -and sacrificing all worldly pleasure and success to an ideal which -could never be reached. I believe the modern name for it is fanaticism. - -I say one high aim, for I see no reason to agree with the many critics -who draw a sharp dividing line in his career and in the process of -his mind. All the principles of his later teaching are to be found -illustrated in the two great imaginative works of his earlier manhood, -and if there is any fault to be found with a life so courageous and -inspiring, I should seek it only in a rather inhuman and remorseless -consistency of reason--a logic which, having for instance, condemned -the pleasures of sense, would doom the human race to rapid extinction -because life cannot be maintained and handed on without pleasure. But -such returns to the strict Christianity of earlier centuries ought not -to astonish people who call themselves Christians, especially as there -seems no danger at present that the logic of their teaching will be -followed in human action. And, in any case, I should rather leave it to -others to reveal such limitations as they may find in so beneficient -and gracious a personality. - - [Illustration: TOLSTOY IN MIDDLE AGE.] - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - THE STATE OF MOSCOW - - -On the morning of Saturday, December 9th, the day after I had arrived -in Moscow, I happened to be passing the unfinished buildings of the -empty University. Minute snow was lashing through the air before a -bitter wind, but it thawed as it fell, and people in goloshes went -slopping about among the filthy puddles of the street. - -Trailing in disorder through the dirt and wind, mixed up with the -market people and the little open cabs like sledges that were always -dashing up and down with men and women in furs, came a loose string -of soldiers, slowly making their way westward. They had just passed -the canvas booths where butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers and other -loyalists set upon the students with knives the month before; they had -reached the point where the soldiers from behind walls fired blindly -into the thick of the unarmed procession which accompanied the funeral -of the student Baumann. There they halted, because the cross road which -passes the great Riding School Barrack and cuts the University in half -was blocked with traffic, and then a few passers-by began to look at -them curiously. - -They were not to be called a column, nor were they organized as an -advanced party. They were not organized at all; but a few cavalry came -first, their hairy little horses throwing up a steam into the wind; -then a few straggling infantry--not more than half a battalion--covered -with filth, their uniforms torn and patched, some in low, flat caps -like our own men, some in high, furry caps, matted with mud and snow. -And under the caps were faces yellow, thin, and as though bemused with -wonder. Behind the infantry followed a rambling line of various kinds -of cart, and inside the carts were stretched muffled and pallid forms, -their heads or arms or feet bound up with dirty and blood-stained -bandages. - -These were the soldiers returning from the war, the van and first -instalment of that great and ruined army coming home. At last they had -completed the 5000 or 6000 miles of their journey from the starving -East, across the frozen lake, and through the long Siberian plains, and -were alive in the heart of their own country again. And this was how -they were received. Certainly, the Moscow municipality had intended to -arrange some sort of festivities at the station. They had intended to -give little presents to the men--something in the shape of chocolates -and cigarettes that comfort the hearts of heroes. They had prepared -little decorations for the officers, with the inscription, “To the -defenders of the country.” But whether these festivities were ever held -and these little presents given, no one could tell me. The papers had -announced that the army from the Far East would begin to arrive on the -Sunday. The paternal Government took care that they should arrive on -the Saturday. - -Probably the town officials retained for themselves their little -offerings to patriotism, and will wear the war decorations with pride -at family parties. So little interest was taken in the whole thing that -the evening papers continued to announce that the army would begin to -arrive on the morrow. The market people and cabdrivers stopped for a -moment to look at them before hurrying on through the snow, and no -further notice of any kind was taken of the defenders of the country. - -So they drifted westward, down the dirty streets, and disappeared. On -reaching the barracks, the Reservists among them were discharged, and -the crowds of beggars who, with threats and curses, violently demanded -the milk of human kindness at every corner, were increased by many -tattered figures. They limped about in traces of departed uniforms, -and as they passed, people said, “A soldier from the war.” One night -I saw two or three of them seated on a curb-stone beside a fire which -had been lighted in a street. One was swaying gently backwards and -forwards and continually repeating, “At home and alive! at home and -alive!” The others took no notice, but stared like imbeciles into the -flames. - -Some were drafted back by rail to their villages, and the terror -of comfortable people was that they would there spread the tale of -mismanagement, corruption, and misery till all the peasants would rise -in fury and sweep upon the cities in ravenous and overwhelming hordes. -Sometimes a dim rumour reached us from the Far East of a distracted -army, mutinous and starving; maddened with hardship and the longing for -home, but unable to crowd into the worn-out trains that crept along -those thousands of miles of single line, choked with stores and blocked -by continual accidents and strikes. If they should all come home--all -the 500,000 or 600,000 of them at once? The comfortable citizens--and -even in Moscow there were such people--shuddered in their furs and -thanked Heaven for the difficulties of that narrow road. - -On the other hand, a big manufacturer told me he was delighted to see -the army returning. “For now,” he said, “the Reservists on garrison -duty here will be dismissed, and we can always trust the Line to obey -their officers and shoot in defence of law and order.” At the time I -hoped he was over-sanguine. In Russia there is no caste of soldiers -as with us. All come from the people, and in a year or two will -return to the people. The Line are exactly the same kind of men as -the Reservists, only younger. Of course, it might happen that, being -younger, they would more likely obey, for to most people obedience is -the easiest thing to do, and a young man in uniform is almost sure to -fall into it. But for the moment that was to me just the one question -of the future; would the Line obey their officers and shoot in defence -of law and order? - -There were rumours about the disaffection of a good many battalions. -The Rostoff regiment got up a little mutiny on its own account one -day, and planted guns at the corners of their barracks, but they were -soon won back by promises of bodily comfort. For the rest, the troops -patrolled the streets in mounted and unmounted parties day and night, -but no one knew whether they represented a Government or not. Their -chief duties were concentrated round the great block of Post Office -buildings. For all day long large groups of postal clerks and officials -on strike were gathered upon the pavements there, like working bees -around a ruined hive, and in the neighbouring boulevard gardens, where -girls and children skated, they assembled in eager controversy. - -On the Monday morning (December 11th), I saw there a feeble little -attempt to rush a mail-cart starting for the provinces, or for the St. -Petersburg station, under mounted escort. In a moment two Cossack -patrols wheeled round and dashed at full gallop into the crowd, -striking blindly at the nearest heads with the terrible nagaikas -or loaded whips which I described before. Where the patrols had -passed, men, women, and little girls, lay felled to the ground or -stood screaming with pain while blood ran down their faces. Pushing, -stumbling, and scrambling for life, the crowd fled in panic before -the stroke of the hoofs and the whirling whips. Then I knew that -until they could face violence with some sort of organized front, the -revolutionists had better stay at home. Against twenty men in uniform, -five hundred had no chance. As a gigantic Caucasian cried in scorn the -night before to a meeting of peaceful and scientific Social Democrats, -“The party that commands force is the Government.” Who would command -force was at that time the most important question in Russia, and no -one was certain how it should be answered from day to day. - -In the ordinary affairs of life we enjoyed liberty tempered by -assassination. The advance from tyranny supported by execution was -immeasurable, and it had all been accomplished in about six weeks. In -that old city, the natural centre of Russian life both by position and -trade, were gathered some 1,100,000 souls who had never known liberty -before, either in politics, economics, or thought. It was very natural -that they should not know exactly what to make of the change at -first. The surprising thing was to see how rapidly their instinct for -organization and self-government developed, especially in the working -classes. Whether one ought to trace this faculty to the old habit of -the village community among the peasants, I am not sure. But I think it -certain that the feeling for association and common action--the feeling -of “mutual aid” as Kropotkin calls it--is very widely extended among -Russians. - -Every one was then waiting for the next step in history, and the -wildest rumours flew. At every corner and in every restaurant stood -prophets foretelling the fates, and winning the momentary applause of -delight or terror. But, except for such rewards, the time of prophets -was not more valuable than usual, and for ordinary people, whose -perceptions are blind to futurity, the real points of interest were -still the postal strike and the rapid formation of unions. The loss -to friendship and business owing to the cessation of letters was so -severe, that the leaders of finance and commerce in Moscow drew up -a petition to Witte and Durnavo, urging them to grant the economic -demands, especially the right of union, even if no political demands -were considered. The Government replied with a manifesto dismissing one -thousand of the postal strikers offhand, and making all strikes among -Government servants a criminal offence. - -The hardship was great. Many of the strikers had served fifteen years -or more, and were entitled to pensions, which they now lost. Many -lived in Government quarters, from which they were now evicted. The -Progressives certainly did all that they could to assist them. At all -lectures and meetings, such as were held in various parts of the city -every night, the bag was sent round for aid to the strikers. At one -lecture I counted seven bags--chiefly students’ caps--going round for -various righteous causes. In one of the most moderate of all Liberal -papers--the _Russian News_--a strike fund was organized for the -women and children, and it reached about £5000 before the Government -clutched it and put it in its own pocket. In all Progressive papers you -read advertisements that Mr. or Mrs. So-and-So would undertake to feed -so many strikers for so many days, or to house the children. I knew -three Socialist families of quite poor people who took in one or two -children of strikers every day to share their dinner. The noticeable -thing was that the children were fed, no matter what party of Socialism -their parents belonged to. All the workers knew that the strike so far -had been the people’s only weapon. The Government had two--hunger and -the rifle. - -Nearly every night meetings were held for the new unions which were -springing up on every side. The whole of Moscow, which is built in -concentric circles round the Kremlin or eminent citadel overhanging -the little river, had been divided off into wedges, or “rays,” as -they were called, and each ray sent so many delegates to the central -committee--corresponding to the Council of Labour Delegates in St. -Petersburg--which superintended the whole labour question, and had to -decide the moment for strikes. But besides the central organizations, -almost every trade was forming its own union of defence. - -First came the great Railway Union, which controlled the powerful -instrument of the railway strikes, and had its headquarters in Moscow, -because the city is the obvious centre of all Russian railways. Perhaps -next in size, though hardly in importance, came the peculiar union of -Floor Polishers--a class of workers unknown in England, because we -are not clean enough to have parquetted floors. But in Moscow they -were said to number thirty thousand in the union. There were other -large unions besides--the tailors’, the metal-workers’, the waiters’, -the jewellers’, and a very strong printers’ union called “The Society -of the Printed Word,” said to be the oldest in Russia, and rising -almost to the dignity of a knightly order by its title. The Union of -Bathmen and Bathwomen, a very large class of labour in Russia, is also -old, and in those weeks they came to the very satisfactory decision -of declaring a boycott against the editor of Katkoff’s famous old -clerical and reactionary paper, the _Moscow News_ (_Moskovskaya -Viedomosti_). No minister of the union would wash the editor of the -_Moscow News_ at any price. - -One evening I was present at the formation of two new unions in very -different classes of labour. First I went to an immense meeting of -tea-packers in a summer theatre, attached to the Aumont, a music -hall of easy virtue. But the theatre had now been boarded up into a -meeting-house as more suitable for the times. Packers of the Chinese -tea that comes overland are naturally a large class in Moscow, for the -tea is still the Russian national drink, in spite of the deadly blend -from Ceylon which is slowly being introduced. The packers are said -to number about six thousand, and forty companies sent deputies to -the meeting, though some of the companies employed only eight or ten -hands. It is an unhealthy trade, the dust leading to consumption; and -of all the many meetings I attended it was only here that I found the -voices feeble and toneless. Wages run from half a crown a week for boys -and girls up £1 a week for the best men. But in the trade there is an -ancient peculiarity that the wife of the owner or manager has to supply -a free midday dinner for the hands, and, as one of the delegates said, -“Apparently she cooks it in hell.” - -The other new union was formed at a meeting of shop assistants, -conducted with that suavity and grandeur of manner which one always -notices at meetings of this class. It comes from watching the grace of -the shopwalkers, who alone carry the dignified and charming traditions -of the old noblesse into modern life. The meeting was occupied for -many hours in discussing whether the union should attend only to the -assistants’ interests, or should enter into wider life as a political -force. The Social Democrats urged them to be bold, and, as usual, -they had their way. They were far the most strongly organized party; -they had their speakers ready at every meeting, and they played their -“minimum programme” of quietly progressive measures with great effect. -Their opponents were unprepared, and on this occasion were almost too -polite to argue. I came away soon after midnight, but it was obvious -that the Shop Assistants’ Union would be a Social Democratic force -before dawn. - -Mid-winter is the height of the season for learning, art, and pleasure, -but Moscow was neither gay nor learned. Reading and fiddling seemed -equally irrelevant. So were painting, poetry, love-making, and all -the other pleasant arts. In the big restaurant of the Métropole, it -is true, an orchestra still maintained a pretence of joy, and poured -out its vapid tunes to the rare guests who sat like shipwrecked -sailors scattered on a vasty deep, and struggled to be gay. But, like -a middle-aged picnic on the Thames, the thing was too deliberate a -happiness, and too conscious of its failure. “We must keep our spirits -up, you know,” I heard a youth say to an elderly gentleman as he poured -out the champagne. But it was no good. The elderly gentleman had -obviously dined well daily for many years, and was overwhelmed at the -solemn thought that at any moment dinners might end for ever. Day and -night he was living in “the haggard element of fear.” - -The University was closed. Her seven thousand students were scattered, -some to their homes, some to their lodgings in the city, where for -the most part they swelled the army of the Social Democrats, and -spent their time discussing maximum and minimum programmes and the -socialization of productivity. They were also collecting arms. - -“It was impossible to keep open. The students would insist on turning -the quadrangle into a Fort Chabrol,” said Professor Manioukoff, the new -Rector of the University, a learned economist and advanced politician, -who, being prohibited from studying grievances nearer home, had won -fame by specializing on the Irish land question. So the University was -closed, the professors were compelled to pursue research without the -due endowment of fees, and their wives and babies had to manage upon -half the family income. - -Many of them took to lecturing, not for pay, but because it was the -only thing they could do for the Movement. One night I listened to -one who lectured for nearly two hours on the comparative history of -amnesties during the last few centuries, with a very close application -to the present time. He still called himself a Professor, though he had -been exiled from his Chair for so many years that his name had long -been forgotten, and, like most of the exiles, he came back to a world -which regarded him with a considerate but uneasy pity, as we should all -regard the dead if they returned. For nearly thirty years he had lived -in Bulgaria, surely not too far away to be remembered, and now he was -lecturing again in Moscow, an old man, lame and blind, dressed in a -frock-coat and worsted slippers. His nice little granddaughter guided -his steps, kept his water-glass full, reminded him every half-hour -of the flight of time (which he bore patiently), and put him right -about his dates, which made the audience smile. Otherwise, the large -lecture hall, packed with the intellectual, listened intently, but -showed no sign of approval until the end. The portrait of the Tsar had -been carefully removed from behind the chair, and only the gaunt iron -staples showed where it had hung. - -Another evening, in one of those dubious theatres which had just -been converted to decent use, I heard a Professor deliver an immense -discourse upon the first principles of Social Democracy before an -audience half composed of working people. They also listened patiently, -but the moment of real excitement came when the lecturer ceased, and -three young soldiers sprang upon the stage and shouted that, on the -highest economic principles, they too had struck, and would Cossack -it no more. “I have flung away the uniform!” shouted one, who was -apparelled in a long dressing-gown. “No more fools of officers over -me!” shouted another. “And they fed us like swine!” shouted the third, -who was just economically drunk. The applause that rocked the audience -was one of the grandest noises I have ever heard. If only all the army -would follow the example of those three gallant musketeers! But that -night they vanished from the blaze of glory, and I heard of them no -more. - -Vanished too were the Zemstvoists, the men who, in July, had impeached -the Government in an overwhelming series of accusations. Since the -death of their hero, Prince Sergius Troubetskoy, their heart had failed -them, and in November, when they met again in congress and their chance -had come, they wasted the precious days in discussions upon Witte’s -character, just like a suburban essay society discussing Hamlet. But -time was going fast just then, and before they had settled Witte’s -psychology to their satisfaction they were forgotten. They had meant -so well by their counsels of moderation and attempts to imitate the -British Constitution, but rushing time had left them lonely. Yet -Moscow was rather strong in Liberal papers, which the bourgeoisie were -glad to accept as protests against the extremes of socialism. The -_Russian News_, for instance, edited by white-haired Sobolevski, -with a grey-haired staff, was a strictly moderate paper, as I have -said, though its writers had become so inspired by the youthfulness -of the time that their articles would have sent them a year before to -meditate in prison or exile upon the license of governments. - -Then again, the first Sunday I was in Moscow, Professor Miliukoff -brought out his new paper called _Life_ (_Zhisn_) on simple -and moderate lines. He began with a long and earnest appeal for the -unity of Progressive parties against the common enemy of Absolutism. -“Let us all combine,” he cried, “into a bloc, and present a solid front -to the ancient tyranny and new reaction. When Absolutism is overthrown, -there will be time enough to discuss the divergent lines of our own -programmes.” Every one respected Professor Miliukoff, and was cheered -by his eternal hopefulness. The advice was obviously sensible. Its -only fault was that it was sensible to commonplace--just too obviously -sensible for times of high exhilaration, when the position of the -moderate man is always painful and usually neglected. Neither workmen -nor Social Democrats cared in the least for a Liberal alliance. They -knew that, in any case, the Liberals would join them in the fight -against Absolutism, and to the truly revolutionary spirit Liberalism is -always suspect. A significant cartoon came out that week, called “The -Hare at the Hunt.” The lion of the proletariat has sprung upon the Bear -of tyranny; but in the foreground the Hare of the bourgeoisie is seen -hastening up and delicately nibbling at one of the dead Bear’s ears, as -much as to say, “Please, give me a little bit too!” A little bit might -be given to the Moderates, but the proletariat were determined to keep -the lion’s share. - -One day, for the sake of comparison with the proletariat of St. -Petersburg, I went over a large and very rich factory, which almost -holds a monopoly in candles, and the darkness of Northern Russia for -six months in the year makes a candle monopoly valuable. At the end of -October a serious riot had occurred there, and the front of the mill -was still a wreck of bricks and broken glass. The strikers had then -demanded a 50 per cent. rise in wages, an eight-hour day, a lodging -allowance of 6_s._ to 10_s._ a month, pensions of half wages -after fifteen years’ work, and pensions of full wages after twenty-five -years. When I was there, they had just begun work again on a rise of 16 -per cent., an eight-hour day in three shifts, and a lodging allowance -of 4_s._ 6_d._ a month. That lodging allowance arises from -the general old custom of living-in. Hitherto all the single men and -single women had lived in barrack dormitories inside the mill, with -a room for meals, gas, heating, and washing-troughs provided. These -blocks of lodgings--“spalnya,” as they are called--dismal and crowded -as life in them must be, were perhaps as comfortable and much cheaper -than the accommodation to be had outside. But they lacked the one -great charm in life--the charm of liberty. At the time of the strike, -the hands demanded the right of receiving friends and relations from -outside into the premises. The managers complied, and that evening -the whole place was crammed with enthusiastic advocates of family -affection. A mass meeting, eloquent of revolution, was held in the -mill yard, and the devotees of friendship paraded their red flags in -front of the managers’ quarters with trumpet and drum. Next day the -managers withdrew their amiable concession, cleared the dormitories -of men and women, and turned them neck and crop out into the road to -fend for themselves. The lodging allowance was given to prevent further -riots and to soothe the conscience. In the matter of money, it is no -compensation for what the workmen lose, but liberty is thrown in, and -liberty counts so high that I think the workers had the best of it in -the end, and probably the old barracks will gradually disappear. - -In the last twenty years the rate of pay has gone up fourfold, while -the cost of living has only doubled. A good workman in this mill now -received from 24_s._ to 30_s._ a week, which appeared to -be the maximum wage, and since the strike a woman’s wage had risen -to 8_s._ a week, with the same lodging allowance as the men, or -about 9_s._ 2_d._ a week in all. The standard of food was -perhaps a little higher than in St. Petersburg, for, except during -fasts, the family expected some sort of meat or stew every day. But -this was a particularly rich mill; it prided itself on its high wages, -and the Englishmen of its management delighted to display a paternal -benevolence to the innocent unfortunates of a lower race. It was -certainly remarkable that all the hands had gone back, except those who -could not be summoned from their villages owing to the breakdown of the -post. - -Of course, the prolonged post strike, which had continued for nearly -three weeks then, was inconvenient for everybody. Revolutions are -generally inconvenient, especially for business people. But it was -rather too much when that ancient champion of tyranny, the _Novoe -Vremya_, took this opportunity for working itself up into such a -glow of righteous indignation because the strikers were depriving -mankind of humanity’s glorious right--the right of communication and -speech--the right of corresponding with fellow-men afar off, and -calling on others to associate in their joys and griefs. What had the -_Novoe Vremya_ cared about that glorious right a few months -before? What protest had it ever raised against a censorship that pried -into letters, and chuckled over lovers’ secrets, and tracked men down -to death through the words of their friends? Or what communication with -their fellow-men had been allowed to exiles and prisoners--exiles and -prisoners who had been wiped out from human existence for exercising -that glorious right of speech? In reading leading articles like that I -have sometimes detected limits beyond which even hypocrisy ceases to be -decent. - -But in times of revolution we must expect and tolerate much wild -absurdity among people who are afraid of losing their money, and among -the startled cowards who have suddenly realized what revolution is. In -a letter to his own paper, the _New Life_, about this time, Maxim -Gorky said that people had been writing to him from all over Russia to -ask why it was that the patient workman and the dear, gentle peasant, -whom the advanced thinkers used to worship as a saint, had suddenly -shown themselves so very disagreeable and dangerous. There was a -crudity and innocence about the question which takes us back more than -half a century in Western social history, and Gorky’s own answer sounds -to us almost as much a truism as a chapter of Charles Kingsley seems -now. He merely repeated the weary old truth that in ordinary times the -rich and governing classes have never taken the smallest notice of the -worker and the peasant. When have they ever turned from their games of -ambition or pleasure to consider the poor? In what way have they shared -their life, except in the distribution of doles, which are given for -their own comfort? If a bad time had now come for them, and if a worse -was coming, that was only the natural turning of a wheel which had been -slow to turn. - -In our country we have long been familiar with such statements. We have -long known that the rich man’s charity is but a ransom for himself, so -that he may follow enjoyment with undisturbed content. We have long -known that the sympathies of comfortable people are limited by their -own comfort. We have also learnt how vain it is to preach such truths, -if preaching is to end in words. But what to us has become true to -satiety may still be a bewildering paradox to less experienced and less -sophisticated nations, and the extraordinary influence of writers like -Gorky in Russia seems to arise from the simple-hearted earnestness -with which thoughtful Russians have received their doctrine. What to -us appears so painfully true that we had almost forgotten it, may dawn -upon them as a fine paradox of revelation. - -The teaching in Gorky’s new play, _The Children of the Sun_ would -be rather less familiar to us, for it strikes at the intellectual -classes, who generally regard themselves as above criticism, whereas -the rich have become case-hardened to sermons and abuse. It was then -being performed in his own theatre--the best theatre in the world, -airy, admirably planned for hearing, entirely free from the curse of -decoration, and provided with a large hall where the audience could -discuss revolution during the welcome pauses which extend Russian -entertainments through the night. The drama is Ibsenite--a humorous -tragedy, with plenty of ironic laughter, though it fades away into a -paltry German suicide. But the political point is that the central -figure--an excellent man of science, simple, sweet tempered, and -devoted with all his heart to the creation of life by chemical -means--declares that intellectual people like himself are in reality -toiling for the poor, no matter how indifferent they may appear to the -poverty of others. They are the children of the sun--the almost divine -beings who shed light in the darkness of the world. The simple-hearted -chemist is himself a true saint of intellect. When, with the consent -of his wife, a rich and lovely lady flings herself round his neck and -offers him all her love and a complete laboratory, he accepts the -laboratory with rapture, but asks if the love is not superfluous. -Nevertheless all his innocence, his devotion, and his real kindliness -of heart do not help him in the least when the peasants, infuriated for -liberty, come storming down the village and almost choke the life out -of that Child of the Sun in his own back garden. - -That was likely to be the fate of many excellent people, who were -pursuing culture without extravagance. Many who deserved no worse than -the rest of us poor intellectual and decently clothed men were caught -up in the whirling skirts of revolution and carried shrieking they knew -not where. From every side came rumours of burnings and slaughters. -The country was spoken of as a wilderness of destruction, into which -none dared penetrate. For many days in vain I sought for a guide and -interpreter to accompany me among the peasants. To enter a village was -sudden death, and not for three pounds a day would a townsman go with -me, till at last I found one whose poverty consented. - -In Moscow itself we were still revelling in liberty. We lived under an -anarchy almost fit for the angels, who by their divine nature are a law -unto themselves. But, unhappily, as I said, our liberty was tempered -by assassination. For some weeks the average of street murders was one -a day. Barefooted, long-haired beggars, the very heroes of Gorky’s -tales, the ragged supermen of misery, sprang out from dark corners, and -I always thanked them heartily for their mistake in regarding my money -as more valuable than my life. People walked warily, and kept one eye -behind them, turning sharply round if they heard even the padding sound -of goloshes in the snow. Often at night, as I went up and down the -rampart of the Kremlin, and watched those ancient white temples with -their brazen domes glittering under the moon, I noticed that the few -passers-by skirted round me in a kind of arc, and if they came upon me -suddenly they ran. My intentions were far from murderous, but all were -living in that haggard element of fear. They had not yet realized that -the only decent way to live is to take life in one hand and possessions -in the other, and both hands open. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - THE OLD ORDER - - -St. Nicholas’ Day of December 19th had long been awaited with -expectation, both of triumph and fear. It was the Tsar’s christening -day--one of the four festivals which were given to St. Nicholas every -year, because, on his way to see Christ, he stopped to help a peasant’s -cart out of the mud and made his clothes all dirty. It had been -rumoured with confidence that the work of the great Manifesto would -then be completed--that the Tsar himself would come to Moscow, and from -the very shrine of the Empire issue the charter of a free Constitution, -and, like a generous father, distribute the Crown lands among the -peasants. It was a splendid opportunity for heroic concession--such -concession as would have gathered nearly the whole mass of the people -round its author in enthusiastic devotion. But there was nothing -heroic about the poor little Tsar--“Homunculus,” as the satirists -called him--and the mood of concession had passed away. It was a time -for reaction now, the imprisonment of labour leaders, the arrest of -editors, the closure of meetings, the incitement to murder. - -For a week past the day had been looked forward to with terror by most -Progressives, and especially by the Jews. Christians had been preparing -for themselves large crosses of wood, iron, or even cardboard, which -they hung round their necks, so that when the religious mob attacked -them, they might fling open their furs and reveal their Christianity -visible upon their waistcoats. - -But the children of darkness were a-tiptoe for the slaughter. Only -the day before the festival, the patriotic organization of the Black -Hundred, called the Hooligans or the Order of the Men of Russia -according to sympathy, had issued a manifesto inciting to the final -extermination of all Jews and foreigners in the city. Their common duty -to God and the Tsar commanded all true men to unite in clearing Holy -Russia of the accursed stranger. At the same time, the more moderate of -the priesthood, mindful of an accepted distinction between religion and -murder, wrote a letter to the papers, appealing to the faithful to act -like Christians and not to kill the Jews. But such advice was a mere -bewilderment to the simple man. To kill Jews is to act like Christians. -Why complicate matters by raising the doubt? Ages of history had proved -it. - -So the Jews and many of the foreigners fortified their houses and hid -themselves. All Moscow, indeed, was fortified in a manner, for new -shutters and hoardings now protected doors and windows of all shops and -many houses which were left open before. In the evening I went through -the streets, and all was gloom and silence and fear. In one place on -the Boulevard a slightly drunken soldier, who had been boasting of -his revolutionary convictions, was surrounded by a little knot of -loyalists, beguiled down a side court, and quietly slaughtered. At the -door of a little restaurant in my own street I found a shouting mob. -They had set upon a student and beaten him senseless. The restaurant -people had dragged his body, almost naked, into the house and laid it -across two chairs in a cellar. Through holes in the shutter you could -see it lying there, in a shirt that oozed blood, while a girl student, -who had been with him, knelt with her arms round his neck and cried -aloud. At the sound of her crying, the mob yelled with exultation, and -fought for a place at the shutter. - -Morning came, intensely cold, but clear and bright. Before nine o’clock -large crowds had begun to gather on the Kremlin--that triangular -citadel of old cathedrals and palaces in the centre of Moscow, -surrounded by an ancient crenellated wall, looking steeply down over -the river on the south side. The priesthood had asked leave for a -special ceremony of prayer on account of Russia’s troubles, and the -new Governor-General, Admiral Dubásoff, who had arrived only two days -before, could not decently refuse a prayer meeting to the patriotic -ministers of peace, especially at a time when the Government was only -longing for disturbances as an excuse for military assassination. - -The prayer meeting was fixed for the great open space called the Red or -Splendid Square (Krasnaya) lying between the Kremlin proper and the Old -Town, which is surrounded by a similar wall. But the church services -for the saint’s day had first to be held in the cathedrals, and by ten -o’clock the sacred banners from all the great shrines of Moscow began -to assemble on the height where the three cathedrals, the bell tower, -and the great palace stand. A sacred banner is a metal plate, generally -about three feet square, hanging out sideways from a pool like a flag, -except that it is quite stiff. The people like to think of it as gold, -but that would not prevent it being brass. The plate itself is fretted -in various designs, and at the centre is an icon, a representation -of some saint or religious scene--St. George with his dragon, the -Resurrection, or the Ascension--sometimes painted on board, sometimes -worked in silver and other metals. The banner is further adorned with -rich enamels, and rattles a fringe of metal tassels. I counted nearly -a hundred of them glittering in the frosty sun, as they entered the -Kremlin gates in groups and passed the piled-up lines of guns which -Napoleon left behind him, and the new white palings round the little -shrine where the Grand Duke Sergius met his end. - -It was impossible to estimate the number of people who swarmed on -every open space and crowded the steps of all the churches. There -were many thousands, and all were bowing and crossing themselves or -kneeling in the snow with adoration before every shrine and at every -saint that passed. All classes were there, and sometimes a lady, deep -in furs, would signal to her servant to put down a cushion or piece of -mackintosh on the particular spot where she wished to worship. But, as -is natural in a religious ceremony, on the whole it was a crowd of the -poor. Many peasants had come in from the country, conspicuous for their -wild hair and leather coats. But the greater part were simply the poor -of Moscow--the pious, the patriotic, the criminal poor--all who are -the natural enemies of change. They went from shrine to shrine, they -crowded round the Great Bell, they climbed the brass-domed tower for -the view, they filled the cathedrals till it was impossible to stir -inside, and from the outside we could only listen to the deep chantings -that boomed through the open doors. And all the time the crossings and -bowings and prostrations in the snow never ceased. - -The Governor-General and other great officials and soldiers had a -specially short service, in accordance with their dignity, in some -chapel up the Lion staircase, where no unhallowed or ununiformed foot -is fit to tread. But by eleven all the services were over, and with -infinite effort the holy banners were drawn up in two lines beside the -Great Bell. Their main poles being supported by four smaller poles, -they began to move slowly and with difficulty towards the gate into -the Red Square. It is the Holy Gate of the Saviour, under which every -Russian takes off his cap, so sacred for centuries has been the picture -above the arch. - -Small bodies of Cossacks, and of infantry with fixed bayonets, were -stationed along the route or accompanied the procession, to protect -the heavenly powers. When at last the glittering banners had staggered -by, there came a group of priests in robes stiff with gold and -many-coloured embroideries, thrown over their ordinary fur coats, and -helping to make them warm as well as beautiful. And behind them came a -party of earthly saints in apparel still more marvellous. I think they -were bishops, but they may have been archimandrites. They wore hats of -brass or gold, shaped like Byzantine domes, and sprinkled with gleaming -glass or precious stones. Some of the saints had hair hanging far down -their chests and backs; others were less devout in shagginess. - -Last of all, supported by an extra strong detachment of Cossacks, came -the banners of the most sacred shrine in Moscow, accompanying the -picture of the Iberian Virgin herself, which had been brought out for -the occasion in its wooden case from its own rich chapel at the Iberian -gate. As she passed--this famous virgin, copied from the Virgin of -Mount Athos centuries ago--the crowds on each side bowed before her -like corn when the wind blows. - -So the procession moved under the Gate of the Saviour, and gathered -on the round stone platform where Ivan the Cruel used to enjoy the -executions. It stands in front of Ivan’s many-coloured church, built -by the Italian whose eyes (as the old myth says) were put out that he -might never design another so gay. The service of special prayer was -there performed, and as the clocks struck twelve and the guns began -to fire a salute, the religious part of the day came to an end. The -banners went back into the Kremlin; the Iberian Virgin was carried in a -four-wheeler to her shrine; the bishops and archimandrites drove away -to lunch in huge coaches drawn by four black horses abreast. - -Then the moment came which all had awaited--the moment for which the -prayers to God had only been the excuse. Now or never was the time for -slaughter and enrichment. A fervid orator sprang on the balustrade -of the stone platform, and with athletic gesticulations and rousing -appeals to heaven and the Tsar, strove to lash the crowd to the -proposed heat of fury. Other patriots were busy extolling the beauty -of domestic virtue, and distributing photographs of the Tsar with his -baby-boy upon his knee. The people cheered and shouted, and began to -rush up and down, like caged wolves just before feeding-time. Then -raising the Russian hymn, the orator, still threatening the bright -infinity of space with his fists, set off to march up the whole -length of the square. The crowd swarmed after him, thousands strong. -They trickled through the two little arches of the Iberian gate, and -gathering together again, swept in one great tide up the main street -called the Tverskaya. - -They were going to slaughter the Jews, and exterminate the students, -and purify the city. No end to the horrors they were going to perform. -But they reached the square in front of the Government House, and -there they stopped to make speeches, calling again upon heaven and -the Tsar, and urging the Governor-General to take vengeance upon all -revolutionaries and other enemies of the country. - -The Governor-General appeared in uniform upon the balcony--tall and -pale, white haired, with long white moustache, and a narrow, pointed -beard. It was Admiral Dubásoff, hitherto only known as Russia’s -representative in the inquiry about the Baltic Fleet’s victory off -Hull; afterwards to be better known as the Butcher or the Admiral of -the Street. In a loud voice he addressed the crowd, telling them how -delighted he was to see so many Russian citizens still on the Tsar’s -side, and promising to telegraph to the Tsar with what confidence his -Majesty could rely upon the unshaken loyalty and unflinching courage of -ancient Moscow. - -It was a little unfortunate that just at that moment, before the cheers -could even begin, some one at the corner of the square near me raised -the cry, “The students are coming! The students! The students!” Like a -wind, terror swept over the crowd, the sledges dashed away in flight, -and, plunging, falling, and crashing into each other, the people rushed -down any street and hid round any corner for their lives. I have seen -many fine panics, from the Greek war downwards, but never anything -quite so ludicrous as that stampede of bloody-minded patriots. For -nothing whatever had happened, and when at last the terrified loyalists -took heart to look behind them, they saw the square peaceful, silent, -and almost empty. One by one they crept back into courage. They even -tried to rekindle their patriotic zeal and resume their murderous -aspect. But it was no good. The Governor-General had gone indoors to -dispatch his telegram in praise of their courage. That unhappy run had -spoilt the whole massacre, and gradually the orators ceased to rage, -and every one went home for dinner. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - THE DAYS OF MOSCOW--I - - -Next day (December 20th), I had determined to start for the Caucasus, -because very severe fighting was reported there, and it was said, -I believe truly, that in some places the Georgians had set up an -independent government of their own. Accordingly I sledged to the -station, took my ticket, and registered my luggage to Baku by -Rostoff-on-Don, occupied my place in the heated train, hung up my fur -coat and snow boots, and prepared to endure the full blast of a Russian -carriage for the four days and nights of the journey. As is the way in -Russia, the train filled up nearly an hour before it was time to start, -and we all sat contemplating each other and wondering what our manners -would be like on the way. There were a large number of peasants and -country people in the train, packed together into family sections with -their children, and baskets, and bedding. Next to me sat a cleanly old -man and his wife, who held their goods upon their knees with a sturdy -resignation, as much as to say, “Now let Heaven do its worst.” - -So we waited, and taking out a book I was far away in the city of the -“Lys Rouge” upon the Arno, when I became dimly conscious of a feeling -of uneasiness in the carriages, as when a motor breaks down and the -City men fret. Doors were opened and heads put out, and footsteps -passed up and down the corridor. Distant shouting and questions -were heard. The man opposite me packed up his lunch and went out. I -followed, and saw a party of railway men just uncoupling the engine, -which puffed away for twenty yards and then stood still. With a long -diminishing hiss, the steam of the heating apparatus rushed out from -the pipes and left the train to grow cold, like the dead. - -“Strike?” I said, going up to the workmen. “Yes, general strike at -twelve o’clock,” they answered, and I gathered up my book and coat. -The rest of my luggage could not be recovered then, and next night it -went wandering down the line upon the train, and was no more seen. For -Christmas was coming, and many trains that were wandering upon the road -supplied seasonable gifts for the peasants’ needs. Hundreds of nice -geese and ducks they gave them, loads of vegetables, barrels of sugar. -For miles beyond the city, the railway was like an enormous Christmas -hamper, full of good cheer, and many a starving peasant recognized for -the first time the true significance of the holy festival. - -As to the cleanly old man and woman, they sat there still, clutching -their goods. It seemed that nothing short of the Last Trumpet could -induce them to stir. They had taken their tickets, and their confidence -in railways was unshaken. They looked at me with the sympathetic -tolerance we show to a crank who questions gravitation or maintains -the earth is flat. The peasants in like manner sat still and cherished -their young. It seemed incredible they should not go after they had -taken all that trouble to get started for home, and had settled down -into their lairs in the nice warm train. I left them still seated -there, amid expostulations growing shrill. But in the next fortnight I -had to return many times to the station, and day after day I found them -encamped in the waiting-rooms, one family living on a table by day and -under it at night, another resolutely holding a leather bench, and two -or three nested behind the bar. To keep them alive, the railway issued -a dole of about a shilling a day for the grown-ups, and they cooked -their tea and bits of food at the stoves or inside the locomotives. -But it was not a happy way of spending life. Children sprawled and -fought and wailed; mothers tried in vain to wash and clean; men tripped -over girls asleep upon the boards. And it was worse when, a few days -later, scores of soldiers dribbled in somehow from the war, unwashed, -bewildered, and wretched, and were thrown into the station among the -peasants, to live there as best they could. The smell of men’s tents -in the morning in war time is not pleasant, but it is Arabia compared -to those waiting-rooms. - -When I got back that Wednesday from the station to the middle of the -city, I found the general strike already proclaimed. All the banks were -shut and barricaded. If any shops were still open, parties of strikers -or revolutionists went into them and compelled the owners to put the -shutters up. The schools were closed, the work-people walked out of the -mills, clerks left their offices, and several hundred thousand men and -women were turned loose into the streets with nothing to do. Such gas -as was in the retorts was allowed to burn itself out, but electricity -was cut off at once, both for light and for the trams, and so was the -water for a time. People began to store it in baths and pails; they -even searched the roofs for clean snow and melted it down; but next -day the water supply was restored on the ground that it was essential -for the existence of the poor. Bread was essential too, and a few -bakeries were allowed to keep working; but even that afternoon women -were standing in line outside the bakers’ shops, and in the following -days they began to gather there long before dawn. In the hotels, and -I suppose in most well-to-do homes, bread sank from white to grey, -vegetables disappeared, the price of meat doubled, unknown portions of -animals were seen, beer ceased to flow, and the suffering rich almost -learnt how the poor die daily. - -I went up the Tverskaya, already mentioned as the chief radius of -Moscow for shops and cafés. It was full of wandering and uncertain -crowds. Where the circle of Boulevards crosses it by the Strastnoi -convent, I found a troop of horse drawn up in front of the poet -Pushkin’s statue. They were facing a thick and excited crowd, from the -midst of which a white-faced orator came forward and, standing at the -very nose of the officer’s charger, addressed him with impassioned -harangues, imploring him to abandon the cause of tyranny, and no -longer to trample over the corpses of his fellow-countrymen. The -officer listened with genial politeness, and sometimes even answered an -argument or raised some objection with a smile. His pleasing manners -encouraged hope. The women of the crowd began to say nice things to -him, and all through Russian life there is a familiarity among the -classes which we have never reached. A friendly sympathy pervaded the -air. Could it be possible that the troops would “fraternize”? Ah, how -often revolutionists in all countries had told me the troops would -fraternize! - -But the officer gave an order, and the detachment wheeled off, two -deep, down the Boulevard to their barracks, the crowd clapping their -hands, the women waving their scarves and blowing kisses to them in -cheerful mockery as they went. Two were left behind, waiting for a -third whose horse they held, and on them the orator now turned his -eloquence, while the rest laughed and cheered, and tried to pat their -horses. But they were only two common peasants with broad, red faces, -and had no pretty answers to make. - -They only sat there looking straight before them while the taunts grew -louder and the people began to crush threateningly upon them. I was -close at their side and could see their fists doubled tightly round the -loaded whips on their saddles. But at that moment their comrade came -back, and all three galloped after the others amid a storm of derision -and angry cries. - -Hardly had they gone when from a tea-house opposite three red flags on -poles emerged and were marched into the square. Uncertain what to do -next, the boys who were carrying them started down the Tverskaya, and -the crowd followed in a dense mass, shouting the “Marseillaise.” They -reached the open space in front of the Governor-General’s house where -the loyalists had held their panic the day before. But hardly had they -passed the porch, when a squadron of Cossacks swept into the crowd -behind from a side street at right angles and pursued the red flags at -full gallop, whirling their nagaikas and riding down all before them. -The procession scattered like leaves. The squadron divided, part -charging down the main street, and part across the square. In a few -seconds nothing remained upon that open space but some men and girls -stretched upon the snow, and the three long strips of red cotton which -lay as the emblems of freedom before the Governor-General’s door. The -police carried off the wounded to the cells; an infantry battalion was -brought out to line the square, and many days were to pass before I -could cross it again. - -That night, all the main streets stood in absolute darkness, only the -narrow side-streets being lit with a glimmer of gas. No sledges ran. -Here and there a beggar shuffled out upon me from his lurking-place, or -a figure visible for a moment disappeared silently. No women walked; -on them too the strike had fallen. Houses and churches stood black and -lifeless, like an abandoned city which time had not yet ruined. - -The next day was ominously quiet; no business was done; no newspapers -were published; people kept indoors; even the restaurants and provision -shops were shut, and in the Hotel Métropole the music ceased. Instead -of that melancholy orchestra, a battery of eight guns lay hidden there -now; the guests were turned out, and it was said the Governor-General -himself had made the hotel his headquarters. Others had seen him take -refuge in the sacred enclosure of the Kremlin, where the ancient gates -were all shut and guarded. Even in the Old Town they brought planks -and beams, and nailed up nearly all the gates. Troops were posted at -the Nicolai or St. Petersburg station and the line kept open for the -arrival of reinforcements. The engines were worked by soldiers and -the whole length of the road watched by pickets who were provisioned -from the trains. The Government dared not trust the ordinary Moscow -garrison, but if outside troops could only be spared from the other -capital, all might be well. - -A large meeting of the strikers assembled at the Aumont or Aquarium and -called upon the revolutionary bands or “militia” (_drouzchina_) to -begin. They pointed to the shameless reaction of the past two weeks, to -the imprisonment of the labour leaders in St. Petersburg, the arrest of -all Progressive editors, the refusal of the Tsar to make the expected -concessions on his name-day. He had made no concessions, he had only -sought to buy the loyalty of the troops by promises of better food. -It was evident that the Government was forcing civil war upon the -people, and unless the revolutionists would act at once, the workmen -would throw up the game, go back to their work, and abandon all hope of -change for ever. - -The revolutionists hesitated. They were not ready--they would not be -ready till February--not really ready till April. They were ill-armed, -had only eighty rifles as yet; a good many revolvers certainly, but -not enough bombs. Besides, if the Government wanted a rising, they -obviously ought not to rise. It is a bad strategist who lets the -enemy dictate the time for battle. The strike had been proclaimed in -St. Petersburg, certainly, but the leaders were all in prison, and -already it was seen to be a very half-hearted affair. Both the strike -and revolutionary action should be simultaneous in all the large -cities, if the great end was to be won. Christmas was near, and all -the work-people liked to save up a little money for the festival. -Every one bought a bottle of vodka, if nothing else. The peasants -would be turned against the revolution if the railway remained blocked -over Christmastide, and they could not sell their produce. Already -threats had come in from the country, prophesying horrible deaths for -the railway men unless the strike ended at once. There was just time -to appease the peasants now, for the Russian Christmas Day was still -sixteen days ahead. So they hesitated, appealing for delay and a better -opportunity. - -But the Government had determined that neither delay nor opportunity -should be given. Their one thought was the urgent need of money. -The power that commands force is the Government, and the power that -commands money can command force; that was their just and simple -argument. Their one hope was to stir up an ill-prepared rebellion, -to crush it down, and stand triumphant before the nations of Europe, -confidently inviting new loans in the name of law and order, so as to -pay the interest on the old and “maintain the value of the rouble.” -For this object it was essential that people should be killed in large -numbers. The death of every Progressive went to establish the credit -of the Treasury, and unless the slaughter came quickly, the officials -could not count upon their pay. The only alternative was national -bankruptcy in the face of the world, and no more hope of pleasant loans -again. So troops and police were stationed round the Aquarium meeting -and met the crowd as it came out with showers of blows from clubs and -whips. At all costs the people must be goaded into violence, or the -Government’s strategy would have failed. - -The final stroke was given the next day (Friday, December 22nd) and -it proved entirely successful. It was evening, and a body of some -two hundred of the revolutionary bands, including several women, was -gathered in a flat belonging to a leader named Fiedler, I think a -lawyer. He lived in the top floor of a tall white house, just opposite -the British Consulate, and not far from the post office. - -The place had long been watched by spies. About ten o’clock, as the -bands were debating war and peace, a knock came at the door and a -summons to surrender. They looked out of the window, and the street -below was full of dark forms with gleams of steel. So it had begun in -earnest at last! “And there shall be no drawing back,” thought one of -their number, and seizing up a small bomb from the table, he threw it -with all his might among the dark figures below. It burst with a flash -that revealed the waiting troops, and an officer rolled in the dirt, -never to be loved by women again. Two men also were wounded. Some said -two officers were killed; some said twenty, and hundreds of men. But -to have been in a town where men are really killed sheds a reflected -glory, and the more numerous the dead, the finer the reputation of -survivors. - -The flash of that bomb was a signal for war. The enemy was ready. They -had made their preparations for the event, and answered bomb by bomb. -While the meeting was breaking up in confusion, rushing from room to -room, some peering into the street, some fighting their way downstairs, -a shell came whizzing through the corner window and burst against the -opposite wall. From the description and the hole it made, I think it -was a segment or percussion shell, but it was followed rapidly by -case-shot, and at so short a range it is possible that nothing but case -shot was used. For the guns had been placed in a main street, at not -much more than fifty yards’ distance, and commanded an uninterrupted -sight of the whole top story. At once the fatal disadvantage of the -revolutionists was seen. Probably there was not a man among them who -could have thrown a bomb fifty yards clear; but to the Government’s -guns it was a childish range even for case-shot, and without cause -for pride they could throw shrapnel and percussion bombs up to four -thousand yards two or three times a minute. - -The bombardment of the house continued for about half an hour, the -shells crashing through the windows and against the brickwork, but not -doing very much damage except to furniture and glass, for most of the -revolutionists were crowded together on the staircase, and many were -escaping through backyards and over walls. A few, however, with great -gallantry remained and kept up a revolver-fire from the windows to -cover the retreat of the others. Four or five of them were killed by -shell-fire, and fifteen were badly wounded. It was said next day that -Fiedler was among the killed, and I was told how he had stood outside -a window in defiance and been blown to pieces. I was even shown bits -of his coat and trousers still sticking to the window-frame; but I was -not quite convinced, especially when I heard of his being shot in gaol -a fortnight later. In such cases it is hardly ever possible to discover -the truth from either side. Even eye-witnesses are generally too -excited or too terrified to see, and the Russian Government lives -upon the lie. - - [Illustration: FIEDLER’S HOUSE.] - - [Illustration: EFFECT OF SHELLS.] - -Towards midnight, a hundred and twenty revolutionists, including ten -girls, surrendered. A high official told me next day that the girls had -been released, but it is not thus that the Government treats girls, -and I know now that he was lying or repeating a lie. As to the rest, -he admitted they would be shot, because the prisons were already too -full to hold them. The loss of over a hundred was a very serious thing -for the party of progress. All manner of estimates of the revolutionary -fighting strength have been made. Some of the best authorities said -they refused to put it over 15,000 men. A very careful onlooker, who -certainly had special opportunities of knowing, fixed on 1,500 as -the just figure. The revolutionists themselves maintained, and still -maintain, that only 500 were engaged on the barricades. In that case, -they had lost a sixth part of their force at the first stroke, and they -could not afford to lose a man. For myself, I believe no estimate of -numbers in wartime, unless given by the man who issues rations--and -to the revolutionists no one issued rations. But to me it is utterly -incredible that only 500 were opposed to the Government troops during -the following nine days. Five hundred is only half a battalion, and -every colonel knows how tiny a handful even a full battalion is when it -comes into action. They may mean that only 500 were adequately armed, -but in that case the estimate is too high. The revolutionists were said -to have possessed two or three machine-guns, though I never saw them -or heard them, and attribute the rumour to the identity of the word -for machine-gun and repeating rifle (_Pulemet_). But by their own -admission they had only eighty rifles, with very few cartridges, and -the remainder were armed with various kinds of revolver, especially the -so-called “Brownings” of Belgian make. They are good enough weapons, -and will kill at a hundred yards if they hit at all. But few revolvers -can be depended on over twenty yards, and I have never found them much -good, except as a moral influence, or for the re-assuring comfort of -suicide _in extremis_. - -Five hundred could not have done the work. That night the face of -a third of Moscow was changed. The morning brought rumours of an -assault on the Nicolai station with the loss of 200 men; of assaults -on the Government house and the Prefecture of police; but, worse than -all, of a serious rising in some cotton and lace mills south of the -city, and the probable danger of several English overseers and their -families. Driving out early in a sledge to the beginning of the open -country, near the place on the river where the Russian people once -built a house for their painter Verestchagin, I found a few families -of Lancastrians and Nottingham men, anxious and apprehensive indeed -but not surrounded by bloodthirsty mobs as we had heard. The hands on -strike had been marching with red flags up and down the road as usual -the day before and singing the “Marseillaise,” when they were set upon -in front and rear by Dragoons and Cossacks with the usual results. Now -they were hanging about their factories or living-barracks, indignant -and dangerous with the sense of wrong, but outwardly quiet, and only -cursing and threatening us with fists and stones as we went about -among them. Not that the English overseers were hated. In themselves -they were popular, but as the rulers and the best-paid workmen, with -separate houses of their own, they were marked as the representatives -of overwhelming capitalism. - -As I looked out over the silent mills to the open country and wretched -villages beyond, the sound of a big gun suddenly came from Moscow. -Turning round, I saw the great city glittering with domes and crosses, -distinct with towers and lines of brilliant light under the frosty sun, -while all the church bells were booming and tinkling for the vigil of -some feast. Again came the sound of a gun, and then again, and I had -known from the first there was no mistaking it. I had not then heard of -the attack on Fiedler’s house, for one of the peculiarities of Russian -life is that the Last Judgment might be in progress in one street -while, unaware of your danger, you continued increasing your record of -sins in the next. But now there could be doubt no longer; the open war -had begun. - -In half an hour I was crossing the bridge and climbing the Kremlin hill -to the Red Square. Crowds of well-dressed people, clerks, and shop-boys -were hurrying past me away from the city. In spite of the strike, they -had walked in by habit that morning, or merely to see what was going -on. But guns in the street were a breach of business habits, and now -they had seen enough and preferred to lunch at home. Similarly, I -think, Brixton would be unusually full at midday if the shells were -bursting in Cheapside; and it was in the Cheapside of Moscow that the -guns were then at work. - -If we may take Moscow as a circle with the Kremlin for centre, it was -on the north-west segment of the circle that the revolutionists made -their most serious attack. Certainly, there were other attacks as -well--two on the St. Petersburg station, against which the whole effort -of the rising ought to have been concentrated; and one attack was made -on the Rezan station close by. The rumour came in every morning for the -next week that both had been burnt to the ground, though when I visited -them, I always found them untouched. Other attacks were also made, -and there was a certain amount of fighting on the south side of the -wandering little river. But the main interest lay in that north-west -segment, of which the Tverskaya, the Dmitrovka, and Petrovka are the -main radii, while the Boulevards enclosing the “White Town” form the -nearer of the two concentric arcs, and the Sadovaya, or garden circle, -the further. The Sadovaya, which runs round the whole city, was a real -circumference or boundary to the fighting area during the first few -days, and if one started from the red triumphal arch near the Nicolai -station, and followed the arc westward and south till the river was -reached, the whole scene of action would be included in that segment. -But concentric circles make the most puzzling plan on which a town -can be built, because it is difficult in walking to allow for the -almost imperceptible curves. Only in Moscow and Monastir have I seen -such arrangements of streets, and only in those two towns have I ever -hesitated about my way. - -The revolutionists had chosen this segment for attack because it -contained the Government house, the Prefecture of Police, the great -Central Prison, from which the exiles used to start for Siberia, and at -least three important barracks. As far as they had any definite plan -at all, their idea seems to have been to drive a kind of wedge into -the heart of the city, supporting the advance by barricades on each -side, so as to hamper the approach of troops. The point of the wedge -was to be driven down the Tverskaya as far as the Government house, -and if once that position had been gained, they probably hoped that -the rest would be easy. Accordingly, during the night they had thrown -up barricades across all streets leading into the Tverskaya beyond the -circle of the Boulevards, and in all streets parallel to it. By morning -the point of the wedge had nearly reached the open space where the -Boulevard runs and the Pushkin statue confronts the Strasnoi Convent. - - [Illustration: A MINOR BARRICADE.] - - [Illustration: A MILITARY POST AT MOSCOW.] - -That was the main and serious line of attack, as the revolutionists -designed it. But at the time it was hard to understand their purpose, -for in street fighting one can get no view, the firing comes from many -sides at once, and you are open to equal danger from friend or foe. -There is no front or rear, and you feel you are nothing but flanks. To -every point of the compass you are exposed; there is no obvious line of -advance, for the enemy may always be behind you. And there is no line -of retreat, for at any moment your communications with your base may be -cut, and you may be shot at for hours from street to street before you -can get home for food or sleep. But the greatest difficulty in grasping -the situation at once arose from the mere numbers of the barricades -which had been already thrown up since the previous night. Over a large -part of the district barricades had grown up quite at random. They -appeared in every lane. Miniature barricades crossed the footpaths on -the Boulevard gardens. They were especially thick in the Tsvietnoi, -or Flower Boulevard, and often so flimsy that a push would knock them -over. As signs of spiritual grace, nothing could have been nobler, for -they were the work of high-hearted young men and girls, who, having -read that barricades are the proper things in revolution, hastened to -build them anywhere and anyhow. Tubs, shutters, gates, iron railings, -telegraph poles, and front doors were hurriedly piled across a street -or path, and left standing there as a menace to tyrants. So they were -a menace to tyrants. Every bandbox there proved the deep-rooted hatred -to tyranny. But not one of them would stop a bullet, and there was no -possibility or intention of defending them for a moment. They were the -work of splendid children learning to make war, and when at last they -were torn up and burnt, one passed over their smouldering ruins with -the regret we feel for broken toys. - -The very multitude of these barricades (early next morning I counted -one hundred and thirty of them, and I had not seen nearly half) made -it difficult to understand the main purpose of all the fighting, when -I found myself suddenly plunged into the middle of it that first -afternoon. Alone, and very ignorant both of the language and the -town, I could not at first discover any design on either side, beyond -setting up barricades and knocking them down again. It seemed as if -the Government might have left the revolutionists alone, and simply -issued a proclamation to the citizens of Moscow: “Keep your streets -blocked up if you like. We should have thought it inconvenient, but -it really makes no difference to us.” Like most other people, I had -no experience of street fighting to guide me, and it was with this -sense of uncertainty and bewilderment that I made my way from point to -point towards the part of the Tverskaya from which the sound of guns -came. To get into the main street itself was impossible, for every -approach was guarded by sentries, who cried “Halt!” and then fired -with inconsiderate rapidity. To the crowds of peaceful citizens, such -behaviour was novel and pleasantly exciting. They gathered in thick -groups behind the shelter of any street corner, or up the passages, and -even in the porches of big shops and banks. Every now and then some one -would snatch off his cap and dash across an exposed street as though -he were finishing for a hundred yards. The crowd held their breaths -and watched eagerly, hoping to see him fall, as an audience hopes to -see the tight-rope girl break her neck. But when he reached safety and -waved his arms, they cheered and another started. - -By similar means, except that national vanity made me walk instead -of running, I reached the Petrovka (the Lombard-street of Moscow, -parallel to the Tverskaya, and below it down a hill), and made my -way along it till I came to the Boulevard near the Trouba where the -Ermitage restaurant stands. Looking up to the left I could there see -the Pushkin statue, and watch the flash of the guns in position on the -high open space that commands the cross roads of the Tverskaya and -the Boulevard in both directions. Up the hill the Boulevard was quite -empty, but in the hollow at the foot a few people were hurrying to and -fro. Some were model citizens, who would rather die than break through -the habits of every day; some were women who had to provide the Sunday -dinner anyhow. But most were possessed by the curious instinct which -drives even the gentlest men and women to witness fighting and death -against their will. - -Hoping to discover the true position of the revolutionists, I started -to cross the Boulevard myself, keeping under cover of the snowy trees -whenever I could. In the middle I saw a girl coming towards me--an -ordinary workgirl with a shawl over her head. Apparently she also had -come for curiosity, for all her rosy face was smiling with excitement. -But as I looked at it, a little red splash fell upon her cheek, and -instantly the side of her neck and the knot of the shawl turned red. -She stood still, drew in her breath with a gasp, and then sat down in -the snow crying. I jammed my handkerchief against the wound, but the -bullet had only just touched her as it fell, and seeing there was no -hole in the face I signalled to her to run, and away she went into the -Petrovka, screaming for a sledge. - -Going on, I had to leave the trees and cross the open road. At the -entrance to a yard there, I found a small group of people leaning over -another woman, who had just been hit and was lying helpless on the -pavement, her eyes white and her breath coming and going heavily. She -was a well-dressed girl in a long fur coat, possibly a revolutionist, -but more likely a sympathetic spectator. The bullet had struck through -her skirts, and a man was trying to stop the terrible bleeding by -twisting two handkerchiefs round the leg. We carried her unconscious to -a large house about a hundred yards up the hill, where a red-cross flag -was flying. It may have been a permanent hospital, for the ambulance -stations, afterwards organized by the Zemstvo or Town Council, were -not ready then. The soldiers did not fire at us, though we had come -into close range. All through those early days of the fighting, the red -cross was respected, and people who were carrying the wounded, even -without the ambulance badges, were not often fired at. A change came -later on, and even to red-cross girls no mercy was shown. This change -was due to a special order from Admiral Dubasoff. - -When I turned from the hospital door, I found my position excellent -but uncomfortable. The protection of the wounded had brought me safely -up close to the very centre of the situation; but now that protection -was withdrawn. I could not stand still, and to go back meant a long -retirement down the open road fully exposed to fire from end to end. -The only chance was to go on, and as the entrance to the next street -was only about fifty yards away, I gathered up my fur coat and ran -for it. Turning sharply round the corner, I found myself in the Mala -Dmitrovka, a wide street down which the electric trams run in quiet -times. It looked painfully open and empty. Lamp-posts had been knocked -down and laid across the road, telegraph wires had been cut and strewn -on the pavement or tied into entanglements, and the overhead strands -for electricity hung in festoons, threatening the heads of horsemen. -I saw at once that I had reached the zone between the contending -forces, an admirable position for the military student, but otherwise -unpleasing. Still, if I could only go on, I should discover the main -revolutionary body, and that was my object. So keeping close to the -houses on the left side, I started along the road at a trot. Only one -other creature was in sight--a man of the bank-clerk type, who was -walking rapidly in front of me, crouching down to protect his head. -Once he looked behind to see if I were dangerous, and I was rapidly -gaining on him when, all of a sudden, he sank together and lay down on -the pavement. - -Before I could reach him, he was up again and was leaning against a -house, trying to take cover behind a down-spout. He could only speak -Russian, but he pointed to his thigh, and I saw the blood running out -over his boot and beginning to soak through the trouser-leg. I looked -round for help, but the blinds in all the houses were down, and the -gates barred and padlocked. Pointing in the direction by which we had -come, I made him understand there was an ambulance near, and putting -one arm round my neck, he began to hop back along the street down which -we had advanced so fast. Neither of us was now in the least anxious -about danger, and we listened to the guns and rifles with entire -indifference. But the pain of the movement and the loss of blood were -overcoming him; he was turning green, and at last I was obliged to -rest him on a doorstep. I tried binding his leg over the trouser, but -that did not stop the flow, and the cold was so intense that I did not -like to take his trousers off. He was falling into unconsciousness, -and I tried in vain to make him crawl a few steps further. Again I -looked round at the houses, and this time I saw some faces watching me -from a window. I waved to them, and presently the front door opened, -and three men and a girl came out, bringing a chair. On that we -soon carried him down the road to the Red Cross room, and I was left -standing outside the entrance again. I then discovered that from first -to last we had been exposed to sharpshooters posted on the tower of the -Strastnoi Convent, close by, and all running and cover had been useless. - - [Illustration: “GOD WITH US!” - - From _Sprut_.] - -But it was now getting dark. Under the protection of the wounded, -I had approached nearer the revolutionary position than I thought -possible at starting, and for once virtue had been something better -than her own reward. To have put her to the test again would have been -wanton, for one cannot count on always finding an object of protective -philanthropy. So I made for the trees, and walking down the Boulevard -through the deepening twilight, I ran straight into a half-battery -of four guns that was coming up to the relief of the guns beside the -statue. The scouts, who were thrown out over the space, seized me and -searched me down, but raised no further objection to my existence. - -That night I had an engagement in the west of the city, but the streets -between were so carefully guarded that I had to creep in the dark -through the Old Town and round by the Kremlin along the deserted river -bank to get there, and then it was impossible to come back, for a minor -state of siege had been declared, and the soldiers were shooting at -anything that moved. A “minor state of siege” only implies that if you -lose your life, or anything else during the time, you have no claim on -the Government for compensation. It is a convenient arrangement for -a bankrupt Government engaged in re-establishing its credit by the -slaughter of its own people. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - THE DAYS OF MOSCOW--II - - -The next day was our Christmas Eve--a Sunday. I had stayed the night, -as I said, in the west of the disturbed district, and in the early -morning some revolutionists came into the house, and reported large -numbers of killed--rooms crowded with people all blown to pieces by -the shells, walls bespattered with blood, and other horrors, which one -always hears in war, and which are sometimes true. They also said they -had just taken part in an assault upon a body of unmounted dragoons, -who were cautiously approaching a barricade when the revolutionists -opened fire upon them with revolvers from the houses on both sides, and -killed ten. The men themselves were worn with sleepless excitement. -They remained muffled up in their overcoats, and kept one hand -fingering at the revolvers in their pockets. - -Soon after daylight, the church bells began to ring for Divine service, -and the big guns sounded again from the Tverskaya. Finding that -sentries were still driving back every one who approached that part of -the town, I went round by the University and reached the great Theatre -Square in front of the Hotel Métropole. The battery of eight guns, -which had been hidden inside the hotel, was now fully displayed across -the square, apparently in readiness to bombard the Opera House. But, -in fact, the guns were placed there only for reinforcement and to keep -up a panic among the crowd, who came out now and then and watched them -with interest from the opposite side, and then rushed away in sudden -terror. Crossing the square in front of the battery, I was going up the -street at the side of the hotel when I found a party of dustmen and -police loading a cart with some bodies that lay upon the street. The -things hardly looked human, they were so small and still and shapeless. -Their faces were burnt away; their clothes black, and so charred that -they crumbled into cinders like burnt paper as the body was heaved into -the cart. - -I then saw that in the side of the hotel a vast black space had been -blown out, like the entrance to a smoky cavern. It was the site of a -gun-shop, which I had often examined with some curiosity and wonder; -for a gunmaker’s is a dangerous trade in revolution. From a man who -lived exactly opposite, I heard the story afterwards. Late on the -Saturday evening a party of revolutionists went boldly across the -street, and broke into the shop with hammers and axes. Other people -appeared, and a small crowd had gathered, when a detachment of -soldiers came round from the hotel and fired into the middle of them. -They ran; but the soldiers went back, and the crowd gathered again. -This happened twice, and then the soldiers, being evidently terrified -themselves, left the place alone. The revolutionists appear to have -departed with their plunder, but a number of people remained searching -about for what they could get, lighting matches and using long rolls -of paper as candles. Just at midnight there was an immense explosion, -and all that was left of the shop, together with the people in it, was -blown into the street. The eye-witness described the ground as littered -with dead, many of them in flames. Those were the charred bodies I saw -being removed; the others, who were killed and wounded by the soldiers, -had already gone. But it seemed to me probable that the explosion was -purposely caused by the revolutionaries, either to create terror, or to -destroy the powder they could not use. What arms were actually obtained -I cannot say. Many sporting guns had been in the window, but I had -never seen any rifles or revolvers, though I had looked carefully, with -this probability in view. - -My own little hotel was close by, and after calling there, I went on -to the nearest point of the circular Boulevard, only a hundred yards -beyond. Here there was a clear view over the valley by the Ermitage -and up the opposite hill to the Pushkin statue. A good many people -had taken cover behind the trees, and were watching and listening, but -the terror had much increased and there remained none of the sporting -spirit of the day before. Death was too near and obvious now. Almost -every instant a bullet came whizzing over the valley and was heard -cutting through the trees or falling with a tiny hiss in the snow. -At the corner of my street, close to a white monastery with a great -classic tower, they had opened a back yard as a refuge for the wounded, -though it did not fly the red cross, I think because it was privately -managed by the revolutionists for their own people. The line of wounded -who were hurried into it, dazed and groaning, was almost continuous, -and all were received, whether revolutionists or not. Under an open -shed inside I found a pitiful row of the dead lying on the stones, some -terribly shattered by shell-fire, some killed by the rifle, so merciful -when it strikes the brain or heart. We had helped in a man who was -streaming blood from a shot in the neck, and we had hardly laid him -down when a poor red-bearded peasant, all shaggy and caked from the -fields, was dragged inside, his face dull white except at a great hole -by his nose. But he was already dead and was put beside the others. -Between the stones of that yard for the first time I saw men’s blood -trickling as in a gutter. - -Hitherto many of the wounded and dying had been galloped up to the -ambulance yards in sledges, but now I saw a driver who was hailed for -a wounded girl turn sharp round and dash out of sight. - -Another sledge was seized, but this driver also lashed his horse and -tried to get away. He was dragged out of the sledge, and his arms were -bound with his own whip, while two men, supporting the girl between -them, brought her up the hill to the yard. Soon afterwards the sledges -disappeared altogether, and for some days none could be had. It was -said the drivers were afraid of having them taken for barricades; more -probably they were only afraid of being shot, and in any case it was -not profitable to carry the wounded. I believe the Government also -forbade them running lest they should help revolutionists to escape. - -Leaving the yard, I went down the hill and along the Petrovka, where -the guns had battered two or three houses to pieces because a revolver -had been fired from the windows. I had hoped to get into the Tverskaya -by a little lane at the back of the Opera House, but the pickets were -still keeping up a random fire down all those cross streets, and many -passers-by were struck. One soldier deliberately aimed at an oldish -man who was going along the Petrovka like myself. The man fell into a -pile of snow by the edge of the road and kept on struggling to rise. -But each time, when he had nearly got up, he lurched heavily forward -again and fell on his face like a drunken man. The soldier who had hit -him came up with another soldier and looked at his wound. Then they -shouted to an ambulance cart that was passing the end of the street, -and lifting the man carefully on to it, they sent him off to the Hotel -Métropole, at the back of which, I think, the Zemstvo were establishing -their main ambulance depôt for soldiers and civilians alike. It is -not often that a man who has done his utmost to kill another can so -speedily do his utmost to keep him alive. - -Unable to reach the guns from that side, I then determined to get in -front of them and try to discover again what the revolutionists really -intended. So I turned back and after some difficulty reached the -main street of the Dmitrovka (Bolchaya Dmitrovka) which runs closely -parallel to the Tverskaya. There I found a woman stooping over a body -which lay on the curb-stone. It was a boy of about fifteen, dressed in -the school uniform of a little blue cap and long grey overcoat. He had -come out to see a battle--a real battle with men shooting bullets and -slashing with swords. His little boots were close together, pointing -upwards; his white-gloved hands thrown out upon the snow like a cross; -and through his mouth was the dark red hole where the bullet had struck -him. The woman had seen him fall and had come from her house. Two or -three others now gathered round, and she brought out a red and white -table-cloth in which we wrapt him. So we carried him to an ambulance -room in a lane beside an ancient red-brick church close by. But he was -dead before we reached the door. - -When I came to the Boulevard again, I was close to the Pushkin statue, -so often mentioned because hitherto it had been the advance position -of the guns. But now they had been taken forward further along the -Tverskaya, and the square was empty but for a few sentries. The -sharpshooters had also been removed from the Strestnoi bell-tower, but -the Russian common people will long remember the impiety which placed -them there, and a fine satiric cartoon represents them as they fired -upon the crowd below, with the inscription, “God with us!” The Mala -Dmitrovka, where the clerk had fallen in front of me the day before, -was absolutely empty now, and I passed right along it without any -interruption except for the wire entanglements. It brought me out, as -I had hoped, upon the Sadovaya, or Garden Boulevard, which forms the -outer circle round Moscow, as I described before, and reaching the -point of intersection I saw at once that I had come to the very centre -of the revolutionist position. - -The four arms of the cross-road were all blocked with double or even -treble barricades, about ten yards apart. As far as I could see -along the curve of the Sadovaya on both sides, barricade succeeded -barricade, and the whole road was covered with telegraph wire, some of -it lying loose, some tied across like netting. The barricades enclosing -the centre of the cross-road like a fort were careful constructions of -telegraph poles or the iron supports to the overhead wires of electric -trams, closely covered over with doors, railings, and advertisement -boards, and lashed together with wire. Here and there a carriage or -tramcar was built in, to give stability, and from the top of every -barricade waved the little red flag. A similar fort had been built -at the intersection of the Sadovaya with the Tverskaya, only a short -distance to the right, and the whole of the road between was thronged -with excited people, who hastened backwards and forwards, stood in -eager groups at all the corners, and kept peering down the Tverskaya -to discover if the guns were yet in sight. But the troops were -advancing slowly, if at all. At intervals the guns fired--generally -two in rapid succession--and we could hear the crash of the shells as -they plunged into the houses or brought the brickwork rattling down. -Every now and then came a quick outburst of rifle-shots--perhaps -of revolver-shots--and a bullet or two went humming overhead. Each -barricade was being assaulted separately, the guns firing first, and -then the soldiers creeping up with rifles. - - [Illustration: BARRICADES ON THE SADOVAYA.] - -But it was not from the barricades themselves that the real opposition -came. From first to last no barricade was “fought,” in the old sense -of the word. To be sure, we afterwards saw photographs of enthusiastic -revolutionists standing on the very summit of the barriers, clear -against the sky, and waving red flags or presenting revolvers at space. -But no such things happened, and the photographs were a simple kind of -“fake.” The barricades were never intended to be “fought.” The only -tactics of the revolutionists were ambush and surprise. Afterwards I -heard stories of them lying down across the street in front of the -advancing troops, and meeting case-shot and rifles with revolvers that -cannot be trusted over twenty yards. Such stories are too ludicrous -to be denied. The revolutionary methods were far more terrible and -effective. By the side-street barricades and wire entanglements, they -had rid themselves of the fear of cavalry. By the barricades across -the main streets, they rendered the approach of troops necessarily -slow. To the soldiers, the horrible part of the street fighting was -that they could never see the real enemy. On coming near a barricade -or the entrance to a side street, a few scouts would be advanced a -short distance before the guns. As they crept forward, firing, as they -always did, into the empty barricade in front, they might suddenly -find themselves exposed to a terrible revolver-fire at about fifteen -paces range from both sides of the street. It was useless to reply, -for there was nothing visible to aim at. All they could do was to -fire blindly in almost any direction, and perhaps the bullets killed -some mother carrying home the family potatoes half a mile away. Then -the revolver-firing would suddenly cease, the guns would trundle up -and wreck the houses on both sides. Windows fell crashing on the -pavement, case-shot burst in the bedrooms, and solid shell made round -holes through three or four walls. It was bad for furniture, but the -revolutionists had long ago escaped through a labyrinth of courts at -the back, and were already preparing a similar attack in another street. - -Among all those excited groups it was quite impossible to distinguish -the sympathetic spectator or even the spy from the fighting -revolutionist. It all seemed to me like an Aldershot field-day, in -which the regulars on one side were fighting with ball cartridge -against the usual crowd of onlookers, some of whom were secretly armed. - -Leaving the central forts, I went for half a mile further along -the continuation of the Dmitrovka, which here takes the name of -Dolgoroukovskaya, and from end to end I found it crowded with -work-people of the better class, all intensely excited and alert, and -apparently all enthusiastic for the movement. But even when a man tried -to work up trouble because I looked foreign and fairly well-dressed, I -could not distinguish for certain which were the real revolutionists -among them. The whole long street had been admirably barricaded, and -as it runs out towards the Petrovsky Park and the open country, it -seemed likely that it had been specially prepared as a line of retreat -in case of disaster. Barricades were erected every thirty yards, and -in one place the whole of the electric train had been drawn at right -angles across the road in three lines, making far the largest barricade -then existing in the world. Naturally the revolutionists were proud -of it as a triumph of engineering art. Four red flags flew from its -summit, and upon the largest flag some girl had stitched the white -letters, “For Freedom.” But there was another barricade which seemed to -me simpler and finer in conception. Some revolutionists, probably boys, -had piled a great wall of snow across the road, and then by pouring -buckets of water upon it under the freezing sky, had converted it into -an almost solid rampart of ice, which I doubt if any bullet could have -penetrated. That was the barricade of genius. - -When I returned to the central forts on the Sadovaya, the firing of the -big guns had slackened, and I found out the reason afterwards. At the -time I thought it was because the early dusk of mid-winter was falling, -and having waited for a while to watch some revolutionary Red Cross -parties set out in different directions, I made a short cut for home -by way of the Flower Boulevard (Tsvietnoi). But as I was going along -its valley towards the Ermitage, four big flashes in front, looking -very orange in the twilight, warned me that guns had been brought down -there to demolish the series of little barricades running across, the -gardens where I was. I think the troops were afraid of a flank attack -on their right if they advanced further without clearing this ground, -and, indeed, the barricades throughout the quarter were still rapidly -increasing. Men and girls were throwing them up with devoted zeal, -sawing through telegraph-poles, wrenching ironwork from its sockets, -and dragging out the planks from builders’ yards. I could still find -no directing spirit--no general or staff to give orders for the whole -army, as it were. But there must have been some sort of agreement in -actions like this, and probably, if I had been able to converse like -the rest, I should not have remained ignorant. But the foreigner, -however well disposed, is inevitably suspected, and even offers of help -in carrying and building are very coldly received, or rejected with -threats. Yet I was much less likely than a Russian to be a spy, and no -one could suffer greater mortification than being thus excluded from -the party of revolt. - -When I reached the hill where my hotel stood, I found that even in -our own insignificant street, two barricades were being erected--one -very conveniently placed just below my window--and the side streets -leading down into the Petrovka were similarly blocked. The soldiers had -evidently fired up these streets whilst the building was going on, -for a bullet passing through a hotel window and wall and ceiling had -left a memorial which the inhabitants continued to contemplate with -pleasurable awe. The hotel cook also, having a moment of leisure in his -kitchen, had run out into the yard to enjoy the battle, and leaning -forward round a corner to gain the best possible view, had received a -bullet through the heart. Now stretched in the stable, he cooked no -more. - -Late at night a strange figure appeared in the hall and stood thawing -in front of the fire. It was dressed like a peasant, but surely -no peasant since Adam’s fall ever looked quite so comfortable and -self-satisfied, and no peasant’s clothes were quite so clean since -Adam’s first day in hides. After warming himself and peering about for -a little while with twinkling eyes, he took off the peasant’s raiment -bit by bit, and stood before us in full uniform, a police-officer -revealed. He had not come as an avenger, but with wrath restrained he -only demanded figures regarding the dead, and he even stooped to take -a special interest in the cook. There is a peculiar quality about the -Russian official--a kind of friendliness in brutality, a brotherliness -in slaughter--which springs from the sense of human kinship. Presently -the hired assassin showed himself quite benign and communicative. -He displayed revolutionary leanings. He informed us that if only -the insurgents could maintain the fight for three days longer, the -soldiers would be overcome. Already they were worn out with constant -watching and harassing marches hither and thither without relief. The -news, if true, could only mean that a large part of the garrison could -not be relied upon by the Government, for otherwise there were plenty -of troops in the city to supply reliefs. I believe the garrison then -numbered eight infantry regiments (much undermanned, it is true), two -Cossack regiments, one and a half of dragoons, and two brigades of -guns. In all, the numbers were then estimated at eighteen thousand--not -very many, it is true, but surely enough to hold a city against -ill-armed insurgents. Something must evidently be strange in the temper -of the men. So that peasant police-officer discoursed, and the hearts -of his hearers were full of hope or dismay according to their inborn -quality. - -Towards midnight there was a sudden outburst of rifle-fire outside my -window. A party of soldiers were assaulting the little barricade, which -I had already come to regard with a sense of personal property. They -poured bullet after bullet into it, but still it held out as long as -it could, and only surrendered at last because it had no defenders. -Bringing up copies of some suppressed organ of liberty as kindling, the -soldiers then set it on fire, and it burnt slowly till dawn. - - - - - CHAPTER X - - THE DAYS OF MOSCOW--III - - -In many battles there comes a moment when little or nothing appears -to have changed, and yet you suddenly realize that all is over but -the running. Such a moment came on the morning of Christmas Day as -I went up the Sadovaya towards the central revolutionist position -where I had been the afternoon before. The barricades were still -standing, the Sodovaya was still covered with such a network of wire -about four feet from the ground that one had to walk under it bent -double like a hoop, and no horse could have moved. The guns had not -come perceptibly nearer, and in the centre of the town I had seen an -officer stopped and deprived of his sword by half a dozen men with -revolvers, who threatened to strip him naked, as another had been -stripped the day before. There were rumours of all manner of wild -enterprises on foot--attacks on stations, on prisons, on barracks. All -these were favourable signs. Yet as I went along, I suddenly realized, -“instinctively” as it is called, that the tide had turned, and that -the highest moment of revolutionary success lay behind us. - -I was so convinced of this that, wishing to photograph the barricades -before they disappeared, I went all the way back to the hotel for my -kodak. There was a brilliant sun, and as the firing had not yet become -severe, I walked leisurely through the main position, selecting in my -mind the best places; for I had only one roll of films left, the rest -having gone down the line. As on the previous day, a good many people -were moving about in groups, besides the usual number of women passing -up and down unconcernedly, since children must be fed, revolution or -not. But from a number of unconscious signs, I felt the place was to -be abandoned, and it appeared likely that the fighting revolutionists -had already gone. So I began taking the views, and had just secured a -fine construction of doors, benches, barrels, railings, shop-signs, -and trees, when I found myself surrounded by a group of young men, -evidently displeased. I soon perceived I had fallen into the midst -of my friends. They were very quiet about it, and only one of them -spoke. He was a dark Pole of about twenty-five, dirty and red-eyed -with sleepless fighting, and he appeared to be informing me that I -was a spy and must at once give up my camera. To make his meaning -plainer, he stealthily drew a revolver from his coat pocket, and held -it close against my side, whilst he repeated his demands in the same -low voice. In two or three unknown tongues I appealed to him and -the others, who had now closed in all round me, ready with the same -stealthy argument. I smiled my hardest, assuring them I was at least as -good a revolutionist by nature as they, and would rather explode the -universal spheres than betray a stick of their barricades. I think they -understood the smile, for their manner became less anti-social. But -there was a movement among the crowd, and as I tried to escape in it, -they again grew painfully insistent. In the end I had to give up the -roll of films, and with that they appeared content, for they graciously -let me keep the camera. But by their action their finest barricades -lost a chance of immortality. - -The incident only proved how impossible it was to know where the -revolutionists were stationed, or in what force. There was nothing -to distinguish these men from the numbers of others with whom they -were mixing quite freely. It is true that, after this experience, I -recognized them almost by intuition. As though by a law of nature, -they assumed the conspirators’ habit--the hat drawn down to the eyes, -the long coat with the collar turned up, the hand constantly feeling -in the pocket, the quick look of suspicion glancing every way. After -a few days I think I could have picked out the leaders simply by -their pale and intellectual faces, or their appearance of nervous and -bloodshot excitement. But the possession of a revolver was the only -admissible evidence, and that required search. By the soldiers it was -taken as sufficient evidence for death without phrase, and any one -caught with a revolver in his pocket had no further chance. Of course, -the revolutionists were aware of this, and knew that death was as good -as surrender. Whilst I was among them that morning, for instance, an -English officer only a few streets away saw five men suddenly come upon -a strong picket. They were summoned to halt, but, instead of halting, -they walked quietly on, taking no notice. One after another they were -shot down, till only one was left, and he also walked on, taking no -notice. Then he was shot, and there was an end of the five. No doubt -the more usual form of courage would have been to rush upon the picket -and die fighting. But they may have been out of cartridges, and in any -case it would be hard to surpass their example in passive bravery. - -In expectation of sudden death like theirs, all the students, both -men and girls, had stitched little labels inside the backs of their -coats, so that, when they were killed, their parents might possibly -hear the news and know the pride of having produced an adventurous -child. I think most of the revolutionists had done the same, but the -dead were piled up and carted into the country for burial with such -indiscriminate carelessness, that I doubt if the precaution was of -very much avail. And, indeed, it was not the revolutionist who suffered -most during the days of combat, but the sightseers and the ordinary -passers-by. - -For myself, I was very unfortunate all that day. The guns began firing -heavily again about eleven, and I tried many devices to reach their -main position on the Tverskaya by passing from lane to lane in their -rear. I even reached the Pushkin statue, from which I could see the -limbers of the guns waiting under cover. But the continual threats of -bayonets and rifles on every side, and the violent searching by the -sentries became strangely demoralizing. Certainly the process of search -that day was pleasingly simple in my case, because what underclothing I -still possessed had gone to the wash, and all the shops were shut. But -my kodak excited the utmost suspicion; all the more, perhaps, because -it was empty now. - -Tired of all this, I turned down the main Boulevard westward for an -interval of peace, but again I was singularly disappointed in my hope. -The further I went, the more disturbed and dangerous the atmosphere -of things became. Something was evidently happening down that way. -Troops were marching hastily about, and two guns passed at full gallop. -At one place I heard an officer’s voice shouting some order, and the -few people on the pavement near me began to run for their lives. I -saw no reason to run till two soldiers came dashing at me through the -trees with fixed bayonets. Then running was too late, and, seated on -a railing, I awaited them, feeling that the centre of indifference -was reached at last, and life and death were equal shades. But -something induced them to respect so obvious a foreigner, and having -again searched me and taken half a crown each as their reward for -international amenity, they conducted me past an angle of a church and -waved adieu. - -Then I discovered the reason of all this excitement. New barricades -were rapidly appearing across many of the streets leading down into -the Boulevard from the right-hand, or north-west side. I continued -along the circle almost to the point where the Boulevard ends, close -to the great cathedral of the Saviour near the river, and all the way -I saw signs of fresh conflict and heard sudden outbursts of rifle or -revolver-firing. It was only after two or three days that I understood -the real significance of this movement, by which the revolutionists -were preparing for their final stand in the extreme north-west of the -city. But at the time I thought they were merely attempting a feint -upon the Government’s left, just as they had tried on the right the day -before. It seemed probable, also, that the movement was intended to -cover their withdrawal from the main position where I had lately left -them. And that, indeed, was their object, though they hoped rather to -change their centre than to abandon the contest altogether. - -Yet the crisis, as I had felt in the morning, was really over. When -I passed through the middle of the city again, and out to my own -quarter, the crowds were still running to and fro in panic round the -Theatre Square, men and women were still falling unexpectedly in the -streets, there was as much to do as ever in helping the wounded, and -the ambulance yards were continually being filled. But the life seemed -to have dropped out of the rising. People were talking with terror -of a great peasant invasion, hundreds of thousands strong, that was -already marching to deliver their Little Mother Moscow, and hew us all -to pieces. With better reason they said that Mischenko, the hero of -the Japanese war, was coming as military governor with 7,000 Cossacks. -Hour by hour the citizens were agitated by new alarms, and the cautious -began to think enough had been done for freedom, and to remember -that something, after all, was due to the sacred stove of home. That -night the revolutionists issued appeals calling for volunteers at six -shillings a day and a revolver, the term of service to be limited to -three days. For Russian fighting, or indeed for fighting in any land, -the pay was magnificent. Even in nations like our own the risk of life -is not valued above two shillings, and though the Russian soldier’s pay -was raised for this occasion, it only amounted to threepence three -farthings. It was certainly safer for the moment to be a revolutionist -than any other kind of citizen, because revolutionists generally -knew which was the enemy and where he lay, but I do not think many -volunteered for the sake of the pay or the mere delight of firing a -revolver. Even if any recruits were gained by such inducements, their -fighting, not being inspired by revolutionary spirit, was not likely to -be glorious. - -During the next two days, there was very little outward change in the -position, except that the feeling of disaster grew, and most people -began to recognize the winning side and arrange their own behaviour -accordingly. The guns still sprinkled bullets over the barricades and -wrecked the houses on each side. The soldiers continued their slow -and perilous advance from street to street. People fell at random; -the hospital and ambulances were crowded beyond limit. On the Tuesday -evening an official estimate put the killed and wounded at between -8,000 and 9,000. In ordinary wars all numbers are exaggerated, but in -civil war the Government would probably not overstate the number of -their victims, and when I went up on Tuesday, the troops had advanced -very near to the Sadovaya, the firing was very heavy, and many were -hit. But the sense of disaster and failure lay over all, and on that -day, for the first time, I heard revolutionists beginning to -describe the whole movement as a dress rehearsal and to congratulate -themselves upon the excellent practice in street fighting which they -had enjoyed. - - [Illustration: - - _Art Reproduction Co._ - - THE NEW ERA. - - From _Sulphur_ (_Jupel_).] - -On the Wednesday I was unable to go out, except only to cross the -Theatre Square. And there I found a group of soldiers who had just -taken part in an execution in the middle of the place. Some inmate of a -hotel opposite the Métropole, possessed by a crazy spirit of slaughter -or revolt, had fired a pistol at large from his window. The battery was -placed in front of the hotel and the surrender of the man demanded. The -proprietor gave him up without dangerous hesitation, and in a minute -or two he was shot in front of the window from which he had fired. One -would have liked to discover the kind of mania that seized him, but his -death made that impossible. - -The evening of the same day--or perhaps it was the evening -before--another execution was carried out, more terrible in its -circumstances, but better deserved, if any execution is deserved. -A band of revolutionists--the English papers, getting news chiefly -through St. Petersburg, said three hundred of them, but that is -absurd--made their way by some means unobserved to the house of the -chief of the secret police, close to the gendarmes barracks. Knocking -at the door, they demanded to see Voiloshnikoff, the chief himself. -He came out to them, his wife and children looking on with terror in -the background, and in spite of the entreaties and tears of woman and -child, they placed him in front of the door and shot him on the spot. -No doubt he had done many atrocious things, and had cared little enough -for the entreaties of women and children himself. But most people -regarded this act of wild justice as inhuman, and regretted, not the -paid criminal’s removal from the world, but the manner of it. - -An hour or two before daylight next day (Thursday, the 28th), I had -to go to a house on the further side of the Sadovaya to help bring -provisions and toys for an English family which had taken refuge in the -hotel after spending some dull days in cellars. As we walked through -the streets standing in silence audible under the transparent darkness -of the morning, we saw the pickets squatting round orange fires of -planks which they had kindled in the middle of the road. But beyond -searching us once or twice, they did not interfere with our purpose, -and the only real danger came from the police, who had that morning -received brand new rifles--light-coloured things like toys, with fixed -bayonets--which they hugged in both arms, or held horizontally over -their shoulders, to the peril of all bystanders, while in their hearts -they longed to put them to their natural use, with all the tremulous -bravery of girls out rabbit-shooting. - -But before we reached the Sadovaya, we had passed all the pickets, -and hardly any one was visible on the streets. Some of the barricades -were on fire or gently smouldering; the rest stood deserted. The -pavements were strewn with glass and bricks. Houses on both sides were -ruined with shell. Some were burning, and in two or three the beds and -furniture were being thrown out of the shattered windows. We noticed -how wild the shell-fire had been, for houses quite a hundred yards -from the main streets were struck, evidently at random. But all was -unguarded now. When daylight found us leaving the English flat with our -load, there was still no one visible, and I think a battalion might -have marched through the district in fours without receiving a shot. -Even the red flags had been removed from the barricades, to be kept, -one hopes, for another occasion, and almost the only sign of life was -that here and there I observed a dvornik (the door-keeper who watches -the Russian home) cutting down the network of telegraph wire with -a hatchet and rolling it up. He reminded me of some trusty servant -methodically putting away the stage properties on the morning after -private theatricals. - -For the rest of that day the guns and soldiers were engaged in clearing -the quarter of barricades, entanglements, and all. It was an easy task -now, though the firing was more violent than ever, as the progress -was more rapid. For the revolutionists had received orders from their -committee that morning to abandon the street fighting and scatter to -their homes or out into the country, continuing the propaganda and -holding themselves ready for the next opportunity. Some escaped, at -least for the time. Some refused to obey, but continued the fighting, -as we soon discovered. Many were seized, and for days afterwards small -parties of soldiers or police in every street drove some unhappy -creature in front of them with his hands tied. What became of these -prisoners, we only suspected at the time; we found out later. On this -part of the Moscow rising, there is no more to chronicle but massacre. -And so the barricades and their defenders faded into history, and law -and order were restored. - -That Thursday at noon, a decree went forth from Admiral Dubasoff -commanding all shutters to be taken down, all doors opened, and -business to be resumed on pain of martial law. Then the heart of the -shopkeeper was glad. For eight days all shops had been shut; banks -were closed, merchants did no business, and, as the German song -says, no mill wheel turned around. It is always hard not to smile -at the money-making classes whenever the great passions of human -existence appear upon the surface and shake their routine. Yet we -need not make light of their sufferings. They had suffered at the -heart. For months past they had been deprived of the profit which -is their single aim. For more than a week they had taken absolutely -nothing, and the whole credit of the country was so shaken that they -could not hope for advance of capital. Their occupation was gone, -and no return of it seemed likely. Besides the ordinary bankers, -merchants, and shopkeepers, we must include among them the hotel and -restaurant keepers, the theatrical managers, actresses, music-hall -people, prostitutes, and all such as live by pleasing or amusing the -wealthy. We ought further to include artists, musicians, authors, -lawyers, journalists, and professors, but as a rule their profits are -so small that their losses would hardly count in the universal ruin. -To take a single instance of the immense injury to trade, the mere -damage to house property from the shells and bullets was estimated -at £10,000,000, and all of it was dead loss, except to the builders -and glaziers. The Sytin printing works, wantonly destroyed by the -Government for printing the Liberal newspapers, was valued at £300,000. -There was no reason to be surprised, therefore, at the comfortable joy -which welcomed the Government’s ruthless decree. Perhaps it might seem -a little indecent, while the dead who had fought for freedom were still -lying in frozen layers at the police stations, or were being thrown -neck-and-crop upon sledges for their unknown burial. But we must make -a large allowance for business habits, which tiresome revolutions -interrupt. Think of the feelings of our own City men if suddenly the -morning train which for years they had caught successfully, stopped -running and shells rained from Holborn Viaduct to Aldgate Pump! With -what common sense they would welcome the restoration of any tyranny, -with what scorn decry the fallen sentimentalists who had cared for -freedom! So in Moscow, returning law and order met a greasy smile, and -many extolled the Governor-General and officers for the vigour of their -action. Skin for skin; yea, all that a man hath will he give for his -livelihood. - -So “intercourse was resumed,” and the shop-keeping heart rejoiced. -But on Friday morning an uneasy feeling stole abroad that all was not -quite satisfactory yet. About two miles west of the Kremlin there is an -isolated manufacturing district called Presna or Presnensky. A little -stream with two or three ponds, running from the back of the Zoological -gardens into the Moscow river, separates it from the main town, and to -the north of it lies that ill-fated Khodinsky Polé, the plain where the -crowds were crushed to death at the Tsar’s coronation. The district is -about a mile square, and various factories stand there, for cotton, -furniture, varnish, boiler-making, and sugar. Some of them are under -English management, and in English commerce the place is known as Three -Hill Gates, because the country beyond gently rises into slopes that -would pass for hills in Russia. - - [Illustration: “INTERCOURSE IS RESUMED.” - - From _Streli_ (_Arrows_).] - -It gradually became known that a large number of work-people--ten -thousand of them it was said--were holding this district, and had set -up there a little revolution of their own, under an organized system -of sentries, pickets, and fighting force. A few students and educated -girls had come over to them from the revolutionists of the barricades -disguised as mill hands; indeed, a girl of eighteen was described -as their most powerful leader, and in all probability those streets -which I had seen barricaded on the extreme left of the Government -advance on the Wednesday, were blocked to give time for the Presnensky -preparations. But in the main it was a work-people’s affair, and on the -Friday they held undisturbed possession of the district, their sentries -marching up and down with revolvers and red flags, while they naïvely -boasted themselves confident of terminating the exploitation of labour -and establishing Social Democracy at a stroke. - -But law and order were already at their work of disillusionment. That -very day the fashionable regiment of the Semenoffsky Guards, under -command of Colonel Min, already notorious as a slaughterer of the -people, arrived from St. Petersburg, though the revolutionists made a -gallant attempt to stop the railway by tearing up the lines. In the -evening a cordon of troops was drawn round the district, and batteries -were placed on five positions, at ranges of 1000 to 2000 yards. One -stood on a high bank near a bridge over the little stream I mentioned; -another was a point nearer the Zoo, where the gunners had to fight for -the position, and burnt down several rows of small houses; a third was -in the cemetery, where they met with no opposition; a fourth far away -on the lowest slope of the Three Hills; and the fifth must have been -stationed somewhere down by the Moscow river, but I did not discover it. - -The district was thus surrounded by batteries, and at dawn on Saturday -the guns opened upon the mills and neighbouring houses. There were no -guns to reply, and the gunners consequently made “excellent practice,” -plumping their shells down where they liked, crashing through the -windows, or raising red clouds of brickdust from the battered walls. -It was about as leisurely and safe a piece of slaughter as ever was -seen. The large furniture factory was soon alight, and burnt quickly -to the ground. So did the fine house of its owner and manager, a -German-Russian named Schmidt, who was justly suspected of holding -Liberal opinions, and was afterwards shot for the crime. The Marmentoff -varnish works on the top of the hill also took fire, and its tanks -continued to burn for many days and nights, rolling thick clouds of -smoke into the air all day, and casting a brilliant crimson light upon -the evening sky. The great Prokhoroffsky cotton mill was battered, -and many shells burst in its rooms, but it was saved from fire by its -automatic “sprinklers,” which, however, ruined the machinery by rust. -Many shells burst against the owner’s house on the hill, for he too had -committed the sin of Liberalism. During the bombardment, his wife gave -birth to a child, an unpropitious time for herself and the nurses. But -the guns were chiefly directed against the large workmen’s barracks -attached to the mills, and these were soon shattered, though they did -not burn. The small rows of cottages, where the married men lived with -their families, being made of wood, blazed up at once, and it was in -them that most of the people were killed. At the time it was reported -that the gunners were ordered to fire on the lower stories, so that the -people upstairs might not escape. I doubt whether gunners could make -that distinction at the range, but, in any case, many people were cut -to pieces by the segment shells and stifled by the flames. In one upper -story alone, nine old men and women, who had been collected there for -safety, were burnt to death. - -The shelling was particularly heavy from eight to nine in the morning, -and again from one to two. As the wooden houses caught fire, and the -work-people were driven out in helpless crowds from their barracks by -the crash of shells, the soldiers came crowding in with rifle and -sword, and met with little organized resistance. The troops employed -were Cossacks, a Warsaw regiment, and the fashionable Semenoffsky -Guards, who had arrived, as I noticed, only the day before, and to -the end of the insurrection displayed a surpassing blood-thirstiness -and brutality. No Moscow men were present, though I was told by an -officer that the Rostoff regiment, which had been regarded as dubious -for some weeks past, entreated to be set in the front throughout the -fighting, and at every chance engaged in the slaughter with a ferocity -well calculated to recover the Government’s esteem. The whole of that -Saturday appears to have been one long massacre of men, women, and -children, who were blown up, shot, and hewn in pieces with delightful -ease, and almost uninterrupted security. But that day I was myself -unable to penetrate the thick line of sentries which surrounded the -district and were engaged in shooting down escaping refugees and -preventing witnesses of the massacre from entering. - -In the afternoon an event happened which illustrates the spirit in -which the Government’s agents carried out their work. Living in the -Presnensky district, which has some streets of wealthy villas at the -upper end, was a doctor named Vorobieff, well known in Russia as a man -of science and a writer on medical discoveries. At the beginning of the -bombardment he hung an ambulance flag from his window, to give notice -to the wounded where they might obtain assistance. His landlord came -and asked him to take it down, because the red cross would naturally -draw the fire of Government troops. He took it down, but continued -attending to any wounded who came. Presently a party of police, -under an officer named Ermoleff, who had formerly been an officer in -the Guards cavalry, came to the house and accused him of assisting -revolutionists. He replied that he was not a revolutionist himself, -but it was his duty as a surgeon to give every possible help to the -wounded, no matter what their opinions might be. “Have you a revolver?” -Ermoleff suddenly asked him. Yes, he said, he had a revolver, but he -held the Government licence for it. “Go and fetch your licence,” cried -Ermoleff. And as the doctor turned to go upstairs, he fired his pistol -into the back of his head and blew his brains out. “Oh, what have you -done?” cried his wife, who had been standing at the doctor’s side. -“Hold your tongue, and wipe up that mess,” answered the ex-officer of -the Guards cavalry, and withdrew his party.[2] - -All that night Moscow saw the flames raging to the sky. Many of the -revolutionists, and many of the ordinary work-people too, tried to -escape from the district, especially across the frozen river, and it -was along the river banks that most of them were shot down. Early -next morning, on the excuse of visiting the English overseers who -were shut up in the district, I succeeded in penetrating the cordon -of troops, though I was searched nine or ten times from head to foot, -and the sledge was searched as well. Two Russian journalists from St. -Petersburg, who tried to follow me, were less fortunate, for by the -command of the officers, they were so shamefully beaten and stamped -upon that they hardly escaped alive, and one of them, still exhausted -with terror and pain, came to my room some hours later to have his -wounds dressed. All round the edge of the district, the wretched -work-people were now trying to escape to their villages upon any kind -of sledge that would move. Into these sledges they had heaped all -their household possessions--feather beds, furniture, cooking things, -and heavy old trunks with clothes. Sometimes the toys already bought -for Christmas were laid carefully on the top--the doll or scarlet -parrot--and one woman carried a baby on one arm and a wooden horse -under the other. But when it came to the line of pickets, every sledge -was emptied, all the boxes unpacked, and their contents strewn upon the -snow. The people also were searched with customary brutality--the old -people beaten, the young insulted. The soldiers thrust their hands into -the girls’ breasts and under their skirts. One girl was passed on from -soldier to soldier and searched six times within about twenty yards. -“God spit at them!” muttered the women as they crawled away. - -The guns were still in position around the district, and firing was -to begin again in an hour. But on such mills as were still standing, -the white flag now waved. Arms were being surrendered, and the dead -were collected in rows upon the frozen surface of a pond. In one place -was a mutilated child of nine; in another a baby’s arm, cut off at -the shoulder and across the fingers, lay on the snow. For law and -order were being restored. Near the mills I found many hundreds of -work-people standing idly round their ruined barracks and smouldering -homes. A barrack for mill-hands, as I have already shown, is not much -of a place. The beds are jammed close together in rows; everything -is hideous, the smell intolerable. Nor are the doghutch homes for -married people much better. But at all events they had been warm. Now -the workmen and their families had nowhere to go, and for the last -three mornings the thermometer had stood at eighteen degrees below -zero (Réaumur). Probably many homeless people were given shelter at -night in other crowded rooms, but all day long they remained shivering -helplessly among the ruins. - -I waited for some time in an English manager’s house, expecting the -guns to re-open fire. But no firing came, though the guns remained -all day in position. As far as open fighting went, the Moscow rising -was over. When I returned next morning (Monday, January 1st) I found -the guns had been withdrawn, and the streets and ruins and mills were -held by strong detachments of Cossacks and Guards. The surrender was -complete. Three of the leaders had just been bayoneted to death, -and their bodies were lying outside a shed. The remains of the last -revolutionary band were cooped up as prisoners in the sugar-mill yard, -and soldiers stood round the thick crowd of them, while the leaders -were being sorted out for execution. Many women were found among them, -and a large proportion of the dead were women too. Indeed, considering -that this was mainly a work-people’s movement, it was remarkable how -large a part the women played. - -Of the killed it was impossible to form an accurate estimate. In the -Presna district itself they said that eighty work-people were killed -during the bombardment of Saturday morning. Perhaps 200 were killed -in all, including those who tried to escape across the river. As to -the larger question of the casualties during the whole ten days of -the rising, every kind of estimate was heard between 5000 and 20,000. -I have even heard of enterprising newspapers which put the total -of killed alone at 25,000. But it takes a lot of killing to make a -thousand dead, and after going carefully into such figures as I could -get with two experienced officials who knew the city well, it seemed -to me probable that the killed numbered about 1,200, and the wounded -perhaps ten times that amount. But the truth can never be accurately -known. The frozen bodies were piled up in police stations and other -places till they could be carried out into the country by train and -laid in hasty trenches. When I was in St. Petersburg many weeks later, -a truck full of them arrived by mistake at the Moscow station there. -The authorities denied it, but no one doubted the truth. - -After our New Year’s Eve the process of vengeance and execution went on -without further interruption. In the Presnensky district the prisoners -were usually shot in batches--sixteen, twenty, or even thirty-five -together, as I was told by an overseer who lived close by and saw it -done. The work-people were set in a row before the firing party, and -were driven forward three at a time. Three by three they were shot down -before the eyes of the others. The heap of dead increased. Three more -were driven forward to increase it, till at last only a heap of dead -was left. In the case of two workmen, suspected of being leaders, there -was a variety in the proceedings, perhaps by way of a practical joke. -They were ordered by the officer just to walk round a corner of the -sugar mill. They went carelessly, with their hands in their pockets, -and when they turned the corner they were faced by eight soldiers -standing at the present. In an instant they fell dead, and their bodies -remained for a long time lying on the ground for all passers-by to see. -Such executions continued among these factories for more than a week, -and the numbers of those poor and uneducated men and women who died for -their protest against despotism will never be known. - -Nor will the numbers of the victims within the city itself be known. -As I have said, on every street you met parties of soldiers and armed -police bringing them to the police-stations. Even at the beginning of -the rising, we have seen that prisoners were shot because the prisons -were too full to hold them. It is quite certain that they had no mercy -now, but what exactly became of them inside the walls, one could only -judge from terrible hints and rumours that people whispered to each -other. On the last day of the year, in a friend’s house, I met a -skilled craftsman, an educated and middle-aged man, who from his own -workroom could reach a window overlooking a police-yard. There, he -said, one could watch the prisoners brought in and briefly examined by -an officer. They were then strapped to a board and beaten almost to -death, and if they were people of no account they were handed over to -the executioners to be “broken up”--that is the English sportsman’s -phrase for hares and foxes overtaken by the hounds. They were broken -up. Their bones were smashed, their legs and arms lopped off with -swords, and it did not take them very long to die. - -The story may have been one of the exaggerations of war, but the man -was a quiet and ordinary citizen, with no reason for lying, and he -invited us quite freely to come and view the place, always soaked with -blood. People of both parties who had lived many years in Moscow, -did not hesitate to believe it, and they often told me of things -still worse--of nameless things committed in the empty and windowless -chambers of police-stations, where no light enters and no cry escapes. - -One murder was especially talked about, because the victim happened to -be the son of a leading barrister, who was a friend of the Governor -himself. The boy was seized near the Riding School Barracks, close to -the university, either on suspicion or for open hostility. The Sumsky -Dragoons flogged him as usual, and their officer, finding him still -alive, asked why they had not finished him off. An infantry officer -who was standing by, took the news to the father, and he appealed to -the Governor in person, asking only that the guard to take his son to -prison should be composed of Moscow infantry and not of dragoons. The -Governor replied that of course his request should be granted, and -every consideration shown. Nevertheless, it was dragoons who formed -the guard, and the boy never reached the prison alive. - -Rumours reached us also about the fate of the revolutionists who had -walked away into the country or afterwards escaped by train. I found -some of them as prisoners a few weeks afterwards, at a long distance -from Moscow; but many were overtaken on the road or shot by soldiers -at the stations. The Semenoffsky Guards especially distinguished -themselves by their zeal in hunting them down, and their exultation -in the slaughter; but considerable allowance must be made for them, -because they had not been given a chance of slaughtering the Japanese, -and like all brave soldiers they naturally pined for active service. - - [Illustration: DUBASOFF’S ROLL-CALL. - - From _Burelom_ (_The Storm_).] - -So much for the men and women who had dared to strike for liberty. -But having extinguished their efforts, Admiral Dubasoff devised a -further method for discouraging the growth of Liberal opinions in the -future--a method much applauded by the supporters of law and order, who -hailed it as an admirable means of bringing ridicule upon the whole -revolutionary cause. He ordered the police to arrest all suspected boys -and girls in the Moscow schools and bring them to the police-stations. -There they were handed over to soldiers, who stripped them, and, if -they were under fifteen, beat them with their hands. Between fifteen -and eighteen, the girls and boys alike were stripped and beaten with -rods, though the girls received only five strokes and the boys -twelve. I was told of this new device by reactionaries who had heard -it from police-officers, knew of cases in which it had been carried -out, and admired its admixture of sensuality with cruelty as likely -to keep young people in their places for the future. But I could not -help wondering how long a government in England would last if it handed -grown girls over to soldiers to be stripped and flogged because they -were suspected of Liberal opinions. I wondered also whether our own -people who were then beginning to ridicule the revolutionists, and -to welcome the restoration of order, ever in the least realized what -is meant by order under Russian rule. And I wondered most of all how -Frenchmen could still be found to advance money for the support of such -a Government. But investors have neither pity nor shame. - -In the midst of these scenes came the Russian Christmas Day (January -7th). It was celebrated as usual with superb ceremony in the enormous -church of Christ the Saviour, which stands in the west of the city, -above the river. Soon after dawn the people began to assemble, and by -ten o’clock the vast space under the domes was packed with crowds, -all standing up, except when, here and there, a man or woman forced -the neighbours to make room for prostration on the floor. Bodies of -troops stood at every corner round the building. The Governor-General -arrived, the military staff arrived, the scene was radiant with -uniforms. In any case, the ceremony is half military, for the great -church of Christ the Saviour was built to commemorate Napoleon’s -retreat. But it was not of Napoleon that the heroes of massacre were -thinking that day. - -The service began. In the centre, under the dome, stood a -bishop--perhaps an archbishop--with gleaming mitre, his robes stiff -with gold, his appealing arms supported by gorgeous priests. Between -him and the altar veiled books were carried to and fro, books were -brought with an escort of priests to be kissed, or were read in the -unintelligible mutter of solemnity. Long-haired figures bore candles -up and down; the bishop raised two candles high in air, crossing them -so that they guttered down his robes, while he turned to the compass -points of the church, to bestow his blessing upon all. Old priests and -young, glittering in the uniforms of holiness, came to kiss his hands. -In splendid humility he was supported to the altar. A veiled basin was -brought for him to wash in. A golden priest knelt with the sacred towel -hanging round his neck. The bishop washed, and upon the golden priest’s -neck he replaced the sacred towel. The Re-incarnation of Christ -began. On each side of the altar a choir of boys and men, apparelled -in scarlet and black and gold, raised the glory of Russian music in -alternate chant. From arch to arch ran the gleam of the kindling -tapers till the marble walls and gilded capitals shone with points of -fire. - -Muttering and sobbing with devotion, the masses of mankind swayed up -and down, as they bowed and crossed themselves in the gloom below. -Struggling to touch the polished pavement with their foreheads, they -fell upon the ground. The boom of distant bells was heard; a small -bell tinkled close at hand. In front of the altar stood a black-maned -priest, and with uplifted arm and upturned face, he called upon Christ. -He called and called again, his immense voice bellowing round the -cathedral, as though an organ had been wrought up to full power and one -great note held firmly down. So he called upon Christ to come--Christ -the Saviour, Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting -Father, the Prince of Peace. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - IN LITTLE RUSSIA - - -The failure at Moscow fell like a blight upon all Russia, and hope -withered. The revolutionists, certainly, protested that much was -gained. They admitted that they had allowed their hand to be forced by -the Government. The attempt, they knew, was ill-timed and ill-devised. -But they had not intended to win this time; the rising was only a -dress rehearsal for the great revolution hereafter. They were teaching -the proletariat the methods of street fighting, and after all it was -something to have held a large part of the ancient capital for ten days -against the Government troops. Such a thing had never been accomplished -before. They were proud of it, and when the hour of defeat came they -pointed to the high service which even reaction performed for the cause -by combining all parties again in opposition to the common oppressor. - -Of these various pleas, the last alone could stand. The ferocity of the -Government’s vengeance, the unscrupulous, disregard of all its pledges -under the reactionary terror, certainly obliterated the differences -between the parties of progress, and smoothed away the growing enmities -of rivals in their country’s salvation. Persecution is a powerful bond, -and when all are gagged, silence passes for agreement. There need be -no question that for the time the ruthlessness of the repression only -inflamed the revolutionary spirit, and combined all sections against -the pitiless and incapable clique which was bringing ruin upon the -people. How far such a lesson might be permanent, how long such unity -of purpose amid differences would be maintained when the pressure of -adversity was removed, could only be known when the next opportunity -for revolution came. For the moment unity was gained. - -Otherwise the failure was only disastrous. It had proved too expensive -for a dress-rehearsal, and to fight for defeat is seldom worth the -pain. It deprived the movement of its prestige. The revolution was no -longer an unknown and incalculable power, springing from secret roots, -no one knew where. The Government had gained all the advantages of a -general who has carried out a successful reconnaissance and discovered -the enemy’s limitations. They knew now on whom they could rely, and -many of the wealthy and educated classes who had rather enjoyed -posing as Liberals when they thought it was the fashion, now began to -appreciate the virtues of the ancient regime with fresh intelligence. - -One thing, above all, the failure had proved: the devil was still on -the side of the big battalions. The real hope of the revolutionists -had been that the troops would come over to the side of freedom,--that -the soldiers would “fraternize.” They had some grounds for the hope. -Mutinies had been frequent and serious, the war scandals were partially -known throughout the army, the soldiers themselves sprang from the -people and would return to the people. It might be that they would -hesitate to shoot men and women so like their own relations at home. - -Large quantities of revolutionary literature had been distributed -among the garrisons, and many of the reservists had already professed -Socialism. But when it came to action none of these things counted -against the cowardice of obedience and the fear of death. It is true -that comparatively few of the garrison infantry were employed, though, -as I have noticed, even the disaffected Rostoff regiment clamoured -to be led to the front. But the gunners, who were supposed to be -very uncertain, were the chief instruments of suppression, and both -the dismounted Sumsky Dragoons and the Semeneffsky Guards, when they -arrived, displayed a bloodthirsty lust for massacre which could not -have been surpassed by the most loyal mercenaries. - -Put a man in uniform, feed him, give him arms, and he may generally -be depended upon to shoot as directed. Obedience is only a temptation -to sloth, and it becomes almost irresistible when the temptation -is supported by fear of death. The soldier who “fraternized” -had everything to lose, and the revolutionists could offer him -nothing--nothing but a revolver, a dubious payment for three days -without food or clothing, and a prospect of almost certain death -if they failed. To win over an army, the revolutionists must first -command a public purse. They must point to some Parliament, Assembly, -Committee--some authoritative body which can supply food, clothes, -and pay. This was the advantage of our own Parliament in its struggle -against despotism; it could draw upon legitimate taxes, the King -could only melt down plate. And under modern conditions, unless the -revolutionists can win over the army, a revolution by violence appears -almost impossible. That was why the immediate occasion of our own -revolution was the dispute between the King and Parliament about the -command of the militia at Hull. Add to these instincts of obedience and -self-preservation the promise of better food held out to the army in -the Tsar’s Christening-Day Manifesto; add the weariness and irritation -of street fighting, the terror of sudden death lurking at every window, -the memory of women’s jibes and taunts during the past few weeks, and -you get a temper which will stick at no methods and be troubled by no -remorse. Among poverty-stricken and uneducated men, with no employment -or home or resources of their own, I doubt if enthusiasm for freedom -should ever be counted upon against the restraining powers of habit, -uniform, and rations. - -That was the main lesson of Moscow, and the Government was quick to -learn it. They knew their power depended entirely upon the command of -the army and police, but for the present that was secure. The command -of the army and police depended again upon their ability to pay them, -and, with an estimated deficit of £50,000,000 for the coming year and -a real deficit of about £80,000,000, finance was the weak point in the -Government’s defences. But Kokovtsoff was now in Paris negotiating -a loan by which at least the French might pay their own interest on -their own advances for one year, and for the future everything might -be hoped from the power of reaction. On January 9th, Witte replying -to a deputation of the gently Conservative “League of October 30th,” -announced his conversion to violent and repressive measures with -characteristic tearfulness. Whining like an apostate who blubbers over -the God he has betrayed, he cried-- - - “There was a time when I sought the confidence of the people, - but such illusions are no longer possible. I have always been - opposed to repression myself, but am now compelled to resort to - it, merely as the result of having trusted my countrymen.” - -While he was thus speaking, I myself was moving very slowly south-west -from Moscow towards Kieff, over indistinguishable spaces of snow marked -only by rare and desolate villages of wooden huts and sheds. During the -twenty-eight hours of the journey, we passed a few miserable towns as -well, and on the side platforms of every station I noticed great piles -of sacks sopping in the snow and rain; for a premature thaw had set in -and there was hardly a shred of tarpaulin to cover them. I found out -afterwards that these sacks held the last summer’s harvest--the grain -which ought to have been feeding Russia and Europe. But it lay rotting -there while peasants starved, because the thousand trucks which should -have taken it to market were standing idle in Siberia or dragging men -and horses slowly home, and the Government which had made war upon -Japan was now entirely occupied in flogging or shooting the men and -women who differed from their policy. - -Kieff, like Moscow and other towns, was exposed to all the violence -of martial law, which, indeed, for various reasons had become almost -chronic there. The city has often shown herself the birthplace of -revolution, and she is kept in almost continual ferment by the -opposition between her piety and her intellect. She boasts herself the -ancient centre of Russian religion and, at the same time, of Russian -thought--a strange combination, but that the religion is mainly -subterranean and the thought dwells in the upper air. As objects of -pilgrimage her holy shrines are unrivalled. Peasants from all over -Russia visit Kieff by hundreds of thousands a year. They come to pray -at the ancient church of St. Sophia--a circle of dark and unexpected -chapels clustering round a central dome, where mosaics on golden -ground dimly gleam to the few tapers below, but all else is dark, and -invisible forms are heard moving in shadow, as a priest intones, or an -outburst of deep chanting sounds from unseen altars. But most pilgrims -are more attracted by the mummied forms of Russian saints who lie at -rest in catacombs far underground, below the churches and monasteries -of the sacred Lavra hill, which looks across the Dnieper to the great -plain of unenclosed fields and forests beyond. With coffin lids open -to preclude deception, the saints are laid in the rock-cut passage or -niche where once they spent their dull years of suffering because the -torments of ordinary life upon the surface were insufficient for their -zeal. Nay, one who, regardless of health, lived buried in earth to his -shoulders for thirty years, stands buried so still. The rest lie wrapt -in coloured cloth through which their face and form may only obscurely -be discerned; but when I examined the cloth I found it genuine. Year -after year their holy shrines are watched by silent monks, who sit -beside them with lighted tapers, religiously idle, while the long files -of peasants pass and give their pence, and kiss the cotton coverings, -and gulp the holy water which as a final blessing is presented them -to drink from the hollow of a silver cross. Or if any one refuses to -drink, the monk pours the water down his back, in the hope that even -upon a heretic the efficacy of so great a blessing may not be entirely -wasted. - -But above ground, Kieff is the mother of science and intellectual -progress, as far as such things can exist in Russia at all. Upon -the surface of her pretty hills, stand a famous University, a great -Polytechnic, and many schools. Ever since the fourteenth century, when -there was no such great distinction between divine and human knowledge, -Kieff has been conspicuous for her learning, and she still claims -equal rank with Moscow and St. Petersburg. Hers was the first printing -press of Russia, and it is she who has provided the training for most -of Russia’s recent politicians up to Witte himself--politicians as -distinct from officials, who are produced according to regulation type -by the more passive and unimaginative races of other districts. For -Kieff is the real capital of Little Russia, and the Little Russians -have no doubt that they are the intellectual people. They call -themselves the Midi of Russia, the Provençals, the people of the sunny -south. They are Slavs themselves, but they claim the Slavs of Galicia -or such Slavs as are found in Prague as their nearest relations, and -though their language is only a Slavonic dialect, it is unintelligible -to other Russians, and is a bond of union only among the dwellers in -the Ukraine or marches or borderland of the south-west. - -Even in winter the dress of Little Russian peasants is brilliant and -distinctive. They go in cheerful crimson and orange, and their skirts -and aprons are worked with barbaric embroidery, as among the Bulgarian -Slavs of Macedonia. Their music and dances are like no other in Russia, -being comparatively gay. The artistic instincts run in their blood, -and the women supply the Empire with singers, actresses, dancers, and -others among whom beauty counts for wealth. In ordinary life even a -stranger notices at once that the people are better mannered and more -cheerful, though that does not imply an unseemly excess of merriment. - - [Illustration: A LITTLE RUSSIAN.] - - [Illustration: A TRAMP.] - -In language, in life, and in temperament the distinction is almost -as much marked as between two kindred but separate races, but among -the Little Russians there is no proposal of separation. They would -gladly become a home-ruled State in a Russian Confederacy, provided -their defence were insured and they suffered no commercial loss. But -their great fear is not of Russia but of Poland, lest any marked -improvement in their position should bring more Poles among them to -swallow them up. Already the Poles are gathering the commerce and land -into their hands, and Poles are regarded much like the Jews, as -insinuating people, unscrupulous, and horribly clever. Little Russia -is apprehensive of Poland very much in the same way as Poland is -apprehensive of Germany. Worse than all, the Poles are Catholic and -care nothing for Theodosius and Nestor and the eighty mummied saints -of Kieff. The Little Russian knows of only two religions beside his -own--the “Old Believers,” who in spite of all the death and torture -they have suffered for two centuries and have so richly deserved for -holding up a heretical number of fingers in the blessing, still remain -in the family of the Church, as the poor relations of Orthodoxy; but, -apart from them, he only knows “the Polish,” by which he means the -Catholic--schismatics hardly removed from heathendom, who worship -images instead of pictures, and keep their Easter wrong, and do not -compel their priests to marry, but are predestined to eternal fire. - -As it is, the Polish element is very strong in Little Russia, and so -is the German, the Bohemian, and the Galician. For Kieff has been the -great centre of international intercourse during the last fifty years, -ever since an English engineer, with English workmen, and English -materials, threw a suspension bridge over the wide stream of the -Dnieper there, and placed it on the great high-road of South Russia. -The bridge was lately reconstructed, and it is a sign of change that a -Russian engineer was now employed, with Russian workmen, and Russian -materials, and still it stands. But the result of all this admixture -in Kieff has been that the Little Russian movement is disappearing -before the general longing for great constitutional changes throughout -the Empire. For themselves, the Little Russians would be well content -if they were allowed the free use of their language, which is now -forbidden both in print and on the stage, while a Little Russian -newspaper which ventured to peep out after the October Manifesto was at -once stamped upon. But for the larger aspects of progress, Kieff has -never failed to supply revolutionists alike eloquent and daring. - -When I arrived in the city the surface looked quiet enough, though -martial law still prevailed. Some ten weeks had passed since the -Loyalists or the Black Hundred, directed by the police, protected -by the soldiers, and bearing crosses and portraits of the Tsar in -procession, had sacked and plundered down the main street; while in -front of the Town Hall a military band played the national anthem to -enliven their patriotism. On that occasion the Liberals were saved -by the riches of the Jews, for the patriots preferred free and easy -plunder to risky assassination. So the Cossacks who were ordered out -to suppress the tumult, ranged up their horses in front of the Jewish -shops, and took heavy toll of the plunder as the thieves came out -through the line with their loads. The police and hotel-keepers took -toll in the same way; indeed, the proprietor of the best hotel in the -town accumulated so valuable a reward from the neighbouring jewellers’ -shops that even patriots regarded his patriotism as overstepping the -requirements of citizenship and good taste. - -That day the blessings of this world were very widely distributed in -Kieff, but it happened that almost the only non-Jewish house attacked -was the British Consulate. Outside this house, which stands within -forty yards of the main street, and bears over its door the usual -painted placard of the British arms, a garrison officer formed up his -company in a half-circle, and ordered them to pour volleys into the -windows. Apparently he acted out of mere national spite, or perhaps -because England, in spite of all the errors of the last ten years, -is still regarded by the Russian revolutionists as “the Holyland of -Freedom.” Happily, the British Consul himself had just left the place, -being engaged in a gallant attempt to save the lives of a Jewish family -by sheltering them in his own private residence. A formal apology was -afterwards made by the Governor-General of the town, and the incident -was officially declared “closed.” But English people who are inclined -to trust the forces of law and order rather than the Russian Liberals, -for the protection of our consulates and our interests, should consider -its significance. It was more shameless than the attack upon our -Consul at Warsaw on January 31st of the same year, though it did not -attract so much attention. - -Throughout the winter, the sufferers who had been ruined by the -Loyalist demonstration kept putting in claims for redress, which the -Russian Government politely answered by assuring them that they were -at perfect liberty to prosecute those who had done the damage in the -usual law-courts. The day I arrived in Kieff, a very large number of -Jews--said to be three hundred--were suddenly arrested at a religious -service, no reason being given. Two days later they were suddenly -released, no one knew why. These are but instances of the kind of -justice which the revolutionists think they could improve upon without -upsetting the foundations of society. - -Also on the same day on which I arrived, a band of thirty-five -revolutionists who had escaped from Moscow and had crept down the -railway as far as this, with a view perhaps to escaping by way of -Odessa or Poland, were arrested at the station. They disappeared, and -it was universally assumed that they were shot at once, if only because -the prisons were so horribly full that no one else could possibly be -stowed into them. After the first railway strike in October, a deadly -form of typhus, or gaol fever, broke out in the prisons. The relatives -of the imprisoned railway men offered to nurse their own friends, -and be responsible for them, if only they might be released from the -plague-stricken gaols. But the request was refused, and the men left -to rot. Next came the serious military rising of December, the chief -demand of the soldiers being for more decent treatment from their -officers. The mutiny was rapidly suppressed, and the published figures -of the men who disappeared in consequence were given at ninety, but I -discovered that among the officers themselves the acknowledged numbers -were three hundred and eighty. - -But beside its distinction for religion, intellect, and revolution, -Kieff is also famous as the capital and market for the land of “Black -Earth” that great deposit of fertile soil which supplies wheat for -England and most of Europe, and is the chief source of such little -wealth as Russia possesses. In 1904, Russia’s total exports were valued -at £96,000,000. To this amount the foodstuffs contributed £61,400,000, -and the value of exported grain alone was £49,530,000, of which England -took £6,370,000. Next to grain in value came naphtha, which amounted -only to £5,823,200, and, only a little below that, eggs. Rather more -than half the total of Russia’s exports, therefore, consists of grain, -and this Black Earth is the granary of the country. - -From Kieff I made a long journey by sledge to many villages about -thirty or forty miles away. - -For a time the frost had broken up, though the Russian New Year had -only just begun. Consequently the tracks were hardly passable for the -rough wooden sledges that peasants use, and at one place where the -snow was falling in great sheets, driven by the wind, so that the wide -steppe showed no marks on its whiteness, and no division was to be seen -between sky and land, our progress was very difficult for many hours. -But we reached a village at last, and there, as in all the others I -visited, I was surprised to find, not higher prosperity, but worse -poverty than in the Great Russian villages I had seen. In one cottage, -it is true, three dogs, two cows, a bristly pig, and a cat were all -nestling against the stove in the entrance-room or antechamber. The -dwelling-room also had one real iron bedstead, a chest of clothes, and -a whole row of glittering icons. I hoped it was typical of the village, -but I was wrong. It must have belonged to the village moneylender. - - [Illustration: A PEASANT’S HOME.] - - [Illustration: THE LAVRA AT KIEFF.] - -The other houses were rather singularly wretched. The very next was -inhabited by a family who cultivated their own plot of land close -around the cottage. The man had gone, like all the other men of the -place, to wait his turn in the string of pleasure-seekers outside the -Government vodka-shop and purchase the New Year’s joy; but the wife -and three children were at home, all seated on the broad shelf which -made the second-best bed. The other bed was a warm space constructed -on the top of the great brick stove itself. There was no covering of -any kind on either bed, and, of course, no mattress; nor was there any -furniture in the room, not even a table, chair, or chest. The family -had their meals on the bed, and the only decoration was a row of brown -earthenware plates which the woman had stuck against a wall, just as -though she had been dwelling in the Kensington of twenty years ago. -“They look so red,” she said, “red” being the common Russian word for -bright or pretty or even splendid, as I noticed in the case of the -Krasnaya Square in Moscow. As in all the villages of this district, the -oven was heated only by straw, for coal is unheard of, and wood too -expensive to buy. Only a few hours earlier I had driven through far the -biggest pine forest I had then seen in Russia--great woods of spruce -and Scotch fir. But all those forests belonged to the Tsar, and no -peasant dared to touch a twig of them. To be found burning wood might -cost a man his cottage and land. So the stove that keeps the family and -cottage alive is heated with straw. - -There are many reasons for the permanent poverty in this rich -land--the taxes, the extortions of the moneylender, the ignorance of -agriculture, the oppression of the petty officials. But the ultimate -reason is that when serfdom was nominally abolished, and the land -nominally distributed, forty years ago, there were far more peasants -in proportion on the Black Earth than on the unfertile land of other -parts, so that the grants were very small--so small that the greater -fertility could not make up for the difference--and the price affixed -to each grant was not merely too large, it was so overwhelming that the -peasants were never able to wipe out the debt, and their payments in -fact became a fixed rent to Government, and a much higher rent than in -other districts. - -So far, all around Kieff, the peasants had remained quiet. No -country houses had been burnt or proprietors killed, though the -usual superstition about the danger of venturing out into the -country prevailed. The people, as I have said, are a sanguine and -happy-tempered race, as Russians go. Regiments of soldiers had also -been distributed among their villages as a further inducement for -keeping the peace. In the little country town of Vasilikoff, among -its low hills and wintry orchards, I found the Kieff dragoons, for -instance, engaged in spreading contentment among the peasants by -showing themselves human to the girls. As I watched them strolling -about the filthy lanes of that remote and wintry place, prodding the -rough cattle, criticizing the ponies in the street-market, or carrying -away the steaming cauldrons of tea for rations, I remembered with a -strange sense of distance that the English King was this regiment’s -honorary colonel. - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - THE JEWS OF ODESSA - - -When I reached Odessa, after travelling over the peculiarly desolate -steppe from Kieff, only about eleven weeks had passed since she -celebrated an amazing festival of liberty. Her straight streets had -laughed for joy, and the old Black Sea had reflected the smile. Youths -paraded with flags and trumpets, aged professors embraced in tears, -and women, as on a Russian Easter Day, felt hurt if they were not -kissed--all because the Tsar had issued a manifesto and freedom had -risen into life. The long struggle was surely near its end, and those -who had fallen for the cause had not died in vain. - -Two days later they buried freedom, and whilst I was there the -Government was still busy stamping down the bloody earth to lay her -ghost. There was no longer any talk of manifesto or concession. Every -promise had been falsified, and every hope deceived. No meetings were -allowed, except to legal Hooligans. No papers could appear, except the -Government organ of violence. Even the paper of the Constitutional -Democrats had been suddenly suppressed. The friends of liberty choked -the prisons, and as I went down the streets I saw their white faces -peering between the bars. All was still, except when the stagnation of -tyranny was broken by the murder of some police-officer conspicuous for -brutality, or by a bomb such as had just fallen into the Café Liebmann -on the central square by the cathedral. No schools had been open since -October, and there seemed no prospect of the University ever opening -again. - -Trepoff began it when he sent an order from St. Petersburg urging the -Governor-General Neidhart to allow a demonstration of the loyalist -Black Hundred on November 1st. Infuriated by religious conviction and -the lust for stolen goods, the Black Hundred exhibited an enthusiastic -loyalty, unchecked by the police, who directed their movements, or by -the troops, who were confined to barracks. For three days the city -lay at the mercy of law and order, and in the cemetery may be seen -the oblong of loose earth where 350 bodies were heaped into a common -grave. The Government’s victory was complete and so far-reaching that -memorials of it might still be seen on every side. Even in the middle -of the town, shops that had been the richest had the shutters up in -January, their windows were broken to pieces, their stores all gone. -And in the northern and north-west districts, where the Jews and -some work-people live, whole rows of houses stood desolate. The marks -of bullets were thick upon the walls. The empty sockets of the windows -were roughly boarded over. The roofs had been broken in or sometimes -burnt away, and even on the main streets people pointed out the -windows, three storeys high, from which babies, girls, and women had -been pitched sheer upon the stony pavement below. - - [Illustration: THE JEWS’ GRAVE AT ODESSA.] - - [Illustration: AFTER THE MASSACRE.] - -It was in the miserable lanes of this north-west district that the -plunder and slaughtering began--a district so wretched that my -top-boots kept sticking in the deep slough of the streets, and the -worst Jewish slum off Commercial Road would have seemed in comparison a -County Council paradise. But passing beyond this quarter, I crossed a -deep watercourse, and came out upon the kind of land which serves for -country at the backdoor of Odessa. It is part of the wild and almost -uninhabited steppe which stretches for mile on mile round the basin of -the Dniester and far away into Bessarabia--an uninterrupted, water-worn -plain, like the Orange River veldt, but streaked at that time with -melting snow. On the edge of this steppe stands a semi-detached town or -large village, called Slobodka Romanovka, conspicuous for its madhouse -and its hospital. Providence itself must have ordained the site of -these buildings, for nowhere else upon earth’s surface could they have -been more wanted. And, indeed, it was the Chosen People of Providence -who wanted them most, for none of the rabid Christians who there hunted -them down were afterwards confined in the asylum for mania. - -The village numbered about 26,000 souls, and there was hardly a house -which did not still show the marks of wrecking and murder. Clubs -were the weapons chiefly used by the champions of Christ and the -Tsar--such clubs as the Turks used in Constantinople when they brained -the Armenians in the name of the Prophet and the Sultan. But long -butcher knives were found even more convenient for killing children, -and when there was the least show of resistance, nothing could be more -serviceable than a revolver at five yards’ range. In that three days’ -massacre nearly all who suffered were Jews, and out of a population of -about 600,000 in Odessa, the Jews are estimated at a little under or a -little over 300,000, so that the game for the Christian sportsmen lay -thick upon the ground. - -The Jews of Odessa are said by their Christian neighbours--even by such -as restrained themselves from putting them to death--to represent a -particularly unpleasant type. They are accused of peculiar selfishness, -greediness, and indifference to suffering, even to their own. I -cannot say for certain whether that is so. I only know that they have -a particularly unpleasant time, and, whether indifferent to their -own sufferings or not, they are an amazing people. Their Christian -neighbours, as in Kieff and all centres of Jewish persecution, chalk -a conspicuous cross on their shutters in dangerous times, or stick a -sixpenny saint’s portrait over the door. Most people also, as I noticed -in Moscow, wear big crosses hidden round their necks, so that, when -the supporters of the Government are out cutting throats, they may -have some chance of salvation. No Jew would do any such thing--not for -dear life itself would he do it. Christians say he could not conceal -himself, even if he wished--his look, his dwelling, his passport, the -police, all would betray him. And no doubt that is true, though, if I -were a Jew, I would cover my house with crosses from ground to roof -in the hope of saving any one I cared for from being flung out of my -top window. But, even if such hope were vain, that is no reason why a -Jew should cover his outside shutters and the lintel of his door with -Hebrew inscriptions or Hebrew information about his Kosher goods and -the Shomer who is in attendance. Yet on ruin after ruin I saw these -inscriptions written; and, what is more remarkable, I saw the surviving -owners repainting these inscriptions as they patched up the wreckage of -their homes. - -They are not, perhaps, exactly the race I should call chosen, but -certainly they are a peculiar people. I saw, for instance, one aged -type of wretched Israel who had been counted a prosperous man, but -in the massacre had lost wife, family, ducats, and all. When his seed -was buried and the days of the mourning passed, he borrowed a few -cigarettes, and sat down on the pavement outside the wilderness of his -habitation. Next day he had more cigarettes to sell. Next week he had -a stall, and when I saw him he was hoping to open a tobacconist shop -where before he sold secondhand clothes and saw his family murdered. It -seems impossible that all the Christians in Russia, backed as they are -by the open support of the army, police, and Church, can ever succeed -in exterminating such a race. - -But for the time their misery was extreme. They had crowded for refuge -into courts which ran far back from the ordinary streets--something -like the old “rents” in Holborn. There I found them living in stinking -and steaming rooms or cellars, and often I had to grow accustomed to -the darkness before I could discern exactly how many families were -accommodated in the corners. The assistant of one of the University -professors was my guide, for a certain amount of relief work was being -carried on by such Liberals as happened to be still out of gaol. I was -told the town had already spent £15,000 in relief, and the Zemstvo -had voted as much again to keep the distressed alive till the end of -April. I dimly heard, also, of a fund contributed by Jews in England, -but I did not discover their methods. As to the town fund, I could not -be certain how much of it reached the Jews, but some did, for with an -agent I visited one of the ten “sanitary districts” into which the town -had been divided, and saw how he dealt with the cases. - -Money had been given at first, but, as usual, imposture came, and the -professors had found themselves no match for a race whose whole weekday -existence is devoted to gathering where they have not strown. Later on, -the town bound itself only to feed the destitute by a system of free -tickets, or at a very small charge. It was the ordinary soup-kitchen -method--not scientific, not inhumanly discriminating; but Russia has -the happiness of being young in philanthropy, as in politics, and has -not yet developed the caution of our charity societies, which in their -strained quality are so little like mercy. As was to be expected, -crowds of the unemployed came wandering in from other towns, even as -far away as Kharkoff and Kieff; and under the passport system most -of them were routed out and sent back again. What was worse, some -15,000 men and women had lately been turned upon the streets because -the rich people of Odessa, who live in the pleasant quarter by the -cliffs overlooking the sea, began to run for their lives that day in -June when the mutinous warship _Potemkin_ made them all jump by -throwing two shells into the town near the cathedral; and they had -been running ever since. Behind them they left all that host of valets, -cooks, nurses, housemaids, grooms, coachmen, gardeners, boot-boys, -barbers, and washerwomen who depend on the rich for existence, just as -the rich depend on them. The shopkeepers who sell the things that only -rich people can buy suffered equally, and many of their assistants were -dismissed. It is bad for all when, according to the old parable, the -members refuse to feed the belly, and it is worse when the belly runs -away from the members. But if any one supposes on that account that the -expenditure of the rich confers an inestimable benefit upon the working -classes, he is involved in a very comfortable old fallacy. - -Beside all this, there was great distress among the dockers, in spite -of the considerable share of Jewish wealth which they had obtained in -their outburst of religious and patriotic zeal. Most of it went in an -immense drinking debauch to celebrate the victory over the enemies of -Christ, and work had ceased because the great fire during the mutiny -in June destroyed a great part of the docks, and entirely burnt away -the wooden viaduct upon which the dock railway runs along the whole -face of the port. One day when I was there, trial trains began to run -for the first time, amid such popular excitement that I hoped another -mutiny had broken out. But no warships were any longer stationed in -the port, except one little destroyer. The dockers were only excited -at the prospect of regular work. They live by themselves at the foot of -the cliffs, below the fashionable boulevard, and they are said to be -in every way a race apart. Certainly they adopt a distinctive costume, -more astonishing in its incongruity than a West Coast chiefs, and -suggesting a burlesque air of intentional raggedness, like an amateur -who wants to look Bohemian. The dockers, however, have no need for -deliberation in picturesque poverty, for the average wages of unskilled -labour through the city is 1_s._ 8_d._ for a day of ten hours, or -2_d._ an hour. And it is not as though 2_d._ in Russia went as far as -the “honest tanner” for which our own dockers struggled so hard in -the early nineties. Ordinary living is very expensive in Odessa, more -expensive even than in most Russian cities, and in an earlier chapter -I noticed how strangely high the cost of living is in St. Petersburg -and Moscow, chiefly owing to the heavy rent charges, in spite of the -vast extent of unfilled and unoccupied land in the Empire. Except for -the hire of street sledges and little open cabs, two shillings in -Russia do not go much further than one in London, nor twopence to an -Odessa docker much further than a penny in Poplar. No one can dress -very sumptuously when he has to feed himself and family on a penny an -hour, and we cannot wonder that the unskilled join the party of law and -order, in the hope that an occasional massacre will bring a change of -clothes. - -In politics, Odessa included all the Russian parties, from the rival -pioneers of Social Revolution and Social Democracy (most of whom were -in gaol) down to the “Russian Order,” or party of violence, which is -the Government’s ready instrument for the destruction of Jews, Poles, -Liberals, and other heretics. The Russian Order alone was still allowed -to hold meetings, every other party organization being forbidden by -the police. But, nevertheless, it was in Odessa that I first became -intimate with the Constitutional Democratic party, which has since -grown to such importance as a possible instrument for reform. They were -especially strong in the University, which justly prides itself on its -political fearlessness. Their newspapers and all meetings had been -suppressed; but most of the Professors and other leaders were still at -large, though daily awaiting arrest, with enviable unconcern. - -They were energetically preparing the first grade of elections for -the Duma, and they expected to secure a majority upon the body, who -in turn would select the single representative appointed for the -great city in the Duma. Like other Progressive parties, they demanded -a Constituent Assembly under the four-headed suffrage (universal, -direct, secret, and equal). Their programme included Home Rule for -the various nationalities of the Empire, labour legislation, and a -sweeping agrarian reform on the basis of compensation for private land, -but not for the Crown lands held by the Imperial family. In fact, -their immediate objects, as the Professors admitted, were hardly to be -distinguished from the “minimum programme” of the Social Democrats. -But when we began to talk about “immediate objects” and “minimum -programmes,” I remembered that seven weeks had gone by since such -conversations seemed natural--seven weeks of bloodshed and suppression -and bitter change. They themselves took the mournful difference very -calmly. The fight was still in front of them, every hope had been -crushed, every effort for freedom would have to begin again from the -very start. But nothing discouraged them; the mere struggle was worth -the pains; and to this patient people even the bitterest and most cruel -experience never ceases to work hope. - -But, after all, the Jewish question is the centre of political interest -in Odessa, and, in spite of all suppression, the Jewish “Bund” is -likely to remain the most powerful progressive organization as long -as the Jews continue subject to their hereditary wrongs. Under laws -which were called temporary, but have continued unrepealed for fifty -years, no Jew may buy land or rent it. He may not live out in the -country, and only in certain quarters of the towns. He may not be a -schoolmaster or professor. He may not teach in private Christian -families. He may not be educated at a high school (gymnasium) or at -a University, except at a very low percentage of the whole number -of students. Usually it is not higher than three to five per cent., -though in Odessa the Professors, being exceptionally Liberal, had on -their own authority extended the number to ten per cent., and were on -the point of declaring the University open on level terms to Jew and -Christian alike, when the University was suddenly shut on level terms -to all. A Jew may not sit on the Zemstvo or Town Council; he may not -be an officer in the army or navy; he may hold no State appointment; -and he must not move from place to place without special permission -and a special form of passport, like the prostitutes. Jews are not by -nature a revolutionary people. The rigid Conservatism of their customs -and ritual, as well as their intense pre-occupation in material gain, -deters them from violence and change. Their peculiar dangers lie in -exactly the opposite direction--in disregard of the large issues before -mankind, and in a narrow devotion to antiquated ideals. But we cannot -wonder that in Odessa, as in Russia generally, they are revolutionists -almost to a man, and that to the ordinary Russian official or soldier a -Jew of the “Bund” is identical with the “Anarchist”--a creature to be -shot as quickly as convenient. When I was in Odessa I first heard how -the new Aliens Act was being put into operation in England, and as I -read of Jewish refugees cast back from the ancient protection of our -country to the misery and bloodshed from which they believed they had -escaped, I thought of these things. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - LIBERTY IN PRISON - - -In St. Petersburg the successors of the original Strike Committee had -declared the general strike at an end, on January 1st. The thing had -not been a success. Either because the leaders were in prison, or that -the work-people were harassed by the frequent repetition of strikes -when funds were low, only about 20,000 remained away from work, and -most of these were locked-out by the employers. Outwardly, the city -continued quiet, in spite of the deep indignation excited by the arrest -of all the popular leaders and editors, and afterwards by the murder of -a musical student named Davidoff, who was shot by Okounoff, an officer -of the Guards, for keeping one foot on a chair while the National -Anthem was being played in a restaurant on the Russian New Year’s Eve -(January 13th). - -Then came the first anniversary of Vladimir’s Day or Bloody Sunday -(January 22nd). The city was filled with troops. All the previous -night cavalry patrols went up and down the streets, and on going into -the large courtyards, round which most of the dwelling-houses are -arranged, I found many of them full of soldiers, sitting round fires -with piled arms. Guns were concealed at convenient points, and all -preparations laid for repeating the massacre of the previous year. But -the Strike Committee had issued an appeal calling upon the workmen to -observe the day only by quitting the factories, staying at home, and -drawing down the blinds;[3] and though, in answer to this, the masters -placarded a notice threatening with dismissal any one who remained -away from work, the Strike Committee still had power enough to ordain -a passive resistance. - -All the morning of the day--it was a Monday--I was down the -Schlüsselburg Road, where a disturbance was most likely to occur; but, -on the surface, everything was still. The steam-trams carried soldiers -with fixed bayonets as a guard, but otherwise the troops were kept -rather carefully out of sight. Wherever the police saw blinds down, or -other signs of mourning, even in the main streets of the city, they -entered with their revolvers, and sometimes a little knot of spectators -gathered, but there was no appearance of organized resistance or -demonstration at all. The sun shone, but it was intensely cold. Upon -the Neva, a few people were crossing with loaded sledges, a few on -foot were following the fir branches that marked the paths. Women were -washing clothes by letting them down through square holes they had cut -in the ice, and then beating them with wooden slats. Men were sinking -bag-nets through the ice for fish. Otherwise there was hardly a sign -of life. Nearly all the mills were closed, and those that pretended -to continue work were held by a strong military guard, with sentries -before the gates. No throngs of excited work-people now moved along the -footways or stood at street corners. In one or two of the churches, a -memorial service was being held for the dead, but for the most part -the priests refused to open their churches for the purpose, and the -work-people observed a nobler celebration by remaining at home in their -darkened rooms. - -While visiting a great naval ironworks, closed, like most Government -things, for want of cash, I heard from one of the chief engineers an -enlightening instance of the Russian Government’s methods in conducting -foreign warfare. For the Japanese War, the works had turned out -many large guns, fitted with telescopic sights. When the engineers -offered to teach the officers the use of these sights, their offer -was scornfully refused, and the Government allowed the guns to be -dispatched to the war without a man who understood them. So complete -was the ignorance, that the cleaners covered the sights, glasses and -all, with vaseline, and, from first to last, no advantage was taken of -the invention. Yet these are the people who talked of the Japanese as -“yellow monkeys,” sure to scuttle into the sea at the first sound of a -Russian gun. And, what is worse, these are the people who have dictated -England’s foreign policy for over half a century. Even the Social -Democrats, who make no pretence to military knowledge or ambition, -could hardly defend their country’s interests worse. - -During the late afternoon, and far into the night, I was driving -through the workmen’s quarters upon the Petersburg Island and other -districts north of the main river. All the streets were hushed and -empty. Where, as a rule, the pavements are crowded with men and women -going home or shopping for next day, a stillness like death reigned -now. Even when the hands from some working factory came out between -the lines of pickets watching the gates, they hurried fast home, -and in a few minutes all was silent again. Perhaps the Tsar and his -minister congratulated each other that order was restored, and the -corpse of freedom lay quiet at last. They did not consider that the -very silence was an evidence of the revolution’s continued power--a -proof that the committee which had defied them could still count on the -working-people’s loyalty to its desire. - -In the first and, I believe, the only number of one of the many satiric -papers which had lately been suppressed in St. Petersburg, a cartoon -represented the Government as a hideous vampire gloating over the body -of a young girl in Russian costume. “I think she’s quiet at last,” -says the monster with satisfaction, but still a little dubiously. That -picture exactly expressed the situation at the time of my return to St. -Petersburg. Was the sucked and tortured body of freedom really quiet at -last? The vampire was anxious and dubious. But it certainly looked as -though she were dead; at all events, she lay very still. - - [Illustration: - - _Art Reproduction Co._ - - “I THINK SHE’S QUIET AT LAST!” - - From the _Vampire_.] - -All my former friends were in prison now. One after another I called -upon those who had welcomed me so joyfully before, when the world was -bright with hope; and one house-porter after another told me they -had gone away for a few days, and it would be useless to leave any -message. We soon learn the meaning of that formula in Russia. It means -that the police have come, probably in the middle of the night, have -routed up the man or woman, seized all papers, money, and anything else -useful, and driven their victim away in the darkness to some “House of -Inquiry” on suspicion of holding the same kind of political views as -the majority of English people. In the House of Inquiry the suspect -is generally kept from four to six months, while his spirit is being -broken down and evidence raked together against him. He may then be -brought up for trial before a judge and sentenced to two years’, five -years’, or ten years’ imprisonment or exile, according to the state of -the judge’s political opinions or digestion. He may also be condemned -by “administrative order,” without coming before a tribunal at all. -I believe no “political” has been tried in open court before a jury -since Vera Sassoulitch was acquitted for the attempted assassination -of the elder Trepoff in 1878. No Russian jury can ever be trusted to -condemn. But the Russian suspect has two advantages still--he may be -thrown out of prison as unexpectedly as he was thrown in, and with -as little reason given. He may also call upon any one he pleases, -not necessarily a barrister, to take up his defence, if he is brought -before a tribunal. He may thus obtain the satisfaction of having his -case defended on the broad lines of human reason and obvious justice, -instead of listening to some professional pleader, stultified by legal -training, while he struggles to elude condemnation on a verbal error or -by some uninspiring precedent in commercial fraud. It is very seldom, -however, that the most convincing defence makes the least difference to -the sentence, for that has been decided beforehand. - -A day or two after my return to St. Petersburg, I was shown a letter -from a friend who had been locked up in a House of Inquiry for speaking -at Liberal meetings and for feeding the children of work-people -during the second general strike. He had sometimes written, also, for -a Progressive newspaper, and it must be remembered that the Tsar’s -Manifesto of October 30th had granted freedom of the press as well as -freedom of public meeting. Yet the suspicion of these three crimes -was sufficient to show that he must be put out of the way like a mad -dog. The letter was written on three sides, and each side marked by -a broad yellow cross drawn diagonally from corner to corner as a -proof that the prison authorities had read it. Yellow seems to be the -favourite official colour in Russia, as I noticed before in the case -of the “yellow ticket” or passport which binds the prostitutes almost -hopelessly to their way of life; and the yellow cross, signifying the -gaoler’s approval of the contents, shows that the prisoner did not in -any way exaggerate his condition. The letter was written simply for -the information of another friend who had hitherto escaped the common -martyrdom which rewards all lovers of freedom in Russia. I translate a -part of it:-- - - “My cell is five paces long by two wide. It has a window, the - bottom of which is just above the level of my eyes, so that I - can’t look out. There is a bed, a chair, and a table, all of - iron and fastened with clamps to the wall. In the daytime the - cell is fairly light, and the electricity is turned on from - eight to nine in the evening. - - “At six I get up. At half-past six a hand is thrust through ‘the - eye’ (spy-hole) in the door with some black bread. At seven a - different hand pours boiling water into my jug in the same way. - I have to buy my own tea. At ten I am led through the corridor - into a little court, where I am allowed to walk round and round - for twenty-five minutes with other ‘politicals.’ But if we - speak or look at each other or say ‘good-morning,’ the walk is - stopped--and it is my only chance of getting a breath of air. - At eleven a bell rings, and the ‘eye’ is opened for letters or - any orders for purchases that I want to send. But I am allowed - to order things only four times a week, and, of course, only as - long as my money lasts. At the same time a hand pours in boiling - water again for tea. From half-past eleven till twelve is - dinner-time, and I get a biggish basin of watery barley soup or - pea soup, or else a thin fluid with scraps of meat and cabbage - floating in it. - - “There is rather a good prison library, especially strong in - political economy. But it is very hard to get the books I want, - and the pages are defaced by the gaolers, who always think the - dots and hyphens are signals from the prisoners to each other. - In the afternoon, especially when it gets dark, I lie on my bed, - or walk up and down the cell, till at eight o’clock, as I said, - the electric light is turned on for an hour. About six I get the - boiling water and soup again. Sometimes letters reach me, but - they are always kept till they are old. Sometimes I am allowed - a visit of three minutes’ conversation through the ‘eye’ in the - door. Of course, the gaoler is always within hearing.” - -The treatment is not worse, it is perhaps rather better than the -peculiarly brutalizing treatment of prisoners in England. There is -something distinctly paternal in the provision of a library especially -strong in political economy. But it must be remembered that this friend -of mine had never been accused, had never been tried, and was only -suspected of a crime which all the Liberals of England, from the Prime -Minister downwards, commit every waking hour of their lives amid the -applause of our nation; unless, indeed, it be urged against him that -he fed the children of strikers--an offence from which our official -Liberals are often exempt. - -The particular prison in which this man was confined, was, as I said, a -House of Inquiry, but the number of arrests had been so enormous since -the Moscow rising that the suspects were now being thrust into the -ordinary prisons straight away, or into any hole where they could be -kept tied up. Just across the breadth of river from the Winter Palace -of the Tsars, and the dilettante picture-gallery of the Hermitage, -glitters the long-drawn brazen spire which marks the old fortress of -St. Peter and St. Paul, the citadel and grave of Peter the Great. -Encased in monotonous marble slabs, and surrounded by hideous emblems -of death and glory, there lie the bodies of all those melancholy -tyrants from Peter downwards. Perhaps there are some people still left -among the royal family who sincerely reckon those dull tombs among -Russia’s treasures; but close beside the church along the Neva, so low -that some of the cells are beneath the river level, run the dungeons -which form the true Martyrs’ Memorial of the country--the places that -will some day be honoured like the graves of the saints, for they are -consecrated by the blood and suffering of hundreds of men and women -who fought for freedom, though they seemed to fight in vain. This was -the prison where again the foremost champions of freedom were now -cooped up. Khroustoloff was there, the man of genius who organized the -first general strike and was the chairman of the Workmen’s Council -when I used to attend their sittings two months before. Not long after -my return, the rumour went that he had been shot in the prison yard. -Nothing was known for certain, but the thing was only too likely, for -a tyranny does not spare its finest enemies, and Khroustoloff will be -known to all Russian history as the man who forced the Government to -defend itself by that lying Manifesto with which it betrayed the people -as with a kiss. - -Just outside the fortress the Tsar is building a palace for his former -mistress--a Polish dancing girl, said to have been attractive without -beauty--and less than a mile further up the river on the same bank, -stands the large modern prison called the Cross (Kresty), whether from -its shape or as an emblem of salvation, is uncertain. It is a dreary, -red-brick building of the ordinary type, like Wormwood Scrubbs, and the -officials hang their windows with caged birds as ornaments in keeping -with the architecture. That prison also was crammed with “politicals.” -In fact, it was the same story in all the prisons of Russia--the same -thing as I had seen in Moscow, Kieff, and Odessa. Somehow room had to -be found in the gaols for 20,000 Liberals--that was the lowest estimate -I heard at the time, and a few weeks afterwards the moderate estimate -rose to 70,000, and a high estimate of 100,000 was commonly accepted. -We cannot wonder that a bankrupt Government felt only too delighted -when it could kill off its prisoners by batches of thirty-five together -as in Moscow, or of forty-five together as happened at Fellin in -Esthonia just after Vladimir’s Day, when that number of journalists and -men of letters were collected there and shot in bloody comradeship. -The dead are so cheap in their subterranean cells. - -English people are constantly marvelling, with some superiority in -their tone, why it is that the Russian revolution has brought to -light no man or commanding genius--“no Cromwell,” that is their usual -phrase--to direct its energies to victory. Let them search the dungeons -and the graves. Perhaps they may find a Cromwell there. - -Till quite lately the very noblest of the “politicals” would naturally -have been sent to the Schlüsselburg--the old fortress-prison standing -on an island where the Ladoga Lake pours out the great stream of -the Neva some forty miles above the city. But three days before the -anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a ukase was issued converting that -ancient dungeon into a mint, and removing the few prisoners who still -remained. I believe there were only five of them--old men and, perhaps, -women who had tried to do something for freedom once, and in their -living graves had already become myths of the dreadful past. About -their identification and their removal to other dungeons there was much -mystery, and the rumour ran that two of them had strangely disappeared, -as well as others whose fading names and records were recalled by -memories growing obscure. - -To such mysteries another mystery now succeeded; for every one, -except the few who clung to the orthodox photographic faith about the -inexhaustible ingots of the Russian treasury, was marvelling why the -terrible fortress had been converted into a mint, of all things, and -whence the bullion was to come for coinage there. I am inclined to -think that the Government was misled, like most people, by treacherous -parallels from history, and, knowing the Schlüsselburg’s evil name, had -feared a second Fall of the Bastille. It was a needless anxiety. The -Schlüsselburg is too far away for popular frenzy; but the Peter-Paul -fortress is close at hand and its abominations grow. - -In any case, the conversion of a blood-stained fortress into an empty -coin chest made no difference to the situation. The reaction went -trampling along its course, and under it the country lay paralyzed. -During the four weeks after the collapse of the Moscow rising (January -7th to February 7th), 78 newspapers were suspended, 58 editors -imprisoned, 2,000 post and telegraph assistants dismissed, over 20 -workmen’s restaurants closed in St. Petersburg to prevent relief to the -unemployed, a state of siege was declared in 62 towns, a minor state of -siege in 34 towns, 17 temporary prisons were opened, 1,716 “politicals” -were imprisoned in St. Petersburg alone, and 1,400 “politicals” were -summarily executed under martial law, not including the large and -uncertain numbers that were put to death in Moscow after law and order -had been re-established.[4] - -Such was the terrified blood-thirstiness of that unhappy little body of -men called the Committee of Ministers, who went down to Tsarskoe Selo -by a guarded train along a guarded line nearly every day to discuss -how best they could stifle down the hopes of liberty, and retain for -themselves and their narrow circle of friends or patrons the cash, the -medals, the jobbery, the social distinction, the female affection, and -all the many other delights of power. They did not number more than -eight or ten poor mortals, not removed by many years from the abyss -of death, and, from all I hear, only two or three of them had been -born more brutal or scoundrelly of nature than ordinary rulers are. -One would have liked to listen to their conversation in those trains, -as, with unctuous regret for the stern necessity laid upon them, they -decided how many more should die. Some, like distracted Witte, whom -we have heard blubbering over the wickedness of the dear children he -was compelled to butcher; or like Count Dmitri Tolstoy, the Minister -of Education, formerly President of the Academy of Artists; or like -Shipoff, Minister of Finance to the penniless State, who only a year -before had voted for universal suffrage; or like Nemeschaeff, Minister -of Communications, who had been a chef to a railway, almost as good -as a workman, and also had voted for universal suffrage; or like -Birileff, Minister of Marine, who among Russian officers passed for a -type of incredible integrity because he had abstained from swindling -his country when he had the power; or like Rediger, the incapable -but comparatively honest Minister of War--all these had once enjoyed -a pleasing reputation for Liberalism, as had Prince Obolensky, the -new Procurator of the Holy Synod, and successor to Pobiedonostseff -as keeper of Russia’s orthodoxy. At one time probably nearly all of -them had received the compliment of being thought a little dangerous -by their relations, and now, under the ancient curse of tyrants, they -were consumed by the knowledge of the virtue they had left behind. -But they could not turn back--they had entered upon a road with iron -walls. For guide to the entrance of that road they had deliberately -chosen Durnovo, the new Privy Councillor, lately made permanent in his -Ministry of Interior. And beside Durnovo stood his uneducated relation -Akinoff, new-appointed Minister of Justice. - -Thus was the Committee of Ministers helplessly committed to preserve -in wealth and power that handful of useless human beings who may be -called the Tsardom or the Government or the ruling classes--the same -kind of men who for generations past have brought all that long tale -of poverty, ignorance, and bloodshed upon the Russian people. Nothing -could save them from the fatality of their own choice. They were forced -to go on with it now, driven day by day a few steps further along -the inevitable road. So day by day they gave their orders to General -Diedulin, the new Chief of Police and Durnovo’s assistant at the -Interior, and day by day the noblest and most thoughtful men and women -of Russia were shot, imprisoned, or dragged away to the oblivion of -Siberia. - -I know that in England one of the pleasant myths circulated by the -Tsar’s hirelings, or sanctimonious patrons, is that Siberian exile has -been abolished. It is as untrue as the similar myth about flogging -the peasants for taxes. In St. Petersburg on January 26th, I met a -lady whose brother, a conspicuous barrister in a large city of Central -Russia, had just been exiled to Siberia for five years because he took -the chair at a public meeting. Like so many other confiding people, he -was fool enough to trust to a Tsar’s Manifesto, and now as a reward for -his simple faith, cut off from his friends, his family, and his career, -he is moving by stages from prison to prison towards the dreary spot -where the best years of life must be spent, even if he ever returns. It -would, indeed, be unthrifty of the Government, when they have crammed -the Russian prisons to bursting point, not to take advantage of the -Siberian system so providentially organized by their predecessors in -office. - -On the whole horizon of St. Petersburg life only one sign of hope -appeared. In the lecture theatre of the Mokhovaya, leading out of -the Nevsky, where the educated revolutionists of the middle classes -are accustomed to hold their meetings, a quiet body of men used to -assemble every afternoon, with a few quiet men and women to listen. -They were the Constitutional Democrats, whose meetings Witte had been -compelled, not to permit, but to ignore, because in case of refusal -they threatened to remove into Finland, and it was not so easy to -spy upon them there. Delegates had arrived from all parts of the -Empire--Mohammedan Tartars from Kazan, Armenians from the Caucasus, -heathen Mongols from the uttermost parts of the East, speaking no human -tongue, nor to be understood by any, had not old Professor Clementz -been discovered still alive among his specimens of anthropology. -Banished in his prime to the extremity of Mongolia in the hope that he -might die of savagery and cold, he had dwelt so many years among the -heathen that in face and language he could hardly be distinguished from -them, and now they found in him their friend, the one man in the city -to whom their monosyllabic squeaks and sounds conveyed a human meaning. - -So the delegates met, and listened and debated, discussing the -tactics to be employed if ever time should overtake the promised Duma, -which continually receded. What was the right course for men who -hoped nothing from violence and yet would fight for freedom; men who -distrusted haste, believed in law, and yet aimed at revolution? Being -concerned with subjects so far-reaching, their debates were naturally -more abstract than is usual among hardened old Parliamentarians like -ourselves, to whom “the middle of next week” expresses an unimaginable -and negligible distance of time. But they boasted themselves practical -as Russian parties go, and at all events they were not hampered, as our -Liberals usually are, by class tradition and social influence. I mean, -for instance, they would never endure anything so ludicrous as a House -of Lords in their constitution, and if they should ever come to real -power, they would enjoy the very unusual advantage of a clear field. -But their immediate object was to form a strong block of opposition -to the representatives of the six reactionary parties with which the -Government designed to flood the Duma when the elections came--such -parties as the Octobrists, or nominal supporters of the Manifesto; the -party of “Legal Order,” or Law and Order, as we say; and the party of -Industry and Commerce. - -Beside the platform at their meetings stood a large death-bed portrait -of Sergius Troubetskoy, the Rector of Moscow University, who had -suddenly died in the previous September while pleading for freedom of -speech, as I mentioned in the Introduction. Across the portrait was -written the inscription, “The Champion of Freedom,” and the spirit of -the great Zemstvoist leader might well be said to direct the methods -and purposes of the assembly. Among the living leaders present were -Petrunkevitch, who had succeeded to Troubetskoy’s position upon the -Moscow Zemstvo; Struve, long the exiled editor of the Russian paper, -_Emancipation_ (_Osvobojdenie_) in Paris; and Miliukoff, so -well known in France through David Soskice’s translation of his book -on Russian culture, and in England and America through his own Chicago -lectures upon _Russia and its Crisis_. He almost alone among -all the Russians I met in St. Petersburg at that time still retained -the power of hope and enthusiasm undiminished, in spite of all the -disasters of the past seven weeks. - - “The reaction,” he said to me, “cannot last very long. The - Moscow rising was a great mistake, and at the end of it I too - almost despaired. I thought all the educated people and the - well-to-do would be permanently set against change. But the - Government’s violence has kept them on our side. The “classes” - are as much sickened by the slaughter as other people. They have - learnt that it is the Government, and not the revolutionists, - who are the party of destruction and disorder. Reaction? Why, it - is already over. The spirit of the thing is dead.” - -Coming at such a time, such words were startling in their confidence. -But then Professor Miliukoff is one of those few happy people who have -carried with them the glories of youth into middle age, and there is -no glory of youth more enviable than the wisdom which, as the Preacher -said, is the mother of holy hope. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - - THE PRIEST AND THE PEOPLE - - -The shallows of the Gulf of Finland were frozen hard, and from a -distance the sea looked like a huge flat plain covered with snow, while -wind and grey storms of drift raged over it, blotting out the horizon. -But when, almost imperceptibly, the sledge quitted the flat land for -the flat sea, the green ice sometimes lay bare upon the surface, or -threw up a sharp green edge, and sometimes the hollow rumble of the -runners told of the deeper water beneath. At one place a few planks had -been thrown across a gaping crack, where the current or the pressure -of ice had split the great field, and a dark line of water stretched -away on either hand till it was lost to sight in the storm. The track -was marked by the usual Christmas trees stuck in the ice, and by tall -signal posts as well. Yet, as the wind and driving snow increased, it -was impossible to see from one mark to the next, and the horse felt -his way along, like a man moving from lamp-post to lamp-post in a -London fog. Sometimes another sledge suddenly appeared out of limbo -two or three yards in front. At three points small wooden huts had -been erected as shelters for the lost or frozen. Huge lanterns on poles -glimmered through the dark flakes. Driven by the rushing wind, wheels -with wooden sails tugged at ropes, and out of the obscurity a deep bell -sounded, ominous as the bells rung by the waves around our cliffs. For -the dangerous tempest was blowing, which, I believe, the natives call -the “Vouga.” - -On a sudden a shadowy rampart was seen, a bank of storm-twisted trees, -a dimly discerned church, and so we came to the island of Kronstadt, -famed for its fortress, its mutiny, and its living saint. - -It was to visit the frozen sea and the miracle-working saint that I -had come, and of the few passers-by who struggled against the snow I -asked for Father John. At first I feared that the saint’s European -fame had hardly yet reached Kronstadt, where he lives, and from which -he takes his title. But after a time we were directed to a largish -modern house, which he has fitted up as a refuge, partly, I think, -for the poor, partly for the sick, or other unhappy people, who stand -in need of miracles. The rooms inside are large and very clean, all -filled with narrow iron bedsteads, covered with browny-grey blankets, -as in our barracks or superior doss-houses. A notice on the door gave -the price of a bed for the night at thirty kopecks--say sevenpence -halfpenny. That is about threepence halfpenny higher than the average -London doss, but it seems fair that those who seek a miracle should pay -something extra for it, and the tariff in our common lodging-houses is -not inclusive. - -I had not time to make further observations when I was seized by an -eager crowd of women who thronged the rooms and passages--peasant women -from the mainland and work-people from the dockyards, all muffled -up in shawls and hoods and blankets. Excited benevolence shone in -their faces, as with cries and exhortations they clutched my clothing -and hurried me through one large dormitory, which appeared to be a -lying-in ward, into another where the crowd was thicker still. Being -thrust eagerly among the worshippers--for there is joy in heaven over -one sinner that repenteth--I perceived a small altar beneath a large -and brilliant icon hanging on the wall. The altar was made of a deal -table with a white cloth over it, and on the cloth stood a large -enamelled-iron soup-tureen. It was white with a blue edge, and filled -with a yellowish liquid, which I supposed to be holy. In front of the -altar, with his back towards us, stood a short, grey-haired figure, in -a robe of black flowered damask or brocade, with a crimson border round -the neck and halfway down the back. - -He was just raising his hands in some act of adoration, when, becoming -aware of the religious tumult of my entrance, he faced smartly round, -abandoned the altar, and came, as it were, bounding in my direction. -Uncertain how to receive him, I stood my ground and held out my hand; -but entirely disregarding that, he sprang upon me, and raising himself -lightly upon his toes--for the top of his head did not reach to my -chin--with uplifted arm he began fumbling about in my hair with his -fingers. It was so sudden. In five seconds I had received his blessing. -He had blessed me by assault. For all I know, he had accomplished a -miracle upon me. The women stood round and sighed their pleasure. “He -never treats us to a blessing like that, never!” they murmured with -admiring envy. - -When he came to rest before me, I perceived that he was a little -grey-bearded old gentleman, trim and lean and ruddy. He looked about -sixty, but his followers say he is seventy-seven, so that his very -activity is miraculous. One side of his forehead bulged with some -disease, but from his pale grey eyes looked a healthy spirit. Kindly -and innocent, practical, or even housewifely, I should say, rather -than intellectual or inspired. There was nothing of the rapt mystic -about him, nothing of the divine seer contemplating eternity. Indeed, -I was told that he himself makes no claim to prophetic vision, and -his gift of foretelling distant events must be unconscious. One of -his chief attributes in sanctity appears to be that he lived with the -same wife for fifty years, I believe all the time at Kronstadt; and I -see no cause to question his miraculous powers, especially as I have -known other people similarly endowed, though for qualifications of a -different kind. - -He stood there, smiling up at me for a moment with innocent good will, -and I then perceived that the crimson border of his robe reached -halfway down his chest, as well as down his back, and that round his -neck, by a heavy silver chain, hung a large silver cross--the Russian -Orthodox cross, with a short bar nailed low down upon the shaft for -the feet of the Crucified to rest upon, and placed slantingly, so that -one end might be higher than the other, because by Eastern tradition -Christ was lame on the right foot. I also perceived that the saint’s -hand, though fine in itself, was worn, as though by the labour of -continual benediction. But observing that my eyes rested upon it, he -smiled, more benignly than ever, and did what is perfectly natural to -any Russian saint or lady--he held it up for me to kiss. It is a peril -one is sure to encounter among the priests of the Orthodox Church, and -over and over again I have resolved to go through with it manfully. -But when the final moment comes, the stubborn British blood begins to -jib and swerve, like a horse that cannot be brought up to his fences, -and grasping his hand in mine I shook it warmly. I am afraid the women -were grieved to think I should remain a heretic, in spite of all the -advantages they had so eagerly procured me, but there was no help. - -The little saint then turned back to the altar and took up the service -where he had left off, just as a wood-pigeon takes up his comfortable -cadence at the note where last it was broken. The people renewed their -interrupted crossings and prostrations, and a young peasant beside me, -his dark red hair covering his shoulders, and his single outer garment -gathered round his waist with a rope, displayed incredible activity -in striking his forehead against the bare boards and springing up -again repeatedly almost without pause. I should like to have known -for what favour he was so urgent, and willingly would I have granted -it if it had been in my power, for no human being could have remained -obdurate to such importunity. But the service ended, and with a throng -accompanying him the saint, putting his great-coat over his robes and -his goloshes over his boots, departed down the street to some other -scene of hallowed beneficence. - -It was hard to realize that this was Father John of Kronstadt, regarded -by revolutionists as among the most dangerous enemies of the Movement. -In the political cartoons he almost always figures among the leaders -of reaction. One sees pictures of him in his vestments standing beside -a cannon trained upon the crowd, or with the other Ministers admiring -a huge Christmas tree hung with skulls. His saying, at the time of -Father Gapon’s procession, that “only a sinner could strive against his -Tsar,” is well known. He is believed, perhaps truly, to possess great -influence in the Tsar’s family, especially over the women, such as the -Dowager Tsarina. According to rumour, his advice is invariably given -against every proposal of change or advancement, and the enthusiastic -women who procured me his blessing, are identified with the mothers and -wives of the most violent and merciless gang of the Black Hundred. That -is all very possible, and the recent scandals about a certain Virgin -of Kronstadt, who saw her way to making money out of the situation -by vicarious sanctitude, are only such as seem to arise inevitably -around a fellow mortal of much belauded virtue, whether they are true -or not. It is very probable also that the mothers of the Black Hundred -secure comparatively honest half-crowns by arranging special interviews -and privileges for visitors to the saint. To be sure, I had not to -pay a penny for my blessing, but I have known others, less favoured -by Heaven, who expended as much as two pound ten for very inferior -advantages. When all is said, the detraction of his opponents, and his -own abhorrence of progress appear to me the least miraculous things -about him. Take a man in youth, train him for years in a seminary -where he meets no one but young priests like himself, and hears no one -but old priests such as he is intended to become; give him no kind -of knowledge but ritual and dogma, which he must accept unquestioned -or perish; let him live many years with one woman in one small place, -among people who never contradict him, but either regard his words as -divine, or ignore them as parsonic; add a kindly simplicity to the -blank of ignorance; expose a rather small and finikin personality -to feminine adulation; and if you do not produce the very model of -priesthood as exemplified in Father John of Kronstadt, there will be a -miracle indeed. - -I struggled back again across the frozen sea, where the storm raged -with increased violence, and on reaching St. Petersburg, I hastened -to a remarkable gathering in the great hall of the Conservatorium. -It was a concert given by a body which, with intentional vagueness, -called itself the Committee of the Working People, and its purpose -was to raise funds for the assistants at the Workmen’s Dining Rooms. -The performance was announced for eight o’clock, but I need not have -hastened; for, as I have already noticed, there is no pedantic and -inconsiderate punctuality in Russian affairs, and when I arrived, -some three quarters of an hour late, I found the huge audience still -pouring in, and I might have waited another half-hour without missing -any of the programme. But at concerts the audience is usually the most -interesting part, at all events to a foreigner, and I found myself -in the midst of the very people who, until quite lately, have been -the real revolutionists of Russia. Not very many actual work-people -were there, for the prices of seats kept them away; but the vast -concert-hall was soon packed with the educated, the professional men -and women, the “proletariat of intellect”--writers, journalists, -barristers, doctors, crowds of students, and a good many officers in -uniform, though I think that perhaps most of them were army doctors. -The scene was a fine example of the frank democracy that distinguishes -the Russian people--the enviable disregard of all the weary old -distinctions of rank, profession, wealth, or dress. It arises, perhaps, -from the ancient village communism, as I have already suggested, and -from the common use of Christian names and diminutives, which spreads a -brotherly feeling among all classes. Perhaps also from the comparative -unimportance of commercial people until lately; for in most countries -it is the commercial classes that maintain inequality. In no society, -outside savagedom, have I found such indifference to the nature and -distinctions of dress as in Russia. At this concert every class and -fashion of costume was to be seen, and no one was regarded as a queer -and dubious character if he dressed to please himself. It is quite -possible, no doubt, that the brains of many there stood above the -freezing point of British social sanity, but in all that I have seen -of Russian life, I have observed the same democratic ease, the same -disregard of the dress that marks a class distinction. It is this sense -of the equality of men that brings the Russians and the French together -and makes the monstrous alliance of their Governments appear almost -natural. - -Of course, the whole audience was revolutionary, but in Russia -revolution is not thought to imply insanity so much as intelligence, -and large numbers had determined there should be no doubt as to their -opinions. Many of the students, with long hair all on end, wore the -Russian tunic, and no one stared. Some girl-students--those indomitable -“Kursistki,” on whom the soldiers have no mercy--were dressed in the -loose black blouse, fitting closely to the throat and buttoned along -the top of the shoulder instead of down the front or back. A few -gentler spirits had yielded to a tiny edge of white collar above the -black. But the blouse of the violent shone red, all gules from throat -to waist, and the more revolutionary a girl is by nature, the thicker -is her hair, and the lower it hangs over her eyes and ears. Her little -fur cap also has no brim, as others use, but is plain like a man’s; for -a brim is compromise, and at the bottom of the slope of compromise lies -ignoble peace. - -In course of time the concert began. Perhaps concert is hardly the -right word, for I suppose no human soul in all that mass of people -had gone to hear music or singing, or cared very much what musical -sounds were made. Certainly, the musical performers were good, but -the interest lay with others--with the well-known young actress who -in a voice only slightly more emotional than common speech recited -some short poem which all could hear, while the piano played a hardly -perceptible accompaniment; or with the famous author who just sat in -a chair upon the stage, and read some vivid scene or parable from his -own works or another’s. As often as not he read it badly, but that made -no difference. This was no shrine of art for art’s sake. Behind those -quiet and halting words burned the whole fire of the revolution, and -the applause was not kept for the best performance, but for the most -daring passage, or for the hero who had been longest imprisoned for -the cause. Such applause as that I have never heard. There was a vital -intensity in the enthusiasm that no art could inspire. Time after time -the man or woman was recalled. Four times or five times the same piece -would be repeated, and still the applause seemed as if it could not -end. Eleven times one man was recalled, the whole audience standing up -and shouting his name in a tumult of admiration. Not that he recited -well, but it was his own work that he recited, and he had only just -come out of gaol. - -The form of the recitations was almost invariably the parable. Some -simple scene or fable was narrated, so harmless and childlike on the -surface, that the enemy could find no handle for his rage, but inwardly -it was charged with a significance like hidden flame. It is a form very -natural to Russia, for it has grown out of the peasants’ folk-tale -and proverb, and the perpetual danger of open expression has kept it -alive. So in Gorky’s well-known parable, which was one of the many -recited, the falcon soars in freedom through the sunlit air, and the -snake remains coiled under the dark and chilly stones; but presently -the falcon falls to the ground wounded and dying, while the snake -congratulates himself upon the pleasing security of his own habits. -Sometimes it was but a common scene of military life that was narrated; -sometimes there came a brief outburst of triumph, “O sleepless nights, -your fruits are seen at last!” And in one poem the part of women in -Russia’s revolution was described almost without subterfuge. - -In the souls of the audience only one thought lived. A suppressed -excitement breathed throughout the hall. As the words of the speakers -or singers rose and fell, the air trembled with the beat of all those -minds in unison. There was no sound. Each great word was awaited as -one awaits the notes of a solemn music. But it was not the words that -were the greatest thing, it was not the performers, not the martyrs, -nor even the audience. The greatest thing was the common faith of all. -Under that outward scene of gleaming lights and varied personality -one felt the secret touch of danger, and only in danger is the highest -community to be found. One felt the deep and passionate glow of a life -brief and insecure. One felt the spirit careless of everything--of joy, -of passion, of life itself--of everything, but the one great cause--the -only thing that counted, the soul of the crowd, the consciousness that -breathed through the air and kept us still. The words ceased. There was -a gasp while like one man the great assembly drew in its breath, and -then with a rushing wind rose the tempest of applause. And yet it was -not the words, nor even the speaker: it was the revolution that was -adored. - -To have a cause like that, to dwell with danger for the sake of it -every day and night, to confront continually an enemy vital, pitiless, -almost omnipotent, and execrable beyond words--what other life can -compare to that, not only in grandeur, but in the satisfaction of -intellect and courage and love and every human faculty? So tyranny -brings its compensations. - -At various intervals the audience trooped out from the hall, and walked -up and down the great ante-rooms and passages provided in all Russian -places of assembly. They greeted each other, they embraced, drank tea, -and buzzed with conversation. The intervals lasted about three-quarters -of an hour, and were of the highest interest to every one. The first -ended just before midnight, the second about two. Whether the third -ever ended I did not discover, for I was lost in memories of English -audiences, upon whose faces a real expression begins to dawn soon after -eleven--an expression of impatient anxiety whether they will catch the -last ‘bus home to bed. - - - - - CHAPTER XV - - A BLOODY ASSIZE - - -At the end of January I left St. Petersburg for Riga and the Baltic -Provinces. As in other parts of Russia, the hopes of change had -faded there, and the whole land lay prostrate under a bloodthirsty -suppression, the more savage because it was encouraged by a double -race hatred--the ancient feud of German, Russian, and Lett. As I came -at sunrise through the fir forests and frozen heaths of Livonia, -twenty-five men were being shot in cold blood among the sandhills -beside the railway. They were tied together in a row by their feet and -arms, and they fell together; but the firing was so bad that many were -hardly hit at all, and had to be finished off at close quarters before -they were heaped together into a trench already prepared for them. -When I reached the town, the first thing I met was a party of twenty -soldiers with fixed bayonets driving along four boys of eighteen or -nineteen, who marched with their hands in the pockets of their long -coats and their caps drawn low down over their pale and weary faces. -They were being taken to the castle, where, I was told, a hundred -more lay ready for killing, and would probably be slaughtered on the -sandhills next morning. It was a fitting entrance for me into these -once peaceful and civilized provinces, where now the bloody assize was -raging. - -The daily papers in Riga are, for the most part, German, but, for -once, they were on the side of the Government and the Russian troops, -because the leaders of the attempted revolution and the victims in its -suppression were Letts. So they would not be likely to exaggerate the -injustice and brutality of the assize. Yet each of them, above its -tender German love-story or bit of art criticism, displayed columns -of tabulated slaughter, and the whole local news of the three Baltic -Provinces consisted of shootings, hangings, and floggings. The accounts -were generally arranged by villages. For instance, from one number of -the leading Riga paper I take the following reports, almost at random, -out of the columns that appeared above an excellent appreciation of -Ruskin’s “Præterita”-- - - - “Tarwast.--The whole population of the village over the age of - fifteen was brought before the court-martial to-day. Six were - shot on the spot, including one woman; nine were flogged with - strokes varying from twenty-five to two hundred.” - -I need not say that two hundred strokes of a wooden rod delivered by -soldiers on the naked body of either a woman or a man would mean -almost certain death in its most terrible form. - - “Semzel.--Yesterday six revolutionaries were shot, and four the - day before. In the neighbouring parish of Lemberg twenty-four - were flogged. - - “Kokenhusen.--Nine people were hanged here to-day. - - “Dahlen.--A squadron of dragoons, half a troop of Cossacks, a - company of infantry, two cannon, and two machine-guns arrived - here to-day. Dahlen had elected a revolutionary parish council; - so a court-martial was held, and four men shot on the spot. - Several farms were destroyed by shells. - - “Neuenmühle.--The schoolmaster was hanged on a telephone post - here to-day, for having allowed public meetings in his school. - Two young girls were flogged with rods for having stitched a red - flag. - - “Wolmar.--This morning early, two boys, one only fifteen, - evidently much excited, ran up to a patrol of soldiers and - tried to catch hold of a rifle, saying they would show them - how to shoot. They were captured, and General Orloff, being - consulted by telephone, ordered their immediate execution. They - received the Sacrament, and were shot in the presence of a large - number of spectators. The execution appears to have exercised a - salutary impression upon the whole population of Wolmar.” - -Village after village had that salutary impression exercised upon it, -and one week after another the papers told the same monotonous story of -cold-hearted bloodshed. - -The German landowners, some of whom had suffered considerable losses -during the peasants’ rising, hounded on the military to vengeance. No -measures were harsh enough for them, no executions too bloody. They -taunted the Governor-General Sollogub with half-hearted mildness, and -clamoured for the appointment of the drunken butcher, General Orloff, -in his place. They appeared to long for the extermination of the race -which for centuries had been their servants. A daughter of a great -landowner, whom I met, said to me, “One of the peasants themselves told -me to-day that at least a third of them deserve to be shot, and he -hopes they will be. I was so glad to hear him say so.” - -Certainly, for those who had run for refuge into the town, as most -of the German landowners had, life was unavoidably dull. Beyond the -restaurants, two music-halls, and a number of brothels, there was -nothing to distract a gentleman’s mind. The landowner pined for -the country life and healthy sport to which he was accustomed. His -imagination was haunted by the smoking ruin to which his ancestral -home had been reduced. When he had once enjoyed the newspaper columns -of executions and floggings which were served with his breakfast, new -every morning like the love of God, there was really nothing left -to beguile the tedium of existence till evening came. Even then the -entertainment was rather dreary--a German _café chantant_, with -sweet champagne and half a dozen girls whom the proprietor paid to be -pleasant. “I suppose I shall have to go and see that dancer again,” -said one of the nobility to me, as he yawned and stretched himself. “It -will be something to do. Her legs aren’t really good, I know, but in -these times we must all take what pleasure we can.” - -On going out, we met a strong body of soldiers driving three prisoners -rapidly along the street. Flanking files had been thrown out upon the -pavements, and a large rearguard followed. One of the prisoners was -a ragged man without a hat, and his arms were pinioned to his sides. -The other two were women, with white handkerchiefs over their heads, -showing they were Letts. They passed very quickly, the soldiers, with -fixed bayonets, urging them continually onward from behind. A feeling -of intense excitement prevailed. The soldiers were terrified of a -rescue. An eager though cautious crowd followed at some distance, like -the children who follow bullocks to the slaughter-houses in Aldgate. So -they hastened along the road out of the town towards the sandhills, and -in half an hour the man and two women were dead and left warm in their -graves. - -The Letts boast themselves to be the Irish of Russia. They are -the ancient peasant race, whose land has fallen into the hands of -alien conquerors, now supported by a foreign military power. For -eight centuries the country of the Letts and the smaller tribes of -Lithuanians and Esthonians has been the prey of Germans, Swedes, -and Russians in turn. But the Germans, the descendants of the -Sword-Brothers and the Teutonic Order, who first introduced the laws -of conquest and Christianity among them,[5] have remained the chief -owners of the great estates, and the culture of the towns is mainly -German also. All three tribes come of an imaginative and artistic -stock. Many of the leading writers and artists of Russia are Letts, -and in their own strange language--probably the most ancient in -Europe, and most nearly akin to old Sanskrit--they possess an immense -collection of primitive folk-songs and legends. They are not so -advanced--not so artistic in form and feeling as the Lithuanian songs, -which are familiar in German translations, such as the beautiful and -characteristic song set to music by Chopin. But the Lettish songs -follow the ancient Asiatic form, seldom more than four or six lines -long--simple outbursts of joy and sorrow over the great events of all -human life, birth and spring and love and harvest and winter and death. -They are full of prehistoric myth and lore. Herder translated a few -when he was a parson in Riga about a hundred and forty years ago, but I -cannot find that even the Germans have taken the trouble to translate -them with any completeness. For the tongue has been despised and -neglected, just as Irish was in former years. - -The race is like the language. Ages have passed over the people since -first they settled down among the sandy heaths and quiet watercourses -of the Baltic shore. Their hair and eyes have changed from dark to -fair. Their religion has changed from primitive nature-worship to -Catholicism, and then to Lutheranism. Evangelical they still remain, -though Russia has tried hard for twenty-five years to make them -Orthodox. But at heart they continue as they originally were, speaking -the same tongue, doing the same work, and building the same houses. -On almost any farm you may see the conical outdoor kitchens, modelled -on the very huts that they built as they walked from Asia before man -learnt his letters. Even their modern farmhouses are constructed on a -very ancient type. They are made entirely of wood without any iron, -even without nails, the corner joints being dovetailed together with -perfect skill. The roofs too, though sometimes thatched with reeds, are -nearly always formed of wooden slabs like slates. Round the central -house of two large rooms, with high lofts for winter storage, several -wings or extra chambers are thrown out, for the labourers (Knechte), -or for poorer people who cannot afford a house of their own, but pay -a rent in money or work. In this way I have seen five other families -gathered round one peasant court or farm (Gesinde, as it is called, -the old German word, like the use of Knechte, marking the date of the -Prussian occupation). - -This peculiarity probably springs from the ancient Lettish habit -of living in isolation, like the Boers, and not huddled together -in villages, like the Germans or Russians. The peasants’ homes are -generally at least a mile or two apart. The country is divided into -large parishes, but a village can hardly be said to exist, and probably -this isolation has made the people an easier prey to their successive -conquerors. There are no Lettish towns at all, for such places as -Riga and Dorpat and Mitau were entirely German, but for some hardly -perceptible traces of the Swede, till the curse of Russia fell upon -them, little over a century ago. Indeed, to enter one of these old -towns even now, and to live among the spires and tiled roofs after -the bulbous domes and green iron of Russia, is like going back from -Gorky’s sombre desperation to the smile and sunlight of “Meister’s -Apprenticeship.” - -Scattered through the three Provinces there are about a million and a -half of Letts living in this way. Most of them now own their patches of -land, or are buying slowly, by annual payments. They till the ground in -summer, and in winter they weave with their own looms, spin with their -own spinning wheels, feed the cattle in the barns, and slide the wood -over the snow from the forests. It is not a bad kind of life. Compared -to ordinary Russian peasants, the people are rich beyond dreams, and -things went pleasantly in the Provinces till the hideous system -called Russification began just a quarter of a century ago, upon the -accession of Alexander III.--“The Camel,” as they still call him. It -was completed, as far as laws can go, in 1889, by the introduction -of Russian jurisdiction and language. Since then, the object of the -Russian Government has been to thwart German industry, to stifle German -culture, and to inflame the Letts against the Germans in hopes that -the two races may exterminate each other. So far the design appears -likely to succeed. Corrupt Russian officials govern, ignorant Russian -professors have taken the place of men like Harnack at the Dorport -University, untrained Russian teachers pretend to educate children -by means of a language that no child understands, the ancient rights -of the provinces have been taken away one by one, and by continual -incitement the Letts were at last goaded into burning the country -houses of the German landowners. - -There are about seven hundred estates in Livonia alone, including the -various Crown lands, and in the three Provinces taken together it was -estimated that two hundred and fifty country houses had been burnt. -This was said to represent about fifteen per cent. of the total of -existing estates. In many cases, no doubt, the landowners were leading -a monotonous and stupid kind of life, and the loss of their possessions -will open to them a wider horizon, with new chances of happiness. -But as a rule they are a pleasant, healthy kind of people, like -the country gentlemen who used to exist in England, and the Lettish -peasants felt no violent personal animosity towards the man whom they -were accustomed to call Master. One of the largest landowners, for -instance, the proprietor of four separate estates, thus described to me -how the trouble began in his favourite country house:-- - -“It was last December. Owing to the disturbances throughout the -country, I had sent my wife and children into Riga. One day a -deputation of peasants came and rang at the front door. I received them -in the hall. - -“‘Master (Herr),’ they said; ‘we are heartily sorry, but we have -condemned you to death.’ - -“‘Oh, you have condemned me to death, have you?’ I answered. - -“‘Yes, master,’ they said. ‘We are heartily sorry. You are a good -master, and we have nothing against you, but we have condemned you to -death.’ - -“‘All right,’ I answered; ‘what’s your reason?’ - -“‘You see, you have more land than we have,’ they said. - -“‘Certainly,’ I answered; ‘but many of you have more land than others.’ - -“‘Yes, that is true,’ they said; ‘but all the land is ours by right. -Your fathers took it away from us seven hundred years ago, and now we -are going to nationalize it all.’ - -“‘Well,’ I answered; ‘I suppose you must do what you like. When are you -going to begin?’ - -“‘Oh, master,’ they said, ‘we are heartily sorry. You are a good -master, but we have just condemned you to death, and now we have come -to warn you first. Master, we strongly advise you to escape.’ - -“So the conversation went on. A few days later, they made an attack -upon the house in the evening. But I had armed two of my own servants; -we fired a gun from a window, and they all went away again. But after -that my wife was so frightened that I came into Riga, and now the -peasants are sending us firewood and vegetables twice a week by sledge, -because they have heard such things are dear in town.” - -It is easy to imagine the peculiar confusion that would arise in such -kindly and childlike minds when young students and orators, like the -almost mythical leader “Maxim,” come out to their isolated farms -and preached Karl Marx to them, and the socialisation of wealth, or -the glories of a Lettish republic. Social change and the sense of -nationality were equal motives in the rising. Excited by wild hopes, -inspired by man’s natural longing for equality, by race hatred, and by -the oppressions of a stupid and savage Government from abroad, they -turned upon the country houses, the church records, the Government -offices, and the portraits of the Tsar as the symbols of all that stood -between them and happiness. - -Certainly the German landowners suffered, and a few were assassinated. -It was part of the Russian Government’s scheme that they should suffer, -and one of the strangest things in the whole situation of these Baltic -Provinces was the unanimity with which, not only every Lett, but every -German whether in town or country, rejected the idea of appealing to -the German Empire for protection. The suggestion of such a thing made -the mildest German mad. It united German and Lett like comrades in arms -against a common enemy. The Germans cling to their German language -and culture; they will go to any trouble and expense to avoid Russian -education; they have the utmost contempt for Russian law and justice; -by union with Germany they would gain immensely in government and -probably in trade. Yet from Russia they will endure any hardship rather -than look to Berlin for help. It is a remarkable instance of the truth -that man is governed, not by his interests, but by his tastes. Hearing -the protest repeated with vehemence by a beautiful German lady whose -home had been burnt down, I asked her the reason, and she said: “We -could not endure to be told at every corner not to spit and not to -lean out of the window.” - -So the landowners suffer, and bear those ills they have. But the man -whose suffering to me seemed least deserved was not a landowner, but -a country parson. He was so old that I may mention his name without -harm, and it is known to the scholars of Europe; for he was Pastor -Bielenstein, the greatest authority upon the Lettish language and -literature, and authorities are very few. I found him in Mitau, the -Courland capital, a quiet German town not far from Riga. There he had -taken refuge in a few small rooms, when the peasants chased him from -the parsonage, which had been his for sixty years and his father’s -before him. In mind and appearance he belonged to an age that Germany -has long left behind--the simple age of the Humboldts and the Grimms. -He must be one of the very few Germans left who remember the death of -Goethe, and to listen to him was like conversing with those gentle -followers of learning a century ago, who combined a zeal for knowledge -with a childlike trust in “the dear God.” All the sixty years in his -parish had been devoted to the cure of souls and the collection of -every fragment of Lettish literature--folk-songs, riddles, proverbs, -and legends. Volume after volume appeared, and there they all stand -as a monument of German industry, though, unhappily, intelligible -only to Lettish speakers. Having lost his sight over his work, and -growing very old, with his aged wife and grandchildren around him, he -determined to write one more book and then depart in peace. The title -of the book was “The Happy Life,” and hardly had he published it when -the peasants came to his church, ordered him to leave out the Tsar from -his prayers, attacked his house, shot his sexton, held eight rifles at -his daughter’s heart, burnt his library, smashed his china, trampled -on his harpsichord, and made a bonfire of his furniture in the garden, -kindling it with his manuscripts. Thus he was driven out, blind, aged, -and poor, to begin a new volume of a life which he thought was ending -happily. - -“But we do not regret the title of my book, do we, dear wife? We have -not lost our trust in the dear God,” he said, bending his tall, slim -figure to kiss the old lady’s hand. - -“No,” she answered. “We have lost our best china, but our guest will -kindly excuse it.” - -While we were thus conversing, the pastor of a neighbouring parish -entered, a little excited over a scene in which he had just taken part. -There had been an execution in his village that morning, and it was his -duty to conduct the funeral of the young revolutionist who was shot. -For some reason the officer in command had ordered a party of horse and -foot with two guns to attend the ceremony and prevent any disturbance. -“The coffin and I were surrounded by soldiers along the whole route,” -said the pastor; “and when we came to the grave, the people were kept -three hundred yards away. The result was that they could not hear a -word of the sermon which I had prepared with special care for the -occasion. As it was in Lettish, the soldiers did not understand it, and -all my pains were entirely thrown away.” - -So each suffered in his fashion. - -All through the open country parties of cavalry went trotting from farm -to farm. Infantry drove in sledges, holding their rifles ready. General -Orloff had then made his headquarters at Segewold, some forty miles -north of Riga, and obtaining a sledge there with a Lett driver who -spoke German, I was able to travel far through the low hills and wooded -valleys where the troops were at their work. The ruins of ancient -castles built by the Prussian Orders are rather frequent in that -neighbourhood, and the modern country houses which have taken their -place are especially fine--great mansions like our own “outposts of -barbarism,” some with gables and mullions, some with classic pediments -and columns in the “Georgian style.” But all were empty now, and not -a sound arose even from the stables and barns. One great house, as -famous as any monastery for its liqueurs, had been burnt to a cinder of -ruin, and there was hardly a farm around which had not lost a father -or son, hanged for burning it. The farms we passed appeared to be -equally empty; but when the driver gradually discovered that I had no -direct concern for Russian Government or German landowners, he began -to spread communications along the road by a system of signals and -cries. Faces would then peer out from the entrances of fowl houses, -or sudden questions would come from the depths of a holly bush. In -the quick conversations that followed I heard the word “Cossacks” -constantly repeated, for every mounted soldier is to them a Cossack, -and the question they always asked was whether the soldiers were -coming. Too often they were coming. We had seen them behind us, or had -watched a party moving down a hill, or cautiously making their way -through woods. The infantry in sledges were harder to distinguish; but -they were less numerous, and they went in obvious terror. Under their -houses some of the peasants had dug deep holes to hide in, and some -had taken to caverns in the sandstone hillsides, covered among the -woods. But it was chilly weather for that kind of life. The soldiers -were everywhere. In every parish a certain number of victims had to be -offered up to create a salutary impression, and all I can hope is that -our lonely little sledge, passing almost unobserved along the lanes, -may perhaps have saved one or two by its warnings. That it was allowed -to pass unobserved must be put down to kindly fortune, for I had -applied for the necessary permission to visit the country districts, -but had applied utterly in vain. I have often noticed that the agents -of justice display a peculiar shyness about the presence of spectators -when they are killing men and women as the law directs. - -On the other hand, there was, perhaps, too little reserve about another -habit practised by the officers in command--the habit of ordering -executions by telephone in the presence of the condemned. In Riga I -had heard of instances, and they appeared to me to show a peculiarly -cold-hearted brutality, though I do not quite understand why. The -driver told me of a similar case which had happened in Segewold. -After the rapid court-martial and sentence, the officer rang up on -the telephone: “Hullo! Is that the sergeant? All right. Have a firing -party here six o’clock to-morrow morning. Three prisoners to be shot. -Six men will be enough. No, better bring ten perhaps. Mind they’re not -late. Six o’clock to-morrow morning. Three prisoners. All right.” Then -he rang off, and the prisoners were led away. It was like ordering the -funeral lunch in the hearing of the sick. - -As a contrast to these things I may mention an occurrence that was -thought humorous, and was known to every one in Riga at the time. -It concerned a young Lettish schoolmistress who was sentenced to be -flogged. Not understanding either the sentence or the brutal orders -and gestures of the soldiers, whose duty it was to carry it out, she -thought she was to be violated, and that story was an inexhaustible -subject of mirth among the commercial and landowning classes in the -Riga restaurants. I have heard it translated into four languages so -that no one present might miss the full humour of the situation. - -So it went on. In the country the people died by hundreds. They were -flogged, they were hanged, they were shot. Their wooden farmhouses were -burnt to the ground. Their children were turned out in the winter to -starve. Men and women alike were slaughtered by hundreds, and no one -had pity on them. I heard no single word of pity or of understanding -spoken in any language, and week after week the bloody assize went on. - -Thank God, there were reprisals, however few. Soldiers on the march -through the town moved in single file for fear of bombs, and even that -did not always save them. The assassinations of policemen upon the -streets averaged one or perhaps two a day. The police lived in terror, -and as they went their rounds in groups of two or three, they were -escorted by an equal number of soldiers with fixed bayonets. Continual -alarms arose from every quarter of Riga; the reports of revolvers or -rifles would suddenly be heard, and this way and that the people ran. -Two or three days after I arrived there was a gallant rescue from the -very police-station itself. At eight o’clock in the morning two women -came to the door with food for five prisoners who were lying under -sentence of death for the assassination of a police officer named -Porschetsky. As they were going away, eight or ten men entered. Some -seized the police on duty, killing one and wounding two others who -resisted, and four went to the cells and released all five prisoners, -who walked quietly in different directions down the streets and -escaped, though without their hats. One of them was recaptured two days -later while foolishly tying on a false beard in a barber’s shop. His -sister who was with him, fell on the floor, and clinging to the knees -of the police implored for mercy. The barber fainted with excitement, -and the man was dragged away and shot. - -The same afternoon a young boy passing my hotel was bayoneted to death -by a soldier for refusing to halt at command. Whether he was another of -the five or simply did not hear the order, I did not discover. He was -under twenty, dark haired, with the clear and intellectual face that -characterises the Lettish students, artists, and other revolutionaries -of the towns. - -Of the same type was another boy who was shot the following Sunday -morning at nine o’clock just outside the castle wall. There were eight -in the firing party. “One, two, three--fire!” said the sergeant, and -the boy fell like a dummy on the stage, to the edification of the -early churchgoers who crowded round to examine the body. And with that -typical scene in my mind I was obliged to take leave of the Baltic -Provinces, marked in every economic map as one of the few fairly -prosperous regions of the Russian Empire. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - - THE PARTIES OF POLAND - - -Outside the discussion of an English Education Bill, I suppose that -upon the world’s surface you would not find such an atmosphere of -energetic pettiness and trivial virulence as in Warsaw. Not that the -ultimate aims of the chief combatants are petty, but that many natures -take so much more delight in clawing their friends over trifles than in -uniting against the common enemy. - -In speaking of the Poles in St. Petersburg, I have already described -a Polish restaurant there which was sharply divided by an invisible -but impassable line into two camps, both violently Polish, and both -so hostile to each other that the girls of one would not speak or eat -with the girls of the other, nor even with the men. Warsaw displayed a -similar division in almost every street. Very likely it is the price -that Poles pay for the strong individuality which has given them so -many poets, artists, and musicians. The consequence is that in Warsaw, -the parties are continually shifting, and grow like polyps by splitting -themselves into fractions, so that the political student, after weeks -of labour, goes to bed one night happily conscious of having mastered -the situation at last, and wakes up in the morning to find the whole -thing changed. - -But before describing what I believe to have been the condition of -Polish parties one post time on a February morning, it may be well to -estimate the strength of the common enemy’s position, as one of the -enemy’s leaders himself defined it. Of the three highest officials in -Poland he was the most experienced in the country and spoke with the -greatest authority. Even the extra number of footmen who took my coat -symbolized a power of life and death. - -“Martial law,” he began at once, “will be unflinchingly maintained, -at all events till the Duma meets. These Poles are an unreasonable, -unpractical people, full of crazy notions. They need a strong hand. -They mistake kindness for fear. They must be firmly dealt with. They -like it really--in his heart every Pole likes it. Since we proclaimed -martial law last November there has been no disturbance. And for forty -years before that--ever since we crushed the Polish revolution in -1864--order had reigned.” - -I smiled inwardly, remembering that well-worn quotation about the -order that reigned in Warsaw, and I looked at the speaker with fresh -interest. I had often heard of him as the perfect type of the -thorough-going reactionaries, the real old Russian bureaucrats, -who were fighting the revolution at the last ditch for their ideal -of empire, their privileges, and their pay. A tall and shapely man -of about fifty, diplomatically courteous and grave, he became the -furniture of the official palace very well, but in his round, bright -eyes I sometimes detected the alert and watchful look of a racoon -when he confronts you suddenly in the forest. He afterwards described -me to a friend as a terrible revolutionist, and as I remained almost -silent during the conversation, being overcome by the superiority of -his French, that showed a penetration which gave greater value to his -judgments. - -“Yes,” he repeated, “these Poles have always been an unreasonable and -unpractical people, full of flighty notions. You may now divide them -into Nationalists and Socialists--both about equally absurd. I need -not speak of the Socialists and the nonsense they talk of equality and -nationalization. They are the same everywhere. In Poland we found them -doing a certain amount of harm among the peasants; so we quartered -troops in the villages, and now the peasants have turned against the -Socialists like other right-minded men. Indeed, the Jewish Bund is the -only troublesome Socialist body now left, and we are dealing with them. -They will tend to disappear. - -“The Nationalists are equally helpless. They make a mighty fuss about -the suppression of their language, but in our Empire we must have one -common language, and it must be Russian. Then as to their Catholic -religion: the Poles are a singularly fanatical people. Their attachment -to their superstitious rites is most extraordinary. Even the educated -classes are little better than fanatics in their religious beliefs. -They are incapable of any breadth of view, and if we gave the people -the chance, they would show themselves utterly intolerant of the -Orthodox Church. They would insult and persecute our fellow-believers. -Such things we cannot allow, and we will not. - -“Nor can we yield to their talk about autonomy and separation. It is -all very well for England to grant autonomy to her Colonies over the -sea. She has not granted it to Ireland, and she does not grant it to -India. We have not the least desire to become a powerless confederation -like Austria, in perpetual danger of disruption. That would be even -worse than to become like Germany, continually hampered by her -Socialists. Any kind of separation would mean immediate ruin to Poland -and her industries. Russia, Siberia, and the Far East are her only -markets. If she were separated from us, first she would starve, next -she would be swallowed up by Germany, and foolish as the Poles are, -they still have sense enough to hate the Germans more than they hate -us. - -“It is true that in a weak moment our Government made concessions -to Finland, and that has encouraged the Poles to hope for the same. -But we shall not be able to allow Finland to remain on a different -footing from the rest of the Empire. Those concessions must rapidly be -withdrawn. We shall very likely have to conquer Finland over again. -That would be an easy task, and need cause us no apprehension. All -special rights in any part of the Empire must vanish, and the whole -Empire must be bound together into one. If we yield at any point, we -must yield in all, and that is impossible. - -“It is impossible for our own safety. Here in Poland, for instance, -we have to defend a frontier where there is no natural barrier to -ward off an attack by Germany. Even if we gave up Poland as far as -the Vistula, it would not help us. In these days a river is no real -protection in war; if the Vistula were a mountain chain, that would -be a different question. As it is, we must maintain our two parallel -lines of fortresses in Poland, and especially the triangle of the three -main strongholds, of which Warsaw is one. The triangle is too large to -be surrounded, and it would secure us the time for mobilization. For -certainly we could not mobilize nearly so fast as Germany. - -“That is the plain truth of the situation. People talk about Russia’s -internal troubles, but they are not of any importance. It is mainly an -agrarian question. The peasants think their land insufficient, because -they are too ignorant to cultivate it properly, and the redistribution -of the land by the communes every twelve years--it used to be every -year--deprives them of the valuable sense of ownership. We must abolish -the communal system, institute private ownership in land, and plant -several new colonies--in Siberia, for example. Then you will see -that Russia will easily regain her former condition of quietude and -prosperity. - -“And, as to Poland again, you will find that if the Duma meets, it will -be compelled to govern Poland exactly as the Autocracy has governed it -in the past, and is governing it now.” - -It was a frank and reasonable statement of the reactionary position, -and, if once the bureaucrat’s estimate of government and of human -nature be accepted, the position is easy to defend. Like most -Conservatives, the bureaucrats and reactionaries know pretty definitely -what they mean, and what they do not want; for even a prophet may -perhaps find it easier to see the past clearly than the future. To know -the object clearly is a great advantage in controversy, and in action -it means victory, unless the enemy knows still more definitely what he -intends to have. But in Poland there are so many intentions that the -battle for nationality and freedom is more than usually difficult. - -At the back of all modern politics stands the workman, tending -with every decade to become the only kind of citizen that need be -considered. We must suppose therefore that the various Polish parties -who are battling for nationality and freedom have the advancement of -the workman ultimately in view, and certainly there are few European -countries where his advancement is more obviously desirable. In -commerce, Poland has suffered more than any other part of Russia -from the disasters of the last few years. About five years ago, the -time of ruin set in with a commercial depression, vaguely attributed -to over-production. Hardly was trade recovering when the outbreak -of the Japanese war checked every hope. Siberia and the Far East -had become, as my official rightly said, the chief markets for such -great industrial centres as Warsaw and Lodz. Then suddenly all orders -ceased, the goods already despatched could neither be recovered nor -paid for, and the railways were taken up by the army. Ordinary trade -dropped, and only those firms could look for any profit which received -Government orders for barbed-wire entanglements, empty shrapnel cases, -and metals for field railways--“goods” which must be paid for by the -starving peasants, and might just as well have been sunk in the sea -at once. Out of thirty-one ironworks, ten closed their gates, and the -rest blew out half their furnaces. It is true, the iron industry is -rather an artificial thing, which even in peaceful times lives chiefly -on Government patronage. For it has to import coke from Siberia, and -ore from Krivoy Rog in South Russia. But the losses in the iron trade -were equalled by disasters in other industries, and the only instance -of success I heard of during the war was that the big chocolate works -received large orders to supply officers at the front. It is not -the first time we have heard of “chocolate-cream soldiers.” Indeed, -chocolate is taking the place of the Homeric onions as the food of -heroes. - -The war also ruined credit, and Polish trade lives on credit. Warsaw -depends entirely upon Berlin for money, and Berlin refused to lend. -On the top of the war came the strikes--political strikes, economic -strikes, general strikes, postal strikes. All through last year they -went on, and there was hardly a firm that did not lose from a third -to a half of its work. The severity with which the strikes were put -down only increased the resentment of the working-classes, and the -people deliberately preferred general ruin to the continuance of former -conditions, whether of government or industry. - -Such was the outlook of workmen in the towns. But about eighty per -cent. (something over 8,000,000) of the Poles are agriculturists, and -nearly half of these have no land of their own, but are forced to -wander round as labourers, some 200,000 of them going into East Prussia -yearly for the harvest, and most of them working in towns from time -to time. It is true that the peasants are slowly buying more and more -land from the bankrupt old nobility, who used to own Poland, and were -the chief cause of her ruin as a nation. The average price they pay for -the land is from £5 to £6 an acre, and the average peasant holding is -seventeen acres. But this division into plots is at present lowering -the standard of agriculture, and so things will go from bad to worse -till the peasant gains a little learning, and puts science into his -primitive methods. At present more than half of the populations cannot -write or read, and the proportion of schools to the number of children -is actually decreasing. In Warsaw alone there are 60,000 children for -whom there is no place in school, and the amount spent on education -per head of the population is 6_d._, as compared with 9_s._ -7_d._ in Berlin. Yet the Poles justly boast themselves better -educated and more intelligent than average Russians. In brains and -Western knowledge they are immensely in advance. - -The population, which is thicker on the ground than in France, -increases very rapidly, and that is one of the reasons why wages in the -last ten years have remained stationary in Warsaw, though the cost of -living has doubled. In the country a farm labourer’s wage is 9_d._ -a day. In the towns the unskilled workman gets about 14_s._ a -week, and the unskilled woman from 6_s._ to 12_s._. But a -skilled workman, such as a weaver, will make £2 10_s._ or even £3 -a week for nine hours’ work a day. The rent of two fairly good rooms -with kitchen, on the fourth floor, is from 4_s._ to 5_s._ -a week. But owing to the large numbers of the unskilled, it is very -common to find four families living in one room, and the standard -of life, especially among the Polish Jews, who number 1,500,000 of -the population, is very low, as any Londoner may see by walking down -Whitechapel. As usual, the Jews are regarded as the worst of all -work-people, though they make most money in dealing. On the other hand, -the overseers in mills, whether German or English, spoke very highly -to me of the Poles as mechanics, especially of the girls. “When they -will work, these Poles are first-rate,” said an English manager in -a lace works. “But they are butterflies, all butterflies,” he added -with a sigh. “I sent my little boy to school here, and they taught him -languages well, but unveracity better. So now I’ve sent him to England, -where at least he’ll learn nothing.” - -In the accounts I heard or read of Polish trade, two other points -appeared to me unhappily characteristic. One was that Polish hides -have to be sold at a cheaper rate than their apparent value, because -they are scarred and spoilt by the cruelty with which the Polish -peasants use their heavy whips. The same is true even of the pigs, -in which Poland does an immense trade; both the skins and the bacon -are deteriorated by the cruelty of the swineherds. The other point I -discovered in a Consular Report, which noticed that in Poland there -is a very large demand for antiquities--“family portraits, signet -rings, blood-stained weapons, and so on”--and suggested that, though -Germany has almost entirely ousted English trade from the country, an -opening for romantic Birmingham goods might here be found. It certainly -seems a needless sorrow that any one who desires a family portrait or -blood-stained weapon should be without it. - -From all this it appears that the Polish parties have enough scope for -their labours on behalf of the workmen and labourers, even without the -internecine intrigues and animosities with which they enliven their -task, like British sects battling for the Kingdom of Heaven. Among -the leading parties on the extreme right stands the solid phalanx of -officials and reactionaries; but it is not to be called Polish. It -is manned from the 300,000 Russians who are distributed among the -10,000,000 Poles. It is the party of “the Garrison.” For no Pole can -become an official--not even a policeman--unless he is first thoroughly -Russianised and joins the Orthodox Church, and even in Russia it -is only the officials and priests who are genuinely reactionary on -principle, because it is they who are fighting for their existence in -their last dirty ditch. - -But next to the reactionaries, though far removed, came a genuine -Polish party, who called themselves sometimes Realists, sometimes -Conciliators, because they represented their aims as real or tangible -things, and they were willing to act as peacemakers between Government -and people. They were the moderate Opportunists, the cautious -bourgeoisie (if any Pole is cautious), and they looked to the Duma -for salvation by gradual reforms. Still, they would struggle, however -gently, for autonomy, and, conscious of their own weakness in numbers, -they were willing to lend the weight of their intellectual powers -(which they believed to be considerable) to any union of moderate -Nationalist parties. - -In practical politics (if Polish politics ever became practical) the -Realists, who were called a staff without an army, were expected -to unite with the National Democrats, who were an army without a -staff. Certainly the National Democrats were numerous and confident. -They alone of all the Polish parties were doing what we should call -election work for the Duma; for though their meetings were forbidden -by the Government, those who attended them were not necessarily shot. -I was myself present at one of those meetings, held in an upper room -decorated with pictures of dead animals, and some seventy or eighty -gentlemen were there, for the most part substantial and elderly. There -was something a little pathetic about the performance, for they had met -to practise how to do it, and they reminded me of a class of dockers -I once tried to teach writing in Poplar, because they had escaped -the School Board. It is now eighty years since there was anything in -the least like an election in Poland, and that was for the Polish -Parliament which preceded the revolution of 1831. The tradition of how -to vote had died since then, and those few comfortable gentlemen in -the upper chamber were trying to recover it. Each received a pencil -and a little square of blank paper, and after they had followed their -instructions to the best of their ability, the papers were collected -and mistakes pointed out. As a first lesson in the nomination of -candidates, the result showed considerable promise, and the teacher, -who had studied in England, expressed much satisfaction at the progress -made. - -The twelve wards into which Warsaw was divided had to choose eighty -electors between them, and upon these eighty fell the choice of the -two members who were to represent Warsaw in the Duma. These two were -counted among the thirty-six who would stand for Poland as a whole. The -Jews, who make up a third part of Warsaw’s population, were the only -formidable opponents to the National Democrats. But the Jews are nearly -all Socialists, and as the Socialists had up to that time refused to -recognize the Duma or take any part in the elections, the National -Democrats expected to secure all the “college” of electors. - -Their programme was more advanced than I should have supposed from the -rather venerable appearance of their meeting. They aimed at complete -Polish autonomy in a Russian Federation. They demanded the use of -Polish in schools and law-courts; the appointment of Poles to all -offices of local administration; complete local self-government for -towns and country districts; and some included the restoration of the -Polish Parliament as it existed from 1813 to 1831. This programme -was obviously very much more Nationalist than Democratic, but, in -spite of the demand for Home Rule, there was no intention whatever of -breaking away from Russia. My reactionary official was again right in -saying that the Poles, like the Baltic Provinces, would rather suffer -under Russia than under Germany. The one thing that ended the great -general strike was the cry purposely, though falsely, raised by the -masters, “The Prussians are coming!” Germans may think it difficult -to understand, but, outside Germany, a certain pleasantness of manner -counts for something in the affairs of life, and very few people really -enjoy being goaded along the regulation road to official perfection. - -Next to the National Democrats came the Progressive Democrats, who -bridged the gulf from respectability to Socialism, like Mr. John Burns, -let us say, or practical leaders of his type. They were what we should -call extreme Radicals, but they liked to borrow the word “Fabians,” -not having yet discovered that the Fabian Society ceased to count in -the advance of thought or politics after the support its majority gave -to the South African War. Like academic people among ourselves, they -are fond of repeating that they demand evolution, not revolution, -but their opposition to the Government is nevertheless sincere, and -many of them were in prison. The gradual nationalization of the land, -with compensation but compulsory sale where an owner possesses over a -certain maximum, is a great point in their programme, and their aims -in general are rather social than political, though they, too, demand -a Polish Parliament and a military system under which Polish recruits -shall remain in Poland. Like the Socialists, they refused to take any -part in the elections, because under martial law there could be no -freedom of choice. Otherwise, they would have formed the natural allies -of the Constitutional Democrats elsewhere. - -The powerful party known as National or Polish Socialists came very -near to these. In fact, no one but a Pole could have discovered in -their programmes any distinction calling for passionate antipathy. They -followed the usual Socialistic lines, with Polish autonomy thrown in, -and they also prided themselves on their practical or “real” policy. - -Next to them, but separated by the impassable abyss of family -animosity, came their bitterest enemies, the Social Democrats, with -their usual maximum and minimum programmes, that require no further -definition. For the Gospel of St. Marx upholds the doctrine of faith -all the world over, and its canon allows no variation of circumstance -or nationality. In Poland, perhaps, its followers show themselves a -little more pedantic and superior than elsewhere, and it is their -intolerance of every other form of progress which has done most to -keep the parties divided, and maintain the enemy in power. Possibly -for this reason, combined with the imprisonment of all their leaders, -they appeared, whilst I was in Warsaw, to have lost ground, in spite of -their careful organization and superhuman rectitude. - -Below them--far below them, they would say--came the Proletariat -Socialists, the workman’s party, who refused all “truck” with -students or lawyers, or any other members of the “Intelligenzia” -and bourgeoisie. They were the extremists; thirty years ago they -would have been called Nihilists, though untruly. They preached -revolutionary violence of any kind, and took the immediate happiness of -the working man as their motive and rule in all conduct. Beyond that, -they possessed the immense advantage of being entirely free from all -doctrines, theories, and abstractions. For they held by the simple and -obvious fact, that a certain amount of pleasure may be obtained from -life, and the working man does not get it. - -There remains but one party of importance, but it is a little difficult -to place it in rank with the rest. For the Bund is not specially a -Polish party. As I have shown, it spreads through Kieff, Odessa, -and all Southern Russia. But in Warsaw it is particularly strong, -because, beyond all others, it is the Jewish party. In social aims it -agrees with the Social Democrats, but its methods are more definite -and more violent. In Warsaw, its members were at that time collecting -arms, organizing bands, and conducting propaganda in meetings that -were protected by armed groups. Their programme was to carry on -the revolution by a series of general strikes, combined with armed -demonstrations and attacks upon Government buildings or officials, -and they looked forward to a general and violent insurrection of all -Socialists in Russia. Obviously, the first care of such a party should -be to win over the enemy’s armed forces, for as long as the Russian -Government could trust the army to do the slaughtering for them, a -violent insurrection was outside serious consideration. Accordingly, -the Bund was continually sending out agents to work among the soldiers. -These agents endeavoured to establish in the army a large society of -men, who should take an oath never to fire upon their fellow-citizens. -There were minor points--a demand for better treatment, a refusal to -act as officers’ servants, or to serve outside their home district. But -not to fire on citizens was the main thing, and if once that pledge -could be imposed upon the Russian army as a whole, the Government, with -all its frippery and all its brutality, would vanish in a week. - -I have already given my reasons for seeing little hope of such a -solution. Obedience is the easiest form of sloth, and as soon as you -put a man into uniform you render obedience almost irresistible. -Further, a soldier demands pay, clothes, food, and hitherto there has -existed no definite power in Russia, except the Crown, to which he -could look for these necessities. - -But it was no wonder the Government regarded the Bund as their most -dangerous enemy in a hostile nation. Under the unpopular bywords -of “Anarchist” and “Jew,” the members of the Bund were seized and -executed without mercy or regret. Upon the river bank, half a mile -north of the city, stands the great fortress called the Citadel. I -happened to see more of it than most travellers, for, by good luck, I -managed one afternoon to penetrate far within the gates before I was -arrested. But still I could not identify Pavilion 10, where some six -hundred political prisoners were then crowded together, nor the places -of execution, where so-called Anarchist Jews were shot. The official -number of the executed in the month then stood at only sixteen, but -it was impossible to estimate the true figures, when the only form of -trial was a secret court-martial, and when fishermen on the Vistula -reported, as they did while I was there, that they had seen bodies -appearing through holes in the ice below the Citadel, with faces -mutilated to prevent recognition. - -As in the rest of Russia, all the prisons were so overcrowded that the -prisoners were dying of filth and disease. The town prison in Warsaw -had four hundred politicals, and sixty of them were crammed into a room -built for twenty-five. But if only as a relief from the dreariness -of futile party distinctions, let me end with the official statement -concerning two Jewesses, arrested as the accomplices of a man named -Gramen, who had been shot for manufacturing bombs. Governor-General -Skallon gave it out that it went against his feelings of humanity to -shoot women, and accordingly he offered to appeal to the Tsar himself -on behalf of these two, if they would only promise never to take part -in the revolution again. They both replied that if they were ever -released, they would fling themselves into the movement with more -enthusiasm than ever. So both were shot. And that one solid instance -of invincible heroism proves that even Poland, in spite of all her -divisions and abstractions and intrigues, is not beyond the hope of -liberty, since even in the wilderness of her parties that kind of -courage is seen to blossom. - - [Illustration: 1905 - - 1906 - - From _Jupel_ (_Sulphur_).] - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - - THE DRAMA OF FREEDOM - - -When for a time I left Russia in February, the powers of reaction were -at their highest, and at such a moment it might well seem absurd to -speak of the dawn, for the ancient darkness of Russia appeared again -to have closed in upon the land. In looking back upon the things I had -witnessed, they naturally presented themselves to me as the scenes of -a great drama, in which the old Titans and demigods of humanity played -from behind strange masks, compelled by the rival immortals of Freedom -and Oppression, whose voices could at times be heard and their forms -almost seen, while the journalists of Europe chimed in with a chorus -of alternately sympathetic comment. But there was no doubt that, as -in all great dramas, the Protagonist had become involved in the toils -of evil, and that, as far as worldly success went, a tragic fate was -overwhelming him. - -When first I arrived in the country, the air was still radiant with -hope. It is true that the early flush had a little faded; the joyful -intoxication of the October Manifesto was passing off, and people -were beginning to realize that freedom is not a thing to depend on any -man’s words. Liberty and despotism were hanging in the balance, and -the dull weights of habit and force were pressing down their scale. -But exiles were returning, prisoners were released, the Press was -free. Great public halls sounded to unaccustomed words of liberty, and -the Strike Committee, which had shaken the strongest tyranny of the -world, was still the strongest power in the country. The Government -stood uncertain and afraid. It felt itself confronted by an unknown -and incalculable adversary, the more terrible for its vagueness--an -adversary that out of unregarded obscurity had struck one sudden and -paralyzing blow and now lay coiled up in its lurking place, only -waiting for the fit moment to strike that blow again. - -In its distress the Government looked round for help. It looked to the -railways to carry its troops, and the trains ceased running. It looked -to the post and telegraph to bear its orders, and the wires were cut, -and the letters lay in heaps. It looked to the army, and from all -sides came the tale of mutiny; to the navy, and it heard the flames -of Odessa, the flames of Kronstadt, and the big guns of Sevastopol. -It looked to the Press, and it found even the ancient supporters of -Tsardom were beginning to hint at reforms. The very Ministers were -understood to speak a little uncertainly of autocracy, and whenever a -reporter was within hearing, the chief of them all kept muttering, “I -am a bit of a Liberal myself.” So the Government stood uncertain, in -the uneasy position of an animal which does not know whether it is to -be hound or hare upon the course. - -That we may call the first act of the drama, but when the second -act opened, the powers of evil were seen more actively insinuating -themselves into the course of tragedy. Their activity took the form of -a plot which can be easily unravelled from the course of the events -upon the stage. In order to involve the Russian people in the doom of -tragedy, they may be represented as thus whispering to the leaders of -the Government:-- - -“The first thing is to secure the Army, by promises of better food -and pay. Having secured the Army, you may goad the people to open -resistance by attacking them without warning. When they rise it will -be easy to stamp them down, and under the excuse of their violent -revolution, you can silence the Press, you can close the meetings, you -can shoot or imprison the leaders, you can choke the voice of freedom -in troublesome districts like Finland, the Baltic Provinces, Poland, -and the Caucasus. By controlling the elections you can secure exactly -the kind of Duma you want. You may then appeal to Europe to admire both -your power and your progress, and all Europe will join in applause. -The chorus of journalists which used to sing ‘The Dawn of Freedom,’ -will chant warnings to rebellion and the triumph of order over chaos. -Your object will then be gained, for you can obtain the money that is -the one thing needful for your existence. England will again recognize -your credit. France will contribute the interest on her own loans, and -Germany will recognize a Government endued with just about as much -liberty as her William likes.” - -Such were the suggestions of the powers of evil, and the Russian -Government is not to be blamed for accepting them gladly. That unhappy -little group of royalties, Grand Dukes, landlords, officials, and -priests, were fighting, not merely for an obsolete ideal of State, but -for their very existence, for their daily pleasures, their daily bread, -for a decent roof over their heads and a decent table over their legs. -It was no child’s play for them, since all they valued was at stake, -and the only wonder is that they were clever enough to understand the -whispered promptings of the powers who spoke on behalf of Oppression, -an ancient and venerable god. If any Russian statesman or general or -admiral had displayed the strategic skill in dealing with the Japanese -that the Government now revealed in suppressing the liberties of their -own country, Russia would have been spared one of the most shameful and -overwhelming disasters in history. - -But in following these promptings, the Government succeeded at every -point. The general strike was the only genuine weapon the people -had--an irresistible weapon, provided it was used simultaneously and -seldom. The Government drove the leaders to use it piecemeal and often. -They confiscated the strike funds to starve the women and children, -they employed hunger and Cossacks to shake the determination of the -men. By bombarding a committee, they drove the revolutionists to build -the Moscow barricades before the movement was ripe and while the -other cities remained inactive. They discovered the fighting weakness -of freedom, and the entire security with which men in uniform can -be trusted to kill at the command of those who feed and pay them. -They stamped down the rising in blood. They shot all the leading -revolutionists, they imprisoned all the suspects, they hewed the -insignificant in pieces. They applauded the murderers of doctors who -were saving the wounded. They executed schoolboys for believing better -forms of government possible, and they handed over schoolgirls to -soldiers to be flogged. - -In all this they proved themselves entirely wise, for they gained -their end. The moment that the Moscow rising was crushed, troops were -let loose with confidence upon Poland, the Caucasus, and the Baltic -Provinces. Preparations were made for the reconquest of Finland. -Executions became general throughout the Empire. The prisons were -crammed, and typhus finished what the rifle and hang-rope left undone. -The elections for the Duma were prepared under police supervision, and -Liberal candidates removed to prison. Liberal meetings were forbidden, -Liberal papers suppressed. The chorus of European journalists chanted -the overthrow of rebellion and the restoration of order. And at last, -as the crowning reward of a faithlessness and cruelty so cleverly -displayed, the deficit of over £80,000,000 was freely supplied by a -fresh European loan, to which the so-called Liberal Powers of France -and England were the chief contributors. There is something divine in -success so unquestioned and unassailable, nor can we wonder that its -worship is almost universal. In the autumn of 1905, no one thought -it possible for the Russian Government to raise another loan for its -existence, unless under guarantees of liberty and popular control. -But the Government quietly set about the work of slaughter, and when -that was finished held out a bloody hand to Europe; and Europe kissed -the bloody hand reverently, and filled it with gold. In the spring of -1906, a loan of £90,000,000 was subscribed without question, and upon -a triumphant tableau of Oppression reinstated and Evil enriched the -curtain fell. In the distance the spirits that attend on Freedom were -faintly heard bewailing her defeat. - -Under large and shadowy symbols, the powers of human history may thus -be imagined to move upon their stage, and it is much easier to conceive -their great abstractions than to realize the life or sufferings of one -man or woman out of the millions of human beings, compared to whom -all principles of freedom, government, or justice are but unstable -visions of the mind. It is in realizing solid and visible things that -the imagination fails. I have seen a few peasants starving on potatoes -warmed with straw, while they had sold their corn to Europe before it -was reaped, so as to pay for defeated armies, sunken battleships, a -bloodthirsty police, and the pleasures of landowners in St. Petersburg. -I have seen a few, but the imagination refuses to picture the millions -on millions like them, who are actually now existing. I have seen a -few tattered soldiers from the war draggling into Moscow at last, -begging for farthings, squatting on the curb-stones or murmuring -vacantly to themselves, “Alive and home; alive and home!” I have seen -a few, but there were at least five hundred thousand of them still to -come--starving, tattered, mutinous, broken with terror and distress. -I have seen a few work-people in their homes--scant of food, empty of -comfort, and crowded with human beings--but there are millions like -them. A few people I knew were shot, many were imprisoned; but there -are thousands whose sons and lovers and friends have been shot, and -thousands on thousands who are themselves in prison. I have heard -and read of girls being flogged; but there are hundreds of lovers -and brothers and fathers who have known the girls that were flogged, -and have seen them come back tortured and shamed from the soldiers’ -hands. The picture of such things indefinitely repeated throughout a -vast Empire becomes like the nightmare of a madman, and before such -bare realities the imagination falls helpless. If we wished to be -charitable, we might say that this is why Frenchmen and Englishmen -could still be found to bolster up the bloodthirsty tyranny with -a loan, and no shout of laughter arose when Witte still went on -murmuring, “I am a bit of a Liberal myself,” and the Tsar telegraphed -to England that he was meditating a new Peace Conference at the Hague. - -So the triumph of reaction appeared to be complete: it seemed assured -by the mere immensity of its horror, and the returned exiles admitted -that in the worst days of their youth Russia had never suffered as she -was suffering now. Yet I suppose that no single revolutionary in the -country abandoned hope or contemplated peace. If there is something -discouraging in the Russian passive endurance, it has its compensation -in a slow but unwavering persistence in rebellion. In spite of all the -winter’s executions and imprisonment, I doubt if there was one good -rebel the less in spring than in autumn, and revolutionists of all -types were now drawn together by that just and savage indignation -which is the strongest bond of union. The bureaucrats of Tsardom had -stamped for themselves a red surface on which their little circle -might continue to live a while longer; but the revolution was boiling -underneath, and even they could not be deaf to the hum and rumble of -its working. In such mood, and amid such hopes and fears, the advent of -the long-promised Duma was awaited. - - - DIARY OF EVENTS - - In January, M. Durnovo, as Minister of the Interior, was freed - from the supervision of Count Witte, and made responsible only - to the Tsar. - - Two main subjects were prominent in Russian affairs during the - following weeks--finance and the elections for the Duma. - - In the middle of January, Shipoff, the Minister of Finance, had - issued the official estimates for the Budget of 1906, showing an - expenditure of £251,000,000 and a deficit of £48,000,000. The - main items of the revenue were-- - - £ - Direct taxes 15,000,000 - Indirect taxes 42,000,000 - State monopolies 64,000,000 - State lands 59,000,000 - - The main items of expenditure were-- - - £ - Interest on loans 34,000,000 - War Office 38,000,000 - Navy 10,000,000 - Ministry of Finance 34,000,000 - „ „ Interior 13,000,000 - „ „ Communications 48,000,000 - „ „ Education 4,000,000[6] - - But besides these items of ordinary expenditure there remained-- - - £ - Extraordinary War disbursements 40,000,000 - Famine relief 3,000,000 - - The true deficit for the year amounted to at least £80,000,000, - and would probably be nearer £90,000,000. In spite of the large - foreign loans the gold reserve had fallen from £106,000,000 in - February, 1904, to £94,000,000 in December, 1905, and the paper - in circulation had risen from £59,000,000 to £143,000,000 in the - same period. - - On February 21st the trial of Lieutenant Schmidt for the mutiny - at Sevastopol began in Odessa. On March 3rd he was sentenced to - be hanged. - - On February 26th, an Imperial Ukase fixed May 10th as the date - for the Duma, the total number of members being 476, of which - 412 would represent European Russia, exclusive of Poland. - - On March 5th, the elections began among the peasants of the St. - Petersburg province. - - On March 6th, an Imperial Manifesto was published reorganizing - the old Council of the Empire, and further limiting the powers - of the Duma. The Council of the Empire was now to consist of - an equal number of elected and nominated members. The elected - members would represent the Zemstvos, the Holy Synod, the - Universities, the Bourse, the nobility, and the landowners - of Poland. Both the Council and the Duma would be convoked - and prorogued annually, and have equal legislative powers in - introducing bills, but every measure must be passed by both the - Council and the Duma before it could be laid before the Tsar. - - When the Duma was not sitting the Committee of Ministers might - conduct legislation not involving any change in the fundamental - laws of the Empire. - - The _Molva_ (formerly the _Russ_) published an account - of terrible tortures inflicted on Vincentz Siecska and Edmund - Kempski by M. Grun, chief of detectives in Warsaw, to make - them confess and sign false documents. This paper had already - told how two officers had tortured and outraged the schoolgirl - Spiridonova arrested for complicity in the assassination of the - Tamboff Vice-Governor. One of the officers was afterwards found - shot on the road. - - On March 19th, Lieutenant Schmidt was shot. - - On March 20th, the Mutual Credit Society’s Bank in Moscow was - forcibly robbed of £85,000. - - At this time several battalions and mountain batteries were - sent into Finland as though for the reconquest of the country - and the destruction of its restored liberties. They were, - however, withdrawn, probably owing to representations made to - the Government that an attack upon Finland at such a moment - would prove an obstacle to the much-needed loan from France and - England. - - The victory of the Constitutional Democrats in the Duma - elections from March 28th onward, was greeted with satisfaction - by nearly all the Progressive parties. At Odessa on April - 1st, all the sixty-six candidates selected by the workmen - of sixty-six factories were imprisoned, and the authorities - directed the workmen to choose reactionaries. - - The remains of Lieutenant Schmidt were dug up and scattered in - the sea because his grave was becoming a place of pilgrimage. - - On April 4th, it was found that the Constitutional Democrats - had carried every electoral seat in St. Petersburg, even in the - official and commercial wards. The _Molva_ called upon - France not to defy the verdict of the Russian nation by helping - the present Administration with money. The paper was again - suppressed, but reappeared as _The Twentieth Century_. - - M. Kokovtsoff again set out for Berlin and Paris in the hope of - negotiating a new loan. - - At the elections in Moscow nearly all the 40,000 electors went - to the poll, and 70 per cent. voted for the Constitutional - Democrats. - - About April 10th, Germany refused to share in the proposed - new Russian loan, chiefly owing to Russia’s service to France - during the Algeciras Conference. Germany already holds about - £140,000,000 of Russian stock. - - France, however, agreed to advance £46,000,000 out of a new - five per cent. loan of £90,000,000 at the price of 88. Austria - advanced £6,600,000, Holland a little over £2,000,000, and - England a little over £13,000,000. - - The arrangement was concluded at Easter, April 14th, and nearly - sufficed to cover Russia’s deficit for the current year. The - Russian Minister of Finance proposed to meet the increased - charge by further indirect taxation, especially on gas, - electricity, and candles. - - On April 23rd, a most brilliant rescue of ten “politicals” was - effected at Warsaw. Some men in police-officers’ uniform called - at the Pavia-street prison in the early morning and demanded - the prisoners in order to transfer them to the Citadel, which, - as I have explained above, stands besides the Vistula a short - distance north of the town. - - Later in the day the police van and driver were found in a - garden upon the outskirts, the prisoners having escaped together - with their comrades who carried out the rescue. - - On May 1st, it was definitely announced, not for the first - time, that Witte had resigned his position as President of the - Committee of Ministers, and an entire change of Cabinet was - rumoured. - - For about a week before this, rumours of Father Gapon’s death, - either by assassination or suicide, had become frequent and - fairly definite in Russia. His fate was attributed to the double - part he had long been accused of playing as an agent of the - Government. The St. Petersburg press have published an anonymous - pamphlet received from Berlin, in which the treacheries are - enumerated for which it was said he has been condemned and - executed. - - On May 2nd, M. Durnovo, with the approaching Duma in view, sent - instructions to the Governors of the Provinces to prevent the - peasant delegates from travelling with Constitutional Democrats. - News from Poland reported the election of the National party’s - candidates. - - On May 4th, Count Witte, ex-Prime Minister, was thanked and - decorated, and M. Durnovo resigned the post of Minister of the - Interior for that of Secretary of State, retaining the dignity - of Senator and member of the Council of Empire. M. Goremykin, - an expert in agrarian and peasant questions, was appointed - Premier, and the opening of the Duma was announced for May - 10th. The Congress of Constitutional Democrats assembled in St. - Petersburg, have published the programme of their party. - - On May 6th, Admiral Dubasoff, Governor-General of Moscow was - wounded by a bomb when returning from the Uspenski Cathedral. - The attempt took place outside the carriage entrance to the - Government House in Moscow. The bomb-thrower is supposed to have - been killed by the explosion. Partial strikes in Poland, Kieff, - Moscow, and St. Petersburg were reported, and agrarian disorders - said to continue. - - General Jeoltanowski, Governor of Ekaterinoslav, was - assassinated by six unknown men, who fired their revolvers - at him and then escaped. The station of Schlok at the Tukkum - Junction was attacked by fifteen armed men, who killed five - officials and ransacked the safes of post-office and station. - - On May 7th, the Tsar issued a Ukase affecting the Fundamental - Laws, and a meeting of the Imperial Economic Society of St. - Petersburg was dispersed by police. - - May 8th, the New Fundamental Laws, the last work of the - Witte-Durnovo Cabinet and the old State Council, were published. - These laws, which the Duma cannot alter, proclaim the unity of - the Empire and the language, including Finland in the Empire - under special institutions, but making no mention of Poland. - The powers of the Tsar as Autocrat were to include the sole - right of proposing changes in the Fundamental Laws to the State - Council and the Duma; also the right of veto, the appointment - of the Executive, the ministers and the judges, the decision of - peace and war, and the command of the army and navy. Freedom - of speech, meeting or union, together with inviolability of - person and house were granted, but only “under established - legal conditions.” Ordinary laws could not be passed without - the consent of the Tsar and both Houses, but the Tsar might - promulgate special laws and declare various parts of the Empire - to lie under martial law. The Council of Ministers, too, might - promulgate special temporary laws, with the Tsar’s consent. The - State Council and the Duma were to meet annually, but could be - dismissed at any time by the Tsar. Their powers were not to - extend over the public debt or over the expenses of the Court - and Ministry. War taxes might be raised without the consent - of the Duma, and so might foreign loans. The decrees of the - Tsar were to be countersigned by one of the ministers, but as - each minister was declared responsible to the Tsar alone, this - concession was meaningless. - - It was at once obvious that the elective body being deprived - of all control over the expenditure, the Executive and their - action, hardly any democratic element was left in the new - Constitution, except the right of protest without the power to - make the protest effective. - - Some of the new ministers were officially announced: M. - Stishinsky, for Agriculture; M. Stcheglovitoff, for Justice; - M. Kaufman, for Education; and M. Schwanebach as Imperial - Comptroller. - - A number of repressive measures against workmen have been - initiated by the management of various State works in St. - Petersburg, and the workmen have laid their grievances before - the peasant deputies in St. Petersburg who meet daily at the - house of M. Aladin. - - Another meeting of the Economical Society to consider the - agrarian question, which was attended by many members of the - Duma, was dispersed by the police. M. Stolypin was named as - Minister of the Interior, and M. Alexander Isvolsky, Minister at - the Danish Court, has been recalled to take office as Minister - of Foreign Affairs in M. Goremykin’s Cabinet. M. Isvolsky is - credited with a sound and independent judgment. He was a strong - opponent of the war with Japan. - - On May 9th, the Congress of the Constitutional Democrats - closed with an impassioned speech from Professor Miliukoff, - who declared the publication of the decree on the Fundamental - Laws to be a direct challenge to the nation. A resolution was - unanimously adopted declaring the Fundamental Laws to be a - flagrant violation of the Manifesto of October 30th. - - A Peasant Parliamentary Party formed, numbering 129 members, all - in favour of the transfer of lands to the agricultural labourers. - - The Tsar and Tsaritsa with their children left Tsarkoe Selo for - Peterhof. - - The opening of the Duma was declared a public holiday, but all - demonstrations except religious services and street decorations - were strictly forbidden. The Semenovsky Regiment, so active in - the Moscow massacre, were chosen to guard the Palace, and all - the hospitals ordered to prepare for eventualities. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - THE FIRST PARLIAMENT - - -The 10th of May had long been announced as the official birthday of -Russian freedom, but every one was astonished when the birth actually -took place, and the officials were the most astonished of all. Stars -and omens were unpropitious. The astrologers muttered of a secret -and violent influence, already blighting the future hope before it -breathed. At the door was sitting an obscure and gigantic form with -hands ready to throttle its earliest cry; and in the heavens, Orion’s -sword, with point directed at the house of birth, was seen hanging by a -single hair. - -It required no divination to prophesy evil. Every art of provocation -had been used by the pensioners of violence to arouse a popular -outbreak, so that in the name of order the people’s hopes might again -be thwarted. Martial law was maintained, and meetings were suppressed. -Only on the Tuesday night before the fateful Thursday, I visited the -hall of the Free Economic Society for old acquaintance’ sake, because -the Strike Committee used to meet there, and sat among a peaceful -audience of Constitutional Democrats and peasant members of the Duma, -listening to a statistical discourse on the agrarian question. Suddenly -a measured tramp was heard outside, thirty armed police forced their -way into the crowded hall, and their officer declared the meeting -closed. White-haired Annensky, the club’s aged President, famous -equally for learning and imprisonment, vainly recited the Society’s -statute of freedom, granted by Catherine II. herself. Speakers and -audience, Members of Parliament, men and women alike, were driven -out into the street, and in the name of the law we were commanded to -learn nothing further about the comparative statistics of agricultural -productivity. - -The change of Ministry during the previous week was claimed as -an advantage by both sides. The removal of Witte and Durnovo -simultaneously at least made the assembly of the Duma possible, and the -appointment of Goremykin as Premier was greeted even by many Liberals -as a harmless and natural thing, just as in England it is harmless -and natural to make a lord chairman of an agricultural show. On the -other hand, it was seen that the new Ministers as a body belonged -to the familiar old gang of bureaucrats, trained in the routine of -officialdom, and untouched by the realities of wider life. Finally, -the publication of the new version of “Fundamental Laws” only three -days before the Duma met was clear evidence that the party of reaction -still controlled the hesitating Tsar; for as long as those Fundamental -Laws remained above change and above discussion, the power promised to -the people--the power that we call freedom--must inevitably continue -ineffectual as an infant spirit in limbo. - -So the omens of freedom’s birth were dark; but omens are usually dark -in Russia, and when the expected morning came, the church bells set -up a famous clanging, and the beautiful city of St. Petersburg woke -light-hearted as usual in the midst of her perils. For the security of -the despotism every precaution had been taken. The palace arrangements -had been made by Trepoff himself, whose influence in the Imperial -household remained unabated. The deep and brilliant river ran silent -and empty of traffic, while up its course the Tsar was spirited -back to the city which had not known him since Bloody Sunday. All -the approaches to the Winter Palace were barred from dawn. The two -nearest bridges over the Neva were closed. Troops were drawn across -the neighbouring streets. Bodies of variegated Cossacks and Guards, -their horses bright with scarlet cloths, stood patient for hours upon -the vast and stony square before the palace doors. No common eye might -gain a glimpse of the glory to be revealed. No cabman brought a duke -without displaying a special green ticket in his hat. For days before, -the most elaborate system of coupons and signatures and photographs -for identification had been organized with infinite effort to prevent -any dreadful occurrence. Yet when the moment came, no one consulted -the nice photographs with which I had freely supplied the palace, and -I walked in far more easily than its owner. I have often noticed that -despotism affords these little advantages over decent government. - -As the scene of the day’s first ceremony, Trepoff had chosen the -large Coronation Hall, constructed with columns of genuine marble--so -few things are genuine in these palaces--and decorated with gold -and crimson hideousness, to which all Emperors are obliged to grow -accustomed. At the end of the hall, upon a few low steps, stood a -rather old gilded throne. Over it was thrown a robe of ermine and -yellow stuff in studied negligence, and round it stood four little -gilded camp-stools. A praying-desk and a table, both covered with -gold cloth, were placed in the middle of the inlaid floor, and some -priests or deacons carried in the miraculous Icon, representing the -head of Christ, from the little old palace of Peter the Great. But -when they had set it on the praying-desk they found it was so dusty, -or had been so much kissed of late, that they had to spend the leisure -time in polishing it up with a fairly clean handkerchief. Beside them -was presently drawn up a choir of men and boys, all dressed in long -cassocks of crimson and gold to match the furniture. - -Meantime the new State Council (or Council of Empire) had begun to -arrive and gather on the low platform constructed down the side of -the hall to the right of the throne. Senators also came in brilliant -scarlet and gold, past and present Ministers with long beds of -gold-lace flowers and foliage down their coats, a whole school of -admirals (if one may borrow a marine phrase from the porpoise), a -radiant company of Field Marshals and generals in blue or white cloth -with gold or silver facings and enormous epaulettes, and the members of -the Holy Synod in the panoply of holiness. Soon the entire platform was -full of uniforms, and on the breast of each uniform gleamed stars and -crosses and medals, a few of which were gained by service in foreign or -civil war. Sometimes one could only hope that the hero would live to -win no more distinction, since there was no more room for orders, so -great had been the wisdom or courage of the heart that beat below. - -By some mistake, three peasant deputies, in high top-boots, with -leather belts round their long Sunday coats, entered among all this -brilliance, contemplated it as though working out its value in grain, -and then were hurriedly conducted away by a being with a queer gold -crook. But they were only a few minutes wrong in the programme, for -directly afterwards all the Duma members came trooping in--sturdy -peasants in homespun cloth, one Little Russian in brilliant purple with -broad blue breeches, one Lithuanian Catholic bishop in violet robes, -three Tartar Mullahs with turbans and long grey cassocks, a Balkan -peasant in white embroidered coat, four Orthodox monks with shaggy -hair, a few ordinary gentlemen in evening dress, and the vast body of -the elected in the clothes of every day. - -All down the left side of the hall they ranged themselves, about four -hundred and sixty of them altogether; for, at the last moment, all -had consented to come, though many of the peasants and Constitutional -Democrats had threatened to stay away, in protest against the -Fundamental Laws. There they stood, confronting the brilliant crowd -across the polished floor, and it was easy to see in them the symbol -of the new age which now confronts the old and is about to devour it. -Shining with decorations and elaborately dressed in many colours, on -the one side were the classes who so long have drained the life of the -great nation they have brought to the edge of ruin. Pale, bald, and -fat, they stood there like a hideous masquerade of senile children, -hardly able to realize the possibility of change. But opposite to them -thronged the people--young, thin, alert, and sunburnt, with brown and -hairy heads, dressed like common mankind, and straining for the future -chance. - -In that sharp contrast between obsolete failure and coming hope lay the -only significance of that palatial scene, unless a dim significance -still lurked in the dozen Byzantine bishops and metropolitans, who, -in stiff gold and domed mitres, tottered up the space between the -confronting ages, and embraced each other’s hoary beards with holy -kisses. They had hardly been brought into line before the altar when a -sudden hush was felt by all, and far away was heard the melancholy and -beautiful Russian Hymn. It heralded the approach of the regalia, and -presently there entered the golden sceptre and the golden orb, the seal -of bronze, and the diamond crown, each reposing upon a velvet cushion -and escorted by golden staves and the flag of Empire and the big gilt -sword. Then at last I discovered the purpose of those four gilded -camp-stools round the throne. I had hoped to see one of the Tsar’s four -little daughters seated on each, but they served only as resting-places -for the majestic toys of kings. - -Close behind his toys, the little Tsar himself was seen advancing. -There was a timid swagger in his gait, but he walked alone, and -his uniform looked simple after the finery we had seen. The aged -metropolitan of St. Petersburg stood in wait for him with the holy kiss -and a bunch of green herbs dipped in consecrated water. Behind the -Tsar came his mother and his wife, who were refused the sprinkling, -but gained the other blessing. Twelve feet behind them their trains -extended flat along the floor, and, as in a fairy tale, armed men stood -ready to help with the weight of each. At a safe distance behind the -trains were halted the Grand Dukes in two or three rows of repeated -splendour. - -With voices of thunder and voices from the tomb, the priests chanted, -and called, and read the golden book as only Russian priests are able, -and the rows of crimson choir sang the wailing responses between. Upon -the right the flashing crowd was busy bowing and signing the cross. -Rarely is such religious zeal to be witnessed as the Grand Dukes -displayed in crossing themselves; for in this evidence of sanctity they -surpassed the very bishops. But the stiff-necked generation on the -left remained unmoved. One or two peasants crossed themselves as they -were accustomed; a few more complied when the priest shook the solid -cross threateningly in their direction; but the black phalanx stood -unmoved--polite but detached spectators of these curious survivals. - -The service ceased, the bishops stood aside, the altar was carried -away, the Empresses swept to their corner among the white-shouldered -ladies on the right of the throne. In the open space the little Tsar -stood solitary. Gathering together all the initiative in his nature, -he walked slowly up the floor, mounted the steps, faced round to the -assembly, and sat down upon the negligent ermine robe. A brilliant -official handed him a large parchment, and he stood up to read. Amid -the intent silence of contrary hopes and expectations, his voice -sounded clear. All knew that a turning-point in history had come, and -that to this little man one of the world’s great opportunities had been -offered. - -But with every sentence that was pronounced, the hopes of the new -age faded. As commonplace succeeded commonplace, amid the usual -appeals to Heaven and the expression of such affection as monarchs -always feel for their subjects, it was seen that no concession was -made, no conciliation attempted. The one paragraph in which something -comparatively definite was said about the Imperial heart’s solicitude -for the peasants and the future enlightenment of the people--that -paragraph was marked by the dangerous old phrase of “unwavering -firmness,” and by fresh insistence upon the necessity of order.[7] When -the end came, and the colours were waved, and the band played, and -the officials shouted, “Hurrah!” while the Imperial procession marched -from the hall, the members of the party of progress stood dumb. They -knew now that for the future they had only themselves to look to, and -that the greatest conflict of all still lay before them. Had the Tsar -but granted an amnesty to the thousands on thousands of prisoners still -lying in gaol because their political views did not coincide with his -own, it would have been difficult to measure the extent of his future -influence. But one of the world’s opportunities had again been offered -him, and not for the first time he had refused it. - -Nevertheless, come what will, the 10th of May was really a -turning-point in history. On the evening after the battle of Valmy, -where the new order of citizen-soldier held its own against the -mercenaries of kings, Goethe said to his comrades on the field, “To-day -a new age begins, and we can say we were present at its birth.” -Those were the words that rang in my mind as I watched the uniforms -and decorations disappear in their carriages, and then followed the -new deputies, and saw the prisoners waving their handkerchiefs in -greeting from the barred windows of the Cross prison over the river, -and stood among the crowd at the new Duma’s door, and listened to the -deep-mouthed cheers, while the whole air sounded with the cries of -“Amnesty!” and “Freedom!” - -St. Petersburg is particularly rich in the dignified classic -architecture of the eighteenth century, but of all the examples -of this style none is so beautiful as the interior of the Taurida -Palace, which Catherine II. built as a present for her lover Potemkin. -With little change it has now been converted into the simplest and -noblest of all Houses of Parliament, and it was there that the first -meeting of Russia’s chosen representatives was opened at four o’clock -that afternoon. The first business was the election of a Speaker or -President. Every one knew that Muromtzeff, a Constitutional Democrat, -and one of the members for Moscow, would be elected. In his youth he -had been Professor of Law in Moscow University, but had been driven -from his Chair by a Government which trembles at excellence in any -form. Since then he had won a high reputation at the bar, and was -known as the greatest authority on Parliamentary procedure. His -character, his dignified bearing, and his long service to liberty all -contributed to make his election certain, but when it was found that he -had been chosen by 426 votes to 3, this evidence of the Duma’s spirit -rather startled the politicians who believe in the blessings of a solid -Opposition. - -His few and dignified words in thanking the members for raising him to -this high position in a State that at last had become constitutional, -formed a fit opening for the new Parliament’s work. But it had been -arranged beforehand that the first real speech should be delivered -by Petrunkevitch--Ivan Petrunkevitch, one of the members for Tver, -an aged and distinguished Zemstvoist, and leader among such Radical -reformers as are not Socialists--one of those who at the beginning of -the Tsar’s reign urged him in vain to constitutional ways. Inevitably -he chose as his subject the demand for amnesty. His speech was utterly -irregular. There was no motion or question before the House. He broke -every rule of Parliamentary procedure. But that did not matter in the -least. One thought filled all hearts--the thought of those thousands of -prisoners--seventy-five thousand of them, it was said--still lying in -gaol for their love of freedom, and it was of amnesty and amnesty alone -that all except a few ungenerous spirits wished first to hear. - -The meeting was then adjourned over the next day, in order that -Muromtzeff might report his appointment to the Tsar, who from the -Winter Palace had rapidly sought the country retirement where he could -feel himself comparatively courageous. - -On the afternoon of that Friday, the 11th of May, the State Council, -to which had been entrusted equal powers with the Duma, condescended -to meet. No crowd watched its members arriving, no prisoners waved -them good wishes. An Upper Chamber is raised above the interest of the -masses and the gaol-birds of freedom. Its members were quite aware -that it was their part in the new constitution only to fulfil the two -functions required of such bodies as the British House of Lords--to -oppose a permanent barrier to progress, and to provide a cheap reward -for obsolete insignificance. As there was yet no progress to bar, and -few but themselves were obsolete, they had no call to hurry. - -So in the heat of the summer afternoon, having taken a day to recover -from the strain of the previous ceremony, they began to gather -leisurely in their new hall. In theory they were the same old “Council -of Empire” which for many years had served as a field for the display -of decorations. And certainly the decorations had not lost their -lustre. It was the same uniformed throng as had gathered in the Winter -Palace, and they had assumed the same glitter. Conspicuous even among -their glories was one ancient courtier, who had maintained the Empire -under Nicholas I. before the Crimean War, and still went smiling round -his orbit, brave with the sixty-five medals of his years of service, -while Orders stood clustered on his breast thick as stars upon the -Milky Way; for, unhappily, he had not followed the example of others, -and made room for his honours by increasing his girth. - -But even the oldest members of the Council must have been dimly aware -of changing times, for instead of the familiar old Marie Palace on the -square opposite St. Isaac’s cathedral, where so many happy afternoons -of important idleness had been spent, they now found themselves in the -“Noblemen’s Assembly” or Club, quite a dignified and classic place, -but not the house they were accustomed to. And actually mixed up among -them stood a lot of elected and unknown gentlemen, representing the -Church, the Universities, Commerce and Industry, the big towns, and -other dubious institutions that hang upon the borderland of vulgarity. -What was worse, all the six representatives of the Universities openly -professed the Constitutional Democratic faith, and five or six more -were known to lean towards that terrible party which dominated the -Lower House. The only consolation was that just half the Council were -still nominated by the Tsar himself, and that of the rest some eighty -per cent. could be trusted to agree with any Tsar’s nominees. It was -a relief also to discover that the very few who possessed no uniforms -had shown the decency of putting on evening dress when they got up that -morning. - -By two o’clock a good many members had assembled. Goremykin, the new -Premier, was there, languid and neutral in the ministerial stalls. -Alexeieff of Manchuria came, and Ignatieff, the Tsar’s fat friend, -and no one thought it strange when the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg -bestowed three kisses of holy peace upon Golitzin, the slaughterer of -the Caucasus. Trepoff, who rules the Imperial circle, and parched old -Pobiedonostzeff, so long Russia’s guide to God, were reported present. -Durnovo, late ill-omened Minister of Interior, was there, and at his -side Witte, his uncertain enemy, had come to hear his own belated -appointment as member of the Council read out, and to meditate the -tearful appeal for amnesty by which three days later he was to reveal -to his brothers the workmen a heart melting in pity over the woes he -had himself inflicted. - -So they gathered and chatted and sat down, and then, having nothing -else to do, they prayed. For forty minutes the golden priests prayed -and sang at golden tables placed before the portrait of the Tsar. Then -Count Solsky, whom the Tsar had chosen as President, took his seat, -a few messages were read, it was agreed to return a gracious answer -to the speech from the throne, and Count Solsky, who is much like the -late Lord Salisbury in appearance, did what Lord Salisbury himself -would have done under the circumstances: he yawned, muttered something -inaudible, and adjourned the assembly by turning his back upon it. - -The action of the Council throughout would well have become any Second -Chamber in the world, but in the Duma things did not go so leisurely, -nor were the members so content with the result. On Saturday, May 12th, -at eleven, the first true meeting of a popular assembly in Russia -began. For nearly twelve hours on end that sitting continued, and yet -the immense labour of Russian reform seemed to have advanced no step. -Members chafed with impatience. Why not make a beginning since all were -agreed, and so much had now to be accomplished? The same impatience -was seen lately even in England, where we have spent six centuries in -attempting to perfect the method of self-government. But in Russia -the lesson began that day, the evils to be amended were incomparably -vaster, and the need of haste was such as England cannot conceive. -For over the Duma the sword hung by a hair. The very approach to the -Taurida Palace passed through long lines of barracks, and in the left -wing of the building itself companies of the Guards had just been -stationed, ready for any event. - -And as to waste of time, let us remember the difficulties that beset -the infant Parliament. The chamber itself was a large amphitheatre of -seats gently rising on steps, each seat fitted with a desk. In a long -gallery at the back of the amphitheatre, ambassadors, strangers, and -ladies were allowed to be present, and the Russian ladies are so far -advanced in civilization that no metal bars were thought necessary -to restrain their savage tendencies. Opposite, in the middle of the -semicircle’s diameter, rose the President’s high box, and just below it -was the Tribune, from which all members were obliged to speak, except -for very short questions or explanations. The President grasped a large -bell, but managed to control the assembly without a wig or robes. -Behind his chair was a large open space, furnished with tables, where -the ballotting and counting took place. On each side of the chamber was -a large, empty lobby, and behind it a vast hall with polished floor ran -from end to end of the building, for the meetings of groups and the -discovery of wisdom by members as they walked. Beyond the hall were -dining-rooms, tea-rooms, telegraph rooms, telephones, committee-rooms, -receptacles for goloshes, and all else that the nature of a member of -parliament requires. - -To return to the Chamber, on the right and left of the President’s -box, and facing the assembly, were a number of raised seats for any -Ministers who might choose to attend. The Ministers had no connection -with the assembly; they might not vote; they were responsible only -to the Tsar, who appointed them. Among the members there were no -Ministers, there was no “Government,” there was no one to arrange the -order of business or the introduction of measures. Any member got up -and proposed what he pleased. In the subsequent discussion on the -Address, for instance, from eleven in the morning till seven at night, -members rose in succession and made stupendous proposals of reform that -were neither discussed nor rejected. At first the parties did not even -divide themselves into Right and Left, but members took their seats -anyhow, and when in a few days the inevitable division began to show -itself, the Right was so scanty as to be hardly visible. Though the -true Right numbered about seventy, they were ashamed to be seen on the -right, and all members edged as far left as possible. Votes were taken -sometimes by members standing up, sometimes by division into lobbies, -but the ultimate appeal was to secret ballot, so that it was impossible -to calculate a party’s votes or to control the relation of a member -to his constituents’ desire. During the speeches, applause was rare, -but at the end members vigorously clapped their hands if they were -pleased. They spoke of each other by bare surnames, and would probably -use Christian names in Russian fashion as they became more intimate. -They addressed the assembly as “Gentlemen,” and even as “Comrades.” -The President freely interrupted speakers, argued with them, and -gave them little lectures on the procedure and Constitutional Law of -other countries. On the first day several members wanted to speak two -or three times upon the same question, and explanations of previous -speeches were as long as the originals. - -There were many difficulties and many differences from our own ancient -habits, around which the interesting rags and tatters of the past -still flutter. But in starting fresh, the Russian Parliament had at -least as much advantage as difficulty, and it will rapidly develop -improvements for which we ourselves shall long have to fight against -the ghostly influence of our forefathers. One of the first acts of the -Duma was to appoint a committee of nineteen to draw up a new scheme of -procedure, and they had many lessons to suggest to older Parliaments. -But all these discussions on methods and the inevitable mistakes of -beginners meant waste of time, and waste of time was more irritating to -the Duma members than to our own, because, being peasants and workmen, -the majority of them were more serious, their hopes were younger, and, -having no Ministers, they had no one to abuse. - -As to the course of business itself, almost the whole of the first -full day was occupied in nominating candidates as Vice-Presidents -and four secretaries. The names of the members proposed had to be -collected in boxes and arranged in lists. Then followed a slow march -round and round the President’s box for the ballot. That slow march -lasted for hours. Next day (Sunday) it was renewed for the election -of thirty-three members to draw up an Address in answer to the Tsar’s -speech. When that was over the committee of nineteen had to be elected -for procedure. Monday there was no meeting because the Address was -being prepared. Tuesday they began to talk about the Address. Wednesday -they continued talking about the Address, and the wrongs of Russia were -at least mentioned. On Thursday the Address was discussed clause by -clause, and a week of the Duma had gone.[8] - -To most of the Constitutional Democrats who held the majority inside -the Duma, to highly educated men like Professor Muromtzeff, the -President, or Professor Miliukoff, who directed the party from the -outside, because the Government did not allow his election--to men -like these it was probably evident that all this talk on procedure and -discussion of principles were essential to popular government, and that -delay was part of every great beginning. But the Duma was democratic -beyond anything that our House of Commons has yet imagined. Certainly -it contained only about fifteen workmen from the towns, because the -election of others was annulled by the violence of authority. But it -contained about 170 of the peasant class, a few of whom had educated -themselves highly and quitted their villages; but some could not read, -and nearly all were fine, heavy-browed countrymen, with big shoulders -and great brown hands. They had left their dear strips of earth, their -dear horses and ploughs, and had come to the smelling city for the -one and only purpose of winning the land back for the people who work -it. What did it profit them to walk on polished floors with top-boots -clean and long coats neatly brushed; to listen to discourses on -constitutional procedure; to talk in tea-rooms with men who do not know -sand from clay; to tramp for hours dropping marbles into green boxes; -and to receive invitations to banquets which they most honourably -refused? - -They yearned for the old horse at home, and for the fragrant earth -where the corn was sprouting now. They were on a holy mission; they -would not go back. “We dare not go back without the land,” they said; -“our villagers would kill us.” In some cases, aged peasants of pious -gravity had been sent up at the expense of the village as overseers -to watch that the members did their duty, and to complain straight -to the Tsar if the land was not restored to its cultivators at once. -Forty-three of the peasant members were supposed to belong to the Right -and were roughly classed as the “Black Hundred,” though in these early -days of the Duma they voted steadily with the rest. But if the Labour -Party, as the majority of the peasants and the workmen combined began -then to be called, felt a little puzzled and impatient at the number -of things that had to be done before anything could be done, it was -no wonder. We can also understand the difficulties of a Professor of -Constitutional Law brought face to face with such a situation. - -Behind these passing apprehensions and disappointments lay the one -great question which occupied the thoughts of all during the Duma’s -first regular day of meeting. The sitting opened with messages of -congratulation from Russian towns, from the Finland Diet, and from -many foreign countries, even down to Bohemia and Montenegro. From -England, from the Labour Party at all events, a message had been -expected, but none came. Last of all, four telegrams were read from -groups of “politicals” still in gaol, and amid shouts of “Amnesty!” -the whole Duma rose and remained standing till the reading was -finished. The world-without-end hours of balloting and discussion of -procedure next intervened, and it was not till late in the evening -that the burning question was reached at last. Roditcheff, another -of the members for Tver, had won the right to introduce it by his -long service to the growth of constitutional liberty; for, like his -colleague Petrunkevitch, he had been among those whose petition for -some degree of popular representation in the government had been -rejected by the Tsar twelve years before as an “idle dream.” A peasant -leader, Anikin, member for Saratoff, followed him with an even stronger -and more eloquent claim for justice towards those who still suffered -in the cause of such freedom as Russia now appeared to have won. -Other speeches were made, each becoming shorter and stronger as the -excitement rose. At last the speeches ended. The question that the -demand for amnesty be included in the address to the Tsar was put, and -like one man, with one great shout, the whole assembly of Russia’s -first representatives rose in answer. - -With that scene, this simple record of the things I have lately -witnessed may close. I have been told by men of high judgment and -authority that the title chosen for the book is too hopeful, that the -hour of dawn is still far off in Russia. In moments of despair during -last winter I should have agreed; the forces of ancient oppression -still appeared irresistibly strong. But writing as I do within the Duma -itself, face to face with the grave and determined representatives of -the Russian people, I cannot but hope that something has been gained -which no violence in the world can compel them ever to surrender. I -know the power of tradition, and I know well the power of the sword. -But perhaps it may still be proved that more powerful even than -tradition and the sword is the passion for freedom and justice which -lives in the soul of many. - - [Illustration: - - PLAN OF - MOSCOW] - - - - - INDEX - - - Akinoff, Minister of Justice, 242 - - Aladin, M., and peasant deputies, 315 - - Alexander III., system of Russification, 270 - - Alexandrovsky ironworks, 40; - government ways of industry, 41 - - Aliens Act, 227 - - Anarchists, message from, 56; - no paper in Russia, 73; - use of word by Government, 299 - - Anikin, member of Duma, 339 - - Annensky, President of Economic Society’s Club, 318 - - Army, increased pay, 175; - part in national tragedy, 303 - - Assassination of, Sipiaguine, 2; - Bobrikoff, 6; - Plehve, 6; - Grand Duke Sergius, 13; - Sakharoff, 77; - Voiloshnikoff, 178; - Jeoltanowski, 314 - - - Baku, race feuds at, 16; - journey to, stopped by strike, 129–130 - - Baltic Provinces, Home Rule for, 74; - revolt in, 78; - shooting, hanging and flogging in, 263–281; - Governor-General accused of mildness, 265; - revolutionary reprisals, 279–280 - - Barashoff, chairman at Salt Town meeting, 52 - - Bauman, funeral of, 97 - - Bielenstein, Pastor, sufferings of, 274–275 - - Bireleff, Minister of Marine, 242 - - “Black Hundred,” 21, 33; - incited to murder, 121; - plunder Kieff, 208–209 - - “Bloody Sunday,” 11, 12; - honour to victims of, 52; - anniversary of, 228–232 - - Bobrikoff assassinated, 6 - - Bombardment, of private houses, 139, 140, 159, 162, 164, 176; - of factories, 184–189 - - Buliguine, Minister of Interior, 14 - - “Bund,” Jewish, 225, 284; - methods and aims of, 298 - - - Carlyle, on Russia, 54; - on Livonia, 267 - - Caucasus, Home Rule for the, 74; - fighting in the, 78, 129 - - Clementz, Professor, 244 - - Congress, of Peasants at Moscow, 49; - of Constitutional Democrats in St. Petersburg, 313 - - Constitutional Democrats, 224; - programme in Odessa, 225; - meetings of, in St. Petersburg, 244–247; - policy of, 245; - leaders of, 246–247; - elections of, 311–312; - meeting broken up, 317–318 - - Cossacks, taunted in streets, 35; - brutal methods of, 38–40, 102, 134–135; - protect Heavenly Powers, 125; - employed with Semenoffsky Guards, 186; - connive at plunder, 208–209; - terror of, 277; - to guard Winter Palace, 319 - - Council of Empire, 313, 321, 329–332 - - Cross (_Kresty_) Prison, 238; - demonstrations from, 327 - - Courland, revolt in, 78 - - - Davidoff, murder of, 228 - - Democrats, (_see_ CONSTITUTIONAL), 311; - National, 293, 295; - Progressive, 296 - - Diedulin, General, Chief of Police, 243 - - Dubasoff, Admiral, as butcher, 72; - Governor-General of Moscow, 122; - special prayers for, 124; - speech to patriots, 127; - fires on Red Cross, 15; - decrees business to be resumed, 180; - orders boys and girls to be flogged, 194–195; - attempted assassination of, 313 - - Duma, promised for January, 1906, 15–16; - Zemstvo’s attitude towards, 16; - Constitutionalists’ attitude towards, 245; - preparations for, 224; - reactionary designs on, 245–246; - Poland under, 287; - represented in, 294; - how elected, 303, 306; - date fixed, 310, 313; - elections for, 310, 311, 312; - candidates imprisoned, 311; - Durnovo’s attitude towards, 313; - Government’s precautions about, 316, 317–319; - opening of, 320; - first week of, 332–340 - - Durnovo, assistant Minister of Interior, 21, 57; - petition to, 103; - confirmed Minister of Interior, 242; - mean tactics of, 313; - resigns, and is rewarded, 313; - in Council of Empire, 318 - - - England, quoted in support of tyranny, 285 - - English, manufacturers, 142, 182; - hide in cellars, 178; - under fire, 182–189; - Consulates attacked by troops, 209–210; - opinion on Russian revolution, 239 - - Ermoleff, police officer murders Dr. Vorobieff, 187 - - Esthonia, revolt in, 78; - prisoners shot in, 238 - - - Fiedler, leader of revolutionists, 138; - house bombarded, 139; - death of, 140 - - Finance, 306; - Budget of 1906..., 309; - fresh loans and increased taxation, 312 - - Finland, liberties restored, 21; - Home Rule for, 74; - crossing Gulf of, 248–249; - concessions to, 286; - troops sent into, and withdrawn, 311 - - Flogging, abolished nominally, 6; - “as before,” 34, 41, 243; - of peasants, 91; - of boys, 193; - of young men and girls, 194–195; - in Livonia, 263–264, 278–279 - - Free Economic Society, hall in St. Petersburg, 25, 79, 315, 317–318 - - Fundamental laws, altered to frustrate Duma, 314–315; - criticized, 315; - resolution against, 316; - effect of, 319 - - - Gapon, Father, founds Russian Workmen’s Union, 9–10; - appeals to Tsar, 11–12; - fails to attend meeting, 51–53; - amnesty demanded for, 55; - in hiding, 57; - described, 57–58; - escape of, 59; - reported dead, 313 - - Georgians, reported independence of, 129 - - German landowners, 270–274; - pastors, 274–276 - - Germany, dislike of, 295 - - Goethe, on the birth of a new age, 327 - - Golitzin, 331 - - Goremykin, new Premier, 313, 315, 331. - See MINISTERS. - - Gorky, Maxim, edits _New Life_, 65–66; - explains revolution, 115–116; - his play, _The Children of the Sun_, performed, 116, 117; - his heroes, 118; - sombreness of, 269 - - Government, tactics of, 138, 167, 168, 301–306; - methods of business and of warfare, 231; - methods of justice, 233–234; - position of, 301-302; - loans to, 306, 310, 312 - - Gramen, shot for making bombs, 300 - - - “Houses of Inquiry,” 233–236 - - - Ignatieff, 331 - - “Intelligence,” The, definition of party, 9; - despised by Socialists, 297 - - Isvolsky, Minister at Danish Court, recalled, 315 - - Ivan the Cruel, 126 - - - Japan, War with, 2, 3, 4; - peace with, 18; - effect of war on Poland, 288–289 - - Jeoltanowski, General, assassinated 314 - - Jews, massacre of, 3; - newspapers of, 68; - “Black Hundred,” to murder, 121; - arrested at Kieff, 210; - laws against, 225–227; - “Bund,” 225, 284, 298; - in Warsaw, 294; - classed as Anarchists, 299 - - Jewesses, courage of, 300 - - Journalists, beaten by soldiers, 188; - shot in batches, 238; - reactionary chorus of, 304, 306 - - - Kaufman, Minister of Education, 315 - - Kempski, Edmund, tortured, 311 - - Khroustoloff, president of Strike Committee, 27, 28; - arrested, 77; - in prison, 237 - - Kieff, journey to, 203; - description of, 203–208; - Jews arrested at, 210; - revolutionists shot, 210; - prison fever, 210–211; - meeting at, 211; - wealth of, 211 - - Kishineff, massacre of Jews at, 3 - - Kokovtsoff, negotiates loans, 202, 312 - - Königsberg, case, 5 - - “Koulak,” a village usurer, 87 - - Kremlin, floating in blood, 72; - by moonlight, 119 - - Krasnaya (Red Square), prayer meeting in, 123 - - Krivoy Rog, trade with Siberia, 289 - - Kronstadt, visit to, 249; - Father John of, 249–255; - mutiny at, 303 - - Kropotkin, Prince, writer on Russian struggle for freedom, 2; - quoted by Tolstoy, 93; - quoted, 103 - - “Kursistki,” 257 - - - Lavra, at Kieff, 204 - - Letts, revolt of, 78; - butchery of, 262–281; - language, music, and literature of, 267; - homes of, 268–269; - Russification of, 270; - drive out landowners, 270–273; - strange union with Germans, 273–274; - hiding from Cossacks, 277; - sentenced by telephone, 278 - - Livonia, revolt in, 78; - “Bloody Assize” in, 262–280 - - Lodz, trade of, 288 - - - Manifestoes (Imperial), promising revision of laws, 7, 8; - appealing to people, 13; - promising Duma, 15; - announcing peace with Japan, 18; - promising personal freedom and constitution (Manifesto of Oct. - 30th), 19, 20, 120; - restoring ancient liberties of Finland, 21; - withdrawing promised reforms, 22; - reducing peasants’ payments for land, 22; - peasants’ opinion of, 90; - making strikes a capital offence, 103; - promising army reforms, 201; - reorganizing old Council and limiting the power of Duma, 310; - worthlessness of, 243 - - Manifestoes (Revolutionary), on Government finance, 78; - accepting Government’s challenge, 80; - of strike committee to St. Petersburg citizens, 229 - - Manifesto of Oct. 30th violated, 310, 315, 316 - - Manioukoff, Rector of Moscow University, 108 - - Martial law, in Poland, 22; - in Moscow, 153–154; - at Kieff, 203; - in St. Petersburg, 317 - - “Marseillaise,” Russian, 30, 35 - - Massacres, at Kishineff, 3; - before Winter Palace, 12; - in streets of Warsaw, 13, 299–300; - at Toula, 81; - at Odessa, 216–220; - in Livonia, 262–281 - - “Maxim,” socialist leader, 272 - - Meetings, to discuss eight hours’ day, 28; - to protest against capital punishment, 31; - of Poles to demand overthrow of absolutism, 35; - at Salt Town, 50–57; - interest in, 62–63; - collections at, 104; - of National Democrats in Warsaw, 293–294; - of Economical Society, dispersed by police, 315, 317–318 - - Miliukoff, historian of freedom, 2; - editor of _Zhisn_ (_Life_), 111; - leader of Constitutionalists, 246–247; - great speech by, 315 - - Min, Colonel, as slaughterman, 183–186 - - Ministers, Committee of, 241–242 - - Ministers (New), 313, 315 - - Minsky, poet and editor, 66 - - Mirski, Prince Sviatopolk, Minister of Interior and reformer, 6 - - Mischenko expected with 7000 Cossacks, 175 - - _Molva_ (_The Russ_), 68; - publishes horrors, 311; - appeals to France, and is suppressed, 312 - - Moscow, centre of revolution, 80; - description of, 104, 107; - strikes in, 101–104; - Trade Unions in, 105–107; - University closed, 108; - Tsar’s portrait removed at meet-in, 109; - “liberty tempered by assassination” in, 118, 122; - terror in, 121; - fortified, 122; - prayer meeting in Red Square, 123; - stampede of patriots in, 128; - revolutionary days in, 129–197; - light and water cut off, 132; - attempt to win over troops, 134; - shops closed, 135; - garrison distrusted, 136; - bombardment of houses, 139–140; - English factories near, 142–143; - barricades and street-fighting, 145–168, 174; - girls shot down, 149, 150; - Zemstvo organizes ambulance, 150; - aid to the wounded, 152, 175; - Sharpshooters in bell-tower, 153, 161; - “a minor state of siege,” 154; - Christmas Eve rumours, 155; - explosion in gun-shop, 156; - victims, old and young, 160; - officer deprived of sword, 169; - new barricades, 174; - panic, 175; - official estimate of killed and wounded in, 176; - execution in street of, 177; - after bombardment, 179; - estimate of damage in, 181; - struggle for freedom in Presna district, 182–189; - horrors of suppression, 188–195, 240; - Christmas celebration in, 195–197; - lesson of, 203; - prisoners shot in batches, 238; - bank robbed, 311 - - Mutiny, at Toula, 2; - Odessa, 14, 302; - Baku, 16; - Kronstadt, 22, 302; - Sevastopol, 49, 302, 310; - Kieff, 211 - - - Neidhart, Governor-General in Odessa, 216 - - Nemeschaeff, Minister of Communications, 241 - - Newspapers, revolutionary, 64–69, 311, 312; - reactionary, 69–70; - satiric, 71–73; - artistic merit of, 71; - wholesale suppression of, 80, 215, 311; - _Russian News_ joins Progressive party, 104, 111; - unpopularity of _Moscow News_, 106 - - “Noblemen’s Assembly,” State Council in, 330 - - - Obolensky, Procurator of Holy Synod, 242 - - Odessa, rejoices at Manifesto of Oct. 30th, 215; - and buries freedom, 216; - massacres Jews, 216–220; - country near, 217; - Jewish obstinacy and misery, 220–221; - docks burned in, 222; - poverty in, 223; - political parties in, 224; - Jewish “Bund” at, 225; - restrictions on Jews, 226; - electors intimidated, 311 - - Orloff, General, represses Baltic Provinces, 264–265, 276 - - - Parties of Reform and Revolution, 73–77; - in Odessa, 224; - in Poland, 293–294 - - Peasants, congress of, 49; - descriptions of, 33; - hardships of, 87; - home of, 88; - charity of, 90; - camping in railway-station, 131; - of Little Russia, 212–214; - in Baltic provinces, 262–281; - in Poland, 289–291; - deputies in St. Petersburg, 315; - Parliamentary Party of, 316; - in Winter Palace, 321–322; - in Duma, 337–339 - - Petersburg, St., general strike in, 228; - prepared for massacre, 229; - manifesto to citizens of, 229; - wholesale arrests in, 233, 238; - fortress-prison in, 237; - Kresty (Cross) prison in, 238, 326; - Constitutional Democrats in, 244, 315, 318; - revolutionary concert in, 255; - Poles in, 282; - opening of Duma in, 319 - - Peterhof, Tsar and family at, 316 - - Petrunkevitch, leader of Zemstvoists, 246; - speech in Duma, 327 - - Plehve, Minister of Interior, 3; - assassination of, 6; - his policy towards workers, 43 - - Pleske, Minister of Finance, 3 - - Pobiedonostzeff, resignation of, 21; - keeper of Russia’s Orthodoxy, 242, 331 - - Poland, demands Home Rule, 74, 295; - position under Duma, 287; - trade losses in, 288; - strikes in, 289; - price of land, rents, wages, population and education in, - 290–291; - Jews in, 294; - Russian garrison in, 292; - Political Parties in, 292–300; - prejudices against Germany in, 295 - - Poles, dissensions among, 75, 282; - disliked by Little Russians, 206–207; - high official’s opinion of, 283–287; - peasant life among, 288–290; - cruelty of, 291; - “learning to vote,” 294; - number in Duma, 294 - - Police, activity of, 33, 34; - danger from, 82; - house of secret, 54; - in disguise, 167–168; - execution of chief of secret, 177–178; - Diedulin, chief of, 243; - break up meetings of Constitutionalists, 315, 318 - - Politicals, treatment of, 233–243; - wholesale massacre of, 240; - in exile, 243; - in Warsaw, 299–300; - rescue of, 312; - amnesty demanded for, 325–327, 339 - - Potemkin, lover of Catherine II., 327 - - _Potemkin_, mutiny on board the, 221 - - Poverty, in St. Petersburg, 37–48; - in Little Russia, 212–214; - in Odessa, 223 - - Presna or Presnensky, manufacturing district, 182; - revolution in, 183; - bombardment of and slaughter in, 183–190; - estimates of killed and wounded in, 190–191; - methods of execution in, 191–193 - - Press, brief freedom of, 64–74. - _See_ NEWSPAPERS. - - Prison, life of “political” in, 235; - fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, 237; - Kresty (Cross), 238; - greetings to deputies from, 326; - estimate of numbers in, 238 - - _Punch_, cartoon blacked out, 34 - - - Redigers, Minister of War, 242 - - Revolutionists, hesitation among, 136–137; - bombarded, 139–140; - arrested and shot, 141; - numbers estimated, 141–142; - plan of action in Moscow, 145–147, 163; - loot gun-shop, 156–157; - private ambulance of, 158; - sledge-drivers refuse aid to, 159; - deprive officer of sword, 169; - confiscate photographs, 171; - passive bravery of, 172; - last stand of, 174; - call for volunteers, 175; - girl leader of, 183; - tear up railway-line, 183; - slaughter of in Presnensky district, 183–194; - women among, 199, 308; - “dress rehearsal” of, 198; - union among, 199, 308; - propaganda in army of, 200, 298–299; - need of money among, 201; - shot at Kieff, 210; - concert given for, 255–261; - butchered in Baltic provinces, 262–281; - persistence of, 308 - - Riga, revolt in, 78 - - Riots, in Moscow, 2, 112; - of students, 7; - in Poland, 13, 14; - in Kieff, Warsaw, and Odessa, 21 - - Roditcheff, member of Duma, 339 - - Rostoff regiment, mutiny in, 101; - proves its loyalty, 186 - - Russians, intelligence of, 69; - home-life of nobility, 85–86; - peasant life of, 87; - democratic qualities of, 256–267; - poverty among, 212–214; - misery of, 307; - persistence of, 308 - - - Sakharoff, Minister of War, assassinated, 77 - - “Salt Town,” meetings at, 50, 51 - - Sassoulitch, Vera, as journalist, 67; - last “political” tried by jury, 233 - - Saratoff, peasant member for, 339 - - Schlüsselberg, description of road to, 37, 230; - prison turned into mint, 239–240 - - Schmidt, Lieutenant, leader of Sevastopol mutiny, 49; - sentenced to be hanged, 310; - shot, 311; - body dug up and thrown into sea, 312 - - Schwanebach, Imperial Comptroller, 315 - - Semenoffsky Guards, employed in massacres with Cossacks, 186; - distinguished by their zeal, 194; - chosen to guard Winter Palace, 316 - - Sergius, Grand Duke, assassinated, 13; - place of his death, 124 - - Sharpshooters in bell-tower of Strastnoi Convent, 153, 161 - - Shipoff, Minister of Finance, 241, 309 - - Siberia, still used for exiles, 243; - Polish trade with, 288, 289 - - Sieczka, Vincentz, tortured, 311 - - Sipiaguine, Minister of Interior, assassinated, 2 - - Skallon, Governor-General in Warsaw, tries to seduce - revolutionists, 300 - - Sobolevski, editor of _Russian News_, 111 - - Social Democrats, minimum programme of, 3; - unbending attitude of, 4, 59; - organ of, 65; - strength of, 73; - young girls among, 76; - compared with Government, 231; - in Poland, 296–298 - - Social Revolutionists, 74; - member shoots Sakharoff, 77 - - Soldiers, return from war with Japan, 97–100, 307; - how treated as reservists, 99–101; - refuse to kill work-people, 2; - mutiny, 101; - propaganda among, 200, 298–299 - - Sollogub, Governor-General in Baltic provinces, reproached for - mildness, 265 - - Soskice, David, translator and lecturer, 246 - - Spies, at teachers’ conference, 53; - post and telegraph clerk protest against, 53–54; - use of, 138 - - Spiridinova, Marie, tortured, outraged, avenged, 311 - - Stcheglovitoff, Minister of Justice, 315 - - Stepniak, supporter of Russian freedom, 2, 48 - - Stishinsky, Minister of Agriculture, 315 - - Stolypin, Minister of Interior, 315 - - Strastnoi bell-tower, sharpshooters placed in, 153, 161 - - Strikes, on railways, 18; - throughout Russia, 19; - in sympathy with Poland, 22; - failure of second general strike, 23; - result in factory villages, 38; - under Russian laws, 43; - as agents of abstinence, 47; - of post and telegraph service, 49, 60, 61, 81, 114; - in St. Petersburgh and Moscow, 101, 103, 132, 314; - fund seized by Government, 104; - on railway, 130; - meeting at Aquarium, dispersed by troops and police, 136–138; - effect on trade, 289; - power of, 302; - in Poland, Kieff, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, 314 - - Strikes (Central Committee of), distrusts Imperial manifestoes, - 20–21; - calls for military organization, 24; - meets in Hall of Free Economics, 25–36; - orders withdrawal of money from savings-banks, 77; - President of, arrested, 78; - members of, arrested, 80; - new Council and Executive appointed, 80; - manifesto to citizens, 229 - - Strikers, attack mail-cart, 101; - dispersed, 102; - demands of, 112; - condemned by _Novoe Vremya_, 114; - meet in Moscow Aquarium, 136; - passive resistance of, 229–230 - - Struve, editor of _Emancipation_, 246 - - Sumsky Dragoons, brutality of, 193 - - Suvorin, editor of _Novoe Vremya_, his son among revolutionists, 68 - - Sytin Printing Works destroyed by Government, 181 - - - Taurida Palace, given up to Duma, 327; - guarded, 332 - - _Times_, Tolstoy’s protest in, 4; - statistics quoted from, 240; - financial figures quoted from, 309–310 - - Tolstoy, Demitri, Minister of Education, 241 - - Tolstoy, Leo, protests against war with Japan, 4; - position among revolutionists of, 56; - visit to, 91–96 - - Torture of prisoners, 192–195, 311 - - Toula, mutiny at, 2; - typical town, 81 - - Trepoff, first Governor-General of St. Petersburg, 13; - assistant Minister of Interior and Chief of Police, 14; - dismissal demanded, 21; - resigns, 22; - regretted, 33; - caricatured, 72; - connected with Odessa massacres, 233; - Master of Ceremonies, 319–320 - - Trepoff (the Elder), attempted assassination of, 233 - - Troubetzkoy, Prince Sergius, President of Moscow Zemstvo, inspires - reform, 7, 246–248; - sudden death of, 17; - regretted, 110 - - Tsar, flees to Tsarkoe Selo, 13; - promises reforms, 15, 19, 21, 22; - withdraws promises, 22, 80, 103, 120, 121, 215; - as forester, 213; - builds palace for ex-mistress, 238; - pleasant myths about, 243; - meditates new Peace Conference, 308; - issues Ukase on Fundamental Laws, 314; - leaves Tsarskoe Selo for Peterhof, 316; - enters St. Petersburg by river, 319; - sprinkled with holy water, 323; - reads address in Winter Palace, 325; - flees back to Peterhof, 329 - - - Unions, Trade, 104, 107 - - - Vistula, dead bodies in, 300 - - “Vladimir’s Day,” or “Bloody Sunday,” 12, 319 - - Voiloshnikoff, chief of secret police, “executed,” 177–178 - - Vorobieff, Dr., murder of, 187 - - - War, return of soldiers from, 97–100, 131; - effect on Poland, 288–289 - - Warsaw, trade of, 288; - political parties in, 293–299; - prisoners in, 299–300; - Governor-General’s offer to revolutionary Jewesses, 300 - - Winter Palace, massacre before, 11, 12; - how guarded, 319; - brilliant assembly in, 321–327 - - Witte, President of Committee of Ministers, 3, 241; - deputation to, 18; - replies, 19; - distrusted by Liberals, 22; - fatherly appeal to workers, 22; - caricatured, 72; - leaders of finance petition to, 103; - character discussed, 110; - whining of, 202, 241; - afraid of Constitutional Democrats, 244; - his affectation of liberalism, 308; - resigns, 313; - his removal makes Duma possible, 318; - in Council of Empire, 331 - - Workmen, demand universal sufferage, 18, 19; - dress of, 26; - patience of, 28; - first council of delegates, 37; - homes of, 38–48; - locked out, 40; - hours of labour, 42; - wages, 44; - standard of food and work, 45, 114; - amusements of, 47; - connection with land, 48; - shot down, 81; - equality of their women, 26; - their unions in Moscow, 105; - “living in,” 113; - wages increased, 114; - quarters in order, 232; - growing importance of, 288; - in Poland, 289; - their candidates for Duma imprisoned, 311; - only fifteen in Duma, 337 - - - Zemstvos, recommend reforms, 2; - send petition of Rights, 7 - - Zemstvoists, meet in secret, 6; - discuss promised Duma, 16; - draw up programme of political aims, 16–17; - debate Witte’s character, and vanish, 110 - - Zilliacus, writer on struggle for Russian freedom, 2 - - - THE END - - - PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] See especially his book on “The Russian Peasant.” - -[2] After the rising was suppressed, this officer was detained for a -fortnight and then released. - -[3] The following is the text of this appeal:--“The anniversary of the -9th (22nd) of January, 1905, lies immediately before us. Russia has not -forgotten that day, and will never forget it. The memory of those who -in the streets of the capital were attacked by the hosts of violence, -and sacrificed their lives to their confidence in our rulers, their -faith in the possibility of influencing them by peaceful means--the -memory of these martyrs is engraved upon the hearts of the Russian -people in words of sorrow and rage. - -“Citizens of St. Petersburg! We appeal to you to honour a memory like -theirs! We appeal to you to celebrate the first anniversary of that -dark day! Henceforward let the 9th of January be a day of universal -mourning among us. To honour the memory of those who fell for the -people’s freedom, let all citizens abstain from their ordinary work. -For this day let the toil of our city’s life be laid aside, so that -a peaceful stillness may serve as the symbol of our general sorrow. -On this day let not our mourning be broken by customary pleasures. On -the day of the people’s sorrow what have we to do with song and art? -Citizens, we call on you not only to avoid places of entertainment, but -not to visit the banks or other public institutions. Draw down your -blinds, and in the evening hang curtains before your windows, so that -no light may be cast upon the streets from the houses. Let the day -consecrated to the martyrs of January 9th be kept as a day of absolute -silence, a day of deep and universal mourning, a day for sad and angry -remembrance of all the victims which have been torn from our midst by -the enemies of the people’s freedom.” - -[4] Figures from the _Times_ of February 24, 1906. - -[5] See Carlyle’s “Frederick the Great,” Book II. ch. vi. - -[6] Figures from the _Times_ of January 15, 1906. - -[7] The text of the speech was as follows:-- - -“Divine Providence has laid on me the care of the welfare of the -Fatherland, and has moved me to summon representatives elected by the -people, to co-operate in the work of framing laws. - -“With an ardent belief in a prosperous future for Russia, I welcome in -you the best men, to whose election I commanded my beloved subjects to -proceed. - -“Difficult and complicated labours await you, but I believe that the -ardent wishes of the dear native land will inspire you and will unite -you. - -“I with unwavering firmness will uphold the institutions which I have -established, in the firm conviction that you will devote all your -powers to the self-sacrificing service of the Fatherland, to a clear -presentation of the needs of the peasants, which lie so close to my -heart, to the enlightenment of the people, and to the development of -its well-being. You must realize that for the great welfare of the -State, not only is Liberty necessary, but also order on the basis of -law. - -“May my ardent wishes be fulfilled! may I see my people happy, and be -able to bequeath to my son as his inheritance a firmly-established, -well-ordered, and enlightened State! - -“May God bless me, in conjunction with the Council of Empire and the -Duma, in the work before us, and may this day prove the rejuvenation of -Russia’s moral outlook and the reincarnation of her best powers. - -“Go to the work to which I have summoned you, and justify worthily the -trust of your Tsar and your country! God help me and you!” - -[8] The following were the chief points suggested by the Committee -for the answer to the Tsar’s speech. They defined the programme of -the majority:--The responsibility of Ministers to the majority in the -Duma; universal suffrage (women’s suffrage was afterwards added); -the abolition of the State Council; the necessity of land reform and -universal education; the equality of rights for all classes before -the law; freedom of conscience, person, domicile, speech, press, and -meeting; control of the budget and redistribution of taxation; local -self-government for separate nationalities; amnesty and the abolition -of capital punishment. - - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been -corrected silently. - -2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have -been retained as in the original. - -3. Italics are shown as _xxx_. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAWN IN RUSSIA *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The dawn in Russia</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Henry Woodd Nevinson</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 9, 2023 [eBook #69996]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Peter Becker, Karin Spence and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAWN IN RUSSIA ***</div> - - -<p id="half-title" class="p6">THE DAWN IN RUSSIA</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center p4">BY THE SAME AUTHOR</p> -</div> - - -<p class="smcap p-left1">Neighbours of ours</p> - -<p class="smcap p-left1">In the Valley of Tophet</p> - -<p class="smcap p-left1">The Thirty Days’ War between Greece and Turkey</p> - -<p class="smcap p-left1">Ladysmith: The Diary of a Siege</p> - -<p class="smcap p-left1">The Plea of Pan</p> - -<p class="smcap p-left1">Between the Acts</p> - -<p class="smcap p-left1">A Modern Slavery</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="frontispiece" style="max-width: 573px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/frontispiece.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 p-left xs"><i>Art Reproduction Co.</i></p> - <p class="p0 center sm">“PACIFICATION.”</p> - <p class="p0 center sm smcap">The Kremlin of Moscow, Christmas, 1905.</p> - <p class="p0 p-left xs">From <i>Sulphur</i> (<i>Jupel</i>).</p> - </div> - - -<h1><span class="smaller">THE</span><br /> -DAWN IN RUSSIA</h1> - -<p class="center xs">OR</p> - -<p class="center">SCENES IN THE RUSSIAN<br /> -REVOLUTION</p> - - -<p class="center xs p2">BY</p> - -<p class="center">HENRY W. NEVINSON</p> - - <div class="figcenter"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/title.jpg" - alt="" /> - </div> - -<p class="center sm p2"><i>ILLUSTRATED</i></p> - - -<p class="center p4"><span class="sm">LONDON <span class="allsmcap">AND</span> NEW YORK</span><br /> -HARPER & BROTHERS<br /> -<span class="sm">45 ALBEMARLE STREET, W.<br /> -1906</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[v]</span></p> -<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table summary="contents" class="smaller" style="max-width: 50em"> - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">INTRODUCTION</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th></th> - <th class="pag">PAGE</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Summary of chief events since the outbreak of the Japanese War, -February 1904—Scandals of the War—Tolstoy’s protest—The -Königsberg case—Assassination of Bobrikoff and Plehve—The -Zemstvo Petition of Rights—The appearance of the -workman—Father Gapon—Petition to the Tsar—Bloody -Sunday—Trepoff—Assassination of Grand Duke Sergius—Promises -of a State Duma—Outbreak in the Caucasus—The -Moscow Zemstvoists—Death of Troubetskoy—End of the -Japanese War—The railway strike—The general strike—The -Manifesto of October 30, 1905—Restoration of Finland’s -liberties—Mutiny at Kronstadt—Refusal of Zemstvoists -to serve under Witte—Martial Law in Poland—Second -general strike declared—Its failure—Manifesto to -the Peasants </td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER I</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">THE STRIKE COMMITTEE</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">The Hall of Free Economics—Description of Delegates—The -Women—The Executive—Khroustoloff—The Eight-hours’ -Day—The Russian “Marseillaise”—Meeting against Capital -Punishment—Freedom in the balance—Beginnings of reaction—But -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[vi]</span>hope prevailed</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER II</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">THE WORKMEN’S HOME</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">The Schlüsselburg Road—The River—The People and the -Cossacks—Casual massacres—The Workmen’s Militia—The -Alexandrovsky ironworks—The mills—The hours of -labour—Wages—Prices and the standard of living—Standard -of work and food—Housing and rent—Washing—Holidays -and amusements—Connection of work-people -with villages—Passion for the land—The Peasant’s Congress—The -Sevastopol mutiny—The post and telegraph -strike </td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER III</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">FATHER GAPON AGAIN</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Meeting of December 4th—The Salt Town—Gapon’s followers—Barashoff, -the Chairman—The Hymn of the Fallen—Russian -music—Police spies—Russian Oratory—Moderate -demands of the Gaponists—Opposition of the Social -Democrats—Scarcity of Anarchists—Conversation with -Father Gapon—His apparent Nature—Charges of Opportunism</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">THE FREEDOM OF THE WORD</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Effect of the post strike—Volunteer sorters—Epidemic of strikes—Joy -in public speaking—The power of speech—Sudden -outburst of newspapers—<i>The Russian Gazette</i>—<i>The New -Life</i>—<i>The Son of the Country</i>—<i>The Beginning</i>—<i>Our Life</i>—<i>Russia</i>—The -Jewish Papers—The Reactionary Press—<i>Novoe</i> -<i>Vremya</i>—<i>The Citizen</i>—<i>The Word</i>—The satiric papers and -Cartoons—Character of Russian satire—The Social Revolutionists -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[vii]</span>had no paper—Nor had the Radicals—The -dangers of division—The split in a Polish restaurant—The -joy of life—The assassination of Sakharoff—The protest -of the Strike Committee against Government finance—Arrest -of Khroustoloff and the Executive</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER V</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">THE OPEN LAND</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">The town of Toula—The road to the country—The -travelling peasant—The wayside inn—A country house—Landowners -at home—A typical village—A cottage -interior—The stove and the loom—Doubts on the Mir—A -beggar for scraps—Flogging for taxes—Tolstoy on the -End of an Age—How Empires will now cease—The aged -prophet—The restoration of the land—The rotting towns—New -ideals of statesmanship—Indifference to poets and -Shakespeare—The grace of sanctity and the limitations of -logic</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">THE STATE OF MOSCOW</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">The return of the Army—How they were received—Fears and -hopes about their return—Would the soldiers obey?—The -Rostoff regiment—The Cossacks and the crowd—Instinct -of mutual aid—The post strike—Private assistance—Formation -of unions—The tea packers—The shop assistants—Failure -of gaiety—University closed—Lectures for -the Movement—Soldiers in revolt—The Zemstvoists—Miliukoff’s -paper—A Moscow factory—The barrack -system—Wages—The post strike and freedom of speech—Gorky -on the rich and educated—<i>The Children of the</i> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[viii]</span><i>Sun</i>—The street murders</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER VII</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">THE OLD ORDER</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">St. Nicholas’ Day—Fears and expectations—The Black Hundred -Perils of night—The new Governor-General—The sacred -Banners—The crowd of worshippers—The procession—The -bishops and the Iberian Virgin—The Krasnaya—Incitements -to massacre—Appeal to Dubasoff—The stampede of the -patriots</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER VIII</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">THE DAYS OF MOSCOW—I</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">My start for the Caucasus—The railway strike begins—The -peasants on the train—General strike—Provisions cut short—Friendly -discussions with soldiers—A red flag procession—A -Cossack charge—Silence at night—Government -preparations—Revolutionists unwilling to rise—The Government’s -design to bring on the outbreak—The attack on Fiedler’s -house—Revolutionary force and arms—Reported danger of -English overseers—The guns begin—The district of fighting—The -revolutionary plan—The barricades—Difficulties of -the spectator in street fighting—Interest of the crowd—Casualties -begin—The red cross—Assistance to the wounded—The -Government guns</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER IX</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">THE DAYS OF MOSCOW—II</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Reports of the revolution—Guns on the Theatre Square—Explosion -in a gun-shop—Increase in the fighting—Sledges refuse -the wounded—The merciful soldier—A schoolboy killed—The -revolutionist position—The barricade forts—Barricades -never held—The revolutionist tactics—Varieties in barricade—The -troops protect their right flank—Barricades still growing—Police -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[ix]</span>in disguise</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER X</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">THE DAYS OF MOSCOW—III</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">The beginning of the end—My attempts at photography—Unsuspected -presence of revolutionists—Search for revolvers—Labels -for identification—Fresh fighting on the Government’s -left—But the main movement was failing—Revolutionists -appeal for volunteers—Official estimate of casualties—Assassination -of the chief of secret police—The Sadovaya at dawn—The -police receive rifles—The barricades destroyed—Business -resumed by order—Relief of business people—Fighting continues -in Presnensky District—Mills held for the revolution—Arrival -of the Semenoffsky Guards—Bombardment of the -district—The murder of Dr. Vorobieff for assisting the -wounded—The district from the inside—Attempts to escape—End -of the rising—Various estimates of dead and wounded—The -executions—The slaughter of prisoners—The flogging -of boys and girls—Christmas Day—The ceremony in the -Cathedral of Christ the Saviour</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER XI</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">IN LITTLE RUSSIA</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Results of the rising—Revolutionists claim some success—Some -gain in unity—But the movement lost prestige—Hopes of -winning over troops proved vain—Reasons of this—Consequent -elation of the Government—Hopes of a new loan—Witte -laments his lost faith—My journey to Kieff—Harvest -rotting on the platforms—Kieff as religious centre—Pilgrimages -to the catacombs—An intellectual centre—Character -of Little Russians—Their costume—No thought of separation—Apprehension -of Poles—The Little Russian movement—The -recent riots of Loyalists—Attack on the British Consulate—Persecution -of Jews—Crowded prisons and typhus—The -Black Earth—Grain as Russia’s chief export—Poverty -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[x]</span>of the villages—Reasons for this—The country districts quiet</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_198">198</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER XII</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">THE JEWS OF ODESSA</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Joy over the Manifesto—Violent suppression—Trepoff and Neidhart—The -days of massacre—Present state of Jewish quarters—Habits -of Jews—Refusal of concealment—A type of Israel—Attempts -at relief—Difficulties of organization—Flight of -the rich and distress of their parasites—Dockers and their -poverty—The Constitutional democrats—Their programme—The -Jewish Bund—Jewish disqualifications—The English -Aliens Act</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_215">215</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIII</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">LIBERTY IN PRISON</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Murder of the student Davidoff—Precautions for the anniversary -of Bloody Sunday—Strike Committee orders a memorial of -silence—The day on the Schlüsselberg road—The Navy and -telescopic sights—Silence in the workmen’s districts—The -Vampire and Freedom—Wholesale arrests—Methods of imprisonment -and sentence—The House of Inquiry—A letter -from prison—The Peter-Paul fortress—Khroustoloff’s prison—The -Cross prison—Imprisonments and executions—Why -Russia has no Cromwell—The Schlüsselberg converted into -a mint—Statistics of suppression—The committee of ministers—Siberian -exile continued—Meetings of Constitutional -Democrat delegates—Their methods and programme—Their -leaders—Miliukoff still hopeful</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_228">228</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIV</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">THE PRIEST AND THE PEOPLE</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Over the ice to Kronstadt—Father John and his shelter—The -service of the altar—His blessing—His miraculous life and -powers—His influence in reaction—A revolutionary concert—The -proletariat of intellect—Russian democracy—The use -of the parable—The bond of danger—The advantage of -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[xi]</span>tyranny</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_248">248</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER XV</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">A BLOODY ASSIZE</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">The Baltic Provinces—Lists of floggings and executions—Vengeance -of the German landowners—They are weary of town -life—Letts driven to execution—The Irish of Russia—Character -of the people—Their songs—Their religion—Their -buildings—Their isolated farms—Disaster of Russification—The -burning of country houses—“We have condemned you -to death”—Mixture of social and national grievances—Refusal -of Germans to appeal to Berlin—The case of Pastor -Bielenstein—A Lettish scholar—A rebel’s funeral—The -assize in the country—Executions ordered by telephone—The -case of a schoolmistress—Reprisals and rescues</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVI</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">THE PARTIES OF POLAND</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Polish tendency to division—The reactionary position stated—Supposed -beneficence of martial law—Suppression good for -Poles—Absurdities of Socialists and Nationalists—Reconquest -of Finland necessary—Poland essential as barrier against -Germany—The Polish workman—Disasters in Polish trade—Loss -of credit—The landless labourers—Education—Wages—Rent—Polish -brides and demand for ancestral relics—The -Realist party—The National Democrats—A meeting -to practice for elections—A Nationalist programme—The -Progressive Democrats—The National Socialists—The Social -Democrats—The Proletariat Socialists—The Jewish Bund—Attempts -to influence the Army—Executions of so-called -Anarchists and Jews—The Warsaw citadel—Two brave -Jewesses</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVII</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">THE DRAMA OF FREEDOM</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">The struggle between Freedom and Oppression—The early hopes—The -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">[xii]</span>Government’s uncertainty—The plot to overthrow -Freedom—Its apparent success—The new loan secured—Difficulty -of realizing the actual truth beneath abstractions—Persistence -of the revolution—Summary of events—Finance -and the elections—Execution of Lieutenant Schmidt—Victory -of the Constitutional Democrats—Germany refuses to share -in the loans, but France and England subscribe largely—Resignation -of Count Witte—Reported death of Father -Gapon—Attempt to assassinate Admiral Dubasoff—Assassination -of General Jeoltanowski—Fundamental Law—New -Ministers—Preparing for the Duma</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_301">301</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVIII</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th class="header1" colspan="2">THE FIRST PARLIAMENT</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Baleful prophecies—Provocations—Meeting of Constitutional -Democrats broken up by police—Ministerial figureheads—Birthday -of freedom—Trepoff’s precautions—Ceremony in -Winter Palace—The Old Order confronted by the New—The -Church intervenes—The Tsar’s address—“Unwavering -firmness,” and the “Necessity of Order”—No promise of -amnesty—Officials applaud—The people silent—The cry of -the prisoners—The Duma assembles in the Taurida Palace—President -elected by 426 to 3—Petrunkevitch speaks first—The -demand for amnesty—A languid afternoon in the -“Nobleman’s Assembly”—Golitzin greeted with holy kisses—Witte -and Durnovo side by side—Prayers and compliments—The -Duma at work—Taurida Palace closely guarded—Difficulties -about procedure—Drafting the reply to the Tsar’s -speech—An honourable impatience—Congratulations from -many lands—Telegrams from imprisoned “politicals”—Russia’s -representatives unanimous for amnesty—Freedom -and Justice versus Tradition and the Sword</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_317">317</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</span></p> - -<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> -</div> - -<table summary="images" class="smaller" style="max-width: 50em"> - <tr> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">“Pacification.” The Kremlin of Moscow, Christmas, -1905</span><br /> -From <i>Sulphur</i> (<i>Jupel</i>)</td> - <td class="pag1"><a href="#frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <th></th> - <th class="pag">TO FACE PAGE</th> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">A Demonstration by the Kazan Church, St. Petersburg</span><br /> -From <i>The Marseillaise</i></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p0021_ill">2</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">“homunculus” and the S.D. (social Democratic) Rats</span><br /> -From <i>Burelom</i> (<i>The Storm</i>)</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p0121_ill">12</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">“<span class="smcap">An Autumn Idyll</span>”<br /> -From <i>Sulphur</i> (<i>Jupel</i>)</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p0401_ill">40</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Witte and the Constitution</span><br /> -From <i>Sprut</i></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p0721_ill">72</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">Peasant Sledges</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p080_ill1">80</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">A Private Sledge</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p080_ill2">80</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">Tolstoy’s Home</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p0901_ill1">90</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">Peasants</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p0901_ill2">90</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">Tolstoy in Middle Age</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p0961_ill">96</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">Fiedler’s House</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p1401_ill1">140</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">Effect of Shells</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p1401_ill2">140</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">A Minor Barricade</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p1461_ill1">146</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">A Military Post at Moscow</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p1461_ill2">146</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</span></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">“<span class="smcap">God with us!</span>”<br /> -From <i>Sprut</i></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p1521_ill">152</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">Barricades on the Sadovaya</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p1621_ill">162</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">“<span class="smcap">The New Era</span>”<br /> -From <i>Sulphur</i> (<i>Jupel</i>)</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p1761_ill">176</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">“<span class="smcap">Intercourse is Resumed</span>”<br /> -From <i>Streli</i> (<i>Arrows</i>)</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p1821_ill">182</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Dubasoff’s Roll Call</span><br /> -From <i>Burelom</i> (<i>The Storm</i>)</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p1941_ill">194</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">A Little Russian</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p2061_ill1">206</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">A Tramp</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p2061_ill2">206</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">A Peasant’s Home</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p2121_ill1">212</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">The Lavra at Kieff</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p2121_ill2">212</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">The Jews’ Grave at Odessa</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p2161_ill1">216</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">After the Massacre</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p2161_ill2">216</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">“<span class="smcap">I think she’s Quiet at Last</span>”<br /> -From the <i>Vampyre</i></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p2321_ill">232</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">1905–1906<br /> -From <i>Sulphur</i> (<i>Jupel</i>)</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p3001_ill">300</a></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht smcap">Plan of Moscow</td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#p3501_map">350</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>The design on the cover is from a cartoon in the Russian -revolutionary paper <i>Pulemet</i> (<i>The Machine Gun</i>).</p> - -<p>The illustrations are from Russian cartoons and from photographs, -most of which were taken by the author.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span></p> - -<p class="center xl">THE DAWN IN RUSSIA</p> -</div> - -<p class="center xs">OR</p> - -<p class="center">SCENES IN THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION</p> - -<h2 class="smaller">INTRODUCTION</h2> - - -<p>I have not attempted in this book to do more than describe some of the -scenes which I witnessed in Russia during the winter of 1905–1906, -while I was acting there as special correspondent for the <i>Daily -Chronicle</i>. For the most part, the descriptions are given in the -same words which I wrote down at the time, either for my own memory or -for the newspaper. But the whole has been re-arranged and rewritten, -while certain scenes have been added for which a daily paper has -no room. I have also inserted between the scenes a bare outline of -the principal events that were happening elsewhere, so that the -significance of what I saw may be more easily understood, and the dates -become something better than mere numbers.</p> - -<p>But to realize the meaning of the earlier chapters, a further -introduction is necessary, and it is difficult<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span> to know where to begin. -For there is never any real break in a nation’s history from day to -day, and the movement of 1905 was not the first sign of change, but -only the brightest. The story of the undaunted struggle for freedom -in Russia during the last fifty years has been admirably told by -Stepniak, Kropotkin, Zilliacus, Miliukoff, and many other writers. In -books that are easily obtained, any one may learn the course of that -great movement—the changes in its aims and methods, the distinctions -in its parties, and the martyrdoms of its recorded heroes. So for this -present purpose of chronicling a few peculiar or unnoticed events and -situations which would hardly have a place in history at all, perhaps -it will be enough if I begin the skeleton annals with the outbreak of -the war between Russia and Japan in February, 1904.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p0021_ill" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p0021_ill.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">A DEMONSTRATION BY THE KAZAN CHURCH, ST. PETERSBURG.</p> - <p class="p0 p-left sm">From <i>The Marseillaise</i>.</p> - </div> - -<p>It is true that for some time earlier the revolutionary movement -had obviously been gathering strength. Within two years there had -occurred outbreaks among the peasants, student risings in Moscow, and -a demonstration in front of the great classic building called the -Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Some soldiers at Toula had actually -refused to kill the work-people. The Zemstvos, or District Councils of -landowners and upper-middle classes, had ventured to recommend economic -reforms, and a student from Kieff had assassinated Sipiaguine, the -Minister of the Interior. To counteract <span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span>these evils, heightened by -a period of industrial depression, Plehve had been promoted from the -Governorship of Finland to the Ministry of the Interior; a manifesto -had been issued (March 12, 1903), removing the responsibility of the -village communes for individual taxation, and promoting religious -toleration; and the Jews of Kishineff had been massacred, with the -connivance of the Government, and probably at its direct instigation -(April 20, 1903). The Armenian Church in the Caucasus was deprived -of £3,000,000 of its funds, the public debt of Russia rose to -£700,000,000, about half of the interest on which had to be paid to -foreign countries, and Witte was appointed President of the Committee -of Ministers, while his assistant Pleske succeeded him in what was then -regarded as the far more important position of the Ministry of Finance.</p> - -<p>It was obvious that the Government—which we may call Tsardom or -Oligarchy as we please—had in any case entered upon the way to -destruction, and that the revolution was already at work. Indeed, the -Social Democrats had met in secret in 1903, and published a “minimum -programme” demanding a Republic under universal adult suffrage. But -still the disastrous war with Japan hastened these tendencies, and its -outbreak may conveniently be taken to mark a period, for the dates of -wars are definite and the results quick.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span></p> - -<p>The course of that ruinous campaign, unequalled, I suppose, in history -for the uninterrupted succession of its disasters, need not concern -us now. It wasted many millions of money, borrowed by a country which -is naturally and inevitably poor. It revealed an incompetence in the -ruling classes worse than our own in South Africa, together with a -corruption and a heartlessness of greed compared to which even the -scandals of South Africa seemed rather less devilish. It kept from -their work in fields and factories about a million grown men, who had -to be fed and clothed, however badly, by the rest of the population, -and it killed or maimed some two or three hundred thousand of them. -Otherwise the war can hardly be said to have concerned the Russian -people any more than ourselves, so general was their indifference -both to its cause and to its failure. “It is not our war, it is the -Government’s affair,” was the common saying. Tolstoy is a prophet, -and the mark of a prophet is that he speaks with the voice of God -and not with the voice of the people; but in his protest against the -war (published in the <i>Times</i> of June 27, 1904) he uttered a -denunciation of the Government with which nearly the whole of Russia’s -population would have agreed. Of the head of that Government himself, -he wrote:—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The Russian Tsar, the same man who exhorted all the nations in -the cause of peace, publicly announces that,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span> notwithstanding -all his efforts to maintain the peace so dear to his heart -(efforts which express themselves in the seizing of other -people’s lands and in the strengthening of armies for the -defence of those stolen lands), he, owing to the attack of the -Japanese, commands that the same should be done to the Japanese -as they had begun doing to the Russians—namely, that they -should be slaughtered; and in announcing this call to murder he -mentions God, asking the Divine blessing on the most dreadful -crime in the world. This unfortunate and entangled young man, -recognized as the leader of 130,000,000 of people, continually -deceived and compelled to contradict himself, confidently thanks -and blesses the troops which he calls his own for murder in -defence of lands which he calls his own with still less right.”</p> -</div> - -<p>While the myth of Russia’s military and naval power—a myth which -for fifty years had misguided England’s foreign policy, checked any -generous impulse on the part of our statesmen, and driven them to -breach of national faith, callousness towards outrageous cruelty, -and every moral humiliation that a proud and ancient people can -suffer—while this overwhelming myth was being dissipated month by -month in the Far East, the characteristic methods by which the Russian -Tsar and Oligarchs sought to maintain their hold upon the wealth and -privileges of State were being revealed in the so-called Königsberg -case. It was discovered that even in a foreign capital like Berlin, the -Russian Government employed a little army of spies, under a recognized -and highly-paid official, to search the homes of Russian<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span> Liberals, to -watch their goings, and open their letters. It was also shown that, -even under a comparatively civilized government like the German, -the authorities were ready to bring their own subjects to trial for -alleged verbal attacks upon the Tsar; while a Russian Consul, probably -in obedience to orders from home, would tell any lie and garble any -document to support the charge.</p> - -<p>On June 17th the air was cleared by the assassination of General -Bobrikoff, the Russian tyrant of Finland, and on July 8th that deed -was followed by the assassination of Plehve. In all the history of -political murder, I suppose, there has never been a case in which the -victim received less pity, or the crime less condemnation. The pitiless -hand of reaction was for the moment stayed. The birth of an heir to the -uneasy crown inspired the Tsar with such amiability that, as father -of his people, he abolished the punishment of flogging among his -grown-up subjects. Prince Sviatopolk Mirski, who was justly regarded as -something of a Liberal as princes go, succeeded Plehve at the Interior, -released some political prisoners, advocated decentralization with the -development of the Zemstvos, and promised better education, liberty of -conscience, and freedom of speech.</p> - -<p>Again the Zemstvoists, taking their courage as moderate Liberals -in both hands, met secretly in St. Petersburg, and drew up a kind -of Petition of Rights<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span> to be presented to the Tsar. There were one -hundred and six members present at the secret conferences, thirty-six -of them belonging to the caste of the nobility, and their Petition -began with the complaint that the bureaucracy had alienated the people -from the Throne, and that by its distrust of self-government it had -shown itself entirely out of touch with the people. In place of the -bureaucratic system, the Petition demanded an elected Legislature of -two Houses, together with freedom of conscience, the press, meeting, -and association, equal civil and political rights for all classes and -races, and similar methods of justice for the peasants as for other men.</p> - -<p>The Zemstvo petition was issued on November 22, 1904. A month later -(December 26th) it was repeated in still more direct and urgent terms -by the Moscow Zemstvo, which had always taken the lead in reform, being -inspired by its President, Prince Sergius Troubetzkoy, Professor of -Philosophy in the University since 1888. But, in the meantime, student -riots had again occurred in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the censorship -had been renewed, and on the same day as the Moscow petition there -appeared an Imperial manifesto proclaiming “the unshakable foundations -of the Russian State system, consecrated by the fundamental laws of -the Empire,” and announcing the Tsar’s determination to act always in -accordance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> with the revered will of his crowned predecessor, while he -thought unceasingly upon the welfare of the realm entrusted to him by -God. The manifesto went on to admit that when the need of this or that -change had been proved to be mature, the Tsar was willing to take it -into consideration, and upon this principle he undertook to maintain -the laws, to give local institutions as wide a scope as possible, to -unify judicial procedure throughout the Empire, to establish State -insurance of workmen, and to revise the laws upon political crime, -religious offences, and the press. But the tone of the whole manifesto -was felt to be reactionary, and there was no guarantee that its -promises would be observed. When our own Charles I. made concessions, -the people shouted, “We have the word of a King!” But they soon found -that assurance was a shifty thing to trust to, and since then the words -of kings have counted for no more than the words of men.</p> - -<p>But the opening of the next year (1905) was marked by the appearance -of a new element in revolution. Certainly, there had been strikes and -riots in the great cities before; there had been peasant risings and -other forms of economic agitation in various parts. But as a whole the -revolutionary movement as such had been inspired, directed, and even -carried out by the educated classes—the students, the journalists, the -doctors, barristers, and other<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> professional men. It had been almost -limited to that great division of society which in Russia is called -“The Intelligence.” The word is fairly well represented by our phrase -“educated classes”—a phrase which embodies our greatest national -shame. It includes all who are not workmen or peasants, and so is much -wider in significance than the French term “The Intellectuals,” with -which it is often confused. In England, for instance, it would include -the House of Lords, the clergy, army officers, country gentlemen, and -the leaders of society whom no Frenchman would dream of classing among -the intellectual.</p> - -<p>It was “the Intelligence” who hitherto had fought for the revolution. -It was they who had suffered scourgings and exile and imprisonment and -madness and violation and the gallows in the name of freedom. It was -they who had endured the horror that most people feel in killing a man. -And, above all, it was they who had devoted their lives, their careers, -and reputations to going about among the peasants and working-people -to show them that the misery and terror under which they lived were -neither necessary nor universal. At length the firstfruits of their -toilsome propaganda, continued through forty years, were seen, and the -revolutionary workman appeared.</p> - -<p>He was ushered in by Father George Gapon, at that time a rather -simple-hearted priest, with a rather<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> childlike faith in God and the -Tsar, and a certain genius for organization. His personal hold upon the -working classes was probably due to their astonishment that a priest -should take any interest in their affairs, outside their fees. We have -seen the same thing happen in England, when Manning and Westcott won -the reverence due to saints because they displayed some feeling for the -flock which they were paid large sums to protect. Father Gapon, with -his thin line of genius for organization, had gathered the workmen’s -groups or trade unions of St. Petersburg into a fairly compact body, -called “The Russian Workmen’s Union,” of which he was President as -well as founder. In the third week in January the men at the Putiloff -iron works struck because two of their number had been dismissed for -belonging to their union. At once the Neva iron and ship-building -works, the Petroffsky cotton works, the Alexander engine works, the -Thornton cloth works, and other great factories on the banks of the -river or upon the industrial islands joined in the strike, and in two -days some 100,000 work-people were “out.”</p> - -<p>With his rather childlike faith in God and the Tsar, Father Gapon -organized a dutiful appeal of the Russian workmen to the tender-hearted -autocrat whose benevolence was only thwarted by evil counsellors and -his ignorance of the truth. The petition ran as follows:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“We workmen come to you for truth and protection. We have -reached the extreme limits of endurance. We have been exploited, -and shall continue to be exploited under your bureaucracy.</p> - -<p>“The bureaucracy has brought the country to the verge of ruin -and by a shameful war is bringing it to its downfall. We have -no voice in the heavy burdens imposed on us. We do not even -know for whom or why this money is wrung from the impoverished -people, and we do not know how it is expended. This is contrary -to the Divine laws, and renders life impossible. It is better -that we should all perish, we workmen and all Russia. Then good -luck to the capitalists and exploiters of the poor, the corrupt -officials and robbers of the Russian people!</p> - -<p>“Throw down the wall that separates you from your people. Russia -is too great and her needs are too various for officials to -rule. National representation is essential, for the people alone -know their own needs.</p> - -<p>“Direct that elections for a constituent assembly be held by -general secret ballot. That is our chief petition. Everything is -contained in that.</p> - -<p>“If you do not reply to our prayer, we will die in this square -before your palace. We have nowhere else to go. Only two paths -are open to us—to liberty and happiness or to the grave. Should -our lives serve as the offering of suffering Russia, we shall -not regret the sacrifice, but endure it willingly.”</p> -</div> - -<p>On the morning of Sunday, January 22, 1905, about 15,000 working men -and women formed into a procession to carry this petition to the Tsar -in his Winter Palace upon the great square of government buildings. -They were all in their Sunday clothes;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span> many peasants had come up from -the country in their best embroideries; they took their children with -them. In front marched Father Gapon and two other priests wearing -vestments. With them went the ikons, or holy pictures of shining -brass and silver, and a portrait of the Tsar. As the procession moved -along, they sang, “God save our people. God give our Orthodox Tsar the -victory.”</p> - -<p>So the Russian workmen made their last appeal to the autocrat whom they -called their father. They would lay their griefs before him, they would -see him face to face, they would hear his comforting words.</p> - -<p>But the father of his people had disappeared into space.</p> - -<p>As the procession entered the square, the soldiers fired volley after -volley upon them from three sides. The estimate of the killed and -wounded was about 1500. That Sunday—January 9th in Russian style—is -known as Bloody Sunday or Vladimir’s Day, after the Grand Duke -Vladimir, who was supposed to have given the orders.</p> - -<p>Next morning Father Gapon wrote to his Union: “There is no Tsar now. -Innocent blood has flowed between him and the people.”</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p0121_ill" style="max-width: 455px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p0121_ill.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">“HOMUNCULUS” AND THE S. D. (SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC) RATS.</p> - <p class="p0 p-left sm">From <i>Burelom</i> (<i>The Storm</i>).</p> - </div> - -<p>Innocent blood has flowed before and tyrants still have reigned. They -have been feared, they have won their way, and men have served them. -Mankind will endure much in the name of government, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span>but to be -governed by a coward is almost beyond the endurance of man.</p> - -<p>On January 24th a new office of Governor-General of St. Petersburg was -created, and Trepoff received the first appointment.</p> - -<p>Disturbances continued in Warsaw, Lodz, and Sosnowice, the industrial -centres of Poland, and on January 31st 200 work-people were killed and -600 wounded in the streets of Warsaw.</p> - -<p>On February 17th the Grand Duke Sergius, Governor-General of Moscow, -uncle to the Tsar, conspicuous for his cruelty, and, even among the -Russian aristocracy, renowned for the peculiarity of his vices, was -assassinated as he drove into the Kremlin.</p> - -<p>This event and other outbreaks that were continually occurring in the -great centres of industry, inspired a remarkable manifesto and rescript -that appeared on March 3rd and were characteristic of the hesitating -fugitive in Tsarkoe Selo. The manifesto took the form of a pathetic -address to the people whom he had misgoverned with such disaster:—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Disturbances have broken out in our country” (it said) “to the -joy of our enemies and our own deep sorrow. Blinded by pride, -the evil-minded leaders of the revolutionary movement make -insolent attacks upon the Holy Orthodox Church and the lawfully -established pillars of the Russian State....</p> - -<p>“We humbly bear the trial sent us by Providence, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span> derive -strength and consolation from our firm trust in the grace -which God has always shown to the Russian power, and from the -immemorial devotion which we know our loyal people entertain for -the Throne....</p> - -<p>“Let all those rally round the Throne who, true to Russia’s -past, honestly and conscientiously have a care for all the -affairs of the State such as we have ourselves.”</p> -</div> - -<p>In the rescript that followed on the same day a form of Legislative -Assembly was promised in these words—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“I am resolved henceforth, with the help of God, to convene -the worthiest men, possessing the confidence of the people -and elected by them, to participate in the elaboration and -consideration of legislative measures.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Buliguine, who had now succeeded Mirski as Minister of the Interior, -and was probably the author of the rescript, was appointed to organize -the elections. But a counterblast of reaction swept over the distracted -Tsar; Trepoff was made Assistant-Minister of the Interior and Chief of -the Police, with full power to forbid all congresses, associations, -or meetings, and Buliguine resigned, though he remained nominally in -office till the end of October.</p> - -<p>Outbreaks in the country became continually more serious. In June there -was fierce rioting in Lodz, the great manufacturing town of Poland, and -in the Baltic port of Libau. In the same month the great battleship -<i>Potemkin</i> of the Black Sea fleet mutinied at Odessa, threw two -big shells into the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span> town, burnt the docks, and steamed away to the -mouth of the Danube for refuge.</p> - -<p>Mid-August brought another manifesto, which began with the usual -precepts of maudlin falsehood—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The Empire of Russia is formed and strengthened by the -indestructible solidarity of the Tsar with the people and the -people with the Tsar. The concord and union of the Tsar and the -people are a great moral force, which has created Russia in the -course of centuries by protecting her from all misfortunes and -all attacks, and has constituted up to the present time a pledge -of unity, independence, integrity, material well-being, and -intellectual development.</p> - -<p>“Autocratic Tsars, our ancestors, constantly had that object in -view, and the time has come to follow out their good intentions -and to summon elected representatives from the whole of Russia -to take a constant and active part in the elaboration of laws, -attaching for this purpose to the higher State institutions -a special consultative body, entrusted with the preliminary -elaboration and discussion of measures, and with the examination -of the State Budget.</p> - -<p>“It is for this reason that, while preserving the fundamental -law regarding autocratic power, we have deemed it well to form a -State Duma, and to approve regulations for the elections to this -Duma.”</p> -</div> - -<p>This consultative Duma was to lay its proposals before the Council of -State, which might submit them to the Tsar if it approved. The Duma -was to meet not later than January, 1906, and was to consist of 412 -members, representing 50 governments and the military province of the -Don,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> only 28 of the members representing towns. The members were to -be paid £1 a day and fares, and were to sit for five years, unless the -Tsar chose to dissolve them. Their meetings were to be secret, except -that the President might admit the Press if he chose.</p> - -<p>On September 7th a race-feud broke out between the Mohammedan Tartars -and the Armenians at Baku, on the Caspian, and spread to Tiflis and -all along the southern slopes of the Caucasus. The destruction of the -great oil-works at Baku involved a loss of many millions of pounds, and -further embarrassed the railways and manufacturing districts, which -depended almost entirely on naphtha for their fuel.</p> - -<p>On September 25th an assembly of 300 representatives of the Zemstvos of -the empire was gathered in a private house at Moscow to consider their -attitude towards the promised Duma, which was regarded as a concession -to their previous representations during the year. They recognized that -the Duma of the August manifesto would not be either a representative -or legislative assembly, but, regarding it as a possible rallying-point -for the general movement towards freedom, they agreed to obtain as many -seats as possible, so as to form a united group of advanced opinion.</p> - -<p>They further drew up a programme of their political aims, including -the formation of a National<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span> Legislative Assembly; a regular budget -system; the abolition of passports; equal rights for all citizens, -including peasants; equal responsibility of all officials and private -citizens before the law; the liberation of the villager from the petty -official (natchalnik); inviolability of person and home; and freedom of -conscience, speech, press, meeting, and association.</p> - -<p>The programme is important, as indicating what to the average Liberal -politician in England would appear the most obvious abuses of the -Russian system, because nothing is here demanded which has not long -ago been obtained for our own country by the efforts of our upper and -middle classes in the past.</p> - -<p>As soon as the assembly broke up, Prince Sergius Troubetzkoy, the true -leader of these Liberal or Zemski delegates, the President of the -Moscow Zemstvo, and for a month past the Rector of the University, went -to St. Petersburg to urge the Government to allow public meetings, -and while speaking on behalf of free speech at the Ministry of Public -Education, he suddenly died. He was only forty-three, and it is -tempting to speak of him as the first of the Girondists to fall. But -all through what I have seen in Russia, I have avoided even a mental -reference to the French Revolution as carefully as I could. For history -is a great hindrance in judging the present or the future.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span></p> - -<p>The manifesto of October 19th, announcing the final conclusion of the -peace with Japan, by which the Russian Government was compelled to -abandon all for which it had striven during many years in the Far East, -was hardly noticed in the gathering excitement of the days.</p> - -<p>On October 21st, the workmen again appeared unexpectedly upon the -scene, and delivered their first telling blow by declaring a general -railway strike. The strength of the movement was that it disorganized -trade, made the capitalist and commercial classes very uncomfortable, -and, above all, that it prevented the Government from sending troops -rapidly to any particular point of disturbance. The weakness was that, -as in all strikes, the strikers were threatened with starvation while -their employers suffered only discomfort; that the peasants, being -unable to get their produce to market, began to regard the revolution -with suspicion; and that the Government succeeded in running a military -train between St. Petersburg and Moscow (only a ten hours’ journey) -nearly all the time.</p> - -<p>The objects of the strikers were in the main political, as could be -seen from the demands presented to Witte by a deputation on October -24th—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The claims of the working classes must be settled by laws -constituted by the will of the people and sanctioned by all -Russia. The only solution is to announce political guarantees -for freedom and the convocation of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span> a Constituent Assembly, -elected by direct, universal, and secret suffrage. Otherwise the -country will be forced into rebellion.”</p> -</div> - -<p>To this petition Witte’s reply was peculiarly characteristic—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“A Constituent Assembly is for the present impossible. Universal -suffrage would, in fact, only give pre-eminence to the richest -classes, because they could influence all the voting by their -money. Liberty of the press and of public meeting will be -granted very shortly. I am myself strongly opposed to all -persecution and bloodshed, and I am willing to support the -greatest amount of liberty possible.... But there is not in -the entire world a single cultivated man who is in favour of -universal suffrage.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Undeterred by any fear of exclusion from the circle of culture, -the workmen continued their demands for universal suffrage and -a Constituent Assembly, and on October 26th the Central Strike -Committee—or Council of Labour Delegates, as it was properly -called—sitting in St. Petersburg, declared a general strike throughout -Russia. About a million workers came out.</p> - -<p>This was the second workmen’s blow, and it shook Tsardom from top to -bottom.</p> - -<p>Four days after the beginning of the strike, the famous Manifesto of -October 30th (17th in Old Style) was issued, promising personal freedom -and a constitution. The document began with the harmless necessary -cant—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The troubles and agitations in our capitals and numerous other -places fill our heart with great and painful sorrow.... The -sorrow of the people is the sorrow of the sovereign.... We -therefore direct our Government to carry out our inflexible will -in the following manner:—</p> - -<p>“I. To grant to our people the immutable foundations of civil -liberty, based on real inviolability of person, and freedom of -conscience, speech, union, and association.</p> - -<p>“II. Without deferring the elections to the State Duma already -ordered, to call to participation in the Duma (as far as is -possible in view of the shortness of time before the Duma -assembles) those classes of the population now completely -deprived of electoral rights, leaving the ultimate development -of the principle of electoral right in general to the newly -established legislature.</p> - -<p>“III. To establish it as an immutable rule that no law can ever -come into force without the approval of the State Duma, and that -it shall be possible for the elected of the people to exercise -a real participation in supervising the legality of the acts of -authorities appointed by us.”</p> -</div> - -<p>This manifesto was greeted by an outburst of joy unequalled in the -melancholy annals of Russia. Righteousness and peace kissed each other -upon the streets; and so did professors, students, and even working -people. Red flags paraded the squares, generals saluted them, soldiers -joined in the Marseillaise of labour. But the Central Strike Committee -was not overcome by the general hallucination. They rightly refused to -trust the Tsar without guarantees, and they continued to press their -demands for a political amnesty and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> convocation of a Constituent -Assembly. They also demanded the restoration of its old liberties to -Finland, and the dismissal of Trepoff. When anti-Jewish riots broke out -at Kieff, Warsaw, and especially at Odessa, they steadily and justly -maintained that the “Black Hundred” or “Hooligans” of the massacre and -pillage were encouraged by the police and the priests, who wished to -make out that the Russian people were opposed to political liberties.</p> - -<p>The panic of the Government continued. They could not measure the -strength of this new force among the work-people, or of this new -instrument, the general strike. They were uncertain, also, about the -army, which, together with the police and officials, formed their sole -protection from ruin. Pobiedonostzeff, the aged Procurator of the Holy -Synod, and the embodiment of an obstinate and narrow tyranny in Church -and State, resigned. On November 4th, an amnesty was proclaimed for -political offenders, though certain qualifications and categories were -added.</p> - -<p>On the same day a manifesto restored the old liberties of Finland, -abolishing the decree of February 15, 1899, by which the autocratic -principle, the dictatorship, and the employment of Russian gendarmes -had been imposed upon the duchy contrary to its original constitution, -and repealing also the military law of July 12, 1901, which compelled -recruits to serve outside their own country.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span></p> - -<p>On November 9th Trepoff sent in his resignation, and Durnovo, since -infamous for his brutality, took office. The same day a violent but -ill-considered mutiny broke out among the sailors and gunners at -Kronstadt.</p> - -<p>From that moment the Government began to recover courage, and we may -mark the gradual revival of reaction. Perhaps it was immediately due -to the refusal of the Liberal Zemstvoists to take part in a ministry -under Witte, unless the promises of the manifesto were guaranteed, -and a Constituent Assembly convened. In any case the change was quite -apparent in a manifesto of November 12th, declaring the present -situation unsuitable for the introduction of reforms, which would only -be possible when the country was pacified.</p> - -<p>Next day a ukase proclaimed martial law in Poland, and excluded that -country from the manifesto, on the pretence that the Poles were -plotting against the integrity of the Russian Empire by establishing a -separate nation of their own.</p> - -<p>The Central Strike Committee answered this ukase on the morrow -(November 14th) by declaring another general strike in sympathy with -Poland, and Witte, on his side, retaliated by posting an appeal to the -work-people, conceived in his most unctuous and fatherly style. It ran—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Brothers! Workmen! Go back to your work and cease from -disorder. Have pity on your wives and children,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> and turn a deaf -ear to mischievous counsels. The Tsar commands us to devote -special attention to the labour question, and to that end has -appointed a Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which will -establish just relations between masters and men. Only give us -time, and I will do all that is possible for you. Pay attention -to the advice of a man who loves you and wishes you well.”</p> -</div> - -<p>This appeal was immediately followed (November 17th) by a manifesto to -the peasants, reducing their payments for the use of land by one-half -after January, 1906, and abolishing it altogether after January, -1907. These payments were still being made under the land settlement -that followed the emancipation of the serfs in the early sixties, and -their nominal value to the Government was seven million pounds a year. -But the apparent generosity of the remission is diminished by the -consideration that the peasants had already paid the economic value of -the land many times over, and pressure could still be brought upon them -to make up the heavy arrears due to successive famines.</p> - -<p>Three days later (November 20th), the Central Strike Committee declared -the strike at an end. This second general strike was felt to have -been a failure. People and funds were still exhausted by the first. -Comparatively few of the great factories came out; the object of the -strike was too remote from the workman’s daily life to persuade him to -endure the starvation of his family for it. So the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> strike failed. It -produced nothing; it did not frighten or paralyse the Government.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, the Strike Committee remained the most powerful body -of men in the Empire, and their order commanding the cessation of -the strike called hopefully upon the working classes to continue the -revolutionary propaganda in the army, and to organize themselves into -military forces “for the final encounter between all Russia and the -bloody monarchy now dragging out its last few days.”</p> - -<p>Such was the situation when, on November 21st I landed at the -revolutionary little port of Reval, and went on to St. Petersburg by -the first train which had run since the strike ended.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER I<br /> -<span class="subhed">THE STRIKE COMMITTEE</span></h2></div> - -<p>Away in the western quarter of St. Petersburg, at some distance from -the fashionable centre, stands a rather decrepit hall of debased -classic. In England one would have put it down to George II.’s time, -but in St. Petersburg everything looks fifty years older than it is, -because fashions used to travel slowly there from France. Among the -faded gilding of stucco pilasters and allegorical emblems of the -virtues and the arts, are hung the obscure portraits of long-forgotten -men—philosophers, governors, and generals—who were of importance -enough in their day to be painted for the remembrance of posterity. -Glaringly fresh among the others hangs the portrait of the hesitating -gentleman whom the accident of birth has left Autocrat of Russia, -whether he likes it or not. The hall was dedicated to the discussion -of “Free Economics” by some scientific body, but never before had -economics been discussed there with such freedom as during those -November nights when the Central Strike Committee, or Council of Labour -Delegates, chose it for their meetings.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span></p> - -<p>Admission was by ticket only, and I obtained mine from a revolutionary -compositor, hairy as John the Baptist, and as expectant of a glory to -be revealed. On the first night that I went, the big chamber, with its -ante-room half separated by plaster columns, was crowded with working -people. So was the entrance hall, where goloshes are left, in Russian -fashion, so that the floors may not be dirtied. Some of the men wore -the ordinary dingy clothes of English or European factory-hands, making -all as like as earwigs. Some had come dressed in the national pink -shirt, with embroidered flowers or patterns down the front and round -the collar. But most wore the common Russian blouse of dark brown -canvas, buttoned up close to the neck, and gathered round the waist by -a leather belt.</p> - -<p>Many women were there, too, but as a rule they were not working women -from the mills. Some may have been artisans or the wives of artisans, -but most were evidently journalists, doctors, or students, from the -intellectual middle classes, which in Russia produces the woman -revolutionist—the woman who has played so fine a part in the long -struggle of the past, and was now elated above human happiness by -the hope of victory. For Russian women enjoy a working equality and -comradeship with men, whether in martyrdom or in triumph, such as no -other nation has yet realized.</p> - -<p>The workmen were delegates from the various<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span> trades of the capital -and some of the provinces—railway men, textile hands, iron workers, -timber workers, and others. About five hundred of them had been chosen, -and each delegate represented about five hundred other workers. But -round the long green table in the middle of that decrepit hall, under -the eyes of the hesitating little Tsar’s portrait, sat the chosen few -whom the delegates had appointed as their executive committee. Between -twenty and thirty of them were there—men of a rather intellectual type -among workers, a little raised above the average, either by education -or natural power. A few wore some kind of collar, a few showed the -finest type of Russian head—the strong, square forehead and chin, the -thoughtful and melancholy eyes, the straight nose, not very broad, and -the dense masses of long hair all standing on end. A few seemed to be -bred just a trifle too fine for their work, as dog-fanciers say. There -they sat and spoke and listened—the members of that Strike Committee -which had won fame in a month—just a handful of unarmed and unlearned -men, who had shaken the strongest and most pitiless despotism in the -world.</p> - -<p>In the middle, along one side of the table, was their president, the -compositor Khroustoloff—or Nosar, as his real name was—a man of about -thirty-five, pale, grey-eyed, with long fair hair, not a strong-looking -man, but worn with excitement and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> sleeplessness. For there was no time -now for human needs, and his edge of collar was crumpled and twisted -like an old rag. Yet he controlled an excited and inexperienced meeting -with temper and ease, showing sometimes a sudden flicker of laughter -for which there is very little room in Russian life. Neither for -sleep, nor human needs, nor laughter, was there time, but in front of -Khroustoloff and of all those men lay the prison or the grave, and in -them there is always time enough.</p> - -<p>That night, as long as I was there, the meeting was occupied with the -discussion of the eight-hours’ day. One of the executive read out -the reports received from all the factories represented by delegates -as to the hours of labour at present. In some cases, the masters had -conceded an eight-hours’ day after the first strike. In others, they -had come down to nine, in others to ten. Most had absolutely refused a -reduction. These reports, though monotonous and many, were listened to -with the silence that characterizes a Russian meeting. It was broken -only now and then by a little laughter or a murmur of anger. I have -never heard a Russian speaker interrupted even by applause.</p> - -<p>The evening before I had attended a meeting where a dull but deserving -speaker, to whom no one wanted to listen, went on for an hour and -twenty minutes in a silence like an African forest’s, with only -an occasional whisper of breezy dresses<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span> as the audience changed -their position at the end of some uninteresting clause. Ages of -dumb suffering have given these people the interminable patience of -mountains, and a public meeting is so new to them that they find a -fearful pleasure in speeches which our free-born electors would howl -down in three minutes. Any meeting of British trade-unionists would -have polished off the Strike Committee’s business in an hour, but when -I came away, though it was past two in the morning and the meeting had -begun at six in the afternoon, the discussion was still proceeding -with healthy vigour, and there were plenty of other subjects of equal -importance still to be settled. The Committee, in fact, sat almost in -permanence night and day.</p> - -<p>As soon as the reports were all read, the executive gathered up -their papers and adjourned into an upper room to consider their -decision. During their absence, the other delegates broke up into -groups according to trades, for the discussion of their own affairs. -Standing on a chair, a man would shout, “Weavers, this way, please!” -“Engineers, here!” or “Railway-men, this way!” and the various workers -clustered round in swarms. A fine hum of business arose, and a buzz -of conversation with outbursts of laughter too, for all spirits still -were high with success and the confidence of victory. At last, as -the executive remained over an hour in conference, a yellow-haired -young workman<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> with a voice like the Last Trumpet, raised the Russian -“Marseillaise,” and in a moment the room was sounding to the hymn of -freedom. Russian words—rather vague and rhetorical words—have been -set to the old French tune, and even the tune has been altered at the -end of the chorus, to make room for the words, “Forward, forward, -forward!” which come in suddenly, like the beating of a drum. It was -sung in all the streets of all the cities, but I heard it first in the -midst of German territory, upon the Kiel canal. For as I was coming -over, the only passenger upon the Russian boat, we met an emigrant ship -bound for the refuge of freedom, as England still was at that time, and -at the sight of our Russian flag the emigrants all burst into the song, -the men waving their hats and the women their babes in defiance.</p> - -<p>After the “Marseillaise,” the workmen turned to national songs, one -of which was almost as magnificent, and was touched with the immense -sorrow of Russia. All had one burden—the hatred of tyrants, the love -of freedom, the willingness to die for her sake. To us, such phrases -have come to bear an unreal and antiquated sound, for it is many -centuries since England enjoyed a real tyranny, and the long comfort -of freedom has made us slack and indifferent to evil. But in Russia -both tyranny and revolt are genuine and alive, and at any moment a man -or woman may be called upon to prove how far the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> love of freedom will -really take them on the road to death.</p> - -<p>A few days before this workmen’s meeting, I had been at an assembly -of the educated classes to protest against capital punishment. One -speaker—a professor of famous learning—was worn and twisted by long -years of Siberian exile. He was the worst speaker present, but it -was he who received the deep thunder of applause. Another had, with -Russian melancholy, devoted his life to compiling an immense history of -assassination by the State. Before he began to speak, he announced that -he was going to read the list of those who had been executed for their -love of freedom since the time of Nicholas I. Instantly the whole great -audience rose in silence and remained standing in silence while a man -might count a hundred. It was as when a regiment drinks in silence to -fallen comrades. But few regiments have fought for a cause so noble, -and few for a cause in which the survivors still ran so great a risk.</p> - -<p>The executive returned from their consultation, and at once the -meeting was quiet. President Khroustoloff, in a clear and reasonable -statement, announced that, in the opinion of the executive, a fresh -general strike on the eight-hours’ question would at present be a -mistake. The eight-hours’ day was an ideal to be kept before them; -they must allow no master who had once granted it to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span> go back on his -word; they must urge the others forward, little by little, and in the -meanwhile organize and combine till they could confront both capitalism -and autocracy with assurance. Another member of the executive spoke -in support of this decision, and then the delegates of the opposite -party had their turn. It was the old difference between the responsible -opportunist, who takes what he can get, and the man of the ideal, who -will take nothing if he cannot have all. The idealists pointed to -the evident intention of Witte’s Government to thwart the workmen’s -advance. They pointed, with good reason, to the gradual renewal of -police persecution during the last few days, and to the encouragement -given to masters who declared a lock-out. They urged that it was best -to fight before the common enemy regained his full power, and that -the general strike, so efficient before, was still the only weapon -the workmen had. It was all true. Yet the recent strike had almost -failed, and it was just because a general strike was the workmen’s only -weapon that it should be sparingly used. A second failure within a -fortnight would show the Government that freedom’s only weapon was not -so dangerous after all. In the end the executive had its way; they were -supported by three hundred votes against twenty; and there could be no -question of the wisdom. The weapon of a general strike is too powerful<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span> -to be brought out, except for some special and all-important crisis. It -is like an ancient king, more feared when little seen.</p> - -<p>Freedom at that moment was just hanging in the balance. One almost -heard the grating of the scales as very slowly the balance began to -swing back again. Already things were not quite so hopeful as they had -been, and many good revolutionists spoke of the future with foreboding. -The first fine rapture of liberty was over, and people who had eagerly -proclaimed themselves Liberals three weeks before, now began to feel in -their pockets, to hesitate and look round. In subdued whispers commerce -sighed for Trepoff back again, and the ancient security of a merchant’s -goods. They pretended terror of peasant outbreaks, and the violence of -“Black Hundred” mobs, organized by the police just to show the dangers -of reform. But it was reform itself that they dreaded, and the name of -Socialism was more terrible to them than the tyranny.</p> - -<p>Day by day the police were becoming active again. As family men with -a stake in the country, they could not be expected to see their -occupation taken from them without a struggle. They had the same -interest in the ancient <i>régime</i> as the Russian aristocracy in -Paris or Cannes; and for their livelihood the misery of the people was -equally essential. Whenever they dared, they planted themselves in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> -front of the doors and drove the audience away from a meeting; and -the audience had to go, for except to bombs and revolvers there was -no appeal. Every day I watched the police hounding groups of tattered -and starving peasants or workmen along the streets, because they had -ventured to come to St. Petersburg without passports, and had to be -imprisoned till a luggage train could take them back to their starving -homes. In spite of the manifesto, the censor of the post-office was -active again. It is a terrible thing for a civil servant to feel that -his work does not justify his pay. So the censor blacked out a cartoon -in <i>Punch</i> representing the Tsar as hesitating between good and -evil, and then he felt he could look the world in the face.</p> - -<p>Already the people recognized that as yet they had no guarantee of -freedom. As long as the Oligarchs controlled the police and the army, -freedom existed only on sufferance. No one knew what the army would do, -and no one knew what the fighting power of the revolution was. Those -unknown factors alone terrified the Oligarchs into reform. But all the -promises were only bits of paper. It had long been proved that the -Tsar’s word went for nothing. At the birth of his son he had abolished -flogging, but the taxes had been “flogged out” of the peasants just as -before. Manifesto after manifesto had been issued without the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> least -result, beyond winning the applause of an English writer or two. So -far the Tsar’s pledges of reform had been no more effectual than his -Conference of Peace and he could only become harmless if he had no -power to harm.</p> - -<p>Yet the outward appearance of freedom surpassed all hope and -imagination. Nothing like this had ever been seen in Russia before. -Newspapers dared to tell the truth. Meetings were held which a few -weeks before would have sent every speaker to the cells. The Poles -gathered in a great assembly demanding the overthrow of absolutism and -solidarity for the revolution among all the states of the Empire. Women -and children taunted the patrols of Guards and Cossacks as they rode -the streets. Ladies threw open their nice clean rooms for workmen to -meet in. The students’ restaurants hummed with liberty. The air sounded -with the “Marseillaise.”</p> - -<p>“In Russia now, everybody thinks,” said a revolutionist to me, “and -where people think, liberty must come.” Thought and liberty were to -bring him death in a few weeks, but for the moment it seemed impossible -that any reaction could bring the old order back. All the king’s -horses and all the king’s men could not restore that ancient tyranny. -The spring of freedom had come slowly up that way, but at last it was -greeted as certain, and so it seemed to me when in the darkness of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> -early morning I left that workmen’s meeting still hot with discussion -in the mouldering hall, and tramped home through slush and thawing -snow, watching the rough floes of drifting ice as they settled down -into their winter places upon the Neva.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER II<br /> -<span class="subhed">THE WORKMEN’S HOME</span></h2></div> - -<p>The Schlüsselburg road runs nearly all the way beside the great stream -of the Neva, which was still pouring down in flood in those November -days, though it sounded incessantly with the whisper of floating ice. -The road leads from St. Petersburg along the whole course of the -river up to that ill-omened fortress in the Ladoga lake, where so -many of the martyrs of freedom have enjoyed the imprisonment or death -with which Russia rewards greatness. For six or seven miles the road -passes through a series of villages, now united into one long and -squalid street, inseparable from the city, though only a few hundred -yards behind the mills and workmen’s dwellings lie flat fields, and -woods, and dull but open country. This is the largest manufacturing -district of the capital. Its factories had already become historic with -bloodshed, and it was here that the workmen’s party was organized, and -the Council of Labour Delegates first formed.</p> - -<p>The mills stand on both sides of the river, but as a rule the -work-people live on the south or left<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> bank, where the road runs; for -there is no passable road on the other side. In summer they pay a -farthing toll to steam ferry-boats. In winter they walk across the ice -to work, guided by little rows of Christmas trees stuck on the ice, as -is the Russian way. But between whiles, twice a year, there come a few -days when they cannot go to work at all. Those days ought to have come -by the time I visited the region first, but the frost was late.</p> - -<p>Everything was strange that year. For months together no work had -been done, and though some of the mills had just re-opened after the -second general strike, the road was crowded with shabby men and women, -who gathered at the corners, or trampled up and down in the filth, or -sat stewing in the dirty tea-rooms, quieting their hunger with drink. -Fully 60,000 of them were out of work, for in answer to the strike many -masters had declared a lock-out.</p> - -<p>Backwards and forwards among them marched little sections of six or -seven soldiers, their bayonets fixed, their rifles loaded, their warm -brown overcoats paid for by the work-people and the peasants. Groups -of four or five Cossacks clattered to and fro with carbine and sword, -while on the saddle, ready to the right hand, hung the terrible nagaika -or Cossack whip, paid for by the work-people and the peasants. It is -heavy and solid, with twisted hide, like a short and thicker sjambok; -at the butt is a loop for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> wrist, and near the end of the lash a -jagged lump of lead is firmly tied into the strands. When a Cossack -rises in his stirrups to strike, he can break a skull right open, and -any ordinary blow will slit a face from brow to chin, and cripple a -woman or child for life.</p> - -<p>The Manifesto had not changed the Cossack nature. A week before, at a -workmen’s meeting held to discuss the strike, it was proposed to stop -the steam trams which run along the road. But the Cossacks had received -orders not to allow the trams to be stopped. So down they trotted to -the meeting; a pistol shot is said to have been heard somewhere in the -darkness, and in a moment the horses were plunging through the midst -of a confused and helpless crowd, while swords and nagaikas hewed the -people down. The number of killed and wounded was variously given, as -is usual in massacres.</p> - -<p>On one of my later visits down the road, I became acquainted with a -man who had survived a scene even more terrible. As a small patrol of -Cossacks was riding by, a little boy of eight, who had come to the mill -with his mother, shook his tiny fist at them from a window. By command -of their officer, the men rode into the mill yard, dismounted, entered -the machinery rooms, bayoneted the child, and began firing at random -upon the people at their work. Eight were killed where they stood. -The man who told me of the deed escaped<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> through a side door, and hid -himself under the boilers till the soldiers rode away elated with -victory. Then the workmen dragged out the dead, and the boy’s body was -given to his mother.</p> - -<p>Tired of being slaughtered like fowls, the workmen themselves were -collecting arms, and had organized a kind of volunteer service, or -“militia,” as they called it. Armed groups crept through the fields and -back lanes from one point of vantage to another. Even in the daytime, -firing was common in the streets, and almost every night the workmen -met the soldiers in sharp encounter. The factories, whether at work or -not, were all guarded by sentries inside and out. The Alexandrovsky -ironworks, which belong to Government, and had been shut down the day -before I was there, were at once filled with troops, and the hands, -some five thousand in number, remained outside to increase the shabby -and indignant crowd upon the street.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p0401_ill" style="max-width: 446px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p0401_ill.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 p-left xs"><i>Art Reproduction Co.</i></p> - <p class="p0 center sm">AN AUTUMN IDYLL.</p> - <p class="p0 p-left sm">From <i>Sulphur</i> (<i>Jupel</i>).</p> - </div> - -<p>The ironworkers were the best paid of all the workmen in the district. -The works are in an old red-brick factory, built originally for making -guns, but long used for the locomotives on the straight line from St. -Petersburg to Moscow. Many charming personages in Russian society had -justly regarded that factory as the source of human happiness. But in -their trepidation to enjoy, they had neglected the fount of enjoyment, -and the place had long been sliding down to ruin. Already it was much -cheaper <span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>to buy new locomotives from Germany, Belgium, or Zurich, in -spite of the high tariff, than even to repair the old engines here. At -last, I suppose, just the one inevitable day had come when the thing -became too ludicrous even for a Government’s methods of industry. The -gates were shut, and the five thousand hands turned out to meditate on -the source of human happiness.</p> - -<p>It was thought at the time that, like the master of finesse who pays -his tailor by ordering more clothes, the management would open again -soon, because one per cent. of the wages had always been stopped for a -pension fund. This fund was estimated at something like £2,000,000, and -the Government might well prefer to go on paying out several thousands -a year in dead loss rather than be called upon for a solid £2,000,000 -when nothing more could be flogged out of the starving peasants, and -France was beginning to look twice at a sou before lending it. What -happened in the end I did not hear, but I passed down that road some -months later, and the works were still shut up.</p> - -<p>Other mills, which did not rest upon State credit (that is to say, -on drink and the flogging of peasants), and were struggling not to -keep shut, but to keep open, were naturally in a different position. -There are cotton mills, wool mills, paper mills, and candle mills -along the river, many of them run by English capital, and managed by -English overseers. In most<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> of the textile mills, the machinery is -also English, this being almost the only import in which England still -rivals Germany. There is a greater spaciousness about the buildings -and yards than in England, due, I suppose, to the cheapness of land; -though, in fact, our old economic theories of rent are valueless here, -for, in spite of the vast extent of uncultivated land in Russia, the -rents in the capital towns are far higher than in London. But, apart -from this spaciousness and a certain easy-going slackness in the -labour, one might imagine one’s self in a Lancashire or Yorkshire mill. -It was in mills like these that the labour questions arose which were -really the causes of the strike that shook the Russian despotism. Of -course, political questions came in—the war scandals, the demands for -home rule, amnesty, universal suffrage, and a constituent assembly. But -a revolution, like a war, goes upon its belly, and it is difficult to -get working men to move if they are fairly content with their food and -lodging. It is still more difficult to get working women to move.</p> - -<p>Till ten years ago the hours in these mills were seventy-five a week, -or twelve and a half a day, not counting the dinner hours. They then -fell to sixty-seven, and the strike of last October brought them down -to sixty-two and a half. For the first week of November (just after the -manifesto), the hands proclaimed an eight-hours’ day, and walked out -of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span> the mills when the time was up. After a week of that, the managers -shut the gates, preferring to pay the hands the fortnight’s wages to -which they are entitled on dismissal, and then to let the mills stand -idle. About a fortnight later, the textile managers agreed to come down -to sixty and a half hours a week, and on that arrangement the hands -came in again. Thus in ten years the workmen had reduced their hours by -nearly fifteen a week, and seven of these had been knocked off in two -months, simply by combination in strikes. As I said, the general strike -is a powerful weapon, though, unhappily, dangerous to those who use it.</p> - -<p>At the time there was a general opinion that a nine-hours’ day would -be enforced by an Imperial ukase. Even the employers believed it, -and looked forward to making up the loss by increased duties on -imports, and higher prices for their goods. The workmen would probably -acquiesce, for a strike falls most heavily on themselves, and under the -Russian factory laws any one who incites to a strike or joins in it may -be imprisoned for four to eight months. Till December, 1904, all trade -unions and meetings of workmen were also illegal. During his period of -ill-omened power, Plehve had affected to encourage meetings in this -very district, but his sole object was to ascertain who were the real -leaders among the people, and who were the best speakers. When that was -known, in the middle of the night, knocking<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> would be heard at a man’s -door. He would open it to a group of soldiers or police, and from that -moment he disappeared, spirited away, no one knew where. It was the -Government’s method of protecting vested interests.</p> - -<p>Wages nearly always go by piecework, and they vary according to skill. -In the cotton mills a man may earn anything between 15<i>d.</i> and -4<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i> a day, and a woman between 10<i>d.</i> and -2<i>s.</i> 4½<i>d.</i> In the woollen mills a weaver makes about -3<i>s.</i> 5<i>d</i>. a day, and he has two assistants (generally -girls) who make from 1<i>s.</i> 10<i>d.</i> to 2<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i> -each. The ironworkers, as I said, get a rather higher wage, but the -maximum, I think, in no case is over 30<i>s.</i> a week, and I doubt if -the average, including women and girls, is over 15<i>s.</i></p> - -<p>The mere amount of money in wages is unimportant. A handful of bay-salt -or three yards of cheap cotton may be good wages to an African native. -All depends on what the payment can buy and what work it represents, -and I am inclined to think from what 1 have seen in many lands that in -reality the wage of the working class is much the same all the world -over. The standard of tolerable existence certainly varies a little, -but the wage is always regulated by the lowest standard that will be -endured. Wherever I have consulted an overseer or mill-owner as to -the standard of living in Russia, he has almost always told me that I -must<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> not judge by English ideas, “because the people here are quite -satisfied with black bread and cucumbers.” By cucumbers he meant the -small pickled gherkins in barrels, such as form one peculiar ingredient -in the smell of Petticoat Lane. At the same time all English overseers -were agreed that the Russian workman’s standard of work is far lower -than the English. A Russian will mind only two looms, they told me, -where an Englishman will mind four or even six. It had not occurred to -them that there might be some connection between the standard of food -and the standard of work, nor, indeed, did that concern them much, for -in the end they obtained about the same amount of work for the same -amount of wage.</p> - -<p>When I became more acquainted with the work-people’s life and had -been into several of their homes, I found that, as long as they were -in work, most of them had soup every day, because bad meat was cheap. -Beyond the soup, black bread was the duty, pickled cucumber the -pleasure; and the drink was almost unlimited tea—very weak and without -milk, but syruppy with sugar—varied by an occasional debauch on the -State’s vodka, which pays the greater part of the tyranny’s expenses.</p> - -<p>On the Schlüsselburg road the work-people live in wooden huts built up -wandering courts or lanes off the main street. I have not seen a family -occupying more than one room. If they rent two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> or three, they sub-let. -A room costs from 15<i>s.</i> to 22<i>s.</i> a month, and the larger -rooms are usually divided between two or more families. In some cases -each of the four corners is occupied by a different family, separated -by shawls or strings, and dwelling as though in tents, as used to be -the fashion in the East End. Till quite lately a very large proportion -of the work-people lived in special barracks built for them inside -the mills, but during that year of strikes most of the overseers had -cleared their work-people out because they were dangerously near to -themselves and the machinery, and I did not see the “living-in” system -really at work till I got to Moscow, where it was still general, though -probably soon to disappear.</p> - -<p>In the work-people’s rooms there was hardly ever any furniture beyond -the bed, the table, some stools, and a chest for clothes. I never -saw washing things of any kind. Even in winter the family clothes -are washed in the river, the women cutting square holes in the ice -and dipping the clothes into the water below. As to the people, in -accordance with the one salutary rubric of the Orthodox Church, all men -(I am not quite sure about women) must wash before they go to service. -In preparation for this sacred duty, they pay a few pence at the public -baths, sluice themselves down with hot water, and then lie steaming on -shelves, brushing their skin with branches of birch. The effect is very -satisfactory, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> the Russians as a whole are a cleanly people, both -in themselves and their houses, compared to ourselves.</p> - -<p>The work-people have the further advantage of twenty-three -ecclesiastical holidays in the year, not counting Sundays, and the -masters are obliged to provide a hospital or to pay for medical -assistance, even for women with child. In an English mill across the -river, a clubroom for lectures, concerts, and amusements had just been -erected, but the revolution had arrested culture of that kind. It had -also arrested football, which was just becoming popular. Cricket had -been tried, but was found too mysterious and pedantic, too much like -the British Constitution with all its growths and precedents. The only -native amusements that I could find were cards, knucklebones, and -the fortnightly debauch in vodka when the wages are paid. But at the -time of my first visit, there was some chance that the vodka would be -dropped, for on the previous Sunday night the Strike Committee had -decided that the work-people should for the present give up spirits, -tobacco, and other Government monopolies, not for abstinence but to -deprive the Government of revenue. The truly Nationalist party has -urged the same course in Ireland.</p> - -<p>There is one peculiarity which complicates the Russian labour question. -Some of the work-people have now lost all connection with the land, -but a great majority are still bound by the closest links of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> duty -and affection to their village, and to the little strips of earth -which have been allotted to their family. Probably most of the hands -in any mill have come there in hopes of paying the taxes on the land, -and keeping the family alive in the starving village at home. Between -the village and the factory they are continually passing to and fro. -Sometimes as many as half the hands in a mill will set off to their -villages during the year, and come back again. I have seen the books of -one factory, employing nearly 2000 hands, from which over 1000 had gone -and returned. If a working son on the land is called to the army, a -mill hand walks away to take his place. If labour is short at harvest, -they go. If the village community is re-dividing the land, they go. The -father of the house at home can always send for them, and they go. It -comes of that touching passion for the land which is the great motive -of the Russian people. Mercilessly robbed as they have been, nothing -has yet induced them to believe that land can belong to Tsar, or -Prince, or idle proprietor. Land, they say, cannot belong to people who -do not work it; of course it cannot. The land belongs to the peasants. -If only the good Tsar know what the people suffer because their land is -kept from them, he would give it them back. As Stepniak said long ago, -that simple faith is one of the tragedies of Russian life.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span></p> - -<p class="smcap center p2">Diary of Events</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>On November 20th, a Peasant’s Congress met at Moscow. There -were 300 delegates including several women. Their main demands -were for a Constituent Assembly and Nationalization of the -land. Sixty followers of Tolstoy were present, and most of -the delegates spoke for revolution by peaceful means. Yet on -November 27th they were all arrested.</p> - -<p>On November 26th, a serious mutiny broke out in the army and -fleet at Sevastopol, under the leadership of Lieutenant Schmidt, -who had already been expelled from the navy as a Socialist. For -a few days the Government suffered panic, but the mutiny was put -down without much difficulty.</p> - -<p>On November 28th, the post and telegraph hands struck at Moscow -for the right of union. The strike extended through the service -and paralysed business and Government action. The average wage -of the assistants was £5 a month.</p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER III<br /> -<span class="subhed">FATHER GAPON AGAIN</span></h2></div> - -<p>The morning of December 4th was damp and misty, but from an early hour -crowds of working people were standing in the slushy snow outside -the queer old arrangement of two or three huge sheds which is known -as “Salt Town.” It is across the Fontanka canal from the School of -Engineers, not very far from the two churches that commemorate the -murder of two Tsars. I suppose it has been used at some time or other -as a depôt for a Government salt monopoly, and so received its name. In -ordinary peaceful years, it now serves as a suitable place for military -lectures and engineering experiments such as trained the Russian -officers for their overwhelming defeats. But in the stir of revolution, -popular meetings of every kind assembled there, because its gaunt white -walls and iron roofs would hold such large crowds of work-people under -cover, and it supplied accommodation for the coats and goloshes of the -intellectual.</p> - -<p>I had already attended an immense all-night meeting there to denounce -the Government for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span> encouraging the priests and hooligans in their -slaughter of the Jews. That very morning of December 4th the school -teachers were assembled in one of the halls to discuss whether they -too should strike and claim the right of union. But the main interest -of the day was centred in the other large hall, where the followers -of Father Gapon—the men who had appealed in procession to the Tsar -himself on the 22nd of January before—were now gathering together -for the first time since that childlike appeal had been answered by -massacre.</p> - -<p>The meeting was called for ten o’clock in the morning, either to elude -the police or to save the expense of light. A Russian meeting is, I -think, very seldom less than an hour late, because the Russians are -by nature a courteous people, and it is obviously impolite to begin -before every one who wishes to come has had a chance of being in time. -But long before eleven there was not standing room for another soul, -and fifteen hundred men and women were waiting with that inexhaustible -Russian patience. Their pallid faces, many of them grim with hunger, -looked spectral under the dim twilight of a Russian morning, as I -watched them turned upwards in silence to the platform.</p> - -<p>Two whispered rumours were going round. One that the Social Democrats -intended to break up the meeting; the other, that Father Gapon was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> not -coming after all, and both rumours were almost unique among the rumours -I have heard in wars and revolutions, for both were true.</p> - -<p>At last the meeting was called upon to declare whom it would have -for chairman, and one great shout went up for “Barashoff.” I do not -know who Barashoff was, or how he had gained the confidence of the -work-people, but his election was at once taken to prove that the -Social Democrats present were comparatively few. He came forward—a -middle-aged, reddish-bearded man, with no apparent gift of voice or -influence—and I do not know what has become of him since, or what -prison received him. But there he stood beside me on the platform and -announced to the meeting that first they would sing the Hymn of the -Fallen, in honour to the victims of that Bloody Sunday when last they -had met together.</p> - -<p>The whole audience rose, and stood in absolute silence till some one -gave out the first note. The hymn consists of only one line, three -times repeated, and its only words are, “To their eternal memory.” Yet -all the church services I have heard were frivolous compared to it. -For it celebrated the martyrdom of men and women whom the worshippers -had known, and whose danger they had shared. I do not know what it is -that gives so profound a solemnity to Russian popular music, or how -it comes that a Russian crowd produces such a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span> deep volume of musical -sound. Perhaps there is an unconscious influence from the old Church -music, always so solemn and grave, so free from sentiment and tune. -More likely the nature of both arises from the monotonous unhappiness -of Russian life, the melancholy of long oppression, and the nearness of -death from day to day; at all events, it must have a different origin -from the comfortable and profane spirit that produces “A little bit off -the top” or “The old bull and bush.”</p> - -<p>When the hymn had been sung, we were definitely told that Father Gapon -would not be present, but had sent a letter, which was read. It called -upon the work-people to take courage again, and to set about rebuilding -the unions and clubs which had been destroyed by the massacre. While -the letter was being read, great excitement arose among the audience -because police spies had been discovered among the teachers’ conference -in the neighbouring hall. Spies, disguised as schoolmasters, disguised -as women! Teachers are not a militant race; should not the hard-handed -work-people flow over into the conference and protect the innocent -instructors of the coming State? It is spies that drive men crazed with -hatred, and even the reptile governments that use them shoot them. -That very morning the post and telegraph clerks had proclaimed that -they would never end their strike until the enormous system of spying -into letters, newspapers, and telegrams had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> been abolished. Of all -the methods by which a cowardly government can harass the people who -feed it, none is more despicable than the entanglement of espionage -with which it surrounds itself. But as to abolition, what would then -become of all those swarms of censors, blackers-out, interpreters, -letter-openers, secret police, cabdrivers, porters, and provocative -agents who seek their meat from Government? Will not all these men -struggle for existence like others, being human creatures, though no -one would suppose so? Or who will pay the rent of all those houses, -like that house beside the Moika Canal where muffled figures hang -carelessly about the doors, and sledges stop for no apparent reason, -and the men and women who come out have acquired the look of vultures?</p> - -<p>But for the moment the Government which feeds the vultures was afraid -for its own skin. The police and spies slunk out of the conference -without compulsion, and in the workmen’s meeting the five-minutes’ -speeches began. They went with that extraordinary dash and fire which -appear to be the common heritage of nearly all Russian speakers. How -they have managed to inherit such a power is one of the mysteries of -this mysterious revolution. In a land where public speaking has usually -been punished by exile or death, we find a whole race of orators. -Carlyle used to speak of a “great dumb Russia” with admiration, and -foretell a strange<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span> time when Russia found her voice. That autumn -she had found her voice, and certainly the time was strange. One -workman after another got up and said his brief say, without pause -or hesitation, inspired by that passion of conviction which only -unendurable wrong can give. A woman also spoke, with similar brevity -and power.</p> - -<p>The demands made in those little speeches of condensed flame and -rushing words were for rights which English workmen have long ago won -for themselves. The object of the meeting was to re-establish the -eleven unions of workmen which Father Gapon had instituted before the -massacre of last January. Such unions were hardly to be distinguished -from the trade unions of our country, and there was nothing in the -least Utopian or savage about the Gapon programme. His followers -refused even to call themselves a party. They had no newspaper as their -organ. The <i>Word</i> (<i>Slovo</i>), which had once most befriended -them, had lately gone over completely to the reaction. One of the most -applauded speakers at that morning’s meeting denounced the leaders who -urged the workmen to organize themselves into armed bands, whereas -knowledge, he said, must come before arms, and not battalions but -unions must be organized. Only one other purpose remained before the -meeting—to demand complete amnesty for Father Gapon and all political -offenders, especially for those who had taken<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> on themselves the -hateful task of political assassination in the time of darkness before -freedom appeared.</p> - -<p>From time to time a Social Democrat raised his arm and burst into a -violent and threatening speech against the meeting. Once there was a -deliberate attempt to empty the hall by a free fight, and the timid -began edging out at the doors, chiefly under the belief that the -yelling democrat who was denouncing the Gaponists was secretly an agent -of the police. It may have been so, but I think he was only a Social -Democrat insisting upon the creed by which alone the Marxists would -drive the world to salvation. This Catholic kind of Social Democrat is -often distinguished by a certain intolerance and pedantry which give -a power and consistency such as religious Catholicism has, but form a -barrier against wider sympathies and human freedom. “No salvation but -by us” is their motto, and when an erring meeting cries them down, they -feel defrauded of their right to redeem mankind.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, a speaker who brought greetings from the Belgian -Anarchists was politely listened to, though in the towns Russia has no -Anarchist party now. Tolstoy bears an honoured name such as Rousseau -bore in France, and his portrait is welcome in shop-windows; but among -revolutionists his Anarchism is too gentle, and his Christianism too -dull. Outside his own circle of disciples among the peasants, the flame -of his spirit<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span> may kindle many, but his actual followers are few. When -every one is remodelling the State with impassioned zeal, it seems -hardly opportune to raise the question whether it is not better to have -no State at all.</p> - -<p>The speeches were over by about one, and then the meeting split up into -groups to reorganize the unions. By an arrangement among one or two -friends, we left the Salt Town separately, and gradually reassembled in -a room above a little restaurant, some distance away. There we found -Father Gapon himself hiding from the police, with a bottle of beer -before him, and a few supporters at his side, rather obviously his -inferiors. At the time he was not afraid of political arrest. Probably -Durnovo himself would hardly have dared to strike at him then. But the -danger was that he might be handed over to the Church as a renegade -priest and imprisoned till death in some monastery for the good of his -soul.</p> - -<p>Outwardly there was little of the priest left about him then, unless -it was his evident want of the commonplace kinds of knowledge that -most people have. It was said that his stay in England that summer -had changed him so much that his own friends could not recognize him, -and he had been present at the meeting unobserved. But there was not -really much difference, except that he had cut his hair and beard like -ordinary men, and put on modern clothes instead of the survival of -classical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> raiment which most European priests prefer. The transparent -eyes of lightish brown, generally looking down or cast a little -sideways—these were the same. So were the nose and thin face, the -thin and delicately arched eyebrows, the thin hands and slight figure, -the blood just showing under the pale brown skin—a rare thing in a -Russian; and, indeed, both by name and race I believe he comes of a -Dnieper Cossack or, some say, a Greek stock. If the Russian police -cannot see these things, Scotland Yard could beat them. The outward -look seemed to reveal at once a delicate and sensitive nature rather -than strength of resolution or fire of purpose—one of those natures in -which we easily detect the child still lying hid beneath the maturity -of manhood. Something of a child’s craft, perhaps, lay there too, and -of a woman’s methods, unwilling to be hated or despised even by the -enemy. Equally childlike was that evident love of pleasure which made -him rejoice in Paris and London as in glorious bazaars where the toys -were all real things, and the dolls were living women, all made to -squeak and shut their eyes.</p> - -<p>Yet this was the man who struck the first blow at the heart of tyranny -and made the old monster sprawl. At first, perhaps, his heart was -simpler in its ignorance, and pleasure, being unknown, did not move -him. But when theorists condemned him for opportunism, as they did -daily, I remembered that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> he, at all events, knew the work-people in -their daily life and not as an abstract proletariat, and that he, at -all events, had accomplished something. It is much to be regretted, -but it sometimes happens that the opportunist is the only man who does -accomplish something.</p> - -<p>The conversation naturally ran upon the meeting, and upon a danger to -the movement that would very likely arise from the unbending attitude -of the Social Democrats, who with impracticable pride hated a Social -Revolutionary more than a Grand Duke, just as true Catholics enjoyed -burning a Protestant more than a pagan. To Father Gapon the great -danger before the country appeared to be the immense conflict between -the Social Democrats, representing the town work-people, and the host -of peasants, numbering over four-fifths of Russia’s population. But as -he spoke, warning voices were heard, a danger appeared before us all, -and suddenly the picturesque little figure had vanished, and the rest -of us were drinking beer over a sleepy game of cards, till with a yawn -we rose, and one by one made our way down the busy street.</p> - -<p>That afternoon Father Gapon escaped into Finland, and France swallowed -him for a time.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER IV<br /> -<span class="subhed">THE FREEDOM OF THE WORD</span></h2></div> - - -<p>In those happy weeks when freedom still was young and living, two -things ruled the country—speech and the strike, the word and the blow. -The strike was everywhere felt. No letter or telegram went or came. -Each town in Russia was isolated, and the whole Empire stood severed -from the world. Banks sent their money to Europe by special messengers, -like kings. Telegrams were carried a twenty-four hours’ journey to the -frontier. Almost every night I was down at the Warsaw station watching -the passengers, to see if any could be trusted to take a letter home. -When I travelled further into Russia, I organized an elaborate private -post by stages, engaging hotel-porters, students, lady-doctors, -tram-conductors, and barmaids in my service. On one occasion the scheme -worked with real success, and brought me a halfpenny paper which -cost me three pounds. Later I found it best to give my own letters -to Lancashire women, going home for safety—wives of the managers or -engineers in cotton-mills—and they posted them under their skirts.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span></p> - -<p>At St. Petersburg, the well-to-do classes, who were losing most by -the postal strike, made a heroic effort to assist the Government and -themselves. Having first seen that strong patrols of horse and foot -were stationed at all corners of the General Post Office, and at every -door, they organized a volunteer service of sorters among their own -number, and one saw elegant young men and white-haired gentlemen who -had passed an honoured existence in avoiding work, now struggling to -make out how it was done. Enthusiastic girls, in the prettiest of furs -and the smallest possible goloshes, hastened by eleven o’clock to -their stools in the stuffy office, and sat there till four, with the -self-sacrificing zeal of young ladies at a church bazaar. One must do -something for one’s country when the lower classes are giving so much -trouble. So with a smile and a flash of rings, they plunged into the -honest toil of sorting the stacks of letters which had been arriving by -half a million a day; and some of the letters reached the right address.</p> - -<p>Other strikes were of almost equal interest. In Moscow the cooks -struck, and paraded the streets with songs never heard in the -drawing-room. The waiters struck, and heavy proprietors lumbered about -with their own plates and dishes. The nursemaids struck for Sundays -out. The housemaids struck for rooms with windows, instead of cupboards -under the stairs, or sections from the water-closets.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span> Schoolboys -struck for more democratic masters and pleasanter lessons. Teachers -struck for higher pay and, I hope, for pleasanter pupils. All had -one’s sympathy, as all rebels necessarily have. There was a solidarity -about the grievances of all, and each movement proved how far the -revolutionary spirit had spread. The only danger was that the people -were making a good thing too common. The strike was the guillotine of -the Russian revolution in those days, and even the guillotine had once -been worked too hard.</p> - -<p>But at the back of the strikes and all the revolutionary movement -lay the motive force of speech. In Russia, even more than in other -countries, was seen the power of the creative word. A strain of -unwonted idealism has long been audible in all Russian literature, and -has led to the hope that when Russia’s hour came she would advance -on finer and higher lines than the more material and self-satisfied -peoples of Europe. The hour seemed now to have come, and the hope to be -justified. The people were drunken with ideas. After these centuries of -suppression, all Russia was revelling in a spiritual debauch of words. -Meetings were held almost every night. Entrance could only be gained by -ticket; but crowds fought at the doors to hear discussions on the first -principles of government, taxation, or law, just as eagerly as English -people fight for a place at a football match or an indecent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span> farce. To -Russians the power of the word was all so new and delightful. I myself -remember the first and only time I listened to a debate in the House -of Commons. It was the day when Mr. Wyndham was treading “with fairy -footstep” through the mazes of Irish statistics. I knew those mazes at -least as well as he did, but I have never heard anything so interesting -as that debate. And for Russians to listen to a man speaking was like -an escape from gaol.</p> - -<p>I had noticed it in the Strike Committee and in Gapon’s meetings. -Without practice or tradition in public speaking, Russia was suddenly -found to be a nation of orators. At all the meetings it was the -same: speaker after speaker rose, and not one of them faltered for a -moment. There was no muddle, or shyness, or hesitation—none of that -weary up-and-down cadence, like riding over ridge and furrow, none of -that harking back and beating round the bush for words to which our -sporting legislators of the shires have long accustomed us at home. In -some cases, no doubt, the speeches were dull; but often, even without -understanding a thousandth part of what was said, one could tell how -true an orator the speaker was from the breathlessness of his hearers, -from the feeling of diffused unity in the crowd, and from the deep gasp -of applause which greeted the end.</p> - -<p>The high level of thought in the speeches might<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span> be sneered at as an -idealist level by dull people who do not believe in ideas. But strength -was given to the speakers by the continual danger of the moment and the -reality of the horror waiting at the door. As though apologizing for -his impertinence in taking any part in such a mighty thing as politics, -a workman said humbly to me once: “I know nothing but the street, the -factory, and the prison. But I would die for the movement.” When his -turn came to speak, of course he spoke well. With such a training, he -could hardly fail to speak well; and as to law-making, his life was a -far more genuine preparation for it than English universities.</p> - -<p>There was a similar outburst in newspapers as in speeches. Hitherto -most Russian journalists who were not mere hirelings, writing in -support of the bureaucracy, had been obliged to work underground, or to -write abroad and trust to the ruses of war for a circulation in their -own country. During the six weeks after the Manifesto the change was -astonishing. For a time there was not a country, except England, where -the freedom of the press was so complete. A new paper appeared almost -every other day. Now and then a number or two would be confiscated, and -sometimes the paper would cease to appear for a while. The first and -most notorious case of this suspension was when a little satiric paper, -called <i>The Machine Gun</i> (<i>Pulemet</i>), printed a copy of the -Tsar’s manifesto with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> impression of a bloody hand stamped upon -it, and the superscription, “Signed and Sealed.” This was seized as -an insult to the dynasty. The editor was imprisoned, the price of the -cartoon went up from five farthings to almost as many pounds, and, when -the paper appeared again, its fame was established.</p> - -<p>But at the time a cartoon of that kind was mainly prophetic, and most -of the papers said what they pleased, and said it with seriousness and -self-restraint. Among the very best was the workmen’s little paper -called <i>The Russian Gazette</i>, sold at one farthing. It had been -started soon after Father Gapon’s petition, and since the Manifesto -only one number had been confiscated. Written in the common workman’s -language which all could understand, it had a very large circulation, -but its price kept the funds low, and its news from outside was small. -In politics it called itself Social Democratic, but being concerned at -first hand with the real workmen and their interests, it touched solid -ground, and its tone was the same as one heard at the meetings of the -labour delegates.</p> - -<p>Next in revolutionary influence came the <i>New Life</i> (<i>Novaya -Zhisn</i>), generally known as Maxim Gorky’s paper. He certainly -supplied the money and its general policy. Sometimes he wrote a -long letter or address in it, and his present wife, the actress of -his plays, was nominally editor. But,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> even when Gorky was in St. -Petersburg, which was very seldom, the paper was really conducted by -the poet Minsky and a few other Social Democrats of high education -and theoretic knowledge. The sternest and most official organ of that -sect, it followed Marx with doctrinaire exactness, and its teaching -was impeded by the stiffness and pedantry that characterize the -Social Democrats even in England. No one could question the skill and -enthusiasm of its attacks upon the oligarchy and capitalists, but it -often devoted more space to sour depreciation of other good Socialists -who doubted if Marx had said the last word in human history. It was -like a really clever staff officer who, on the morning of the battle, -goes from brigade to brigade telling the soldiers what fools all the -other officers have made of themselves, and what an immense disaster -will ensue if his own plan of attack is not adopted. So it often -happened that the truest friends of the movement were in despair at -the vanity and exclusiveness of the <i>New Life</i>, and irretrievable -opportunities passed by while its staff of editors were arranging the -future of humanity in neat little circles and squares, as though they -were the Creator and men were as obedient as the stars. If you work on -German first principles, you are likely to arrive at queer conclusions, -because mankind was not made in Germany. But still there was no denying -the paper’s honesty and zeal, nor<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> its great influence within its own -wide circle of well-disposed and intelligent people.</p> - -<p><i>The Son of the Country</i> (<i>Syn Otetchestva</i>) was an old -paper; it had been running off and on for nearly a century; but, since -the manifesto, it had become extreme in its Liberalism, and could be -grouped as a new paper among the Social Democratic organs. All Russians -admitted that it was particularly well written, and being far less -pedantic than the <i>New Life</i>, it was read by every advanced party -and promised to become one of the strongest papers of the revolution.</p> - -<p>While I was still in St. Petersburg, at the end of November, some of -the famous exiles, who had begun to return to Russia under the promised -amnesty, started a paper called the <i>Beginning</i> (<i>Natchalo</i>). -It was distinctly Social Democratic, and perhaps the leading spirit on -it was Vera Sassoulitch, who had failed in an attempt to assassinate -Trepoff’s father during the most gloomy period of tyranny, twenty -years before. She had returned from Geneva, old and grey and wrinkled, -but almost any night she was to be seen sitting out the revolutionary -meetings, talking, writing, or stitching with unflagging energy, and on -her face and in her pale grey eyes a fixed and beaming smile, as though -at the fulfilment of hopes for which she and so many others had been -willing to give their lives.</p> - -<p>Not definitely connected with social democracy,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span> but extreme in its -opposition to the Government, there was another new paper called <i>Our -Life</i> (<i>Nacha Zhisn</i>), which was started in September and at -once was recognized for its excellent news and management. It has since -increased its reputation, and become one of the leading papers in -Russia.</p> - -<p>But at that time perhaps the very best of all the papers, both for news -and leading articles, was <i>Russia</i> (<i>Russ</i>). It had been -founded three years before, but began to redate its numbers from the -Manifesto of October 30th. During the war, it won a reputation by an -overwhelming exposure of army scandals, and under the movement it was -almost universally read for its progressive policy and fearlessness of -speech. At the time, it was edited by one of the sons of Suvorin, the -famous editor of the <i>Novoe Vremya</i>. Such divergence of political -views must have strained the conversation at the family dinner-table, -and perhaps it was really a relief at home when the son was shut up in -prison, and the paper appeared under the new title of <i>Molva</i>.</p> - -<p>The two Jewish papers—the <i>News</i> (<i>Novosti</i>) and the -<i>Stock Exchange Gazette</i> (<i>Birshevza Viedomosti</i>)—were -both old, one being nearly the oldest paper in Russia, and the other -having run twenty-five years, but both had become very Progressive or -even revolutionary. For in Russia, Jews are inevitably revolutionists, -however much against their own nature, and the Stock Exchange paper was -one of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span> the most advanced political organs in the Empire, and had the -best news.</p> - -<p>At that time, two other Progressive papers had just been -started—<i>Dawn</i> (<i>Rassiojet</i>) and <i>Russia Renewed</i> -(<i>Obnovlionnaya Rossiu</i>), and at Moscow, Professor Miliukoff -was on the point of bringing out his new paper called <i>Life</i> -(<i>Zhisn</i>) of which I may speak later on. But there seemed no -end to the number of excellent journalists that Russia could supply, -just as there seemed no end to the number of excellent speakers. When -I think of that sudden outburst of talent, I remember the saying of -an Englishman who had lived thirty years in Russia and professed a -good-humoured contempt for the whole people from the Court to the -dustmen; “But unquestionably,” he always added, “they are the most -intelligent race in the world.” In reality, however, it was intensity -of conviction and present sense of wrong which converted those -inexperienced men into such effective writers and speakers. Where -conviction is sincere, habit and training are best away, just as -really sincere and original dramas should be performed only by actors -unhabituated to the stage.</p> - -<p>To oppose these battalions of progress, there were only three or four -journals on the reactionary side, and it is significant that none of -these were new and nearly all were subsidized. First came the <i>New -Time</i> (<i>Novoe Vremya</i>), almost the only Russian<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> paper which is -well known by name outside Russia. It is the <i>Times</i> of Russia, -steadily on the side of the Government, the reaction, and the moneyed -classes. Scornful of enthusiasm, deaf to every idea, incredulous of -every hope, always ready to impute the vilest motives to reform, it -stands like an impenetrable barrier on the road of human progress. -Proclaiming itself the champion of stability, and taking law and order -for its motto, and the price of funds for its test, it succeeds in -pleasing the financier and the official, and its cynical disregard of -humanity is matched by its unquestioned influence for evil. A certain -dignity of tone, combined with the excellence of its foreign news, has -given it a reputation for sobriety and truth, but against the rights of -freedom it is virulent in its animosity, and against a leader of the -people it will welcome any libel without reserve. To discover where -justice lies, one has but to take the opposite view to its own, and to -agree with it is a danger-signal that one’s sense of right has gone -astray. Yet in moments of deep indignation against some governmental -shame, it will affect the popular tone and act the reformer’s part with -whines and deprecations. The scandals of the Japanese war were too -flagrant even for its compliant worship of birth and rank, and after -the Manifesto had granted freedom of speech it began to demand that -freedom with righteous solicitude.</p> - -<p>On the same side, though inferior in skill and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span> reputation, stood -the <i>Citizen</i> (<i>Grashdanin</i>), heavily subsidized by the -Government, and possessing, it was said, a particular influence over -the Tsar’s perplexed little mind; and the <i>Petersburg News</i>, also -subsidized, but indignant none the less about the war scandals and the -Grand Dukes.</p> - -<p>Last of this group came the <i>Word</i> (<i>Slovo</i>), once famous for -its violent attacks upon errors in high places, and for its fearless -defence of freedom, especially on behalf of the Old Believers. But -after the Manifesto appeared, the tone of the paper changed, and -instead of joining like others in the joy of victory, it grew more and -more sullen and distrustful of progress. Whether money was the motive -of the change, as rumour said, I did not discover, but the paper’s -influence had to be counted among the reactionary forces, and it was a -strong paper.</p> - -<p>Even more significant than the printed daily papers were the -satiric and illustrated sheets, which appeared as suddenly and in -greater numbers. Perhaps the best managed and most constant was the -<i>Observer</i> (<i>Zritel</i>), but the <i>Signal</i> (same word in -Russian) was almost as good, and below them came the <i>Arrows</i> -(<i>Streli</i>) and the <i>Libel</i> (<i>Strekoza</i>). The -<i>Vampyre</i> (same word in Russian) came later, and so did the -<i>Sulphur</i> (<i>Jupel</i>), which was the most artistic of them -all, but so bloody and savage that it survived only three numbers. The -character of nearly all the cartoons was, indeed, bloody and savage -rather than<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> humorous. The satire was hardly ever kindly, as it has -become in England now that politics are so seldom a matter of life and -death. Sometimes, it is true, in those early weeks, Witte was treated -with a raillery that might be called gentle. He would be represented as -a cook trying in vain to make the dinner come right; or as a chemist -watching an empty bottle labelled “Constitution;” or as a brood hen -sitting on an egg with the same label; or as an old nurse cherishing -a sickly little figure; or as an acrobat balancing on a slack-rope, -while Trepoff held one end, and the red flags of the revolution surged -below; or as a cunning old tailor threading his needle to stitch up -the two-headed eagle, which lay dead or stuffed on his board, while -an inverted imperial diadem held the flat-iron, and the candle stood -in a vodka bottle representing Witte’s spirit monopoly. But as a rule -the design was far more savage, and the savagery grew as the reaction -became stronger, till after the Days of Moscow all the cartoons might -have been printed in blood, and most appeared in that colour. Then -we were shown the skeleton of death stalking through the devastated -streets, or the skeleton of hunger crawling upon the stage from the -flies, or the Kremlin floating in blood like an island, or Dubasoff -as butcher in a human meat-shop, or foul monsters brooding over -the corpses beneath the gallows of freedom. Right through its past -history, all Russian art that counts has been either horrible <span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span>or -melancholy—a thing of skeletons and vampires and desolation. The -subjects chosen by painters are cruel scenes from war or history, and -dreary views of the steppe. The subjects chosen by writers are almost -invariably sad. It is part of the unbroken melancholy which pervades -all Russian life, and is no less visible on the faces of the people -than in the sound of their music. And all this sorrow and savagery -and blood lie at the door of a Government which has kept the people -poor and depressed, exposed to the constant peril of the scourge, the -prison, and secret death.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p0721_ill" style="max-width: 592px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p0721_ill.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">WITTE AND THE CONSTITUTION.</p> - <p class="p0 center sm"><span class="smcap">Witte</span>: “I’ve bought a pipe, and now I can’t play it.”</p> - <p class="p0 p-left sm">From <i>Sprut</i>.</p> - </div> - -<p>On the reactionary side, I think, the only satiric paper was the -<i>Harlequin</i> (<i>Chout</i>) and though it was fairly clever, there -is an eternal law which forbids the service of satire or letters or any -other form of art to the enemies of freedom.</p> - -<p>The crowd of Liberal and revolutionary papers was but the visible -sign of a grace that took many forms. In reality, perhaps, there -were even more parties than papers, and certainly there were many -parties that had no paper to represent them. The Anarchists, as I have -shown already, could hardly be called a party, at all events in the -towns, and no paper was occupied with the abolition of the State as a -fetish, when all were insisting upon the strengthening of the State -as against the government of the few. But even such a large party as -the Social Revolutionists had no organ of their own. Next to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> -Social Democrats, they were the most powerful of the advanced parties. -Probably they were even more numerous, but their organization was not -so complete, and as they devoted themselves mainly to the peasants, -their voice was not so loud in cities. They were the Terrorists of the -time; they were what Europe confusedly calls the Anarchists, and it was -they who kept the agents of the Government in peril of their lives. Yet -they had no paper of their own.</p> - -<p>Neither had a large and growing party of the Left Centre, which we may -call the Radical as distinguished from the Socialists. They issued a -programme which nearly all the advanced parties would have accepted -when the time for business came. Like all the rest, they demanded -first a Constituent Assembly elected by universal suffrage, and beyond -that their ideal of the Russian State consisted in a single chamber, a -ministry chosen from the majority, home rule for Poland, Finland, the -Caucasus, and the Baltic Provinces, the right of referendum, separation -of Church and State, expropriation of Crown and Church lands and of -private estates beyond a fixed maximum, free education, and a general -militia for defence. Moderate as these demands were, nearly all the -revolutionists, except the more starchy among the Social Democrats, -would have been content to fight for them and welcome them with joy; -but the Radicals had no special organ for their views.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span></p> - -<p>As in all movements of intense and vital interest, the danger to reform -came from division. All were united in their final purpose, but as to -methods and strategy the divisions of parties were many and violent. It -was the same thing as in a restaurant of Polish students to which I was -often invited. There was a long, low room, furnished only with benches -and tables. At one end was a piano; at the other a counter where the -student could buy excellent meals at all hours of the day and night for -very small payment. Though the university had long been closed owing -to the disturbances, the place was always crowded with young men and -girls, living in perfect comradeship and much at their ease. One night, -a young girl, with clear grey eyes, a demure little face, and pale hair -tightly braided, was giving me a very satisfactory lecture in German -upon the minute distinctions between all the Polish parties. I heard -afterwards that in her zeal for knowledge, she had gained the necessary -passport to St. Petersburg by going through the form of marriage with -a student whom she had never seen since the ceremony. It is not an -unusual device, and I have known girl-students who have even taken “the -yellow ticket” as prostitutes in order to reach a university town.</p> - -<p>In the midst of her disquisition, she suddenly burst into an attack -upon two or three girls at another table who were suspected of -betraying true<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> comradeship by ordinary flirtation. “I suppose they -think themselves rather pretty,” she said, “but neither logically nor -psychologically do I understand their behaviour.” At that moment a few -notes sounded on the piano, and to distract her wrath I suggested she -should ask for some Polish music.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I couldn’t speak to that end of the room,” she replied; “the other -party has captured it, and the piano besides.”</p> - -<p>“But you hold the kitchen end,” I remarked consolingly.</p> - -<p>“I am sorry to say our possession is not exclusive,” she answered, with -a look that was bloodthirsty in its conviction of righteousness. Then -she took a shining revolver from her pocket, examined its action, said -good-bye to her friends, and stalked through the enemy’s camp without a -sign either of fear or pardon.</p> - -<p>She was herself a Social Democrat of the most attractive though -sternest type, and as such, she believed in international fraternity. -But “the other party” were Polish Revolutionists, or Democratic Poles, -or something just wrong, and they followed the old-fashioned faith of -nationality; and so the room was split by an invisible but impassable -barrier. To me it all seemed rather a pity, when I thought of the long -years of conflict which must pass before they reached the separating -point in their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span> ideals, and how few would live to see a single item in -their programme fulfilled. Yet I know that at the first note of the -revolution, Social Democrats, Polish Revolutionists, Democratic Poles, -flirtatious girls, and all would be ready to die together for Poland’s -freedom. And so probably they will have to die.</p> - -<p>It was the same throughout the length and breadth of Russia in those -happy weeks. Divisions are the evidences of life, and Russia was -seething with life like the world in the days of creation. But one -thought exhilarated all young and happy minds—the thought of liberty. -And if to a middle-aged man and a stranger in the country it was a joy -then to be alive, to the young and to the Russian it must indeed have -been very heaven.</p> - - -<p class="smcap center p2">Diary of Events</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p><i>December 6.</i>—General Sakharoff, who had succeeded -Kuropatkin as Minister of War, and had lately been appointed -Governor-General of the Saratoff district on the Volga, was shot -in his office at Saratoff by a woman, a Social Revolutionist, -who said, when she was arrested, “Now he can cause the peasants -no more suffering.”</p> - -<p><i>December 7.</i>—The Strike Committee (Central Labour -Committee in St. Petersburg) called on the work-people to -withdraw their money from the savings-banks. They rightly -believed that bankruptcy was the best way of overthrowing the -Government.</p> - -<p><i>December 9.</i>—Khroustoloff, the President of the Strike<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span> -Committee, and three other leading delegates were arrested at -the Printers’ Union and imprisoned.</p> - -<p>At this time severe fighting was renewed in the Caucasus between -the Tartars and Armenians.</p> - -<p>There was also a violent outbreak of revolution in Riga, and the -Letts of the three Baltic Provinces of Esthonia, Livonia, and -Courland, rose against the Government, and burnt some of the -country houses belonging to German landowners who had inherited -estates from the Teutonic Orders of Knight and other Prussian -conquerors in the Middle Ages.</p> - -<p><i>December 16.</i>—The Council of Workmen’s Delegates (Strike -Committee), combined with the Committee of the Peasants’ -Congress, the Committee of the Social Democratic Workmen’s -Party, and the Committee of the Social Revolutionists, issued -another manifesto on Government finance. The following extracts -show its tendency:—</p> - -<p>“The Government is on the verge of bankruptcy. With the capital -obtained by foreign loans, it has built railways and fleets -and fortresses, and supplied itself with arms. The foreign -sources of capital are now dried up. The Government orders have -ceased, and the merchants and factory-owners, accustomed to -enrich themselves at the expense of the State, are closing their -offices. No one is sure of the morrow.</p> - -<p>“The Government has wasted all the State revenues on the -army and the fleet. There are no schools, and the roads are -neglected. Troops throughout the country are disaffected, -impoverished, and hungry. The Government has robbed the State -savings-banks. The capital of small investors has been played -with on the Bourse. The gold reserve of the State Bank is -insignificant compared with the demands of the State loans and -commercial transactions.</p> - -<p>“The Government covers the interest on old loans by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span> contracting -new loans. Year by year it publishes false estimates of the -revenue and expenditure, so as to show a surplus instead of the -real deficit.</p> - -<p>“Only after the fall of the autocracy can a Constituent Assembly -put an end to this financial ruin. The national representatives -must then liquidate the debts as soon as possible.</p> - -<p>“There is but one way out of this abyss—the overthrow of the -Government, and the removal of its last weapon. We must take -from it the last source of its existence—its financial revenue.</p> - -<p>“The Government is issuing orders against the people as though -Russia were a conquered country. We have decided not to allow -the payment of debts contracted by the Tsar’s Government, since -it has openly waged war against the whole nation.</p> - -<p>“We call on you to withdraw your deposits from the savings -banks, and to refuse to pay taxes, or to take banknotes, or to -subscribe to loans.”</p> - -<p>This manifesto showed how clearly the leaders of the working -classes realized that the control of finance is the basis of -political power.</p> - -<p>The Government recognized it too, and took immediate measures.</p> - -<p>On the 14th the Tsar had proclaimed “his inflexible will to -realize with all possible speed the reforms he had granted.”</p> - -<p>On the 16th came a Government message denouncing “the groups who -are threatening the Government, society, and all the population -who do not share their views,” and threatening imprisonment -against all strikers and inciters to strike.</p> - -<p>That evening the hall of the Free Economic Society, which I -described in the first chapter, was surrounded by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> troops and -police. Three hundred men and women were arrested, and two -hundred and sixty-four of them were imprisoned, including twenty -of the Executive.</p> - -<p>At the same time the editors of all the papers which had -published the Committee’s manifesto were arrested, and their -papers suppressed. Of the leading dailies, only the reptile -<i>Novoe Vremya</i> continued to appear.</p> - -<p><i>December 18.</i>—An entirely new council and executive were -appointed for the Strike Committee, and at once they determined -on another general strike. “The Government has declared civil -war,” ran the decree, “and, as it wants war, it shall have it.”</p> - -<p>In the mean time, on December 8th, I had gone to Moscow, and it -was to Moscow that the centre of revolution now shifted. But -before I take up the narrative of the rising in that city, I -will describe a few days’ visit I made from there into the open -country and the villages where peasants live. The change in the -order of date is unimportant, and the story of Moscow can then -follow continuously.</p> -</div> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p080_ill1" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p080_ill1.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">PEASANT SLEDGES.</p> - </div> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p080_ill2" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p080_ill2.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">A PRIVATE SLEDGE.</p> - </div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER V<br /> -<span class="subhed">THE OPEN LAND</span></h2></div> - - -<p>Under the waning moon, before the dawn of a December day, I drove out -of the town of Toula in my tiny sledge—so close to the snow that -the great black horse with his high yoke looked monstrous in the -twilight. It is a typical Russian town, about a hundred miles south of -Moscow, and as nearly as possible in the centre of the country. Two -great roads cross each other there, and pass on to the points of the -compass. Oldish churches, surrounded by a fortified wall, make a kind -of Kremlin. Ancient houses conceal cavernous shops in the thickness -of their own walls. Across a wooden bridge stands the Government -small-arms factory, with workmen’s villages beyond. Strange figures in -filthy rags moved up and down, beggars and shaggy peasants, high-school -boys, and fur-capped girls. It has long been rather a revolutionary -little town, and during the strike, ten days before, nineteen workmen -had been shot upon the street.</p> - -<p>In spite of solemn warnings, I had come out from the cities to see -something of the country,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> having with difficulty induced a ruined -German-Russian to venture with me as interpreter, for the sake of -bread. As usual, the danger was nothing compared to the fear. What -danger there was in the villages came from the police agents and -officials, who hounded on the peasants with the cry that every stranger -was a revolutionist conspiring against the Tsar to rob them of God and -the land. For in those progressive days the police were dreading lest -they should lose their livelihood of flogging and brutality at fifteen -shillings a week.</p> - -<p>My road went uphill to a high and bare plain, over which the snow was -driven by the wind in showers so blinding that the horse kept turning -round and appealing to us as reasonable beings to return. Horizon, -road, and every mark were lost in whirling grey. But, after we had -struggled on for two or three hours, the snow ceased to fall, and the -wintry sun appeared low in the sky, making the distant ridges of the -wide country shine with pale crimson or gleam like a far-off sea. -Most of the land was bare and open ground, the snow blotting out the -“stripes” where the peasants grew their crops in summer. But as we went -further, lengths of forest came into view, looking brown at a distance, -though generally made up of young silver birch, their silky white stems -flecked with black. Birch woods supply the fuel of the country; next to -food, the first necessity of the peasant’s life. There was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span> some oak, -but very little fir or pine. The birch in this region is the favourite, -either because it grows best or burns best; and it is almost the only -fuel in Moscow.</p> - -<p>The peasants’ wooden sleighs passing to and fro bore loads of sawn -birch, dragged by miserable little ponies, so caked with mire that -their coats looked like a crocodile’s armour. At their side floundered -the peasants in sheepskin jackets, with the wool side turned inwards. -The jacket was gathered with a belt round the waist, and the skirt -stuck out all round, reaching to the knees. Then came the high -top-boots of felt or bast, rarely of leather. Men and women were not -to be distinguished, except that, instead of a cap, the women usually -wore a handkerchief or shawl knotted over head and ears. There was no -special grace about the costume; but even the rich ladies of Russian -cities find it hard to appear graceful when padded round with fur and -wool six or seven inches deep. At the best, they can only appear rich.</p> - -<p>Beside the road at one place stood a mouldering wooden inn -(<i>tractir</i>), where passers-by could get thawed and have a glass -of tea at three farthings. The owner of the estate, being something -of a philanthropist or a teetotaller for others, had forbidden beer -and spirits, so that the innkeeper was pale with anxiety how to pay -his £4 rent, to say nothing of the taxes. Should he borrow, and go to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> -ruin that way, or allow himself to be flogged to prove his poverty? I -suggested that times were changing, and flogging might cease, but he -only smiled with the politeness of superior knowledge. “No flogging, no -taxes,” was to him the law of government.</p> - -<p>In one corner hung three great icons, or holy pictures of the saints, -glittering with tin and brass—very different in size and expense from -the miniature icon which hangs in every bedroom of the wealthy Russian -hotels, as a kind of apology to God, like our grace at a City dinner. -Otherwise, there was no ornament in the house, except one of those -ill-omened iron mugs, for which the crowd crushed each other to death -on the coronation day of the present unhappy Tsar, nine years before, -when the plain of Khodinsky Polé, on the north-west outskirts of -Moscow, stood thick with suffocated peasants.</p> - -<p>I next passed a great smelting works, newly finished, its fine furnaces -and machinery never used, but already deserted and allowed to go -to ruin. I could not discover whose money had been devoted to this -characteristic fraud, or into whose pockets it had passed. Then came a -few small gardens and summer residences built on the Crown land; for -most of the land in that district is part of the Tsar’s vast estates, -amounting to a fortieth part of the whole of European Russia, not -counting the landed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span> property of the Imperial family. But all the -houses were deserted and empty, and one was burnt, and smouldered still.</p> - -<p>Driving further on, I came to a large country house, where one of the -ancient families of the Russian nobility was still living in the midst -of its own land. I happened to be bringing them letters from friends, -as the post was not working, and I found a house-party there, beguiling -the winter day with much the same occupations as a house-party in -England—doing embroidery, playing battledore with racquets and a -soft ball, pushing a marble up a kind of bagatelle-board, examining -their guns, and taking the dogs for walks in the woods. At a wandering -luncheon of various courses, they maintained a quiet converse, marked -by the gracious silliness, the “cheerful stoicism,” which is the -justification of the aristocrat’s existence.</p> - -<p>It was all a fine piece of self-reserve, for inwardly their mood was -serious and apprehensive. They had just heard that the country-house of -a friend and neighbour had been burnt to the ground by his peasants, -though the family had escaped with their lives. One of the ladies had a -son in the army, and they had just heard of a terrible riot and mutiny -in his garrison town. Another lady’s son had married a rich heiress, -and they had just heard that the three country residences of her -parents had been utterly destroyed by the peasants,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span> and now she was -rich no more. From every side came tales of loss and danger, and no one -could say what the end would be.</p> - -<p>For themselves, they were just waiting helplessly to see what would -happen. Polite, charming, highly educated, well dressed, healthy, fond -of sport and country life, full of good will and high intentions, -they were so like our own country squires and aristocracy at their -best—so like the people who used to be held up to us as the school -of manners and the producers of the fine old English stock—that only -the dreariest of Social Democrats could have refused them sympathy. -They were themselves fairly conscious of the absurdities in their own -position, but the only protest or complaint that they made was to -say they were getting a little tired of perpetual parallels between -themselves and the aristocrats of the French Revolution, whose heads -were cut off so rapidly.</p> - -<p>In the afternoon my sledge took me further into the unlimited and -desolate country, till at last we came to a village fairly typical of -that district—not a rich part of Russia nor yet so starving poor as -the famine provinces which lay close by it. The village was built in -one long street, with about forty separated cottages on each side. -A few of the cottages had bits of brick in the walls or round the -windows, but wood was almost the only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span> building material, and the -roofs, though sometimes of flat iron plates, painted green, were -generally thatched. In this particular village there was no school -and no church, but from the high ground above it I could see a church -about two miles off, and that, no doubt, was near enough. There were -two shops and an inn, all just like the other cottages. Each house had -a separate wattle shed near it, for fodder, stores, and perhaps to -shelter the beasts in summer. In winter they have to be brought into -the dwelling-house for warmth.</p> - -<p>By the invitation of a peasant I went into his cottage. The man was -rather above the ordinary type, being tall and straight. But he had -the thoughtful and quiet look of the average peasant, as well as the -long, dark hair and shaggy appearance. His wife was quite the usual -woman—short, ungainly, and possessing no visible beauty except, -perhaps, patience. On the faces of both was the green look of hunger, -almost invariable in the peasants I have seen. The outside door of the -house opened into the cattle-room, where a sickly cow was dragging out -the winter. There was room for a horse, but the people had been obliged -to sell their horse that autumn to pay the taxes and their debts to the -Koulak or village usurer. From the Koulak, too, I suppose, they would -borrow the money to hire another horse in the summer, as they said they -intended. For<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> no peasant can get through his work without a horse.</p> - -<p>A wooden partition separated the cattle from the dwelling-room, the -house being designed exactly like an Irish cabin, except that the -white brick construction of the stove projected on both sides of the -partition, thus warming the cow and the family both. As every one -knows, the peasant’s stove is a large and wonderful edifice, full of -mysterious holes and caverns for cooking and baking, and even for the -dry roasting process which serves the family as a bath. Close beside it -were two broad, wooden shelves on which the inmates slept—the parents -above, the five children underneath. There was no bedding of any kind, -except one worn coverlet or shawl on each shelf.</p> - -<p>The children had made their shelf into a day-nursery as well as a bed, -for they were all rolling about on it and biting each other, imagining -a game of wolf, I think, though wolves are not common there. All were -bare-legged, and quite naked but for loose red shirts reaching to their -knees. Of course, they went out sometimes, but there were not enough -clothes to send them all out together at once in winter. The furniture -of the home was a wooden box, which was the seat of honour, a short -bench, a table, and a small wooden loom, on the universal model of -primitive manufacture. Both man and woman could weave,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> and they were -making yards of a coarse stuff dyed with red madder, exactly the same -as the women make for their petticoats on Achill Island.</p> - -<p>Probably the loom brought in an important part of the family’s income, -for the sale of the horse showed that they could not live off the -land alone. Yet the man boasted that his bit of land, on which he -grew potatoes, oats, and rye, was his absolute property, and when I -tried to ask him whether the village community did not redistribute -his land with the rest every twelve years, as I had read in books, he -became very violent and showed no scientific interest at all in the -sociological importance of the Mir. The working of the Mir was the only -thing I thought I did understand when I came to Russia, and it was -disconcerting to find that the first peasant I spoke to had never heard -of such an arrangement. I still do not know what mistake he or I can -have made. He may have been only insisting on the peasant’s touching -faith that the land is the natural possession of the man who cultivates -it, and can never be taken from him, even by the Tsar. Anyhow, he was -terribly afraid that I had come to shake that belief in some way, and I -thought it best to turn the conversation to the cow.</p> - -<p>As to the Tsar’s recent promise to remit next year half the annual -payment still due to the Treasury for the original purchase of the -land, this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> peasant, in common, I believe, with all others, thought -nothing of it. To them the manifesto was so much “dirty paper.” They -knew very well that even if half were remitted, the Crown agents would -come down upon them for arrears. They also knew dimly that since the -liberation of the serfs more than forty years ago, the peasants have -paid the extreme value of the land twice over. So they have ceased to -concern themselves about any manifesto which does not surrender to them -the mass of land which they regard as rightfully theirs.</p> - -<p>While I was in the cottage, an old man came up with a canvas bag over -his shoulder, and knocked at the door. Though obviously in the sink of -poverty, he was not a professional beggar, but only one of that large -class of peasants who are driven by age or misfortune to go round the -villages and ask for scraps to keep them alive till better times. -Accordingly he came in as if for a friendly call, laid his bag on the -table with its mouth open, and joined in the conversation. When we were -going out again, the woman slipped some squares of black bread into -the bag as though by stealth, and he took it up and walked off without -further remark on either side. It was the perfection both of appeal and -kindliness.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p0901_ill1" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p0901_ill1.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">TOLSTOY’S HOME.</p> - </div> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p0901_ill2" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p0901_ill2.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">PEASANTS.</p> - </div> - -<p>At parting, I looked again at the peasant and his wife, in their clean -poverty, with the marks <span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span>of their almost passionate labour upon them -and their five children growing up round their knees, and certainly it -did seem incredible that these were just the people who are marched -off to the village police-court, are tied face downwards to a sloping -bench, have their clothes turned up, and are flogged with whips or -rods by officials and police because they cannot pay the taxes for the -Japanese war, or for the interest on the French loans.</p> - -<p>Yet, in the last resort, it is upon violence almost as brutalizing and -indecent that all Empires are founded, and I was all the more ready -to welcome what Tolstoy said to me next day, when he received me—as -generously as he receives every one—in his “Bright Home” (<i>Jasnaia -Poliana</i>) as the country-house is called. He told me that, among the -many other plans of work which he could not live to finish, he was then -engaged on a book to be called “The End of an Age.”</p> - -<p>“You are young and I am old,” he said, “but as you grow older you will -find, as I have found, that day follows day, and there does not seem -much change in you, till suddenly you hear people speaking of you as an -old man. It is the same with an age in history; day follows day, and -there does not seem to be much change, till suddenly it is found that -the age has become old. It is finished, it is out of date.</p> - -<p>“The present movement in Russia is not a riot,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> it is not even a -revolution, it is the end of an age. And the age that is ending is the -age of Empires—the collection of smaller States under one large State. -There is no true community of heart or thought between Russia, Finland, -Poland, the Caucasus, and all our other States and races. Or what have -Hungary, Bohemia, and Styria, or the Tyrol to do with Austria? No more -than Canada, Australia, India, or Ireland have to do with England. -People are now beginning to see the absurdity of these things, and -in the end people are reasonable. That is why the age of Empires is -passing away.</p> - -<p>“They tell me, for instance, that if the Russian Empire ceased to -exist, swarms of Japanese would overrun our country and destroy our -race. But the Japanese also are reasonable people, and if they came and -found how much better off we were without any Empire at all, they would -go home and imitate our example.”</p> - -<p>The whole argument, which ran on with a half-ironic simplicity of this -kind, was magnificent, not so much for its daring as for its quiet -confidence in human reason. I remembered how for the last twenty years -all the brazen trumpets of vulgarity had been sounding the note of -Empire over us as the one great and stirring purpose of existence. -And here was this rugged old man calmly telling me, as though it -were something of a platitude, that we had just come to the end of -an age—the age of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> Empires. There he sat in the familiar grey shirt -without coat or collar, the belt round the waist, and the high leather -top-boots (for he had just tramped round his land in the snow), quietly -following out the exact logic of his principles, no matter where it -might lead him. He was seventy-seven, and in terms of years one was -forced, as he said, to call him old. The spirit had retired more deeply -into the shrunk and wrinkled form. But under the shaggy brows, the -grey-green eyes still looked out with the clearness of profound thought -and fearless simplicity which have made him the greatest rebel in the -world.</p> - -<p>As to the present condition of his own country, he believed, as is well -known from his writings, that the return of the land to the peasants -is the only possible cure for Russia’s misery. He told me that he -would accept Henry George’s method of nationalization, or any other -which gave the peasants a true hold on the land they work. He quoted -Kropotkin’s investigations into “intensive culture” to prove that, -with improved methods, there is plenty of land in Russia to maintain -an immensely increased population. As things stood, less than a third -of the cultivated land was held by peasants or village communities, -and less than a quarter of the cultivable land was used at all. The -Tsar should at once restore the land to the peasants. With their long -experience of the communal system,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span> they could then manage very well -for themselves without any State at all, as they had successfully -proved in the Siberian colonies; for communism ran in the Russian -blood, and its ideal had never been lost in the country.</p> - -<p>When I suggested that a town question had also arisen now, besides the -claim of peasants to the land, he admitted that town influence was the -greatest danger. “Towns,” he said, “are the places where mankind has -begun to rot, and unhappily the rottenness spreads. The mistake of our -Liberal politicians in the towns is that they are always preaching the -blessings of some English or American constitution. But constitutions -of that kind, having once been realized, have already become things -of the past. They belong to a different age from ours, and an ideal, -whether in statesmanship or art, is never a thing of the past, but -always of the future. For Russia as she exists now, we ought to aim at -something entirely different from your worn-out methods of government.”</p> - -<p>So he conversed through the winter morning, eager to speak, and as -eager to hear. He asked much about Central Africa from which I had -lately returned, and much about the new national movement in Ireland, -nor should I have been surprised if he had continued the conversation -in Gaelic, so fresh and vigorous was his interest in the world. Only -when I told him rather carelessly, that the intellectual<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> movement -there was producing a large number of poets, his face fell, and he -turned to other things, merely remarking that poets were very little -good. In passing, he said he had been pleased to find that his fellow -Puritan, Mr. Bernard Shaw, thought very lightly of Shakespeare, in whom -he had never himself discovered any satisfaction, though he had read -him once all through in English, and twice in German.</p> - -<p>But it was not his interest in the common affairs of the world that -gave him his true attraction. Apart from all this, there hung over -him that separate and distinguishing grace which our fathers called -sanctity and considered a thing to be worshipped. It was the grace of -a toilsome and abstemious life, unflinchingly devoted to one high aim, -and sacrificing all worldly pleasure and success to an ideal which -could never be reached. I believe the modern name for it is fanaticism.</p> - -<p>I say one high aim, for I see no reason to agree with the many critics -who draw a sharp dividing line in his career and in the process of -his mind. All the principles of his later teaching are to be found -illustrated in the two great imaginative works of his earlier manhood, -and if there is any fault to be found with a life so courageous and -inspiring, I should seek it only in a rather inhuman and remorseless -consistency of reason—a logic which, having for instance, condemned -the pleasures of sense, would doom the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> human race to rapid extinction -because life cannot be maintained and handed on without pleasure. But -such returns to the strict Christianity of earlier centuries ought not -to astonish people who call themselves Christians, especially as there -seems no danger at present that the logic of their teaching will be -followed in human action. And, in any case, I should rather leave it to -others to reveal such limitations as they may find in so beneficient -and gracious a personality.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p0961_ill" style="max-width: 477px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p0961_ill.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">TOLSTOY IN MIDDLE AGE.</p> - </div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER VI<br /> -<span class="subhed">THE STATE OF MOSCOW</span></h2></div> - - -<p>On the morning of Saturday, December 9th, the day after I had arrived -in Moscow, I happened to be passing the unfinished buildings of the -empty University. Minute snow was lashing through the air before a -bitter wind, but it thawed as it fell, and people in goloshes went -slopping about among the filthy puddles of the street.</p> - -<p>Trailing in disorder through the dirt and wind, mixed up with the -market people and the little open cabs like sledges that were always -dashing up and down with men and women in furs, came a loose string -of soldiers, slowly making their way westward. They had just passed -the canvas booths where butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers and other -loyalists set upon the students with knives the month before; they had -reached the point where the soldiers from behind walls fired blindly -into the thick of the unarmed procession which accompanied the funeral -of the student Baumann. There they halted, because the cross road which -passes the great Riding School Barrack and cuts the University in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> half -was blocked with traffic, and then a few passers-by began to look at -them curiously.</p> - -<p>They were not to be called a column, nor were they organized as an -advanced party. They were not organized at all; but a few cavalry came -first, their hairy little horses throwing up a steam into the wind; -then a few straggling infantry—not more than half a battalion—covered -with filth, their uniforms torn and patched, some in low, flat caps -like our own men, some in high, furry caps, matted with mud and snow. -And under the caps were faces yellow, thin, and as though bemused with -wonder. Behind the infantry followed a rambling line of various kinds -of cart, and inside the carts were stretched muffled and pallid forms, -their heads or arms or feet bound up with dirty and blood-stained -bandages.</p> - -<p>These were the soldiers returning from the war, the van and first -instalment of that great and ruined army coming home. At last they had -completed the 5000 or 6000 miles of their journey from the starving -East, across the frozen lake, and through the long Siberian plains, and -were alive in the heart of their own country again. And this was how -they were received. Certainly, the Moscow municipality had intended to -arrange some sort of festivities at the station. They had intended to -give little presents to the men—something in the shape of chocolates -and cigarettes that comfort the hearts of heroes. They had prepared -little decorations<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> for the officers, with the inscription, “To the -defenders of the country.” But whether these festivities were ever held -and these little presents given, no one could tell me. The papers had -announced that the army from the Far East would begin to arrive on the -Sunday. The paternal Government took care that they should arrive on -the Saturday.</p> - -<p>Probably the town officials retained for themselves their little -offerings to patriotism, and will wear the war decorations with pride -at family parties. So little interest was taken in the whole thing that -the evening papers continued to announce that the army would begin to -arrive on the morrow. The market people and cabdrivers stopped for a -moment to look at them before hurrying on through the snow, and no -further notice of any kind was taken of the defenders of the country.</p> - -<p>So they drifted westward, down the dirty streets, and disappeared. On -reaching the barracks, the Reservists among them were discharged, and -the crowds of beggars who, with threats and curses, violently demanded -the milk of human kindness at every corner, were increased by many -tattered figures. They limped about in traces of departed uniforms, -and as they passed, people said, “A soldier from the war.” One night -I saw two or three of them seated on a curb-stone beside a fire which -had been lighted in a street. One was swaying gently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span> backwards and -forwards and continually repeating, “At home and alive! at home and -alive!” The others took no notice, but stared like imbeciles into the -flames.</p> - -<p>Some were drafted back by rail to their villages, and the terror -of comfortable people was that they would there spread the tale of -mismanagement, corruption, and misery till all the peasants would rise -in fury and sweep upon the cities in ravenous and overwhelming hordes. -Sometimes a dim rumour reached us from the Far East of a distracted -army, mutinous and starving; maddened with hardship and the longing for -home, but unable to crowd into the worn-out trains that crept along -those thousands of miles of single line, choked with stores and blocked -by continual accidents and strikes. If they should all come home—all -the 500,000 or 600,000 of them at once? The comfortable citizens—and -even in Moscow there were such people—shuddered in their furs and -thanked Heaven for the difficulties of that narrow road.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, a big manufacturer told me he was delighted to see -the army returning. “For now,” he said, “the Reservists on garrison -duty here will be dismissed, and we can always trust the Line to obey -their officers and shoot in defence of law and order.” At the time I -hoped he was over-sanguine. In Russia there is no caste of soldiers -as with us. All come from the people, and in a year<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span> or two will -return to the people. The Line are exactly the same kind of men as -the Reservists, only younger. Of course, it might happen that, being -younger, they would more likely obey, for to most people obedience is -the easiest thing to do, and a young man in uniform is almost sure to -fall into it. But for the moment that was to me just the one question -of the future; would the Line obey their officers and shoot in defence -of law and order?</p> - -<p>There were rumours about the disaffection of a good many battalions. -The Rostoff regiment got up a little mutiny on its own account one -day, and planted guns at the corners of their barracks, but they were -soon won back by promises of bodily comfort. For the rest, the troops -patrolled the streets in mounted and unmounted parties day and night, -but no one knew whether they represented a Government or not. Their -chief duties were concentrated round the great block of Post Office -buildings. For all day long large groups of postal clerks and officials -on strike were gathered upon the pavements there, like working bees -around a ruined hive, and in the neighbouring boulevard gardens, where -girls and children skated, they assembled in eager controversy.</p> - -<p>On the Monday morning (December 11th), I saw there a feeble little -attempt to rush a mail-cart starting for the provinces, or for the St. -Petersburg station, under mounted escort. In a moment two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span> Cossack -patrols wheeled round and dashed at full gallop into the crowd, -striking blindly at the nearest heads with the terrible nagaikas -or loaded whips which I described before. Where the patrols had -passed, men, women, and little girls, lay felled to the ground or -stood screaming with pain while blood ran down their faces. Pushing, -stumbling, and scrambling for life, the crowd fled in panic before -the stroke of the hoofs and the whirling whips. Then I knew that -until they could face violence with some sort of organized front, the -revolutionists had better stay at home. Against twenty men in uniform, -five hundred had no chance. As a gigantic Caucasian cried in scorn the -night before to a meeting of peaceful and scientific Social Democrats, -“The party that commands force is the Government.” Who would command -force was at that time the most important question in Russia, and no -one was certain how it should be answered from day to day.</p> - -<p>In the ordinary affairs of life we enjoyed liberty tempered by -assassination. The advance from tyranny supported by execution was -immeasurable, and it had all been accomplished in about six weeks. In -that old city, the natural centre of Russian life both by position and -trade, were gathered some 1,100,000 souls who had never known liberty -before, either in politics, economics, or thought. It was very natural -that they should not know exactly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> what to make of the change at -first. The surprising thing was to see how rapidly their instinct for -organization and self-government developed, especially in the working -classes. Whether one ought to trace this faculty to the old habit of -the village community among the peasants, I am not sure. But I think it -certain that the feeling for association and common action—the feeling -of “mutual aid” as Kropotkin calls it—is very widely extended among -Russians.</p> - -<p>Every one was then waiting for the next step in history, and the -wildest rumours flew. At every corner and in every restaurant stood -prophets foretelling the fates, and winning the momentary applause of -delight or terror. But, except for such rewards, the time of prophets -was not more valuable than usual, and for ordinary people, whose -perceptions are blind to futurity, the real points of interest were -still the postal strike and the rapid formation of unions. The loss -to friendship and business owing to the cessation of letters was so -severe, that the leaders of finance and commerce in Moscow drew up -a petition to Witte and Durnavo, urging them to grant the economic -demands, especially the right of union, even if no political demands -were considered. The Government replied with a manifesto dismissing one -thousand of the postal strikers offhand, and making all strikes among -Government servants a criminal offence.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span></p> - -<p>The hardship was great. Many of the strikers had served fifteen years -or more, and were entitled to pensions, which they now lost. Many -lived in Government quarters, from which they were now evicted. The -Progressives certainly did all that they could to assist them. At all -lectures and meetings, such as were held in various parts of the city -every night, the bag was sent round for aid to the strikers. At one -lecture I counted seven bags—chiefly students’ caps—going round for -various righteous causes. In one of the most moderate of all Liberal -papers—the <i>Russian News</i>—a strike fund was organized for the -women and children, and it reached about £5000 before the Government -clutched it and put it in its own pocket. In all Progressive papers you -read advertisements that Mr. or Mrs. So-and-So would undertake to feed -so many strikers for so many days, or to house the children. I knew -three Socialist families of quite poor people who took in one or two -children of strikers every day to share their dinner. The noticeable -thing was that the children were fed, no matter what party of Socialism -their parents belonged to. All the workers knew that the strike so far -had been the people’s only weapon. The Government had two—hunger and -the rifle.</p> - -<p>Nearly every night meetings were held for the new unions which were -springing up on every side. The whole of Moscow, which is built in -concentric<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span> circles round the Kremlin or eminent citadel overhanging -the little river, had been divided off into wedges, or “rays,” as -they were called, and each ray sent so many delegates to the central -committee—corresponding to the Council of Labour Delegates in St. -Petersburg—which superintended the whole labour question, and had to -decide the moment for strikes. But besides the central organizations, -almost every trade was forming its own union of defence.</p> - -<p>First came the great Railway Union, which controlled the powerful -instrument of the railway strikes, and had its headquarters in Moscow, -because the city is the obvious centre of all Russian railways. Perhaps -next in size, though hardly in importance, came the peculiar union of -Floor Polishers—a class of workers unknown in England, because we -are not clean enough to have parquetted floors. But in Moscow they -were said to number thirty thousand in the union. There were other -large unions besides—the tailors’, the metal-workers’, the waiters’, -the jewellers’, and a very strong printers’ union called “The Society -of the Printed Word,” said to be the oldest in Russia, and rising -almost to the dignity of a knightly order by its title. The Union of -Bathmen and Bathwomen, a very large class of labour in Russia, is also -old, and in those weeks they came to the very satisfactory decision -of declaring a boycott against<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span> the editor of Katkoff’s famous old -clerical and reactionary paper, the <i>Moscow News</i> (<i>Moskovskaya -Viedomosti</i>). No minister of the union would wash the editor of the -<i>Moscow News</i> at any price.</p> - -<p>One evening I was present at the formation of two new unions in very -different classes of labour. First I went to an immense meeting of -tea-packers in a summer theatre, attached to the Aumont, a music -hall of easy virtue. But the theatre had now been boarded up into a -meeting-house as more suitable for the times. Packers of the Chinese -tea that comes overland are naturally a large class in Moscow, for the -tea is still the Russian national drink, in spite of the deadly blend -from Ceylon which is slowly being introduced. The packers are said -to number about six thousand, and forty companies sent deputies to -the meeting, though some of the companies employed only eight or ten -hands. It is an unhealthy trade, the dust leading to consumption; and -of all the many meetings I attended it was only here that I found the -voices feeble and toneless. Wages run from half a crown a week for boys -and girls up £1 a week for the best men. But in the trade there is an -ancient peculiarity that the wife of the owner or manager has to supply -a free midday dinner for the hands, and, as one of the delegates said, -“Apparently she cooks it in hell.”</p> - -<p>The other new union was formed at a meeting of shop assistants, -conducted with that suavity and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span> grandeur of manner which one always -notices at meetings of this class. It comes from watching the grace of -the shopwalkers, who alone carry the dignified and charming traditions -of the old noblesse into modern life. The meeting was occupied for -many hours in discussing whether the union should attend only to the -assistants’ interests, or should enter into wider life as a political -force. The Social Democrats urged them to be bold, and, as usual, -they had their way. They were far the most strongly organized party; -they had their speakers ready at every meeting, and they played their -“minimum programme” of quietly progressive measures with great effect. -Their opponents were unprepared, and on this occasion were almost too -polite to argue. I came away soon after midnight, but it was obvious -that the Shop Assistants’ Union would be a Social Democratic force -before dawn.</p> - -<p>Mid-winter is the height of the season for learning, art, and pleasure, -but Moscow was neither gay nor learned. Reading and fiddling seemed -equally irrelevant. So were painting, poetry, love-making, and all -the other pleasant arts. In the big restaurant of the Métropole, it -is true, an orchestra still maintained a pretence of joy, and poured -out its vapid tunes to the rare guests who sat like shipwrecked -sailors scattered on a vasty deep, and struggled to be gay. But, like -a middle-aged picnic on the Thames, the thing was too deliberate a -happiness, and too<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span> conscious of its failure. “We must keep our spirits -up, you know,” I heard a youth say to an elderly gentleman as he poured -out the champagne. But it was no good. The elderly gentleman had -obviously dined well daily for many years, and was overwhelmed at the -solemn thought that at any moment dinners might end for ever. Day and -night he was living in “the haggard element of fear.”</p> - -<p>The University was closed. Her seven thousand students were scattered, -some to their homes, some to their lodgings in the city, where for -the most part they swelled the army of the Social Democrats, and -spent their time discussing maximum and minimum programmes and the -socialization of productivity. They were also collecting arms.</p> - -<p>“It was impossible to keep open. The students would insist on turning -the quadrangle into a Fort Chabrol,” said Professor Manioukoff, the new -Rector of the University, a learned economist and advanced politician, -who, being prohibited from studying grievances nearer home, had won -fame by specializing on the Irish land question. So the University was -closed, the professors were compelled to pursue research without the -due endowment of fees, and their wives and babies had to manage upon -half the family income.</p> - -<p>Many of them took to lecturing, not for pay, but because it was the -only thing they could do for the Movement. One night I listened to -one who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span> lectured for nearly two hours on the comparative history of -amnesties during the last few centuries, with a very close application -to the present time. He still called himself a Professor, though he had -been exiled from his Chair for so many years that his name had long -been forgotten, and, like most of the exiles, he came back to a world -which regarded him with a considerate but uneasy pity, as we should all -regard the dead if they returned. For nearly thirty years he had lived -in Bulgaria, surely not too far away to be remembered, and now he was -lecturing again in Moscow, an old man, lame and blind, dressed in a -frock-coat and worsted slippers. His nice little granddaughter guided -his steps, kept his water-glass full, reminded him every half-hour -of the flight of time (which he bore patiently), and put him right -about his dates, which made the audience smile. Otherwise, the large -lecture hall, packed with the intellectual, listened intently, but -showed no sign of approval until the end. The portrait of the Tsar had -been carefully removed from behind the chair, and only the gaunt iron -staples showed where it had hung.</p> - -<p>Another evening, in one of those dubious theatres which had just -been converted to decent use, I heard a Professor deliver an immense -discourse upon the first principles of Social Democracy before an -audience half composed of working people. They also listened patiently, -but the moment of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> real excitement came when the lecturer ceased, and -three young soldiers sprang upon the stage and shouted that, on the -highest economic principles, they too had struck, and would Cossack -it no more. “I have flung away the uniform!” shouted one, who was -apparelled in a long dressing-gown. “No more fools of officers over -me!” shouted another. “And they fed us like swine!” shouted the third, -who was just economically drunk. The applause that rocked the audience -was one of the grandest noises I have ever heard. If only all the army -would follow the example of those three gallant musketeers! But that -night they vanished from the blaze of glory, and I heard of them no -more.</p> - -<p>Vanished too were the Zemstvoists, the men who, in July, had impeached -the Government in an overwhelming series of accusations. Since the -death of their hero, Prince Sergius Troubetskoy, their heart had failed -them, and in November, when they met again in congress and their chance -had come, they wasted the precious days in discussions upon Witte’s -character, just like a suburban essay society discussing Hamlet. But -time was going fast just then, and before they had settled Witte’s -psychology to their satisfaction they were forgotten. They had meant -so well by their counsels of moderation and attempts to imitate the -British Constitution, but rushing time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span> had left them lonely. Yet -Moscow was rather strong in Liberal papers, which the bourgeoisie were -glad to accept as protests against the extremes of socialism. The -<i>Russian News</i>, for instance, edited by white-haired Sobolevski, -with a grey-haired staff, was a strictly moderate paper, as I have -said, though its writers had become so inspired by the youthfulness -of the time that their articles would have sent them a year before to -meditate in prison or exile upon the license of governments.</p> - -<p>Then again, the first Sunday I was in Moscow, Professor Miliukoff -brought out his new paper called <i>Life</i> (<i>Zhisn</i>) on simple -and moderate lines. He began with a long and earnest appeal for the -unity of Progressive parties against the common enemy of Absolutism. -“Let us all combine,” he cried, “into a bloc, and present a solid front -to the ancient tyranny and new reaction. When Absolutism is overthrown, -there will be time enough to discuss the divergent lines of our own -programmes.” Every one respected Professor Miliukoff, and was cheered -by his eternal hopefulness. The advice was obviously sensible. Its -only fault was that it was sensible to commonplace—just too obviously -sensible for times of high exhilaration, when the position of the -moderate man is always painful and usually neglected. Neither workmen -nor Social Democrats cared in the least for a Liberal alliance. They -knew that, in any case, the Liberals<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span> would join them in the fight -against Absolutism, and to the truly revolutionary spirit Liberalism is -always suspect. A significant cartoon came out that week, called “The -Hare at the Hunt.” The lion of the proletariat has sprung upon the Bear -of tyranny; but in the foreground the Hare of the bourgeoisie is seen -hastening up and delicately nibbling at one of the dead Bear’s ears, as -much as to say, “Please, give me a little bit too!” A little bit might -be given to the Moderates, but the proletariat were determined to keep -the lion’s share.</p> - -<p>One day, for the sake of comparison with the proletariat of St. -Petersburg, I went over a large and very rich factory, which almost -holds a monopoly in candles, and the darkness of Northern Russia for -six months in the year makes a candle monopoly valuable. At the end of -October a serious riot had occurred there, and the front of the mill -was still a wreck of bricks and broken glass. The strikers had then -demanded a 50 per cent. rise in wages, an eight-hour day, a lodging -allowance of 6<i>s.</i> to 10<i>s.</i> a month, pensions of half wages -after fifteen years’ work, and pensions of full wages after twenty-five -years. When I was there, they had just begun work again on a rise of 16 -per cent., an eight-hour day in three shifts, and a lodging allowance -of 4<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> a month. That lodging allowance arises from -the general old custom of living-in. Hitherto all the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> single men and -single women had lived in barrack dormitories inside the mill, with -a room for meals, gas, heating, and washing-troughs provided. These -blocks of lodgings—“spalnya,” as they are called—dismal and crowded -as life in them must be, were perhaps as comfortable and much cheaper -than the accommodation to be had outside. But they lacked the one -great charm in life—the charm of liberty. At the time of the strike, -the hands demanded the right of receiving friends and relations from -outside into the premises. The managers complied, and that evening -the whole place was crammed with enthusiastic advocates of family -affection. A mass meeting, eloquent of revolution, was held in the -mill yard, and the devotees of friendship paraded their red flags in -front of the managers’ quarters with trumpet and drum. Next day the -managers withdrew their amiable concession, cleared the dormitories -of men and women, and turned them neck and crop out into the road to -fend for themselves. The lodging allowance was given to prevent further -riots and to soothe the conscience. In the matter of money, it is no -compensation for what the workmen lose, but liberty is thrown in, and -liberty counts so high that I think the workers had the best of it in -the end, and probably the old barracks will gradually disappear.</p> - -<p>In the last twenty years the rate of pay has gone up fourfold, while -the cost of living has<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> only doubled. A good workman in this mill now -received from 24<i>s.</i> to 30<i>s.</i> a week, which appeared to -be the maximum wage, and since the strike a woman’s wage had risen -to 8<i>s.</i> a week, with the same lodging allowance as the men, or -about 9<i>s.</i> 2<i>d.</i> a week in all. The standard of food was -perhaps a little higher than in St. Petersburg, for, except during -fasts, the family expected some sort of meat or stew every day. But -this was a particularly rich mill; it prided itself on its high wages, -and the Englishmen of its management delighted to display a paternal -benevolence to the innocent unfortunates of a lower race. It was -certainly remarkable that all the hands had gone back, except those who -could not be summoned from their villages owing to the breakdown of the -post.</p> - -<p>Of course, the prolonged post strike, which had continued for nearly -three weeks then, was inconvenient for everybody. Revolutions are -generally inconvenient, especially for business people. But it was -rather too much when that ancient champion of tyranny, the <i>Novoe -Vremya</i>, took this opportunity for working itself up into such a -glow of righteous indignation because the strikers were depriving -mankind of humanity’s glorious right—the right of communication and -speech—the right of corresponding with fellow-men afar off, and -calling on others to associate in their joys and griefs. What had the -<i>Novoe Vremya</i> cared about<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span> that glorious right a few months -before? What protest had it ever raised against a censorship that pried -into letters, and chuckled over lovers’ secrets, and tracked men down -to death through the words of their friends? Or what communication with -their fellow-men had been allowed to exiles and prisoners—exiles and -prisoners who had been wiped out from human existence for exercising -that glorious right of speech? In reading leading articles like that I -have sometimes detected limits beyond which even hypocrisy ceases to be -decent.</p> - -<p>But in times of revolution we must expect and tolerate much wild -absurdity among people who are afraid of losing their money, and among -the startled cowards who have suddenly realized what revolution is. In -a letter to his own paper, the <i>New Life</i>, about this time, Maxim -Gorky said that people had been writing to him from all over Russia to -ask why it was that the patient workman and the dear, gentle peasant, -whom the advanced thinkers used to worship as a saint, had suddenly -shown themselves so very disagreeable and dangerous. There was a -crudity and innocence about the question which takes us back more than -half a century in Western social history, and Gorky’s own answer sounds -to us almost as much a truism as a chapter of Charles Kingsley seems -now. He merely repeated the weary old truth that in ordinary times the -rich and governing classes have never taken the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> smallest notice of the -worker and the peasant. When have they ever turned from their games of -ambition or pleasure to consider the poor? In what way have they shared -their life, except in the distribution of doles, which are given for -their own comfort? If a bad time had now come for them, and if a worse -was coming, that was only the natural turning of a wheel which had been -slow to turn.</p> - -<p>In our country we have long been familiar with such statements. We have -long known that the rich man’s charity is but a ransom for himself, so -that he may follow enjoyment with undisturbed content. We have long -known that the sympathies of comfortable people are limited by their -own comfort. We have also learnt how vain it is to preach such truths, -if preaching is to end in words. But what to us has become true to -satiety may still be a bewildering paradox to less experienced and less -sophisticated nations, and the extraordinary influence of writers like -Gorky in Russia seems to arise from the simple-hearted earnestness -with which thoughtful Russians have received their doctrine. What to -us appears so painfully true that we had almost forgotten it, may dawn -upon them as a fine paradox of revelation.</p> - -<p>The teaching in Gorky’s new play, <i>The Children of the Sun</i> would -be rather less familiar to us, for it strikes at the intellectual -classes, who generally<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> regard themselves as above criticism, whereas -the rich have become case-hardened to sermons and abuse. It was then -being performed in his own theatre—the best theatre in the world, -airy, admirably planned for hearing, entirely free from the curse of -decoration, and provided with a large hall where the audience could -discuss revolution during the welcome pauses which extend Russian -entertainments through the night. The drama is Ibsenite—a humorous -tragedy, with plenty of ironic laughter, though it fades away into a -paltry German suicide. But the political point is that the central -figure—an excellent man of science, simple, sweet tempered, and -devoted with all his heart to the creation of life by chemical -means—declares that intellectual people like himself are in reality -toiling for the poor, no matter how indifferent they may appear to the -poverty of others. They are the children of the sun—the almost divine -beings who shed light in the darkness of the world. The simple-hearted -chemist is himself a true saint of intellect. When, with the consent -of his wife, a rich and lovely lady flings herself round his neck and -offers him all her love and a complete laboratory, he accepts the -laboratory with rapture, but asks if the love is not superfluous. -Nevertheless all his innocence, his devotion, and his real kindliness -of heart do not help him in the least when the peasants, infuriated for -liberty, come storming down the village and almost choke the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> life out -of that Child of the Sun in his own back garden.</p> - -<p>That was likely to be the fate of many excellent people, who were -pursuing culture without extravagance. Many who deserved no worse than -the rest of us poor intellectual and decently clothed men were caught -up in the whirling skirts of revolution and carried shrieking they knew -not where. From every side came rumours of burnings and slaughters. -The country was spoken of as a wilderness of destruction, into which -none dared penetrate. For many days in vain I sought for a guide and -interpreter to accompany me among the peasants. To enter a village was -sudden death, and not for three pounds a day would a townsman go with -me, till at last I found one whose poverty consented.</p> - -<p>In Moscow itself we were still revelling in liberty. We lived under an -anarchy almost fit for the angels, who by their divine nature are a law -unto themselves. But, unhappily, as I said, our liberty was tempered -by assassination. For some weeks the average of street murders was one -a day. Barefooted, long-haired beggars, the very heroes of Gorky’s -tales, the ragged supermen of misery, sprang out from dark corners, and -I always thanked them heartily for their mistake in regarding my money -as more valuable than my life. People walked warily, and kept one eye -behind them, turning sharply round if they heard even the padding sound -of goloshes in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span> snow. Often at night, as I went up and down the -rampart of the Kremlin, and watched those ancient white temples with -their brazen domes glittering under the moon, I noticed that the few -passers-by skirted round me in a kind of arc, and if they came upon me -suddenly they ran. My intentions were far from murderous, but all were -living in that haggard element of fear. They had not yet realized that -the only decent way to live is to take life in one hand and possessions -in the other, and both hands open.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER VII<br /> -<span class="subhed">THE OLD ORDER</span></h2></div> - - -<p>St. Nicholas’ Day of December 19th had long been awaited with -expectation, both of triumph and fear. It was the Tsar’s christening -day—one of the four festivals which were given to St. Nicholas every -year, because, on his way to see Christ, he stopped to help a peasant’s -cart out of the mud and made his clothes all dirty. It had been -rumoured with confidence that the work of the great Manifesto would -then be completed—that the Tsar himself would come to Moscow, and from -the very shrine of the Empire issue the charter of a free Constitution, -and, like a generous father, distribute the Crown lands among the -peasants. It was a splendid opportunity for heroic concession—such -concession as would have gathered nearly the whole mass of the people -round its author in enthusiastic devotion. But there was nothing -heroic about the poor little Tsar—“Homunculus,” as the satirists -called him—and the mood of concession had passed away. It was a time -for reaction now, the imprisonment of labour leaders,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span> the arrest of -editors, the closure of meetings, the incitement to murder.</p> - -<p>For a week past the day had been looked forward to with terror by most -Progressives, and especially by the Jews. Christians had been preparing -for themselves large crosses of wood, iron, or even cardboard, which -they hung round their necks, so that when the religious mob attacked -them, they might fling open their furs and reveal their Christianity -visible upon their waistcoats.</p> - -<p>But the children of darkness were a-tiptoe for the slaughter. Only -the day before the festival, the patriotic organization of the Black -Hundred, called the Hooligans or the Order of the Men of Russia -according to sympathy, had issued a manifesto inciting to the final -extermination of all Jews and foreigners in the city. Their common duty -to God and the Tsar commanded all true men to unite in clearing Holy -Russia of the accursed stranger. At the same time, the more moderate of -the priesthood, mindful of an accepted distinction between religion and -murder, wrote a letter to the papers, appealing to the faithful to act -like Christians and not to kill the Jews. But such advice was a mere -bewilderment to the simple man. To kill Jews is to act like Christians. -Why complicate matters by raising the doubt? Ages of history had proved -it.</p> - -<p>So the Jews and many of the foreigners fortified their houses and hid -themselves. All Moscow,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> indeed, was fortified in a manner, for new -shutters and hoardings now protected doors and windows of all shops and -many houses which were left open before. In the evening I went through -the streets, and all was gloom and silence and fear. In one place on -the Boulevard a slightly drunken soldier, who had been boasting of -his revolutionary convictions, was surrounded by a little knot of -loyalists, beguiled down a side court, and quietly slaughtered. At the -door of a little restaurant in my own street I found a shouting mob. -They had set upon a student and beaten him senseless. The restaurant -people had dragged his body, almost naked, into the house and laid it -across two chairs in a cellar. Through holes in the shutter you could -see it lying there, in a shirt that oozed blood, while a girl student, -who had been with him, knelt with her arms round his neck and cried -aloud. At the sound of her crying, the mob yelled with exultation, and -fought for a place at the shutter.</p> - -<p>Morning came, intensely cold, but clear and bright. Before nine o’clock -large crowds had begun to gather on the Kremlin—that triangular -citadel of old cathedrals and palaces in the centre of Moscow, -surrounded by an ancient crenellated wall, looking steeply down over -the river on the south side. The priesthood had asked leave for a -special ceremony of prayer on account of Russia’s troubles, and the -new Governor-General, Admiral<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span> Dubásoff, who had arrived only two days -before, could not decently refuse a prayer meeting to the patriotic -ministers of peace, especially at a time when the Government was only -longing for disturbances as an excuse for military assassination.</p> - -<p>The prayer meeting was fixed for the great open space called the Red or -Splendid Square (Krasnaya) lying between the Kremlin proper and the Old -Town, which is surrounded by a similar wall. But the church services -for the saint’s day had first to be held in the cathedrals, and by ten -o’clock the sacred banners from all the great shrines of Moscow began -to assemble on the height where the three cathedrals, the bell tower, -and the great palace stand. A sacred banner is a metal plate, generally -about three feet square, hanging out sideways from a pool like a flag, -except that it is quite stiff. The people like to think of it as gold, -but that would not prevent it being brass. The plate itself is fretted -in various designs, and at the centre is an icon, a representation -of some saint or religious scene—St. George with his dragon, the -Resurrection, or the Ascension—sometimes painted on board, sometimes -worked in silver and other metals. The banner is further adorned with -rich enamels, and rattles a fringe of metal tassels. I counted nearly -a hundred of them glittering in the frosty sun, as they entered the -Kremlin gates in groups and passed the piled-up lines of guns<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span> which -Napoleon left behind him, and the new white palings round the little -shrine where the Grand Duke Sergius met his end.</p> - -<p>It was impossible to estimate the number of people who swarmed on -every open space and crowded the steps of all the churches. There -were many thousands, and all were bowing and crossing themselves or -kneeling in the snow with adoration before every shrine and at every -saint that passed. All classes were there, and sometimes a lady, deep -in furs, would signal to her servant to put down a cushion or piece of -mackintosh on the particular spot where she wished to worship. But, as -is natural in a religious ceremony, on the whole it was a crowd of the -poor. Many peasants had come in from the country, conspicuous for their -wild hair and leather coats. But the greater part were simply the poor -of Moscow—the pious, the patriotic, the criminal poor—all who are -the natural enemies of change. They went from shrine to shrine, they -crowded round the Great Bell, they climbed the brass-domed tower for -the view, they filled the cathedrals till it was impossible to stir -inside, and from the outside we could only listen to the deep chantings -that boomed through the open doors. And all the time the crossings and -bowings and prostrations in the snow never ceased.</p> - -<p>The Governor-General and other great officials and soldiers had a -specially short service, in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> accordance with their dignity, in some -chapel up the Lion staircase, where no unhallowed or ununiformed foot -is fit to tread. But by eleven all the services were over, and with -infinite effort the holy banners were drawn up in two lines beside the -Great Bell. Their main poles being supported by four smaller poles, -they began to move slowly and with difficulty towards the gate into -the Red Square. It is the Holy Gate of the Saviour, under which every -Russian takes off his cap, so sacred for centuries has been the picture -above the arch.</p> - -<p>Small bodies of Cossacks, and of infantry with fixed bayonets, were -stationed along the route or accompanied the procession, to protect -the heavenly powers. When at last the glittering banners had staggered -by, there came a group of priests in robes stiff with gold and -many-coloured embroideries, thrown over their ordinary fur coats, and -helping to make them warm as well as beautiful. And behind them came a -party of earthly saints in apparel still more marvellous. I think they -were bishops, but they may have been archimandrites. They wore hats of -brass or gold, shaped like Byzantine domes, and sprinkled with gleaming -glass or precious stones. Some of the saints had hair hanging far down -their chests and backs; others were less devout in shagginess.</p> - -<p>Last of all, supported by an extra strong detachment of Cossacks, came -the banners of the most<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span> sacred shrine in Moscow, accompanying the -picture of the Iberian Virgin herself, which had been brought out for -the occasion in its wooden case from its own rich chapel at the Iberian -gate. As she passed—this famous virgin, copied from the Virgin of -Mount Athos centuries ago—the crowds on each side bowed before her -like corn when the wind blows.</p> - -<p>So the procession moved under the Gate of the Saviour, and gathered -on the round stone platform where Ivan the Cruel used to enjoy the -executions. It stands in front of Ivan’s many-coloured church, built -by the Italian whose eyes (as the old myth says) were put out that he -might never design another so gay. The service of special prayer was -there performed, and as the clocks struck twelve and the guns began -to fire a salute, the religious part of the day came to an end. The -banners went back into the Kremlin; the Iberian Virgin was carried in a -four-wheeler to her shrine; the bishops and archimandrites drove away -to lunch in huge coaches drawn by four black horses abreast.</p> - -<p>Then the moment came which all had awaited—the moment for which the -prayers to God had only been the excuse. Now or never was the time for -slaughter and enrichment. A fervid orator sprang on the balustrade -of the stone platform, and with athletic gesticulations and rousing -appeals to heaven and the Tsar, strove to lash the crowd to the -proposed heat of fury. Other patriots were busy extolling the beauty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span> -of domestic virtue, and distributing photographs of the Tsar with his -baby-boy upon his knee. The people cheered and shouted, and began to -rush up and down, like caged wolves just before feeding-time. Then -raising the Russian hymn, the orator, still threatening the bright -infinity of space with his fists, set off to march up the whole -length of the square. The crowd swarmed after him, thousands strong. -They trickled through the two little arches of the Iberian gate, and -gathering together again, swept in one great tide up the main street -called the Tverskaya.</p> - -<p>They were going to slaughter the Jews, and exterminate the students, -and purify the city. No end to the horrors they were going to perform. -But they reached the square in front of the Government House, and -there they stopped to make speeches, calling again upon heaven and -the Tsar, and urging the Governor-General to take vengeance upon all -revolutionaries and other enemies of the country.</p> - -<p>The Governor-General appeared in uniform upon the balcony—tall and -pale, white haired, with long white moustache, and a narrow, pointed -beard. It was Admiral Dubásoff, hitherto only known as Russia’s -representative in the inquiry about the Baltic Fleet’s victory off -Hull; afterwards to be better known as the Butcher or the Admiral of -the Street. In a loud voice he addressed the crowd, telling them how -delighted he was to see so<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span> many Russian citizens still on the Tsar’s -side, and promising to telegraph to the Tsar with what confidence his -Majesty could rely upon the unshaken loyalty and unflinching courage of -ancient Moscow.</p> - -<p>It was a little unfortunate that just at that moment, before the cheers -could even begin, some one at the corner of the square near me raised -the cry, “The students are coming! The students! The students!” Like a -wind, terror swept over the crowd, the sledges dashed away in flight, -and, plunging, falling, and crashing into each other, the people rushed -down any street and hid round any corner for their lives. I have seen -many fine panics, from the Greek war downwards, but never anything -quite so ludicrous as that stampede of bloody-minded patriots. For -nothing whatever had happened, and when at last the terrified loyalists -took heart to look behind them, they saw the square peaceful, silent, -and almost empty. One by one they crept back into courage. They even -tried to rekindle their patriotic zeal and resume their murderous -aspect. But it was no good. The Governor-General had gone indoors to -dispatch his telegram in praise of their courage. That unhappy run had -spoilt the whole massacre, and gradually the orators ceased to rage, -and every one went home for dinner.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER VIII<br /> -<span class="subhed">THE DAYS OF MOSCOW—I</span></h2></div> - - -<p>Next day (December 20th), I had determined to start for the Caucasus, -because very severe fighting was reported there, and it was said, -I believe truly, that in some places the Georgians had set up an -independent government of their own. Accordingly I sledged to the -station, took my ticket, and registered my luggage to Baku by -Rostoff-on-Don, occupied my place in the heated train, hung up my fur -coat and snow boots, and prepared to endure the full blast of a Russian -carriage for the four days and nights of the journey. As is the way in -Russia, the train filled up nearly an hour before it was time to start, -and we all sat contemplating each other and wondering what our manners -would be like on the way. There were a large number of peasants and -country people in the train, packed together into family sections with -their children, and baskets, and bedding. Next to me sat a cleanly old -man and his wife, who held their goods upon their knees with a sturdy -resignation, as much as to say, “Now let Heaven do its worst.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span></p> - -<p>So we waited, and taking out a book I was far away in the city of the -“Lys Rouge” upon the Arno, when I became dimly conscious of a feeling -of uneasiness in the carriages, as when a motor breaks down and the -City men fret. Doors were opened and heads put out, and footsteps -passed up and down the corridor. Distant shouting and questions -were heard. The man opposite me packed up his lunch and went out. I -followed, and saw a party of railway men just uncoupling the engine, -which puffed away for twenty yards and then stood still. With a long -diminishing hiss, the steam of the heating apparatus rushed out from -the pipes and left the train to grow cold, like the dead.</p> - -<p>“Strike?” I said, going up to the workmen. “Yes, general strike at -twelve o’clock,” they answered, and I gathered up my book and coat. -The rest of my luggage could not be recovered then, and next night it -went wandering down the line upon the train, and was no more seen. For -Christmas was coming, and many trains that were wandering upon the road -supplied seasonable gifts for the peasants’ needs. Hundreds of nice -geese and ducks they gave them, loads of vegetables, barrels of sugar. -For miles beyond the city, the railway was like an enormous Christmas -hamper, full of good cheer, and many a starving peasant recognized for -the first time the true significance of the holy festival.</p> - -<p>As to the cleanly old man and woman, they sat<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span> there still, clutching -their goods. It seemed that nothing short of the Last Trumpet could -induce them to stir. They had taken their tickets, and their confidence -in railways was unshaken. They looked at me with the sympathetic -tolerance we show to a crank who questions gravitation or maintains -the earth is flat. The peasants in like manner sat still and cherished -their young. It seemed incredible they should not go after they had -taken all that trouble to get started for home, and had settled down -into their lairs in the nice warm train. I left them still seated -there, amid expostulations growing shrill. But in the next fortnight I -had to return many times to the station, and day after day I found them -encamped in the waiting-rooms, one family living on a table by day and -under it at night, another resolutely holding a leather bench, and two -or three nested behind the bar. To keep them alive, the railway issued -a dole of about a shilling a day for the grown-ups, and they cooked -their tea and bits of food at the stoves or inside the locomotives. -But it was not a happy way of spending life. Children sprawled and -fought and wailed; mothers tried in vain to wash and clean; men tripped -over girls asleep upon the boards. And it was worse when, a few days -later, scores of soldiers dribbled in somehow from the war, unwashed, -bewildered, and wretched, and were thrown into the station among the -peasants, to live there as best they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span> could. The smell of men’s tents -in the morning in war time is not pleasant, but it is Arabia compared -to those waiting-rooms.</p> - -<p>When I got back that Wednesday from the station to the middle of the -city, I found the general strike already proclaimed. All the banks were -shut and barricaded. If any shops were still open, parties of strikers -or revolutionists went into them and compelled the owners to put the -shutters up. The schools were closed, the work-people walked out of the -mills, clerks left their offices, and several hundred thousand men and -women were turned loose into the streets with nothing to do. Such gas -as was in the retorts was allowed to burn itself out, but electricity -was cut off at once, both for light and for the trams, and so was the -water for a time. People began to store it in baths and pails; they -even searched the roofs for clean snow and melted it down; but next -day the water supply was restored on the ground that it was essential -for the existence of the poor. Bread was essential too, and a few -bakeries were allowed to keep working; but even that afternoon women -were standing in line outside the bakers’ shops, and in the following -days they began to gather there long before dawn. In the hotels, and -I suppose in most well-to-do homes, bread sank from white to grey, -vegetables disappeared, the price of meat doubled, unknown portions of -animals were seen, beer ceased to flow,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span> and the suffering rich almost -learnt how the poor die daily.</p> - -<p>I went up the Tverskaya, already mentioned as the chief radius of -Moscow for shops and cafés. It was full of wandering and uncertain -crowds. Where the circle of Boulevards crosses it by the Strastnoi -convent, I found a troop of horse drawn up in front of the poet -Pushkin’s statue. They were facing a thick and excited crowd, from the -midst of which a white-faced orator came forward and, standing at the -very nose of the officer’s charger, addressed him with impassioned -harangues, imploring him to abandon the cause of tyranny, and no -longer to trample over the corpses of his fellow-countrymen. The -officer listened with genial politeness, and sometimes even answered an -argument or raised some objection with a smile. His pleasing manners -encouraged hope. The women of the crowd began to say nice things to -him, and all through Russian life there is a familiarity among the -classes which we have never reached. A friendly sympathy pervaded the -air. Could it be possible that the troops would “fraternize”? Ah, how -often revolutionists in all countries had told me the troops would -fraternize!</p> - -<p>But the officer gave an order, and the detachment wheeled off, two -deep, down the Boulevard to their barracks, the crowd clapping their -hands, the women waving their scarves and blowing kisses to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span> them in -cheerful mockery as they went. Two were left behind, waiting for a -third whose horse they held, and on them the orator now turned his -eloquence, while the rest laughed and cheered, and tried to pat their -horses. But they were only two common peasants with broad, red faces, -and had no pretty answers to make.</p> - -<p>They only sat there looking straight before them while the taunts grew -louder and the people began to crush threateningly upon them. I was -close at their side and could see their fists doubled tightly round the -loaded whips on their saddles. But at that moment their comrade came -back, and all three galloped after the others amid a storm of derision -and angry cries.</p> - -<p>Hardly had they gone when from a tea-house opposite three red flags on -poles emerged and were marched into the square. Uncertain what to do -next, the boys who were carrying them started down the Tverskaya, and -the crowd followed in a dense mass, shouting the “Marseillaise.” They -reached the open space in front of the Governor-General’s house where -the loyalists had held their panic the day before. But hardly had they -passed the porch, when a squadron of Cossacks swept into the crowd -behind from a side street at right angles and pursued the red flags at -full gallop, whirling their nagaikas and riding down all before them. -The procession scattered like leaves. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> squadron divided, part -charging down the main street, and part across the square. In a few -seconds nothing remained upon that open space but some men and girls -stretched upon the snow, and the three long strips of red cotton which -lay as the emblems of freedom before the Governor-General’s door. The -police carried off the wounded to the cells; an infantry battalion was -brought out to line the square, and many days were to pass before I -could cross it again.</p> - -<p>That night, all the main streets stood in absolute darkness, only the -narrow side-streets being lit with a glimmer of gas. No sledges ran. -Here and there a beggar shuffled out upon me from his lurking-place, or -a figure visible for a moment disappeared silently. No women walked; -on them too the strike had fallen. Houses and churches stood black and -lifeless, like an abandoned city which time had not yet ruined.</p> - -<p>The next day was ominously quiet; no business was done; no newspapers -were published; people kept indoors; even the restaurants and provision -shops were shut, and in the Hotel Métropole the music ceased. Instead -of that melancholy orchestra, a battery of eight guns lay hidden there -now; the guests were turned out, and it was said the Governor-General -himself had made the hotel his headquarters. Others had seen him take -refuge in the sacred enclosure of the Kremlin,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span> where the ancient gates -were all shut and guarded. Even in the Old Town they brought planks -and beams, and nailed up nearly all the gates. Troops were posted at -the Nicolai or St. Petersburg station and the line kept open for the -arrival of reinforcements. The engines were worked by soldiers and -the whole length of the road watched by pickets who were provisioned -from the trains. The Government dared not trust the ordinary Moscow -garrison, but if outside troops could only be spared from the other -capital, all might be well.</p> - -<p>A large meeting of the strikers assembled at the Aumont or Aquarium and -called upon the revolutionary bands or “militia” (<i>drouzchina</i>) to -begin. They pointed to the shameless reaction of the past two weeks, to -the imprisonment of the labour leaders in St. Petersburg, the arrest of -all Progressive editors, the refusal of the Tsar to make the expected -concessions on his name-day. He had made no concessions, he had only -sought to buy the loyalty of the troops by promises of better food. -It was evident that the Government was forcing civil war upon the -people, and unless the revolutionists would act at once, the workmen -would throw up the game, go back to their work, and abandon all hope of -change for ever.</p> - -<p>The revolutionists hesitated. They were not ready—they would not be -ready till February—not really ready till April. They were ill-armed, -had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span> only eighty rifles as yet; a good many revolvers certainly, but -not enough bombs. Besides, if the Government wanted a rising, they -obviously ought not to rise. It is a bad strategist who lets the -enemy dictate the time for battle. The strike had been proclaimed in -St. Petersburg, certainly, but the leaders were all in prison, and -already it was seen to be a very half-hearted affair. Both the strike -and revolutionary action should be simultaneous in all the large -cities, if the great end was to be won. Christmas was near, and all -the work-people liked to save up a little money for the festival. -Every one bought a bottle of vodka, if nothing else. The peasants -would be turned against the revolution if the railway remained blocked -over Christmastide, and they could not sell their produce. Already -threats had come in from the country, prophesying horrible deaths for -the railway men unless the strike ended at once. There was just time -to appease the peasants now, for the Russian Christmas Day was still -sixteen days ahead. So they hesitated, appealing for delay and a better -opportunity.</p> - -<p>But the Government had determined that neither delay nor opportunity -should be given. Their one thought was the urgent need of money. -The power that commands force is the Government, and the power that -commands money can command force; that was their just and simple -argument. Their one hope was to stir up an ill-prepared rebellion, -to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span> crush it down, and stand triumphant before the nations of Europe, -confidently inviting new loans in the name of law and order, so as to -pay the interest on the old and “maintain the value of the rouble.” -For this object it was essential that people should be killed in large -numbers. The death of every Progressive went to establish the credit -of the Treasury, and unless the slaughter came quickly, the officials -could not count upon their pay. The only alternative was national -bankruptcy in the face of the world, and no more hope of pleasant loans -again. So troops and police were stationed round the Aquarium meeting -and met the crowd as it came out with showers of blows from clubs and -whips. At all costs the people must be goaded into violence, or the -Government’s strategy would have failed.</p> - -<p>The final stroke was given the next day (Friday, December 22nd) and -it proved entirely successful. It was evening, and a body of some -two hundred of the revolutionary bands, including several women, was -gathered in a flat belonging to a leader named Fiedler, I think a -lawyer. He lived in the top floor of a tall white house, just opposite -the British Consulate, and not far from the post office.</p> - -<p>The place had long been watched by spies. About ten o’clock, as the -bands were debating war and peace, a knock came at the door and a -summons<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span> to surrender. They looked out of the window, and the street -below was full of dark forms with gleams of steel. So it had begun in -earnest at last! “And there shall be no drawing back,” thought one of -their number, and seizing up a small bomb from the table, he threw it -with all his might among the dark figures below. It burst with a flash -that revealed the waiting troops, and an officer rolled in the dirt, -never to be loved by women again. Two men also were wounded. Some said -two officers were killed; some said twenty, and hundreds of men. But -to have been in a town where men are really killed sheds a reflected -glory, and the more numerous the dead, the finer the reputation of -survivors.</p> - -<p>The flash of that bomb was a signal for war. The enemy was ready. They -had made their preparations for the event, and answered bomb by bomb. -While the meeting was breaking up in confusion, rushing from room to -room, some peering into the street, some fighting their way downstairs, -a shell came whizzing through the corner window and burst against the -opposite wall. From the description and the hole it made, I think it -was a segment or percussion shell, but it was followed rapidly by -case-shot, and at so short a range it is possible that nothing but case -shot was used. For the guns had been placed in a main street, at not -much more than fifty yards’ distance,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span> and commanded an uninterrupted -sight of the whole top story. At once the fatal disadvantage of the -revolutionists was seen. Probably there was not a man among them who -could have thrown a bomb fifty yards clear; but to the Government’s -guns it was a childish range even for case-shot, and without cause -for pride they could throw shrapnel and percussion bombs up to four -thousand yards two or three times a minute.</p> - -<p>The bombardment of the house continued for about half an hour, the -shells crashing through the windows and against the brickwork, but not -doing very much damage except to furniture and glass, for most of the -revolutionists were crowded together on the staircase, and many were -escaping through backyards and over walls. A few, however, with great -gallantry remained and kept up a revolver-fire from the windows to -cover the retreat of the others. Four or five of them were killed by -shell-fire, and fifteen were badly wounded. It was said next day that -Fiedler was among the killed, and I was told how he had stood outside -a window in defiance and been blown to pieces. I was even shown bits -of his coat and trousers still sticking to the window-frame; but I was -not quite convinced, especially when I heard of his being shot in gaol -a fortnight later. In such cases it is hardly ever possible to discover -the truth from either side. Even eye-witnesses are generally too -excited or too <span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span>terrified to see, and the Russian Government lives -upon the lie.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p1401_ill1" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p1401_ill1.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">FIEDLER’S HOUSE.</p> - </div> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p1401_ill2" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p1401_ill2.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">EFFECT OF SHELLS.</p> - </div> - -<p>Towards midnight, a hundred and twenty revolutionists, including ten -girls, surrendered. A high official told me next day that the girls had -been released, but it is not thus that the Government treats girls, -and I know now that he was lying or repeating a lie. As to the rest, -he admitted they would be shot, because the prisons were already too -full to hold them. The loss of over a hundred was a very serious thing -for the party of progress. All manner of estimates of the revolutionary -fighting strength have been made. Some of the best authorities said -they refused to put it over 15,000 men. A very careful onlooker, who -certainly had special opportunities of knowing, fixed on 1,500 as -the just figure. The revolutionists themselves maintained, and still -maintain, that only 500 were engaged on the barricades. In that case, -they had lost a sixth part of their force at the first stroke, and they -could not afford to lose a man. For myself, I believe no estimate of -numbers in wartime, unless given by the man who issues rations—and -to the revolutionists no one issued rations. But to me it is utterly -incredible that only 500 were opposed to the Government troops during -the following nine days. Five hundred is only half a battalion, and -every colonel knows how tiny a handful even a full battalion is when it -comes into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span> action. They may mean that only 500 were adequately armed, -but in that case the estimate is too high. The revolutionists were said -to have possessed two or three machine-guns, though I never saw them -or heard them, and attribute the rumour to the identity of the word -for machine-gun and repeating rifle (<i>Pulemet</i>). But by their own -admission they had only eighty rifles, with very few cartridges, and -the remainder were armed with various kinds of revolver, especially the -so-called “Brownings” of Belgian make. They are good enough weapons, -and will kill at a hundred yards if they hit at all. But few revolvers -can be depended on over twenty yards, and I have never found them much -good, except as a moral influence, or for the re-assuring comfort of -suicide <i>in extremis</i>.</p> - -<p>Five hundred could not have done the work. That night the face of -a third of Moscow was changed. The morning brought rumours of an -assault on the Nicolai station with the loss of 200 men; of assaults -on the Government house and the Prefecture of police; but, worse than -all, of a serious rising in some cotton and lace mills south of the -city, and the probable danger of several English overseers and their -families. Driving out early in a sledge to the beginning of the open -country, near the place on the river where the Russian people once -built a house for their painter Verestchagin, I found a few families -of Lancastrians<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span> and Nottingham men, anxious and apprehensive indeed -but not surrounded by bloodthirsty mobs as we had heard. The hands on -strike had been marching with red flags up and down the road as usual -the day before and singing the “Marseillaise,” when they were set upon -in front and rear by Dragoons and Cossacks with the usual results. Now -they were hanging about their factories or living-barracks, indignant -and dangerous with the sense of wrong, but outwardly quiet, and only -cursing and threatening us with fists and stones as we went about -among them. Not that the English overseers were hated. In themselves -they were popular, but as the rulers and the best-paid workmen, with -separate houses of their own, they were marked as the representatives -of overwhelming capitalism.</p> - -<p>As I looked out over the silent mills to the open country and wretched -villages beyond, the sound of a big gun suddenly came from Moscow. -Turning round, I saw the great city glittering with domes and crosses, -distinct with towers and lines of brilliant light under the frosty sun, -while all the church bells were booming and tinkling for the vigil of -some feast. Again came the sound of a gun, and then again, and I had -known from the first there was no mistaking it. I had not then heard of -the attack on Fiedler’s house, for one of the peculiarities of Russian -life is that the Last Judgment might be in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span> progress in one street -while, unaware of your danger, you continued increasing your record of -sins in the next. But now there could be doubt no longer; the open war -had begun.</p> - -<p>In half an hour I was crossing the bridge and climbing the Kremlin hill -to the Red Square. Crowds of well-dressed people, clerks, and shop-boys -were hurrying past me away from the city. In spite of the strike, they -had walked in by habit that morning, or merely to see what was going -on. But guns in the street were a breach of business habits, and now -they had seen enough and preferred to lunch at home. Similarly, I -think, Brixton would be unusually full at midday if the shells were -bursting in Cheapside; and it was in the Cheapside of Moscow that the -guns were then at work.</p> - -<p>If we may take Moscow as a circle with the Kremlin for centre, it was -on the north-west segment of the circle that the revolutionists made -their most serious attack. Certainly, there were other attacks as -well—two on the St. Petersburg station, against which the whole effort -of the rising ought to have been concentrated; and one attack was made -on the Rezan station close by. The rumour came in every morning for the -next week that both had been burnt to the ground, though when I visited -them, I always found them untouched. Other attacks were also made, -and there was a certain amount of fighting on the south side of the -wandering little river. But the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span> main interest lay in that north-west -segment, of which the Tverskaya, the Dmitrovka, and Petrovka are the -main radii, while the Boulevards enclosing the “White Town” form the -nearer of the two concentric arcs, and the Sadovaya, or garden circle, -the further. The Sadovaya, which runs round the whole city, was a real -circumference or boundary to the fighting area during the first few -days, and if one started from the red triumphal arch near the Nicolai -station, and followed the arc westward and south till the river was -reached, the whole scene of action would be included in that segment. -But concentric circles make the most puzzling plan on which a town -can be built, because it is difficult in walking to allow for the -almost imperceptible curves. Only in Moscow and Monastir have I seen -such arrangements of streets, and only in those two towns have I ever -hesitated about my way.</p> - -<p>The revolutionists had chosen this segment for attack because it -contained the Government house, the Prefecture of Police, the great -Central Prison, from which the exiles used to start for Siberia, and at -least three important barracks. As far as they had any definite plan -at all, their idea seems to have been to drive a kind of wedge into -the heart of the city, supporting the advance by barricades on each -side, so as to hamper the approach of troops. The point of the wedge -was to be driven down the Tverskaya as far as the Government house, -and if once that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span> position had been gained, they probably hoped that -the rest would be easy. Accordingly, during the night they had thrown -up barricades across all streets leading into the Tverskaya beyond the -circle of the Boulevards, and in all streets parallel to it. By morning -the point of the wedge had nearly reached the open space where the -Boulevard runs and the Pushkin statue confronts the Strasnoi Convent.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p1461_ill1" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p1461_ill1.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">A MINOR BARRICADE.</p> - </div> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p1461_ill2" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p1461_ill2.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">A MILITARY POST AT MOSCOW.</p> - </div> - -<p>That was the main and serious line of attack, as the revolutionists -designed it. But at the time it was hard to understand their purpose, -for in street fighting one can get no view, the firing comes from many -sides at once, and you are open to equal danger from friend or foe. -There is no front or rear, and you feel you are nothing but flanks. To -every point of the compass you are exposed; there is no obvious line of -advance, for the enemy may always be behind you. And there is no line -of retreat, for at any moment your communications with your base may be -cut, and you may be shot at for hours from street to street before you -can get home for food or sleep. But the greatest difficulty in grasping -the situation at once arose from the mere numbers of the barricades -which had been already thrown up since the previous night. Over a large -part of the district barricades had grown up quite at random. They -appeared in every lane. Miniature barricades crossed the footpaths on -the Boulevard <span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>gardens. They were especially thick in the Tsvietnoi, -or Flower Boulevard, and often so flimsy that a push would knock them -over. As signs of spiritual grace, nothing could have been nobler, for -they were the work of high-hearted young men and girls, who, having -read that barricades are the proper things in revolution, hastened to -build them anywhere and anyhow. Tubs, shutters, gates, iron railings, -telegraph poles, and front doors were hurriedly piled across a street -or path, and left standing there as a menace to tyrants. So they were -a menace to tyrants. Every bandbox there proved the deep-rooted hatred -to tyranny. But not one of them would stop a bullet, and there was no -possibility or intention of defending them for a moment. They were the -work of splendid children learning to make war, and when at last they -were torn up and burnt, one passed over their smouldering ruins with -the regret we feel for broken toys.</p> - -<p>The very multitude of these barricades (early next morning I counted -one hundred and thirty of them, and I had not seen nearly half) made -it difficult to understand the main purpose of all the fighting, when -I found myself suddenly plunged into the middle of it that first -afternoon. Alone, and very ignorant both of the language and the -town, I could not at first discover any design on either side, beyond -setting up barricades and knocking them down again. It seemed as if -the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span> Government might have left the revolutionists alone, and simply -issued a proclamation to the citizens of Moscow: “Keep your streets -blocked up if you like. We should have thought it inconvenient, but -it really makes no difference to us.” Like most other people, I had -no experience of street fighting to guide me, and it was with this -sense of uncertainty and bewilderment that I made my way from point to -point towards the part of the Tverskaya from which the sound of guns -came. To get into the main street itself was impossible, for every -approach was guarded by sentries, who cried “Halt!” and then fired -with inconsiderate rapidity. To the crowds of peaceful citizens, such -behaviour was novel and pleasantly exciting. They gathered in thick -groups behind the shelter of any street corner, or up the passages, and -even in the porches of big shops and banks. Every now and then some one -would snatch off his cap and dash across an exposed street as though -he were finishing for a hundred yards. The crowd held their breaths -and watched eagerly, hoping to see him fall, as an audience hopes to -see the tight-rope girl break her neck. But when he reached safety and -waved his arms, they cheered and another started.</p> - -<p>By similar means, except that national vanity made me walk instead -of running, I reached the Petrovka (the Lombard-street of Moscow, -parallel<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span> to the Tverskaya, and below it down a hill), and made my -way along it till I came to the Boulevard near the Trouba where the -Ermitage restaurant stands. Looking up to the left I could there see -the Pushkin statue, and watch the flash of the guns in position on the -high open space that commands the cross roads of the Tverskaya and -the Boulevard in both directions. Up the hill the Boulevard was quite -empty, but in the hollow at the foot a few people were hurrying to and -fro. Some were model citizens, who would rather die than break through -the habits of every day; some were women who had to provide the Sunday -dinner anyhow. But most were possessed by the curious instinct which -drives even the gentlest men and women to witness fighting and death -against their will.</p> - -<p>Hoping to discover the true position of the revolutionists, I started -to cross the Boulevard myself, keeping under cover of the snowy trees -whenever I could. In the middle I saw a girl coming towards me—an -ordinary workgirl with a shawl over her head. Apparently she also had -come for curiosity, for all her rosy face was smiling with excitement. -But as I looked at it, a little red splash fell upon her cheek, and -instantly the side of her neck and the knot of the shawl turned red. -She stood still, drew in her breath with a gasp, and then sat down in -the snow crying. I jammed my<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span> handkerchief against the wound, but the -bullet had only just touched her as it fell, and seeing there was no -hole in the face I signalled to her to run, and away she went into the -Petrovka, screaming for a sledge.</p> - -<p>Going on, I had to leave the trees and cross the open road. At the -entrance to a yard there, I found a small group of people leaning over -another woman, who had just been hit and was lying helpless on the -pavement, her eyes white and her breath coming and going heavily. She -was a well-dressed girl in a long fur coat, possibly a revolutionist, -but more likely a sympathetic spectator. The bullet had struck through -her skirts, and a man was trying to stop the terrible bleeding by -twisting two handkerchiefs round the leg. We carried her unconscious to -a large house about a hundred yards up the hill, where a red-cross flag -was flying. It may have been a permanent hospital, for the ambulance -stations, afterwards organized by the Zemstvo or Town Council, were -not ready then. The soldiers did not fire at us, though we had come -into close range. All through those early days of the fighting, the red -cross was respected, and people who were carrying the wounded, even -without the ambulance badges, were not often fired at. A change came -later on, and even to red-cross girls no mercy was shown. This change -was due to a special order from Admiral Dubasoff.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span></p> - -<p>When I turned from the hospital door, I found my position excellent -but uncomfortable. The protection of the wounded had brought me safely -up close to the very centre of the situation; but now that protection -was withdrawn. I could not stand still, and to go back meant a long -retirement down the open road fully exposed to fire from end to end. -The only chance was to go on, and as the entrance to the next street -was only about fifty yards away, I gathered up my fur coat and ran -for it. Turning sharply round the corner, I found myself in the Mala -Dmitrovka, a wide street down which the electric trams run in quiet -times. It looked painfully open and empty. Lamp-posts had been knocked -down and laid across the road, telegraph wires had been cut and strewn -on the pavement or tied into entanglements, and the overhead strands -for electricity hung in festoons, threatening the heads of horsemen. -I saw at once that I had reached the zone between the contending -forces, an admirable position for the military student, but otherwise -unpleasing. Still, if I could only go on, I should discover the main -revolutionary body, and that was my object. So keeping close to the -houses on the left side, I started along the road at a trot. Only one -other creature was in sight—a man of the bank-clerk type, who was -walking rapidly in front of me, crouching down to protect his head. -Once he looked behind to see if I were dangerous, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span> I was rapidly -gaining on him when, all of a sudden, he sank together and lay down on -the pavement.</p> - -<p>Before I could reach him, he was up again and was leaning against a -house, trying to take cover behind a down-spout. He could only speak -Russian, but he pointed to his thigh, and I saw the blood running out -over his boot and beginning to soak through the trouser-leg. I looked -round for help, but the blinds in all the houses were down, and the -gates barred and padlocked. Pointing in the direction by which we had -come, I made him understand there was an ambulance near, and putting -one arm round my neck, he began to hop back along the street down which -we had advanced so fast. Neither of us was now in the least anxious -about danger, and we listened to the guns and rifles with entire -indifference. But the pain of the movement and the loss of blood were -overcoming him; he was turning green, and at last I was obliged to -rest him on a doorstep. I tried binding his leg over the trouser, but -that did not stop the flow, and the cold was so intense that I did not -like to take his trousers off. He was falling into unconsciousness, -and I tried in vain to make him crawl a few steps further. Again I -looked round at the houses, and this time I saw some faces watching me -from a window. I waved to them, and presently the front door opened, -and three men and a girl came out, bringing a chair. On <span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span>that we -soon carried him down the road to the Red Cross room, and I was left -standing outside the entrance again. I then discovered that from first -to last we had been exposed to sharpshooters posted on the tower of the -Strastnoi Convent, close by, and all running and cover had been useless.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p1521_ill" style="max-width: 480px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p1521_ill.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">“GOD WITH US!”</p> - <p class="p0 p-left sm">From <i>Sprut</i>.</p> - </div> - -<p>But it was now getting dark. Under the protection of the wounded, -I had approached nearer the revolutionary position than I thought -possible at starting, and for once virtue had been something better -than her own reward. To have put her to the test again would have been -wanton, for one cannot count on always finding an object of protective -philanthropy. So I made for the trees, and walking down the Boulevard -through the deepening twilight, I ran straight into a half-battery -of four guns that was coming up to the relief of the guns beside the -statue. The scouts, who were thrown out over the space, seized me and -searched me down, but raised no further objection to my existence.</p> - -<p>That night I had an engagement in the west of the city, but the streets -between were so carefully guarded that I had to creep in the dark -through the Old Town and round by the Kremlin along the deserted river -bank to get there, and then it was impossible to come back, for a minor -state of siege had been declared, and the soldiers were shooting at -anything that moved. A “minor state of siege”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span> only implies that if you -lose your life, or anything else during the time, you have no claim on -the Government for compensation. It is a convenient arrangement for -a bankrupt Government engaged in re-establishing its credit by the -slaughter of its own people.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER IX<br /> -<span class="subhed">THE DAYS OF MOSCOW—II</span></h2></div> - - -<p>The next day was our Christmas Eve—a Sunday. I had stayed the night, -as I said, in the west of the disturbed district, and in the early -morning some revolutionists came into the house, and reported large -numbers of killed—rooms crowded with people all blown to pieces by -the shells, walls bespattered with blood, and other horrors, which one -always hears in war, and which are sometimes true. They also said they -had just taken part in an assault upon a body of unmounted dragoons, -who were cautiously approaching a barricade when the revolutionists -opened fire upon them with revolvers from the houses on both sides, and -killed ten. The men themselves were worn with sleepless excitement. -They remained muffled up in their overcoats, and kept one hand -fingering at the revolvers in their pockets.</p> - -<p>Soon after daylight, the church bells began to ring for Divine service, -and the big guns sounded again from the Tverskaya. Finding that -sentries were still driving back every one who approached<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span> that part of -the town, I went round by the University and reached the great Theatre -Square in front of the Hotel Métropole. The battery of eight guns, -which had been hidden inside the hotel, was now fully displayed across -the square, apparently in readiness to bombard the Opera House. But, -in fact, the guns were placed there only for reinforcement and to keep -up a panic among the crowd, who came out now and then and watched them -with interest from the opposite side, and then rushed away in sudden -terror. Crossing the square in front of the battery, I was going up the -street at the side of the hotel when I found a party of dustmen and -police loading a cart with some bodies that lay upon the street. The -things hardly looked human, they were so small and still and shapeless. -Their faces were burnt away; their clothes black, and so charred that -they crumbled into cinders like burnt paper as the body was heaved into -the cart.</p> - -<p>I then saw that in the side of the hotel a vast black space had been -blown out, like the entrance to a smoky cavern. It was the site of a -gun-shop, which I had often examined with some curiosity and wonder; -for a gunmaker’s is a dangerous trade in revolution. From a man who -lived exactly opposite, I heard the story afterwards. Late on the -Saturday evening a party of revolutionists went boldly across the -street, and broke into the shop with hammers and axes. Other people -appeared, and a small crowd<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span> had gathered, when a detachment of -soldiers came round from the hotel and fired into the middle of them. -They ran; but the soldiers went back, and the crowd gathered again. -This happened twice, and then the soldiers, being evidently terrified -themselves, left the place alone. The revolutionists appear to have -departed with their plunder, but a number of people remained searching -about for what they could get, lighting matches and using long rolls -of paper as candles. Just at midnight there was an immense explosion, -and all that was left of the shop, together with the people in it, was -blown into the street. The eye-witness described the ground as littered -with dead, many of them in flames. Those were the charred bodies I saw -being removed; the others, who were killed and wounded by the soldiers, -had already gone. But it seemed to me probable that the explosion was -purposely caused by the revolutionaries, either to create terror, or to -destroy the powder they could not use. What arms were actually obtained -I cannot say. Many sporting guns had been in the window, but I had -never seen any rifles or revolvers, though I had looked carefully, with -this probability in view.</p> - -<p>My own little hotel was close by, and after calling there, I went on -to the nearest point of the circular Boulevard, only a hundred yards -beyond. Here there was a clear view over the valley by the Ermitage -and up the opposite hill to the Pushkin statue. A<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span> good many people -had taken cover behind the trees, and were watching and listening, but -the terror had much increased and there remained none of the sporting -spirit of the day before. Death was too near and obvious now. Almost -every instant a bullet came whizzing over the valley and was heard -cutting through the trees or falling with a tiny hiss in the snow. -At the corner of my street, close to a white monastery with a great -classic tower, they had opened a back yard as a refuge for the wounded, -though it did not fly the red cross, I think because it was privately -managed by the revolutionists for their own people. The line of wounded -who were hurried into it, dazed and groaning, was almost continuous, -and all were received, whether revolutionists or not. Under an open -shed inside I found a pitiful row of the dead lying on the stones, some -terribly shattered by shell-fire, some killed by the rifle, so merciful -when it strikes the brain or heart. We had helped in a man who was -streaming blood from a shot in the neck, and we had hardly laid him -down when a poor red-bearded peasant, all shaggy and caked from the -fields, was dragged inside, his face dull white except at a great hole -by his nose. But he was already dead and was put beside the others. -Between the stones of that yard for the first time I saw men’s blood -trickling as in a gutter.</p> - -<p>Hitherto many of the wounded and dying had been galloped up to the -ambulance yards in sledges,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span> but now I saw a driver who was hailed for -a wounded girl turn sharp round and dash out of sight.</p> - -<p>Another sledge was seized, but this driver also lashed his horse and -tried to get away. He was dragged out of the sledge, and his arms were -bound with his own whip, while two men, supporting the girl between -them, brought her up the hill to the yard. Soon afterwards the sledges -disappeared altogether, and for some days none could be had. It was -said the drivers were afraid of having them taken for barricades; more -probably they were only afraid of being shot, and in any case it was -not profitable to carry the wounded. I believe the Government also -forbade them running lest they should help revolutionists to escape.</p> - -<p>Leaving the yard, I went down the hill and along the Petrovka, where -the guns had battered two or three houses to pieces because a revolver -had been fired from the windows. I had hoped to get into the Tverskaya -by a little lane at the back of the Opera House, but the pickets were -still keeping up a random fire down all those cross streets, and many -passers-by were struck. One soldier deliberately aimed at an oldish -man who was going along the Petrovka like myself. The man fell into a -pile of snow by the edge of the road and kept on struggling to rise. -But each time, when he had nearly got up, he lurched heavily forward -again<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span> and fell on his face like a drunken man. The soldier who had hit -him came up with another soldier and looked at his wound. Then they -shouted to an ambulance cart that was passing the end of the street, -and lifting the man carefully on to it, they sent him off to the Hotel -Métropole, at the back of which, I think, the Zemstvo were establishing -their main ambulance depôt for soldiers and civilians alike. It is -not often that a man who has done his utmost to kill another can so -speedily do his utmost to keep him alive.</p> - -<p>Unable to reach the guns from that side, I then determined to get in -front of them and try to discover again what the revolutionists really -intended. So I turned back and after some difficulty reached the -main street of the Dmitrovka (Bolchaya Dmitrovka) which runs closely -parallel to the Tverskaya. There I found a woman stooping over a body -which lay on the curb-stone. It was a boy of about fifteen, dressed in -the school uniform of a little blue cap and long grey overcoat. He had -come out to see a battle—a real battle with men shooting bullets and -slashing with swords. His little boots were close together, pointing -upwards; his white-gloved hands thrown out upon the snow like a cross; -and through his mouth was the dark red hole where the bullet had struck -him. The woman had seen him fall and had come from her house. Two or -three others now gathered round, and she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span> brought out a red and white -table-cloth in which we wrapt him. So we carried him to an ambulance -room in a lane beside an ancient red-brick church close by. But he was -dead before we reached the door.</p> - -<p>When I came to the Boulevard again, I was close to the Pushkin statue, -so often mentioned because hitherto it had been the advance position -of the guns. But now they had been taken forward further along the -Tverskaya, and the square was empty but for a few sentries. The -sharpshooters had also been removed from the Strestnoi bell-tower, but -the Russian common people will long remember the impiety which placed -them there, and a fine satiric cartoon represents them as they fired -upon the crowd below, with the inscription, “God with us!” The Mala -Dmitrovka, where the clerk had fallen in front of me the day before, -was absolutely empty now, and I passed right along it without any -interruption except for the wire entanglements. It brought me out, as -I had hoped, upon the Sadovaya, or Garden Boulevard, which forms the -outer circle round Moscow, as I described before, and reaching the -point of intersection I saw at once that I had come to the very centre -of the revolutionist position.</p> - -<p>The four arms of the cross-road were all blocked with double or even -treble barricades, about ten yards apart. As far as I could see -along the curve of the Sadovaya on both sides, barricade succeeded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span> -barricade, and the whole road was covered with telegraph wire, some of -it lying loose, some tied across like netting. The barricades enclosing -the centre of the cross-road like a fort were careful constructions of -telegraph poles or the iron supports to the overhead wires of electric -trams, closely covered over with doors, railings, and advertisement -boards, and lashed together with wire. Here and there a carriage or -tramcar was built in, to give stability, and from the top of every -barricade waved the little red flag. A similar fort had been built -at the intersection of the Sadovaya with the Tverskaya, only a short -distance to the right, and the whole of the road between was thronged -with excited people, who hastened backwards and forwards, stood in -eager groups at all the corners, and kept peering down the Tverskaya -to discover if the guns were yet in sight. But the troops were -advancing slowly, if at all. At intervals the guns fired—generally -two in rapid succession—and we could hear the crash of the shells as -they plunged into the houses or brought the brickwork rattling down. -Every now and then came a quick outburst of rifle-shots—perhaps -of revolver-shots—and a bullet or two went humming overhead. Each -barricade was being assaulted separately, the guns firing first, and -then the soldiers creeping up with rifles.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p1621_ill" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p1621_ill.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">BARRICADES ON THE SADOVAYA.</p> - </div> - -<p>But it was not from the barricades themselves that the real opposition -came. From first to last no <span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span>barricade was “fought,” in the old sense -of the word. To be sure, we afterwards saw photographs of enthusiastic -revolutionists standing on the very summit of the barriers, clear -against the sky, and waving red flags or presenting revolvers at space. -But no such things happened, and the photographs were a simple kind of -“fake.” The barricades were never intended to be “fought.” The only -tactics of the revolutionists were ambush and surprise. Afterwards I -heard stories of them lying down across the street in front of the -advancing troops, and meeting case-shot and rifles with revolvers that -cannot be trusted over twenty yards. Such stories are too ludicrous -to be denied. The revolutionary methods were far more terrible and -effective. By the side-street barricades and wire entanglements, they -had rid themselves of the fear of cavalry. By the barricades across -the main streets, they rendered the approach of troops necessarily -slow. To the soldiers, the horrible part of the street fighting was -that they could never see the real enemy. On coming near a barricade -or the entrance to a side street, a few scouts would be advanced a -short distance before the guns. As they crept forward, firing, as they -always did, into the empty barricade in front, they might suddenly -find themselves exposed to a terrible revolver-fire at about fifteen -paces range from both sides of the street. It was useless to reply, -for there was nothing visible to aim at. All they could do was to -fire<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span> blindly in almost any direction, and perhaps the bullets killed -some mother carrying home the family potatoes half a mile away. Then -the revolver-firing would suddenly cease, the guns would trundle up -and wreck the houses on both sides. Windows fell crashing on the -pavement, case-shot burst in the bedrooms, and solid shell made round -holes through three or four walls. It was bad for furniture, but the -revolutionists had long ago escaped through a labyrinth of courts at -the back, and were already preparing a similar attack in another street.</p> - -<p>Among all those excited groups it was quite impossible to distinguish -the sympathetic spectator or even the spy from the fighting -revolutionist. It all seemed to me like an Aldershot field-day, in -which the regulars on one side were fighting with ball cartridge -against the usual crowd of onlookers, some of whom were secretly armed.</p> - -<p>Leaving the central forts, I went for half a mile further along -the continuation of the Dmitrovka, which here takes the name of -Dolgoroukovskaya, and from end to end I found it crowded with -work-people of the better class, all intensely excited and alert, and -apparently all enthusiastic for the movement. But even when a man tried -to work up trouble because I looked foreign and fairly well-dressed, I -could not distinguish for certain which were the real revolutionists -among them. The whole long street had been admirably barricaded,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span> and -as it runs out towards the Petrovsky Park and the open country, it -seemed likely that it had been specially prepared as a line of retreat -in case of disaster. Barricades were erected every thirty yards, and -in one place the whole of the electric train had been drawn at right -angles across the road in three lines, making far the largest barricade -then existing in the world. Naturally the revolutionists were proud -of it as a triumph of engineering art. Four red flags flew from its -summit, and upon the largest flag some girl had stitched the white -letters, “For Freedom.” But there was another barricade which seemed to -me simpler and finer in conception. Some revolutionists, probably boys, -had piled a great wall of snow across the road, and then by pouring -buckets of water upon it under the freezing sky, had converted it into -an almost solid rampart of ice, which I doubt if any bullet could have -penetrated. That was the barricade of genius.</p> - -<p>When I returned to the central forts on the Sadovaya, the firing of the -big guns had slackened, and I found out the reason afterwards. At the -time I thought it was because the early dusk of mid-winter was falling, -and having waited for a while to watch some revolutionary Red Cross -parties set out in different directions, I made a short cut for home -by way of the Flower Boulevard (Tsvietnoi). But as I was going along -its valley towards the Ermitage,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span> four big flashes in front, looking -very orange in the twilight, warned me that guns had been brought down -there to demolish the series of little barricades running across, the -gardens where I was. I think the troops were afraid of a flank attack -on their right if they advanced further without clearing this ground, -and, indeed, the barricades throughout the quarter were still rapidly -increasing. Men and girls were throwing them up with devoted zeal, -sawing through telegraph-poles, wrenching ironwork from its sockets, -and dragging out the planks from builders’ yards. I could still find -no directing spirit—no general or staff to give orders for the whole -army, as it were. But there must have been some sort of agreement in -actions like this, and probably, if I had been able to converse like -the rest, I should not have remained ignorant. But the foreigner, -however well disposed, is inevitably suspected, and even offers of help -in carrying and building are very coldly received, or rejected with -threats. Yet I was much less likely than a Russian to be a spy, and no -one could suffer greater mortification than being thus excluded from -the party of revolt.</p> - -<p>When I reached the hill where my hotel stood, I found that even in -our own insignificant street, two barricades were being erected—one -very conveniently placed just below my window—and the side streets -leading down into the Petrovka were similarly blocked. The soldiers had -evidently fired<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span> up these streets whilst the building was going on, -for a bullet passing through a hotel window and wall and ceiling had -left a memorial which the inhabitants continued to contemplate with -pleasurable awe. The hotel cook also, having a moment of leisure in his -kitchen, had run out into the yard to enjoy the battle, and leaning -forward round a corner to gain the best possible view, had received a -bullet through the heart. Now stretched in the stable, he cooked no -more.</p> - -<p>Late at night a strange figure appeared in the hall and stood thawing -in front of the fire. It was dressed like a peasant, but surely -no peasant since Adam’s fall ever looked quite so comfortable and -self-satisfied, and no peasant’s clothes were quite so clean since -Adam’s first day in hides. After warming himself and peering about for -a little while with twinkling eyes, he took off the peasant’s raiment -bit by bit, and stood before us in full uniform, a police-officer -revealed. He had not come as an avenger, but with wrath restrained he -only demanded figures regarding the dead, and he even stooped to take -a special interest in the cook. There is a peculiar quality about the -Russian official—a kind of friendliness in brutality, a brotherliness -in slaughter—which springs from the sense of human kinship. Presently -the hired assassin showed himself quite benign and communicative. -He displayed revolutionary leanings. He informed us that if only -the insurgents<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span> could maintain the fight for three days longer, the -soldiers would be overcome. Already they were worn out with constant -watching and harassing marches hither and thither without relief. The -news, if true, could only mean that a large part of the garrison could -not be relied upon by the Government, for otherwise there were plenty -of troops in the city to supply reliefs. I believe the garrison then -numbered eight infantry regiments (much undermanned, it is true), two -Cossack regiments, one and a half of dragoons, and two brigades of -guns. In all, the numbers were then estimated at eighteen thousand—not -very many, it is true, but surely enough to hold a city against -ill-armed insurgents. Something must evidently be strange in the temper -of the men. So that peasant police-officer discoursed, and the hearts -of his hearers were full of hope or dismay according to their inborn -quality.</p> - -<p>Towards midnight there was a sudden outburst of rifle-fire outside my -window. A party of soldiers were assaulting the little barricade, which -I had already come to regard with a sense of personal property. They -poured bullet after bullet into it, but still it held out as long as -it could, and only surrendered at last because it had no defenders. -Bringing up copies of some suppressed organ of liberty as kindling, the -soldiers then set it on fire, and it burnt slowly till dawn.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER X<br /> -<span class="subhed">THE DAYS OF MOSCOW—III</span></h2></div> - - -<p>In many battles there comes a moment when little or nothing appears -to have changed, and yet you suddenly realize that all is over but -the running. Such a moment came on the morning of Christmas Day as -I went up the Sadovaya towards the central revolutionist position -where I had been the afternoon before. The barricades were still -standing, the Sodovaya was still covered with such a network of wire -about four feet from the ground that one had to walk under it bent -double like a hoop, and no horse could have moved. The guns had not -come perceptibly nearer, and in the centre of the town I had seen an -officer stopped and deprived of his sword by half a dozen men with -revolvers, who threatened to strip him naked, as another had been -stripped the day before. There were rumours of all manner of wild -enterprises on foot—attacks on stations, on prisons, on barracks. All -these were favourable signs. Yet as I went along, I suddenly realized, -“instinctively” as it is called, that the tide had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span> turned, and that -the highest moment of revolutionary success lay behind us.</p> - -<p>I was so convinced of this that, wishing to photograph the barricades -before they disappeared, I went all the way back to the hotel for my -kodak. There was a brilliant sun, and as the firing had not yet become -severe, I walked leisurely through the main position, selecting in my -mind the best places; for I had only one roll of films left, the rest -having gone down the line. As on the previous day, a good many people -were moving about in groups, besides the usual number of women passing -up and down unconcernedly, since children must be fed, revolution or -not. But from a number of unconscious signs, I felt the place was to -be abandoned, and it appeared likely that the fighting revolutionists -had already gone. So I began taking the views, and had just secured a -fine construction of doors, benches, barrels, railings, shop-signs, -and trees, when I found myself surrounded by a group of young men, -evidently displeased. I soon perceived I had fallen into the midst -of my friends. They were very quiet about it, and only one of them -spoke. He was a dark Pole of about twenty-five, dirty and red-eyed -with sleepless fighting, and he appeared to be informing me that I -was a spy and must at once give up my camera. To make his meaning -plainer, he stealthily drew a revolver from his coat pocket, and held -it close against my side, whilst he repeated his demands in the same<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> -low voice. In two or three unknown tongues I appealed to him and -the others, who had now closed in all round me, ready with the same -stealthy argument. I smiled my hardest, assuring them I was at least as -good a revolutionist by nature as they, and would rather explode the -universal spheres than betray a stick of their barricades. I think they -understood the smile, for their manner became less anti-social. But -there was a movement among the crowd, and as I tried to escape in it, -they again grew painfully insistent. In the end I had to give up the -roll of films, and with that they appeared content, for they graciously -let me keep the camera. But by their action their finest barricades -lost a chance of immortality.</p> - -<p>The incident only proved how impossible it was to know where the -revolutionists were stationed, or in what force. There was nothing -to distinguish these men from the numbers of others with whom they -were mixing quite freely. It is true that, after this experience, I -recognized them almost by intuition. As though by a law of nature, -they assumed the conspirators’ habit—the hat drawn down to the eyes, -the long coat with the collar turned up, the hand constantly feeling -in the pocket, the quick look of suspicion glancing every way. After -a few days I think I could have picked out the leaders simply by -their pale and intellectual faces, or their appearance of nervous and -bloodshot excitement. But the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span> possession of a revolver was the only -admissible evidence, and that required search. By the soldiers it was -taken as sufficient evidence for death without phrase, and any one -caught with a revolver in his pocket had no further chance. Of course, -the revolutionists were aware of this, and knew that death was as good -as surrender. Whilst I was among them that morning, for instance, an -English officer only a few streets away saw five men suddenly come upon -a strong picket. They were summoned to halt, but, instead of halting, -they walked quietly on, taking no notice. One after another they were -shot down, till only one was left, and he also walked on, taking no -notice. Then he was shot, and there was an end of the five. No doubt -the more usual form of courage would have been to rush upon the picket -and die fighting. But they may have been out of cartridges, and in any -case it would be hard to surpass their example in passive bravery.</p> - -<p>In expectation of sudden death like theirs, all the students, both -men and girls, had stitched little labels inside the backs of their -coats, so that, when they were killed, their parents might possibly -hear the news and know the pride of having produced an adventurous -child. I think most of the revolutionists had done the same, but the -dead were piled up and carted into the country for burial with such -indiscriminate carelessness, that I doubt if the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span> precaution was of -very much avail. And, indeed, it was not the revolutionist who suffered -most during the days of combat, but the sightseers and the ordinary -passers-by.</p> - -<p>For myself, I was very unfortunate all that day. The guns began firing -heavily again about eleven, and I tried many devices to reach their -main position on the Tverskaya by passing from lane to lane in their -rear. I even reached the Pushkin statue, from which I could see the -limbers of the guns waiting under cover. But the continual threats of -bayonets and rifles on every side, and the violent searching by the -sentries became strangely demoralizing. Certainly the process of search -that day was pleasingly simple in my case, because what underclothing I -still possessed had gone to the wash, and all the shops were shut. But -my kodak excited the utmost suspicion; all the more, perhaps, because -it was empty now.</p> - -<p>Tired of all this, I turned down the main Boulevard westward for an -interval of peace, but again I was singularly disappointed in my hope. -The further I went, the more disturbed and dangerous the atmosphere -of things became. Something was evidently happening down that way. -Troops were marching hastily about, and two guns passed at full gallop. -At one place I heard an officer’s voice shouting some order, and the -few people on the pavement near me began to run for their lives. I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span> -saw no reason to run till two soldiers came dashing at me through the -trees with fixed bayonets. Then running was too late, and, seated on -a railing, I awaited them, feeling that the centre of indifference -was reached at last, and life and death were equal shades. But -something induced them to respect so obvious a foreigner, and having -again searched me and taken half a crown each as their reward for -international amenity, they conducted me past an angle of a church and -waved adieu.</p> - -<p>Then I discovered the reason of all this excitement. New barricades -were rapidly appearing across many of the streets leading down into -the Boulevard from the right-hand, or north-west side. I continued -along the circle almost to the point where the Boulevard ends, close -to the great cathedral of the Saviour near the river, and all the way -I saw signs of fresh conflict and heard sudden outbursts of rifle or -revolver-firing. It was only after two or three days that I understood -the real significance of this movement, by which the revolutionists -were preparing for their final stand in the extreme north-west of the -city. But at the time I thought they were merely attempting a feint -upon the Government’s left, just as they had tried on the right the day -before. It seemed probable, also, that the movement was intended to -cover their withdrawal from the main position where I had lately left -them. And that, indeed, was their object, though they hoped<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span> rather to -change their centre than to abandon the contest altogether.</p> - -<p>Yet the crisis, as I had felt in the morning, was really over. When -I passed through the middle of the city again, and out to my own -quarter, the crowds were still running to and fro in panic round the -Theatre Square, men and women were still falling unexpectedly in the -streets, there was as much to do as ever in helping the wounded, and -the ambulance yards were continually being filled. But the life seemed -to have dropped out of the rising. People were talking with terror -of a great peasant invasion, hundreds of thousands strong, that was -already marching to deliver their Little Mother Moscow, and hew us all -to pieces. With better reason they said that Mischenko, the hero of -the Japanese war, was coming as military governor with 7,000 Cossacks. -Hour by hour the citizens were agitated by new alarms, and the cautious -began to think enough had been done for freedom, and to remember -that something, after all, was due to the sacred stove of home. That -night the revolutionists issued appeals calling for volunteers at six -shillings a day and a revolver, the term of service to be limited to -three days. For Russian fighting, or indeed for fighting in any land, -the pay was magnificent. Even in nations like our own the risk of life -is not valued above two shillings, and though the Russian soldier’s pay -was raised for this occasion,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span> it only amounted to threepence three -farthings. It was certainly safer for the moment to be a revolutionist -than any other kind of citizen, because revolutionists generally -knew which was the enemy and where he lay, but I do not think many -volunteered for the sake of the pay or the mere delight of firing a -revolver. Even if any recruits were gained by such inducements, their -fighting, not being inspired by revolutionary spirit, was not likely to -be glorious.</p> - -<p>During the next two days, there was very little outward change in the -position, except that the feeling of disaster grew, and most people -began to recognize the winning side and arrange their own behaviour -accordingly. The guns still sprinkled bullets over the barricades and -wrecked the houses on each side. The soldiers continued their slow -and perilous advance from street to street. People fell at random; -the hospital and ambulances were crowded beyond limit. On the Tuesday -evening an official estimate put the killed and wounded at between -8,000 and 9,000. In ordinary wars all numbers are exaggerated, but in -civil war the Government would probably not overstate the number of -their victims, and when I went up on Tuesday, the troops had advanced -very near to the Sadovaya, the firing was very heavy, and many were -hit. But the sense of disaster and failure lay over all, and on that -day, for the first time, I <span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span>heard revolutionists beginning to -describe the whole movement as a dress rehearsal and to congratulate -themselves upon the excellent practice in street fighting which they -had enjoyed.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p1761_ill" style="max-width: 600px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p1761_ill.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 p-left xs"><i>Art Reproduction Co.</i></p> - <p class="p0 center sm">THE NEW ERA.</p> - <p class="p0 p-left sm">From <i>Sulphur</i> (<i>Jupel</i>).</p> - </div> - -<p>On the Wednesday I was unable to go out, except only to cross the -Theatre Square. And there I found a group of soldiers who had just -taken part in an execution in the middle of the place. Some inmate of a -hotel opposite the Métropole, possessed by a crazy spirit of slaughter -or revolt, had fired a pistol at large from his window. The battery was -placed in front of the hotel and the surrender of the man demanded. The -proprietor gave him up without dangerous hesitation, and in a minute -or two he was shot in front of the window from which he had fired. One -would have liked to discover the kind of mania that seized him, but his -death made that impossible.</p> - -<p>The evening of the same day—or perhaps it was the evening -before—another execution was carried out, more terrible in its -circumstances, but better deserved, if any execution is deserved. -A band of revolutionists—the English papers, getting news chiefly -through St. Petersburg, said three hundred of them, but that is -absurd—made their way by some means unobserved to the house of the -chief of the secret police, close to the gendarmes barracks. Knocking -at the door, they demanded to see Voiloshnikoff, the chief himself. -He came out to them,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span> his wife and children looking on with terror in -the background, and in spite of the entreaties and tears of woman and -child, they placed him in front of the door and shot him on the spot. -No doubt he had done many atrocious things, and had cared little enough -for the entreaties of women and children himself. But most people -regarded this act of wild justice as inhuman, and regretted, not the -paid criminal’s removal from the world, but the manner of it.</p> - -<p>An hour or two before daylight next day (Thursday, the 28th), I had -to go to a house on the further side of the Sadovaya to help bring -provisions and toys for an English family which had taken refuge in the -hotel after spending some dull days in cellars. As we walked through -the streets standing in silence audible under the transparent darkness -of the morning, we saw the pickets squatting round orange fires of -planks which they had kindled in the middle of the road. But beyond -searching us once or twice, they did not interfere with our purpose, -and the only real danger came from the police, who had that morning -received brand new rifles—light-coloured things like toys, with fixed -bayonets—which they hugged in both arms, or held horizontally over -their shoulders, to the peril of all bystanders, while in their hearts -they longed to put them to their natural use, with all the tremulous -bravery of girls out rabbit-shooting.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span></p> - -<p>But before we reached the Sadovaya, we had passed all the pickets, -and hardly any one was visible on the streets. Some of the barricades -were on fire or gently smouldering; the rest stood deserted. The -pavements were strewn with glass and bricks. Houses on both sides were -ruined with shell. Some were burning, and in two or three the beds and -furniture were being thrown out of the shattered windows. We noticed -how wild the shell-fire had been, for houses quite a hundred yards -from the main streets were struck, evidently at random. But all was -unguarded now. When daylight found us leaving the English flat with our -load, there was still no one visible, and I think a battalion might -have marched through the district in fours without receiving a shot. -Even the red flags had been removed from the barricades, to be kept, -one hopes, for another occasion, and almost the only sign of life was -that here and there I observed a dvornik (the door-keeper who watches -the Russian home) cutting down the network of telegraph wire with -a hatchet and rolling it up. He reminded me of some trusty servant -methodically putting away the stage properties on the morning after -private theatricals.</p> - -<p>For the rest of that day the guns and soldiers were engaged in clearing -the quarter of barricades, entanglements, and all. It was an easy task -now, though the firing was more violent than ever, as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span> the progress -was more rapid. For the revolutionists had received orders from their -committee that morning to abandon the street fighting and scatter to -their homes or out into the country, continuing the propaganda and -holding themselves ready for the next opportunity. Some escaped, at -least for the time. Some refused to obey, but continued the fighting, -as we soon discovered. Many were seized, and for days afterwards small -parties of soldiers or police in every street drove some unhappy -creature in front of them with his hands tied. What became of these -prisoners, we only suspected at the time; we found out later. On this -part of the Moscow rising, there is no more to chronicle but massacre. -And so the barricades and their defenders faded into history, and law -and order were restored.</p> - -<p>That Thursday at noon, a decree went forth from Admiral Dubasoff -commanding all shutters to be taken down, all doors opened, and -business to be resumed on pain of martial law. Then the heart of the -shopkeeper was glad. For eight days all shops had been shut; banks -were closed, merchants did no business, and, as the German song -says, no mill wheel turned around. It is always hard not to smile -at the money-making classes whenever the great passions of human -existence appear upon the surface and shake their routine. Yet we -need not make light of their sufferings. They had suffered at the -heart. For months past<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span> they had been deprived of the profit which -is their single aim. For more than a week they had taken absolutely -nothing, and the whole credit of the country was so shaken that they -could not hope for advance of capital. Their occupation was gone, -and no return of it seemed likely. Besides the ordinary bankers, -merchants, and shopkeepers, we must include among them the hotel and -restaurant keepers, the theatrical managers, actresses, music-hall -people, prostitutes, and all such as live by pleasing or amusing the -wealthy. We ought further to include artists, musicians, authors, -lawyers, journalists, and professors, but as a rule their profits are -so small that their losses would hardly count in the universal ruin. -To take a single instance of the immense injury to trade, the mere -damage to house property from the shells and bullets was estimated -at £10,000,000, and all of it was dead loss, except to the builders -and glaziers. The Sytin printing works, wantonly destroyed by the -Government for printing the Liberal newspapers, was valued at £300,000. -There was no reason to be surprised, therefore, at the comfortable joy -which welcomed the Government’s ruthless decree. Perhaps it might seem -a little indecent, while the dead who had fought for freedom were still -lying in frozen layers at the police stations, or were being thrown -neck-and-crop upon sledges for their unknown burial. But we must make -a large allowance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span> for business habits, which tiresome revolutions -interrupt. Think of the feelings of our own City men if suddenly the -morning train which for years they had caught successfully, stopped -running and shells rained from Holborn Viaduct to Aldgate Pump! With -what common sense they would welcome the restoration of any tyranny, -with what scorn decry the fallen sentimentalists who had cared for -freedom! So in Moscow, returning law and order met a greasy smile, and -many extolled the Governor-General and officers for the vigour of their -action. Skin for skin; yea, all that a man hath will he give for his -livelihood.</p> - -<p>So “intercourse was resumed,” and the shop-keeping heart rejoiced. -But on Friday morning an uneasy feeling stole abroad that all was not -quite satisfactory yet. About two miles west of the Kremlin there is an -isolated manufacturing district called Presna or Presnensky. A little -stream with two or three ponds, running from the back of the Zoological -gardens into the Moscow river, separates it from the main town, and to -the north of it lies that ill-fated Khodinsky Polé, the plain where the -crowds were crushed to death at the Tsar’s coronation. The district is -about a mile square, and various factories stand there, for cotton, -furniture, varnish, boiler-making, and sugar. Some of them are under -English management, and in English commerce the place is known as Three -Hill Gates, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span>because the country beyond gently rises into slopes that -would pass for hills in Russia.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p1821_ill" style="max-width: 393px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p1821_ill.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">“INTERCOURSE IS RESUMED.”</p> - <p class="p0 p-left sm">From <i>Streli</i> (<i>Arrows</i>).</p> - </div> - -<p>It gradually became known that a large number of work-people—ten -thousand of them it was said—were holding this district, and had set -up there a little revolution of their own, under an organized system -of sentries, pickets, and fighting force. A few students and educated -girls had come over to them from the revolutionists of the barricades -disguised as mill hands; indeed, a girl of eighteen was described -as their most powerful leader, and in all probability those streets -which I had seen barricaded on the extreme left of the Government -advance on the Wednesday, were blocked to give time for the Presnensky -preparations. But in the main it was a work-people’s affair, and on the -Friday they held undisturbed possession of the district, their sentries -marching up and down with revolvers and red flags, while they naïvely -boasted themselves confident of terminating the exploitation of labour -and establishing Social Democracy at a stroke.</p> - -<p>But law and order were already at their work of disillusionment. That -very day the fashionable regiment of the Semenoffsky Guards, under -command of Colonel Min, already notorious as a slaughterer of the -people, arrived from St. Petersburg, though the revolutionists made a -gallant attempt to stop the railway by tearing up the lines.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span> In the -evening a cordon of troops was drawn round the district, and batteries -were placed on five positions, at ranges of 1000 to 2000 yards. One -stood on a high bank near a bridge over the little stream I mentioned; -another was a point nearer the Zoo, where the gunners had to fight for -the position, and burnt down several rows of small houses; a third was -in the cemetery, where they met with no opposition; a fourth far away -on the lowest slope of the Three Hills; and the fifth must have been -stationed somewhere down by the Moscow river, but I did not discover it.</p> - -<p>The district was thus surrounded by batteries, and at dawn on Saturday -the guns opened upon the mills and neighbouring houses. There were no -guns to reply, and the gunners consequently made “excellent practice,” -plumping their shells down where they liked, crashing through the -windows, or raising red clouds of brickdust from the battered walls. -It was about as leisurely and safe a piece of slaughter as ever was -seen. The large furniture factory was soon alight, and burnt quickly -to the ground. So did the fine house of its owner and manager, a -German-Russian named Schmidt, who was justly suspected of holding -Liberal opinions, and was afterwards shot for the crime. The Marmentoff -varnish works on the top of the hill also took fire, and its tanks -continued to burn for many days and nights, rolling thick clouds of -smoke into the air all day, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span> casting a brilliant crimson light upon -the evening sky. The great Prokhoroffsky cotton mill was battered, -and many shells burst in its rooms, but it was saved from fire by its -automatic “sprinklers,” which, however, ruined the machinery by rust. -Many shells burst against the owner’s house on the hill, for he too had -committed the sin of Liberalism. During the bombardment, his wife gave -birth to a child, an unpropitious time for herself and the nurses. But -the guns were chiefly directed against the large workmen’s barracks -attached to the mills, and these were soon shattered, though they did -not burn. The small rows of cottages, where the married men lived with -their families, being made of wood, blazed up at once, and it was in -them that most of the people were killed. At the time it was reported -that the gunners were ordered to fire on the lower stories, so that the -people upstairs might not escape. I doubt whether gunners could make -that distinction at the range, but, in any case, many people were cut -to pieces by the segment shells and stifled by the flames. In one upper -story alone, nine old men and women, who had been collected there for -safety, were burnt to death.</p> - -<p>The shelling was particularly heavy from eight to nine in the morning, -and again from one to two. As the wooden houses caught fire, and the -work-people were driven out in helpless crowds from their barracks by -the crash of shells, the soldiers came<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span> crowding in with rifle and -sword, and met with little organized resistance. The troops employed -were Cossacks, a Warsaw regiment, and the fashionable Semenoffsky -Guards, who had arrived, as I noticed, only the day before, and to -the end of the insurrection displayed a surpassing blood-thirstiness -and brutality. No Moscow men were present, though I was told by an -officer that the Rostoff regiment, which had been regarded as dubious -for some weeks past, entreated to be set in the front throughout the -fighting, and at every chance engaged in the slaughter with a ferocity -well calculated to recover the Government’s esteem. The whole of that -Saturday appears to have been one long massacre of men, women, and -children, who were blown up, shot, and hewn in pieces with delightful -ease, and almost uninterrupted security. But that day I was myself -unable to penetrate the thick line of sentries which surrounded the -district and were engaged in shooting down escaping refugees and -preventing witnesses of the massacre from entering.</p> - -<p>In the afternoon an event happened which illustrates the spirit in -which the Government’s agents carried out their work. Living in the -Presnensky district, which has some streets of wealthy villas at the -upper end, was a doctor named Vorobieff, well known in Russia as a man -of science and a writer on medical discoveries. At the beginning of the -bombardment he hung an ambulance flag from his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span> window, to give notice -to the wounded where they might obtain assistance. His landlord came -and asked him to take it down, because the red cross would naturally -draw the fire of Government troops. He took it down, but continued -attending to any wounded who came. Presently a party of police, -under an officer named Ermoleff, who had formerly been an officer in -the Guards cavalry, came to the house and accused him of assisting -revolutionists. He replied that he was not a revolutionist himself, -but it was his duty as a surgeon to give every possible help to the -wounded, no matter what their opinions might be. “Have you a revolver?” -Ermoleff suddenly asked him. Yes, he said, he had a revolver, but he -held the Government licence for it. “Go and fetch your licence,” cried -Ermoleff. And as the doctor turned to go upstairs, he fired his pistol -into the back of his head and blew his brains out. “Oh, what have you -done?” cried his wife, who had been standing at the doctor’s side. -“Hold your tongue, and wipe up that mess,” answered the ex-officer of -the Guards cavalry, and withdrew his party.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> - -<p>All that night Moscow saw the flames raging to the sky. Many of the -revolutionists, and many of the ordinary work-people too, tried to -escape from the district, especially across the frozen river, and it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span> -was along the river banks that most of them were shot down. Early -next morning, on the excuse of visiting the English overseers who -were shut up in the district, I succeeded in penetrating the cordon -of troops, though I was searched nine or ten times from head to foot, -and the sledge was searched as well. Two Russian journalists from St. -Petersburg, who tried to follow me, were less fortunate, for by the -command of the officers, they were so shamefully beaten and stamped -upon that they hardly escaped alive, and one of them, still exhausted -with terror and pain, came to my room some hours later to have his -wounds dressed. All round the edge of the district, the wretched -work-people were now trying to escape to their villages upon any kind -of sledge that would move. Into these sledges they had heaped all -their household possessions—feather beds, furniture, cooking things, -and heavy old trunks with clothes. Sometimes the toys already bought -for Christmas were laid carefully on the top—the doll or scarlet -parrot—and one woman carried a baby on one arm and a wooden horse -under the other. But when it came to the line of pickets, every sledge -was emptied, all the boxes unpacked, and their contents strewn upon the -snow. The people also were searched with customary brutality—the old -people beaten, the young insulted. The soldiers thrust their hands into -the girls’ breasts and under their skirts. One girl was passed on from -soldier to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span> soldier and searched six times within about twenty yards. -“God spit at them!” muttered the women as they crawled away.</p> - -<p>The guns were still in position around the district, and firing was -to begin again in an hour. But on such mills as were still standing, -the white flag now waved. Arms were being surrendered, and the dead -were collected in rows upon the frozen surface of a pond. In one place -was a mutilated child of nine; in another a baby’s arm, cut off at -the shoulder and across the fingers, lay on the snow. For law and -order were being restored. Near the mills I found many hundreds of -work-people standing idly round their ruined barracks and smouldering -homes. A barrack for mill-hands, as I have already shown, is not much -of a place. The beds are jammed close together in rows; everything -is hideous, the smell intolerable. Nor are the doghutch homes for -married people much better. But at all events they had been warm. Now -the workmen and their families had nowhere to go, and for the last -three mornings the thermometer had stood at eighteen degrees below -zero (Réaumur). Probably many homeless people were given shelter at -night in other crowded rooms, but all day long they remained shivering -helplessly among the ruins.</p> - -<p>I waited for some time in an English manager’s house, expecting the -guns to re-open fire. But no<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span> firing came, though the guns remained -all day in position. As far as open fighting went, the Moscow rising -was over. When I returned next morning (Monday, January 1st) I found -the guns had been withdrawn, and the streets and ruins and mills were -held by strong detachments of Cossacks and Guards. The surrender was -complete. Three of the leaders had just been bayoneted to death, -and their bodies were lying outside a shed. The remains of the last -revolutionary band were cooped up as prisoners in the sugar-mill yard, -and soldiers stood round the thick crowd of them, while the leaders -were being sorted out for execution. Many women were found among them, -and a large proportion of the dead were women too. Indeed, considering -that this was mainly a work-people’s movement, it was remarkable how -large a part the women played.</p> - -<p>Of the killed it was impossible to form an accurate estimate. In the -Presna district itself they said that eighty work-people were killed -during the bombardment of Saturday morning. Perhaps 200 were killed -in all, including those who tried to escape across the river. As to -the larger question of the casualties during the whole ten days of -the rising, every kind of estimate was heard between 5000 and 20,000. -I have even heard of enterprising newspapers which put the total -of killed alone at 25,000. But it takes a lot of killing to make a -thousand dead, and after going carefully<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span> into such figures as I could -get with two experienced officials who knew the city well, it seemed -to me probable that the killed numbered about 1,200, and the wounded -perhaps ten times that amount. But the truth can never be accurately -known. The frozen bodies were piled up in police stations and other -places till they could be carried out into the country by train and -laid in hasty trenches. When I was in St. Petersburg many weeks later, -a truck full of them arrived by mistake at the Moscow station there. -The authorities denied it, but no one doubted the truth.</p> - -<p>After our New Year’s Eve the process of vengeance and execution went on -without further interruption. In the Presnensky district the prisoners -were usually shot in batches—sixteen, twenty, or even thirty-five -together, as I was told by an overseer who lived close by and saw it -done. The work-people were set in a row before the firing party, and -were driven forward three at a time. Three by three they were shot down -before the eyes of the others. The heap of dead increased. Three more -were driven forward to increase it, till at last only a heap of dead -was left. In the case of two workmen, suspected of being leaders, there -was a variety in the proceedings, perhaps by way of a practical joke. -They were ordered by the officer just to walk round a corner of the -sugar mill. They went carelessly, with their hands in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span> their pockets, -and when they turned the corner they were faced by eight soldiers -standing at the present. In an instant they fell dead, and their bodies -remained for a long time lying on the ground for all passers-by to see. -Such executions continued among these factories for more than a week, -and the numbers of those poor and uneducated men and women who died for -their protest against despotism will never be known.</p> - -<p>Nor will the numbers of the victims within the city itself be known. -As I have said, on every street you met parties of soldiers and armed -police bringing them to the police-stations. Even at the beginning of -the rising, we have seen that prisoners were shot because the prisons -were too full to hold them. It is quite certain that they had no mercy -now, but what exactly became of them inside the walls, one could only -judge from terrible hints and rumours that people whispered to each -other. On the last day of the year, in a friend’s house, I met a -skilled craftsman, an educated and middle-aged man, who from his own -workroom could reach a window overlooking a police-yard. There, he -said, one could watch the prisoners brought in and briefly examined by -an officer. They were then strapped to a board and beaten almost to -death, and if they were people of no account they were handed over to -the executioners to be “broken up”—that is the English sportsman’s -phrase for hares and foxes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span> overtaken by the hounds. They were broken -up. Their bones were smashed, their legs and arms lopped off with -swords, and it did not take them very long to die.</p> - -<p>The story may have been one of the exaggerations of war, but the man -was a quiet and ordinary citizen, with no reason for lying, and he -invited us quite freely to come and view the place, always soaked with -blood. People of both parties who had lived many years in Moscow, -did not hesitate to believe it, and they often told me of things -still worse—of nameless things committed in the empty and windowless -chambers of police-stations, where no light enters and no cry escapes.</p> - -<p>One murder was especially talked about, because the victim happened to -be the son of a leading barrister, who was a friend of the Governor -himself. The boy was seized near the Riding School Barracks, close to -the university, either on suspicion or for open hostility. The Sumsky -Dragoons flogged him as usual, and their officer, finding him still -alive, asked why they had not finished him off. An infantry officer -who was standing by, took the news to the father, and he appealed to -the Governor in person, asking only that the guard to take his son to -prison should be composed of Moscow infantry and not of dragoons. The -Governor replied that of course his request should be granted, and -every consideration shown. Nevertheless, it was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span> dragoons who formed -the guard, and the boy never reached the prison alive.</p> - -<p>Rumours reached us also about the fate of the revolutionists who had -walked away into the country or afterwards escaped by train. I found -some of them as prisoners a few weeks afterwards, at a long distance -from Moscow; but many were overtaken on the road or shot by soldiers -at the stations. The Semenoffsky Guards especially distinguished -themselves by their zeal in hunting them down, and their exultation -in the slaughter; but considerable allowance must be made for them, -because they had not been given a chance of slaughtering the Japanese, -and like all brave soldiers they naturally pined for active service.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p1941_ill" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p1941_ill.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">DUBASOFF’S ROLL-CALL.</p> - <p class="p0 p-left sm">From <i>Burelom</i> (<i>The Storm</i>).</p> - </div> - -<p>So much for the men and women who had dared to strike for liberty. -But having extinguished their efforts, Admiral Dubasoff devised a -further method for discouraging the growth of Liberal opinions in the -future—a method much applauded by the supporters of law and order, who -hailed it as an admirable means of bringing ridicule upon the whole -revolutionary cause. He ordered the police to arrest all suspected boys -and girls in the Moscow schools and bring them to the police-stations. -There they were handed over to soldiers, who stripped them, and, if -they were under fifteen, beat them with their hands. Between fifteen -and eighteen, the girls and boys alike were stripped and beaten with -rods, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span>though the girls received only five strokes and the boys -twelve. I was told of this new device by reactionaries who had heard -it from police-officers, knew of cases in which it had been carried -out, and admired its admixture of sensuality with cruelty as likely -to keep young people in their places for the future. But I could not -help wondering how long a government in England would last if it handed -grown girls over to soldiers to be stripped and flogged because they -were suspected of Liberal opinions. I wondered also whether our own -people who were then beginning to ridicule the revolutionists, and -to welcome the restoration of order, ever in the least realized what -is meant by order under Russian rule. And I wondered most of all how -Frenchmen could still be found to advance money for the support of such -a Government. But investors have neither pity nor shame.</p> - -<p>In the midst of these scenes came the Russian Christmas Day (January -7th). It was celebrated as usual with superb ceremony in the enormous -church of Christ the Saviour, which stands in the west of the city, -above the river. Soon after dawn the people began to assemble, and by -ten o’clock the vast space under the domes was packed with crowds, -all standing up, except when, here and there, a man or woman forced -the neighbours to make room for prostration on the floor. Bodies of -troops stood at every corner round the building. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span> Governor-General -arrived, the military staff arrived, the scene was radiant with -uniforms. In any case, the ceremony is half military, for the great -church of Christ the Saviour was built to commemorate Napoleon’s -retreat. But it was not of Napoleon that the heroes of massacre were -thinking that day.</p> - -<p>The service began. In the centre, under the dome, stood a -bishop—perhaps an archbishop—with gleaming mitre, his robes stiff -with gold, his appealing arms supported by gorgeous priests. Between -him and the altar veiled books were carried to and fro, books were -brought with an escort of priests to be kissed, or were read in the -unintelligible mutter of solemnity. Long-haired figures bore candles -up and down; the bishop raised two candles high in air, crossing them -so that they guttered down his robes, while he turned to the compass -points of the church, to bestow his blessing upon all. Old priests and -young, glittering in the uniforms of holiness, came to kiss his hands. -In splendid humility he was supported to the altar. A veiled basin was -brought for him to wash in. A golden priest knelt with the sacred towel -hanging round his neck. The bishop washed, and upon the golden priest’s -neck he replaced the sacred towel. The Re-incarnation of Christ -began. On each side of the altar a choir of boys and men, apparelled -in scarlet and black and gold, raised the glory of Russian music in -alternate chant. From arch to arch ran the gleam of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span> kindling -tapers till the marble walls and gilded capitals shone with points of -fire.</p> - -<p>Muttering and sobbing with devotion, the masses of mankind swayed up -and down, as they bowed and crossed themselves in the gloom below. -Struggling to touch the polished pavement with their foreheads, they -fell upon the ground. The boom of distant bells was heard; a small -bell tinkled close at hand. In front of the altar stood a black-maned -priest, and with uplifted arm and upturned face, he called upon Christ. -He called and called again, his immense voice bellowing round the -cathedral, as though an organ had been wrought up to full power and one -great note held firmly down. So he called upon Christ to come—Christ -the Saviour, Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting -Father, the Prince of Peace.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER XI<br /> -<span class="subhed">IN LITTLE RUSSIA</span></h2></div> - - -<p>The failure at Moscow fell like a blight upon all Russia, and hope -withered. The revolutionists, certainly, protested that much was -gained. They admitted that they had allowed their hand to be forced by -the Government. The attempt, they knew, was ill-timed and ill-devised. -But they had not intended to win this time; the rising was only a -dress rehearsal for the great revolution hereafter. They were teaching -the proletariat the methods of street fighting, and after all it was -something to have held a large part of the ancient capital for ten days -against the Government troops. Such a thing had never been accomplished -before. They were proud of it, and when the hour of defeat came they -pointed to the high service which even reaction performed for the cause -by combining all parties again in opposition to the common oppressor.</p> - -<p>Of these various pleas, the last alone could stand. The ferocity of the -Government’s vengeance, the unscrupulous, disregard of all its pledges -under the reactionary terror, certainly obliterated the differences<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span> -between the parties of progress, and smoothed away the growing enmities -of rivals in their country’s salvation. Persecution is a powerful bond, -and when all are gagged, silence passes for agreement. There need be -no question that for the time the ruthlessness of the repression only -inflamed the revolutionary spirit, and combined all sections against -the pitiless and incapable clique which was bringing ruin upon the -people. How far such a lesson might be permanent, how long such unity -of purpose amid differences would be maintained when the pressure of -adversity was removed, could only be known when the next opportunity -for revolution came. For the moment unity was gained.</p> - -<p>Otherwise the failure was only disastrous. It had proved too expensive -for a dress-rehearsal, and to fight for defeat is seldom worth the -pain. It deprived the movement of its prestige. The revolution was no -longer an unknown and incalculable power, springing from secret roots, -no one knew where. The Government had gained all the advantages of a -general who has carried out a successful reconnaissance and discovered -the enemy’s limitations. They knew now on whom they could rely, and -many of the wealthy and educated classes who had rather enjoyed -posing as Liberals when they thought it was the fashion, now began to -appreciate the virtues of the ancient regime with fresh intelligence.</p> - -<p>One thing, above all, the failure had proved:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span> the devil was still on -the side of the big battalions. The real hope of the revolutionists -had been that the troops would come over to the side of freedom,—that -the soldiers would “fraternize.” They had some grounds for the hope. -Mutinies had been frequent and serious, the war scandals were partially -known throughout the army, the soldiers themselves sprang from the -people and would return to the people. It might be that they would -hesitate to shoot men and women so like their own relations at home.</p> - -<p>Large quantities of revolutionary literature had been distributed -among the garrisons, and many of the reservists had already professed -Socialism. But when it came to action none of these things counted -against the cowardice of obedience and the fear of death. It is true -that comparatively few of the garrison infantry were employed, though, -as I have noticed, even the disaffected Rostoff regiment clamoured -to be led to the front. But the gunners, who were supposed to be -very uncertain, were the chief instruments of suppression, and both -the dismounted Sumsky Dragoons and the Semeneffsky Guards, when they -arrived, displayed a bloodthirsty lust for massacre which could not -have been surpassed by the most loyal mercenaries.</p> - -<p>Put a man in uniform, feed him, give him arms, and he may generally -be depended upon to shoot as directed. Obedience is only a temptation -to sloth,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span> and it becomes almost irresistible when the temptation -is supported by fear of death. The soldier who “fraternized” -had everything to lose, and the revolutionists could offer him -nothing—nothing but a revolver, a dubious payment for three days -without food or clothing, and a prospect of almost certain death -if they failed. To win over an army, the revolutionists must first -command a public purse. They must point to some Parliament, Assembly, -Committee—some authoritative body which can supply food, clothes, -and pay. This was the advantage of our own Parliament in its struggle -against despotism; it could draw upon legitimate taxes, the King -could only melt down plate. And under modern conditions, unless the -revolutionists can win over the army, a revolution by violence appears -almost impossible. That was why the immediate occasion of our own -revolution was the dispute between the King and Parliament about the -command of the militia at Hull. Add to these instincts of obedience and -self-preservation the promise of better food held out to the army in -the Tsar’s Christening-Day Manifesto; add the weariness and irritation -of street fighting, the terror of sudden death lurking at every window, -the memory of women’s jibes and taunts during the past few weeks, and -you get a temper which will stick at no methods and be troubled by no -remorse. Among poverty-stricken and uneducated men, with no employment<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span> -or home or resources of their own, I doubt if enthusiasm for freedom -should ever be counted upon against the restraining powers of habit, -uniform, and rations.</p> - -<p>That was the main lesson of Moscow, and the Government was quick to -learn it. They knew their power depended entirely upon the command of -the army and police, but for the present that was secure. The command -of the army and police depended again upon their ability to pay them, -and, with an estimated deficit of £50,000,000 for the coming year and -a real deficit of about £80,000,000, finance was the weak point in the -Government’s defences. But Kokovtsoff was now in Paris negotiating -a loan by which at least the French might pay their own interest on -their own advances for one year, and for the future everything might -be hoped from the power of reaction. On January 9th, Witte replying -to a deputation of the gently Conservative “League of October 30th,” -announced his conversion to violent and repressive measures with -characteristic tearfulness. Whining like an apostate who blubbers over -the God he has betrayed, he cried—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“There was a time when I sought the confidence of the people, -but such illusions are no longer possible. I have always been -opposed to repression myself, but am now compelled to resort to -it, merely as the result of having trusted my countrymen.”</p> -</div> - -<p>While he was thus speaking, I myself was moving<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span> very slowly south-west -from Moscow towards Kieff, over indistinguishable spaces of snow marked -only by rare and desolate villages of wooden huts and sheds. During the -twenty-eight hours of the journey, we passed a few miserable towns as -well, and on the side platforms of every station I noticed great piles -of sacks sopping in the snow and rain; for a premature thaw had set in -and there was hardly a shred of tarpaulin to cover them. I found out -afterwards that these sacks held the last summer’s harvest—the grain -which ought to have been feeding Russia and Europe. But it lay rotting -there while peasants starved, because the thousand trucks which should -have taken it to market were standing idle in Siberia or dragging men -and horses slowly home, and the Government which had made war upon -Japan was now entirely occupied in flogging or shooting the men and -women who differed from their policy.</p> - -<p>Kieff, like Moscow and other towns, was exposed to all the violence -of martial law, which, indeed, for various reasons had become almost -chronic there. The city has often shown herself the birthplace of -revolution, and she is kept in almost continual ferment by the -opposition between her piety and her intellect. She boasts herself the -ancient centre of Russian religion and, at the same time, of Russian -thought—a strange combination, but that the religion is mainly -subterranean and the thought dwells in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span> the upper air. As objects of -pilgrimage her holy shrines are unrivalled. Peasants from all over -Russia visit Kieff by hundreds of thousands a year. They come to pray -at the ancient church of St. Sophia—a circle of dark and unexpected -chapels clustering round a central dome, where mosaics on golden -ground dimly gleam to the few tapers below, but all else is dark, and -invisible forms are heard moving in shadow, as a priest intones, or an -outburst of deep chanting sounds from unseen altars. But most pilgrims -are more attracted by the mummied forms of Russian saints who lie at -rest in catacombs far underground, below the churches and monasteries -of the sacred Lavra hill, which looks across the Dnieper to the great -plain of unenclosed fields and forests beyond. With coffin lids open -to preclude deception, the saints are laid in the rock-cut passage or -niche where once they spent their dull years of suffering because the -torments of ordinary life upon the surface were insufficient for their -zeal. Nay, one who, regardless of health, lived buried in earth to his -shoulders for thirty years, stands buried so still. The rest lie wrapt -in coloured cloth through which their face and form may only obscurely -be discerned; but when I examined the cloth I found it genuine. Year -after year their holy shrines are watched by silent monks, who sit -beside them with lighted tapers, religiously idle, while the long files -of peasants pass and give<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span> their pence, and kiss the cotton coverings, -and gulp the holy water which as a final blessing is presented them -to drink from the hollow of a silver cross. Or if any one refuses to -drink, the monk pours the water down his back, in the hope that even -upon a heretic the efficacy of so great a blessing may not be entirely -wasted.</p> - -<p>But above ground, Kieff is the mother of science and intellectual -progress, as far as such things can exist in Russia at all. Upon -the surface of her pretty hills, stand a famous University, a great -Polytechnic, and many schools. Ever since the fourteenth century, when -there was no such great distinction between divine and human knowledge, -Kieff has been conspicuous for her learning, and she still claims -equal rank with Moscow and St. Petersburg. Hers was the first printing -press of Russia, and it is she who has provided the training for most -of Russia’s recent politicians up to Witte himself—politicians as -distinct from officials, who are produced according to regulation type -by the more passive and unimaginative races of other districts. For -Kieff is the real capital of Little Russia, and the Little Russians -have no doubt that they are the intellectual people. They call -themselves the Midi of Russia, the Provençals, the people of the sunny -south. They are Slavs themselves, but they claim the Slavs of Galicia -or such Slavs as are found in Prague as their nearest relations, and -though their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span> language is only a Slavonic dialect, it is unintelligible -to other Russians, and is a bond of union only among the dwellers in -the Ukraine or marches or borderland of the south-west.</p> - -<p>Even in winter the dress of Little Russian peasants is brilliant and -distinctive. They go in cheerful crimson and orange, and their skirts -and aprons are worked with barbaric embroidery, as among the Bulgarian -Slavs of Macedonia. Their music and dances are like no other in Russia, -being comparatively gay. The artistic instincts run in their blood, -and the women supply the Empire with singers, actresses, dancers, and -others among whom beauty counts for wealth. In ordinary life even a -stranger notices at once that the people are better mannered and more -cheerful, though that does not imply an unseemly excess of merriment.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p2061_ill1" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p2061_ill1.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">A LITTLE RUSSIAN.</p> - </div> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p2061_ill2" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p2061_ill2.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">A TRAMP.</p> - </div> - -<p>In language, in life, and in temperament the distinction is almost -as much marked as between two kindred but separate races, but among -the Little Russians there is no proposal of separation. They would -gladly become a home-ruled State in a Russian Confederacy, provided -their defence were insured and they suffered no commercial loss. But -their great fear is not of Russia but of Poland, lest any marked -improvement in their position should bring more Poles among them to -swallow them up. Already the Poles are gathering the commerce and land -into their hands, and Poles are regarded much <span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span>like the Jews, as -insinuating people, unscrupulous, and horribly clever. Little Russia -is apprehensive of Poland very much in the same way as Poland is -apprehensive of Germany. Worse than all, the Poles are Catholic and -care nothing for Theodosius and Nestor and the eighty mummied saints -of Kieff. The Little Russian knows of only two religions beside his -own—the “Old Believers,” who in spite of all the death and torture -they have suffered for two centuries and have so richly deserved for -holding up a heretical number of fingers in the blessing, still remain -in the family of the Church, as the poor relations of Orthodoxy; but, -apart from them, he only knows “the Polish,” by which he means the -Catholic—schismatics hardly removed from heathendom, who worship -images instead of pictures, and keep their Easter wrong, and do not -compel their priests to marry, but are predestined to eternal fire.</p> - -<p>As it is, the Polish element is very strong in Little Russia, and so -is the German, the Bohemian, and the Galician. For Kieff has been the -great centre of international intercourse during the last fifty years, -ever since an English engineer, with English workmen, and English -materials, threw a suspension bridge over the wide stream of the -Dnieper there, and placed it on the great high-road of South Russia. -The bridge was lately reconstructed, and it is a sign of change that a -Russian<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span> engineer was now employed, with Russian workmen, and Russian -materials, and still it stands. But the result of all this admixture -in Kieff has been that the Little Russian movement is disappearing -before the general longing for great constitutional changes throughout -the Empire. For themselves, the Little Russians would be well content -if they were allowed the free use of their language, which is now -forbidden both in print and on the stage, while a Little Russian -newspaper which ventured to peep out after the October Manifesto was at -once stamped upon. But for the larger aspects of progress, Kieff has -never failed to supply revolutionists alike eloquent and daring.</p> - -<p>When I arrived in the city the surface looked quiet enough, though -martial law still prevailed. Some ten weeks had passed since the -Loyalists or the Black Hundred, directed by the police, protected -by the soldiers, and bearing crosses and portraits of the Tsar in -procession, had sacked and plundered down the main street; while in -front of the Town Hall a military band played the national anthem to -enliven their patriotism. On that occasion the Liberals were saved -by the riches of the Jews, for the patriots preferred free and easy -plunder to risky assassination. So the Cossacks who were ordered out -to suppress the tumult, ranged up their horses in front of the Jewish -shops, and took heavy toll of the plunder as the thieves came out -through<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span> the line with their loads. The police and hotel-keepers took -toll in the same way; indeed, the proprietor of the best hotel in the -town accumulated so valuable a reward from the neighbouring jewellers’ -shops that even patriots regarded his patriotism as overstepping the -requirements of citizenship and good taste.</p> - -<p>That day the blessings of this world were very widely distributed in -Kieff, but it happened that almost the only non-Jewish house attacked -was the British Consulate. Outside this house, which stands within -forty yards of the main street, and bears over its door the usual -painted placard of the British arms, a garrison officer formed up his -company in a half-circle, and ordered them to pour volleys into the -windows. Apparently he acted out of mere national spite, or perhaps -because England, in spite of all the errors of the last ten years, -is still regarded by the Russian revolutionists as “the Holyland of -Freedom.” Happily, the British Consul himself had just left the place, -being engaged in a gallant attempt to save the lives of a Jewish family -by sheltering them in his own private residence. A formal apology was -afterwards made by the Governor-General of the town, and the incident -was officially declared “closed.” But English people who are inclined -to trust the forces of law and order rather than the Russian Liberals, -for the protection of our consulates and our interests, should consider -its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span> significance. It was more shameless than the attack upon our -Consul at Warsaw on January 31st of the same year, though it did not -attract so much attention.</p> - -<p>Throughout the winter, the sufferers who had been ruined by the -Loyalist demonstration kept putting in claims for redress, which the -Russian Government politely answered by assuring them that they were -at perfect liberty to prosecute those who had done the damage in the -usual law-courts. The day I arrived in Kieff, a very large number of -Jews—said to be three hundred—were suddenly arrested at a religious -service, no reason being given. Two days later they were suddenly -released, no one knew why. These are but instances of the kind of -justice which the revolutionists think they could improve upon without -upsetting the foundations of society.</p> - -<p>Also on the same day on which I arrived, a band of thirty-five -revolutionists who had escaped from Moscow and had crept down the -railway as far as this, with a view perhaps to escaping by way of -Odessa or Poland, were arrested at the station. They disappeared, and -it was universally assumed that they were shot at once, if only because -the prisons were so horribly full that no one else could possibly be -stowed into them. After the first railway strike in October, a deadly -form of typhus, or gaol fever, broke out in the prisons. The relatives -of the imprisoned railway men offered to nurse their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span> own friends, -and be responsible for them, if only they might be released from the -plague-stricken gaols. But the request was refused, and the men left -to rot. Next came the serious military rising of December, the chief -demand of the soldiers being for more decent treatment from their -officers. The mutiny was rapidly suppressed, and the published figures -of the men who disappeared in consequence were given at ninety, but I -discovered that among the officers themselves the acknowledged numbers -were three hundred and eighty.</p> - -<p>But beside its distinction for religion, intellect, and revolution, -Kieff is also famous as the capital and market for the land of “Black -Earth” that great deposit of fertile soil which supplies wheat for -England and most of Europe, and is the chief source of such little -wealth as Russia possesses. In 1904, Russia’s total exports were valued -at £96,000,000. To this amount the foodstuffs contributed £61,400,000, -and the value of exported grain alone was £49,530,000, of which England -took £6,370,000. Next to grain in value came naphtha, which amounted -only to £5,823,200, and, only a little below that, eggs. Rather more -than half the total of Russia’s exports, therefore, consists of grain, -and this Black Earth is the granary of the country.</p> - -<p>From Kieff I made a long journey by sledge to many villages about -thirty or forty miles away.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span></p> - -<p>For a time the frost had broken up, though the Russian New Year had -only just begun. Consequently the tracks were hardly passable for the -rough wooden sledges that peasants use, and at one place where the -snow was falling in great sheets, driven by the wind, so that the wide -steppe showed no marks on its whiteness, and no division was to be seen -between sky and land, our progress was very difficult for many hours. -But we reached a village at last, and there, as in all the others I -visited, I was surprised to find, not higher prosperity, but worse -poverty than in the Great Russian villages I had seen. In one cottage, -it is true, three dogs, two cows, a bristly pig, and a cat were all -nestling against the stove in the entrance-room or antechamber. The -dwelling-room also had one real iron bedstead, a chest of clothes, and -a whole row of glittering icons. I hoped it was typical of the village, -but I was wrong. It must have belonged to the village moneylender.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p2121_ill1" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p2121_ill1.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">A PEASANT’S HOME.</p> - </div> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p2121_ill2" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p2121_ill2.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">THE LAVRA AT KIEFF.</p> - </div> - -<p>The other houses were rather singularly wretched. The very next was -inhabited by a family who cultivated their own plot of land close -around the cottage. The man had gone, like all the other men of the -place, to wait his turn in the string of pleasure-seekers outside the -Government vodka-shop and purchase the New Year’s joy; but the wife -and three children were at home, all seated on the broad shelf which -made the second-best bed. The other bed was a <span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span>warm space constructed -on the top of the great brick stove itself. There was no covering of -any kind on either bed, and, of course, no mattress; nor was there any -furniture in the room, not even a table, chair, or chest. The family -had their meals on the bed, and the only decoration was a row of brown -earthenware plates which the woman had stuck against a wall, just as -though she had been dwelling in the Kensington of twenty years ago. -“They look so red,” she said, “red” being the common Russian word for -bright or pretty or even splendid, as I noticed in the case of the -Krasnaya Square in Moscow. As in all the villages of this district, the -oven was heated only by straw, for coal is unheard of, and wood too -expensive to buy. Only a few hours earlier I had driven through far the -biggest pine forest I had then seen in Russia—great woods of spruce -and Scotch fir. But all those forests belonged to the Tsar, and no -peasant dared to touch a twig of them. To be found burning wood might -cost a man his cottage and land. So the stove that keeps the family and -cottage alive is heated with straw.</p> - -<p>There are many reasons for the permanent poverty in this rich -land—the taxes, the extortions of the moneylender, the ignorance of -agriculture, the oppression of the petty officials. But the ultimate -reason is that when serfdom was nominally abolished, and the land -nominally distributed, forty years ago, there were far more peasants -in proportion<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span> on the Black Earth than on the unfertile land of other -parts, so that the grants were very small—so small that the greater -fertility could not make up for the difference—and the price affixed -to each grant was not merely too large, it was so overwhelming that the -peasants were never able to wipe out the debt, and their payments in -fact became a fixed rent to Government, and a much higher rent than in -other districts.</p> - -<p>So far, all around Kieff, the peasants had remained quiet. No -country houses had been burnt or proprietors killed, though the -usual superstition about the danger of venturing out into the -country prevailed. The people, as I have said, are a sanguine and -happy-tempered race, as Russians go. Regiments of soldiers had also -been distributed among their villages as a further inducement for -keeping the peace. In the little country town of Vasilikoff, among -its low hills and wintry orchards, I found the Kieff dragoons, for -instance, engaged in spreading contentment among the peasants by -showing themselves human to the girls. As I watched them strolling -about the filthy lanes of that remote and wintry place, prodding the -rough cattle, criticizing the ponies in the street-market, or carrying -away the steaming cauldrons of tea for rations, I remembered with a -strange sense of distance that the English King was this regiment’s -honorary colonel.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER XII<br /> -<span class="subhed">THE JEWS OF ODESSA</span></h2></div> - - -<p>When I reached Odessa, after travelling over the peculiarly desolate -steppe from Kieff, only about eleven weeks had passed since she -celebrated an amazing festival of liberty. Her straight streets had -laughed for joy, and the old Black Sea had reflected the smile. Youths -paraded with flags and trumpets, aged professors embraced in tears, -and women, as on a Russian Easter Day, felt hurt if they were not -kissed—all because the Tsar had issued a manifesto and freedom had -risen into life. The long struggle was surely near its end, and those -who had fallen for the cause had not died in vain.</p> - -<p>Two days later they buried freedom, and whilst I was there the -Government was still busy stamping down the bloody earth to lay her -ghost. There was no longer any talk of manifesto or concession. Every -promise had been falsified, and every hope deceived. No meetings were -allowed, except to legal Hooligans. No papers could appear, except the -Government organ of violence. Even the paper<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span> of the Constitutional -Democrats had been suddenly suppressed. The friends of liberty choked -the prisons, and as I went down the streets I saw their white faces -peering between the bars. All was still, except when the stagnation of -tyranny was broken by the murder of some police-officer conspicuous for -brutality, or by a bomb such as had just fallen into the Café Liebmann -on the central square by the cathedral. No schools had been open since -October, and there seemed no prospect of the University ever opening -again.</p> - -<p>Trepoff began it when he sent an order from St. Petersburg urging the -Governor-General Neidhart to allow a demonstration of the loyalist -Black Hundred on November 1st. Infuriated by religious conviction and -the lust for stolen goods, the Black Hundred exhibited an enthusiastic -loyalty, unchecked by the police, who directed their movements, or by -the troops, who were confined to barracks. For three days the city -lay at the mercy of law and order, and in the cemetery may be seen -the oblong of loose earth where 350 bodies were heaped into a common -grave. The Government’s victory was complete and so far-reaching that -memorials of it might still be seen on every side. Even in the middle -of the town, shops that had been the richest had the shutters up in -January, their windows were broken to pieces, their stores all gone. -And in the northern and north-west districts, where the Jews <span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span>and -some work-people live, whole rows of houses stood desolate. The marks -of bullets were thick upon the walls. The empty sockets of the windows -were roughly boarded over. The roofs had been broken in or sometimes -burnt away, and even on the main streets people pointed out the -windows, three storeys high, from which babies, girls, and women had -been pitched sheer upon the stony pavement below.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p2161_ill1" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p2161_ill1.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">THE JEWS’ GRAVE AT ODESSA.</p> - </div> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p2161_ill2" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p2161_ill2.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">AFTER THE MASSACRE.</p> - </div> - -<p>It was in the miserable lanes of this north-west district that the -plunder and slaughtering began—a district so wretched that my -top-boots kept sticking in the deep slough of the streets, and the -worst Jewish slum off Commercial Road would have seemed in comparison a -County Council paradise. But passing beyond this quarter, I crossed a -deep watercourse, and came out upon the kind of land which serves for -country at the backdoor of Odessa. It is part of the wild and almost -uninhabited steppe which stretches for mile on mile round the basin of -the Dniester and far away into Bessarabia—an uninterrupted, water-worn -plain, like the Orange River veldt, but streaked at that time with -melting snow. On the edge of this steppe stands a semi-detached town or -large village, called Slobodka Romanovka, conspicuous for its madhouse -and its hospital. Providence itself must have ordained the site of -these buildings, for nowhere else upon earth’s surface could they have -been more wanted. And, indeed,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span> it was the Chosen People of Providence -who wanted them most, for none of the rabid Christians who there hunted -them down were afterwards confined in the asylum for mania.</p> - -<p>The village numbered about 26,000 souls, and there was hardly a house -which did not still show the marks of wrecking and murder. Clubs -were the weapons chiefly used by the champions of Christ and the -Tsar—such clubs as the Turks used in Constantinople when they brained -the Armenians in the name of the Prophet and the Sultan. But long -butcher knives were found even more convenient for killing children, -and when there was the least show of resistance, nothing could be more -serviceable than a revolver at five yards’ range. In that three days’ -massacre nearly all who suffered were Jews, and out of a population of -about 600,000 in Odessa, the Jews are estimated at a little under or a -little over 300,000, so that the game for the Christian sportsmen lay -thick upon the ground.</p> - -<p>The Jews of Odessa are said by their Christian neighbours—even by such -as restrained themselves from putting them to death—to represent a -particularly unpleasant type. They are accused of peculiar selfishness, -greediness, and indifference to suffering, even to their own. I -cannot say for certain whether that is so. I only know that they have -a particularly unpleasant time, and, whether indifferent to their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span> -own sufferings or not, they are an amazing people. Their Christian -neighbours, as in Kieff and all centres of Jewish persecution, chalk -a conspicuous cross on their shutters in dangerous times, or stick a -sixpenny saint’s portrait over the door. Most people also, as I noticed -in Moscow, wear big crosses hidden round their necks, so that, when -the supporters of the Government are out cutting throats, they may -have some chance of salvation. No Jew would do any such thing—not for -dear life itself would he do it. Christians say he could not conceal -himself, even if he wished—his look, his dwelling, his passport, the -police, all would betray him. And no doubt that is true, though, if I -were a Jew, I would cover my house with crosses from ground to roof -in the hope of saving any one I cared for from being flung out of my -top window. But, even if such hope were vain, that is no reason why a -Jew should cover his outside shutters and the lintel of his door with -Hebrew inscriptions or Hebrew information about his Kosher goods and -the Shomer who is in attendance. Yet on ruin after ruin I saw these -inscriptions written; and, what is more remarkable, I saw the surviving -owners repainting these inscriptions as they patched up the wreckage of -their homes.</p> - -<p>They are not, perhaps, exactly the race I should call chosen, but -certainly they are a peculiar people. I saw, for instance, one aged -type of wretched Israel<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span> who had been counted a prosperous man, but -in the massacre had lost wife, family, ducats, and all. When his seed -was buried and the days of the mourning passed, he borrowed a few -cigarettes, and sat down on the pavement outside the wilderness of his -habitation. Next day he had more cigarettes to sell. Next week he had -a stall, and when I saw him he was hoping to open a tobacconist shop -where before he sold secondhand clothes and saw his family murdered. It -seems impossible that all the Christians in Russia, backed as they are -by the open support of the army, police, and Church, can ever succeed -in exterminating such a race.</p> - -<p>But for the time their misery was extreme. They had crowded for refuge -into courts which ran far back from the ordinary streets—something -like the old “rents” in Holborn. There I found them living in stinking -and steaming rooms or cellars, and often I had to grow accustomed to -the darkness before I could discern exactly how many families were -accommodated in the corners. The assistant of one of the University -professors was my guide, for a certain amount of relief work was being -carried on by such Liberals as happened to be still out of gaol. I was -told the town had already spent £15,000 in relief, and the Zemstvo -had voted as much again to keep the distressed alive till the end of -April. I dimly heard, also, of a fund contributed by Jews in England, -but I did not discover their methods. As<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span> to the town fund, I could not -be certain how much of it reached the Jews, but some did, for with an -agent I visited one of the ten “sanitary districts” into which the town -had been divided, and saw how he dealt with the cases.</p> - -<p>Money had been given at first, but, as usual, imposture came, and the -professors had found themselves no match for a race whose whole weekday -existence is devoted to gathering where they have not strown. Later on, -the town bound itself only to feed the destitute by a system of free -tickets, or at a very small charge. It was the ordinary soup-kitchen -method—not scientific, not inhumanly discriminating; but Russia has -the happiness of being young in philanthropy, as in politics, and has -not yet developed the caution of our charity societies, which in their -strained quality are so little like mercy. As was to be expected, -crowds of the unemployed came wandering in from other towns, even as -far away as Kharkoff and Kieff; and under the passport system most -of them were routed out and sent back again. What was worse, some -15,000 men and women had lately been turned upon the streets because -the rich people of Odessa, who live in the pleasant quarter by the -cliffs overlooking the sea, began to run for their lives that day in -June when the mutinous warship <i>Potemkin</i> made them all jump by -throwing two shells into the town near the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span> cathedral; and they had -been running ever since. Behind them they left all that host of valets, -cooks, nurses, housemaids, grooms, coachmen, gardeners, boot-boys, -barbers, and washerwomen who depend on the rich for existence, just as -the rich depend on them. The shopkeepers who sell the things that only -rich people can buy suffered equally, and many of their assistants were -dismissed. It is bad for all when, according to the old parable, the -members refuse to feed the belly, and it is worse when the belly runs -away from the members. But if any one supposes on that account that the -expenditure of the rich confers an inestimable benefit upon the working -classes, he is involved in a very comfortable old fallacy.</p> - -<p>Beside all this, there was great distress among the dockers, in spite -of the considerable share of Jewish wealth which they had obtained in -their outburst of religious and patriotic zeal. Most of it went in an -immense drinking debauch to celebrate the victory over the enemies of -Christ, and work had ceased because the great fire during the mutiny -in June destroyed a great part of the docks, and entirely burnt away -the wooden viaduct upon which the dock railway runs along the whole -face of the port. One day when I was there, trial trains began to run -for the first time, amid such popular excitement that I hoped another -mutiny had broken out. But no warships were any longer stationed in -the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span> port, except one little destroyer. The dockers were only excited -at the prospect of regular work. They live by themselves at the foot of -the cliffs, below the fashionable boulevard, and they are said to be -in every way a race apart. Certainly they adopt a distinctive costume, -more astonishing in its incongruity than a West Coast chiefs, and -suggesting a burlesque air of intentional raggedness, like an amateur -who wants to look Bohemian. The dockers, however, have no need for -deliberation in picturesque poverty, for the average wages of unskilled -labour through the city is 1<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i> for a day of ten -hours, or 2<i>d.</i> an hour. And it is not as though 2<i>d.</i> in -Russia went as far as the “honest tanner” for which our own dockers -struggled so hard in the early nineties. Ordinary living is very -expensive in Odessa, more expensive even than in most Russian cities, -and in an earlier chapter I noticed how strangely high the cost of -living is in St. Petersburg and Moscow, chiefly owing to the heavy rent -charges, in spite of the vast extent of unfilled and unoccupied land in -the Empire. Except for the hire of street sledges and little open cabs, -two shillings in Russia do not go much further than one in London, nor -twopence to an Odessa docker much further than a penny in Poplar. No -one can dress very sumptuously when he has to feed himself and family -on a penny an hour, and we cannot wonder that the unskilled join the -party of law and order, in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span> the hope that an occasional massacre will -bring a change of clothes.</p> - -<p>In politics, Odessa included all the Russian parties, from the rival -pioneers of Social Revolution and Social Democracy (most of whom were -in gaol) down to the “Russian Order,” or party of violence, which is -the Government’s ready instrument for the destruction of Jews, Poles, -Liberals, and other heretics. The Russian Order alone was still allowed -to hold meetings, every other party organization being forbidden by -the police. But, nevertheless, it was in Odessa that I first became -intimate with the Constitutional Democratic party, which has since -grown to such importance as a possible instrument for reform. They were -especially strong in the University, which justly prides itself on its -political fearlessness. Their newspapers and all meetings had been -suppressed; but most of the Professors and other leaders were still at -large, though daily awaiting arrest, with enviable unconcern.</p> - -<p>They were energetically preparing the first grade of elections for -the Duma, and they expected to secure a majority upon the body, who -in turn would select the single representative appointed for the -great city in the Duma. Like other Progressive parties, they demanded -a Constituent Assembly under the four-headed suffrage (universal, -direct, secret, and equal). Their programme included Home Rule for -the various nationalities of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span> Empire, labour legislation, and a -sweeping agrarian reform on the basis of compensation for private land, -but not for the Crown lands held by the Imperial family. In fact, -their immediate objects, as the Professors admitted, were hardly to be -distinguished from the “minimum programme” of the Social Democrats. -But when we began to talk about “immediate objects” and “minimum -programmes,” I remembered that seven weeks had gone by since such -conversations seemed natural—seven weeks of bloodshed and suppression -and bitter change. They themselves took the mournful difference very -calmly. The fight was still in front of them, every hope had been -crushed, every effort for freedom would have to begin again from the -very start. But nothing discouraged them; the mere struggle was worth -the pains; and to this patient people even the bitterest and most cruel -experience never ceases to work hope.</p> - -<p>But, after all, the Jewish question is the centre of political interest -in Odessa, and, in spite of all suppression, the Jewish “Bund” is -likely to remain the most powerful progressive organization as long -as the Jews continue subject to their hereditary wrongs. Under laws -which were called temporary, but have continued unrepealed for fifty -years, no Jew may buy land or rent it. He may not live out in the -country, and only in certain quarters of the towns. He may not be a -schoolmaster or professor.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span> He may not teach in private Christian -families. He may not be educated at a high school (gymnasium) or at -a University, except at a very low percentage of the whole number -of students. Usually it is not higher than three to five per cent., -though in Odessa the Professors, being exceptionally Liberal, had on -their own authority extended the number to ten per cent., and were on -the point of declaring the University open on level terms to Jew and -Christian alike, when the University was suddenly shut on level terms -to all. A Jew may not sit on the Zemstvo or Town Council; he may not -be an officer in the army or navy; he may hold no State appointment; -and he must not move from place to place without special permission -and a special form of passport, like the prostitutes. Jews are not by -nature a revolutionary people. The rigid Conservatism of their customs -and ritual, as well as their intense pre-occupation in material gain, -deters them from violence and change. Their peculiar dangers lie in -exactly the opposite direction—in disregard of the large issues before -mankind, and in a narrow devotion to antiquated ideals. But we cannot -wonder that in Odessa, as in Russia generally, they are revolutionists -almost to a man, and that to the ordinary Russian official or soldier a -Jew of the “Bund” is identical with the “Anarchist”—a creature to be -shot as quickly as convenient. When I was in Odessa I first heard how -the new Aliens<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span> Act was being put into operation in England, and as I -read of Jewish refugees cast back from the ancient protection of our -country to the misery and bloodshed from which they believed they had -escaped, I thought of these things.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER XIII<br /> -<span class="subhed">LIBERTY IN PRISON</span></h2></div> - - -<p>In St. Petersburg the successors of the original Strike Committee had -declared the general strike at an end, on January 1st. The thing had -not been a success. Either because the leaders were in prison, or that -the work-people were harassed by the frequent repetition of strikes -when funds were low, only about 20,000 remained away from work, and -most of these were locked-out by the employers. Outwardly, the city -continued quiet, in spite of the deep indignation excited by the arrest -of all the popular leaders and editors, and afterwards by the murder of -a musical student named Davidoff, who was shot by Okounoff, an officer -of the Guards, for keeping one foot on a chair while the National -Anthem was being played in a restaurant on the Russian New Year’s Eve -(January 13th).</p> - -<p>Then came the first anniversary of Vladimir’s Day or Bloody Sunday -(January 22nd). The city was filled with troops. All the previous -night cavalry patrols went up and down the streets, and on going into -the large courtyards, round which most of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span> dwelling-houses are -arranged, I found many of them full of soldiers, sitting round fires -with piled arms. Guns were concealed at convenient points, and all -preparations laid for repeating the massacre of the previous year. But -the Strike Committee had issued an appeal calling upon the workmen to -observe the day only by quitting the factories, staying at home, and -drawing down the blinds;<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and though, in answer to this, the masters -placarded a notice threatening with dismissal any one who remained -away<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span> from work, the Strike Committee still had power enough to ordain -a passive resistance.</p> - -<p>All the morning of the day—it was a Monday—I was down the -Schlüsselburg Road, where a disturbance was most likely to occur; but, -on the surface, everything was still. The steam-trams carried soldiers -with fixed bayonets as a guard, but otherwise the troops were kept -rather carefully out of sight. Wherever the police saw blinds down, or -other signs of mourning, even in the main streets of the city, they -entered with their revolvers, and sometimes a little knot of spectators -gathered, but there was no appearance of organized resistance or -demonstration at all. The sun shone, but it was intensely cold. Upon -the Neva, a few people were crossing with loaded sledges, a few on -foot were following the fir branches that marked the paths. Women were -washing clothes by letting them down through square holes they had cut -in the ice, and then beating them with wooden slats. Men were sinking -bag-nets through the ice for fish. Otherwise there was hardly a sign -of life. Nearly all the mills were closed, and those that pretended -to continue work were held by a strong military guard, with sentries -before the gates. No throngs of excited work-people now moved along the -footways or stood at street corners. In one or two of the churches, a -memorial service was being held for the dead, but for the most part -the priests refused to open their churches for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span> the purpose, and the -work-people observed a nobler celebration by remaining at home in their -darkened rooms.</p> - -<p>While visiting a great naval ironworks, closed, like most Government -things, for want of cash, I heard from one of the chief engineers an -enlightening instance of the Russian Government’s methods in conducting -foreign warfare. For the Japanese War, the works had turned out -many large guns, fitted with telescopic sights. When the engineers -offered to teach the officers the use of these sights, their offer -was scornfully refused, and the Government allowed the guns to be -dispatched to the war without a man who understood them. So complete -was the ignorance, that the cleaners covered the sights, glasses and -all, with vaseline, and, from first to last, no advantage was taken of -the invention. Yet these are the people who talked of the Japanese as -“yellow monkeys,” sure to scuttle into the sea at the first sound of a -Russian gun. And, what is worse, these are the people who have dictated -England’s foreign policy for over half a century. Even the Social -Democrats, who make no pretence to military knowledge or ambition, -could hardly defend their country’s interests worse.</p> - -<p>During the late afternoon, and far into the night, I was driving -through the workmen’s quarters upon the Petersburg Island and other -districts north of the main river. All the streets were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span> hushed and -empty. Where, as a rule, the pavements are crowded with men and women -going home or shopping for next day, a stillness like death reigned -now. Even when the hands from some working factory came out between -the lines of pickets watching the gates, they hurried fast home, -and in a few minutes all was silent again. Perhaps the Tsar and his -minister congratulated each other that order was restored, and the -corpse of freedom lay quiet at last. They did not consider that the -very silence was an evidence of the revolution’s continued power—a -proof that the committee which had defied them could still count on the -working-people’s loyalty to its desire.</p> - -<p>In the first and, I believe, the only number of one of the many satiric -papers which had lately been suppressed in St. Petersburg, a cartoon -represented the Government as a hideous vampire gloating over the body -of a young girl in Russian costume. “I think she’s quiet at last,” -says the monster with satisfaction, but still a little dubiously. That -picture exactly expressed the situation at the time of my return to St. -Petersburg. Was the sucked and tortured body of freedom really quiet at -last? The vampire was anxious and dubious. But it certainly looked as -though she were dead; at all events, she lay very still.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p2321_ill" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p2321_ill.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 p-left xs"><i>Art Reproduction Co.</i></p> - <p class="p0 center sm">“I THINK SHE’S QUIET AT LAST!”</p> - <p class="p0 p-left sm">From the <i>Vampire</i>.</p> - </div> - -<p>All my former friends were in prison now. <span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span>One after another I called -upon those who had welcomed me so joyfully before, when the world was -bright with hope; and one house-porter after another told me they -had gone away for a few days, and it would be useless to leave any -message. We soon learn the meaning of that formula in Russia. It means -that the police have come, probably in the middle of the night, have -routed up the man or woman, seized all papers, money, and anything else -useful, and driven their victim away in the darkness to some “House of -Inquiry” on suspicion of holding the same kind of political views as -the majority of English people. In the House of Inquiry the suspect -is generally kept from four to six months, while his spirit is being -broken down and evidence raked together against him. He may then be -brought up for trial before a judge and sentenced to two years’, five -years’, or ten years’ imprisonment or exile, according to the state of -the judge’s political opinions or digestion. He may also be condemned -by “administrative order,” without coming before a tribunal at all. -I believe no “political” has been tried in open court before a jury -since Vera Sassoulitch was acquitted for the attempted assassination -of the elder Trepoff in 1878. No Russian jury can ever be trusted to -condemn. But the Russian suspect has two advantages still—he may be -thrown out of prison as unexpectedly as he was thrown in, and with -as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span> little reason given. He may also call upon any one he pleases, -not necessarily a barrister, to take up his defence, if he is brought -before a tribunal. He may thus obtain the satisfaction of having his -case defended on the broad lines of human reason and obvious justice, -instead of listening to some professional pleader, stultified by legal -training, while he struggles to elude condemnation on a verbal error or -by some uninspiring precedent in commercial fraud. It is very seldom, -however, that the most convincing defence makes the least difference to -the sentence, for that has been decided beforehand.</p> - -<p>A day or two after my return to St. Petersburg, I was shown a letter -from a friend who had been locked up in a House of Inquiry for speaking -at Liberal meetings and for feeding the children of work-people -during the second general strike. He had sometimes written, also, for -a Progressive newspaper, and it must be remembered that the Tsar’s -Manifesto of October 30th had granted freedom of the press as well as -freedom of public meeting. Yet the suspicion of these three crimes -was sufficient to show that he must be put out of the way like a mad -dog. The letter was written on three sides, and each side marked by -a broad yellow cross drawn diagonally from corner to corner as a -proof that the prison authorities had read it. Yellow seems to be the -favourite official colour in Russia, as I noticed before<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span> in the case -of the “yellow ticket” or passport which binds the prostitutes almost -hopelessly to their way of life; and the yellow cross, signifying the -gaoler’s approval of the contents, shows that the prisoner did not in -any way exaggerate his condition. The letter was written simply for -the information of another friend who had hitherto escaped the common -martyrdom which rewards all lovers of freedom in Russia. I translate a -part of it:—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“My cell is five paces long by two wide. It has a window, the -bottom of which is just above the level of my eyes, so that I -can’t look out. There is a bed, a chair, and a table, all of -iron and fastened with clamps to the wall. In the daytime the -cell is fairly light, and the electricity is turned on from -eight to nine in the evening.</p> - -<p>“At six I get up. At half-past six a hand is thrust through ‘the -eye’ (spy-hole) in the door with some black bread. At seven a -different hand pours boiling water into my jug in the same way. -I have to buy my own tea. At ten I am led through the corridor -into a little court, where I am allowed to walk round and round -for twenty-five minutes with other ‘politicals.’ But if we -speak or look at each other or say ‘good-morning,’ the walk is -stopped—and it is my only chance of getting a breath of air. -At eleven a bell rings, and the ‘eye’ is opened for letters or -any orders for purchases that I want to send. But I am allowed -to order things only four times a week, and, of course, only as -long as my money lasts. At the same time a hand pours in boiling -water again for tea. From half-past eleven till twelve is -dinner-time, and I get a biggish basin of watery barley soup or -pea soup, or else a thin fluid with scraps of meat and cabbage -floating in it.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span></p> - -<p>“There is rather a good prison library, especially strong in -political economy. But it is very hard to get the books I want, -and the pages are defaced by the gaolers, who always think the -dots and hyphens are signals from the prisoners to each other. -In the afternoon, especially when it gets dark, I lie on my bed, -or walk up and down the cell, till at eight o’clock, as I said, -the electric light is turned on for an hour. About six I get the -boiling water and soup again. Sometimes letters reach me, but -they are always kept till they are old. Sometimes I am allowed -a visit of three minutes’ conversation through the ‘eye’ in the -door. Of course, the gaoler is always within hearing.”</p> -</div> - -<p>The treatment is not worse, it is perhaps rather better than the -peculiarly brutalizing treatment of prisoners in England. There is -something distinctly paternal in the provision of a library especially -strong in political economy. But it must be remembered that this friend -of mine had never been accused, had never been tried, and was only -suspected of a crime which all the Liberals of England, from the Prime -Minister downwards, commit every waking hour of their lives amid the -applause of our nation; unless, indeed, it be urged against him that -he fed the children of strikers—an offence from which our official -Liberals are often exempt.</p> - -<p>The particular prison in which this man was confined, was, as I said, a -House of Inquiry, but the number of arrests had been so enormous since -the Moscow rising that the suspects were now being thrust into the -ordinary prisons straight away, or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span> into any hole where they could be -kept tied up. Just across the breadth of river from the Winter Palace -of the Tsars, and the dilettante picture-gallery of the Hermitage, -glitters the long-drawn brazen spire which marks the old fortress of -St. Peter and St. Paul, the citadel and grave of Peter the Great. -Encased in monotonous marble slabs, and surrounded by hideous emblems -of death and glory, there lie the bodies of all those melancholy -tyrants from Peter downwards. Perhaps there are some people still left -among the royal family who sincerely reckon those dull tombs among -Russia’s treasures; but close beside the church along the Neva, so low -that some of the cells are beneath the river level, run the dungeons -which form the true Martyrs’ Memorial of the country—the places that -will some day be honoured like the graves of the saints, for they are -consecrated by the blood and suffering of hundreds of men and women -who fought for freedom, though they seemed to fight in vain. This was -the prison where again the foremost champions of freedom were now -cooped up. Khroustoloff was there, the man of genius who organized the -first general strike and was the chairman of the Workmen’s Council -when I used to attend their sittings two months before. Not long after -my return, the rumour went that he had been shot in the prison yard. -Nothing was known for certain, but the thing was only too likely, for -a tyranny does not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span> spare its finest enemies, and Khroustoloff will be -known to all Russian history as the man who forced the Government to -defend itself by that lying Manifesto with which it betrayed the people -as with a kiss.</p> - -<p>Just outside the fortress the Tsar is building a palace for his former -mistress—a Polish dancing girl, said to have been attractive without -beauty—and less than a mile further up the river on the same bank, -stands the large modern prison called the Cross (Kresty), whether from -its shape or as an emblem of salvation, is uncertain. It is a dreary, -red-brick building of the ordinary type, like Wormwood Scrubbs, and the -officials hang their windows with caged birds as ornaments in keeping -with the architecture. That prison also was crammed with “politicals.” -In fact, it was the same story in all the prisons of Russia—the same -thing as I had seen in Moscow, Kieff, and Odessa. Somehow room had to -be found in the gaols for 20,000 Liberals—that was the lowest estimate -I heard at the time, and a few weeks afterwards the moderate estimate -rose to 70,000, and a high estimate of 100,000 was commonly accepted. -We cannot wonder that a bankrupt Government felt only too delighted -when it could kill off its prisoners by batches of thirty-five together -as in Moscow, or of forty-five together as happened at Fellin in -Esthonia just after Vladimir’s Day, when that number of journalists and -men of letters<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span> were collected there and shot in bloody comradeship. -The dead are so cheap in their subterranean cells.</p> - -<p>English people are constantly marvelling, with some superiority in -their tone, why it is that the Russian revolution has brought to -light no man or commanding genius—“no Cromwell,” that is their usual -phrase—to direct its energies to victory. Let them search the dungeons -and the graves. Perhaps they may find a Cromwell there.</p> - -<p>Till quite lately the very noblest of the “politicals” would naturally -have been sent to the Schlüsselburg—the old fortress-prison standing -on an island where the Ladoga Lake pours out the great stream of -the Neva some forty miles above the city. But three days before the -anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a ukase was issued converting that -ancient dungeon into a mint, and removing the few prisoners who still -remained. I believe there were only five of them—old men and, perhaps, -women who had tried to do something for freedom once, and in their -living graves had already become myths of the dreadful past. About -their identification and their removal to other dungeons there was much -mystery, and the rumour ran that two of them had strangely disappeared, -as well as others whose fading names and records were recalled by -memories growing obscure.</p> - -<p>To such mysteries another mystery now<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span> succeeded; for every one, -except the few who clung to the orthodox photographic faith about the -inexhaustible ingots of the Russian treasury, was marvelling why the -terrible fortress had been converted into a mint, of all things, and -whence the bullion was to come for coinage there. I am inclined to -think that the Government was misled, like most people, by treacherous -parallels from history, and, knowing the Schlüsselburg’s evil name, had -feared a second Fall of the Bastille. It was a needless anxiety. The -Schlüsselburg is too far away for popular frenzy; but the Peter-Paul -fortress is close at hand and its abominations grow.</p> - -<p>In any case, the conversion of a blood-stained fortress into an empty -coin chest made no difference to the situation. The reaction went -trampling along its course, and under it the country lay paralyzed. -During the four weeks after the collapse of the Moscow rising (January -7th to February 7th), 78 newspapers were suspended, 58 editors -imprisoned, 2,000 post and telegraph assistants dismissed, over 20 -workmen’s restaurants closed in St. Petersburg to prevent relief to the -unemployed, a state of siege was declared in 62 towns, a minor state of -siege in 34 towns, 17 temporary prisons were opened, 1,716 “politicals” -were imprisoned in St. Petersburg alone, and 1,400 “politicals” were -summarily executed under martial law, not including the large and -uncertain numbers that were put to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span> death in Moscow after law and order -had been re-established.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> - -<p>Such was the terrified blood-thirstiness of that unhappy little body of -men called the Committee of Ministers, who went down to Tsarskoe Selo -by a guarded train along a guarded line nearly every day to discuss -how best they could stifle down the hopes of liberty, and retain for -themselves and their narrow circle of friends or patrons the cash, the -medals, the jobbery, the social distinction, the female affection, and -all the many other delights of power. They did not number more than -eight or ten poor mortals, not removed by many years from the abyss -of death, and, from all I hear, only two or three of them had been -born more brutal or scoundrelly of nature than ordinary rulers are. -One would have liked to listen to their conversation in those trains, -as, with unctuous regret for the stern necessity laid upon them, they -decided how many more should die. Some, like distracted Witte, whom -we have heard blubbering over the wickedness of the dear children he -was compelled to butcher; or like Count Dmitri Tolstoy, the Minister -of Education, formerly President of the Academy of Artists; or like -Shipoff, Minister of Finance to the penniless State, who only a year -before had voted for universal suffrage; or like Nemeschaeff, Minister -of Communications, who had been a chef to a railway,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span> almost as good -as a workman, and also had voted for universal suffrage; or like -Birileff, Minister of Marine, who among Russian officers passed for a -type of incredible integrity because he had abstained from swindling -his country when he had the power; or like Rediger, the incapable -but comparatively honest Minister of War—all these had once enjoyed -a pleasing reputation for Liberalism, as had Prince Obolensky, the -new Procurator of the Holy Synod, and successor to Pobiedonostseff -as keeper of Russia’s orthodoxy. At one time probably nearly all of -them had received the compliment of being thought a little dangerous -by their relations, and now, under the ancient curse of tyrants, they -were consumed by the knowledge of the virtue they had left behind. -But they could not turn back—they had entered upon a road with iron -walls. For guide to the entrance of that road they had deliberately -chosen Durnovo, the new Privy Councillor, lately made permanent in his -Ministry of Interior. And beside Durnovo stood his uneducated relation -Akinoff, new-appointed Minister of Justice.</p> - -<p>Thus was the Committee of Ministers helplessly committed to preserve -in wealth and power that handful of useless human beings who may be -called the Tsardom or the Government or the ruling classes—the same -kind of men who for generations past have brought all that long tale -of poverty,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span> ignorance, and bloodshed upon the Russian people. Nothing -could save them from the fatality of their own choice. They were forced -to go on with it now, driven day by day a few steps further along -the inevitable road. So day by day they gave their orders to General -Diedulin, the new Chief of Police and Durnovo’s assistant at the -Interior, and day by day the noblest and most thoughtful men and women -of Russia were shot, imprisoned, or dragged away to the oblivion of -Siberia.</p> - -<p>I know that in England one of the pleasant myths circulated by the -Tsar’s hirelings, or sanctimonious patrons, is that Siberian exile has -been abolished. It is as untrue as the similar myth about flogging -the peasants for taxes. In St. Petersburg on January 26th, I met a -lady whose brother, a conspicuous barrister in a large city of Central -Russia, had just been exiled to Siberia for five years because he took -the chair at a public meeting. Like so many other confiding people, he -was fool enough to trust to a Tsar’s Manifesto, and now as a reward for -his simple faith, cut off from his friends, his family, and his career, -he is moving by stages from prison to prison towards the dreary spot -where the best years of life must be spent, even if he ever returns. It -would, indeed, be unthrifty of the Government, when they have crammed -the Russian prisons to bursting point, not to take advantage of the -Siberian system<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span> so providentially organized by their predecessors in -office.</p> - -<p>On the whole horizon of St. Petersburg life only one sign of hope -appeared. In the lecture theatre of the Mokhovaya, leading out of -the Nevsky, where the educated revolutionists of the middle classes -are accustomed to hold their meetings, a quiet body of men used to -assemble every afternoon, with a few quiet men and women to listen. -They were the Constitutional Democrats, whose meetings Witte had been -compelled, not to permit, but to ignore, because in case of refusal -they threatened to remove into Finland, and it was not so easy to -spy upon them there. Delegates had arrived from all parts of the -Empire—Mohammedan Tartars from Kazan, Armenians from the Caucasus, -heathen Mongols from the uttermost parts of the East, speaking no human -tongue, nor to be understood by any, had not old Professor Clementz -been discovered still alive among his specimens of anthropology. -Banished in his prime to the extremity of Mongolia in the hope that he -might die of savagery and cold, he had dwelt so many years among the -heathen that in face and language he could hardly be distinguished from -them, and now they found in him their friend, the one man in the city -to whom their monosyllabic squeaks and sounds conveyed a human meaning.</p> - -<p>So the delegates met, and listened and debated,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span> discussing the -tactics to be employed if ever time should overtake the promised Duma, -which continually receded. What was the right course for men who -hoped nothing from violence and yet would fight for freedom; men who -distrusted haste, believed in law, and yet aimed at revolution? Being -concerned with subjects so far-reaching, their debates were naturally -more abstract than is usual among hardened old Parliamentarians like -ourselves, to whom “the middle of next week” expresses an unimaginable -and negligible distance of time. But they boasted themselves practical -as Russian parties go, and at all events they were not hampered, as our -Liberals usually are, by class tradition and social influence. I mean, -for instance, they would never endure anything so ludicrous as a House -of Lords in their constitution, and if they should ever come to real -power, they would enjoy the very unusual advantage of a clear field. -But their immediate object was to form a strong block of opposition -to the representatives of the six reactionary parties with which the -Government designed to flood the Duma when the elections came—such -parties as the Octobrists, or nominal supporters of the Manifesto; the -party of “Legal Order,” or Law and Order, as we say; and the party of -Industry and Commerce.</p> - -<p>Beside the platform at their meetings stood a large death-bed portrait -of Sergius Troubetskoy, the Rector of Moscow University, who had -suddenly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span> died in the previous September while pleading for freedom of -speech, as I mentioned in the Introduction. Across the portrait was -written the inscription, “The Champion of Freedom,” and the spirit of -the great Zemstvoist leader might well be said to direct the methods -and purposes of the assembly. Among the living leaders present were -Petrunkevitch, who had succeeded to Troubetskoy’s position upon the -Moscow Zemstvo; Struve, long the exiled editor of the Russian paper, -<i>Emancipation</i> (<i>Osvobojdenie</i>) in Paris; and Miliukoff, so -well known in France through David Soskice’s translation of his book -on Russian culture, and in England and America through his own Chicago -lectures upon <i>Russia and its Crisis</i>. He almost alone among -all the Russians I met in St. Petersburg at that time still retained -the power of hope and enthusiasm undiminished, in spite of all the -disasters of the past seven weeks.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The reaction,” he said to me, “cannot last very long. The -Moscow rising was a great mistake, and at the end of it I too -almost despaired. I thought all the educated people and the -well-to-do would be permanently set against change. But the -Government’s violence has kept them on our side. The “classes” -are as much sickened by the slaughter as other people. They have -learnt that it is the Government, and not the revolutionists, -who are the party of destruction and disorder. Reaction? Why, it -is already over. The spirit of the thing is dead.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Coming at such a time, such words were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span> startling in their confidence. -But then Professor Miliukoff is one of those few happy people who have -carried with them the glories of youth into middle age, and there is -no glory of youth more enviable than the wisdom which, as the Preacher -said, is the mother of holy hope.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER XIV<br /> -<span class="subhed">THE PRIEST AND THE PEOPLE</span></h2></div> - - -<p>The shallows of the Gulf of Finland were frozen hard, and from a -distance the sea looked like a huge flat plain covered with snow, while -wind and grey storms of drift raged over it, blotting out the horizon. -But when, almost imperceptibly, the sledge quitted the flat land for -the flat sea, the green ice sometimes lay bare upon the surface, or -threw up a sharp green edge, and sometimes the hollow rumble of the -runners told of the deeper water beneath. At one place a few planks had -been thrown across a gaping crack, where the current or the pressure -of ice had split the great field, and a dark line of water stretched -away on either hand till it was lost to sight in the storm. The track -was marked by the usual Christmas trees stuck in the ice, and by tall -signal posts as well. Yet, as the wind and driving snow increased, it -was impossible to see from one mark to the next, and the horse felt -his way along, like a man moving from lamp-post to lamp-post in a -London fog. Sometimes another sledge suddenly appeared out of limbo -two or three yards in front. At three points<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span> small wooden huts had -been erected as shelters for the lost or frozen. Huge lanterns on poles -glimmered through the dark flakes. Driven by the rushing wind, wheels -with wooden sails tugged at ropes, and out of the obscurity a deep bell -sounded, ominous as the bells rung by the waves around our cliffs. For -the dangerous tempest was blowing, which, I believe, the natives call -the “Vouga.”</p> - -<p>On a sudden a shadowy rampart was seen, a bank of storm-twisted trees, -a dimly discerned church, and so we came to the island of Kronstadt, -famed for its fortress, its mutiny, and its living saint.</p> - -<p>It was to visit the frozen sea and the miracle-working saint that I -had come, and of the few passers-by who struggled against the snow I -asked for Father John. At first I feared that the saint’s European -fame had hardly yet reached Kronstadt, where he lives, and from which -he takes his title. But after a time we were directed to a largish -modern house, which he has fitted up as a refuge, partly, I think, -for the poor, partly for the sick, or other unhappy people, who stand -in need of miracles. The rooms inside are large and very clean, all -filled with narrow iron bedsteads, covered with browny-grey blankets, -as in our barracks or superior doss-houses. A notice on the door gave -the price of a bed for the night at thirty kopecks—say sevenpence -halfpenny. That is about threepence halfpenny<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span> higher than the average -London doss, but it seems fair that those who seek a miracle should pay -something extra for it, and the tariff in our common lodging-houses is -not inclusive.</p> - -<p>I had not time to make further observations when I was seized by an -eager crowd of women who thronged the rooms and passages—peasant women -from the mainland and work-people from the dockyards, all muffled -up in shawls and hoods and blankets. Excited benevolence shone in -their faces, as with cries and exhortations they clutched my clothing -and hurried me through one large dormitory, which appeared to be a -lying-in ward, into another where the crowd was thicker still. Being -thrust eagerly among the worshippers—for there is joy in heaven over -one sinner that repenteth—I perceived a small altar beneath a large -and brilliant icon hanging on the wall. The altar was made of a deal -table with a white cloth over it, and on the cloth stood a large -enamelled-iron soup-tureen. It was white with a blue edge, and filled -with a yellowish liquid, which I supposed to be holy. In front of the -altar, with his back towards us, stood a short, grey-haired figure, in -a robe of black flowered damask or brocade, with a crimson border round -the neck and halfway down the back.</p> - -<p>He was just raising his hands in some act of adoration, when, becoming -aware of the religious tumult of my entrance, he faced smartly round,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span> -abandoned the altar, and came, as it were, bounding in my direction. -Uncertain how to receive him, I stood my ground and held out my hand; -but entirely disregarding that, he sprang upon me, and raising himself -lightly upon his toes—for the top of his head did not reach to my -chin—with uplifted arm he began fumbling about in my hair with his -fingers. It was so sudden. In five seconds I had received his blessing. -He had blessed me by assault. For all I know, he had accomplished a -miracle upon me. The women stood round and sighed their pleasure. “He -never treats us to a blessing like that, never!” they murmured with -admiring envy.</p> - -<p>When he came to rest before me, I perceived that he was a little -grey-bearded old gentleman, trim and lean and ruddy. He looked about -sixty, but his followers say he is seventy-seven, so that his very -activity is miraculous. One side of his forehead bulged with some -disease, but from his pale grey eyes looked a healthy spirit. Kindly -and innocent, practical, or even housewifely, I should say, rather -than intellectual or inspired. There was nothing of the rapt mystic -about him, nothing of the divine seer contemplating eternity. Indeed, -I was told that he himself makes no claim to prophetic vision, and -his gift of foretelling distant events must be unconscious. One of -his chief attributes in sanctity appears to be that he lived with the -same wife for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span> fifty years, I believe all the time at Kronstadt; and I -see no cause to question his miraculous powers, especially as I have -known other people similarly endowed, though for qualifications of a -different kind.</p> - -<p>He stood there, smiling up at me for a moment with innocent good will, -and I then perceived that the crimson border of his robe reached -halfway down his chest, as well as down his back, and that round his -neck, by a heavy silver chain, hung a large silver cross—the Russian -Orthodox cross, with a short bar nailed low down upon the shaft for -the feet of the Crucified to rest upon, and placed slantingly, so that -one end might be higher than the other, because by Eastern tradition -Christ was lame on the right foot. I also perceived that the saint’s -hand, though fine in itself, was worn, as though by the labour of -continual benediction. But observing that my eyes rested upon it, he -smiled, more benignly than ever, and did what is perfectly natural to -any Russian saint or lady—he held it up for me to kiss. It is a peril -one is sure to encounter among the priests of the Orthodox Church, and -over and over again I have resolved to go through with it manfully. -But when the final moment comes, the stubborn British blood begins to -jib and swerve, like a horse that cannot be brought up to his fences, -and grasping his hand in mine I shook it warmly. I am afraid the women -were grieved to think I should remain a heretic, in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span> spite of all the -advantages they had so eagerly procured me, but there was no help.</p> - -<p>The little saint then turned back to the altar and took up the service -where he had left off, just as a wood-pigeon takes up his comfortable -cadence at the note where last it was broken. The people renewed their -interrupted crossings and prostrations, and a young peasant beside me, -his dark red hair covering his shoulders, and his single outer garment -gathered round his waist with a rope, displayed incredible activity -in striking his forehead against the bare boards and springing up -again repeatedly almost without pause. I should like to have known -for what favour he was so urgent, and willingly would I have granted -it if it had been in my power, for no human being could have remained -obdurate to such importunity. But the service ended, and with a throng -accompanying him the saint, putting his great-coat over his robes and -his goloshes over his boots, departed down the street to some other -scene of hallowed beneficence.</p> - -<p>It was hard to realize that this was Father John of Kronstadt, regarded -by revolutionists as among the most dangerous enemies of the Movement. -In the political cartoons he almost always figures among the leaders -of reaction. One sees pictures of him in his vestments standing beside -a cannon trained upon the crowd, or with the other Ministers admiring -a huge Christmas tree hung with skulls.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span> His saying, at the time of -Father Gapon’s procession, that “only a sinner could strive against his -Tsar,” is well known. He is believed, perhaps truly, to possess great -influence in the Tsar’s family, especially over the women, such as the -Dowager Tsarina. According to rumour, his advice is invariably given -against every proposal of change or advancement, and the enthusiastic -women who procured me his blessing, are identified with the mothers and -wives of the most violent and merciless gang of the Black Hundred. That -is all very possible, and the recent scandals about a certain Virgin -of Kronstadt, who saw her way to making money out of the situation -by vicarious sanctitude, are only such as seem to arise inevitably -around a fellow mortal of much belauded virtue, whether they are true -or not. It is very probable also that the mothers of the Black Hundred -secure comparatively honest half-crowns by arranging special interviews -and privileges for visitors to the saint. To be sure, I had not to -pay a penny for my blessing, but I have known others, less favoured -by Heaven, who expended as much as two pound ten for very inferior -advantages. When all is said, the detraction of his opponents, and his -own abhorrence of progress appear to me the least miraculous things -about him. Take a man in youth, train him for years in a seminary -where he meets no one but young priests like himself, and hears no one -but old priests<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span> such as he is intended to become; give him no kind -of knowledge but ritual and dogma, which he must accept unquestioned -or perish; let him live many years with one woman in one small place, -among people who never contradict him, but either regard his words as -divine, or ignore them as parsonic; add a kindly simplicity to the -blank of ignorance; expose a rather small and finikin personality -to feminine adulation; and if you do not produce the very model of -priesthood as exemplified in Father John of Kronstadt, there will be a -miracle indeed.</p> - -<p>I struggled back again across the frozen sea, where the storm raged -with increased violence, and on reaching St. Petersburg, I hastened -to a remarkable gathering in the great hall of the Conservatorium. -It was a concert given by a body which, with intentional vagueness, -called itself the Committee of the Working People, and its purpose -was to raise funds for the assistants at the Workmen’s Dining Rooms. -The performance was announced for eight o’clock, but I need not have -hastened; for, as I have already noticed, there is no pedantic and -inconsiderate punctuality in Russian affairs, and when I arrived, -some three quarters of an hour late, I found the huge audience still -pouring in, and I might have waited another half-hour without missing -any of the programme. But at concerts the audience is usually the most -interesting part, at all events to a foreigner, and I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span> found myself -in the midst of the very people who, until quite lately, have been -the real revolutionists of Russia. Not very many actual work-people -were there, for the prices of seats kept them away; but the vast -concert-hall was soon packed with the educated, the professional men -and women, the “proletariat of intellect”—writers, journalists, -barristers, doctors, crowds of students, and a good many officers in -uniform, though I think that perhaps most of them were army doctors. -The scene was a fine example of the frank democracy that distinguishes -the Russian people—the enviable disregard of all the weary old -distinctions of rank, profession, wealth, or dress. It arises, perhaps, -from the ancient village communism, as I have already suggested, and -from the common use of Christian names and diminutives, which spreads a -brotherly feeling among all classes. Perhaps also from the comparative -unimportance of commercial people until lately; for in most countries -it is the commercial classes that maintain inequality. In no society, -outside savagedom, have I found such indifference to the nature and -distinctions of dress as in Russia. At this concert every class and -fashion of costume was to be seen, and no one was regarded as a queer -and dubious character if he dressed to please himself. It is quite -possible, no doubt, that the brains of many there stood above the -freezing point of British social sanity, but in all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span> that I have seen -of Russian life, I have observed the same democratic ease, the same -disregard of the dress that marks a class distinction. It is this sense -of the equality of men that brings the Russians and the French together -and makes the monstrous alliance of their Governments appear almost -natural.</p> - -<p>Of course, the whole audience was revolutionary, but in Russia -revolution is not thought to imply insanity so much as intelligence, -and large numbers had determined there should be no doubt as to their -opinions. Many of the students, with long hair all on end, wore the -Russian tunic, and no one stared. Some girl-students—those indomitable -“Kursistki,” on whom the soldiers have no mercy—were dressed in the -loose black blouse, fitting closely to the throat and buttoned along -the top of the shoulder instead of down the front or back. A few -gentler spirits had yielded to a tiny edge of white collar above the -black. But the blouse of the violent shone red, all gules from throat -to waist, and the more revolutionary a girl is by nature, the thicker -is her hair, and the lower it hangs over her eyes and ears. Her little -fur cap also has no brim, as others use, but is plain like a man’s; for -a brim is compromise, and at the bottom of the slope of compromise lies -ignoble peace.</p> - -<p>In course of time the concert began. Perhaps concert is hardly the -right word, for I suppose no human soul in all that mass of people -had gone to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span> hear music or singing, or cared very much what musical -sounds were made. Certainly, the musical performers were good, but -the interest lay with others—with the well-known young actress who -in a voice only slightly more emotional than common speech recited -some short poem which all could hear, while the piano played a hardly -perceptible accompaniment; or with the famous author who just sat in -a chair upon the stage, and read some vivid scene or parable from his -own works or another’s. As often as not he read it badly, but that made -no difference. This was no shrine of art for art’s sake. Behind those -quiet and halting words burned the whole fire of the revolution, and -the applause was not kept for the best performance, but for the most -daring passage, or for the hero who had been longest imprisoned for -the cause. Such applause as that I have never heard. There was a vital -intensity in the enthusiasm that no art could inspire. Time after time -the man or woman was recalled. Four times or five times the same piece -would be repeated, and still the applause seemed as if it could not -end. Eleven times one man was recalled, the whole audience standing up -and shouting his name in a tumult of admiration. Not that he recited -well, but it was his own work that he recited, and he had only just -come out of gaol.</p> - -<p>The form of the recitations was almost invariably the parable. Some -simple scene or fable was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span> narrated, so harmless and childlike on the -surface, that the enemy could find no handle for his rage, but inwardly -it was charged with a significance like hidden flame. It is a form very -natural to Russia, for it has grown out of the peasants’ folk-tale -and proverb, and the perpetual danger of open expression has kept it -alive. So in Gorky’s well-known parable, which was one of the many -recited, the falcon soars in freedom through the sunlit air, and the -snake remains coiled under the dark and chilly stones; but presently -the falcon falls to the ground wounded and dying, while the snake -congratulates himself upon the pleasing security of his own habits. -Sometimes it was but a common scene of military life that was narrated; -sometimes there came a brief outburst of triumph, “O sleepless nights, -your fruits are seen at last!” And in one poem the part of women in -Russia’s revolution was described almost without subterfuge.</p> - -<p>In the souls of the audience only one thought lived. A suppressed -excitement breathed throughout the hall. As the words of the speakers -or singers rose and fell, the air trembled with the beat of all those -minds in unison. There was no sound. Each great word was awaited as -one awaits the notes of a solemn music. But it was not the words that -were the greatest thing, it was not the performers, not the martyrs, -nor even the audience. The greatest thing was the common faith of all. -Under that outward<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span> scene of gleaming lights and varied personality -one felt the secret touch of danger, and only in danger is the highest -community to be found. One felt the deep and passionate glow of a life -brief and insecure. One felt the spirit careless of everything—of joy, -of passion, of life itself—of everything, but the one great cause—the -only thing that counted, the soul of the crowd, the consciousness that -breathed through the air and kept us still. The words ceased. There was -a gasp while like one man the great assembly drew in its breath, and -then with a rushing wind rose the tempest of applause. And yet it was -not the words, nor even the speaker: it was the revolution that was -adored.</p> - -<p>To have a cause like that, to dwell with danger for the sake of it -every day and night, to confront continually an enemy vital, pitiless, -almost omnipotent, and execrable beyond words—what other life can -compare to that, not only in grandeur, but in the satisfaction of -intellect and courage and love and every human faculty? So tyranny -brings its compensations.</p> - -<p>At various intervals the audience trooped out from the hall, and walked -up and down the great ante-rooms and passages provided in all Russian -places of assembly. They greeted each other, they embraced, drank tea, -and buzzed with conversation. The intervals lasted about three-quarters -of an hour, and were of the highest interest to every one. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span> first -ended just before midnight, the second about two. Whether the third -ever ended I did not discover, for I was lost in memories of English -audiences, upon whose faces a real expression begins to dawn soon after -eleven—an expression of impatient anxiety whether they will catch the -last ‘bus home to bed.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER XV<br /> -<span class="subhed">A BLOODY ASSIZE</span></h2></div> - - -<p>At the end of January I left St. Petersburg for Riga and the Baltic -Provinces. As in other parts of Russia, the hopes of change had -faded there, and the whole land lay prostrate under a bloodthirsty -suppression, the more savage because it was encouraged by a double -race hatred—the ancient feud of German, Russian, and Lett. As I came -at sunrise through the fir forests and frozen heaths of Livonia, -twenty-five men were being shot in cold blood among the sandhills -beside the railway. They were tied together in a row by their feet and -arms, and they fell together; but the firing was so bad that many were -hardly hit at all, and had to be finished off at close quarters before -they were heaped together into a trench already prepared for them. -When I reached the town, the first thing I met was a party of twenty -soldiers with fixed bayonets driving along four boys of eighteen or -nineteen, who marched with their hands in the pockets of their long -coats and their caps drawn low down over their pale and weary faces. -They were being taken to the castle, where,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span> I was told, a hundred -more lay ready for killing, and would probably be slaughtered on the -sandhills next morning. It was a fitting entrance for me into these -once peaceful and civilized provinces, where now the bloody assize was -raging.</p> - -<p>The daily papers in Riga are, for the most part, German, but, for -once, they were on the side of the Government and the Russian troops, -because the leaders of the attempted revolution and the victims in its -suppression were Letts. So they would not be likely to exaggerate the -injustice and brutality of the assize. Yet each of them, above its -tender German love-story or bit of art criticism, displayed columns -of tabulated slaughter, and the whole local news of the three Baltic -Provinces consisted of shootings, hangings, and floggings. The accounts -were generally arranged by villages. For instance, from one number of -the leading Riga paper I take the following reports, almost at random, -out of the columns that appeared above an excellent appreciation of -Ruskin’s “Præterita”—</p> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Tarwast.—The whole population of the village over the age of -fifteen was brought before the court-martial to-day. Six were -shot on the spot, including one woman; nine were flogged with -strokes varying from twenty-five to two hundred.”</p> -</div> - -<p>I need not say that two hundred strokes of a wooden rod delivered by -soldiers on the naked<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span> body of either a woman or a man would mean -almost certain death in its most terrible form.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Semzel.—Yesterday six revolutionaries were shot, and four the -day before. In the neighbouring parish of Lemberg twenty-four -were flogged.</p> - -<p>“Kokenhusen.—Nine people were hanged here to-day.</p> - -<p>“Dahlen.—A squadron of dragoons, half a troop of Cossacks, a -company of infantry, two cannon, and two machine-guns arrived -here to-day. Dahlen had elected a revolutionary parish council; -so a court-martial was held, and four men shot on the spot. -Several farms were destroyed by shells.</p> - -<p>“Neuenmühle.—The schoolmaster was hanged on a telephone post -here to-day, for having allowed public meetings in his school. -Two young girls were flogged with rods for having stitched a red -flag.</p> - -<p>“Wolmar.—This morning early, two boys, one only fifteen, -evidently much excited, ran up to a patrol of soldiers and -tried to catch hold of a rifle, saying they would show them -how to shoot. They were captured, and General Orloff, being -consulted by telephone, ordered their immediate execution. They -received the Sacrament, and were shot in the presence of a large -number of spectators. The execution appears to have exercised a -salutary impression upon the whole population of Wolmar.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Village after village had that salutary impression exercised upon it, -and one week after another the papers told the same monotonous story of -cold-hearted bloodshed.</p> - -<p>The German landowners, some of whom had suffered considerable losses -during the peasants’<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span> rising, hounded on the military to vengeance. No -measures were harsh enough for them, no executions too bloody. They -taunted the Governor-General Sollogub with half-hearted mildness, and -clamoured for the appointment of the drunken butcher, General Orloff, -in his place. They appeared to long for the extermination of the race -which for centuries had been their servants. A daughter of a great -landowner, whom I met, said to me, “One of the peasants themselves told -me to-day that at least a third of them deserve to be shot, and he -hopes they will be. I was so glad to hear him say so.”</p> - -<p>Certainly, for those who had run for refuge into the town, as most -of the German landowners had, life was unavoidably dull. Beyond the -restaurants, two music-halls, and a number of brothels, there was -nothing to distract a gentleman’s mind. The landowner pined for -the country life and healthy sport to which he was accustomed. His -imagination was haunted by the smoking ruin to which his ancestral -home had been reduced. When he had once enjoyed the newspaper columns -of executions and floggings which were served with his breakfast, new -every morning like the love of God, there was really nothing left -to beguile the tedium of existence till evening came. Even then the -entertainment was rather dreary—a German <i>café chantant</i>, with -sweet champagne and half a dozen girls whom the proprietor paid to be -pleasant. “I suppose I shall have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span> to go and see that dancer again,” -said one of the nobility to me, as he yawned and stretched himself. “It -will be something to do. Her legs aren’t really good, I know, but in -these times we must all take what pleasure we can.”</p> - -<p>On going out, we met a strong body of soldiers driving three prisoners -rapidly along the street. Flanking files had been thrown out upon the -pavements, and a large rearguard followed. One of the prisoners was -a ragged man without a hat, and his arms were pinioned to his sides. -The other two were women, with white handkerchiefs over their heads, -showing they were Letts. They passed very quickly, the soldiers, with -fixed bayonets, urging them continually onward from behind. A feeling -of intense excitement prevailed. The soldiers were terrified of a -rescue. An eager though cautious crowd followed at some distance, like -the children who follow bullocks to the slaughter-houses in Aldgate. So -they hastened along the road out of the town towards the sandhills, and -in half an hour the man and two women were dead and left warm in their -graves.</p> - -<p>The Letts boast themselves to be the Irish of Russia. They are -the ancient peasant race, whose land has fallen into the hands of -alien conquerors, now supported by a foreign military power. For -eight centuries the country of the Letts and the smaller tribes of -Lithuanians and Esthonians has been the prey of Germans, Swedes, -and Russians in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span> turn. But the Germans, the descendants of the -Sword-Brothers and the Teutonic Order, who first introduced the laws -of conquest and Christianity among them,<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> have remained the chief -owners of the great estates, and the culture of the towns is mainly -German also. All three tribes come of an imaginative and artistic -stock. Many of the leading writers and artists of Russia are Letts, -and in their own strange language—probably the most ancient in -Europe, and most nearly akin to old Sanskrit—they possess an immense -collection of primitive folk-songs and legends. They are not so -advanced—not so artistic in form and feeling as the Lithuanian songs, -which are familiar in German translations, such as the beautiful and -characteristic song set to music by Chopin. But the Lettish songs -follow the ancient Asiatic form, seldom more than four or six lines -long—simple outbursts of joy and sorrow over the great events of all -human life, birth and spring and love and harvest and winter and death. -They are full of prehistoric myth and lore. Herder translated a few -when he was a parson in Riga about a hundred and forty years ago, but I -cannot find that even the Germans have taken the trouble to translate -them with any completeness. For the tongue has been despised and -neglected, just as Irish was in former years.</p> - -<p>The race is like the language. Ages have passed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span> over the people since -first they settled down among the sandy heaths and quiet watercourses -of the Baltic shore. Their hair and eyes have changed from dark to -fair. Their religion has changed from primitive nature-worship to -Catholicism, and then to Lutheranism. Evangelical they still remain, -though Russia has tried hard for twenty-five years to make them -Orthodox. But at heart they continue as they originally were, speaking -the same tongue, doing the same work, and building the same houses. -On almost any farm you may see the conical outdoor kitchens, modelled -on the very huts that they built as they walked from Asia before man -learnt his letters. Even their modern farmhouses are constructed on a -very ancient type. They are made entirely of wood without any iron, -even without nails, the corner joints being dovetailed together with -perfect skill. The roofs too, though sometimes thatched with reeds, are -nearly always formed of wooden slabs like slates. Round the central -house of two large rooms, with high lofts for winter storage, several -wings or extra chambers are thrown out, for the labourers (Knechte), -or for poorer people who cannot afford a house of their own, but pay -a rent in money or work. In this way I have seen five other families -gathered round one peasant court or farm (Gesinde, as it is called, -the old German word, like the use of Knechte, marking the date of the -Prussian occupation).</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span></p> - -<p>This peculiarity probably springs from the ancient Lettish habit -of living in isolation, like the Boers, and not huddled together -in villages, like the Germans or Russians. The peasants’ homes are -generally at least a mile or two apart. The country is divided into -large parishes, but a village can hardly be said to exist, and probably -this isolation has made the people an easier prey to their successive -conquerors. There are no Lettish towns at all, for such places as -Riga and Dorpat and Mitau were entirely German, but for some hardly -perceptible traces of the Swede, till the curse of Russia fell upon -them, little over a century ago. Indeed, to enter one of these old -towns even now, and to live among the spires and tiled roofs after -the bulbous domes and green iron of Russia, is like going back from -Gorky’s sombre desperation to the smile and sunlight of “Meister’s -Apprenticeship.”</p> - -<p>Scattered through the three Provinces there are about a million and a -half of Letts living in this way. Most of them now own their patches of -land, or are buying slowly, by annual payments. They till the ground in -summer, and in winter they weave with their own looms, spin with their -own spinning wheels, feed the cattle in the barns, and slide the wood -over the snow from the forests. It is not a bad kind of life. Compared -to ordinary Russian peasants, the people are rich beyond dreams, and -things went pleasantly in the Provinces till the hideous system<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span> -called Russification began just a quarter of a century ago, upon the -accession of Alexander III.—“The Camel,” as they still call him. It -was completed, as far as laws can go, in 1889, by the introduction -of Russian jurisdiction and language. Since then, the object of the -Russian Government has been to thwart German industry, to stifle German -culture, and to inflame the Letts against the Germans in hopes that -the two races may exterminate each other. So far the design appears -likely to succeed. Corrupt Russian officials govern, ignorant Russian -professors have taken the place of men like Harnack at the Dorport -University, untrained Russian teachers pretend to educate children -by means of a language that no child understands, the ancient rights -of the provinces have been taken away one by one, and by continual -incitement the Letts were at last goaded into burning the country -houses of the German landowners.</p> - -<p>There are about seven hundred estates in Livonia alone, including the -various Crown lands, and in the three Provinces taken together it was -estimated that two hundred and fifty country houses had been burnt. -This was said to represent about fifteen per cent. of the total of -existing estates. In many cases, no doubt, the landowners were leading -a monotonous and stupid kind of life, and the loss of their possessions -will open to them a wider horizon, with new chances of happiness. -But as a rule they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span> are a pleasant, healthy kind of people, like -the country gentlemen who used to exist in England, and the Lettish -peasants felt no violent personal animosity towards the man whom they -were accustomed to call Master. One of the largest landowners, for -instance, the proprietor of four separate estates, thus described to me -how the trouble began in his favourite country house:—</p> - -<p>“It was last December. Owing to the disturbances throughout the -country, I had sent my wife and children into Riga. One day a -deputation of peasants came and rang at the front door. I received them -in the hall.</p> - -<p>“‘Master (Herr),’ they said; ‘we are heartily sorry, but we have -condemned you to death.’</p> - -<p>“‘Oh, you have condemned me to death, have you?’ I answered.</p> - -<p>“‘Yes, master,’ they said. ‘We are heartily sorry. You are a good -master, and we have nothing against you, but we have condemned you to -death.’</p> - -<p>“‘All right,’ I answered; ‘what’s your reason?’</p> - -<p>“‘You see, you have more land than we have,’ they said.</p> - -<p>“‘Certainly,’ I answered; ‘but many of you have more land than others.’</p> - -<p>“‘Yes, that is true,’ they said; ‘but all the land is ours by right. -Your fathers took it away from us<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span> seven hundred years ago, and now we -are going to nationalize it all.’</p> - -<p>“‘Well,’ I answered; ‘I suppose you must do what you like. When are you -going to begin?’</p> - -<p>“‘Oh, master,’ they said, ‘we are heartily sorry. You are a good -master, but we have just condemned you to death, and now we have come -to warn you first. Master, we strongly advise you to escape.’</p> - -<p>“So the conversation went on. A few days later, they made an attack -upon the house in the evening. But I had armed two of my own servants; -we fired a gun from a window, and they all went away again. But after -that my wife was so frightened that I came into Riga, and now the -peasants are sending us firewood and vegetables twice a week by sledge, -because they have heard such things are dear in town.”</p> - -<p>It is easy to imagine the peculiar confusion that would arise in such -kindly and childlike minds when young students and orators, like the -almost mythical leader “Maxim,” come out to their isolated farms -and preached Karl Marx to them, and the socialisation of wealth, or -the glories of a Lettish republic. Social change and the sense of -nationality were equal motives in the rising. Excited by wild hopes, -inspired by man’s natural longing for equality, by race hatred, and by -the oppressions of a stupid<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span> and savage Government from abroad, they -turned upon the country houses, the church records, the Government -offices, and the portraits of the Tsar as the symbols of all that stood -between them and happiness.</p> - -<p>Certainly the German landowners suffered, and a few were assassinated. -It was part of the Russian Government’s scheme that they should suffer, -and one of the strangest things in the whole situation of these Baltic -Provinces was the unanimity with which, not only every Lett, but every -German whether in town or country, rejected the idea of appealing to -the German Empire for protection. The suggestion of such a thing made -the mildest German mad. It united German and Lett like comrades in arms -against a common enemy. The Germans cling to their German language -and culture; they will go to any trouble and expense to avoid Russian -education; they have the utmost contempt for Russian law and justice; -by union with Germany they would gain immensely in government and -probably in trade. Yet from Russia they will endure any hardship rather -than look to Berlin for help. It is a remarkable instance of the truth -that man is governed, not by his interests, but by his tastes. Hearing -the protest repeated with vehemence by a beautiful German lady whose -home had been burnt down, I asked her the reason, and she said: “We -could not endure to be told at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span> every corner not to spit and not to -lean out of the window.”</p> - -<p>So the landowners suffer, and bear those ills they have. But the man -whose suffering to me seemed least deserved was not a landowner, but -a country parson. He was so old that I may mention his name without -harm, and it is known to the scholars of Europe; for he was Pastor -Bielenstein, the greatest authority upon the Lettish language and -literature, and authorities are very few. I found him in Mitau, the -Courland capital, a quiet German town not far from Riga. There he had -taken refuge in a few small rooms, when the peasants chased him from -the parsonage, which had been his for sixty years and his father’s -before him. In mind and appearance he belonged to an age that Germany -has long left behind—the simple age of the Humboldts and the Grimms. -He must be one of the very few Germans left who remember the death of -Goethe, and to listen to him was like conversing with those gentle -followers of learning a century ago, who combined a zeal for knowledge -with a childlike trust in “the dear God.” All the sixty years in his -parish had been devoted to the cure of souls and the collection of -every fragment of Lettish literature—folk-songs, riddles, proverbs, -and legends. Volume after volume appeared, and there they all stand -as a monument of German industry, though, unhappily, intelligible -only to Lettish speakers.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span> Having lost his sight over his work, and -growing very old, with his aged wife and grandchildren around him, he -determined to write one more book and then depart in peace. The title -of the book was “The Happy Life,” and hardly had he published it when -the peasants came to his church, ordered him to leave out the Tsar from -his prayers, attacked his house, shot his sexton, held eight rifles at -his daughter’s heart, burnt his library, smashed his china, trampled -on his harpsichord, and made a bonfire of his furniture in the garden, -kindling it with his manuscripts. Thus he was driven out, blind, aged, -and poor, to begin a new volume of a life which he thought was ending -happily.</p> - -<p>“But we do not regret the title of my book, do we, dear wife? We have -not lost our trust in the dear God,” he said, bending his tall, slim -figure to kiss the old lady’s hand.</p> - -<p>“No,” she answered. “We have lost our best china, but our guest will -kindly excuse it.”</p> - -<p>While we were thus conversing, the pastor of a neighbouring parish -entered, a little excited over a scene in which he had just taken part. -There had been an execution in his village that morning, and it was his -duty to conduct the funeral of the young revolutionist who was shot. -For some reason the officer in command had ordered a party of horse and -foot with two guns to attend the ceremony and prevent any disturbance. -“The coffin and I were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span> surrounded by soldiers along the whole route,” -said the pastor; “and when we came to the grave, the people were kept -three hundred yards away. The result was that they could not hear a -word of the sermon which I had prepared with special care for the -occasion. As it was in Lettish, the soldiers did not understand it, and -all my pains were entirely thrown away.”</p> - -<p>So each suffered in his fashion.</p> - -<p>All through the open country parties of cavalry went trotting from farm -to farm. Infantry drove in sledges, holding their rifles ready. General -Orloff had then made his headquarters at Segewold, some forty miles -north of Riga, and obtaining a sledge there with a Lett driver who -spoke German, I was able to travel far through the low hills and wooded -valleys where the troops were at their work. The ruins of ancient -castles built by the Prussian Orders are rather frequent in that -neighbourhood, and the modern country houses which have taken their -place are especially fine—great mansions like our own “outposts of -barbarism,” some with gables and mullions, some with classic pediments -and columns in the “Georgian style.” But all were empty now, and not -a sound arose even from the stables and barns. One great house, as -famous as any monastery for its liqueurs, had been burnt to a cinder of -ruin, and there was hardly a farm around which had not lost a father -or son, hanged for burning it. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span> farms we passed appeared to be -equally empty; but when the driver gradually discovered that I had no -direct concern for Russian Government or German landowners, he began -to spread communications along the road by a system of signals and -cries. Faces would then peer out from the entrances of fowl houses, -or sudden questions would come from the depths of a holly bush. In -the quick conversations that followed I heard the word “Cossacks” -constantly repeated, for every mounted soldier is to them a Cossack, -and the question they always asked was whether the soldiers were -coming. Too often they were coming. We had seen them behind us, or had -watched a party moving down a hill, or cautiously making their way -through woods. The infantry in sledges were harder to distinguish; but -they were less numerous, and they went in obvious terror. Under their -houses some of the peasants had dug deep holes to hide in, and some -had taken to caverns in the sandstone hillsides, covered among the -woods. But it was chilly weather for that kind of life. The soldiers -were everywhere. In every parish a certain number of victims had to be -offered up to create a salutary impression, and all I can hope is that -our lonely little sledge, passing almost unobserved along the lanes, -may perhaps have saved one or two by its warnings. That it was allowed -to pass unobserved must be put down to kindly fortune, for I had -applied for the necessary permission to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span> visit the country districts, -but had applied utterly in vain. I have often noticed that the agents -of justice display a peculiar shyness about the presence of spectators -when they are killing men and women as the law directs.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, there was, perhaps, too little reserve about another -habit practised by the officers in command—the habit of ordering -executions by telephone in the presence of the condemned. In Riga I -had heard of instances, and they appeared to me to show a peculiarly -cold-hearted brutality, though I do not quite understand why. The -driver told me of a similar case which had happened in Segewold. -After the rapid court-martial and sentence, the officer rang up on -the telephone: “Hullo! Is that the sergeant? All right. Have a firing -party here six o’clock to-morrow morning. Three prisoners to be shot. -Six men will be enough. No, better bring ten perhaps. Mind they’re not -late. Six o’clock to-morrow morning. Three prisoners. All right.” Then -he rang off, and the prisoners were led away. It was like ordering the -funeral lunch in the hearing of the sick.</p> - -<p>As a contrast to these things I may mention an occurrence that was -thought humorous, and was known to every one in Riga at the time. -It concerned a young Lettish schoolmistress who was sentenced to be -flogged. Not understanding either the sentence or the brutal orders -and gestures of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span> the soldiers, whose duty it was to carry it out, she -thought she was to be violated, and that story was an inexhaustible -subject of mirth among the commercial and landowning classes in the -Riga restaurants. I have heard it translated into four languages so -that no one present might miss the full humour of the situation.</p> - -<p>So it went on. In the country the people died by hundreds. They were -flogged, they were hanged, they were shot. Their wooden farmhouses were -burnt to the ground. Their children were turned out in the winter to -starve. Men and women alike were slaughtered by hundreds, and no one -had pity on them. I heard no single word of pity or of understanding -spoken in any language, and week after week the bloody assize went on.</p> - -<p>Thank God, there were reprisals, however few. Soldiers on the march -through the town moved in single file for fear of bombs, and even that -did not always save them. The assassinations of policemen upon the -streets averaged one or perhaps two a day. The police lived in terror, -and as they went their rounds in groups of two or three, they were -escorted by an equal number of soldiers with fixed bayonets. Continual -alarms arose from every quarter of Riga; the reports of revolvers or -rifles would suddenly be heard, and this way and that the people ran. -Two or three days after I arrived there was a gallant rescue from the -very police-station itself.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span> At eight o’clock in the morning two women -came to the door with food for five prisoners who were lying under -sentence of death for the assassination of a police officer named -Porschetsky. As they were going away, eight or ten men entered. Some -seized the police on duty, killing one and wounding two others who -resisted, and four went to the cells and released all five prisoners, -who walked quietly in different directions down the streets and -escaped, though without their hats. One of them was recaptured two days -later while foolishly tying on a false beard in a barber’s shop. His -sister who was with him, fell on the floor, and clinging to the knees -of the police implored for mercy. The barber fainted with excitement, -and the man was dragged away and shot.</p> - -<p>The same afternoon a young boy passing my hotel was bayoneted to death -by a soldier for refusing to halt at command. Whether he was another of -the five or simply did not hear the order, I did not discover. He was -under twenty, dark haired, with the clear and intellectual face that -characterises the Lettish students, artists, and other revolutionaries -of the towns.</p> - -<p>Of the same type was another boy who was shot the following Sunday -morning at nine o’clock just outside the castle wall. There were eight -in the firing party. “One, two, three—fire!” said the sergeant, and -the boy fell like a dummy on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span> stage, to the edification of the -early churchgoers who crowded round to examine the body. And with that -typical scene in my mind I was obliged to take leave of the Baltic -Provinces, marked in every economic map as one of the few fairly -prosperous regions of the Russian Empire.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[282]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER XVI<br /> -<span class="subhed">THE PARTIES OF POLAND</span></h2></div> - - -<p>Outside the discussion of an English Education Bill, I suppose that -upon the world’s surface you would not find such an atmosphere of -energetic pettiness and trivial virulence as in Warsaw. Not that the -ultimate aims of the chief combatants are petty, but that many natures -take so much more delight in clawing their friends over trifles than in -uniting against the common enemy.</p> - -<p>In speaking of the Poles in St. Petersburg, I have already described -a Polish restaurant there which was sharply divided by an invisible -but impassable line into two camps, both violently Polish, and both -so hostile to each other that the girls of one would not speak or eat -with the girls of the other, nor even with the men. Warsaw displayed a -similar division in almost every street. Very likely it is the price -that Poles pay for the strong individuality which has given them so -many poets, artists, and musicians. The consequence is that in Warsaw, -the parties are continually shifting, and grow like polyps by splitting -themselves into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[283]</span> fractions, so that the political student, after weeks -of labour, goes to bed one night happily conscious of having mastered -the situation at last, and wakes up in the morning to find the whole -thing changed.</p> - -<p>But before describing what I believe to have been the condition of -Polish parties one post time on a February morning, it may be well to -estimate the strength of the common enemy’s position, as one of the -enemy’s leaders himself defined it. Of the three highest officials in -Poland he was the most experienced in the country and spoke with the -greatest authority. Even the extra number of footmen who took my coat -symbolized a power of life and death.</p> - -<p>“Martial law,” he began at once, “will be unflinchingly maintained, -at all events till the Duma meets. These Poles are an unreasonable, -unpractical people, full of crazy notions. They need a strong hand. -They mistake kindness for fear. They must be firmly dealt with. They -like it really—in his heart every Pole likes it. Since we proclaimed -martial law last November there has been no disturbance. And for forty -years before that—ever since we crushed the Polish revolution in -1864—order had reigned.”</p> - -<p>I smiled inwardly, remembering that well-worn quotation about the -order that reigned in Warsaw, and I looked at the speaker with fresh -interest. I had often heard of him as the perfect type of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[284]</span> -thorough-going reactionaries, the real old Russian bureaucrats, -who were fighting the revolution at the last ditch for their ideal -of empire, their privileges, and their pay. A tall and shapely man -of about fifty, diplomatically courteous and grave, he became the -furniture of the official palace very well, but in his round, bright -eyes I sometimes detected the alert and watchful look of a racoon -when he confronts you suddenly in the forest. He afterwards described -me to a friend as a terrible revolutionist, and as I remained almost -silent during the conversation, being overcome by the superiority of -his French, that showed a penetration which gave greater value to his -judgments.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he repeated, “these Poles have always been an unreasonable and -unpractical people, full of flighty notions. You may now divide them -into Nationalists and Socialists—both about equally absurd. I need -not speak of the Socialists and the nonsense they talk of equality and -nationalization. They are the same everywhere. In Poland we found them -doing a certain amount of harm among the peasants; so we quartered -troops in the villages, and now the peasants have turned against the -Socialists like other right-minded men. Indeed, the Jewish Bund is the -only troublesome Socialist body now left, and we are dealing with them. -They will tend to disappear.</p> - -<p>“The Nationalists are equally helpless. They<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[285]</span> make a mighty fuss about -the suppression of their language, but in our Empire we must have one -common language, and it must be Russian. Then as to their Catholic -religion: the Poles are a singularly fanatical people. Their attachment -to their superstitious rites is most extraordinary. Even the educated -classes are little better than fanatics in their religious beliefs. -They are incapable of any breadth of view, and if we gave the people -the chance, they would show themselves utterly intolerant of the -Orthodox Church. They would insult and persecute our fellow-believers. -Such things we cannot allow, and we will not.</p> - -<p>“Nor can we yield to their talk about autonomy and separation. It is -all very well for England to grant autonomy to her Colonies over the -sea. She has not granted it to Ireland, and she does not grant it to -India. We have not the least desire to become a powerless confederation -like Austria, in perpetual danger of disruption. That would be even -worse than to become like Germany, continually hampered by her -Socialists. Any kind of separation would mean immediate ruin to Poland -and her industries. Russia, Siberia, and the Far East are her only -markets. If she were separated from us, first she would starve, next -she would be swallowed up by Germany, and foolish as the Poles are, -they still have sense enough to hate the Germans more than they hate -us.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[286]</span></p> - -<p>“It is true that in a weak moment our Government made concessions -to Finland, and that has encouraged the Poles to hope for the same. -But we shall not be able to allow Finland to remain on a different -footing from the rest of the Empire. Those concessions must rapidly be -withdrawn. We shall very likely have to conquer Finland over again. -That would be an easy task, and need cause us no apprehension. All -special rights in any part of the Empire must vanish, and the whole -Empire must be bound together into one. If we yield at any point, we -must yield in all, and that is impossible.</p> - -<p>“It is impossible for our own safety. Here in Poland, for instance, -we have to defend a frontier where there is no natural barrier to -ward off an attack by Germany. Even if we gave up Poland as far as -the Vistula, it would not help us. In these days a river is no real -protection in war; if the Vistula were a mountain chain, that would -be a different question. As it is, we must maintain our two parallel -lines of fortresses in Poland, and especially the triangle of the three -main strongholds, of which Warsaw is one. The triangle is too large to -be surrounded, and it would secure us the time for mobilization. For -certainly we could not mobilize nearly so fast as Germany.</p> - -<p>“That is the plain truth of the situation. People talk about Russia’s -internal troubles, but they are not of any importance. It is mainly an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[287]</span> -agrarian question. The peasants think their land insufficient, because -they are too ignorant to cultivate it properly, and the redistribution -of the land by the communes every twelve years—it used to be every -year—deprives them of the valuable sense of ownership. We must abolish -the communal system, institute private ownership in land, and plant -several new colonies—in Siberia, for example. Then you will see -that Russia will easily regain her former condition of quietude and -prosperity.</p> - -<p>“And, as to Poland again, you will find that if the Duma meets, it will -be compelled to govern Poland exactly as the Autocracy has governed it -in the past, and is governing it now.”</p> - -<p>It was a frank and reasonable statement of the reactionary position, -and, if once the bureaucrat’s estimate of government and of human -nature be accepted, the position is easy to defend. Like most -Conservatives, the bureaucrats and reactionaries know pretty definitely -what they mean, and what they do not want; for even a prophet may -perhaps find it easier to see the past clearly than the future. To know -the object clearly is a great advantage in controversy, and in action -it means victory, unless the enemy knows still more definitely what he -intends to have. But in Poland there are so many intentions that the -battle for nationality and freedom is more than usually difficult.</p> - -<p>At the back of all modern politics stands the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[288]</span> workman, tending -with every decade to become the only kind of citizen that need be -considered. We must suppose therefore that the various Polish parties -who are battling for nationality and freedom have the advancement of -the workman ultimately in view, and certainly there are few European -countries where his advancement is more obviously desirable. In -commerce, Poland has suffered more than any other part of Russia -from the disasters of the last few years. About five years ago, the -time of ruin set in with a commercial depression, vaguely attributed -to over-production. Hardly was trade recovering when the outbreak -of the Japanese war checked every hope. Siberia and the Far East -had become, as my official rightly said, the chief markets for such -great industrial centres as Warsaw and Lodz. Then suddenly all orders -ceased, the goods already despatched could neither be recovered nor -paid for, and the railways were taken up by the army. Ordinary trade -dropped, and only those firms could look for any profit which received -Government orders for barbed-wire entanglements, empty shrapnel cases, -and metals for field railways—“goods” which must be paid for by the -starving peasants, and might just as well have been sunk in the sea -at once. Out of thirty-one ironworks, ten closed their gates, and the -rest blew out half their furnaces. It is true, the iron industry is -rather an artificial thing, which even in peaceful times lives<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[289]</span> chiefly -on Government patronage. For it has to import coke from Siberia, and -ore from Krivoy Rog in South Russia. But the losses in the iron trade -were equalled by disasters in other industries, and the only instance -of success I heard of during the war was that the big chocolate works -received large orders to supply officers at the front. It is not -the first time we have heard of “chocolate-cream soldiers.” Indeed, -chocolate is taking the place of the Homeric onions as the food of -heroes.</p> - -<p>The war also ruined credit, and Polish trade lives on credit. Warsaw -depends entirely upon Berlin for money, and Berlin refused to lend. -On the top of the war came the strikes—political strikes, economic -strikes, general strikes, postal strikes. All through last year they -went on, and there was hardly a firm that did not lose from a third -to a half of its work. The severity with which the strikes were put -down only increased the resentment of the working-classes, and the -people deliberately preferred general ruin to the continuance of former -conditions, whether of government or industry.</p> - -<p>Such was the outlook of workmen in the towns. But about eighty per -cent. (something over 8,000,000) of the Poles are agriculturists, and -nearly half of these have no land of their own, but are forced to -wander round as labourers, some 200,000 of them going into East Prussia -yearly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[290]</span> for the harvest, and most of them working in towns from time -to time. It is true that the peasants are slowly buying more and more -land from the bankrupt old nobility, who used to own Poland, and were -the chief cause of her ruin as a nation. The average price they pay for -the land is from £5 to £6 an acre, and the average peasant holding is -seventeen acres. But this division into plots is at present lowering -the standard of agriculture, and so things will go from bad to worse -till the peasant gains a little learning, and puts science into his -primitive methods. At present more than half of the populations cannot -write or read, and the proportion of schools to the number of children -is actually decreasing. In Warsaw alone there are 60,000 children for -whom there is no place in school, and the amount spent on education -per head of the population is 6<i>d.</i>, as compared with 9<i>s.</i> -7<i>d.</i> in Berlin. Yet the Poles justly boast themselves better -educated and more intelligent than average Russians. In brains and -Western knowledge they are immensely in advance.</p> - -<p>The population, which is thicker on the ground than in France, -increases very rapidly, and that is one of the reasons why wages in the -last ten years have remained stationary in Warsaw, though the cost of -living has doubled. In the country a farm labourer’s wage is 9<i>d.</i> -a day. In the towns the unskilled workman gets about 14<i>s.</i> a -week, and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[291]</span> unskilled woman from 6<i>s.</i> to 12<i>s.</i>. But a -skilled workman, such as a weaver, will make £2 10<i>s.</i> or even £3 -a week for nine hours’ work a day. The rent of two fairly good rooms -with kitchen, on the fourth floor, is from 4<i>s.</i> to 5<i>s.</i> -a week. But owing to the large numbers of the unskilled, it is very -common to find four families living in one room, and the standard -of life, especially among the Polish Jews, who number 1,500,000 of -the population, is very low, as any Londoner may see by walking down -Whitechapel. As usual, the Jews are regarded as the worst of all -work-people, though they make most money in dealing. On the other hand, -the overseers in mills, whether German or English, spoke very highly -to me of the Poles as mechanics, especially of the girls. “When they -will work, these Poles are first-rate,” said an English manager in -a lace works. “But they are butterflies, all butterflies,” he added -with a sigh. “I sent my little boy to school here, and they taught him -languages well, but unveracity better. So now I’ve sent him to England, -where at least he’ll learn nothing.”</p> - -<p>In the accounts I heard or read of Polish trade, two other points -appeared to me unhappily characteristic. One was that Polish hides -have to be sold at a cheaper rate than their apparent value, because -they are scarred and spoilt by the cruelty with which the Polish -peasants use their heavy whips. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[292]</span> same is true even of the pigs, -in which Poland does an immense trade; both the skins and the bacon -are deteriorated by the cruelty of the swineherds. The other point I -discovered in a Consular Report, which noticed that in Poland there -is a very large demand for antiquities—“family portraits, signet -rings, blood-stained weapons, and so on”—and suggested that, though -Germany has almost entirely ousted English trade from the country, an -opening for romantic Birmingham goods might here be found. It certainly -seems a needless sorrow that any one who desires a family portrait or -blood-stained weapon should be without it.</p> - -<p>From all this it appears that the Polish parties have enough scope for -their labours on behalf of the workmen and labourers, even without the -internecine intrigues and animosities with which they enliven their -task, like British sects battling for the Kingdom of Heaven. Among -the leading parties on the extreme right stands the solid phalanx of -officials and reactionaries; but it is not to be called Polish. It -is manned from the 300,000 Russians who are distributed among the -10,000,000 Poles. It is the party of “the Garrison.” For no Pole can -become an official—not even a policeman—unless he is first thoroughly -Russianised and joins the Orthodox Church, and even in Russia it -is only the officials and priests who are genuinely reactionary on -principle, because it is they who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[293]</span> are fighting for their existence in -their last dirty ditch.</p> - -<p>But next to the reactionaries, though far removed, came a genuine -Polish party, who called themselves sometimes Realists, sometimes -Conciliators, because they represented their aims as real or tangible -things, and they were willing to act as peacemakers between Government -and people. They were the moderate Opportunists, the cautious -bourgeoisie (if any Pole is cautious), and they looked to the Duma -for salvation by gradual reforms. Still, they would struggle, however -gently, for autonomy, and, conscious of their own weakness in numbers, -they were willing to lend the weight of their intellectual powers -(which they believed to be considerable) to any union of moderate -Nationalist parties.</p> - -<p>In practical politics (if Polish politics ever became practical) the -Realists, who were called a staff without an army, were expected -to unite with the National Democrats, who were an army without a -staff. Certainly the National Democrats were numerous and confident. -They alone of all the Polish parties were doing what we should call -election work for the Duma; for though their meetings were forbidden -by the Government, those who attended them were not necessarily shot. -I was myself present at one of those meetings, held in an upper room -decorated with pictures of dead animals, and some seventy or eighty -gentlemen were there, for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[294]</span> the most part substantial and elderly. There -was something a little pathetic about the performance, for they had met -to practise how to do it, and they reminded me of a class of dockers -I once tried to teach writing in Poplar, because they had escaped -the School Board. It is now eighty years since there was anything in -the least like an election in Poland, and that was for the Polish -Parliament which preceded the revolution of 1831. The tradition of how -to vote had died since then, and those few comfortable gentlemen in -the upper chamber were trying to recover it. Each received a pencil -and a little square of blank paper, and after they had followed their -instructions to the best of their ability, the papers were collected -and mistakes pointed out. As a first lesson in the nomination of -candidates, the result showed considerable promise, and the teacher, -who had studied in England, expressed much satisfaction at the progress -made.</p> - -<p>The twelve wards into which Warsaw was divided had to choose eighty -electors between them, and upon these eighty fell the choice of the -two members who were to represent Warsaw in the Duma. These two were -counted among the thirty-six who would stand for Poland as a whole. The -Jews, who make up a third part of Warsaw’s population, were the only -formidable opponents to the National Democrats. But the Jews are nearly -all Socialists, and as the Socialists had up to that time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[295]</span> refused to -recognize the Duma or take any part in the elections, the National -Democrats expected to secure all the “college” of electors.</p> - -<p>Their programme was more advanced than I should have supposed from the -rather venerable appearance of their meeting. They aimed at complete -Polish autonomy in a Russian Federation. They demanded the use of -Polish in schools and law-courts; the appointment of Poles to all -offices of local administration; complete local self-government for -towns and country districts; and some included the restoration of the -Polish Parliament as it existed from 1813 to 1831. This programme -was obviously very much more Nationalist than Democratic, but, in -spite of the demand for Home Rule, there was no intention whatever of -breaking away from Russia. My reactionary official was again right in -saying that the Poles, like the Baltic Provinces, would rather suffer -under Russia than under Germany. The one thing that ended the great -general strike was the cry purposely, though falsely, raised by the -masters, “The Prussians are coming!” Germans may think it difficult -to understand, but, outside Germany, a certain pleasantness of manner -counts for something in the affairs of life, and very few people really -enjoy being goaded along the regulation road to official perfection.</p> - -<p>Next to the National Democrats came the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[296]</span> Progressive Democrats, who -bridged the gulf from respectability to Socialism, like Mr. John Burns, -let us say, or practical leaders of his type. They were what we should -call extreme Radicals, but they liked to borrow the word “Fabians,” -not having yet discovered that the Fabian Society ceased to count in -the advance of thought or politics after the support its majority gave -to the South African War. Like academic people among ourselves, they -are fond of repeating that they demand evolution, not revolution, -but their opposition to the Government is nevertheless sincere, and -many of them were in prison. The gradual nationalization of the land, -with compensation but compulsory sale where an owner possesses over a -certain maximum, is a great point in their programme, and their aims -in general are rather social than political, though they, too, demand -a Polish Parliament and a military system under which Polish recruits -shall remain in Poland. Like the Socialists, they refused to take any -part in the elections, because under martial law there could be no -freedom of choice. Otherwise, they would have formed the natural allies -of the Constitutional Democrats elsewhere.</p> - -<p>The powerful party known as National or Polish Socialists came very -near to these. In fact, no one but a Pole could have discovered in -their programmes any distinction calling for passionate antipathy. They -followed the usual Socialistic lines, with Polish<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[297]</span> autonomy thrown in, -and they also prided themselves on their practical or “real” policy.</p> - -<p>Next to them, but separated by the impassable abyss of family -animosity, came their bitterest enemies, the Social Democrats, with -their usual maximum and minimum programmes, that require no further -definition. For the Gospel of St. Marx upholds the doctrine of faith -all the world over, and its canon allows no variation of circumstance -or nationality. In Poland, perhaps, its followers show themselves a -little more pedantic and superior than elsewhere, and it is their -intolerance of every other form of progress which has done most to -keep the parties divided, and maintain the enemy in power. Possibly -for this reason, combined with the imprisonment of all their leaders, -they appeared, whilst I was in Warsaw, to have lost ground, in spite of -their careful organization and superhuman rectitude.</p> - -<p>Below them—far below them, they would say—came the Proletariat -Socialists, the workman’s party, who refused all “truck” with -students or lawyers, or any other members of the “Intelligenzia” -and bourgeoisie. They were the extremists; thirty years ago they -would have been called Nihilists, though untruly. They preached -revolutionary violence of any kind, and took the immediate happiness of -the working man as their motive and rule in all conduct. Beyond that, -they possessed the immense advantage of being entirely free from all -doctrines,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[298]</span> theories, and abstractions. For they held by the simple and -obvious fact, that a certain amount of pleasure may be obtained from -life, and the working man does not get it.</p> - -<p>There remains but one party of importance, but it is a little difficult -to place it in rank with the rest. For the Bund is not specially a -Polish party. As I have shown, it spreads through Kieff, Odessa, -and all Southern Russia. But in Warsaw it is particularly strong, -because, beyond all others, it is the Jewish party. In social aims it -agrees with the Social Democrats, but its methods are more definite -and more violent. In Warsaw, its members were at that time collecting -arms, organizing bands, and conducting propaganda in meetings that -were protected by armed groups. Their programme was to carry on -the revolution by a series of general strikes, combined with armed -demonstrations and attacks upon Government buildings or officials, -and they looked forward to a general and violent insurrection of all -Socialists in Russia. Obviously, the first care of such a party should -be to win over the enemy’s armed forces, for as long as the Russian -Government could trust the army to do the slaughtering for them, a -violent insurrection was outside serious consideration. Accordingly, -the Bund was continually sending out agents to work among the soldiers. -These agents endeavoured to establish in the army a large society of -men, who should take an oath never<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[299]</span> to fire upon their fellow-citizens. -There were minor points—a demand for better treatment, a refusal to -act as officers’ servants, or to serve outside their home district. But -not to fire on citizens was the main thing, and if once that pledge -could be imposed upon the Russian army as a whole, the Government, with -all its frippery and all its brutality, would vanish in a week.</p> - -<p>I have already given my reasons for seeing little hope of such a -solution. Obedience is the easiest form of sloth, and as soon as you -put a man into uniform you render obedience almost irresistible. -Further, a soldier demands pay, clothes, food, and hitherto there has -existed no definite power in Russia, except the Crown, to which he -could look for these necessities.</p> - -<p>But it was no wonder the Government regarded the Bund as their most -dangerous enemy in a hostile nation. Under the unpopular bywords -of “Anarchist” and “Jew,” the members of the Bund were seized and -executed without mercy or regret. Upon the river bank, half a mile -north of the city, stands the great fortress called the Citadel. I -happened to see more of it than most travellers, for, by good luck, I -managed one afternoon to penetrate far within the gates before I was -arrested. But still I could not identify Pavilion 10, where some six -hundred political prisoners were then crowded together, nor the places -of execution, where so-called Anarchist Jews were shot. The official -number of the executed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[300]</span> in the month then stood at only sixteen, but -it was impossible to estimate the true figures, when the only form of -trial was a secret court-martial, and when fishermen on the Vistula -reported, as they did while I was there, that they had seen bodies -appearing through holes in the ice below the Citadel, with faces -mutilated to prevent recognition.</p> - -<p>As in the rest of Russia, all the prisons were so overcrowded that the -prisoners were dying of filth and disease. The town prison in Warsaw -had four hundred politicals, and sixty of them were crammed into a room -built for twenty-five. But if only as a relief from the dreariness -of futile party distinctions, let me end with the official statement -concerning two Jewesses, arrested as the accomplices of a man named -Gramen, who had been shot for manufacturing bombs. Governor-General -Skallon gave it out that it went against his feelings of humanity to -shoot women, and accordingly he offered to appeal to the Tsar himself -on behalf of these two, if they would only promise never to take part -in the revolution again. They both replied that if they were ever -released, they would fling themselves into the movement with more -enthusiasm than ever. So both were shot. And that one solid instance -of invincible heroism proves that even Poland, in spite of all her -divisions and abstractions and intrigues, is not beyond the hope of -liberty, since even in the wilderness of her parties that kind of -courage is seen to blossom.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p3001_ill" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p3001_ill.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center lg"><b>1905</b></p> - <p class="p0 center lg"><b>1906</b></p> - <p class="p0 p-left sm">From <i>Jupel</i> (<i>Sulphur</i>).</p> - </div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[301]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER XVII<br /> -<span class="subhed">THE DRAMA OF FREEDOM</span></h2></div> - - -<p>When for a time I left Russia in February, the powers of reaction were -at their highest, and at such a moment it might well seem absurd to -speak of the dawn, for the ancient darkness of Russia appeared again -to have closed in upon the land. In looking back upon the things I had -witnessed, they naturally presented themselves to me as the scenes of -a great drama, in which the old Titans and demigods of humanity played -from behind strange masks, compelled by the rival immortals of Freedom -and Oppression, whose voices could at times be heard and their forms -almost seen, while the journalists of Europe chimed in with a chorus -of alternately sympathetic comment. But there was no doubt that, as -in all great dramas, the Protagonist had become involved in the toils -of evil, and that, as far as worldly success went, a tragic fate was -overwhelming him.</p> - -<p>When first I arrived in the country, the air was still radiant with -hope. It is true that the early flush had a little faded; the joyful -intoxication of the October Manifesto was passing off, and people<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[302]</span> -were beginning to realize that freedom is not a thing to depend on any -man’s words. Liberty and despotism were hanging in the balance, and -the dull weights of habit and force were pressing down their scale. -But exiles were returning, prisoners were released, the Press was -free. Great public halls sounded to unaccustomed words of liberty, and -the Strike Committee, which had shaken the strongest tyranny of the -world, was still the strongest power in the country. The Government -stood uncertain and afraid. It felt itself confronted by an unknown -and incalculable adversary, the more terrible for its vagueness—an -adversary that out of unregarded obscurity had struck one sudden and -paralyzing blow and now lay coiled up in its lurking place, only -waiting for the fit moment to strike that blow again.</p> - -<p>In its distress the Government looked round for help. It looked to the -railways to carry its troops, and the trains ceased running. It looked -to the post and telegraph to bear its orders, and the wires were cut, -and the letters lay in heaps. It looked to the army, and from all -sides came the tale of mutiny; to the navy, and it heard the flames -of Odessa, the flames of Kronstadt, and the big guns of Sevastopol. -It looked to the Press, and it found even the ancient supporters of -Tsardom were beginning to hint at reforms. The very Ministers were -understood to speak a little uncertainly of autocracy,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[303]</span> and whenever a -reporter was within hearing, the chief of them all kept muttering, “I -am a bit of a Liberal myself.” So the Government stood uncertain, in -the uneasy position of an animal which does not know whether it is to -be hound or hare upon the course.</p> - -<p>That we may call the first act of the drama, but when the second -act opened, the powers of evil were seen more actively insinuating -themselves into the course of tragedy. Their activity took the form of -a plot which can be easily unravelled from the course of the events -upon the stage. In order to involve the Russian people in the doom of -tragedy, they may be represented as thus whispering to the leaders of -the Government:—</p> - -<p>“The first thing is to secure the Army, by promises of better food -and pay. Having secured the Army, you may goad the people to open -resistance by attacking them without warning. When they rise it will -be easy to stamp them down, and under the excuse of their violent -revolution, you can silence the Press, you can close the meetings, you -can shoot or imprison the leaders, you can choke the voice of freedom -in troublesome districts like Finland, the Baltic Provinces, Poland, -and the Caucasus. By controlling the elections you can secure exactly -the kind of Duma you want. You may then appeal to Europe to admire both -your power and your progress, and all Europe will join<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[304]</span> in applause. -The chorus of journalists which used to sing ‘The Dawn of Freedom,’ -will chant warnings to rebellion and the triumph of order over chaos. -Your object will then be gained, for you can obtain the money that is -the one thing needful for your existence. England will again recognize -your credit. France will contribute the interest on her own loans, and -Germany will recognize a Government endued with just about as much -liberty as her William likes.”</p> - -<p>Such were the suggestions of the powers of evil, and the Russian -Government is not to be blamed for accepting them gladly. That unhappy -little group of royalties, Grand Dukes, landlords, officials, and -priests, were fighting, not merely for an obsolete ideal of State, but -for their very existence, for their daily pleasures, their daily bread, -for a decent roof over their heads and a decent table over their legs. -It was no child’s play for them, since all they valued was at stake, -and the only wonder is that they were clever enough to understand the -whispered promptings of the powers who spoke on behalf of Oppression, -an ancient and venerable god. If any Russian statesman or general or -admiral had displayed the strategic skill in dealing with the Japanese -that the Government now revealed in suppressing the liberties of their -own country, Russia would have been spared one of the most shameful and -overwhelming disasters in history.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[305]</span></p> - -<p>But in following these promptings, the Government succeeded at every -point. The general strike was the only genuine weapon the people -had—an irresistible weapon, provided it was used simultaneously and -seldom. The Government drove the leaders to use it piecemeal and often. -They confiscated the strike funds to starve the women and children, -they employed hunger and Cossacks to shake the determination of the -men. By bombarding a committee, they drove the revolutionists to build -the Moscow barricades before the movement was ripe and while the -other cities remained inactive. They discovered the fighting weakness -of freedom, and the entire security with which men in uniform can -be trusted to kill at the command of those who feed and pay them. -They stamped down the rising in blood. They shot all the leading -revolutionists, they imprisoned all the suspects, they hewed the -insignificant in pieces. They applauded the murderers of doctors who -were saving the wounded. They executed schoolboys for believing better -forms of government possible, and they handed over schoolgirls to -soldiers to be flogged.</p> - -<p>In all this they proved themselves entirely wise, for they gained -their end. The moment that the Moscow rising was crushed, troops were -let loose with confidence upon Poland, the Caucasus, and the Baltic -Provinces. Preparations were made for the reconquest of Finland. -Executions became general<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[306]</span> throughout the Empire. The prisons were -crammed, and typhus finished what the rifle and hang-rope left undone. -The elections for the Duma were prepared under police supervision, and -Liberal candidates removed to prison. Liberal meetings were forbidden, -Liberal papers suppressed. The chorus of European journalists chanted -the overthrow of rebellion and the restoration of order. And at last, -as the crowning reward of a faithlessness and cruelty so cleverly -displayed, the deficit of over £80,000,000 was freely supplied by a -fresh European loan, to which the so-called Liberal Powers of France -and England were the chief contributors. There is something divine in -success so unquestioned and unassailable, nor can we wonder that its -worship is almost universal. In the autumn of 1905, no one thought -it possible for the Russian Government to raise another loan for its -existence, unless under guarantees of liberty and popular control. -But the Government quietly set about the work of slaughter, and when -that was finished held out a bloody hand to Europe; and Europe kissed -the bloody hand reverently, and filled it with gold. In the spring of -1906, a loan of £90,000,000 was subscribed without question, and upon -a triumphant tableau of Oppression reinstated and Evil enriched the -curtain fell. In the distance the spirits that attend on Freedom were -faintly heard bewailing her defeat.</p> - -<p>Under large and shadowy symbols, the powers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[307]</span> of human history may thus -be imagined to move upon their stage, and it is much easier to conceive -their great abstractions than to realize the life or sufferings of one -man or woman out of the millions of human beings, compared to whom -all principles of freedom, government, or justice are but unstable -visions of the mind. It is in realizing solid and visible things that -the imagination fails. I have seen a few peasants starving on potatoes -warmed with straw, while they had sold their corn to Europe before it -was reaped, so as to pay for defeated armies, sunken battleships, a -bloodthirsty police, and the pleasures of landowners in St. Petersburg. -I have seen a few, but the imagination refuses to picture the millions -on millions like them, who are actually now existing. I have seen a -few tattered soldiers from the war draggling into Moscow at last, -begging for farthings, squatting on the curb-stones or murmuring -vacantly to themselves, “Alive and home; alive and home!” I have seen -a few, but there were at least five hundred thousand of them still to -come—starving, tattered, mutinous, broken with terror and distress. -I have seen a few work-people in their homes—scant of food, empty of -comfort, and crowded with human beings—but there are millions like -them. A few people I knew were shot, many were imprisoned; but there -are thousands whose sons and lovers and friends have been shot, and -thousands on thousands who are themselves in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">[308]</span> prison. I have heard -and read of girls being flogged; but there are hundreds of lovers -and brothers and fathers who have known the girls that were flogged, -and have seen them come back tortured and shamed from the soldiers’ -hands. The picture of such things indefinitely repeated throughout a -vast Empire becomes like the nightmare of a madman, and before such -bare realities the imagination falls helpless. If we wished to be -charitable, we might say that this is why Frenchmen and Englishmen -could still be found to bolster up the bloodthirsty tyranny with -a loan, and no shout of laughter arose when Witte still went on -murmuring, “I am a bit of a Liberal myself,” and the Tsar telegraphed -to England that he was meditating a new Peace Conference at the Hague.</p> - -<p>So the triumph of reaction appeared to be complete: it seemed assured -by the mere immensity of its horror, and the returned exiles admitted -that in the worst days of their youth Russia had never suffered as she -was suffering now. Yet I suppose that no single revolutionary in the -country abandoned hope or contemplated peace. If there is something -discouraging in the Russian passive endurance, it has its compensation -in a slow but unwavering persistence in rebellion. In spite of all the -winter’s executions and imprisonment, I doubt if there was one good -rebel the less in spring than in autumn, and revolutionists of all -types were now drawn together<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">[309]</span> by that just and savage indignation -which is the strongest bond of union. The bureaucrats of Tsardom had -stamped for themselves a red surface on which their little circle -might continue to live a while longer; but the revolution was boiling -underneath, and even they could not be deaf to the hum and rumble of -its working. In such mood, and amid such hopes and fears, the advent of -the long-promised Duma was awaited.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center p2">DIARY OF EVENTS</p> - -<p>In January, M. Durnovo, as Minister of the Interior, was freed -from the supervision of Count Witte, and made responsible only -to the Tsar.</p> - -<p>Two main subjects were prominent in Russian affairs during the -following weeks—finance and the elections for the Duma.</p> - -<p>In the middle of January, Shipoff, the Minister of Finance, had -issued the official estimates for the Budget of 1906, showing an -expenditure of £251,000,000 and a deficit of £48,000,000. The -main items of the revenue were—</p> -</div> - -<table summary="revenue" class="smaller" style="max-width: 30em"> - <tr> - <td class="ctr"></td> - <td class="ctr">£</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Direct taxes</td> - <td class="right">15,000,000</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Indirect taxes</td> - <td class="right">42,000,000</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">State monopolies</td> - <td class="right">64,000,000</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">State lands</td> - <td class="right">59,000,000</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p class="smaller">The main items of expenditure were—</p> - -<table summary="revenue" class="smaller" style="max-width: 30em"> - <tr> - <td class="ctr"></td> - <td class="ctr">£</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Interest on loans</td> - <td class="right">34,000,000</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">War Office</td> - <td class="right">38,000,000<span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[310]</span></td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Navy</td> - <td class="right">10,000,000</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Ministry of Finance</td> - <td class="right">34,000,000</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht"> „   „ Interior</td> - <td class="right">13,000,000</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht"> „   „ Communications</td> - <td class="right">48,000,000</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht"> „   „ Education</td> - <td class="right">4,000,000<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p class="smaller">But besides these items of ordinary expenditure there remained—</p> - -<table summary="revenue" class="smaller" style="max-width: 30em"> - <tr> - <td class="ctr"></td> - <td class="ctr">£</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Extraordinary War disbursements</td> - <td class="right">40,000,000</td> - </tr> - - <tr> - <td class="cht">Famine relief</td> - <td class="right">3,000,000</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>The true deficit for the year amounted to at least £80,000,000, -and would probably be nearer £90,000,000. In spite of the large -foreign loans the gold reserve had fallen from £106,000,000 in -February, 1904, to £94,000,000 in December, 1905, and the paper -in circulation had risen from £59,000,000 to £143,000,000 in the -same period.</p> - -<p>On February 21st the trial of Lieutenant Schmidt for the mutiny -at Sevastopol began in Odessa. On March 3rd he was sentenced to -be hanged.</p> - -<p>On February 26th, an Imperial Ukase fixed May 10th as the date -for the Duma, the total number of members being 476, of which -412 would represent European Russia, exclusive of Poland.</p> - -<p>On March 5th, the elections began among the peasants of the St. -Petersburg province.</p> - -<p>On March 6th, an Imperial Manifesto was published reorganizing -the old Council of the Empire, and further limiting the powers -of the Duma. The Council of the Empire was now to consist of -an equal number of elected and nominated members. The elected -members would represent the Zemstvos, the Holy Synod, the -Universities, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[311]</span> Bourse, the nobility, and the landowners -of Poland. Both the Council and the Duma would be convoked -and prorogued annually, and have equal legislative powers in -introducing bills, but every measure must be passed by both the -Council and the Duma before it could be laid before the Tsar.</p> - -<p>When the Duma was not sitting the Committee of Ministers might -conduct legislation not involving any change in the fundamental -laws of the Empire.</p> - -<p>The <i>Molva</i> (formerly the <i>Russ</i>) published an account -of terrible tortures inflicted on Vincentz Siecska and Edmund -Kempski by M. Grun, chief of detectives in Warsaw, to make -them confess and sign false documents. This paper had already -told how two officers had tortured and outraged the schoolgirl -Spiridonova arrested for complicity in the assassination of the -Tamboff Vice-Governor. One of the officers was afterwards found -shot on the road.</p> - -<p>On March 19th, Lieutenant Schmidt was shot.</p> - -<p>On March 20th, the Mutual Credit Society’s Bank in Moscow was -forcibly robbed of £85,000.</p> - -<p>At this time several battalions and mountain batteries were -sent into Finland as though for the reconquest of the country -and the destruction of its restored liberties. They were, -however, withdrawn, probably owing to representations made to -the Government that an attack upon Finland at such a moment -would prove an obstacle to the much-needed loan from France and -England.</p> - -<p>The victory of the Constitutional Democrats in the Duma -elections from March 28th onward, was greeted with satisfaction -by nearly all the Progressive parties. At Odessa on April -1st, all the sixty-six candidates selected by the workmen -of sixty-six factories were imprisoned, and the authorities -directed the workmen to choose reactionaries.</p> - -<p>The remains of Lieutenant Schmidt were dug up and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[312]</span> scattered in -the sea because his grave was becoming a place of pilgrimage.</p> - -<p>On April 4th, it was found that the Constitutional Democrats -had carried every electoral seat in St. Petersburg, even in the -official and commercial wards. The <i>Molva</i> called upon -France not to defy the verdict of the Russian nation by helping -the present Administration with money. The paper was again -suppressed, but reappeared as <i>The Twentieth Century</i>.</p> - -<p>M. Kokovtsoff again set out for Berlin and Paris in the hope of -negotiating a new loan.</p> - -<p>At the elections in Moscow nearly all the 40,000 electors went -to the poll, and 70 per cent. voted for the Constitutional -Democrats.</p> - -<p>About April 10th, Germany refused to share in the proposed -new Russian loan, chiefly owing to Russia’s service to France -during the Algeciras Conference. Germany already holds about -£140,000,000 of Russian stock.</p> - -<p>France, however, agreed to advance £46,000,000 out of a new -five per cent. loan of £90,000,000 at the price of 88. Austria -advanced £6,600,000, Holland a little over £2,000,000, and -England a little over £13,000,000.</p> - -<p>The arrangement was concluded at Easter, April 14th, and nearly -sufficed to cover Russia’s deficit for the current year. The -Russian Minister of Finance proposed to meet the increased -charge by further indirect taxation, especially on gas, -electricity, and candles.</p> - -<p>On April 23rd, a most brilliant rescue of ten “politicals” was -effected at Warsaw. Some men in police-officers’ uniform called -at the Pavia-street prison in the early morning and demanded -the prisoners in order to transfer them to the Citadel, which, -as I have explained above, stands besides the Vistula a short -distance north of the town.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">[313]</span></p> - -<p>Later in the day the police van and driver were found in a -garden upon the outskirts, the prisoners having escaped together -with their comrades who carried out the rescue.</p> - -<p>On May 1st, it was definitely announced, not for the first -time, that Witte had resigned his position as President of the -Committee of Ministers, and an entire change of Cabinet was -rumoured.</p> - -<p>For about a week before this, rumours of Father Gapon’s death, -either by assassination or suicide, had become frequent and -fairly definite in Russia. His fate was attributed to the double -part he had long been accused of playing as an agent of the -Government. The St. Petersburg press have published an anonymous -pamphlet received from Berlin, in which the treacheries are -enumerated for which it was said he has been condemned and -executed.</p> - -<p>On May 2nd, M. Durnovo, with the approaching Duma in view, sent -instructions to the Governors of the Provinces to prevent the -peasant delegates from travelling with Constitutional Democrats. -News from Poland reported the election of the National party’s -candidates.</p> - -<p>On May 4th, Count Witte, ex-Prime Minister, was thanked and -decorated, and M. Durnovo resigned the post of Minister of the -Interior for that of Secretary of State, retaining the dignity -of Senator and member of the Council of Empire. M. Goremykin, -an expert in agrarian and peasant questions, was appointed -Premier, and the opening of the Duma was announced for May -10th. The Congress of Constitutional Democrats assembled in St. -Petersburg, have published the programme of their party.</p> - -<p>On May 6th, Admiral Dubasoff, Governor-General of Moscow was -wounded by a bomb when returning from the Uspenski Cathedral. -The attempt took place outside the carriage entrance to the -Government House in Moscow. The bomb-thrower is supposed to have -been killed by the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">[314]</span> explosion. Partial strikes in Poland, Kieff, -Moscow, and St. Petersburg were reported, and agrarian disorders -said to continue.</p> - -<p>General Jeoltanowski, Governor of Ekaterinoslav, was -assassinated by six unknown men, who fired their revolvers -at him and then escaped. The station of Schlok at the Tukkum -Junction was attacked by fifteen armed men, who killed five -officials and ransacked the safes of post-office and station.</p> - -<p>On May 7th, the Tsar issued a Ukase affecting the Fundamental -Laws, and a meeting of the Imperial Economic Society of St. -Petersburg was dispersed by police.</p> - -<p>May 8th, the New Fundamental Laws, the last work of the -Witte-Durnovo Cabinet and the old State Council, were published. -These laws, which the Duma cannot alter, proclaim the unity of -the Empire and the language, including Finland in the Empire -under special institutions, but making no mention of Poland. -The powers of the Tsar as Autocrat were to include the sole -right of proposing changes in the Fundamental Laws to the State -Council and the Duma; also the right of veto, the appointment -of the Executive, the ministers and the judges, the decision of -peace and war, and the command of the army and navy. Freedom -of speech, meeting or union, together with inviolability of -person and house were granted, but only “under established -legal conditions.” Ordinary laws could not be passed without -the consent of the Tsar and both Houses, but the Tsar might -promulgate special laws and declare various parts of the Empire -to lie under martial law. The Council of Ministers, too, might -promulgate special temporary laws, with the Tsar’s consent. The -State Council and the Duma were to meet annually, but could be -dismissed at any time by the Tsar. Their powers were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">[315]</span> not to -extend over the public debt or over the expenses of the Court -and Ministry. War taxes might be raised without the consent -of the Duma, and so might foreign loans. The decrees of the -Tsar were to be countersigned by one of the ministers, but as -each minister was declared responsible to the Tsar alone, this -concession was meaningless.</p> - -<p>It was at once obvious that the elective body being deprived -of all control over the expenditure, the Executive and their -action, hardly any democratic element was left in the new -Constitution, except the right of protest without the power to -make the protest effective.</p> - -<p>Some of the new ministers were officially announced: M. -Stishinsky, for Agriculture; M. Stcheglovitoff, for Justice; -M. Kaufman, for Education; and M. Schwanebach as Imperial -Comptroller.</p> - -<p>A number of repressive measures against workmen have been -initiated by the management of various State works in St. -Petersburg, and the workmen have laid their grievances before -the peasant deputies in St. Petersburg who meet daily at the -house of M. Aladin.</p> - -<p>Another meeting of the Economical Society to consider the -agrarian question, which was attended by many members of the -Duma, was dispersed by the police. M. Stolypin was named as -Minister of the Interior, and M. Alexander Isvolsky, Minister at -the Danish Court, has been recalled to take office as Minister -of Foreign Affairs in M. Goremykin’s Cabinet. M. Isvolsky is -credited with a sound and independent judgment. He was a strong -opponent of the war with Japan.</p> - -<p>On May 9th, the Congress of the Constitutional Democrats -closed with an impassioned speech from Professor Miliukoff, -who declared the publication of the decree on the Fundamental -Laws to be a direct challenge to the nation. A resolution was -unanimously adopted declaring<span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">[316]</span> the Fundamental Laws to be a -flagrant violation of the Manifesto of October 30th.</p> - -<p>A Peasant Parliamentary Party formed, numbering 129 members, all -in favour of the transfer of lands to the agricultural labourers.</p> - -<p>The Tsar and Tsaritsa with their children left Tsarkoe Selo for -Peterhof.</p> - -<p>The opening of the Duma was declared a public holiday, but all -demonstrations except religious services and street decorations -were strictly forbidden. The Semenovsky Regiment, so active in -the Moscow massacre, were chosen to guard the Palace, and all -the hospitals ordered to prepare for eventualities.</p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">[317]</span></p> - -<h2 class="smaller">CHAPTER XVIII<br /> -<span class="subhed">THE FIRST PARLIAMENT</span></h2></div> - -<p>The 10th of May had long been announced as the official birthday of -Russian freedom, but every one was astonished when the birth actually -took place, and the officials were the most astonished of all. Stars -and omens were unpropitious. The astrologers muttered of a secret -and violent influence, already blighting the future hope before it -breathed. At the door was sitting an obscure and gigantic form with -hands ready to throttle its earliest cry; and in the heavens, Orion’s -sword, with point directed at the house of birth, was seen hanging by a -single hair.</p> - -<p>It required no divination to prophesy evil. Every art of provocation -had been used by the pensioners of violence to arouse a popular -outbreak, so that in the name of order the people’s hopes might again -be thwarted. Martial law was maintained, and meetings were suppressed. -Only on the Tuesday night before the fateful Thursday, I visited the -hall of the Free Economic Society for old acquaintance’ sake, because -the Strike Committee<span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">[318]</span> used to meet there, and sat among a peaceful -audience of Constitutional Democrats and peasant members of the Duma, -listening to a statistical discourse on the agrarian question. Suddenly -a measured tramp was heard outside, thirty armed police forced their -way into the crowded hall, and their officer declared the meeting -closed. White-haired Annensky, the club’s aged President, famous -equally for learning and imprisonment, vainly recited the Society’s -statute of freedom, granted by Catherine II. herself. Speakers and -audience, Members of Parliament, men and women alike, were driven -out into the street, and in the name of the law we were commanded to -learn nothing further about the comparative statistics of agricultural -productivity.</p> - -<p>The change of Ministry during the previous week was claimed as -an advantage by both sides. The removal of Witte and Durnovo -simultaneously at least made the assembly of the Duma possible, and the -appointment of Goremykin as Premier was greeted even by many Liberals -as a harmless and natural thing, just as in England it is harmless -and natural to make a lord chairman of an agricultural show. On the -other hand, it was seen that the new Ministers as a body belonged -to the familiar old gang of bureaucrats, trained in the routine of -officialdom, and untouched by the realities of wider life. Finally, -the publication of the new version of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">[319]</span> “Fundamental Laws” only three -days before the Duma met was clear evidence that the party of reaction -still controlled the hesitating Tsar; for as long as those Fundamental -Laws remained above change and above discussion, the power promised to -the people—the power that we call freedom—must inevitably continue -ineffectual as an infant spirit in limbo.</p> - -<p>So the omens of freedom’s birth were dark; but omens are usually dark -in Russia, and when the expected morning came, the church bells set -up a famous clanging, and the beautiful city of St. Petersburg woke -light-hearted as usual in the midst of her perils. For the security of -the despotism every precaution had been taken. The palace arrangements -had been made by Trepoff himself, whose influence in the Imperial -household remained unabated. The deep and brilliant river ran silent -and empty of traffic, while up its course the Tsar was spirited -back to the city which had not known him since Bloody Sunday. All -the approaches to the Winter Palace were barred from dawn. The two -nearest bridges over the Neva were closed. Troops were drawn across -the neighbouring streets. Bodies of variegated Cossacks and Guards, -their horses bright with scarlet cloths, stood patient for hours upon -the vast and stony square before the palace doors. No common eye might -gain a glimpse of the glory to be revealed. No cabman brought a duke<span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">[320]</span> -without displaying a special green ticket in his hat. For days before, -the most elaborate system of coupons and signatures and photographs -for identification had been organized with infinite effort to prevent -any dreadful occurrence. Yet when the moment came, no one consulted -the nice photographs with which I had freely supplied the palace, and -I walked in far more easily than its owner. I have often noticed that -despotism affords these little advantages over decent government.</p> - -<p>As the scene of the day’s first ceremony, Trepoff had chosen the -large Coronation Hall, constructed with columns of genuine marble—so -few things are genuine in these palaces—and decorated with gold -and crimson hideousness, to which all Emperors are obliged to grow -accustomed. At the end of the hall, upon a few low steps, stood a -rather old gilded throne. Over it was thrown a robe of ermine and -yellow stuff in studied negligence, and round it stood four little -gilded camp-stools. A praying-desk and a table, both covered with -gold cloth, were placed in the middle of the inlaid floor, and some -priests or deacons carried in the miraculous Icon, representing the -head of Christ, from the little old palace of Peter the Great. But -when they had set it on the praying-desk they found it was so dusty, -or had been so much kissed of late, that they had to spend the leisure -time in polishing it up with a fairly clean handkerchief. Beside them -was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">[321]</span> presently drawn up a choir of men and boys, all dressed in long -cassocks of crimson and gold to match the furniture.</p> - -<p>Meantime the new State Council (or Council of Empire) had begun to -arrive and gather on the low platform constructed down the side of -the hall to the right of the throne. Senators also came in brilliant -scarlet and gold, past and present Ministers with long beds of -gold-lace flowers and foliage down their coats, a whole school of -admirals (if one may borrow a marine phrase from the porpoise), a -radiant company of Field Marshals and generals in blue or white cloth -with gold or silver facings and enormous epaulettes, and the members of -the Holy Synod in the panoply of holiness. Soon the entire platform was -full of uniforms, and on the breast of each uniform gleamed stars and -crosses and medals, a few of which were gained by service in foreign or -civil war. Sometimes one could only hope that the hero would live to -win no more distinction, since there was no more room for orders, so -great had been the wisdom or courage of the heart that beat below.</p> - -<p>By some mistake, three peasant deputies, in high top-boots, with -leather belts round their long Sunday coats, entered among all this -brilliance, contemplated it as though working out its value in grain, -and then were hurriedly conducted away by a being with a queer gold -crook. But they were only a few<span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">[322]</span> minutes wrong in the programme, for -directly afterwards all the Duma members came trooping in—sturdy -peasants in homespun cloth, one Little Russian in brilliant purple with -broad blue breeches, one Lithuanian Catholic bishop in violet robes, -three Tartar Mullahs with turbans and long grey cassocks, a Balkan -peasant in white embroidered coat, four Orthodox monks with shaggy -hair, a few ordinary gentlemen in evening dress, and the vast body of -the elected in the clothes of every day.</p> - -<p>All down the left side of the hall they ranged themselves, about four -hundred and sixty of them altogether; for, at the last moment, all -had consented to come, though many of the peasants and Constitutional -Democrats had threatened to stay away, in protest against the -Fundamental Laws. There they stood, confronting the brilliant crowd -across the polished floor, and it was easy to see in them the symbol -of the new age which now confronts the old and is about to devour it. -Shining with decorations and elaborately dressed in many colours, on -the one side were the classes who so long have drained the life of the -great nation they have brought to the edge of ruin. Pale, bald, and -fat, they stood there like a hideous masquerade of senile children, -hardly able to realize the possibility of change. But opposite to them -thronged the people—young, thin, alert, and sunburnt, with brown and -hairy heads, dressed like common mankind, and straining for the future -chance.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">[323]</span></p> - -<p>In that sharp contrast between obsolete failure and coming hope lay the -only significance of that palatial scene, unless a dim significance -still lurked in the dozen Byzantine bishops and metropolitans, who, -in stiff gold and domed mitres, tottered up the space between the -confronting ages, and embraced each other’s hoary beards with holy -kisses. They had hardly been brought into line before the altar when a -sudden hush was felt by all, and far away was heard the melancholy and -beautiful Russian Hymn. It heralded the approach of the regalia, and -presently there entered the golden sceptre and the golden orb, the seal -of bronze, and the diamond crown, each reposing upon a velvet cushion -and escorted by golden staves and the flag of Empire and the big gilt -sword. Then at last I discovered the purpose of those four gilded -camp-stools round the throne. I had hoped to see one of the Tsar’s four -little daughters seated on each, but they served only as resting-places -for the majestic toys of kings.</p> - -<p>Close behind his toys, the little Tsar himself was seen advancing. -There was a timid swagger in his gait, but he walked alone, and -his uniform looked simple after the finery we had seen. The aged -metropolitan of St. Petersburg stood in wait for him with the holy kiss -and a bunch of green herbs dipped in consecrated water. Behind the -Tsar came his mother and his wife, who were refused the sprinkling, -but gained the other blessing. Twelve feet<span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">[324]</span> behind them their trains -extended flat along the floor, and, as in a fairy tale, armed men stood -ready to help with the weight of each. At a safe distance behind the -trains were halted the Grand Dukes in two or three rows of repeated -splendour.</p> - -<p>With voices of thunder and voices from the tomb, the priests chanted, -and called, and read the golden book as only Russian priests are able, -and the rows of crimson choir sang the wailing responses between. Upon -the right the flashing crowd was busy bowing and signing the cross. -Rarely is such religious zeal to be witnessed as the Grand Dukes -displayed in crossing themselves; for in this evidence of sanctity they -surpassed the very bishops. But the stiff-necked generation on the -left remained unmoved. One or two peasants crossed themselves as they -were accustomed; a few more complied when the priest shook the solid -cross threateningly in their direction; but the black phalanx stood -unmoved—polite but detached spectators of these curious survivals.</p> - -<p>The service ceased, the bishops stood aside, the altar was carried -away, the Empresses swept to their corner among the white-shouldered -ladies on the right of the throne. In the open space the little Tsar -stood solitary. Gathering together all the initiative in his nature, -he walked slowly up the floor, mounted the steps, faced round to the -assembly, and sat down upon the negligent ermine<span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">[325]</span> robe. A brilliant -official handed him a large parchment, and he stood up to read. Amid -the intent silence of contrary hopes and expectations, his voice -sounded clear. All knew that a turning-point in history had come, and -that to this little man one of the world’s great opportunities had been -offered.</p> - -<p>But with every sentence that was pronounced, the hopes of the new -age faded. As commonplace succeeded commonplace, amid the usual -appeals to Heaven and the expression of such affection as monarchs -always feel for their subjects, it was seen that no concession was -made, no conciliation attempted. The one paragraph in which something -comparatively definite was said about the Imperial heart’s solicitude -for the peasants and the future enlightenment of the people—that -paragraph was marked by the dangerous old phrase of “unwavering -firmness,” and by fresh insistence upon the necessity of order.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> When -the end came, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">[326]</span> the colours were waved, and the band played, and -the officials shouted, “Hurrah!” while the Imperial procession marched -from the hall, the members of the party of progress stood dumb. They -knew now that for the future they had only themselves to look to, and -that the greatest conflict of all still lay before them. Had the Tsar -but granted an amnesty to the thousands on thousands of prisoners still -lying in gaol because their political views did not coincide with his -own, it would have been difficult to measure the extent of his future -influence. But one of the world’s opportunities had again been offered -him, and not for the first time he had refused it.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, come what will, the 10th of May was really a -turning-point in history. On the evening after the battle of Valmy, -where the new order of citizen-soldier held its own against the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">[327]</span> -mercenaries of kings, Goethe said to his comrades on the field, “To-day -a new age begins, and we can say we were present at its birth.” -Those were the words that rang in my mind as I watched the uniforms -and decorations disappear in their carriages, and then followed the -new deputies, and saw the prisoners waving their handkerchiefs in -greeting from the barred windows of the Cross prison over the river, -and stood among the crowd at the new Duma’s door, and listened to the -deep-mouthed cheers, while the whole air sounded with the cries of -“Amnesty!” and “Freedom!”</p> - -<p>St. Petersburg is particularly rich in the dignified classic -architecture of the eighteenth century, but of all the examples -of this style none is so beautiful as the interior of the Taurida -Palace, which Catherine II. built as a present for her lover Potemkin. -With little change it has now been converted into the simplest and -noblest of all Houses of Parliament, and it was there that the first -meeting of Russia’s chosen representatives was opened at four o’clock -that afternoon. The first business was the election of a Speaker or -President. Every one knew that Muromtzeff, a Constitutional Democrat, -and one of the members for Moscow, would be elected. In his youth he -had been Professor of Law in Moscow University, but had been driven -from his Chair by a Government which trembles at excellence in any -form. Since then he had won a high reputation at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">[328]</span> the bar, and was -known as the greatest authority on Parliamentary procedure. His -character, his dignified bearing, and his long service to liberty all -contributed to make his election certain, but when it was found that he -had been chosen by 426 votes to 3, this evidence of the Duma’s spirit -rather startled the politicians who believe in the blessings of a solid -Opposition.</p> - -<p>His few and dignified words in thanking the members for raising him to -this high position in a State that at last had become constitutional, -formed a fit opening for the new Parliament’s work. But it had been -arranged beforehand that the first real speech should be delivered -by Petrunkevitch—Ivan Petrunkevitch, one of the members for Tver, -an aged and distinguished Zemstvoist, and leader among such Radical -reformers as are not Socialists—one of those who at the beginning of -the Tsar’s reign urged him in vain to constitutional ways. Inevitably -he chose as his subject the demand for amnesty. His speech was utterly -irregular. There was no motion or question before the House. He broke -every rule of Parliamentary procedure. But that did not matter in the -least. One thought filled all hearts—the thought of those thousands of -prisoners—seventy-five thousand of them, it was said—still lying in -gaol for their love of freedom, and it was of amnesty and amnesty alone -that all except a few ungenerous spirits wished first to hear.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">[329]</span></p> - -<p>The meeting was then adjourned over the next day, in order that -Muromtzeff might report his appointment to the Tsar, who from the -Winter Palace had rapidly sought the country retirement where he could -feel himself comparatively courageous.</p> - -<p>On the afternoon of that Friday, the 11th of May, the State Council, -to which had been entrusted equal powers with the Duma, condescended -to meet. No crowd watched its members arriving, no prisoners waved -them good wishes. An Upper Chamber is raised above the interest of the -masses and the gaol-birds of freedom. Its members were quite aware -that it was their part in the new constitution only to fulfil the two -functions required of such bodies as the British House of Lords—to -oppose a permanent barrier to progress, and to provide a cheap reward -for obsolete insignificance. As there was yet no progress to bar, and -few but themselves were obsolete, they had no call to hurry.</p> - -<p>So in the heat of the summer afternoon, having taken a day to recover -from the strain of the previous ceremony, they began to gather -leisurely in their new hall. In theory they were the same old “Council -of Empire” which for many years had served as a field for the display -of decorations. And certainly the decorations had not lost their -lustre. It was the same uniformed throng as had gathered in the Winter -Palace, and they had assumed the same glitter. Conspicuous even<span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">[330]</span> among -their glories was one ancient courtier, who had maintained the Empire -under Nicholas I. before the Crimean War, and still went smiling round -his orbit, brave with the sixty-five medals of his years of service, -while Orders stood clustered on his breast thick as stars upon the -Milky Way; for, unhappily, he had not followed the example of others, -and made room for his honours by increasing his girth.</p> - -<p>But even the oldest members of the Council must have been dimly aware -of changing times, for instead of the familiar old Marie Palace on the -square opposite St. Isaac’s cathedral, where so many happy afternoons -of important idleness had been spent, they now found themselves in the -“Noblemen’s Assembly” or Club, quite a dignified and classic place, -but not the house they were accustomed to. And actually mixed up among -them stood a lot of elected and unknown gentlemen, representing the -Church, the Universities, Commerce and Industry, the big towns, and -other dubious institutions that hang upon the borderland of vulgarity. -What was worse, all the six representatives of the Universities openly -professed the Constitutional Democratic faith, and five or six more -were known to lean towards that terrible party which dominated the -Lower House. The only consolation was that just half the Council were -still nominated by the Tsar himself, and that of the rest some eighty -per cent. could<span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">[331]</span> be trusted to agree with any Tsar’s nominees. It was -a relief also to discover that the very few who possessed no uniforms -had shown the decency of putting on evening dress when they got up that -morning.</p> - -<p>By two o’clock a good many members had assembled. Goremykin, the new -Premier, was there, languid and neutral in the ministerial stalls. -Alexeieff of Manchuria came, and Ignatieff, the Tsar’s fat friend, -and no one thought it strange when the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg -bestowed three kisses of holy peace upon Golitzin, the slaughterer of -the Caucasus. Trepoff, who rules the Imperial circle, and parched old -Pobiedonostzeff, so long Russia’s guide to God, were reported present. -Durnovo, late ill-omened Minister of Interior, was there, and at his -side Witte, his uncertain enemy, had come to hear his own belated -appointment as member of the Council read out, and to meditate the -tearful appeal for amnesty by which three days later he was to reveal -to his brothers the workmen a heart melting in pity over the woes he -had himself inflicted.</p> - -<p>So they gathered and chatted and sat down, and then, having nothing -else to do, they prayed. For forty minutes the golden priests prayed -and sang at golden tables placed before the portrait of the Tsar. Then -Count Solsky, whom the Tsar had chosen as President, took his seat, -a few messages were read,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">[332]</span> it was agreed to return a gracious answer -to the speech from the throne, and Count Solsky, who is much like the -late Lord Salisbury in appearance, did what Lord Salisbury himself -would have done under the circumstances: he yawned, muttered something -inaudible, and adjourned the assembly by turning his back upon it.</p> - -<p>The action of the Council throughout would well have become any Second -Chamber in the world, but in the Duma things did not go so leisurely, -nor were the members so content with the result. On Saturday, May 12th, -at eleven, the first true meeting of a popular assembly in Russia -began. For nearly twelve hours on end that sitting continued, and yet -the immense labour of Russian reform seemed to have advanced no step. -Members chafed with impatience. Why not make a beginning since all were -agreed, and so much had now to be accomplished? The same impatience -was seen lately even in England, where we have spent six centuries in -attempting to perfect the method of self-government. But in Russia -the lesson began that day, the evils to be amended were incomparably -vaster, and the need of haste was such as England cannot conceive. -For over the Duma the sword hung by a hair. The very approach to the -Taurida Palace passed through long lines of barracks, and in the left -wing of the building itself companies of the Guards had just been -stationed, ready for any event.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">[333]</span></p> - -<p>And as to waste of time, let us remember the difficulties that beset -the infant Parliament. The chamber itself was a large amphitheatre of -seats gently rising on steps, each seat fitted with a desk. In a long -gallery at the back of the amphitheatre, ambassadors, strangers, and -ladies were allowed to be present, and the Russian ladies are so far -advanced in civilization that no metal bars were thought necessary -to restrain their savage tendencies. Opposite, in the middle of the -semicircle’s diameter, rose the President’s high box, and just below it -was the Tribune, from which all members were obliged to speak, except -for very short questions or explanations. The President grasped a large -bell, but managed to control the assembly without a wig or robes. -Behind his chair was a large open space, furnished with tables, where -the ballotting and counting took place. On each side of the chamber was -a large, empty lobby, and behind it a vast hall with polished floor ran -from end to end of the building, for the meetings of groups and the -discovery of wisdom by members as they walked. Beyond the hall were -dining-rooms, tea-rooms, telegraph rooms, telephones, committee-rooms, -receptacles for goloshes, and all else that the nature of a member of -parliament requires.</p> - -<p>To return to the Chamber, on the right and left of the President’s -box, and facing the assembly, were a number of raised seats for any -Ministers who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">[334]</span> might choose to attend. The Ministers had no connection -with the assembly; they might not vote; they were responsible only -to the Tsar, who appointed them. Among the members there were no -Ministers, there was no “Government,” there was no one to arrange the -order of business or the introduction of measures. Any member got up -and proposed what he pleased. In the subsequent discussion on the -Address, for instance, from eleven in the morning till seven at night, -members rose in succession and made stupendous proposals of reform that -were neither discussed nor rejected. At first the parties did not even -divide themselves into Right and Left, but members took their seats -anyhow, and when in a few days the inevitable division began to show -itself, the Right was so scanty as to be hardly visible. Though the -true Right numbered about seventy, they were ashamed to be seen on the -right, and all members edged as far left as possible. Votes were taken -sometimes by members standing up, sometimes by division into lobbies, -but the ultimate appeal was to secret ballot, so that it was impossible -to calculate a party’s votes or to control the relation of a member -to his constituents’ desire. During the speeches, applause was rare, -but at the end members vigorously clapped their hands if they were -pleased. They spoke of each other by bare surnames, and would probably -use Christian names in Russian fashion as they became<span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">[335]</span> more intimate. -They addressed the assembly as “Gentlemen,” and even as “Comrades.” -The President freely interrupted speakers, argued with them, and -gave them little lectures on the procedure and Constitutional Law of -other countries. On the first day several members wanted to speak two -or three times upon the same question, and explanations of previous -speeches were as long as the originals.</p> - -<p>There were many difficulties and many differences from our own ancient -habits, around which the interesting rags and tatters of the past -still flutter. But in starting fresh, the Russian Parliament had at -least as much advantage as difficulty, and it will rapidly develop -improvements for which we ourselves shall long have to fight against -the ghostly influence of our forefathers. One of the first acts of the -Duma was to appoint a committee of nineteen to draw up a new scheme of -procedure, and they had many lessons to suggest to older Parliaments. -But all these discussions on methods and the inevitable mistakes of -beginners meant waste of time, and waste of time was more irritating to -the Duma members than to our own, because, being peasants and workmen, -the majority of them were more serious, their hopes were younger, and, -having no Ministers, they had no one to abuse.</p> - -<p>As to the course of business itself, almost the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">[336]</span> whole of the first -full day was occupied in nominating candidates as Vice-Presidents -and four secretaries. The names of the members proposed had to be -collected in boxes and arranged in lists. Then followed a slow march -round and round the President’s box for the ballot. That slow march -lasted for hours. Next day (Sunday) it was renewed for the election -of thirty-three members to draw up an Address in answer to the Tsar’s -speech. When that was over the committee of nineteen had to be elected -for procedure. Monday there was no meeting because the Address was -being prepared. Tuesday they began to talk about the Address. Wednesday -they continued talking about the Address, and the wrongs of Russia were -at least mentioned. On Thursday the Address was discussed clause by -clause, and a week of the Duma had gone.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> - -<p>To most of the Constitutional Democrats who held the majority inside -the Duma, to highly educated men like Professor Muromtzeff, the -President, or Professor Miliukoff, who directed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">[337]</span> the party from the -outside, because the Government did not allow his election—to men -like these it was probably evident that all this talk on procedure and -discussion of principles were essential to popular government, and that -delay was part of every great beginning. But the Duma was democratic -beyond anything that our House of Commons has yet imagined. Certainly -it contained only about fifteen workmen from the towns, because the -election of others was annulled by the violence of authority. But it -contained about 170 of the peasant class, a few of whom had educated -themselves highly and quitted their villages; but some could not read, -and nearly all were fine, heavy-browed countrymen, with big shoulders -and great brown hands. They had left their dear strips of earth, their -dear horses and ploughs, and had come to the smelling city for the -one and only purpose of winning the land back for the people who work -it. What did it profit them to walk on polished floors with top-boots -clean and long coats neatly brushed; to listen to discourses on -constitutional procedure; to talk in tea-rooms with men who do not know -sand from clay; to tramp for hours dropping marbles into green boxes; -and to receive invitations to banquets which they most honourably -refused?</p> - -<p>They yearned for the old horse at home, and for the fragrant earth -where the corn was sprouting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">[338]</span> now. They were on a holy mission; they -would not go back. “We dare not go back without the land,” they said; -“our villagers would kill us.” In some cases, aged peasants of pious -gravity had been sent up at the expense of the village as overseers -to watch that the members did their duty, and to complain straight -to the Tsar if the land was not restored to its cultivators at once. -Forty-three of the peasant members were supposed to belong to the Right -and were roughly classed as the “Black Hundred,” though in these early -days of the Duma they voted steadily with the rest. But if the Labour -Party, as the majority of the peasants and the workmen combined began -then to be called, felt a little puzzled and impatient at the number -of things that had to be done before anything could be done, it was -no wonder. We can also understand the difficulties of a Professor of -Constitutional Law brought face to face with such a situation.</p> - -<p>Behind these passing apprehensions and disappointments lay the one -great question which occupied the thoughts of all during the Duma’s -first regular day of meeting. The sitting opened with messages of -congratulation from Russian towns, from the Finland Diet, and from -many foreign countries, even down to Bohemia and Montenegro. From -England, from the Labour Party at all events, a message had been -expected, but none came. Last of all, four telegrams were read from -groups of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">[339]</span> “politicals” still in gaol, and amid shouts of “Amnesty!” -the whole Duma rose and remained standing till the reading was -finished. The world-without-end hours of balloting and discussion of -procedure next intervened, and it was not till late in the evening -that the burning question was reached at last. Roditcheff, another -of the members for Tver, had won the right to introduce it by his -long service to the growth of constitutional liberty; for, like his -colleague Petrunkevitch, he had been among those whose petition for -some degree of popular representation in the government had been -rejected by the Tsar twelve years before as an “idle dream.” A peasant -leader, Anikin, member for Saratoff, followed him with an even stronger -and more eloquent claim for justice towards those who still suffered -in the cause of such freedom as Russia now appeared to have won. -Other speeches were made, each becoming shorter and stronger as the -excitement rose. At last the speeches ended. The question that the -demand for amnesty be included in the address to the Tsar was put, and -like one man, with one great shout, the whole assembly of Russia’s -first representatives rose in answer.</p> - -<p>With that scene, this simple record of the things I have lately -witnessed may close. I have been told by men of high judgment and -authority that the title chosen for the book is too hopeful, that the -hour of dawn is still far off in Russia. In moments<span class="pagenum" id="Page_340">[340]</span> of despair during -last winter I should have agreed; the forces of ancient oppression -still appeared irresistibly strong. But writing as I do within the Duma -itself, face to face with the grave and determined representatives of -the Russian people, I cannot but hope that something has been gained -which no violence in the world can compel them ever to surrender. I -know the power of tradition, and I know well the power of the sword. -But perhaps it may still be proved that more powerful even than -tradition and the sword is the passion for freedom and justice which -lives in the soul of many.</p> - - <div class="figcenter" id="p3501_map" style="max-width: 650px"> - <img - class="p2" - src="images/p3501_map.jpg" - alt="" /> - <p class="p0 center sm">PLAN OF MOSCOW</p> - </div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_341">[341]</span></p> - -<h2>INDEX</h2> -</div> - -<ul> - <li>Akinoff, Minister of Justice, - <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> - - <li>Aladin, M., and peasant deputies, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> - - <li>Alexander III., system of Russification, - <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> - - <li>Alexandrovsky ironworks, - <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">government ways of industry, - <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - - <li>Aliens Act, - <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> - - <li>Anarchists, message from, - <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">no paper in Russia, - <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">use of word by Government, - <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> - - <li>Anikin, member of Duma, - <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Annensky, President of Economic Society’s Club, - <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> - - <li>Army, increased pay, - <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">part in national tragedy, - <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> - - <li>Assassination of, Sipiaguine, - <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Bobrikoff, - <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Plehve, - <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Grand Duke Sergius, - <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Sakharoff, - <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Voiloshnikoff, - <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Jeoltanowski, - <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Baku, race feuds at, - <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">journey to, stopped by strike, - <a href="#Page_129">129–130</a></li> - - <li>Baltic Provinces, Home Rule for, - <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">revolt in, - <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">shooting, hanging and flogging in, - <a href="#Page_263">263–281</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Governor-General accused of mildness, - <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">revolutionary reprisals, - <a href="#Page_279">279–280</a></li> - - <li>Barashoff, chairman at Salt Town meeting, - <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - - <li>Bauman, funeral of, - <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> - - <li>Bielenstein, Pastor, sufferings of, - <a href="#Page_274">274–275</a></li> - - <li>Bireleff, Minister of Marine, - <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> - - <li>“Black Hundred,” - <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, - <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">incited to murder, - <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">plunder Kieff, - <a href="#Page_208">208–209</a></li> - - <li>“Bloody Sunday,” - <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, - <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">honour to victims of, - <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">anniversary of, - <a href="#Page_228">228–232</a></li> - - <li>Bobrikoff assassinated, - <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Bombardment, of private houses, - <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, - <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, - <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, - <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, - <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, - <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">of factories, - <a href="#Page_184">184–189</a></li> - - <li>Buliguine, Minister of Interior, - <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - - <li>“Bund,” Jewish, - <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, - <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">methods and aims of, - <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Carlyle, on Russia, - <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">on Livonia, - <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> - - <li>Caucasus, Home Rule for the, - <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">fighting in the, - <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, - <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> - - <li>Clementz, Professor, - <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> - - <li>Congress, of Peasants at Moscow, - <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">of Constitutional Democrats in St. Petersburg, - <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li> - - <li id="Constitutional">Constitutional Democrats, - <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">programme in Odessa, - <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">meetings of, in St. Petersburg, - <a href="#Page_244">244–247</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">policy of, - <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">leaders of, - <a href="#Page_246">246–247</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">elections of, - <a href="#Page_311">311–312</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">meeting broken up, - <a href="#Page_317">317–318</a></li> - - <li>Cossacks, taunted in streets, - <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">brutal methods of, - <a href="#Page_38">38–40</a>, - <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, - <a href="#Page_134">134–135</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">protect Heavenly Powers, - <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">employed with Semenoffsky Guards, - <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">connive at plunder, - <a href="#Page_208">208–209</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">terror of, - <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">to guard Winter Palace, - <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> - - <li>Council of Empire, - <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, - <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, - <a href="#Page_329">329–332</a></li> - - <li>Cross (<i>Kresty</i>) Prison, - <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">demonstrations from, - <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> - - <li>Courland, revolt in, - <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Davidoff, murder of, - <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> - - <li>Democrats, (<i>see</i> <a href="#Constitutional"><span class="smcap">Constitutional</span></a>), - <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">National, - <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, - <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Progressive, - <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> - - <li>Diedulin, General, Chief of Police, - <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> - - <li>Dubasoff, Admiral, as butcher, - <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Governor-General of Moscow, - <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">special prayers for, - <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">speech to patriots, - <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">fires on Red Cross, - <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">decrees business to be resumed, - <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">orders boys and girls to be flogged, - <a href="#Page_194">194–195</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">attempted assassination of, - <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li> - - <li>Duma, promised for January, 1906, - <a href="#Page_15">15–16</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Zemstvo’s attitude towards, - <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Constitutionalists’ attitude towards, - <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">preparations for, - <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">reactionary designs on, - <a href="#Page_245">245–246</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Poland under, - <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">represented in, - <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">how elected, - <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, - <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">date fixed, - <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, - <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">elections for, - <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, - <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, - <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">candidates imprisoned, - <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Durnovo’s attitude towards, - <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Government’s precautions about, - <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, - <a href="#Page_317">317–319</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">opening of, - <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">first week of, - <a href="#Page_332">332–340</a></li> - - <li>Durnovo, assistant Minister of Interior, - <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, - <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">petition to, - <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">confirmed Minister of Interior, - <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">mean tactics of, - <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">resigns, and is rewarded, - <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Council of Empire, - <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>England, quoted in support of tyranny, - <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> - - <li>English, manufacturers, - <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, - <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">hide in cellars, - <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">under fire, - <a href="#Page_182">182–189</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Consulates attacked by troops, - <a href="#Page_209">209–210</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">opinion on Russian revolution, - <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> - - <li>Ermoleff, police officer murders Dr. Vorobieff, - <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - - <li>Esthonia, revolt in, - <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">prisoners shot in, - <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Fiedler, leader of revolutionists, - <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">house bombarded, - <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">death of, - <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> - - <li>Finance, - <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Budget of 1906..., - <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">fresh loans and increased taxation, - <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> - - <li>Finland, liberties restored, - <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Home Rule for, - <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">crossing Gulf of, - <a href="#Page_248">248–249</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">concessions to, - <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">troops sent into, and withdrawn, - <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> - - <li>Flogging, abolished nominally, - <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">“as before,” - <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, - <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, - <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">of peasants, - <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">of boys, - <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">of young men and girls, - <a href="#Page_194">194–195</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Livonia, - <a href="#Page_263">263–264</a>, - <a href="#Page_278">278–279</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Free Economic Society, hall in St. Petersburg, - <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, - <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, - <a href="#Page_317">317–318</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Fundamental laws, altered to frustrate Duma, - <a href="#Page_314">314–315</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">criticized, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">resolution against, - <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">effect of, - <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li class="hangingindent">Gapon, Father, founds Russian Workmen’s Union, - <a href="#Page_9">9–10</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">appeals to Tsar, - <a href="#Page_11">11–12</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">fails to attend meeting, - <a href="#Page_51">51–53</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">amnesty demanded for, - <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in hiding, - <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">described, - <a href="#Page_57">57–58</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">escape of, - <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">reported dead, - <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li> - - <li>Georgians, reported independence of, - <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> - - <li>German landowners, - <a href="#Page_270">270–274</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">pastors, - <a href="#Page_274">274–276</a></li> - - <li>Germany, dislike of, - <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> - - <li>Goethe, on the birth of a new age, - <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> - - <li>Golitzin, - <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> - - <li>Goremykin, new Premier, - <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, - <a href="#Page_331">331</a>.</li> - <li class="i1">See <a href="#Ministers"><span class="smcap">Ministers</span></a>.</li> - - <li>Gorky, Maxim, edits <i>New Life</i>, - <a href="#Page_65">65–66</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">explains revolution, - <a href="#Page_115">115–116</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">his play, <i>The Children of the Sun</i>, performed, - <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, - <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">his heroes, - <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">sombreness of, - <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> - - <li>Government, tactics of, - <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, - <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, - <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, - <a href="#Page_301">301–306</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">methods of business and of warfare, - <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">methods of justice, - <a href="#Page_233">233–234</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">position of, - <a href="#Page_301">301-302</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">loans to, - <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, - <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, - <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> - - <li>Gramen, shot for making bombs, - <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>“Houses of Inquiry,” - <a href="#Page_233">233–236</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Ignatieff, - <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> - - <li>“Intelligence,” The, definition of party, - <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">despised by Socialists, - <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - - <li>Isvolsky, Minister at Danish Court, recalled, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> - - <li>Ivan the Cruel, - <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Japan, War with, - <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, - <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, - <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">peace with, - <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">effect of war on Poland, - <a href="#Page_288">288–289</a></li> - - <li>Jeoltanowski, General, assassinated - <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> - - <li>Jews, massacre of, - <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">newspapers of, - <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">“Black Hundred,” to murder, - <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">arrested at Kieff, - <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">laws against, - <a href="#Page_225">225–227</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">“Bund,” - <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, - <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, - <a href="#Page_298">298</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Warsaw, - <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">classed as Anarchists, - <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> - - <li>Jewesses, courage of, - <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> - - <li>Journalists, beaten by soldiers, - <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">shot in batches, - <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">reactionary chorus of, - <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, - <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Kaufman, Minister of Education, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> - - <li>Kempski, Edmund, tortured, - <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Khroustoloff, president of Strike Committee, - <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, - <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">arrested, - <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in prison, - <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> - - <li>Kieff, journey to, - <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">description of, - <a href="#Page_203">203–208</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Jews arrested at, - <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">revolutionists shot, - <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">prison fever, - <a href="#Page_210">210–211</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">meeting at, - <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">wealth of, - <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> - - <li>Kishineff, massacre of Jews at, - <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - - <li>Kokovtsoff, negotiates loans, - <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, - <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> - - <li>Königsberg, case, - <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - - <li>“Koulak,” a village usurer, - <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> - - <li>Kremlin, floating in blood, - <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">by moonlight, - <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> - - <li>Krasnaya (Red Square), prayer meeting in, - <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> - - <li>Krivoy Rog, trade with Siberia, - <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> - - <li>Kronstadt, visit to, - <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Father John of, - <a href="#Page_249">249–255</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">mutiny at, - <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Kropotkin, Prince, writer on Russian struggle for freedom, - <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">quoted by Tolstoy, - <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">quoted, - <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - - <li>“Kursistki,” - <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Lavra, at Kieff, - <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> - - <li>Letts, revolt of, - <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">butchery of, - <a href="#Page_262">262–281</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">language, music, and literature of, - <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">homes of, - <a href="#Page_268">268–269</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Russification of, - <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">drive out landowners, - <a href="#Page_270">270–273</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">strange union with Germans, - <a href="#Page_273">273–274</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">hiding from Cossacks, - <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">sentenced by telephone, - <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> - - <li>Livonia, revolt in, - <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">“Bloody Assize” in, - <a href="#Page_262">262–280</a></li> - - <li>Lodz, trade of, - <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li class="hangingindent">Manifestoes (Imperial), promising revision of laws, - <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, - <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">appealing to people, - <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">promising Duma, - <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">announcing peace with Japan, - <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">promising personal freedom and constitution (Manifesto of Oct. 30th), - <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, - <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, - <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">restoring ancient liberties of Finland, - <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">withdrawing promised reforms, - <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">reducing peasants’ payments for land, - <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">peasants’ opinion of, - <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">making strikes a capital offence, - <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">promising army reforms, - <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">reorganizing old Council and limiting the power of Duma, - <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">worthlessness of, - <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Manifestoes (Revolutionary), on Government finance, - <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">accepting Government’s challenge, - <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">of strike committee to St. Petersburg citizens, - <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> - - <li>Manifesto of Oct. 30th violated, - <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, - <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> - - <li>Manioukoff, Rector of Moscow University, - <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> - - <li>Martial law, in Poland, - <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Moscow, - <a href="#Page_153">153–154</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">at Kieff, - <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in St. Petersburg, - <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> - - <li>“Marseillaise,” Russian, - <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, - <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - - <li>Massacres, at Kishineff, - <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">before Winter Palace, - <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in streets of Warsaw, - <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, - <a href="#Page_299">299–300</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">at Toula, - <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">at Odessa, - <a href="#Page_216">216–220</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Livonia, - <a href="#Page_262">262–281</a></li> - - <li>“Maxim,” socialist leader, - <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> - - <li>Meetings, to discuss eight hours’ day, - <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">to protest against capital punishment, - <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">of Poles to demand overthrow of absolutism, - <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">at Salt Town, - <a href="#Page_50">50–57</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">interest in, - <a href="#Page_62">62–63</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">collections at, - <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">of National Democrats in Warsaw, - <a href="#Page_293">293–294</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">of Economical Society, dispersed by police, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, - <a href="#Page_317">317–318</a></li> - - <li>Miliukoff, historian of freedom, - <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">editor of <i>Zhisn</i> (<i>Life</i>), - <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">leader of Constitutionalists, - <a href="#Page_246">246–247</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">great speech by, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> - - <li>Min, Colonel, as slaughterman, - <a href="#Page_183">183–186</a></li> - - <li id="Ministers">Ministers, Committee of, - <a href="#Page_241">241–242</a></li> - - <li>Ministers (New), - <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> - - <li>Minsky, poet and editor, - <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Mirski, Prince Sviatopolk, Minister of Interior and reformer, - <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - - <li>Mischenko expected with 7000 Cossacks, - <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> - - <li><i>Molva</i> (<i>The Russ</i>), - <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">publishes horrors, - <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">appeals to France, and is suppressed, - <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> - - <li>Moscow, centre of revolution, - <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">description of, - <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, - <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">strikes in, - <a href="#Page_101">101–104</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Trade Unions in, - <a href="#Page_105">105–107</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">University closed, - <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Tsar’s portrait removed at meet-in, - <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">“liberty tempered by assassination” in, - <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, - <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">terror in, - <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">fortified, - <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">prayer meeting in Red Square, - <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">stampede of patriots in, - <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">revolutionary days in, - <a href="#Page_129">129–197</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">light and water cut off, - <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">attempt to win over troops, - <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">shops closed, - <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">garrison distrusted, - <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">bombardment of houses, - <a href="#Page_139">139–140</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">English factories near, - <a href="#Page_142">142–143</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">barricades and street-fighting, - <a href="#Page_145">145–168</a>, - <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">girls shot down, - <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, - <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Zemstvo organizes ambulance, - <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">aid to the wounded, - <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, - <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Sharpshooters in bell-tower, - <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, - <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">“a minor state of siege,” - <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Christmas Eve rumours, - <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">explosion in gun-shop, - <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">victims, old and young, - <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">officer deprived of sword, - <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">new barricades, - <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">panic, - <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">official estimate of killed and wounded in, - <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">execution in street of, - <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">after bombardment, - <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">estimate of damage in, - <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">struggle for freedom in Presna district, - <a href="#Page_182">182–189</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">horrors of suppression, - <a href="#Page_188">188–195</a>, - <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Christmas celebration in, - <a href="#Page_195">195–197</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">lesson of, - <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">prisoners shot in batches, - <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">bank robbed, - <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> - - <li>Mutiny, at Toula, - <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Odessa, - <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, - <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Baku, - <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Kronstadt, - <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, - <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Sevastopol, - <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, - <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, - <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Kieff, - <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Neidhart, Governor-General in Odessa, - <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> - - <li>Nemeschaeff, Minister of Communications, - <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> - - <li id="Newspapers">Newspapers, revolutionary, - <a href="#Page_64">64–69</a>, - <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, - <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">reactionary, - <a href="#Page_69">69–70</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">satiric, - <a href="#Page_71">71–73</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">artistic merit of, - <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">wholesale suppression of, - <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, - <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, - <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1"><i>Russian News</i> joins Progressive party, - <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, - <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">unpopularity of <i>Moscow News</i>, - <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> - - <li>“Noblemen’s Assembly,” State Council in, - <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Obolensky, Procurator of Holy Synod, - <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> - - <li>Odessa, rejoices at Manifesto of Oct. 30th, - <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">and buries freedom, - <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">massacres Jews, - <a href="#Page_216">216–220</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">country near, - <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Jewish obstinacy and misery, - <a href="#Page_220">220–221</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">docks burned in, - <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">poverty in, - <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">political parties in, - <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Jewish “Bund” at, - <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">restrictions on Jews, - <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">electors intimidated, - <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Orloff, General, represses Baltic Provinces, - <a href="#Page_264">264–265</a>, - <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Parties of Reform and Revolution, - <a href="#Page_73">73–77</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Odessa, - <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Poland, - <a href="#Page_293">293–294</a></li> - - <li>Peasants, congress of, - <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">descriptions of, - <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">hardships of, - <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">home of, - <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">charity of, - <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">camping in railway-station, - <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">of Little Russia, - <a href="#Page_212">212–214</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Baltic provinces, - <a href="#Page_262">262–281</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Poland, - <a href="#Page_289">289–291</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">deputies in St. Petersburg, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Parliamentary Party of, - <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Winter Palace, - <a href="#Page_321">321–322</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Duma, - <a href="#Page_337">337–339</a></li> - - <li>Petersburg, St., general strike in, - <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">prepared for massacre, - <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">manifesto to citizens of, - <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">wholesale arrests in, - <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, - <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">fortress-prison in, - <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Kresty (Cross) prison in, - <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, - <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Constitutional Democrats in, - <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, - <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">revolutionary concert in, - <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Poles in, - <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">opening of Duma in, - <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> - - <li>Peterhof, Tsar and family at, - <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> - - <li>Petrunkevitch, leader of Zemstvoists, - <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">speech in Duma, - <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> - - <li>Plehve, Minister of Interior, - <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">assassination of, - <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">his policy towards workers, - <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - - <li>Pleske, Minister of Finance, - <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - - <li>Pobiedonostzeff, resignation of, - <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">keeper of Russia’s Orthodoxy, - <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, - <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> - - <li>Poland, demands Home Rule, - <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, - <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">position under Duma, - <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">trade losses in, - <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">strikes in, - <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">price of land, rents, wages, population and education in, - <a href="#Page_290">290–291</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Jews in, - <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Russian garrison in, - <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Political Parties in, - <a href="#Page_292">292–300</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">prejudices against Germany in, - <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> - - <li>Poles, dissensions among, - <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, - <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">disliked by Little Russians, - <a href="#Page_206">206–207</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">high official’s opinion of, - <a href="#Page_283">283–287</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">peasant life among, - <a href="#Page_288">288–290</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">cruelty of, - <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">“learning to vote,” - <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">number in Duma, - <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> - - <li>Police, activity of, - <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, - <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">danger from, - <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">house of secret, - <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in disguise, - <a href="#Page_167">167–168</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">execution of chief of secret, - <a href="#Page_177">177–178</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Diedulin, chief of, - <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">break up meetings of Constitutionalists, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, - <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> - - <li>Politicals, treatment of, - <a href="#Page_233">233–243</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">wholesale massacre of, - <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in exile, - <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Warsaw, - <a href="#Page_299">299–300</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">rescue of, - <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">amnesty demanded for, - <a href="#Page_325">325–327</a>, - <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> - - <li>Potemkin, lover of Catherine II., - <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> - - <li><i>Potemkin</i>, mutiny on board the, - <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> - - <li>Poverty, in St. Petersburg, - <a href="#Page_37">37–48</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Little Russia, - <a href="#Page_212">212–214</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Odessa, - <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> - - <li>Presna or Presnensky, manufacturing district, - <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">revolution in, - <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">bombardment of and slaughter in, - <a href="#Page_183">183–190</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">estimates of killed and wounded in, - <a href="#Page_190">190–191</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">methods of execution in, - <a href="#Page_191">191–193</a></li> - - <li>Press, brief freedom of, - <a href="#Page_64">64–74</a>.</li> - <li class="i1"><i>See</i> <a href="#Newspapers"><span class="smcap">Newspapers</span></a>.</li> - - <li>Prison, life of “political” in, - <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, - <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Kresty (Cross), - <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">greetings to deputies from, - <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">estimate of numbers in, - <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> - - <li><i>Punch</i>, cartoon blacked out, - <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Redigers, Minister of War, - <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> - - <li>Revolutionists, hesitation among, - <a href="#Page_136">136–137</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">bombarded, - <a href="#Page_139">139–140</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">arrested and shot, - <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">numbers estimated, - <a href="#Page_141">141–142</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">plan of action in Moscow, - <a href="#Page_145">145–147</a>, - <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">loot gun-shop, - <a href="#Page_156">156–157</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">private ambulance of, - <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">sledge-drivers refuse aid to, - <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">deprive officer of sword, - <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">confiscate photographs, - <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">passive bravery of, - <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">last stand of, - <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">call for volunteers, - <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">girl leader of, - <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">tear up railway-line, - <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">slaughter of in Presnensky district, - <a href="#Page_183">183–194</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">women among, - <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, - <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">“dress rehearsal” of, - <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">union among, - <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, - <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">propaganda in army of, - <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, - <a href="#Page_298">298–299</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">need of money among, - <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">shot at Kieff, - <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">concert given for, - <a href="#Page_255">255–261</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">butchered in Baltic provinces, - <a href="#Page_262">262–281</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">persistence of, - <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> - - <li>Riga, revolt in, - <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> - - <li>Riots, in Moscow, - <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, - <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">of students, - <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Poland, - <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, - <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Kieff, Warsaw, and Odessa, - <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> - - <li>Roditcheff, member of Duma, - <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> - - <li>Rostoff regiment, mutiny in, - <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">proves its loyalty, - <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - - <li>Russians, intelligence of, - <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">home-life of nobility, - <a href="#Page_85">85–86</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">peasant life of, - <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">democratic qualities of, - <a href="#Page_256">256–267</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">poverty among, - <a href="#Page_212">212–214</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">misery of, - <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">persistence of, - <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Sakharoff, Minister of War, assassinated, - <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> - - <li>“Salt Town,” meetings at, - <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, - <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> - - <li>Sassoulitch, Vera, as journalist, - <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">last “political” tried by jury, - <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> - - <li>Saratoff, peasant member for, - <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> - - <li>Schlüsselberg, description of road to, - <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, - <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">prison turned into mint, - <a href="#Page_239">239–240</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Schmidt, Lieutenant, leader of Sevastopol mutiny, - <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">sentenced to be hanged, - <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">shot, - <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">body dug up and thrown into sea, - <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> - - <li>Schwanebach, Imperial Comptroller, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Semenoffsky Guards, employed in massacres with Cossacks, - <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">distinguished by their zeal, - <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">chosen to guard Winter Palace, - <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> - - <li>Sergius, Grand Duke, assassinated, - <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">place of his death, - <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Sharpshooters in bell-tower of Strastnoi Convent, - <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, - <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> - - <li>Shipoff, Minister of Finance, - <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, - <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> - - <li>Siberia, still used for exiles, - <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Polish trade with, - <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, - <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> - - <li>Sieczka, Vincentz, tortured, - <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> - - <li>Sipiaguine, Minister of Interior, assassinated, - <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Skallon, Governor-General in Warsaw, tries to seduce revolutionists, - <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> - - <li>Sobolevski, editor of <i>Russian News</i>, - <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> - - <li>Social Democrats, minimum programme of, - <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">unbending attitude of, - <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, - <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">organ of, - <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">strength of, - <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">young girls among, - <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">compared with Government, - <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Poland, - <a href="#Page_296">296–298</a></li> - - <li>Social Revolutionists, - <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">member shoots Sakharoff, - <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> - - <li>Soldiers, return from war with Japan, - <a href="#Page_97">97–100</a>, - <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">how treated as reservists, - <a href="#Page_99">99–101</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">refuse to kill work-people, - <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">mutiny, - <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">propaganda among, - <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, - <a href="#Page_298">298–299</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Sollogub, Governor-General in Baltic provinces, reproached for mildness, - <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> - - <li>Soskice, David, translator and lecturer, - <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> - - <li>Spies, at teachers’ conference, - <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">post and telegraph clerk protest against, - <a href="#Page_53">53–54</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">use of, - <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Spiridinova, Marie, tortured, outraged, avenged, - <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> - - <li>Stcheglovitoff, Minister of Justice, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> - - <li>Stepniak, supporter of Russian freedom, - <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, - <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - - <li>Stishinsky, Minister of Agriculture, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> - - <li>Stolypin, Minister of Interior, - <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Strastnoi bell-tower, sharpshooters placed in, - <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, - <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> - - <li>Strikes, on railways, - <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">throughout Russia, - <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in sympathy with Poland, - <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">failure of second general strike, - <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">result in factory villages, - <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">under Russian laws, - <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">as agents of abstinence, - <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">of post and telegraph service, - <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, - <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, - <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, - <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, - <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">in St. Petersburgh and Moscow, - <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, - <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, - <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, - <a href="#Page_314">314</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">fund seized by Government, - <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">on railway, - <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">meeting at Aquarium, dispersed by troops and police, - <a href="#Page_136">136–138</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">effect on trade, - <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">power of, - <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">in Poland, Kieff, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, - <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Strikes (Central Committee of), distrusts Imperial manifestoes, - <a href="#Page_20">20–21</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">calls for military organization, - <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">meets in Hall of Free Economics, - <a href="#Page_25">25–36</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">orders withdrawal of money from savings-banks, - <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">President of, arrested, - <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">members of, arrested, - <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">new Council and Executive appointed, - <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">manifesto to citizens, - <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> - - <li>Strikers, attack mail-cart, - <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">dispersed, - <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">demands of, - <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">condemned by <i>Novoe Vremya</i>, - <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">meet in Moscow Aquarium, - <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">passive resistance of, - <a href="#Page_229">229–230</a></li> - - <li>Struve, editor of <i>Emancipation</i>, - <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> - - <li>Sumsky Dragoons, brutality of, - <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Suvorin, editor of <i>Novoe Vremya</i>, his son among revolutionists, - <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> - - <li>Sytin Printing Works destroyed by Government, - <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Taurida Palace, given up to Duma, - <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">guarded, - <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> - - <li><i>Times</i>, Tolstoy’s protest in, - <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">statistics quoted from, - <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">financial figures quoted from, - <a href="#Page_309">309–310</a></li> - - <li>Tolstoy, Demitri, Minister of Education, - <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> - - <li>Tolstoy, Leo, protests against war with Japan, - <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">position among revolutionists of, - <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">visit to, - <a href="#Page_91">91–96</a></li> - - <li>Torture of prisoners, - <a href="#Page_192">192–195</a>, - <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> - - <li>Toula, mutiny at, - <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">typical town, - <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Trepoff, first Governor-General of St. Petersburg, - <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">assistant Minister of Interior and Chief of Police, - <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">dismissal demanded, - <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">resigns, - <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">regretted, - <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">caricatured, - <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">connected with Odessa massacres, - <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">Master of Ceremonies, - <a href="#Page_319">319–320</a></li> - - <li>Trepoff (the Elder), attempted assassination of, - <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Troubetzkoy, Prince Sergius, President of Moscow Zemstvo, inspires reform, - <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, - <a href="#Page_246">246–248</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">sudden death of, - <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">regretted, - <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> - - <li>Tsar, flees to Tsarkoe Selo, - <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">promises reforms, - <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, - <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, - <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, - <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">withdraws promises, - <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, - <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, - <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, - <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, - <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, - <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">as forester, - <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">builds palace for ex-mistress, - <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">pleasant myths about, - <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">meditates new Peace Conference, - <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">issues Ukase on Fundamental Laws, - <a href="#Page_314">314</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">leaves Tsarskoe Selo for Peterhof, - <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">enters St. Petersburg by river, - <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">sprinkled with holy water, - <a href="#Page_323">323</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">reads address in Winter Palace, - <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">flees back to Peterhof, - <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Unions, Trade, - <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, - <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Vistula, dead bodies in, - <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> - - <li>“Vladimir’s Day,” or “Bloody Sunday,” - <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, - <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> - - <li class="hangingindent">Voiloshnikoff, chief of secret police, “executed,” - <a href="#Page_177">177–178</a></li> - - <li>Vorobieff, Dr., murder of, - <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>War, return of soldiers from, - <a href="#Page_97">97–100</a>, - <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">effect on Poland, - <a href="#Page_288">288–289</a></li> - - <li>Warsaw, trade of, - <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">political parties in, - <a href="#Page_293">293–299</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">prisoners in, - <a href="#Page_299">299–300</a>;</li> - <li class="hangingindent1">Governor-General’s offer to revolutionary Jewesses, - <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> - - <li>Winter Palace, massacre before, - <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, - <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">how guarded, - <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">brilliant assembly in, - <a href="#Page_321">321–327</a></li> - - <li>Witte, President of Committee of Ministers, - <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, - <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">deputation to, - <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">replies, - <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">distrusted by Liberals, - <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">fatherly appeal to workers, - <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">caricatured, - <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">leaders of finance petition to, - <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">character discussed, - <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">whining of, - <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, - <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">afraid of Constitutional Democrats, - <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">his affectation of liberalism, - <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">resigns, - <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">his removal makes Duma possible, - <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Council of Empire, - <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> - - <li>Workmen, demand universal sufferage, - <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, - <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">dress of, - <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">patience of, - <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">first council of delegates, - <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">homes of, - <a href="#Page_38">38–48</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">locked out, - <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">hours of labour, - <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">wages, - <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">standard of food and work, - <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, - <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">amusements of, - <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">connection with land, - <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">shot down, - <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">equality of their women, - <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">their unions in Moscow, - <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">“living in,” - <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">wages increased, - <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">quarters in order, - <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">growing importance of, - <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">in Poland, - <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">their candidates for Duma imprisoned, - <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">only fifteen in Duma, - <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> -</ul> - -<ul> - <li>Zemstvos, recommend reforms, - <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">send petition of Rights, - <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> - - <li>Zemstvoists, meet in secret, - <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">discuss promised Duma, - <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">draw up programme of political aims, - <a href="#Page_16">16–17</a>;</li> - <li class="i1">debate Witte’s character, and vanish, - <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> - - <li>Zilliacus, writer on struggle for Russian freedom, - <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> -</ul> - -<p class="center xs">THE END</p> - - -<p class="center xs">PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.</p> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES:</h3> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> See especially his book on “The Russian Peasant.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> After the rising was suppressed, this officer was detained -for a fortnight and then released.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> The following is the text of this appeal:—“The -anniversary of the 9th (22nd) of January, 1905, lies immediately before -us. Russia has not forgotten that day, and will never forget it. The -memory of those who in the streets of the capital were attacked by -the hosts of violence, and sacrificed their lives to their confidence -in our rulers, their faith in the possibility of influencing them by -peaceful means—the memory of these martyrs is engraved upon the hearts -of the Russian people in words of sorrow and rage.</p> - -<p>“Citizens of St. Petersburg! We appeal to you to honour a memory like -theirs! We appeal to you to celebrate the first anniversary of that -dark day! Henceforward let the 9th of January be a day of universal -mourning among us. To honour the memory of those who fell for the -people’s freedom, let all citizens abstain from their ordinary work. -For this day let the toil of our city’s life be laid aside, so that -a peaceful stillness may serve as the symbol of our general sorrow. -On this day let not our mourning be broken by customary pleasures. On -the day of the people’s sorrow what have we to do with song and art? -Citizens, we call on you not only to avoid places of entertainment, but -not to visit the banks or other public institutions. Draw down your -blinds, and in the evening hang curtains before your windows, so that -no light may be cast upon the streets from the houses. Let the day -consecrated to the martyrs of January 9th be kept as a day of absolute -silence, a day of deep and universal mourning, a day for sad and angry -remembrance of all the victims which have been torn from our midst by -the enemies of the people’s freedom.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> Figures from the <i>Times</i> of February 24, 1906.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> See Carlyle’s “Frederick the Great,” Book II. ch. vi.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> Figures from the <i>Times</i> of January 15, 1906.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> The text of the speech was as follows:—</p> - -<p>“Divine Providence has laid on me the care of the welfare of the -Fatherland, and has moved me to summon representatives elected by the -people, to co-operate in the work of framing laws.</p> - -<p>“With an ardent belief in a prosperous future for Russia, I welcome in -you the best men, to whose election I commanded my beloved subjects to -proceed.</p> - -<p>“Difficult and complicated labours await you, but I believe that the -ardent wishes of the dear native land will inspire you and will unite -you.</p> - -<p>“I with unwavering firmness will uphold the institutions which I have -established, in the firm conviction that you will devote all your -powers to the self-sacrificing service of the Fatherland, to a clear -presentation of the needs of the peasants, which lie so close to my -heart, to the enlightenment of the people, and to the development of -its well-being. You must realize that for the great welfare of the -State, not only is Liberty necessary, but also order on the basis of -law.</p> - -<p>“May my ardent wishes be fulfilled! may I see my people happy, and be -able to bequeath to my son as his inheritance a firmly-established, -well-ordered, and enlightened State!</p> - -<p>“May God bless me, in conjunction with the Council of Empire and the -Duma, in the work before us, and may this day prove the rejuvenation of -Russia’s moral outlook and the reincarnation of her best powers.</p> - -<p>“Go to the work to which I have summoned you, and justify worthily the -trust of your Tsar and your country! God help me and you!”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> The following were the chief points suggested by the -Committee for the answer to the Tsar’s speech. They defined the -programme of the majority:—The responsibility of Ministers to the -majority in the Duma; universal suffrage (women’s suffrage was -afterwards added); the abolition of the State Council; the necessity -of land reform and universal education; the equality of rights for -all classes before the law; freedom of conscience, person, domicile, -speech, press, and meeting; control of the budget and redistribution of -taxation; local self-government for separate nationalities; amnesty and -the abolition of capital punishment.</p> - -</div> - - -<p class="transnote">Transcriber’s Notes:<br /> -<br /> -1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been -corrected silently.<br /> -<br /> -2. 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