a brave, simple minded, and rather superstitious
people, and take some pride in this Constitution. It is the ghost of
liberty at all events, and they indulge in the hope that some day or
other it will fish up the dead body. Not more than a few weeks ago, a
small party of these worthy people, on their way to Stockholm for
purposes of business or pleasure, were arrested and put in prison by
the Russian authorities on the supposition that they differed from the
emperor in his interpretation of this liberal Constitution, and were
going to Sweden to lay their grievances before their old compatriots.
It is quite possible that this was true. I heard complaints made when
I was in Helsingfors that there was quite a difference of opinion on
the subject. But it is a marvel how they could misunderstand their
right under the Constitution, when there is a strong military force
stationed at the principal cities of Finland to make it intelligible.
So thought the emperor or his subordinates, and put them in jail to
give them light. The point in the transaction which strikes me most
forcibly is, that a power like that of Russia, after having wrested
the province of Finland from Sweden, with an army and navy far
inferior to what she now possesses, should be afraid that a handful of
Finns should tell a pitiful tale to the King of Sweden, and prevail
upon him to take their country back again. If this be the freedom
granted under the free Constitution of Finland, the restraints upon
personal liberty must be pretty stringent in dependencies where no
Constitutions at all exist.

By a natural law, the waves of despotism gather strength and volume as
they spread from the central power. It is scarcely an exaggeration to
say that the Autocrat of Russia is the least despotic of all the
despots in authority. The landed proprietors in the remote provinces
too often rule their dependents with an iron rod, and the strong arm
of the supreme authority is more frequently exercised in the
protection than in the oppression of the lower classes. The tribunals
of justice in these districts are corrupt, and the laws, as they are
administered by the subordinate officers of the government, afford but
little chance of justice to the ignorant masses. The landed
proprietors are subjected to various exactments and oppressions from
the governors, and these again are at the mercy of the various
colleges or departments above them, and so on up to the imperial
council