nth-century intelligence and
aspirations were in frenzied revolt against methods suited to the time
of the Khans. The inspiring motive was not love of the people, but
hatred of their oppressors. Appeals to the peasantry brought small
response, but the movement was eagerly joined by men and women from the
highest ranks in Russia.

Secret societies and organizations were everywhere at work, recruited
by misguided enthusiasts, and by human suffering from all classes.
Wherever there were hearts bruised and bleeding from official cruelty,
in whatever ranks, there the terrible propaganda found sympathizers, if
not a home; men--and still more, women--from the highest families in
the nobility secretly pledging themselves to the movement, until
Russian society was honeycombed with conspiracy extending even to the
household of the Tsar. Proclamations were secretly issued calling upon
the peasantry to arise. In spite of the vigilance of the police,
similar invitations to all the Russian people were posted in
conspicuous places--"We are tired of famine, tired of having our sons
perish upon the gallows, in the mines, or in exile. Russia demands
liberty; and if she cannot have liberty--she will have vengeance!"

Such was the tenor of the threats which made the life of Emperor
Alexander a miserable one after 1870. He had done what not one of his
predecessors had been willing to do. He had, in the face of the
bitterest opposition, bestowed the gift of freedom upon 23,000,000
human beings. In his heart he believed he deserved the good-will and
the gratitude of his subjects. How gladly would he have ruled over a
happy empire! But what could he do? He had absolute power to make his
people miserable--but none to make them happy. It was not his fault
that he occupied a throne which could only be made secure by a policy
of stern repression. It was not his fault that he ruled through a
system so elementary, so crude, so utterly inadequate, that to
administer justice was an impossibility. Nor was it his fault that he
had inherited autocratic instincts from a long line of ancestors. In
other words, it was not his fault that he was the Tsar of Russia!

The grim shadow of assassination pursued him wherever he went. In 1879
the imperial train was destroyed by mines placed beneath the tracks.
In 1880 the imperial apartments in "the Winterhof" were partially
wrecked by similar means. Seventeen men marched stolidly to the
gallows,