discard what was
formerly regarded as poetical and sublime, and to occupy itself with
practical concerns--with the real wants of social life.

The literary movement was thus becoming a movement in favour of social
and political reforms when it was suddenly arrested by political
events in the West. The February Revolution in Paris, and the political
fermentation which appeared during 1848-49 in almost every country of
Europe, alarmed the Emperor Nicholas and his counsellors. A Russian army
was sent into Austria to suppress the Hungarian insurrection and save
the Hapsburg dynasty, and the most stringent measures were taken
to prevent disorders at home. One of the first precautions for the
preservation of domestic tranquillity was to muzzle the Press more
firmly than before, and to silence the aspirations towards reform and
progress; thenceforth nothing could be printed which was not in strict
accordance with the ultra-patriotic theory of Russian history, as
expressed by a leading official personage: "The past has been admirable,
the present is more than magnificent, and the future will surpass
all that the human imagination can conceive!" The alarm caused by the
revolutionary disorders spread to the non-official world, and gave rise
to much patriotic self-congratulation. "The nations of the West," it was
said, "envy us, and if they knew us better--if they could see how happy
and prosperous we are--they would envy us still more. We ought not,
however, to withdraw from Europe our solicitude; its hostility should
not deprive us of our high mission of saving order and restoring rest
to the nations; we ought to teach them to obey authority as we do. It is
for us to introduce the saving principle of order into a world that has
fallen a prey to anarchy. Russia ought not to abandon that mission which
has been entrusted to her by the heavenly and by the earthly Tsar."*

* These words were written by Tchaadaef, who, a few years
before, had vigorously attacked the Slavophils for enouncing
similar views.

Men who saw in the significant political eruption of 1848 nothing but
an outburst of meaningless, aimless anarchy, and who believed that their
country was destined to restore order throughout the civilised world,
had of course little time or inclination to think of putting their
own house in order. No one now spoke of the necessity of social
reorganisation: the recently awakened aspirations and expectations
seemed