esired them
not to trouble their heads with political questions, and to leave all
public matters to the care of the Administration; and in this respect
the Imperial will coincided so well with their personal inclinations
that they had no difficulty in complying with it.

When the Tsar ordered those of them who held office to refrain from
extortion and peculation, his orders were not so punctiliously obeyed,
but in this disobedience there was no open opposition--no assertion of
a right to pilfer and extort. As the disobedience proceeded, not from a
feeling of insubordination, but merely from the weakness that
official flesh is heir to, it was not regarded as very heinous. In the
aristocratic circles of St. Petersburg and Moscow there was the same
indifference to political questions and public affairs. All strove to
have the reputation of being "well-intentioned," which was the first
requisite for those who desired Court favour or advancement in the
public service; and those whose attention was not entirely occupied
with official duties, card-playing, and the ordinary routine of everyday
life, cultivated belles-lettres or the fine arts. In short, the educated
classes in Russia at that time showed a complete indifference to
political and social questions, an apathetic acquiescence in the
system of administration adopted by the Government, and an unreasoning
contentment with the existing state of things.

About the year 1845, when the reaction against Romanticism was awakening
in the reading public an interest in the affairs of real life,* began to
appear what may be called "the men with aspirations," a little band of
generous enthusiasts, strongly resembling the youth in Longfellow's poem
who carries a banner with the device "Excelsior," and strives ever to
climb higher, without having any clear notion of where he was going or
of what he is to do when he reaches the summit. At first they had little
more than a sentimental enthusiasm for the true, the beautiful, and
the good, and a certain Platonic love for free institutions, liberty,
enlightenment, progress, and everything that was generally comprehended
at that period under the term "liberal." Gradually, under the influence
of current French literature, their ideas became a little clearer, and
they began to look on reality around them with a critical eye. They
could perceive, without much effort, the unrelenting tyranny of the
Administration, the notorious venality of th