ly
before the throne of the despot, and demand from him an account of the
national disaster. Say to him boldly that his throne is not the altar of
God, and that God did not condemn us to be slaves. Russia entrusted to
you, O Tsar, the supreme power, and you were as a God upon earth. And
what have you done? Blinded by ignorance and passion, you have lusted
after power and have forgotten Russia. You have spent your life in
reviewing troops, in modifying uniforms, and in appending your signature
to the legislative projects of ignorant charlatans. You created the
despicable race of Press censors, in order to sleep in peace--in order
not to know the wants and not to hear the groans of the people--in order
not to listen to Truth. You buried Truth, rolled a great stone to the
door of the sepulchre, placed a strong guard over it, and said in the
pride of your heart: For her there is no resurrection! But the third day
has dawned, and Truth has arisen from the dead.

"Stand forward, O Tsar, before the judgment-seat of history and of God!
You have mercilessly trampled Truth under foot, you have denied
Freedom, you have been the slave of your own passions. By your pride and
obstinacy you have exhausted Russia and raised the world in arms against
us. Bow down before your brethren and humble yourself in the dust! Crave
pardon and ask advice! Throw yourself into the arms of the people! There
is now no other salvation!"

The innumerable tirades of which the above is a fair specimen were not
very remarkable for literary merit or political wisdom. For the most
part they were simply bits of bombastic rhetoric couched in doggerel
rhyme, and they have consequently been long since consigned to
well-merited oblivion--so completely that it is now difficult to obtain
copies of them.* They have, however, an historical interest, because
they express in a more or less exaggerated form the public opinion and
prevalent ideas of the educated classes at that moment. In order to
comprehend their real significance, we must remember that the writers
and readers were not a band of conspirators, but ordinary, respectable,
well-intentioned people, who never for a moment dreamed of embarking
in revolutionary designs. It was the same society that had been a few
months before so indifferent to all political questions, and even now
there was no clear conception as to how the loud-sounding phrases could
be translated into action. We can imagine the comical disc