e peasants are still in
actual, if not legal, possession of the land, and there is as yet
no Proletariat in the towns. All that is necessary, therefore, is to
abolish the arbitrary authority of the proprietors without expropriating
the peasants, and without disturbing the existing Communal institutions,
which form the best barrier against pauperism."

These ideas were warmly espoused by many proprietors, and exercised a
very great influence on the deliberations of the Provincial Committees.
In these committees there were generally two groups. The majorities,
whilst making large concessions to the claims of justice and expediency,
endeavoured to defend, as far as possible, the interests of their class;
the minorities, though by no means indifferent to the interests of the
class to which they belonged, allowed the more abstract theoretical
considerations to be predominant. At first the majorities did all
in their power to evade the fundamental principles laid down by the
Government as much too favourable to the peasantry; but when they
perceived that public opinion, as represented by the Press, went
much further than the Government, they clung to these fundamental
principles--which secured at least the fee simple of the estate to
the landlord--as their anchor of safety. Between the two parties arose
naturally a strong spirit of hostility, and the Government, which wished
to have the support of the minorities, found it advisable that both
should present their projects for consideration.

As the Provincial Committees worked independently, there was
considerable diversity in the conclusions at which they arrived. The
task of codifying these conclusions, and elaborating out of them a
general scheme of Emancipation, was entrusted to a special Imperial
Commission, composed partly of officials and partly of landed
proprietors named by the Emperor.* Those who believed that the question
had really been handed over to the Noblesse assumed that this Commission
would merely arrange the materials presented by the Provincial
Committees, and that the Emancipation Law would thereafter be elaborated
by a National Assembly of deputies elected by the nobles. In reality
the Commission, working in St. Petersburg under the direct guidance
and control of the Government, fulfilled a very different and much more
important function. Using the combined projects merely as a storehouse
from which it could draw the proposals it desired, it formed a n