minute scrutiny and criticism. In several of the provinces
which I afterwards visited I found that affairs were conducted in a very
different fashion: quorums were formed with extreme difficulty, and
the proceedings, when they at last commenced, were treated as mere
formalities and despatched as speedily as possible. The character of
the Assembly depends of course on the amount of interest taken in local
public affairs. In some districts this interest is considerable; in
others it is very near zero.

The birth of this new institution was hailed with enthusiasm, and
produced great expectations. At that time a large section of the Russian
educated classes had a simple, convenient criterion for institutions of
all kinds. They assumed as a self-evident axiom that the excellence
of an institution must always be in proportion to its "liberal" and
democratic character. The question as to how far it might be appropriate
to the existing conditions and to the character of the people, and as to
whether it might not, though admirable in itself, be too expensive for
the work to be performed, was little thought of. Any organisation which
rested on "the elective principle," and provided an arena for free
public discussion, was sure to be well received, and these conditions
were fulfilled by the Zemstvo.

The expectations excited were of various kinds. People who thought more
of political than economic progress saw in the Zemstvo the basis of
boundless popular liberty. Prince Yassiltchikof, for example, though
naturally of a phlegmatic temperament, became for a moment enthusiastic,
and penned the following words: "With a daring unparalleled in the
chronicles of the world, we have entered on the career of public life."
If local self-government in England had, in spite of its aristocratic
character, created and preserved political liberty, as had been proved
by several learned Germans, what might be expected from institutions so
much more liberal and democratic? In England there had never been county
parliaments, and the local administration had always been in the hands
of the great land-owners; whilst in Russia every district would have
its elective assembly, in which the peasant would be on a level with
the richest landed proprietors. People who were accustomed to think of
social rather than political progress expected that they would soon see
the country provided with good roads, safe bridges, numerous village
schools, well-appointe