f firmly a nest in the
Zemstvo." Now, if we mean to be just to both parties in this little
family quarrel, we must admit that the Zemstvo, as I shall explain in
a future chapter, had ambitions of that kind, and it would have been
better perhaps for the country at the present moment if it had been able
to realise them. But this is a West-European idea. In Russia there is,
and can be, no such thing as "His Majesty's Opposition." To the Russian
official mind the three words seem to contain a logical contradiction.
Opposition to officials, even within the limits of the law, is
equivalent to opposition to the Autocratic Power, of which they are the
incarnate emanations; and opposition to what they consider the interests
of autocracy comes within measurable distance of high treason. It was
considered necessary, therefore, to curb and suppress the ambitious
tendencies of the wayward child, and accordingly it was placed more and
more under the tutelage of the provincial Governors. To show how
the change was effected, let me give an illustration. In the older
arrangements the Governor could suspend the action of the Zemstvo only
on the ground of its being illegal or ultra vires, and when there was
an irreconcilable difference of opinion between the two parties the
question was decided judicially by the Senate; under the more recent
arrangements his Excellency can interpose his veto whenever he considers
that a decision, though it may be perfectly legal, is not conducive to
the public good, and differences of opinion are referred, not to the
Senate, but to the Minister of the Interior, who is always naturally
disposed to support the views of his subordinate.

In order to put an end to all this insubordination, Count Tolstoy,
the reactionary Minister of the Interior, prepared a scheme of
reorganisation in accordance with his anti-liberal views, but he died
before he could carry it out, and a much milder reorganisation was
adopted in the law of 12th (24th) June, 1890. The principal changes
introduced by that law were that the number of delegates in the
Assemblies was reduced by about a fourth, and the relative strength of
the different social classes was altered. Under the old law the Noblesse
had about 42 per cent., and the peasantry about 38 per cent, of the
seats; by the new electoral arrangements the former have 57 per cent,
and the latter about 30. It does not necessarily follow, however,
that the Assemblies are more conservat