ive or more subservient on that
account. Liberalism and insubordination are much more likely to be found
among the nobles than among the peasants.

In addition to all this, as there was an apprehension in the higher
official spheres of St. Petersburg that the opposition spirit of the
Zemstvo might find public expression in a printed form, the provincial
Governors received extensive rights of preventive censure with regard
to the publication of the minutes of Zemstvo Assemblies and similar
documents.

What the bureaucracy, in its zeal to defend the integrity of the
Autocratic Power, feared most of all was combination for a common
purpose on the part of the Zemstvos of different provinces. It vetoed,
therefore, all such combinations, even for statistical purposes; and
when it discovered, a few years ago, that leading members of the Zemstvo
from all parts of the country were holding private meetings in Moscow
for the ostensible purpose of discussing economic questions, it ordered
them to return to their homes.

Even within its proper sphere, as defined by law, the Zemstvo has not
accomplished what was expected of it. The country has not been covered
with a network of macadamised roads, and the bridges are by no means as
safe as could be desired. Village schools and infirmaries are still far
below the requirements of the population. Little or nothing has been
done for the development of trade or manufactures; and the villages
remain very much what they were under the old Administration. Meanwhile
the local rates have been rising with alarming rapidity; and many
people draw from all this the conclusion that the Zemstvo is a worthless
institution which has increased the taxation without conferring any
corresponding benefit on the country.

If we take as our criterion in judging the institution the exaggerated
expectations at first entertained, we may feel inclined to agree with
this conclusion, but this is merely tantamount to saying that the
Zemstvo has performed no miracles. Russia is much poorer and much less
densely populated than the more advanced nations which she takes as her
model. To suppose that she could at once create for herself by means of
an administrative reform all the conveniences which those more advanced
nations enjoy, was as absurd as it would be to imagine that a poor man
can at once construct a magnificent palace because he has received from
a wealthy neighbour the necessary architectural plans. Not