ment for blasphemy was applied by
sturdy peasant matrons. Even when they escaped such mishaps they had
not much reason to congratulate themselves on their success. After three
years of arduous labour the hundreds of apostles could not boast of more
than a score or two of converts among the genuine working classes, and
even these few did not all remain faithful unto death. Some of them,
however, it must be admitted, laboured and suffered to the end with the
courage and endurance of true martyrs.

It was not merely the indifference or hostility of the masses that the
propagandists had to complain of. The police soon got on their track,
and did not confine themselves to persuasion and logical arguments.
Towards the end of 1873 they arrested some members of the central
directory group in St. Petersburg, and in the following May they
discovered in the province of Saratof an affiliated organisation
with which nearly 800 persons were connected, about one-fifth of them
belonging to the female sex. A few came of well-to-do families--sons and
daughters of minor officials or small landed proprietors--but the great
majority were poor students of humbler origin, a large contingent being
supplied by the sons of the poor parish clergy. In other provinces the
authorities made similar discoveries. Before the end of the year a large
proportion of the propagandists were in prison, and the centralised
organisation, so far as such a thing existed, was destroyed. Gradually
it dawned on the minds even of the Don Quixotes that pacific propaganda
was no longer possible, and that attempts to continue it could lead only
to useless sacrifices.

For a time there was universal discouragement in the revolutionary
ranks; and among those who had escaped arrest there were mutual
recriminations and endless discussions about the causes of failure and
the changes to be made in modes of action. The practical results of
these recriminations and discussions was that the partisans of a slow,
pacific propaganda retired to the background, and the more impatient
revolutionary agitators took possession of the movement. These
maintained stoutly that as pacific propaganda had become impossible,
stronger methods must be adopted. The masses must be organised so as
to offer successful resistance to the Government. Conspiracies must
therefore be formed, local disorders provoked, and blood made to flow.
The part of the country which seemed best adapted for experiments o