t them know that I,
devoting all my efforts to the prosperity of the nation, will preserve
the principles of autocracy as firmly and unswervingly as my late father
of imperishable memory."

These words, pronounced by the young ruler at the commencement of his
reign, produced profound disappointment and dissatisfaction in all
sections of the educated classes, and from that moment the frondeur
spirit began to show itself more openly than at any previous period. In
the case of some people of good social position it took the unusual form
of speaking disrespectfully of his Majesty. Others supposed that the
Emperor had simply repeated words prepared for him by the Minister
of the Interior, and this idea spread rapidly, till hostility to the
bureaucracy became universal.

This feeling reached its climax when the Ministry of the Interior
was confided to M. Plehve. His immediate predecessors, though sincere
believers in autocracy and very hostile to Liberalism of all kinds,
considered that the Liberal ideas might be rendered harmless by firm
passive resistance and mild reactionary measures. He, on the contrary,
took a more alarmist view of the situation. His appointment coincided
with the revival of terrorism, and he believed that autocracy was in
danger. To save it, the only means was, in his opinion, a vigorous,
repressive police administration, and as he was a man of strong
convictions and exceptional energy, he screwed up his system of police
supervision to the sticking-point and applied it to the Liberals as well
as to the terrorists. In the year 1903, if we may credit information
which comes from an apparently trustworthy source, no less than 1,988
political affairs were initiated by the police, and 4,867 persons were
condemned inquisitorially to various punishments without any regular
trial.

Whilst this unpopular rigorism was in full force the war unexpectedly
broke out, and added greatly to the existing discontent.

Very few people in Russia had been following closely the recent
developments of the Far Eastern Question, and still fewer understood
their importance. There seemed to be nothing abnormal in what was taking
place. Russia was expanding, and would continue to expand indefinitely,
in that direction, without any strenuous effort on her part. Of course
the English would try to arrest her progress as usual by diplomatic
notes, but their efforts would be as futile as they had been on all
previous occasions. The