y of person and domicile. To grant such a
concession seems a very simple and easy matter, but any responsible
minister might hesitate to accept such a restriction of his
authority. We know, he would argue, that the terrorist section of the
Socialist-Revolutionary group, the so-called Militant Organisation,
are very busy preparing bombs, and the police, even with the extensive,
ill-defined powers which they at present possess, have the greatest
difficulty in preventing the use of such objectionable instruments
of political warfare. Would not the dynamiters and throwers of
hand-grenades utilise a relaxation of police supervision, as they did in
the time of Louis Melikof,* for carrying out their nefarious designs?

* Vide supra, p. 569.

I have no desire to conceal or minimise such dangers, but I believe they
are temporary and by no means so great as the dangers of the only other
alternatives--energetic repression and listless inactivity. Terrorism
and similar objectionable methods of political warfare are symptoms of
an abnormal, unhealthy state of society, and would doubtless disappear
in Russia, as they have disappeared in other countries, with the
conditions which produced them. If the terrorists continued to exist
under a more liberal regime, they would be much less formidable, because
they would lose the half-concealed sympathy which they at present enjoy.

Political assassinations may occasionally take place under the most
democratic governments, as the history of the United States proves,
but terrorism as a system is to be found only in countries where the
political power is concentrated in the hands of a few individuals; and
it sometimes happens that irresponsible persons are exposed to terrorist
attacks. We have an instance of this at present in St. Petersburg.
The reluctance of the Emperor to adopt at once a Liberal programme is
commonly attributed to the influence of two members of the Imperial
family, the Empress Dowager and the Grand Duke Vladimir. This is a
mistake. Neither of these personages is so reactionary as is generally
supposed, and their political views, whatever they may be, have no
appreciable influence on the course of affairs. If the Empress Dowager
had possessed the influence so often ascribed to her, M. Plehve would
not have remained so long in power. As for the Grand Duke Vladimir, he
is not in favour, and for nearly two years he has never been consulted
on political matters. The so-ca