and worthlessness of the landed
proprietors, whom he made the special butt of his ridicule. The
recognition of defects produced a desire for reform. From laughing at
the proprietors there was but one step to despising them, and when we
learned to despise the proprietors we naturally came to sympathise with
the serfs. Thus the Emancipation was prepared by the literature; and
when the great question had to be solved, it was the literature that
discovered a satisfactory solution."

This is a subject on which Alexander Ivan'itch feels very strongly, and
on which he always speaks with warmth. He knows a good deal regarding
the intellectual movement which began about 1840, and culminated in
the great reforms of the sixties. As a University student he troubled
himself very little with serious academic work, but he read with intense
interest all the leading periodicals, and adopted the doctrine of
Belinski that art should not be cultivated for its own sake, but should
be made subservient to social progress. This belief was confirmed by
a perusal of some of George Sand's earlier works, which were for him
a kind of revelation. Social questions engrossed his thoughts, and all
other subjects seemed puny by comparison. When the Emancipation question
was raised he saw an opportunity of applying some of his theories,
and threw himself enthusiastically into the new movement as an ardent
abolitionist. When the law was passed he helped to put it into execution
by serving for three years as an Arbiter of the Peace. Now he is an
old man, but he has preserved some of his youthful enthusiasm, attends
regularly the annual assemblies of the Zemstvo, and takes a lively
interest in all public affairs.

As an ardent partisan of local self-government he habitually scoffs at
the centralised bureaucracy, which he proclaims to be the great bane of
his unhappy country. "These tchinovniks," he is wont to say in moments
of excitement, "who live in St. Petersburg and govern the Empire, know
about as much of Russia as they do of China. They live in a world of
official documents, and are hopelessly ignorant of the real wants and
interests of the people. So long as all the required formalities are
duly observed they are perfectly satisfied. The people may be allowed
to die of starvation if only the fact do not appear in the official
reports. Powerless to do any good themselves, they are powerful enough
to prevent others from working for the public good, an