demanded. And these necessary
alterations were more frequently local than general. Special decisions,
instruction to particular officials, and charters for particular
communes of proprietors were much more common than general legislative
measures.

In short, the old Muscovite Tsars practised a hand-to-mouth policy,
destroying whatever caused temporary inconvenience, and giving little
heed to what did not force itself upon their attention. Hence,
under their rule the administration presented not only territorial
peculiarities, but also an ill-assorted combination of different systems
in the same district--a conglomeration of institutions belonging to
different epochs, like a fleet composed of triremes, three-deckers, and
iron-clads.

This irregular system, or rather want of system, seemed highly
unsatisfactory to the logical mind of Peter the Great, and he conceived
the grand design of sweeping it away, and putting in its place a
symmetrical bureaucratic machine. It is scarcely necessary to say
that this magnificent project, so foreign to the traditional ideas and
customs of the people, was not easily realised. Imagine a man, without
technical knowledge, without skilled workmen, without good tools, and
with no better material than soft, crumbling sandstone, endeavouring
to build a palace on a marsh! The undertaking would seem to reasonable
minds utterly absurd, and yet it must be admitted that Peter's project
was scarcely more feasible. He had neither technical knowledge, nor the
requisite materials, nor a firm foundation to build on. With his usual
Titanic energy he demolished the old structure, but his attempts to
construct were little more than a series of failures. In his numerous
ukazes he has left us a graphic description of his efforts, and it is
at once instructive and pathetic to watch the great worker toiling
indefatigably at his self-imposed task. His instruments are constantly
breaking in his hands. The foundations of the building are continually
giving way, and the lower tiers crumbling under the superincumbent
weight. Now and then a whole section is found to be unsuitable, and is
ruthlessly pulled down, or falls of its own accord. And yet the builder
toils on, with a perseverance and an energy of purpose that compel
admiration, frankly confessing his mistakes and failures, and
patiently seeking the means of remedying them, never allowing a word of
despondency to escape him, and never despairing of ultima