a man who sins against public morality
than towards one who sins against ourselves!

In justice to the bureaucratic reformers in Russia, it must be said that
they have preferred prevention to cure. Refraining from all Draconian
legislation, they have put their faith in a system of ingenious checks
and a complicated formal procedure. When we examine the complicated
formalities and labyrinthine procedure by which the administration is
controlled, our first impression is that administrative abuses must be
almost impossible. Every possible act of every official seems to have
been foreseen, and every possible outlet from the narrow path of honesty
seems to have been carefully walled up. As the English reader has
probably no conception of formal procedure in a highly centralised
bureaucracy, let me give, by way of illustration, an instance which
accidentally came to my knowledge.

In the residence of a Governor-General one of the stoves is in need
of repairs. An ordinary mortal may assume that a man with the rank
of Governor-General may be trusted to expend a few shillings
conscientiously, and that consequently his Excellency will at once order
the repairs to be made and the payment to be put down among the petty
expenses. To the bureaucratic mind the case appears in a very different
light. All possible contingencies must be carefully provided for. As
a Governor-General may possibly be possessed with a mania for making
useless alterations, the necessity for the repairs ought to be verified;
and as wisdom and honesty are more likely to reside in an assembly than
in an individual, it is well to entrust the verification to a council. A
council of three or four members accordingly certifies that the repairs
are necessary. This is pretty strong authority, but it is not enough.
Councils are composed of mere human beings, liable to error and subject
to be intimidated by a Governor-General. It is prudent, therefore, to
demand that the decision of the council be confirmed by the Procureur,
who is directly subordinated to the Minister of Justice. When this
double confirmation has been obtained, an architect examines the stove,
and makes an estimate. But it would be dangerous to give carte blanche
to an architect, and therefore the estimate has to be confirmed, first
by the aforesaid council and afterwards by the Procureur. When all these
formalities--which require sixteen days and ten sheets of paper--have
been duly observed, his Exc