o do with religious beliefs. It is confined to such people
as the trader who suffers from the competition of Jewish rivals, or the
peasant who finds that the money-lender, from whom he has borrowed at a
high rate of interest, exacts rigorously the fulfillment of the
contract. The pillaging of Jewish shops and houses which occurred some
years ago in certain towns of the southwestern provinces and was
graphically described in the English press was due to pecuniary rather
than religious enmity, and was organized by political intriguers.

In order to complete my cursory review of the various social classes
from the point of view of social and political progress, I must say
something of the nobility and gentry; but I need not say much, because
their general character is pretty well known in Western Europe. They are
well educated, highly cultured, remarkably open-minded, most anxious to
acquaint themselves with the latest ideas in science, literature, and
art, and very fond of studying the most advanced foreign theories of
social and political development, with a view to applying them to their
own country. Thus it may safely be asserted that they are unquestionably
progressive. They are, in fact, more disposed to rush forward regardless
of consequences than to lag behind in the race, so that their impatience
has sometimes to be restrained in the sphere of politics by the
Government. This brings us face to face with the important question as
to how far the Government and the Supreme Ruler are favorable to
national progress and enlightenment.

The antiquated idea that Czars are always heartless tyrants who devote
much of their time to sending troublesome subjects to Siberia is now
happily pretty well exploded, but the average Englishman is still
reluctant to admit that an avowedly autocratic Government may be, in
certain circumstances, a useful institution. There is no doubt, however,
that in the gigantic work of raising Russia to her present level of
civilization the Czars have played a most important part. As for the
present Czar, he has followed, in a humane spirit, the best traditions
of his ancestors. Any one who has had opportunities of studying closely
his character and aims, and who knows the difficulties with which he has
had to contend, can hardly fail to regard him with sympathy and
admiration. Among the qualities which should commend him to Englishmen
are his scrupulous honesty and genuine truthfulness. Of these--we