ice to pay for the result.

But the hour of trial has revealed other things. It has appealed to the
best feelings and the best elements of the Russian Nation. It has
brought out in a striking manner the fundamental tendency of Russian
political life and the essence of Russian culture, which so many people
have been unable to perceive on account of the chaff on the surface.
Russia has been going through a painful crisis. In the words of the
Manifesto of Oct. 17, (30,) 1905, the outward casing of her
administration had become too narrow and oppressive for the development
of society with its growing needs, its altered perceptions of rights and
duties, its changed relations between Government and people. The result
was that deep-seated political malaise which made itself felt during the
Japanese war, when society at large refused to take any interest in the
fate of the army; the feverish rush for "liberties" after the defeat;
the subsequent reign of reaction and repression, which has cast such a
gloom over Russian life during these last years. But the effort of the
national struggle had dwarfed all these misunderstandings and
misfortunes as in Great Britain the call of the common fatherland has
dwarfed the dispute between Unionists and Home Rulers. Russian parties
have not renounced their aspirations; Russian Liberals in particular
believe in self-government and the rule of law as firmly as ever. But
they have realized as one man that this war is not an adventure
engineered by unscrupulous ambition, but a decisive struggle for
independence and existence; and they are glad to be arrayed in close
ranks with their opponents from the Conservative side. A friend, a
Liberal like myself, writes to me from Moscow: "It is a great,
unforgettable time; we are happy to be all at one!" And from the ranks
of the most unfortunate of Russia's children, from the haunts of the
political exiles in Paris, comes the news that Bourtzeff, one of the
most prominent among the revolutionary leaders, has addressed an appeal
to his comrades urging them to stand by their country to the utmost of
their power.

I may add that whatever may have been the shortcomings and the blunders
of the Russian Government, it is a blessing in this decisive crisis that
Russians should have a firmly knit organization and a traditional centre
of authority in the power of the Czar. The present Emperor stands as the
national leader, not in the histrionic attitude of a war