I had the same sensation when, in the course of my conversations with leading persons in the service of the state, and with members of the "Intelligence," I was more and more struck with the fact that in Russia there is an unusually strong public opinion, which in its criticisms far transcends7 anything that can be said in foreign papers about Russian conditions, and that this criticism makes no impression whatever upon the authorities. I was, of course, interested next in the problem as to how it could be possible without newspapers—the Russian press is under the most barbarous censorship—to disseminate9 from St. Petersburg to Odessa with a truly uncanny rapidity, an almost monotonously10 uniform idea of all the events and personalities11 of the day. I confess I have not yet solved the riddle12.[Pg 208] It is only a hypothesis of mine to suppose that there are three or four centres for the formation of opinion in Russia, one of which is undoubtedly13 to be found in the ministry14 itself, and another, perhaps, in the Noblemen's Club, or in other clubs of the intelligent classes in Moscow, and that through the abundance of time which every Russian allows himself for recreation, every newly coined saying or opinion is spread throughout the whole realm by letters or by word of mouth. I have heard from the lips of statesmen high in office literally15 the same words I have heard at the table of Leo Tolsto?, in Yasnaya Polyana, or in the study of the lawyer who gave me an interview. After I had come to terms with this fact of the absolute uniformity of public opinion, a fact not altogether gratifying to the collector of information, it was no longer possible to ignore the question as to how it is possible that such a unison16 of wishes and opinions meets only deaf ears in the highest circles, although it has already become a historic legend that Alexander II. was forced into the war with Turkey against his will by public opinion. If public opinion at that time had so much power for evil, why does it not have power now, and power for good?
An annoying question sooner or later finds an answer—whether a correct one or not remains17 to be seen—no doubt because the mind does not rest until it has found something plausible18 wherewith[Pg 209] to quiet itself. I finally explained the matter to myself in the following way. The husband is the last to hear of the shame that his consort19 brings upon him. People point at him, the servants snicker, even anonymous20 letters flutter on his table, and still he is unsuspecting, or, at the most, is disturbed without definitely knowing why. There is, except in the case of treachery, which is extremely rare, or the taking in the act, which is still rarer, only one possibility of enlightenment for him—namely, that a very intimate friend or a near relative shall play the part of the ruthless physician, and supply evidences which are irrefutable. An autocrat21 is hardly less interested in the credit of his system than a husband in the reputation of his wife. This system is apparently22 identical with his personality. He bears all the responsibility. He has reason for the most far-reaching suspicion of all who approach him, because he seldom sees any one who does not wish something of him. Who, then, has the courage, the credit, and the means to approach the Czar, and to tell him the truth concerning what goes on about him and is done in his name? A near friend? That would have to be a foreign monarch23. It is well known how carefully kings avoid seeming to advise, especially when the excessively proud Russian dynasty is in question. What other monarch, moreover, must not consider his own interests, which cannot be identical with those of Russia? the German Emperor perhaps[Pg 210] least of all. Unfortunately, however, the relations between William II. and Nicholas II. are none of the most intimate. Indeed, Nicholas openly shuns24 too frequent intercourse25 with Emperor William, and prefers when he is in Germany to play tennis with his brother-in-law of Hesse. There remains, then, only near relatives. They, indeed, are much in evidence, and they have the Czar entirely26 under their influence. They are public opinion for him; and as long as they have no interest in placing themselves on the side of the opposition27, so long, according to physico-psychological laws, will the voice of the real public opinion decrease in proportion to the square of the approach to the Czar; and all anonymous or unauthorized enlightenments and memorials by patriots who willingly make themselves victims will make no more than a momentary28 impression. The public opinion which forced the Czar Alexander II. into the war with Turkey was the opinion of the belligerent29 grand-dukes; the public opinion which rules the present Czar and thereby30 prevents the counsels of the opposition from having a hearing is again that of the grand-dukes, who move only in the narrowest court circles and in those of the reactionary31 bureaucracy. The Czar knows this, but he cannot help himself. He has just now had a new experience of it, when those about him made him firmly believe that the Japanese affair was well on the way towards a peaceful settlement, while at the same time, by dilatory[Pg 211] tactics and constant preparations, they provoked the Japanese to declare war.
There is only one possible position for an intelligent ruler who seeks to secure veracious32 information. That is to institute a free press and an independent parliament. To be sure, both press and parliament may be led astray, and lead astray. It is unquestionably easier to find one's way in a few reports of the highest counsellors than in the chaotic33 confusion of voices of unmuzzled newspaper writers and members of parliament, among whom, it cannot be denied, conscienceless demagogues find place only too quickly. But he who bears such heavy responsibility should not avoid difficulties; and there is absolutely no other means of gaining a hearing for the truth than by the free utterance34 of every criticism. Finally, one learns to read and to hear, and comes to distinguish between real arguments and those of demagogues. No one outside the country can form a conception of how the Russian press and the elements of parliamentary institutions are oppressed by the camorra of officials. The zemstvo of the province of Tver, which had the effrontery35 to entertain wishes for a constitution, was dissolved; and this is the least that happens in such cases. The persecution36 of the persons who are under suspicion of exerting especial influence upon their fellows—this is the evil. They are surprised by night, and in the most fortunate cases are held in prison for months during [Pg 212]investigations. In other cases, when the search shows that the smallest bit of forbidden literature was in the hands of the suspected man, his exile to a distant province or to Siberia is a matter of course. These things, however, are unfortunately only too well known. What is not so well known is the way editors are treated who presume to wish to edit a sheet or who draw upon themselves as editors the displeasure of the police. The head censor8 in St. Petersburg, chief of the highest bureau of the press, is a certain Zvyerev, a former Liberal professor in the University of Moscow. Renegades are always the worst. Since Zvyerev has been censor the restrictions37 of the Russian press have been severer than ever. I became acquainted with the former editor-in-chief of a great paper, who sketched38 for me the examination he underwent before permission was granted him to edit a paper under censorship. There are, I should explain, two sorts of papers in Russia. The first are those which appear ostensibly without censorship, at their own risk, and at the slightest slip are simply suppressed. It is easy to guess how ready people are to invest in such enterprises. Those of the second sort are papers under censorship, which are submitted to the censor before they appear, and through his oversight39 receive a certain protection, not, to be sure, of a very far-reaching kind. This, however, is the only method by which any capital can be secured; and without capital to-day the founding of a paper is an impossibility.
[Pg 213]
Ivan Mikhailitch Golitzyn, then, wishes to start a paper, has taken all preparatory steps, has procured40 capital and valuable testimonials, and appears now before the mighty41 Zvyerev to request the final license42.
Zvyerev is a snob43 and bows to a great name. Therefore he cannot immediately say no, for the candidate has taken care to obtain testimonials from the most prominent people. Therefore the following dialogue ensues:
"Ivan Mikhailitch, I know you and your family. You are a Russian noble, and as such are called upon to protect the interests of our Emperor and of the church. There is also nothing to be said against your patrons. But you yourself, ever since your student days, have been under suspicion of harboring Western ideas. Your associations also are not entirely above suspicion. I am informed that you associate with Jews."
"Your excellency knows that my paper is to stand for progress, which certainly is not forbidden, and if Jews are among my acquaintances, it would be unchristian to insult them by turning my back on them."
"Yes, that is all very well. But I should like to know whether you will oppose the impertinences of the Jews with the necessary vigor44?"
"Your excellency will perceive that a paper which stands for progress cannot attack the Jews without good reason. But, on the other hand, it[Pg 214] cannot be philo-Semitic, for our mercantile class would not advertise, on account of their anti-Semitic feeling, and the paper could not continue."
"Will your paper support the absurd efforts which are being made towards the introduction of a constitution?"
"We will concern ourselves only with practical questions. The introduction of a constitution does not belong to these."
"But if one of your editors should make an attempt to enter upon the discussion of this question, would you permit it?"
"My editors know the programme and will not attempt any disloyalty to it. But should the case occur, it would be my duty to protect the integrity of the programme."
"Ivan Mikhailitch, you are a clever man and know how to make evasive answers. I cannot refuse you a license. But I warn you! And beware of the Jews. That is the first duty of a Russian nobleman to-day."
That is the conversation which has certainly been carried on more than once in Zvyerev's office before the founding of a paper. In striking agreement with it is the scene which Struve reports in his Osvobozhdenie, when, after the suppression of a paper, the editor presents himself because his license has been taken away unjustly.
Again, take the case of a Moscow paper which has published a poem delivered at the time of a public[Pg 215] festival, but in which the author had afterwards made some changes. The paper—I do not remember its name—was suppressed. The publisher or the editor, who is likewise said to have been a Russian noble, went to St. Petersburg, and objected that, as his paper appeared under censorship, if any one was to blame it was the censor who had let this poem pass. Zvyerev, however, showed plainly that latter-day tendencies did not please him, and that he only wanted an excuse for taking measures against the paper. Of course such measures mean, under some circumstances, financial ruin; in any case, severe injury to all the contributors. Therefore suppression of the license is an unusually effective means of pressure to bring to bear against the convictions of editors. In this case pressure of such a monstrous45 kind was attempted as it is to be hoped stands alone in the chapter of censor-tyranny. The editor was told in plain words, by Zvyerev, that he might permit it to be stated that the poem had been smuggled46 into the paper behind his back by the Jews, and that the minister of the interior would at once grant a license for the reappearance of the paper. The editor, of course, refused the demand, and a new page was added to the book of Russian infamy47. Zvyerev is still in office as a worthy48 assistant to his minister, Plehve.
The oppression of independent-minded organs is, however, not the only expedient49 of Russian policy in regard to the press. Its antithesis50 is not absent—official[Pg 216] support of the revolutionary and provincial51 press. Russia rejoices in one journal which has not its equal in untruthfulness and diabolical52 baseness in the whole world, the Novoye Vremya. This Panslavic sheet, which is ready to eat all Germans and Jews alive, and which finds no lie too infamous53, no invention too childish to serve up to its readers, if only their prejudices are tickled54, is openly supported by the Russian government. It therefore contains an incomparably greater amount of news than any other, has consequently the most subscribers, and can pay its contributors and correspondents the best, so that every one who wants to read a paper with plenty of news has to take this noble organ. I found it everywhere in Russian houses, and if I asked the master of the house his opinion of it, the answer was everywhere the same: "Infamous, but indispensable."
It is, then, carefully seen that in Russia, as elsewhere, emperors—and other people—do not hear the truth. The autocracy55, or rather bureaucracy, surrounds itself with bulwarks56 which nothing can penetrate. It will need an earthquake to make a breach57. This earthquake is, indeed, according to the common opinion of all thinking Russians, nearer than is generally supposed. It is the financial breaking-up of a system now held together only by foreign loans.
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1
specialty
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| n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长 | |
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patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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patriots
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| 爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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parasites
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| 寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫 | |
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transcends
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| 超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的第三人称单数 )； 优于或胜过… | |
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censor
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| n./vt.审查，审查员；删改 | |
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disseminate
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| v.散布；传播 | |
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monotonously
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| adv.单调地，无变化地 | |
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personalities
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| n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 ) | |
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riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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consort
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| v.相伴；结交 | |
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anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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autocrat
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| n.独裁者；专横的人 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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shuns
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的第三人称单数 ) | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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belligerent
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| adj.好战的，挑起战争的；n.交战国，交战者 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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reactionary
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| n.反动者，反动主义者；adj.反动的，反动主义的，反对改革的 | |
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veracious
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| adj.诚实可靠的 | |
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chaotic
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| adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的 | |
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utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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effrontery
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| n.厚颜无耻 | |
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persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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restrictions
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| 约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则） | |
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sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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oversight
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| n.勘漏，失察，疏忽 | |
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procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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snob
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| n.势利小人，自以为高雅、有学问的人 | |
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vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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45
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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46
smuggled
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| 水货 | |
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infamy
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| n.声名狼藉，出丑，恶行 | |
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48
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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50
antithesis
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| n.对立；相对 | |
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51
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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52
diabolical
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| adj.恶魔似的，凶暴的 | |
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infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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54
tickled
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| （使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐 | |
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55
autocracy
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| n.独裁政治，独裁政府 | |
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56
bulwarks
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| n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 )；保障；支柱；舷墙 | |
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57
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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