“ In speaking of the "Terror" of 1793, Herzen declared that its task was only to judge men. The task of the new revolution is to judge institutions, to demolish beliefs, to destroy all hope in what is old, to shatter every prejudice and shake off the yoke of all ancient ties, without concession or pity. Well might M. de Molinari, the well-known French publicist, assert that if Herzen could only have become master of the destinies of Russia, he would have been as despotic as the emperor Nicholas himself. ”

“ Consenting to the division of Bulgaria, and giving up Bosnia to Austria, is equivalent to renouncing the past of Russia as the great protecting power of Slavism and Eastern Christianity. Even the most malevolent enemy of Russia and her dynasty could not have invented anything more destructive to her internal peace and tranquillity. There you see the true Nihilists — the men for whom there exists neither a Russia nor Russian tradition, no Russian nationality, no Orthodox Church. ”

“ These facts are too notorious to be challenged; and they must by this time be familiar to every one who aspires to be regarded as a serious politician. Yet it is with these facts before him, that a man who has been prime minister of England, and who is still regarded as the most authoritative mouthpiece of the Liberal party, seizes the opportunity to denounce, in language of unmeasured violence, Austria, the ally of Germany — Austria who is co-operating with Germany in the task which would otherwise have to be performed by ourselves, of keeping the ambition of Russia within reasonable bounds. ”

“ Those are the men who, like the Nihilists of the stamp of Bogoljuhoff and Sassulitch, are destitute of all historical consciousness, of every spark of living national feeling. Both belong to the same species, the same generation. Decide for yourselves who is the more dangerous for Russia, for her national and moral prosperity, and her dignity as a State. Which of the two kinds of Nihilists is the worst — the open or the disguised, the coarse anarchists or the refined statesmen? ”

“ The future is ours. The Germans have reached their day, the English their midday, the French their afternoon, the Italians their evening, the Spanish their night; but the Slavs stand on the threshold of the morning. ”

“ Not that Prince Gortchakoff is consumed with warlike ardor, for he is, above all things, a diplomatist, and he regards armies as merely one of the instruments that subserve the purposes of his trade. But the Russian chancellor, and those who consent to take their inspiration from him, perpetually occupy themselves with the consideration how to promote the greatness and glory of Russia, and in the pursuit of this object they coquet with every influence that promises to advance it. The peculiar enthusiasm of the Russian people, known as Panslavism, is an influence they necessarily do not disdain ”

“ The whole movement, as far as any basis beyond the basis of restlessness and ambition is concerned, is utterly unreal. Between France and Italy, between Germany and England, there is far more community of everything that makes a nation, than there is between these alleged Slav members of one family.
Nevertheless, the Slav movement is afoot, and the Slavonic menace is impending. The national party in Russia favour it, because it is the only means by which they can make their own importance felt. ”

“ There is the England of St. James's Hall, and the England of the Guildhall. An England with a soul and a heart, and in England which has only a pocket. In other words, there is the England of Mr. Gladstone, and the England of Lord Beaconsfield. We Russians, too, have our sordid cynics, but they are in a minority. They may sneer, but they cannot rule; and, with that distinction, let me conclude by saying that those St. Petersburg Tchinovniks, whose views Mr. Wallace reproduces, are now what they have always been, the Beaconsfields of Russia. ”

“ Nor need we concern ourselves to enquire whether the view taken of the particular stage of decrepitude which the other races of Europe have reached, be in accordance with facts. It is enough to note that a claim is advanced, not for Russia, not for the Slavs of Bulgaria, not for Servia or the Slavonic subjects of the Austro-Hungarian empire, but for the entire Slavonic people as one family, destined to assert its unity, its power, and its influence, in the comity of nations. ”

“ But we must venture to express the opinion that Prince Bismarck deserves the thanks of Europe, and the gratitude more especially of those who entertain a serious attachment to the ways of peace, for having thrust nationality into the background, and engaged the resources and manhood of his countrymen in a struggle ostensibly growing out of diplomatic controversies, and not engendered by a wilful and determined passion of the German people to make war upon their neighbors in the pursuit of an abstract and almost metaphysical dogma. ”

“ But Nihilism does not confine itself to national emancipation; it aspires to embrace the whole world in its resolute crusade. Within the space of a few months, three separate and appalling attempts have been made on the life of the emperor; but what renders them far more terrible and important is, that they have been made by men who avow that they will not scruple to bring about a fresh organization of society in Europe by the self-same means they employed against the imperial train at Moscow, and against the imperial palace at St. Petersburg. ”

“ In the same way the world had to wait for many years in order to learn whether Germany should be welded into unity by the house of Hohenzollern, by the house of Hapsburg, or by the National Liberals. There are advocates of Panslavism who, as we have seen, look to Russia as the nucleus of the movement, and who, like Tcherkasski, would liberate only to annex, and treat as traitors to the Slav cause all who refuse to look to St. Petersburg as their political centre. ”

“ Yet it would be a mistake of a yet grosser kind to infer that the government is in the hands of a single-minded autocrat, surrounded by faithful and united counsellors, all of them devoted to the cause of peace, and that they have periodically, in spite of themselves, to yield to the impulses that ever and anon obtain mastery over an uninstructed and formless public opinion. ”

“ At first sight, some people who applauded the movements which took the house of Savoy to Rome, and made Berlin the seat of empire, might think it was incumbent on them to tender their sympathies to the agitation which would annex to Russia all the Slav-speaking countries of Europe, or merge Russia in some great Slav confederation or republic. But a moment's reflection would show them that there is really no parity between the first two cases and the third. Italian is a language, and so is German. There is no such thing as a common Slav language. A Russian does not understand a Bulgarian ”

“ The doctrine of nationality, it is only too painfully evident, has not yet exhausted its capacity for fomenting bloodshed. There is yet, as O. K. tells us, a nationality which is not satisfied, which is only in its germ, but for whose full development we may make ready as soon as ever we like. The Italians have achieved their unity, and so have the Germans. It is now the turn of the Slavs. ”

“ We could multiply citations almost indefinitely, but we think we have adduced ample evidence to show that Europe has to deal with a power which is at once weak as against its own people, and unscrupulous as against its neighbors. The common conception of Russia used to be, that it consists of an intriguing government, and, if we except a handful of Nihilists, of a passive and amenable people. ”

“ Man, Herzen declared, bears within himself an eternal revolutionary tribunal, "an inexorable Fouquier-Tinville, and above all, a guillotine." Men, he went on to say, are afraid of their own logic; and when they have summoned before this eternal revolutionary tribunal the Church, the State, the family, and morality, they seek to save some shreds of the past. They deny Christianity, but they would fain rescue the immortality of the soul. ”

“ I, on the contrary, have no faith in the old revolutionary methods, and I labor to understand the march of man in the past and in the present, in order to learn how to march with him, without lagging behind, and without going as much in advance as you, for men would not and could not follow me. It is impossible to give an exhaustive account of all the destructive projects of Bakunin, but among the objects of his iconoclastic fury were God, public or private worship, marriage, inheritance, and individual property. ”

“ They are probably willing to trust to the chapter of accidents, and believe that, if they can only save the Slavs from all association with Turkey or Austria, Fate will provide a fresh mould in which to shape the liberated elements. Finally, the Nihilists regard the Slav agitation as a means to a much larger end than any mere unity of race or religion. They are satisfied while they are destroying, and the destruction of Turkey, of Austria, and of Russia is to them a series of progressive steps towards that unbounded chaos, from which the cosmos of the future is to emerge. ”

“ There is a French saying, "On est toujours Jacobin de quelqu'un;" and Bakunin, in the eyes of Herzen, was more Nihilist than the original Nihilists themselves.
Neither you nor I [wrote Herzen to Bakunin] have betrayed our convictions; but we look at the question from a different point of view. You dash forward, as of old, with a passion for destruction that you mistake for a creating force. You break through all obstacles, you respect history only in the future. ”

“ In "some last words," the authoress asks why England and Russia cannot be friends. The animosity, she says, which exists between them has been sedulously fostered by interested parties, and is a reproach to the intelligence of both communities. Neither has anything to gain, and each has much to lose, by substituting hatred for cordiality and suspicion for confidence. She declares that the Russian people have been reluctantly driven into an attitude of antagonism to England, and that they would gladly hail any prospect of escape from that involuntary position. ”

“ Nor can it be doubted that the rapid and brilliant manner in which the Italians were formed into one political community was not without effect in increasing the Teutonic yearning to make of the long-boasted fatherland a political reality. We presume that consistent Liberals, who affect to believe that everything is to be done, not only for the people, but by the people, will not agree with us. ”

“ A former officer in the Guards, Chomjäkoff by name, Juri Samarin, Constantine and Ivan Aksakoff, and others whose names have not become so familiar to the public, used to meet regularly at the house of the elder Aksakoff in Moscow, for the purpose of discussing the most promising means for liberating Russian civilization from the aggressive influences of western Europe. Into this circle young Tcherkasski was soon admitted. He is described in those days as tall, fair, and muscular, of lofty manners, sharp and ready wit, great self-confidence, cool, sceptical, and an excellent linguist. ”

“ Let us develop intoxication, lust, and a corruption hitherto unknown. Let us suffocate geniuses in their cradle. And all this in order to arrive at complete equality. There are other convulsions that we desire; but that concerns only us, the chiefs of the movement. Do you know that we are already tremendously strong? ”

“ They have seen an opportunity of making themselves popular by large talk about English dignity, and by appeals to the national susceptibility. The interests of Europe, the interests of Asia, have been simply used as cards and counters in a game where the stake played for is the majority at the next election. We are unable to say who the Tories were among whom Mr. Froude passed his early years, and who considered Russia the main support of sound principles of government. But we are all aware who were the Liberals among whom Mr. Froude spent his manhood. ”

“ As Prince Gortchakoff once wittily observed, Austria is not a nation, she is not even a State, she is only a government." We cannot compliment the lady on her skill in concealing her rancor, and when she adds that "with the Slavs of Austria and Hungary, that is with the majority of the subjects of the Hapsburg, the Slavs of Russia can only have the liveliest feelings of sympathy and fraternity," she forgets to add that the sympathy and fraternity they wish to display is the sympathy and fraternity of forcible annexation. ”

“ The root of all evil, said Schopenhauer, is existence. Life is unendurable, and must be got rid of. Probably by this time Herr von Hartmann, the successor of Schopenhauer, and who traces misery to consciousness, is beginning to replace him. But it is evident that political Nihilism must find a valuable auxiliary in a philosophy which attributes evil to mere being.
But no doctrine is made generally popular either by metaphysicians or by politicians. The wand of the enchanter is required to give life to dry propositions and dead deductions ”

“ The descent is somewhat startling; and we can hardly be surprised that, when once convinced that Conservatives are "sordid cynics," and Liberals too much engaged in "effective polemics" and "party purposes" to give vent to their real feelings, O. K. should finally let us know what the Russian people, herself among them, really think of our policy and our power. ”

“ When the Constantinople Conference came to an abortive termination, Russian policy was subjected to the influence of three distinct parties. The czar and his official advisers were almost to a man in favor of a policy of caution, and, if possible, of peace. They dreaded the consequences of allowing the direction of affairs to be taken out of their hands, which they saw would infallibly be the case if they committed themselves to a war undertaken at the bidding of Servia, the Slavs of Bulgaria, and the patriots of Moscow. At the head of this latter party were Prince Tcherkasski ”