登陆注册
5382300000159

第159章 CHAPTER XXIV(4)

especially if the word "actuel" has been affixed--that he sees before him a real living member of the Russian Privy Council. When to the title is added, "de S. M. l'Empereur de toutes les Russies,"

a boundless field is opened up to the non-Russian imagination. In reality these titles are not nearly so important as they seem. The soi-disant "Conseiller de Cour" has probably nothing to do with the Court. The Conseiller d'Etat is so far from being a member of the Conseil d'Etat that he cannot possibly become a member till he receives a higher tchin. As to the Privy Councillor, it is sufficient to say that the Privy Council, which had a very odious reputation in its lifetime, died more than a century ago, and has not since been resuscitated. The explanation of these anomalies is to be found in the fact that the Russian tchins, like the German honorary titles--Hofrath, Staatsrath, Geheimrath--of which they are a literal translation, indicate not actual office, but simply official rank. Formerly the appointment to an office generally depended on the tchin; now there is a tendency to reverse the old order of things and make the tchin depend upon the office actually held.

In Russian the two words are quite different; the Council is called Gosudarstvenny sovet, and the title Statski sovetnik.

The reader of practical mind who is in the habit of considering results rather than forms and formalities desires probably no further description of the Russian bureaucracy, but wishes to know simply how it works in practice. What has it done for Russia in the past, and what is it doing in the present?

At the present day, when faith in despotic civilisers and paternal government has been rudely shaken, and the advantages of a free, spontaneous national development are fully recognised, centralised bureaucracies have everywhere fallen into bad odour. In Russia the dislike to them is particularly strong, because it has there something more than a purely theoretical basis. The recollection of the reign of Nicholas I., with its stern military regime, and minute, pedantic formalism, makes many Russians condemn in no measured terms the administration under which they live, and most Englishmen will feel inclined to endorse this condemnation. Before passing sentence, however, we ought to know that the system has at least an historical justification, and we must not allow our love of constitutional liberty and local self-government to blind us to the distinction between theoretical and historical possibility.

What seems to political philosophers abstractly the best possible government may be utterly inapplicable in certain concrete cases.

We need not attempt to decide whether it is better for humanity that Russia should exist as a nation, but we may boldly assert that without a strongly centralised administration Russia would never have become one of the great European Powers. Until comparatively recent times the part of the world which is known as the Russian Empire was a conglomeration of independent or semi-independent political units, animated with centrifugal as well as centripetal forces; and even at the present day it is far from being a compact homogeneous State. It was the autocratic power, with the centralised administration as its necessary complement, that first created Russia, then saved her from dismemberment and political annihilation, and ultimately secured for her a place among European nations by introducing Western civilisation.

Whilst thus recognising clearly that autocracy and a strongly centralised administration were necessary first for the creation and afterwards for the preservation of national independence, we must not shut our eyes to the evil consequences which resulted from this unfortunate necessity. It was in the nature of things that the Government, aiming at the realisation of designs which its subjects neither sympathised with nor clearly understood, should have become separated from the nation; and the reckless haste and violence with which it attempted to carry out its schemes aroused a spirit of positive opposition among the masses. A considerable section of the people long looked on the reforming Tsars as incarnations of the spirit of evil, and the Tsars in their turn looked upon the people as raw material for the realisation of their political designs. This peculiar relation between the nation and the Government has given the key-note to the whole system of administration. The Government has always treated the people as minors, incapable of understanding its political aims, and only very partially competent to look after their own local affairs.

The officials have naturally acted in the same spirit. Looking for direction and approbation merely to their superiors, they have systematically treated those over whom they were placed as a conquered or inferior race. The State has thus come to be regarded as an abstract entity, with interests entirely different from those of the human beings composing it; and in all matters in which State interests are supposed to be involved, the rights of individuals are ruthlessly sacrificed.

If we remember that the difficulties of centralised administration must be in direct proportion to the extent and territorial variety of the country to be governed, we may readily understand how slowly and imperfectly the administrative machine necessarily works in Russia. The whole of the vast region stretching from the Polar Ocean to the Caspian, and from the shores of the Baltic to the confines of the Celestial Empire, is administered from St.

同类推荐
  • 佛说见正经

    佛说见正经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 义和团揭帖

    义和团揭帖

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 古文龙虎经注疏

    古文龙虎经注疏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 顾误录

    顾误录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 从公续录

    从公续录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 七星彩

    七星彩

    她是富商之女纪澄,原本性格纯真,因经历了祝吉军的威胁强娶,并害得二哥被打断腿的事后,下定决心要嫁入高门。借沈府老太太六十大寿之际,纪澄住进了姑母家中。从此以后,纪澄从曾经受人百般宠爱的千金小姐,变成寄居在别人屋檐下、不得不低头的不受宠姑娘。纪澄小心翼翼地与府中姐妹和王家、苏家姐妹相处,却遭到他人排挤、羡慕、嫉妒,甚至暗算,但她不动声色地发挥自己的聪明才智,一次次化险为夷。她的聪颖、美丽,终是招来了一朵朵桃花——沈家各位公子,但这些公子个个矜持,不表露心迹。这让宣节校尉何诚占了先机,与纪澄定下亲事。原本皆大欢喜的事,却被纨绔二公子沈彻搅了局,他到底怀着怎样的心思?纪澄能寻得一门好姻缘吗?
  • 穿越万界之黑王医生

    穿越万界之黑王医生

    当在手术台上奋战的军医李彦累死,噩梦世界的创世神“噩梦之神”重新给他生存的机会。看他穿越各个位面,为噩梦之神夺取位面水晶,然后成为一大堆手下的故事第一个世界迪迦奥特曼的世界第二个世界假斩赤红之瞳的世界第三个世界主角的愿望即将完成
  • 佛说前世三转经

    佛说前世三转经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 贩卖时光78天

    贩卖时光78天

    徐式微毕业那年提前离校,孤身一人躲到了望城,开了一间名为“时光当铺”的小店,打出了“收购回忆,贩卖时光”的招牌,就在那段时光即将被贩卖一空的第三年,林思亦的出现打破了平静。她带来了徐迦,留下了第77个故事,与此同时,旧时光里的人也不期然地出现。新的故事,旧的回忆,交织在一起,她发现,每一个邂逅都有“蓄谋”,每一个选择都非“自愿”。隐藏在爱情、友情背后的秘密被揭开,面对真相,他们该如何抉择……
  • 文明科学系统

    文明科学系统

    新书《诸天改革者》已上传,科学流修仙 文明从星球到星际有三大科技壁障,能量、生物寿命、飞行速度,而人类却无一达标。这是一个文明发展的故事,一切从陆毅被系统上身,被绑在十字架上烧鸡开始......
  • 讲故事的人

    讲故事的人

    一个阴冷的雨天,一个失魂落魄的女子,一个神秘富裕的男子,一个杀人的故事,一处荒僻的木屋,一本记忆的本子,陶夏北的人生由此发生了惊天动地的改变。失去亲人,爱人,朋友,辞去工作,却因单冰箫找了个听故事的好差事。住进豪宅,开着豪车,只需聆听便可拿到优渥报酬,天下岂有这等好事?兜兜转转,才发现这一切不过是一场交易……我看你的故事,你听我的故事,认识新人,挥别旧人,在这个喧嚣的世界,每个人都有每个人的故事,但总有那么一群人,擅长静静聆听,也总有那样一群人,带着情感,叙述着一个又一个的故事……
  • 地地导弹科技知识(下)(青少年高度关注的导弹武器科技)

    地地导弹科技知识(下)(青少年高度关注的导弹武器科技)

    军事科学是一门范围广博、内容丰富的综合性科学,它涉及自然科学、社会科学和技术科学等众多学科,而军事科学则围绕高科技战争进行,学习现代军事高技术知识,使我们能够了解现代科技前沿,了解武器发展的形势,开阔视野,增长知识,并培养我们的忧患意识与爱国意识,使我们不断学习科学文化知识,用以建设我们强大的国家,用以作为我们强大的精神力量。
  • 战胜青春的敌人:当代青少年的心理困惑与自我调适之道

    战胜青春的敌人:当代青少年的心理困惑与自我调适之道

    本书通过对现实中困扰青少年成长的具体事实的深度分析,结合大量翔实的资料和统计数据,生动而具体地向您展现青少年“青春的敌人”之成因、发展、预防和应对方法。
  • 新编马克思主义原著选读

    新编马克思主义原著选读

    《新编马克思主义原著选读》以最新版的马克思、恩格斯、列宁、毛泽东、邓小平、江泽民和胡锦涛的著作为文本,并在导读与注释中努力体现最新的研究成果。书中精选最有代表意义的篇、章、节,充分体现马克思主义的精髓。
  • 打破常规(影响你一生的成功励志书)

    打破常规(影响你一生的成功励志书)

    心态决定一切!智慧创造一切!这是一个人人追求成功的时代,心智的力量具有创造成功态势的无穷魔力!即具有成功暗示的随着灵感牵引的成功力。