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.
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