In this change we may perceive a certain analogy with the history of the French administration from the reign of Philippe le Bel to that of Louis XIV.  In both countries we see the central power bringing the local administrative organs more and more under its control, till at last it succeeds in creating a thoroughly centralised bureaucratic organisation.  But under this superficial resemblance lie profound differences.  The French kings had to struggle with provincial sovereignties and feudal rights, and when they had annihilated this opposition they easily found materials with which to build up the bureaucratic structure.  The Russian sovereigns, on the contrary, met with no such opposition, but they had great difficulty in finding bureaucratic material amongst their uneducated, undisciplined subjects, notwithstanding the numerous schools and colleges which were founded and maintained simply for the purpose of preparing men for the public service.

The administration was thus brought much nearer to the West-European ideal, but some people have grave doubts as to whether it became thereby better adapted to the practical wants of the people for whom it was created.  On this point a well-known Slavophil once made to me some remarks which are worthy of being recorded.  “You have observed,” he said, “that till very recently there was in Russia an enormous amount of official peculation, extortion, and misgovernment of every kind, that the courts of law were dens of iniquity, that the people often committed perjury, and much more of the same sort, and it must be admitted that all this has not yet entirely disappeared.  But what does it prove?  That the Russian people are morally inferior to the German?  Not at all.  It simply proves that the German system of administration, which was forced upon them without their consent, was utterly unsuited to their nature.  If a young growing boy be compelled to wear very tight boots, he will probably burst them, and the ugly rents will doubtless produce an unfavourable impression on the passers-by; but surely it is better that the boots should burst than that the feet should be deformed.  Now, the Russian people was compelled to put on not only tight boots, but also a tight jacket, and, being young and vigorous, it burst them.  Narrow-minded, pedantic Germans can neither understand nor provide for the wants of the broad Slavonic nature.”

In its present form the Russian administration seems at first sight a very imposing edifice.  At the top of the pyramid stands the Emperor, “the autocratic monarch,” as Peter the Great described him, “who has to give an account of his acts to no one on earth, but has power and authority to rule his States and lands as a Christian sovereign according to his own will and judgment.”  Immediately below the Emperor we see the Council of State, the Committee of Ministers, and the Senate, which represent respectively the legislative, the administrative, and the judicial power.  An Englishman glancing