Page:Leo Tolstoy - The Russian Revolution (1907).djvu/25

 8 forms, at different periods, but always found expression in the same ways: in civil wars, robberies, murders, executions, and finished with the fall of the old power and the accession of a new one. And when the new power became as oppressive to the people as that which had been overthrown, it too was upset, and another new one was put in its place, which by the same unalterable nature of power, became in due course as harmful as its predecessors. Thus, for instance, in France there were eleven changes of power within eighty years: the Bourbons, the Convention, the Directory, Bonaparte, the Empire, again the Bourbons, a Republic, Louis Philippe, again a Republic, again a Bonaparte, and again a Republic. The substitution of new powers for old ones took place among other nations too, though not so rapidly as in France. These changes in most cases did not improve the condition of the people, and therefore those who made these changes could not help coming to the conclusion that the misery they suffered did not so much depend on the nature of the persons in power as on the fact that a few persons exercised power over many. And therefore the people tried to render the power harmless by limiting it. And such limitation was introduced in several countries in the form of elected Chambers of Representatives.

But the men who limited the arbitrariness of the rulers and found the Assemblies, becoming themselves possessors of power, naturally succumbed to the depraving influence which accompanies power, and to which the autocratic rulers had succumbed, These men, becoming sharers in power even though not singly, perpetrated, jointly or separately, the same kind of evil, and became as great a burden on the people as the autocratic rulers had been. Then, to limit the arbitrariness of power still. more, monarchical power was abolished altogether in some countries, and a Government was established chosen by the whole people. In this way Republics were instituted in France, America and Switzerland; and the Referendum and the Initiative were introduced, giving every member of the community the possibility of interfering and participating in legislation.