Page:Siberia and the Exile System Vol 2.djvu/457

Rh An English writer, who signs himself "A Former Resident in Russia," and who seems to me to be not only extremely well informed, but just and trustworthy in his judgments, has recently published, in an English review, an article entitled "Some Truths about Russia," in which he refers to the Russian liberals as follows:

I have known scores of foreign residents in Russia, but never yet one who, whatever his political opinions may have been when he first visited the country, did not, at last, cordially sympathize with the ideas and aspirations of the Russian liberal party. Throughout the length and breadth of the Tsar's dominions there is not another group of men who, for genuine, wise patriotism, thorough grasp of the burning questions of the day, cordial sympathy with all that is noblest in the character of their countrymen, and exemplary political discipline, can compare with these liberals. The select band of thinkers and writers who rally round the Russian Gazette of Moscow and the review called Russian Thought, is not only an ornament to a nation still emerging from barbarism, but would do credit to an old constitutional country like our own.

I approve every word of this encomium, and believe it to be fully deserved. I am personally acquainted with many members of the Moscow group of liberals, and regard them with profound admiration and esteem. Few public men in the United States are better fitted than they, by education and by character, to take part in the government of a great state, and no Americans of my acquaintance are animated by more sincere or more disinterested patriotism. Many members, however, of the "select band of thinkers and writers who rally round the Russian Gazette and Russian Thought" have recently been in prison or in exile, among them Professor V. A. Góltsef, the late N. V. Shelgunóf, N. K. Mikháilofski, Vladímir Korolénko, K. M. Staniukóvich, Gregórie Máchtet, and the novelist Petropávlovski. The last three were in Siberia at the time of my journey, Professor Góltsef has been