Page:The Spirit of Russia by T G Masaryk, volume 1.pdf/109

Rh were applied in practice. The use of the words "citoyen" and "société” was forbidden. It need hardly be said that Russia participated in the second coalition against France (1799). In 1798 and 1800, Tsar Paul issued a decree to the following effect: "The supreme power of the autocrat, bestowed on him by God, extends over the church. It is the duty of the entire clergy to comply with the commands of the tsar as divinely appointed head of the church and to do this in all things, in religious matters as well as in civil."

It is true that Paul was already mentally disordered. Reaction, legitimism, and the censorship did not suffice to protect the tsar against the palace revolution, a revolution which his own son made no attempt to hinder! Alexander I, who was born in 1777 and reigned from 1801 to 1825, had been educated by his grandmother Catherine upon Rousseauist principles. Laharpe, the republican, subsequently one of the leading spirits in the Helvetian republic, was from 1782 to 1795 tutor to the princes Alexander and Constantine. The education given to the brothers was characteristic of the half culture which then prevailed at court, the influence exercised by Laharpe and by the entourage in general being superficial and desultory.

As crown prince this pupil of Laharpe the humanist and philosopher of enlightenment promised himself to effect far-reaching reforms. He was an enthusiast for the abolition of serfdom. In 1796, writing to his friend Kočubei, he said: "Incredible disorder prevails in the administration; robbery goes on everywhere; all departments are ill-managed; order seems to have been banished, but the empire recks nothing, striving only after expansion." In the same year, Alexander assured Prince Czartoryski that though he disapproved the excesses of the revolution he wished all success to the French republic. When he ascended the throne, he gave a public pledge to abide by the liberal traditions of his grandmother, saying that it was a sacred obligation to maintain one law for all, and promising to rule "in accordance with the laws and Spirit of Catherine."

Russia overflowed with joy and enthusiasm. Certain steps taken by the tsar encouraged hope. Radiščev was given legislative employment. Alexander furthered the translation of the works of Adam Smith, Bentham, Beccaria, Montesquieu, and similar writers. He was an enthusiast for Pestalozzi, and