Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VII
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
The Polish nation, from this time forth, was to the
Slavophiles the embodiment of the detested Western
Europe and of the detested Catholicism. But the
ownership of the soil was given to the Lithuanian
peasants, chiefly because the Slavophiles, with Milyutin at
their head, hated the Poles as aristocrats. For them the
Polish nationality was a peculiarity of the noble caste,
and, as such, ought to be rooted out of Russia. Here
also the absolute power sought to contract an alliance
with the masses against the higher classes.
But to Katkóf personally the uniformity of the Russian
state was henceforward the most important principle. He
allied himself with the Slavophiles in order through their
worship of democracy to bring the government to stir
up the Finns against the Swedes in Finland, the
Lithuanians against the Poles in Poland, the Esthonians and
the Letts against the Germans in the Baltic provinces,
because they necessarily insisted on the idea that the
strengthening of all these oppressed small nationalities
in their relation to the ruling people was only the first
step to the final and complete Russianizing of those
countries.
Then in 1866 came the attempt of Karakósof to
assassinate Alexander II., and it gave to the re-action its last
strong impulse. Katkóf shouted with joy, “The pistol
shot of Karakosof has purified the air.” It is quite true
that in a short time the government got frightened at
its alliance with democracy. It once more cast its
looks towards the nobles, whom it had hitherto
mistrusted, because they had wished for a constitution.
Even Katkóf’s paper was suppressed for two months, as
a punishment, because its editor had dared to publish a
warning from Valuyef. But soon the reign of terror,
friendly to the peasants, conquered under Milyutin in
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
