Let us first of all consider the narrower political issue.  This was simple enough; the outbreak of 1905 had as its primary object the setting up of some form of representative government which would control the bureaucratic machine.  It has been already pointed out that the constitution of modern Russia was largely due to the genius of Peter the Great.  During the nineteenth century, however, it became apparent to thinking Russians that the constitution, for the sake both of stability and efficiency, needed development in the direction of popular representation.  The plea of efficiency was really far the stronger of the two.  Had Peter the Great been eternal, he might possibly have continued to exercise an effective control over the administrative system which he created; for he was a man of superhuman energy and will-power.  But most Tsars, who are men of ordinary capacity, found it impossible to do so.  The consequence was that the bureaucracy acquired what amounted in practice to absolute irresponsibility.  Now irresponsibility is demoralising to any administration, however democratic be the principles upon which its officials are selected.  A bureaucracy, ruling without proper external control, becomes a prey to the demons of red tape, routine, officialdom and place-hunting; it tends to stifle individual initiative and the sense of moral responsibility, since it forgets the real object of its existence—­the good government of the country—­in its passion for self-preservation and its desire to secure the smooth-working of the machine; it becomes inhuman, intensely conservative and corrupt.  Above all it develops a hyper-sensitiveness to lay criticism, which compels it to do all in its power—­and in Russia that power is unlimited—­to crush freedom of speech and freedom of the press.  The problem, however, of devising some popular check upon its action was an extremely difficult one for the simple reason that the mass of the Russian people never have taken, and even to-day do not take, any interest in political questions.  Nevertheless the Tsar, Alexander II., who was one of the most enlightened monarchs that ever sat upon the Russian throne, determined to attempt a solution.  Unfortunately on March 1, 1881, the very day when Alexander had given his approval to a scheme of constitutional reform, involving the establishment of representative institutions, he was assassinated by revolutionaries.  This fatal act put back the clock for twenty-five years, the court and the nation were thrown into the arms of the bureaucracy as their only protector against terrorism, and reaction reigned supreme.  Meanwhile the bureaucracy grew more corrupt, more tyrannical, more inefficient every day, while on the other hand the party of reform, thrust as it were underground and hunted like rats, became more and more bitter in spirit and more and more extreme in theory.