All these men belong to what may be called the party of progress, which anxiously supports all proposals recognised as “liberal,” and especially all measures likely to improve the condition of the peasantry.  Their chief opponent is that little man with close-cropped, bullet-shaped head and small piercing eyes, who may be called the Leader of the opposition.  He condemns many of the proposed schemes, on the ground that the province is already overtaxed, and that the expenditure ought to be reduced to the smallest possible figure.  In the District Assembly he preaches this doctrine with considerable success, for there the peasantry form the majority, and he knows how to use that terse, homely language, interspersed with proverbs, which has far more influence on the rustic mind than scientific principles and logical reasoning; but here, in Provincial Assembly, his following composes only a respectable minority, and he confines himself to a policy of obstruction.

The Zemstvo of Novgorod had at that time the reputation of being one of the most enlightened and energetic, and I must say that the proceedings were conducted in a business-like, satisfactory way.  The reports were carefully considered, and each article of the annual budget was submitted to minute scrutiny and criticism.  In several of the provinces which I afterwards visited I found that affairs were conducted in a very different fashion:  quorums were formed with extreme difficulty, and the proceedings, when they at last commenced, were treated as mere formalities and despatched as speedily as possible.  The character of the Assembly depends of course on the amount of interest taken in local public affairs.  In some districts this interest is considerable; in others it is very near zero.

The birth of this new institution was hailed with enthusiasm, and produced great expectations.  At that time a large section of the Russian educated classes had a simple, convenient criterion for institutions of all kinds.  They assumed as a self-evident axiom that the excellence of an institution must always be in proportion to its “liberal” and democratic character.  The question as to how far it might be appropriate to the existing conditions and to the character of the people, and as to whether it might not, though admirable in itself, be too expensive for the work to be performed, was little thought of.  Any organisation which rested on “the elective principle,” and provided an arena for free public discussion, was sure to be well received, and these conditions were fulfilled by the Zemstvo.

The expectations excited were of various kinds.  People who thought more of political than economic progress saw in the Zemstvo the basis of boundless popular liberty.  Prince Yassiltchikof, for example, though naturally of a phlegmatic temperament, became for a moment enthusiastic, and penned the following words:  “With a daring unparalleled in the chronicles of the world, we have entered on the career