able to get recruits, they had no arms for them, and no money wherewith to purchase arms or anything else.  In these circumstances they gravely appointed a committee to collect funds, knowing very well that no money would be forthcoming.  It was as if a shipwrecked crew in an open boat, having reached the brink of starvation, appointed a committee to obtain a supply of fresh water and provisions!  In the hope of obtaining assistance from headquarters, a delegate was sent to St. Petersburg and Moscow to explain that for the arming of the population about a quarter of a million of roubles was required.  The delegate brought back thirty second-hand revolvers!  The revolutionist who confesses all this* recognises that the whole scheme was childishly unpractical:  “We chose the path of popular insurrection because we had faith in the revolutionary spirit of the masses, in its power and its invincibility.  That was the weak side of our position; and the most curious part of it was that we drew proofs in support of our theory from history—­from the abortive insurrections of Pazin and Pugatcheff, which took place in an age when the Government had only a small regular army and no railways or telegraphs!  We did not even think of attempting a propaganda among the military!” In the district of Tchigirin the agitators had a little momentary success, but the result was the same.  There a student called Stefanovitch pretended that the Tsar was struggling with the officials to benefit the peasantry, and he showed the simple rustics a forged imperial manifesto in which they were ordered to form a society for the purpose of raising an insurrection against the officials, the nobles, and the priests.  At one moment (April, 1877), the society had about 600 members, but a few months later it was discovered by the police, and the leaders and peasants were arrested.

     * Debogorio-Mokrievitch.  “Vospominaniya” ("Reminiscences"). 
     Paris, 1894-99.

When it had thus become evident that propaganda and agitation were alike useless, and when numerous arrests were being made daily, it became necessary for the revolutionists to reconsider their position, and some of the more moderate proposed to rally to the Liberals, as a temporary measure.  Hitherto there had been very little sympathy and a good deal of openly avowed hostility between Liberals and revolutionists.  The latter, convinced that they could overthrow the Autocratic Power by their own unaided efforts, had looked askance at Liberalism because they believed that parliamentary discussions and party struggles would impede rather than facilitate the advent of the Socialist Millennium, and strengthen the domination of the bourgeoisie without really improving the condition of the masses.  Now, however, when the need of allies was felt, it seemed that constitutional government might be used as a stepping-stone for reaching the Socialist ideal, because it must grant a certain liberty of the Press and of association, and it would necessarily