He saw that Russia must be Europeanized, and he also saw that at least one radical change in her internal policy might be used to insure his popularity with the Princes and nobles.

The Russian peasantry was an enormous force which was not utilized to its fullest extent.

It included almost the entire rural population of Russia.

The peasant was legally a freeman.

He lived unchanged under the old Slavonic patriarchal system of _Mirs_, or communes, and _Volosts_.