58/179 Men like Prince Dolgorouki, some of them from families older than the Romanoffs--such men it is who were the leaders in the _Duma_. They have been for years studying these problems, and working among the _Zemstvos_. They are country gentlemen of the old style,--sturdy, practical, imaginative, idealistic, and explosive; powerful in debate, bringing just at the right moment a new element, a new force. Happy is Russia in possessing such a reserve of splendid energy at this time. And if the moujik is not in the forefront of the conflict, he, too, affords a boundless ocean of elementary force--he is the simple barbarian, who will perhaps be needed to replenish with his fresh, uncorrupted blood the Russia of a new generation. |