State into one that answered to the requirements of modern
civilisation would have been completed if the Liberator of
millions had not been slaughtered on the very day on which he had
undertaken to give a constitution to his people。
Years of violent reaction have followed。 The feudal party；
whose secret designs had been defeated by the mode in which
emancipation had been effected； again got the upper hand； and
modern Russia now looks back to the period of 1861 as the golden
age of Russian Liberalism。 It is in the work of the men who were
directly engaged in carrying out the great reform that Russian
Liberals seek consolation and help； and the Nineteenth of
February has become for them a day of general and of grateful
commemoration。
NOTES：
1。 Compare V。 Somevsky； 〃The Peasant Question in Russia during
the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century〃； Petersburg； 1888。
2。 〃The Village from Petersburg to Novgorod。〃
3。 See his work； entitled 〃The Fall of Bondage in Russia；〃
Petersburg； 1883。