such officials were appointed by the Czar himself. Abso-
lutism was illegal now. Attempts might be made to
reintroduce it, and, indeed, that was the real significance
of the policy pursued by the government, but Absolutism
could no longer possess the moral strength that inheres
in the sanctity of law. In fighting it the Russian people
now had that strength upon their side.

The second vital and hopeful fact was likewise a moral
force. Absolutism with all its assumed divine preroga-
tives, in the person of the Czar, had declared its firm will
"to grant the people the unshakable foundations of civic
freedom on the basis of real personal inviolability, freedom
of conscience, of speech, of assemblage and of unions."
This civic freedom Absolutism had sanctioned. By that
act it gave the prestige of legality to such assemblages,
discussions, and publications as had always hitherto been
forced to accept risks and disabilities inseparable from
illegal conduct. Civic freedom had long been outlawed,
a thing associated with lawlessness and crime, and so long
as that condition remained many who believed in civic
freedom itself, who wanted a free press, freedom of public
assemblage and of conscience in matters pertaining to
religion, were kept from participation in the struggle.
Respect for law, as law, is deeply rooted in civilized man-
kind--a fact which, while it makes the task of the revo-
lutionist hard, and at times impedes progress, is, never-
theless, of immense value to human society.

Civic freedom was not yet a fact. It seemed, as a
reality, to be as far away as ever. Meetings were for-
bidden by officials and broken up by soldiers and police;
newspapers were suppressed, as of old; labor-unions, and
even the unions of the Intellectuals, were ruthlessly per-
secuted and treated as conspiracies against the state.
All this and more was true and discouraging. Yet there

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