1814-35] The Universities. — Literature 431

academic repression that was then being adopted in Germany. Finally, this enactment was repealed by the retrograde University statute of Nicholas I in 1835. By the reactionary Instructions of the Minister of Education, Galitzin, dated 1818, all the higher educational text-books were subjected to a strict supervision; and the principle was laid down that lectures on philosophy, philology, history, and even those on natural science, medicine, and mathematics, should have as their principal aim, not mere abstract knowledge, but the furtherance of religious and political ends.

Ere long, there took place wholesale removals of professors suspected of irreligious or disloyal views ; and the purification of University teaching was carried out in this spirit by means as radical as they were singular. Thus, for instance, at the University of Kazan, by order of the Curator, the anatomical requisites were confiscated and buried solemnly in consecrated ground. In general, the instruction given at the Russian Universities of this period (with the exception of Vilna and Dorpat) was still far below the standard of Western Europe. There was a lack of indispensable auxiliary institutions — of clinics, laboratories, even of libraries. In 1814 the Public Library of St Petersburg was opened to the public. It was formed entirely from the great Polish library of the Zaluskis, which had been illegally confiscated by Suvoroff, and removed, in 1795, from Warsaw to St Petersburg. It contained more than 150,000 volumes and 5000 manuscripts, almost exclusively Latin and Polish. On the other hand, the University of St Petersburg, founded in 1819 with 24 students, numbered, in 1822, not more than 40 students. Under such conditions, the more enlightened element in the community was, naturally, not the product of these oppressed and despised academic bodies, but was rather found among the best youth of the aristocracy, educated in the privileged establishments for pages and cadets or at home. Among these were men of the new order of ideas, more independent and progressive, not, indeed, possessing special scientific knowledge, but, on the other hand, breathing a fresh breath into literature, and strongly and sincerely animated by the desire of social and political reform. They supplied at this time the earliest representatives, in literature and public life, of Young Russia — eminent writers and active workers for freedom of thought, such as Giibo}edoff, the celebrated author of social comedies, in which he unsparingly lashed his contemporaries, Bestuzheff, the editor of the Polar Star, the poets, Prince Viazemski, Baron Delvig, Kiichelbecker, Ryleieff, and, finally, the most brilliant genius of Russian literature, Pushkin. Upon their impressionable minds, as yet insufficiently balanced and lacking independence, the most varied factors were at work — the lasting influences of the French Revolution and of Napoleon, together with the counter-movement in French politics and literature under the Restoration; the cry for social emancipation in Germany, which was the

432 Secret societies [1814-32

outcome of the recent struggles against French domination; the powerful stimulus to freedom of thought and action given by Byron. The movement was also influenced by the Polish national spirit and by the literary development of Poland — by the songs and essays of Niemczevicz, by the Panslavonic ideas of Staszic, and above all, by the Young Polish Romanticism, embodied in the dominating personality of Mickievicz, who came into contact, during his residence in Odessa, Moscow, and St Petersburg (1825-9), with the most distinguished representatives of Young Russia.

The impulsive, self-sacrificing, and cultured youth belonging to the noble class in Russia entered at an early period upon the path of secret political organisation. So early as 1814, influenced undoubtedly by their contact with the Prussian army and the secret associations in it directed against Napoleon, they formed a society, composed chiefly of Russian officers and called the " Society of the Green Lamp," whose members contributed one-tenth of their income to the common funds. In 1816 it was reorganised and enlarged under the name of the "Society of Public Salvation." In it many officers of the Guards and of the General Staff took a prominent part. It appears that these first attempts at organisation were made with the knowledge of Alexander I, who was still at this period animated with Liberal ideas. Being occupied with his broad schemes for the emancipation of the peasants, the extension of the kingdom of Poland, and Greek independence, he was the more ready to seek support against the reactionary forces from the progressive elements of Young Russia, just as he looked with indulgence upon similar Polish patriotic organisations, and on the Greek Hetairia. By the natural course of events in such cases, the work of the secret societies in Russia entered upon an independent path, and they became more and more embittered against the Throne itself.

As a result of reforms in the society, there sprang up in 1818 the "Union of the Public Good," which numbered more than 200 members. On account of the rumours then prevalent of the intentions of Alexander with respect to the extension of the kingdom of Poland by the annexation of the Lithuanian provinces, some of the confederates (Yakushkin, Shakhovskoi) declared themselves in favour of a coup d'Stat, involving even the death of the Tsar. In 1820 a schism took place, and two separate societies were formed: the Northern Society, with its centre in St Petersburg, under the leadership of Nikita Muravieff and Nicholas Turgenieff, and, after 1823, of Ryleieff, adhering to the principles of a constitutional monarchy and opposed to the separation of Lithuania from the Empire ; and the Southern Society with its centre in Tulczyn, under the leadership of Colonel Paul Pestel, the author of the work Russkaya Pravda (Russian Code of Laws), which formulated a programme professing Republican ideas and including certain very limited

i 1808-32] The grand duchy of Finland 433

concessions for the Poles. Out of this party subsequently sprang the Radical section of the " United Slavs " ; from it, also, in January, 1824, and January, 1825, was evolved the idea of an understanding with the secret societies in the kingdom of Poland. By these movements Slavophile and Panslavonic ideas were gradually developed and shaped. Pestel dreamt of a Slavonic federation extending from the Ural to the Adriatic; but among the large majority of the confederates, especially in Moscow and St Petersburg, a deep distrust of the Poles predominated. The distinguishing feature of these societies was that their members, though animated by ardour, courage and self-sacrifice, by the purest love for their country, and a generous desire for its emancipation, were, according to the just description of a Pole nearly allied to them (Alexander Kraievski), " a generation without fathers and sons," ahead of their contemporaries by nearly a century, having no support among the mass of the people and, consequently, no prospect of success. Devoid of any logical plan of action, they were destined to waste their energy in a single outbreak, depending altogether upon chance and hopeless in its prospects.

The grand duchy of Finland was acquired by Russia in 1808, and incorporated first of all by an Imperial manifesto of June, 1808. It was subsequently formally annexed by a constitutional manifesto of the Tsar of March 27, 1809, addressed to the Finnish people and to the Diet assembled at Borgo. Finland was thereby recognised as a separate political unit, legally constituted, bound to the Empire, and "retaining its fundamental rights and the constitution it had hitherto possessed, to be maintained in force, intact and without change." After the inclusion (1811) in the grand duchy of the province of Viborg (acquired in 1741 by Elizabeth), Finland, in 1825, contained about 370,000 square kilometres with a population of 1,300,000 inhabitants. It had two High Courts of Justice; afterwards a third was added at Viborg. The administration of the country was conducted primarily by a Governing Council (Council of Regency), which was replaced subsequently, by Imperial rescript of February, 1816, by the Finnish Senate, while the supreme control was vested in a Governor-General. There was, moreover (from 1810), a permanent Committee for Finnish affairs, composed of Finns, under the presidency of Baron Armfelt, which sat in St Petersburg; it acted as an intermediary body, in both legislative and administrative affairs, between the Senate and the Tsar as Grand Duke. Further, attached to the person of the sovereign, there was a special Secretary of State for Finnish affairs, an office held at this time by Baron Rehbinder.

In accordance with Imperial instructions of November, 1810, this functionary received direct from the Throne all rescripts affecting Finland. They were signed by the sovereign and counter-signed by

C. M. ii. x. 28

434 Prosperity of Finland [1810-5

himself, and afterwards communicated by the Governor-General to the Senate. He was, moreover, under Imperial regulations of August, 1810, made formally independent of the Governor-General. The latter official was obliged (according to instructions of February, 1812) to draw up his addresses to the Senate in two languages, Swedish and Russian; in like manner, a secret rescript to the Governor-General, dated September, 1810, enjoined upon him to exercise supervision over the actions of the Senate. Swedish currency, both metal and paper, was left in circulation ; but the taxes were levied in roubles. The Bank of Finland was established; funds to the extent of 1,000,000 roubles being supplied to it by Alexander, in the form of a 20 years' loan without interest. The prosperity of the country, under the skilfully conducted Finnish administration, increased rapidly ; much was done for the improvement of the ways of communication by land and water, the draining and reclamation of marshes, the development of agriculture and trade, the establishing of mines for working iron ore, and the manufacture of steel. Education was treated with particular solicitude; great progress was made both in elementary and secondary education; a School of Cadets was founded in Frederikshamn, and the University was placed on an important footing. The distinguished lawyer Calonius, the independent philosophical writer Snellman, and, above all, Runeberg, the patriotic bard who sang of the struggles with Russia, gave splendid testimony to the vitality of Finnish culture. But over the grand duchy, which was thus developing itself so favourably, owing to the efforts which the Finnish people themselves were making on the basis of the constitutional autonomy guaranteed to them, there hung the continual dread of the invasion of their rights by the autocratic power of Russia.

During the first years after the annexation of Finland, when Alexander was engaged in the struggle with Napoleon, and was endeavouring to enter into an alliance with Sweden, being anxious even about the safety of St Petersburg, he several times confirmed the Legislative Guarantee of 1809, and extended it by the establishment of the Finnish Committee. He increased, too, the territory of the grand duchy, by restoring to it Old Finland (the province of Viborg); in short, he neglected nothing which might attach the Finnish people to him. At a later period, however, his policy underwent a change ; the absolute monarch began to overshadow the constitutional Grand Duke, and the guaranteed Constitution was infringed. Two fundamental Swedish statutes, which were in force in Finland at the time of its conquest, formed properly part of this Constitution. These were the Regeringsform of August 21, 1772, and the Acts of Annexation and Guarantee of February 21 and April 3, 1789, sanctioned by Gustavus III. The principal clauses of these Acts expressly stipulated that official posts could be held only by inhabitants of the country professing the Lutheran faith; that the sovereign " could not sanction any new law,

1815-26] Reaction against Finnish autonomy 435

or rescind any existing one, without the knowledge and consent of the Estates " ; that " the Estates should have the right of supervising the use of the Treasury funds for the good and benefit of the country." Yet during the whole of this period the Diet was not once convoked; Russian officials of the Orthodox faith, both civil and military, were brought into the country; the financial administration was conducted entirely at the discretion of the Government, without any control on the part of the Diet; furthermore, Imperial rescripts of a legislative character were issued without the participation of the Diet. Thus, a rescript of Alexander I (1823) ordered the examination of all foreign books entering Finland, under the penalty of confiscation. This was in disregard of the Swedish Press Law, then in force, which excluded the censorship. Again, in the time of Nicholas I, the very stringent Russian censorship regulations of 1829 were enforced in Finland by Imperial decree ; and a duty of 33^ per cent. was imposed upon Swedish books imported.

The change for the worse became more marked during the last two years of the reign of Alexander I. Previously, while Armfelt, who was a native of the country, and after him, Steinheil, who was by birth a German, were Governor-Generals of Finland, the Constitution, though infringed, had not been deliberately attacked. But, in August, 1823, Zakrevski was appointed as Governor-General, a man of suave manners, but a declared opponent of the separate autonomy of the grand duchy ; and he at once began to aim at abolishing the Finnish institutions, and incorporating the country in the Empire. He began his work, while making a tour in the country during the summer of 1824, by stirring up dissatisfaction among the rural population against the Finnish aristocracy. Subsequently, in May, 1825, he sent to the Senate, directly, a series of proclamations in the Russian language, claiming the admission, as a matter of course, of persons of the Orthodox faith to official posts, and the right of the Governors to remove, at their own discretion, the local justices and crown bailiffs. The Senate, having held a secret meeting, submitted to Alexander a confidential address, complaining of the conduct of the Governor-General; but to this address, which was sent by couriers to Warsaw, where the Emperor was then attending the meetings of the Diet, no answer was received. After the death of Alexander in December, 1825, Zakrevski compelled the Senate and Finnish authorities to take the new oath of allegiance, according to the general terms in force for the Empire, without any mention of the separate constitutional rights of the grand duchy.

Nicholas I, upon assuming the government under extremely critical conditions, and being obliged to reckon at that moment not only with Finland, but also with Poland, repeated literally in his inaugural manifesto to the grand duchy of January, 1826, the guarantees of the manifesto of 1809 (merely substituting in the preamble " hereditary