was opposed to the emancipation of the serfs, and became the champion of the so-called Muscovitism, which, forty years later, became Slavophilism. He lived in Moscow, where the conservative element was strongest, acting in opposition to Speranski, the prime minister.
In 1811, Karamzin wrote a famous paper, addressed to his sovereign, called, "Old and New Russia," which so influenced Alexander's vacillating mind that it gave the death-blow to Speranski. In this paper he says: "We are anticipating matters in Russia, where there are hardly one hundred persons who know how to spell correctly. We must return to our national traditions, and do away with all ideas imported from the Occident. No Russian can comprehend any limitation of the autocratic power. The autocrat draws his wisdom from a fountain within himself, and from the love of his people," etc.
This paper contained the germ of every future demand of the Muscovite party.
Karamzin is the pioneer of the Slavophile party, which would do away with all the reforms of Peter the Great, and reconstruct the original Russia as an ideal government, entirely free from any European ideas. As this political programme became a literary one, it is important to note its first appearance.
Freemasonry, that embodiment of the spirit of mysticism, worked its way into Russia, brought
