198 ESSAYS AND LETl^ERS
affairs of the Government gives Government whatever moral prestige it possesses.
That is one evil resulting from the activity of Liberals who participate in the affairs of Government, or who come to terms with it. Another evil of such activity is that to secure opportunities to carry on their work, these highly-enlightened and honest people have to begin to compromise, and so, little by little, come to consider that for a good end one may swerve somewhat from truth in word and deed. For instance, that one may, though not believing in the established Church, take part in its ceremonies ; may take oaths ; may, wlien necessary for the success of some affair, present petitions couched in language which is untruthful and derogatory to man^s natural dignity ; may enter the army ; may take part in a Local Government which has been stripped of all its powers ; may serve as a master or a professor, teaching not what one considers necessary one's self, but what one is told to teach by the Govern- ment ; that one may even become a Zemsky Natchdlnik* submitting to Governmental demands and instructions which violate one's conscience ; may edit newspapers and periodicals, remaining silent about what ought to be mentioned, and printing what one is ordered to print : and entering into these compromises — the limits of which cannot be foreseen — enlightened and honest people, who alone could form some barrier to the infringements of human liberty by the Government,
- During the Reform period, in the reign of Alexander IL ,
many iniquities of the old judicial system were abolished. Among other innovations ' Judges of the Peace ' were appointed to act as magistrates. They were elected (indi- rectly) ; if possessed of a certain property qualification, men of any class were eligible, and the regulations under which they acted were drawn up in a comparatively liberal spirit. Under Alexander IIL the office of ' Judge of the Peace ' was abolished, and was replaced by Z6msky Na- tchdlniks. Only members of the aristocracy were eligible ; they were not elected, but appointed by Government, and they were armed with authority to have peasants flogged.
