In securing its appearance in the present form, I feel as if I were in some measure, though vicariously, carrying out the wish of my two departed friends, Kinglake and Froude.

Of the author of this remarkable and pregnant volume of reflections upon the grandest problems of Church and State, it is not necessary for me to say more than a single word.

That word is his name, a name familiar throughout Europe. It stands for Religion as opposed to Atheism, for Orthodoxy as opposed to Romanism on one hand and Protestantism on the other, and for Authority as opposed to Anarchy.

In him all the irreligious forces of modern Nihilism, as well as the theological quacks, with their sham remedies for the ills of the soul, have long recognised the supreme embodiment of all the principles against which they wage unceasing war.

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It is not his habit to descend into the arena. For the most part of his long and remarkable been a silent witness, working, not talking, serving his Emperor and his country in the sphere to which he has been called.

career he has

As tutor to our late Emperor he had much to do with implanting in the heart and soul of Alexander III. those profound religious convictions which made him afterwards so famous as the man who, in his private life and in his policy, was dominated by an almost fanatical hatred of all lies, and who earned for himself the noble title of the Peacekeeper of Europe by his not less passionate detestation of war.

To train a pupil who, on the greatest of Imperial

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thrones, should never forget to hate a lie, and to regard as his most coveted ambition to keep the peace-that was the first merit of Mr Pobyedonostseff.

Even the democratic West would not grudge him that laurel, especially to-day when the French Republic, organised on all the principles of free thought' and equality, clings to the Russian alliance as the anchor of all its confidence in the present, and its hopes for the future.

But after fulfilling the duty of tutorship to the Grand Duke, who, at the much-lamented death of his beloved brother, became the heir to the throne, Mr Pobyedonostseff was called to a post of great difficulty and importance, that of Procurator of the Holy Synod-a post tantamount to that of Cabinet Minister.

It is not for me to speak here of the many questions with which he has had to deal during the tenure of his office. I am not writing a history' of Russia under Alexander II., Alexander III., and Nicholas II. I only refer to the subject in order to assert, what even his worst enemies will not deny, that during the whole of his life, Mr Pobyedonostseff has never even been accused of acting on any other than the loftiest political and religious principles. He certainly has carried out his convictions with honest pertinacity. He is not a man of compromise. He is a man of principle, and he has been true to his convictions.

What his convictions are he has plainly stated with characteristic frankness in this volume of reflections upon the subjects which underlie all modern political discussions. That they will be

endorsed by readers in England and America, I do not pretend to expect; on the contrary, I am afraid they will probably produce the effect of a spray of iced water suddenly turned upon molten lead. It is hardly to be expected that English critics will be otherwise than scandalised by the calm declaration of the typical Russian statesman of our time that "the Parliamentary comedy is the supreme political lie which dominates our age."

Nevertheless, considering the exceeding liberality with which many Englishmen have showered upon us criticisms of Russian institutions, which, for the most part, have not even been studied or understood at all, it is allowable to hope that modern Democracy, carefully investigated by the most scientific Russian authority, should get the same hearing secured to it as in Germany and France.

To those who insist upon asserting that the Russian views expressed in this volume belong to the dark Middle Ages, and have nothing in common with the "last word of civilisation," I should like to say, "Strike, but hear." Mr Pobyedonostseff, by his deep learning and his lofty character, has secured for himself one of the highest positions in an Empire which even the blindest now begin to see is the dominating power in Europe and Asia. He is not afraid of speaking his mind freely to his Emperor, and he is just as unbiassed in appealing to the masses of his readers.

His worst foes cannot deny the perfect frankness and honesty which permeate his book.

The opinions of a statesman who, for many years, has held such a position in an Empire like Russia