ished in 1864
by Alexander II to satisfy the desire of the peasants to express
themselves in local politics. The local Zemstvo is charged with the
administration of education, sanitation, medical relief for the poor,
maintenance of highways, and other local matters outside the sphere
of the central government. Naturally the Zemstvo was not intrusted
with any power that was likely to prove dangerous to the Petrograd
Government, but as the members were elected by popular suffrage,
restricted by certain qualifications demanding the ownership of
property on the part of the electors. The Zemstvos proved highly
effective training schools in which the peasants could learn
self-government and parliamentary procedure. The local Zemstvos, like
the cooperative societies, federated into district Zemstvos, which
sometimes had the control of large affairs on their hands.

CHAPTER LXXIII

RUSSIAN WAR SPIRIT AROUSED

With the declaration of war against Germany, slumbering Russia seemed
suddenly to awaken, and elements which had hitherto been antagonistic
joined together for the common purpose of repelling the German
invasion. Keenly patriotic, even to the point of fanaticism, in spite
of his ready acceptance of radical doctrines, the Russian is ever
ready to present a solid front against outside interference. Thus it
was that when the war began revolutionists who had fled from Russia,
or who had been exiled abroad, flocked home in great numbers and
offered their services to the autocracy to fight the Germans. Never
has Russia shown such unanimity of spirit and such solidarity of
purpose. The Japanese War had been so plainly one of aggression, and
in so distant a part of the world, that this same spirit had not been
manifested in 1904. But now the Germans, always hated by the Slavs,
were actually crossing the Russian frontier, close to the national
capital. All Russia rallied to the call for action. As a matter of
fact, it was the Russian autocracy itself which presently began
realizing that it had unintentionally and illogically arrayed itself
on the side of the forces which it had always fought, as the
revolutionary elements in Russia also presently began realizing that
they had followed their truest instincts in supporting the war against
Germany.

For within a few weeks after the outbreak of hostilities the war
assumed an entirely different character. In its first aspect it was a
quarrel between various autocracies ove