In 1901 it was evident that the old order of things would soon have to be abandoned. The then Minister of Finances, Witte, must have realized it, and he took a step which certainly meant that he was preparing a transition from autocracy to some sort of a half-constitutional _régime_. The ‘Commissions on the Impoverishment of Agriculture in Central Russia,’ which he convoked in thirty-four provinces, undoubtedly meant to supply that intermediary step, and the country answered to his call in the proper way. Landlords and peasants alike said and maintained quite openly in these Commissions that Russia could not remain any longer under the system of police rule established by Alexander III. Equal rights for all subjects, political liberties, and constitutional guarantees were declared to be an urgent necessity. Again a splendid opportunity was offered to Nicholas II. for taking a step towards constitutional rule. The Agricultural Commissions had indicated how to do it. Similar committees had to be convoked in all provinces of the Empire, and they would name their representatives who would meet at Moscow and work out the basis of a national representation. And once more Nicholas II. refused to accept that opening. He preferred to follow the counsels of his more intimate advisers, who better expressed his own will. He disowned Witte and called at the head of the Ministry of Interior Von Plehwe--the worst produce of reaction that had been bred by police rule during the reign of Alexander III.! Even that man did not undertake to maintain autocracy indefinitely; but he undertook to maintain it for ten years more--provided full powers be granted to him, and plenty of money be given--which money he, a pupil of the school of Ignatieff, freely used, it is now known, for organizing the ‘pogroms’--the massacres of the Jews. More than that. Prince Meschersky, the well-known editor of the _Grazhdanin_--an old man, a Conservative of old standing, and a devotee of the Imperial family--wrote lately in his paper that Plehwe, in order to give a further lease to autocracy, had decided to do his utmost to push Nicholas II. into that terrible war with Japan. Like the Franco-German conflict, the Japanese war was thus the last trump of a decaying Imperial power. I certainly do not mean that Plehwe’s will was the _cause_ of that war. Its causes lie deeper than that. It became unavoidable the day that Russia got hold of Port Arthur--and even much earlier than that. But this move of Plehwe, and the support he found in his master, are deeply significant for the comprehension of the present events in Russia.