REACTION, EXPANSION, AND THE WAR WITH JAPAN (1881-1904 A.D.) 610 The reactionary policy under Alexander III, 611. The Russification of the provinces, 613. Foreign policy; the French alliance, 614. The conquest of the Tekke-Turcomans, 615. Accession of Nicholas II, 617. Kuropatkin on the Russian policy of expansion, 619. Russia in Manchuria, 621. The war with Japan, 622. APPENDIX DOCUMENTS RELATING TO RUSSIAN HISTORY I--THE TREATY OF PARIS 626 II--THE TREATY OF BERLIN, 1878 631 III--THE HAGUE PEACE CONFERENCE 634 BRIEF REFERENCE-LIST OF AUTHORITIES BY CHAPTERS 641 A GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF RUSSIAN HISTORY 643 A CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA 653 [Illustration] SWITZERLAND (_Concluded_) [Illustration] CHAPTER V. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY There is an evil worse than war and that is the debasement of peoples. The wounds of war may be healed, but moral degradation leads nations to the tomb. During the peace that followed the battle of Villmergen up to the time of the French revolution Switzerland suffered more calamities than in all the wars against Burgundy and Austria. For during the eighty years of repose during which the swords of the Winckelrieds, the Fontanas, the Halhwyls, and the Erlachs were tarnishing, the rust of egoism and of pride succeeded in eating away the tablets on which was engraven the loyal union of the ancient Swiss; and like a corpse the old confederation was rotting away. In vain degenerate sons decorated pompously the corpse of the achievements of their ancestors, that they might conceal the fact that the spirit which animated it aforetime had left it.--ZSCHOKKE.[b] THE CONSPIRACY OF HENTZI; THE INSURRECTION AT FRIBOURG The outward peace enjoyed by the confederacy during the eighteenth century (the last of its existence in its primitive form) was contrasted by incessant inward disturbances. The first of these which claims our attention is the conspiracy of Hentzi at Bern. Here, as in most towns of the confederacy, a more and more formal and regular aristocracy had grown up by degrees in the course of centuries. From time immemorial the powers of government had been held by the avoyer and council. For the protection of the burghers against the encroachments of the council, and of that body against the influence of the multitude, an assembly of two hundred of the most respectable burghers was formed, the members of which were annually elected.