Levitsky well represented the situation as it existed in his lifetime. He had grasped the fact that the final solution of the Ukrainian question was not so simple as the mass of the intellectual leaders might think. It was one thing to declare that Ukrainian culture should be kept inviolate. It was something else to modernize and develop it without falling under the temptation to abandon the solid virtues for a superficial polish which could profit no one. By this time it was clear that even the liberation of the serfs had not released the new spirit or produced a new and better life for everyone. The accomplishment of this was a task that called for the highest abilities and limitless self-sacrifice and the orators and the intelligentsia were not able to make these contributions. In a way his works were a condemnation of that educated class which in the name of a misunderstood European culture were cutting themselves off from all that was best in their people and who would not listen to reason, because they could not find it in the European garb that they envied. For the years after the liberation of the serfs, Levitsky was a good guide but his later avoidance of life led him to an isolation that marred the value of his works. However in his early years, he was a forcible and interesting writer and the Ukrainians need still to ponder the problems which he raised, even though he was unable to give a thorough and complete answer. CHAPTER NINE CHANGING CONDITIONS With the opening of the reign of Alexander II and the amnestying of the leaders of the Society of Saints Cyril and Methodius, a new era seemed to have opened for Ukraine. The authorities were not unsympathetic to the use of the Ukrainian language and while they were sternly resolved to resist and suppress any movement toward separation and toward the demand for the restoration of the ancient rights of Ukraine, they did not seem averse to the development and use of the Ukrainian language among the people. Steps were taken to print text books in Ukrainian for Ukrainian schools. Institutions for the education of the people were planned and some were started and it looked as if a new and happier era was dawning. It was possible to think of establishing Ukrainian journals openly without resorting to subterfuges that they were intended for archaeological and ethnographical purposes. Now was the time when Bilozersky and Kulish founded the _Osnova_ in St. Petersburg and in Kiev and Kharkiv and elsewhere in Ukraine other papers were speedily called into existence.