|
Seven years had passed. The storm-tossed sea of European history
had subsided within its shores and seemed to have become calm.
But the mysterious forces that move humanity (mysterious because
the laws of their motion are unknown to us) continued to operate.
Though the surface of the sea of history seemed motionless,
the movement of humanity went on as unceasingly as the flow of
time. Various groups of people formed and dissolved, the coming
formation and dissolution of kingdoms and displacement of peoples
was in course of preparation.
The sea of history was not driven spasmodically from shore
to shore as previously. It was seething in its depths. Historic
figures were not borne by the waves from one shore to another
as before. They now seemed to rotate on one spot. The historical
figures at the head of armies, who formerly reflected the movement
of the masses by ordering wars, campaigns, and battles, now reflected
the restless movement by political and diplomatic combinations,
laws, and treaties.
The historians call this activity of the historical figures
"the reaction."
In dealing with this period they sternly condemn the historical
personages who, in their opinion, caused what they describe as
the reaction. All the well-known people of that period, from Alexander
and Napoleon to Madame de Stael, Photius, Schelling, Fichte, Chateaubriand,
and the rest, pass before their stern judgment seat and are acquitted
or condemned according to whether they conduced to progress or
to reaction.
According to their accounts a reaction took place at that
time in Russia also, and the chief culprit was Alexander I, the
same man who according to them was the chief cause of the liberal
movement at the commencement of his reign, being the savior of
Russia.
There is no one in Russian literature now, from schoolboy
essayist to learned historian, who does not throw his little stone
at Alexander for things he did wrong at this period of his reign.
"He ought to have acted in this way and in that way.
In this case he did well and in that case badly. He behaved admirably
at the beginning of his reign and during 1812, but acted badly
by giving a constitution to Poland, forming the Holy Alliance,
entrusting power to Arakcheev, favoring Golitsyn and mysticism,
and afterwards Shishkov and Photius. He also acted badly by concerning
himself with the active army and disbanding the Semenov regiment."
It would take a dozen pages to enumerate all the reproaches
the historians address to him, based on their knowledge of what
is good for humanity.
What do these reproaches mean?
Do not the very actions for which the historians praise Alexander
I (the liberal attempts at the beginning of his reign, his struggle
with Napoleon, the firmness he displayed in 1812 and the campaign
of 1813) flow from the same sources- the circumstances of his
birth, education, and life- that made his personality what it
was and from which the actions for which they blame him (the Holy
Alliance, the restoration of Poland, and the reaction of 1820
and later) also flowed?
In what does the substance of those reproaches lie?
It lies in the fact that an historic character like Alexander
I, standing on the highest possible pinnacle of human power with
the blinding light of history focused upon him; a character exposed
to those strongest of all influences: the intrigues, flattery,
and self-deception inseparable from power; a character who at
every moment of his life felt a responsibility for all that was
happening in Europe; and not a fictitious but a live character
who like every man had his personal habits, passions, and impulses
toward goodness, beauty, and truth- that this character- though
not lacking in virtue (the historians do not accuse him of that)-
had not the same conception of the welfare of humanity fifty years
ago as a present-day professor who from his youth upwards has
been occupied with learning: that is, with books and lectures
and with taking notes from them.
But even if we assume that fifty years ago Alexander I was
mistaken in his view of what was good for the people, we must
inevitably assume that the historian who judges Alexander will
also after the lapse of some time turn out to be mistaken in his
view of what is good for humanity. This assumption is all the
more natural and inevitable because, watching the movement of
history, we see that every year and with each new writer, opinion
as to what is good for mankind changes; so that what once seemed
good, ten years later seems bad, and vice versa. And what is more,
we find at one and the same time quite contradictory views as
to what is bad and what is good in history: some people regard
giving a constitution to Poland and forming the Holy Alliance
as praiseworthy in Alexander, while others regard it as blameworthy.
The activity of Alexander or of Napoleon cannot be called
useful or harmful, for it is impossible to say for what it was
useful or harmful. If that activity displeases somebody, this
is only because it does not agree with his limited understanding
of what is good. Whether the preservation of my father's house
in Moscow, or the glory of the Russian arms, or the prosperity
of the Petersburg and other universities, or the freedom of Poland
or the greatness of Russia, or the balance of power in Europe,
or a certain kind of European culture called "progress"
appear to me to be good or bad, I must admit that besides these
things the action of every historic character has other more general
purposes inaccessible to me.
But let us assume that what is called science can harmonize
all contradictions and possesses an unchanging standard of good
and bad by which to try historic characters and events; let us
say that Alexander could have done everything differently; let
us say that with guidance from those who blame him and who profess
to know the ultimate aim of the movement of humanity, he might
have arranged matters according to the program his present accusers
would have given him- of nationality, freedom, equality, and progress
(these, I think, cover the ground). Let us assume that this program
was possible and had then been formulated, and that Alexander
had acted on it. What would then have become of the activity of
all those who opposed the tendency that then prevailed in the
government- an activity that in the opinion of the historians
was good and beneficent? Their activity would not have existed:
there would have been no life, there would have been nothing.
If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, the possibility
of life is destroyed.
|
