He sees that Nicholas held back from continuing
the road to Odessa, though half the money spent in making the road an
imperial plaything would have built a good, solid extension to that most
important seaport; he sees that Nicholas dared not untie police
regulations, and that commerce is wretchedly meagre. Contrary to what
would obtain under a free system, this great public work found the
country wretched and left it wretched. The traveller flies by no ranges
of trim palings and tidy cottages; he sees the same dingy groups of huts
here as elsewhere, the same cultivation looking for no morrow, the same
tokens that the laborer is not thought worthy of his hire. This same
tendency to great single works, this same fear of great connected
systems, this same timid isolation of great creations from principles
essential to their growth, is seen, too, in Nicholas's church-building.
Foremost of all the edifices on which Nicholas lavished the wealth of
the empire stands the Isak Church in St.
Pages:
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793