Be it said
here, to the credit of France, that from her came constant encouragement
in the great work. Wolowski, Mazade, and other true-hearted men sent
forth from leading reviews and journals words of sympathy, words of
help, words of cheer.
Not so England. Just as in the French Revolution of 1789, while yet that
Revolution was noble and good, while yet Lafayette and Bailly held it,
leaders in English thought, who had quickened the opinions which had
caused the Revolution, sent malignant prophecies and prompted foul
blows, so in this battle of Alexander against a foul wrong they seized
this time of all times to show all the wrongs and absurdities of which
Russia ever had been or ever might be guilty--criticised, carped, sent
much haughty advice, depressing sympathy, and malignant prophecy. Review
articles, based on no real knowledge of Russia, announced a desire for
serf-emancipation, and then, in the modern English way, with plentiful
pyrotechnics of antithesis and paradox, threw a gloomy light into the
skilfully pictured depths of imperial despotism, official corruption,
and national bankruptcy.
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