And Tsar Nicholas Pavlovich rejoiced that he had crushed the hydra of revolution not only in Poland, but throughout Europe, and took pride in the fact that he had not betrayed the ordinances of the Russian autocracy, but for the good of the Russian people had kept Poland in Russia’s power. And men wearing decorations and gilt uniforms lauded him for this to such an extent, that when he came to die he sincerely believed that he was a great man and that his life had been a great blessing for humanity in general and for Russians in particular, those Russians to whose corruption and stupefaction he had unwittingly directed all his powers.
1 The Rzecz Pospolita, instituted in 1569 by King Sigismund II Augustus, last of the Jagellon dynasty.
2 Representative assembly, Diet.
3 Polish aristocracy.
4 Literally: ‘to hold the sweetmeat high’ – i.e. to put him through his paces first.
5 Victory to the Poles, destruction to the Muscovites! Hurrah!
6 A Polish man’s hat with a square base and a tassel on top.
7 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.
8 As I love my mother.
9 Couriers or special messengers.
10 A settlement inhabited by descendants of the Streltsy (archers), a state security force established by Ivan the Terrible and disbanded by Peter the Great (1708).
11 Diminutive of ‘pani’ (mistress).
12 As I love God.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATORS
LOUISE AND AYLMER MAUDE spent much of their lives in Russia. Their Quaker background led them to share many of Tolstoy’s views on spiritual life, moral obligation and passive resistance to violence, and they helped him to organize the Doukhobor migration to Canada in 1893. Aylmer Maude, whose business activities left him time to write a biography of his friend, also translated most of Tolstoy’s major works in partnership with his wife. These translations, which were commended by the author himself, are still widely regarded as the best.
NIGEL J. COOPER read French and Russian at Christ Church, Oxford. He has recently retired from Middlesex University where he was a Principal Lecturer in Modern Languages.
ABOUT THE INTRODUCER
JOHN BAYLEY is former Thomas Warton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. His many books include Tolstoy and the Novel; Pushkin: A Comparative Commentary; The Short Story: Henry James to Elizabeth Bowen; An Essay on Hardy, Shakespeare and Tragedy and a detailed study of A. E. Housman’s poems. He has also written several novels.