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These particulars had already attracted the attention of the brilliant peace advocate and profound thinker, Hertzen, who, distressed by the bloody reprisals of bourgeoise Europe, following the Revolution of 1848, fixed his attention on Russia, from which he expected great things, among others, a new civilization freed from the prejudices and customs which held it back in other countries.
The blasts of the reveille which had been sounded in the best circles of Russian society by such humanitarians as Pirogov, and such champions of liberty as Hertzen, Chernyshevski, and Dobrolubov, were carried through the air into the huge Jewish ghetto of Russia.
During the period when this literature was most persecuted that is to say in the second half of the 19th century its most influential representatives were ardent socialists. Among them should be mentioned the critic Byelinsky, the "Petracheviens," adepts in the doctrine of Fourier, and that powerful agitator of ideas, Hertzen, who founded the Russian free press in London.
It refers to a circle of young students. But it has a wider application. All prominent men of the epoch Stankevitch, who served as model to the poetic and touching figure of Pokorsky; Alexander Hertzen, and the great critic, Belinsky all had their 'circles, or their small chapels, in which these enthusiasts met to offer worship to the 'goddess of truth, art, and morality.
Sokolovsky, another writer of this time, not being able to get a footing in literature, abandoned the pen, and like many others, sought to forget his disappointment in drink. For several years Hertzen was transferred from one place of exile to another until he came to England.
However surprising such a versatility may appear, it is proved to demonstration by a comparison of his views, his attitude, and his forecasts, some of which have been verified only lately, with those of the acknowledged leaders and spokesmen of the various political parties of his day, including Alexander Hertzen himself.
John Stuart Mill said that the bourgeoisie would transform Europe into a China; the Russian publicist Hertzen, frightened by the victories of socialism, in 1848, foresaw the end of European civilization, drowned in a wave of blood.
As to the liberal element, does the author indeed think that Poland has had no Liberalists similar to Voltaire, La Mennais, Victor Hugo, L. Blanc, Mazzini, or Hertzen? It is indeed a great disadvantage to Polish Liberalists, philosophers, and poets, that they speak and write in a tongue unknown to the noble philanthropists of the West.
The former, a profound pessimist, described in his best verses the bitter fate of the lower classes; the latter with his sarcasm scathed bureaucratic arbitrariness, while from abroad was heard the free ringing of "The Bell," a paper founded by Hertzen, which seemed to be announcing that freedom was coming. Two articles by the poet Mikhailov on the situation of women started a vast movement.
When they took leave of their dear ones it was for a quarter of a century; in the case of children it was for a longer term, too often it was good-bye for life. How these unfortunate youngsters were driven to their places of destination we learn from the description of Alexander Hertzen, who chanced to meet a batch of Jewish cantonists on his involuntary journey through Vyatka, in 1835.
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