PREFACE

It is perhaps inappropriate for me to publish my letters on France and Italy; yet I do so because I have much leisure. A Russian has nothing to say, and cannot say anything here at present. War intoxicates; the blood of the innocent rises like a purple fog and does not allow one to see clearly. Reluctantly, I bring as a sacrifice to the war the free speech that I acquired at the cost of exile and loss.

I remain silent, because I do not want to confuse the government of St. Petersburg with the Russian people. I have never hidden my hatred for the former, and I will never hide my love for the latter.

My brochures, my articles in Proudhon's journal, my letters to Mazzini and to Michelet were received with keen interest by the radical press of Europe and North America. I attempted to continue in the same tone at the