Note 51 — Chapter XV · THE REVOLUTION—THE ABDICATION OF NICHOLAS II.
F. A. (Frederic Appleby) Holt translation
I am referring, of course, to the articulate portion of the nation. The untutored masses cared nothing about him, and among those who knew of his existence a large number were favourable to him. Many considered his death an act of vengeance on the part of the courtiers who were jealous of their privileges. “The first time that one of ourselves gets to the Czar, he is killed by the courtiers,” they said.
To the moujik the great criminals were those who came between the sovereign and his people, and prevented him from extending his favours to them. There was a popular saying that “the Czar gives, but his servants withhold,” in which the peasant expressed his faith in the goodness of his Czar and his hatred of those around him.