A man who hesitates to sin against his grandchildren still unborn, though his conceptions of the meum and the tuum in the present may be occasionally a little confused, must possess somewhere deep down in his nature a secret fund of moral feeling of a very respectable kind.
Even among the educated classes in Russia the way of looking at these matters is very different from ours.

We should naturally feel inclined to applaud, encourage, and assist the peasants who show energy and initiative, and who try to rise above their fellows.

To the Russian this seems at once inexpedient and immoral.

The success of the few, he explains, is always obtained at the expense of the many, and generally by means which the severe moralist cannot approve of.

The rich peasants, for example, have gained their fortune and influence by demoralising and exploiting their weaker brethren, by committing all manner of illegalities, and by bribing the local authorities.