友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!阅读过程发现任何错误请告诉我们,谢谢!! 报告错误
九色书籍 返回本书目录 我的书架 我的书签 TXT全本下载 进入书吧 加入书签

dead souls(死魂灵)-第86章

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!



course available; seeing that the affair is one of the most disgraceful nature; and calls aloud for justice。 Therefore; although I know that to some my action will fail to serve as a lesson; since it will lead to their succeeding to the posts of dismissed officials; as well as that others hitherto considered honourable will lose their reputation; and others entrusted with new responsibilities will continue to cheat and betray their trust;although all this is known to me; I still have no choice but to satisfy the claims of justice by proceeding to take stern measures。 I am also aware that I shall be accused of undue severity; but; lastly; I am aware that it is my duty to put aside all personal feeling; and to act as the unconscious instrument of that retribution which justice demands。〃

Over ever face there passed a shudder。 Yet the Prince had spoken calmly; and not a trace of anger or any other kind of emotion had been visible on his features。

〃Nevertheless;〃 he went on; 〃the very man in whose hands the fate of so many now lies; the very man whom no prayer for mercy could ever have influenced; himself desires to make a request of you。 Should you grant that request; all will be forgotten and blotted out and pardoned; for I myself will intercede with the Throne on your behalf。 That request is this。 I know that by no manner of means; by no preventive measures; and by no penalties will dishonesty ever be completely extirpated from our midst; for the reason that its roots have struck too deep; and that the dishonourable traffic in bribes has become a necessity to; even the mainstay of; some whose nature is not innately venal。 Also; I know that; to many men; it is an impossibility to swim against the stream。 Yet now; at this solemn and critical juncture; when the country is calling aloud for saviours; and it is the duty of every citizen to contribute and to sacrifice his all; I feel that I cannot but issue an appeal to every man in whom a Russian heart and a spark of what we understand by the word 'nobility' exist。 For; after all; which of us is more guilty than his fellow? It may be to ME the greatest culpability should be assigned; in that at first I may have adopted towards you too reserved an attitude; that I may have been over…hasty in repelling those who desired but to serve me; even though of their services I did not actually stand in need。 Yet; had they really loved justice and the good of their country; I think that they would have been less prone to take offence at the coldness of my attitude; but would have sacrificed their feelings and their personality to their superior convictions。 For hardly can it be that I failed to note their overtures and the loftiness of their motives; or that I would not have accepted any wise and useful advice proffered。 At the same time; it is for a subordinate to adapt himself to the tone of his superior; rather than for a superior to adapt himself to the tone of his subordinate。 Such a course is at once more regular and more smooth of working; since a corps of subordinates has but one director; whereas a director may have a hundred subordinates。 But let us put aside the question of comparative culpability。 The important point is; that before us all lies the duty of rescuing our fatherland。 Our fatherland is suffering; not from the incursion of a score of alien tongues; but from our own acts; in that; in addition to the lawful administration; there has grown up a second administration possessed of infinitely greater powers than the system established by law。 And that second administration has established its conditions; fixed its tariff of prices; and published that tariff abroad; nor could any ruler; even though the wisest of legislators and administrators; do more to correct the evil than limit it in the conduct of his more venal tchinovniks by setting over them; as their supervisors; men of superior rectitude。 No; until each of us shall come to feel that; just as arms were taken up during the period of the upheaval of nations; so now each of us must make a stand against dishonesty; all remedies will end in failure。 As a Russian; thereforeas one bound to you by consanguinity and identity of bloodI make to you my appeal。 I make it to those of you who understand wherein lies nobility of thought。 I invite those men to remember the duty which confronts us; whatsoever our respective stations; I invite them to observe more closely their duty; and to keep more constantly in mind their obligations of holding true to their country; in that before us the future looms dark; and that we can scarcely。 。 。 。〃

   'Here the manuscript of the original comes abruptly to an end。'





End 
返回目录 上一页 回到顶部 0 0
未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!