78 ROSSIYA
Warsaw (Warszawa, Varshava; Ger. Warschau, Fr. Varsovie; 320 ft.), the capital of
the General Government of Warsaw or Poland and an important railway centre, lies on
the left bank of the Vistula, on the elevated edge (120-130 ft.) of a valley, descending
abruptly to the river, here 1/4).- 1/3M in width, and gradually merging on the W. in a wide
and undulating plain. The city contains 872,500 inhab., including 15,000 Protestants,
300,000 Jews and a strong garrison. It is the intellectual centre of Poland, and its appear-
ance is far more like that of West Europe than of Russia. Warsaw is the seat of the
Governor-General of Warsaw, of a Civil Governor, of Archbishops of the Greek and
Roman Catholic churches, of the Commandant of the Military District of Warsaw, and
of those of the 15th, 19th and 23rd Army Corps, and of a Russian university and a
Russian technical college. The city, which is divided into twelve police precincts (includ-
ing Praga) consists of the Old Town (Stare Miasto), of the New Town (Nowe Miasto),
to the N, and of Wola, Mokotow, and other suburbs. On the right bank of the Vistula
lies Praga. The river is crossed by three bridges. The streets teem with activity; the great
shopping district lies in the Marszalkowska and the Krakowskie Przedmiescie. Whole
quarters of the town are occupied by Jews, whose inattention to personal cleanliness has
become proverbial. Warsaw is a flourishing industrial centre (machinery, wooden wares,
leather, and tobacco) and carries on a considerable trade.^10
If the infernal machine of Russian Government had ever worked as intended,
there is no doubt that the future for the Poles, and for all other minorities, would
have been completely hopeless. Fortunately for them, the machine had several
built-in defects. The gap which separated the Autocrat's wish from its practical
application was as vast as the Empire itself. Life was rendered tolerable by the
interaction of inefficiency, caprice, and residual Christianity. Especially at the
lower levels, the bureaucracy was radiantly corrupt. Inspectors could be
counted on not to apply the rules too harshly unless the Chief Inspector hap-
pened to be in the offing. Service in the Polish gubernias, amidst a hostile popu-
lation, was regarded with distaste. Ambitious men returned quickly to the
capital. Laggards learned how to make themselves comfortable. Although
Warsaw was not so remote from St. Petersburg in the geographical sense, it
should certainly be counted among the 'gluchie provintsii' from the administra-
tive-point of view, inexplicably 'deaf to the voice of the Tsar. In a completely
centralized empire, one faulty link in the chain of command was enough to
paralyse action. Officials, whose only function was to interpret orders, would
frequently interpret them in an eccentric way as an expression of their own indi-
viduality, or ignore them completely. Capricious decisions were everywhere
observable. Extreme leniency was no less common than extreme brutality.
Christian values were very much alive among the responsible classes. From the
Tsar down to the humblest official, the political duty to act rigorously stood in
severe conflict with the Christian duty to show mercy and forgiveness, judges,
who awarded exemplary sentences to the ringleaders of seditions and conspira-
cies, often commuted or annulled the punishment of their accomplices. Soldiers