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thing. Of course, this expectation could not always be realized in
practice. Whilst the agents of the unions scarcely ever refused a request
 made by the army, it was only natural that there should be
instances where things could not be done, or where they had to be
Jone otherwise than as these agents themselves would have wished.
Such failures, however, were quickly forgotten and did not in the
least injure the high reputation generally en Joyed by the Union at
the front.
Radically different was the attitude toward the zemstvos of the
high government functionaries in Petrograd. The Government
lacked determination to strike at the very root of the Union of Zemstvos
 which had come into being in spite of it. Distrusting and fearing
 the Zemstvo Union, the Council of Ministers tried to Limit its
field of work and to place obstacles in the way of its further development.
 In the face of the extraordinary and tragic experiences
through which the nation was passing, the Government proved utterly
 impotent. Fate seemed to have decreed that in those days of
emergency there should not be found in the ranks of the bureaucracy
 men of sufficient caliber to cope with the situation. The measures
 taken by the Government was added to the complication and
confusion. No one had confidence in the Government, and it was, of
course, difficult to achieve results in the atmosphere of universal distrust.
 In consequence, every active element of the nation preferred
to cooperate with the Unions of Zemstvos and of Towns. Watching
zealously this process, the higher functionaries at Petrograd attributed
 it to purely political causes. In the opinion of this bureaucracy,
the unions were covertly conducting a political campaign and rallying
 around them a revolutionary opposition to the Government. In
the early days of the War, however, this view was utterly mistaken;
there was no desire in zemstvo circles to quarrel with the Government.
 It was only when the systematic demonstrations of distrust,
the incessant bureaucratic bickerings and demands, and the insistence
 on red tape in matters of vital importance and great urgency
had produced exasperation, that even the most moderate members
of the zemstvo organizations turned against the authorities. In the
Duma and at the conferences of the leaders of the unions, speeches
were delivered against the Government, such as the ears of the Russian
 bureaucracy had never been accustomed to hear. The Government
 retaliated by proroguing the Duma and prohibiting the zem-CONCLUSION