page 355 note 2 Russian reactionaries later on raised the objection, that Alexander, being an autocrat, could not restrict his own power and always remained an autocrat for Finland as well as for Russia. This objection, however, hardly needs discussion; it really comes to a negation of any grant of a constitution and could be directed against the modern Russian constitution of 1905 just as well. Needless to say the history of the nineteenth century stands in flagrant contradiction with that theory. We know of many instances where constitutions have been granted which have restricted the monarchical power very effectively. From the moral point of view this theory is most defective, as it amounts to a negation of the sanctity of the monarch's word.
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