Marcel Yale's contempt for the Russian people's spirit of resistance both enraged and somewhat resonated with Herzen.
After all, compared to the French people who had expelled two generations of kings, the Russians were far too docile—so docile that any local bureaucrat could oppress them to death.
Sometimes Herzen even thought that if the Russian Empire's people could be like the people of Paris, then the Tsar's officials wouldn't dare to oppress them so recklessly.
Unfortunately, the people of the Russian Empire utterly lacked the spirit of resistance seen in Paris. Constantly oppressed by the Tsar and his cohorts, they had long been accustomed to enduring passively.
