Quote Originally Posted by Montmorency View Post
Nice thread on Peterloo from labor historian Erik Loomis:






It's odd that you would finger the "civil service" as stymieing the popular will. Hint: The Cossacks work for the czar.
The Cossacks did. They were a minority that could (and were) got rid of when they were no longer useful. The Civil Service mainly reports to itself and trying to reform it is extremely difficult - since who but they who have the information.

And I am not saying that stymieing the popular will is of itself a bad thing - most people are idiots.