Loris-Melikov's dictatorship was his idea, although the plan was not carried out precisely as he had wished. Denouncing the assassination as the work of the Poles and of the intelligentsia ("the intrigue"), he gave free rein to his reactionary ideas. He had by now conceived a hatred for the zemstvos, and in economic questions had become a rigid protectionist. His accusations were directed against the ministries and the other high institutions of state, and he was right to this extent, that the state servants had often no clear views of what they wanted to do, were inert, vacillating, and lukewarm. Katkov was in alliance with Pobědonoscev. Katkov's influence made itself felt in the administration of the schools and the universities. Orest Miller, a slavophil, but a liberal historian of literature, was suspended because he had given expression to his opinions upon Katkov. The reactionary university statutes of 1884 were mainly the work of Katkov.
The telegram of condolence which Alexander III sent to the widow of Katkov when that writer died, and the way in which his patriotism was extolled, showed how great was his prestige at court. The fact that Katkov was able to gain such a position for himself has been regarded as in a sense a victory of journalism over the closed circle of the Russian court.
Katkov frequently changed his opinions, for as politician he was far from being a man of firm and definite character, or one clearly conscious of his aims. Turgenev was doubtless tight in speaking of him as a poseur; and other publicists, such as Annenkov and Panaev, took the same view. Katkov was shrewd enough; he recognised the instability of the regime of Alexander II (though this, indeed, did not require much sagacity). But Katkov himself was hardly less unstable. He lacked a thoroughly elaborated conservative philosophy, but he served the headless and heartless reaction, and (as Solov'ev put it) he defended the Russian state with truly Mohammedan fanaticism. This explains the paradoxical advice which he gave the Bulgarians during the reign of Alexander of Battenberg, when he counselled them to establish a republic. Monarchy, he said, was the best form of government for great states, but was unsuited for petty states, since the sovereigns of these were too weak not to pass under the influence of one or other of the great states, and this led to disastrous conflicts between people and ruler. Katkov's opinion secured the approval
