I am fortunate to live a short distance from Elmira, New York, where Samuel Clemens owned a home.  I own numerous books written by this man, and look forward to a book sale every May and October to acquire more of his works.  Included below is a small description and background of the quote, the quote, and the website for further viewing.  His writings are as sharp and hard-hitting today as they were over 125 years ago.  And I, for one, wish we had more like-minded people in the media today.

"As Mark Twain cultivated his career as a successful writer and lecturer, he became more keenly aware of world politics. Twain's attitude toward Russian monarchy shifted. Although Twain had devoted little attention to Russian politics between 1867 and 1881, a reading he delivered at the Hartford Monday Evening Club on March 22, 1886 indicates his opinion of the Russian aristocracy changed:

"Power, when lodged in the hands of man, means oppression -- insures oppression: it means oppression always: … give it to the high priest of the Christian Church in Russia, the Emperor, and with a wave of his hand he will brush a multitude of young men, nursing mothers, gray headed patriarchs, gently young girls, like so many unconsidered flies, into the unimaginable hells of his Siberia, and go blandly to his breakfast, unconscious that he has committed a barbarity …'"

From :     http://www.twainquotes.com/Revolution/revolution.html#ref2