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Originally published in 1923 - translated from the French by F. A. Holt, O.B.E.
Main Menu - Table of Contents
Volume 1:
I. JULY 20-23, 1914 | II. JULY 24-AUGUST 2, 1914 | III.AUGUST 3-17, 1914 | IV. AUGUST 18-SEPTEMBER 11, 1914 | V. SEPTEMBER 12-OCTOBER 28, 1914 | VI. OCTOBER 29-NOVEMBER 30, 1914 | VII. DECEMBER 1-31, 1914 | VIII. JANUARY 1-FEBRUARY 13, 1915 | IX. FEBRUARY 14-MARCH 31, 1915 | X. APRIL 1-JUNE 2, 1915
Volume 2:
I. JUNE 3-AUGUST 24, 1915 | II. AUGUST 25-SEPTEMBER 20, 1915 | III.SEPTEMBER 21-NOVEMBER 8, 1915 | IV. NOVEMBER 9-DECEMBER 31, 1915 | V. JANUARY 1-26, 1916 | VI. JANUARY 27-FEBRUARY 24, 1916 | VII. FEBRUARY 25-MARCH 22, 1916 | VIII. MARCH 23-MAY 3, 1916 | IX. MAY 4-JUNE 15, 1916 | X. JUNE 16-JULY 18, 1916 | XI. JULY 19-AUGUST 18, 1916
Volume 3
I. AUGUST 19-SEPTEMBER 18, 1916 | II. SEPTEMBER 19-OCTOBER 25, 1916 | III. OCTOBER 27-NOVEMBER 22, 1916 | IV. NOVEMBER 23-DECEMBER 24, 1916 | V. DECEMBER 25, 1916-JANUARY 8, 1917 | VI. JANUARY 9-28, 1917 | VII. JANUARY 29-FEBRUARY 21, 1917 | VIII. FEBRUARY 22-MARCH 11, 1917 | IX. MARCH 12-22, 1917 | X. MARCH 23-APRIL 6, 1917 | XI. APRIL 7-21, 1917 | XII. APRIL 22-MAY 6, 1917 | XIII. MAY 7-17, 1917
Volume III
CHAPTER II
SEPTEMBER 19-OCTOBER 25, 1916.
The heralds of winter. - The
Church of the Saviour-on-the-Waters. - The Emperor is often charged
with being heartless. - The combined effort of the Allies to
relieve Rumania. - Public education in Russia: the primary schools. - Ignorance
of the rural masses; a contrast with the brilliant development
of science, letters and art. - A political crisis in Athens;
Venizelos goes to Crete. - Prince Kanin's visits to Petrograd:
the reflections of a moujik. - Another Minister of the
Interior: Protopopov; his relations with Rasputin. - Sturmer's
treachery; the intrigues of which he is the centre. - Clandestine
activities of the socialist leaders. - Successive defeats of
the Rumanian army; a very grave situation. - General Berthelot
passes through Petrograd on his way to take command of the French
mission in Romania. - My Japanese colleague, Viscount Motono,
is appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs; a great authority
on Asiatic and European problems. - The Minister of Communications,
Trepov, boldly attacks Sturmer; his confidence in the Emperor. - German
agents in Petrograd: dinners at the house of Manus, the financier. - Constanza
captured by the Austro-Bulgarians; the Rumanians evacuate the
Dobradja.
Tuesday, September 19, 1916.
Winter is already at hand. Under the livid sky a slow-falling,
invisible and icy rain seems to fill the air with a snowy vapour.
The light is going by four o'clock. I was finishing my drive about
that hour and happened to pass the little church of the Saviour-on-the-Waters
which is on the bank of the Neva, near the Arsenal. I stopped
my carriage and got out to visit this poetic sanctuary which I
have not entered since the war.
It is one of the very few churches in Petrograd in which the
conventional and showy style of Italo-Germanic architecture has
not had its fling; it is perhaps the only one in which the worshipper
breathes an atmosphere of quiet meditation and an odour of mysticism.
It was built in 1910 in memory of the twelve thousand sailors
who died in the war against Japan, and is an exquisite copy of
Muscovite art in the twelfth century, the church of Bogoliubovo,
near Vladimir.
Externally it has simple, well-defined lines, with Roman arches
and a graceful dome. In the warm half-darkness inside. the sole
decoration of the bare walls consists of bronze plaques on which
are engraved the names of all the vessels, officers and men lost
at Port Arthur, Vladivostock and Tsushima. I know nothing more
moving in its very simplicity than this memorial church. But one's
feelings are transformed and touch on the sublime at the sight
of the iconostasis. In the depths of the dark apse a figure of
Christ, more than life size, hovers and glows in a golden cloud
above black waves. In the majesty of the attitude, the nobility
of the gestures and the infinite pity which speaks in the eyes,
this figure reminds one of the finest Byzantine mosaics.
When I first visited this church, at the beginning of 1914,
I did not realize all the pathetic symbolism of this sacred figure.
To-day its grandeur and eloquence seemed prodigious, as if it
were an interpretation of that last vision which has soothed and
sanctified the dying moments of thousands upon thousands during
this war.
By a natural connection of ideas I remembered what Rasputin
said to the Empress one day when she was weeping on hearing of
the enormous losses in a great battle: "Take heart! When
a moujik dies for his Tsar and country, another lamp is
immediately lit before the throne of God."
Wednesday, September 20, 1916.
Hindenburg's plan is taking shape and in course of realization
on the whole of the circular Rumanian front. Along the Danube
and in the Dobrudja the region of Orsova and the defiles of the
Carpathians, the German, Austrian, Bulgarian and Turkish forces
are exercising sustained and converging pressure, under which
the Rumanians are giving way at all points.
Thursday, September 21, 1916.
I often hear the Emperor accused of heartlessness and selfishness.
He is charged with having always shown himself indifferent not
only to the misfortunes of his relatives, friends and most faithful
servants, but even to the sorrows of his people. Several memorable
incidents are quoted in which he certainly displayed astonishing
indifference.
The first occasion was during the celebrations attending his
coronation at Moscow on May 18, 1896. A public fête had
been arranged in Khodinsky meadow, near Petrovsky park. But the
police arrangements were so bad that the crowd began to heave
violently. Suddenly there seemed to be a panic and a general stampede
ensued; there were four thousand victims, of which two thousand
died. When Nicholas II heard of the catastrophe he did not display
the slightest sign of emotion and did not even cancel a ball for
that evening.
Nine years later, on May 14, 1905, Admiral Rojdestvensky's
fleet was utterly destroyed; with it disappeared Russia's whole
future in the Far East. The Emperor was just about to play a game
of tennis when the telegram announcing the disaster was handed
to him. He simply said: "What a horrible catastrophe!"
and without another word, asked for his racket.
It was with the same unruffled composure that he received the
news of the assassination of the Minister of the Interior, Plehve,
in 1904, of his uncle, the Grand Duke Sergei, in 1905, and of
Stolypin, his President of the Council, in 1911.
And, quite recently, the hasty, underhand way in which he dismissed
his close associate, Prince Orlov, has again revealed a stratum
of callousness in him, a soul all but impervious to the generous
impulses of gratitude and friendship.
After referring to all these incidents, old Princess D - -,
who has known the Emperor since his childhood, concluded with
the bitter remark:
"Nicholas Alexandrovich has no heart at all."
I protested that for all that, he appears to be capable of
affection towards his own family; he is certainly extremely devoted
to the Empress; he adores his daughters and idolizes his son.
He cannot be denied instincts of tenderness. I am inclined to
think that the superhuman situation in which he is placed has
gradually changed his feelings towards other men and that his
indifference is also one result of his fatalism.
Friday, September 22, 1916.
Are Sturmer's political fortunes in danger? I am told that,
judging by credible indications, his bitter enemy, the Minister
of the Interior, Khvostov, has turned the Emperor completely against
him by telling His Majesty the inner history of the Manuilov affair
and making him extremely alarmed at the prospect of an imminent
scandal. What is this inner history? We do not know. but it cannot
be doubted that there are one or more corpses between Sturmer
and the director of his secretariat.
It is even being said that the question of Sturmer's successor
as President of the Council has already been settled in secret.
The choice is said to have fallen on the present Minister of Communications.,
Alexander Feodorovitch Trepov. I could only congratulate myself
on such an appointment. Trepov is as honest, intelligent and hard-working
as energetic and patriotic.
I dined this evening at the Donon restaurant with Kokovtsov
and Putilov. The ex-President of the Council and the millionaire
banker outbid each other with lugubrious forebodings.
Kokovtsov said:
"We're heading for revolution."
Putilov added:
"We're heading for anarchy."
To explain himself, he continued:
"The Russian is not a revolutionary; he's an anarchist.
There's a world of difference. The revolutionary means to reconstruct;
the anarchist thinks only of destroying."
Saturday, September 23, 1916.
The Allies are attacking on all the fronts with a view to taking
the weight off Rumania.
In Artois and Picardy the English and French have carried an
extensive series of German trenches by storm.
In the Isonzo region the Italians are intensifying their offensive
east of Gorizia. In Macedonia the English are crossing the Struma
whilst the French and Serbians, after occupying Florina, are hustling
the Bulgarians in the direction of Monastir. In Volhynia the Russians
are harassing the Austro-Germans from the Pinsk marshes to Lutzk.
In Galicia they are advancing on Lemberg and south-west of Kalicz.
In the Bukovina Carpathians they have captured several hostile
positions north of Dorma Vatra.
Sunday, September 24, 1916.
A popular misconception, both in France and England (and I
am always hearing the echo of it) is that tsarism would easily
settle its domestic difficulties if it abandoned its antiquated
principles and boldly entered the path of democratic reforms.
It is said that all the latent energies and unsuspected virtues
of the Russian people would be revealed at once. There would be
a prodigious outpouring of patriotism, intelligence, moral fervour,
force of character, spirit of initiative and organization, practical
idealism, lofty conceptions of social, national and human duty.
The western Allies should therefore put pressure on the Emperor
Nicholas to make him adopt the necessary innovations. The change
would also mean doubling the effective power of the Alliance.
The recent visit of the "Cadet" deputies to London
and Paris has contributed not a little to the spread of these
ideas. These gentlemen have even made a complaint about myself - the
complaint that I am not seen enough in liberal circles, that I
do not display my sympathy with them as openly as I might and
do not take advantage of my friendly relations with the Emperor
to convert him to Parliamentary principles.
In this diary I have on several occasions explained the attitude
of reserve I have felt bound to adopt towards the liberal parties.
Whatever the defects of tsarism may be, it is the tie-beam of
Russia, the basis and framework of Russian society, the sole link
between the heterogeneous territories and peoples which ten centuries
of history have gradually gathered under the sceptre of the Romanovs.
So long as the war lasts the Allies must therefore uphold it at
any cost. I have frequently developed this argument.
But I go further: I am convinced that for a long time to come,
one or two generations perhaps, the internal evils from which
Russia is suffering will only admit of treatment which is palliative,
partial and cautiously graduated. The outstanding reason is the
colossal ignorance in which the mass of the Russian nation is
vegetating.
It is there that the real weakness of Russia lies, and the
principal source of her incapacity for political progress can
be found. In this vast empire there are not more than one hundred
and twenty thousand primary schools for a population of one hundred
and eighty million souls. And such schools, such teachers!
As a general rule the teaching is entrusted to the parish priest
who is usually a poor creature, idle and despised. In his syllabus
reading, writing and arithmetic take second place to prayers,
the catechism, sacred history and church music. Thus the education
of the nation is more or less directly in the hands of the clergy.
The Holy Synod recently reminded its priests that the schools
must be kept "in the closest association with the church,
and in strict observance of the orthodox faith," and that
the religious education of the children must be "the first
concern of the masters."
The system functions in the most defective manner. In many
districts the schools are poorly attended or actually empty, either
because of the distances, snow and cold, or because educational
material and books are lacking, or the moujiks have quarrelled
with the priest and thrashed him too hard.
To the great Catherine, the empress-philosopher and friend
of Voltaire and Diderot, is due the credit, as of so much else,
of founding public education in Russia. Some twenty secondary
schools and a hundred primary schools were established in her
reign. She threw herself into this enterprise with her usual enthusiasm,
though without forgetting those principles of government which
still inspire her successors. One day, when the governor of Moscow
was complaining of the indifference his citizens displayed towards
the new institution, the tsarina replied: "Are you complaining
because the Russians don't try to educate themselves? I didn't
start these schools for their sake, but for the sake of
Europe, where we must keep our place in public opinion. If a day
comes when our peasants want to be educated, neither you nor I
will remain where we are."
Monday, September 25, 1916.
Thinking over what I wrote yesterday about the general ignorance
of the Russian nation, it is a pleasure by contrast to draw up
a list of all the eminent men who are the glory of Russia to-day
in the domain of science, thought, literature and art; for if
the masses are uneducated and backward, the elite are brilliant,
active, highly productive and vigorous. I know few countries which
can produce so fine a contingent of great minds, unprejudiced,
luminous and discerning intellects, original, fascinating and
irrepressible talent.
There is fierce rivalry in all the departments of scientific
work. Nowhere is experimental and practical science more worthily
represented, as it is carried on by biologists such as Pavlov
and Metchnikov, chemists such as Mendeleiev, physicists like Lebedev,
geologists like Karpinsky and mathematicians like Liapunov, Vassiliev
and Krylov; I will even venture the opinion that Pavlov and Mendeleïev
are as great as Claude Bernard and Lavoisier.
The historians, archæologists and ethnographers also
form a solid phalanx of erudite and sagacious investigators. I
need only name Kliutchevsky, Miliukov, Platonov and Rostovtsev
in the historical field; in the archæological, Vesselovsky
and Kondakov; in the ethnographical, Moguilansky. Several groups
of linguists have been doing excellent work for many years, displaying
the same strict method and the same subtle power of analysis and
intuition. Professors Chakmohtov and Zelinsky are up to the level
of the best foreign masters.
Philosophy has never been highly developed in the empire of
the Tsars, any more than it could develop in the Papal states
in the days of temporal power: when theological dogmatism has
a society in its grip philosophers necessarily feel themselves
hampered. On the other hand, metaphysical speculation is seriously
cultivated in intellectual circles in Petrograd and Moscow; its
leading experts are Lopatin, Berdiaev and Prince Sergei Trubetzkoï,
the disciple and successor of the great idealist, Vladimir Soloviev.
Imaginative literature, though still mourning the loss of Tolstoi
and Dostoievsky, displays a vitality in every branch which justifies
the greatest hopes. From the generous output of these last ten
years one could extract some thirty works, novels or plays, which
are remarkable for their chaste beauty of form, careful composition,
regard for moral and pictorial truth, psychological divination,
the lifelike quality of the characters, the corroding flavour
of pessimism, the vivid portrayal of life, turbid or sordid, insatiable
or passive, the moving obsession of mental derangement, and last
but not least the clear and tragic vision of social problems.
Several writers who have thus made their mark since 1905 have
already disappeared; but to judge the evolution of the literary
movement in Russia, an assembly of talents so varied as those
of Gorky, Anreiev, Korolenko, Veressaiev, Merejovsky, Madame Hippius,
Artzibachev, Kuprin, Kamensky, Sologub, Kuzmin, Ivanov, Bunin,
Tchirykov, Gumilov and Brussov certainly constitutes one of the
most favourable symptoms.
There is the same vitality in painting, in which realistic
and national tendencies are sometimes so happily brought out under
the brush of Repin, Golovin, Roerich, Somov, Maliavin, and Vrubel,
not to mention the powerful portrait-painter Serov, who died four
years ago. And could I omit the names of the two men responsible
for the revolution in theatrical decoration, those marvellous
magicians of scenic illusion, Alexander Benois and Bakst?
In music: the glorious era of Balakirev, Moussorgsky, Borodin
and Rimsky-Korsakov is over. But their artistic offspring, Glazunov,
Scriabin, Stravinsky, Rachmaninov and young Prokofiev, are manfully
continuing the great tradition and as anxious to prolong it as
to enrich and extend it. With the wealth and freedom of its inspiration,
the dreamy arid enticing grace of the melodic design, its fertility
of invention, the brilliance of orchestral colour and the bold
pursuit of polyphonic complexities, Russian music seems to be
on the very threshold of a second blooming.
Tuesday, September 26, 1916.
The situation in Athens is getting worse: the duel between
the King and Venizelos has reached the critical phase.
A Russian journalist, who to my knowledge has some kind of
relations with Sturmer, has just been to see me to tell me privately
that "certain people at court" are not at all sorry
to contemplate the possibility of a dynastic crisis in Greece,
and are even cherishing hopes that the French will precipitate
that crisis, "which would be so advantageous to the cause
of the Allies."
1 cautiously replied that the views which inspire Briand's
policy towards Greece in no way involve a dynastic crisis and
that it is for King Constantine himself to carry out the splendid
programme of national expansion which the Allies have put before
him.
He dropped the subject.
It is quite easy to see through the designs of Sturmer and
the "people at court." Obviously the disciples of Russian
autocracy could not be a party to overturning a throne. But if
events in Greece are bound to lead to the proclamation of a republic,
would it not be better, they say, to put a swift stop to the crisis
by a change of monarch? There is no lack of candidates in the
Russian imperial family. And as an autocratic government could
not decently undertake so dirty a job as the dethronement of a
King, does not everything show that the government of the French
Republic is designated for this operation?
Prince Kotohito Kanin, cousin of the Mikado, is arriving in
Petrograd to-morrow; he has come to return the visit which the
Grand Duke George Michailovitch recently paid to the Emperor Yoshihito.
On orders from the police, bunches of Russian and Japanese
flags are being displayed in the streets.
These preparations are prompting the moujiks to curious
reflections. My naval attaché, Commander Gallaud, has been
telling me that when he was driving in the Champ-de-Mars to-day,
his isvostchik turned round, pointed to some recruits who
were drilling and asked him in a sly tone
"What are they being drilled for?"
"To fight the Germans."
"What's the good? Look at me. I was in the Manchurian
campaign myself in 1905; I was wounded at Mukden. And now! Look
at them hanging out flags from all the houses and raising triumphal
arches on the Nevsky Prospekt in honour of this Japanese prince
who is coming! In a few years it'll be the same with the Germans.
We shall be welcoming them under triumphal arches. Then
why have thousands and thousands of men killed if all this is
bound to end like the Japanese business?"
Wednesday, September 27, 1916.
Sturmer has just spent three days with the Emperor at Mohilev.
I am told that he put his case with great skill. He has come
out of the Manuilov affair as well as he could hope, pleading
that if he erred it was only through innocence and too much kindness
of heart. He emphasized the point that the Duma is shortly to
meet, there is a ferment of revolutionary feeling and that it
is more vital than ever not to weaken the government. But all
his eloquence would have been wasted if the Empress had not supported
him with all her stubborn energy. He has been saved.
I saw him in his room to-day; he looked pleased and. confident.
I asked him about military matters first.
"Does General Alexeiev fully realize the great, the
vital importance to the common cause, of the safety of Rumania?"
"I have been able to satisfy myself that General Alexeiev
attaches very high importance to the operations in the Dobrudja.
Four Russian divisions and one Serbian division have already crossed
the Danube; another Serbian division will be sent there shortly.
But that is the most that His Majesty has authorized him to do
in that quarter. You know that we have to cope with enormous forces
in the region of Kovel and Stanislau."
He confirmed a fact which my officers had already mentioned
to me - that the Russian armies in Galicia have recently suffered
excessive losses without any appreciable result. Between Pinsk
and the Carpathians they are fighting twenty-nine German divisions,
forty Austro-Hungarian and two Turkish; their task is made extremely
difficult by their inadequate supply of heavy artillery and aeroplanes.
Then we discussed the ministerial crisis which is at hand in
Athens and the nationalist movement of which Venizelos is the
centre.
"I've not yet had time," said Sturmer, "to read
all the telegrams that have arrived to-night but I can tell you
now that the Emperor has used very stern language about King Constantine."
Thursday, September 28, 1916.
Bombshell in Greece. Venizelos and Admiral Condouriotis have
secretly sailed for Crete where the insurgents have declared in
favour of the Entente; nationalist demonstrators are parading
the streets of Athens and thousands of officers and men are gathering
at the Piræus, demanding to be sent to Salonica so that
they can take service in General Sarrail's army.
I have been considering the possible consequences of these
occurrences with Sturmer.
"It's in our own hands whether the situation turns to
our advantage," I said, "provided we act promptly and
vigorously."
"Yes, yes. Certainly."
Then he hesitatingly remarked, as if picking his words:
"What are we to do if King Constantine persists in his
resistance?"
He gave me a curious look, fixing a questioning and shifty
eye upon me. I pretended to be thinking. He repeated his question.
"What are we to do with King Constantine?"
If his question was not an insinuation it was certainly a bait,
and was obviously connected with the pseudo- secret of the Russian
journalist.
I replied in evasive terms that I was not yet sufficiently
acquainted with the course of events in Athens to venture to offer
any practical advice, and added:
"In any case I'd rather wait until Monsieur Briand lets
me know his views; but I won't fail to tell him that in your opinion
the position of King Constantine is directly involved in the present
crisis."
We then turned to other topics: Prince Kanin's visit and the
unfortunate development of the military operations in the Dobrudja
and the Transylvanian Alps, etc.
As I was leaving I noticed on the walls of the room three engravings
which were not there yesterday. The first was of the Congress
of Vienna, the second of the Congress of Paris and the third of
the Congress of Berlin.
"I see you like to have inspiring pictures around you,
President."
"Yes, you know how passionately fond of history I am.
I know nothing more instructive."
"And more deceptive."
"Come, don't be sceptical! Nobody believes enough! But
you haven't noticed the most interesting thing."
"What's that?"
"That vacant place!"
"Well?"
"That's the place I'm keeping for the picture of the next
congress; it's to be called the Congress of Moscow, if God wills!"
He crossed himself and closed his eyes a moment, as if breathing
a short prayer.
I answered quietly: "But will there be any congress? Haven't
we agreed to make Germany accept our terms?"
With an ecstatic expression he developed his idea and repeated:
"How splendid it would be at Moscow! How splendid! May
God grant it! May God grant it!"
He was already imagining himself Chancellor of the Empire,
the successor of Nesselrode and Gortchakov, opening the general
peace congress in the Kremlin. All the pettiness, stupidity and
infatuation of the man were laid bare at that moment. All he can
see in his heavy task, one of the heaviest ever laid on human
shoulders, is an opportunity for bragging - and personal advancement.
This evening I returned, in full uniform, to the Foreign Office,
where the President of the Council has given an official banquet
to Prince Kanin.
Too much glare, silver and plate, food and music; too many
flowers and servants! It was all dazzle and noise. I could not
help thinking what a better tone there was in Sazonov's time,
when official show was still in good taste.
At the head of the table sat the Grand Duke George Michailovitch;
I was on Sturmer's left.
During the whole of dinner we simply talked commonplaces. But
at dessert Sturmer said to me ex abrupto.
"The Congress of Moscow! Don't you think it would be a
magnificent consecration of the Franco-Russian alliance? A century
after the burning of our sacred city it would see Russia and France
proclaiming the peace of the world!"
He complacently expatiated on this theme.
I continued: "I have no idea of the views of my government
as to the seat of the next congress and should be surprised if,
in the present stage of our military operations, Monsieur Briand
had even turned his thoughts to so distant an eventuality. In
any case, as I told you this morning, I hope there will be no
congress. In my opinion it is of great importance for the Allies
to agree upon all the general terms of the peace, so that we can
make our enemies accept them en bloc. Part of the work
has already been done; we are agreed about Constantinople, the
Straits, Asia Minor, Transylvania, the Adriatic littoral, etc.
The rest will be settled when a favourable opportunity presents
itself. But first and foremost we must concentrate on victory.
Our motto must be: Primum et ante omnia, vincere! Your
health, my dear President!"
During the evening I had a talk with Prince Kanin. He told
me of his long residence in France, at the school at Saumur, and
then said how much he had been touched by the Emperor's cordial
welcome, and what a pleasant impression his reception by the crowd
had made upon him. We talked about the war and I noticed how he
avoided all detailed discussion and expressed no opinion on situations
and facts. Under his cold compliments I could guess his contempt
for the vanquished of 1905 who have learned their lesson so badly.
Friday, September 29, 1916.
The economic situation has become much worse in the last few
weeks. The increased cost of living is causing hardship all round.
The price of the most elementary necessaries is three times what
it was at the beginning of the war; in the case of wood and eggs
it is four times, and in that of butter and soap five times. The
main causes of this situation are unfortunately as fundamental
as obvious - the closing of foreign markets, congestion on the
railways and confusion and dishonesty in the public services.
What will it be in a few weeks time when we have to cope with
the rigours of winter and the tortures of the cold, which are
even more cruel than those of hunger?
Saturday, September 30, 1916.
A stubborn struggle is in progress in Galicia, between the
Styr and the Zlota Lipa. The Russians, who have taken the offensive,
are trying to force their way through in the region of Krasnie
and Brzezany, fifty kilometres from Lemberg.
Sunday, October 1, 1916.
There has been a reception at the Japanese embassy in honour
of Prince Kanin. It has been a particularly brilliant function.
the guests including the Grand Duke George, the Grand Duke Sergei,
the Grand Duke Cyril, etc.
I congratulated my colleague, Motono, on his success. In his
shrewd, phlegmatic way he replied:
"Yes, it's gone off quite well. When I first came as ambassador
to Petrograd in 1908, hardly anyone spoke to me; no one ever asked
me out and the Grand Dukes affected not to see me. All that has
changed. I have achieved the object I set before me: Japan and
Russia are linked by the ties of real friendship."
In the throng around the buffet I spied E - -, a high official
at court, who has taken a liking to me and never misses an opportunity
of pouring his suspicious and extravagant nationalism into my
ear. I asked him his news.
Without appearing to have heard my question, he pointed to
Sturmer who was holding forth a few feet away from us. Then, with
a tragic glare, E - - burst out:
"Why haven't you and your English colleague put a stop
to that man's treachery before now, Ambassador?"
I calmed him down:
"It's a subject I'd like to discuss with you ... but not
here. Come and lunch with me alone on Thursday."
"I'll certainly be there."
Monday, October 2, 1916.
The battle which has begun between the Styr and the Zlota Lipa
is taking a favourable turn for the Russians, who have pierced
the enemy's forward lines and made five thousand prisoners.
But there are indications of a formidable counterattack by
the Germans in the region of Lutzk, a hundred kilometres north.
Tuesday, October 3, 1916.
Sturmer has succeeded in ruining his mortal enemy, Alexander
Khvostov, the Minister of the Interior. Henceforth the Manuilov
affair has no terrors for him.
The new Minister of the Interior is one of the vice-presidents
of the Duma, Protopopov. Hitherto the Emperor has very seldom
chosen his members from the representative chamber. But the selection
of Protopopov does not herald any evolution in the direction of
parliamentary government. Quite the contrary.
On the strength of his earlier opinions, Protopopov ranked
as an "Octobrist," i.e. a very moderate liberal. Last
June he was a member of the parliamentary delegation which visited
the West; both in London and Paris he showed himself to be a fervent
advocate of the war à outrance. But during
a short stay in Stockholm on his way back he had a strange conversation
with a German agent, Warburg, and though the affair remains somewhat
obscure, there is no doubt that he spoke in favour of peace.
When he returned to Petrograd he made common cause with Sturmer
and Rasputin, who immediately put him in touch with the Empress.
He was soon taken into favour and at once initiated into the secret
conclaves at Tsarskoe Selo. He was entitled to a place there
on the strength of his proficiency in the occult sciences, principally
spiritualism, the highest and most doubtful of them all. I also
know for certain that he once had an infectious disease which
has left him with nervous disorders, and that recently the preliminary
symptoms of general paralysis have been observed in him. So the
internal policy of the empire is in good hands!
Wednesday, October 4, 1916.
It is the Grand Duke Paul's birthday to-day, and he invited
me to dinner with the Grand Duke Cyril and his wife the Grand
Duchess Victoria, the Grand Duke Boris, the Grand Duchess Marie
Pavlovna, Madame Narishkin, Countess Kreutz, Dimitry Benckendorff,
Savinsky and others.
Everyone looked very downcast, and indeed one would have to
be blind not to see the portents of disaster which are gathering
on the horizon.
The Grand Duchess spoke to me in a voice of anguish about her
sister, the Queen of Rumania. I dared not reassure her, for if
the Rumanians are still holding their ground in the Carpathians
it is only with the greatest difficulty, and if they relax their
efforts in the slightest there will be a complete disaster.
"For Heaven's sake, insist that reinforcements shall be
sent there at once," she said. " From what my poor sister
says - and you know how brave she is - there's not a moment to
lose. If help is not sent to Rumania without delay, a catastrophe
is inevitable."
I told her of my daily protests to Sturmer.
"Theoretically, he agrees to all I say and consents to
everything I ask. But in practice he shelters behind General Alexeiev,
who does not seem to realize the dangers of the situation. And
the Emperor only looks at things through General Alexeiev's
eyes."
"The Emperor is in a deplorable frame of mind."
Without further explanation, she suddenly rose and, on the
excuse of getting a cigarette, rejoined the group of ladies.
I then tackled the Grand Duke Paul, the Grand Duke Boris and
the Grand Duke Cyril - one by one. They have seen the Tsar recently;
they move in his circle so that they are well qualified to give
me news. But I was very careful not to make my questions too direct,
as I knew they would evade them. I introduced the monarch's opinions
incidentally and as if not attaching any importance to them; I
referred casually to certain of his decisions or some remark he
has made to me. They answered quite candidly.
Their replies, which they could not have concocted together,
have left me in no doubt as to the Emperor's moral condition.
There has been no change in what he says; he still proclaims his
determination to win and his absolute confidence in victory. But
despondency, apathy and resignation can be seen in his actions,
appearance, attitude and all the manifestations of the inner man.
Thursday, October 5, 1916.
E - -, the high court functionary, came to lunch at the embassy.
To make him quite at home I had not invited any other guests.
As long as we were at table he kept a check on himself because
of the servants. When we returned to the drawing-room he tossed
down two glasses of brandy, filled a third, lit a cigar and with
a flaming countenance looked me full in the face and asked me
bluntly.
"Ambassador, why are you and your English colleague waiting
to put an end to Monsieur Sturmer's treacheries?"
"We're waiting until we have some definite grievance against
him. Officially we have nothing to complain about; all his words
and actions are all that they ought to be. He's always telling
us: 'War to the knife! No mercy for Germany!' As regards his real
views and secret manoeuvres, we have only impressions and intuitions
which carry us no further than conjectures and suspicions. You
would be doing us a very great service if you could produce one
actual fact to support your beliefs."
"I don't know of any actual fact. But the treachery is
obvious enough. Don't you see it?"
"It's not enough to see it; I must be in a position to
make my Government see it, and then the Emperor. One can't embark
on a serious matter like this without even a vestige of evidence."
"You're right."
"As we're reduced to hypotheses for the time being, would
you mind telling me what form you think Sturmer's treachery takes?"
He then told me that, in themselves, Sturmer, Rasputin, Dobrovolsky,
Protopopov and Co. are only of minor and secondary importance,
as they are simply tools in the hands of an anonymous and small,
but very powerful clique which is bent on peace, either because
it is tired of the war or because it fears revolution.
"At the head of this clique," he continued, "you
find - as you would expect to find - the nobility of the Baltic
provinces and all the principal officials at court. Then there
is the ultra-reactionary party in the Council of Empire and the
Duma, our Lords of the Holy Synod, and all the high financiers
and big industrials. They've got the Empress through Sturmer and
Rasputin, and the Emperor through the Empress."
"No! They haven't got the Emperor yet! They'll never get
him! I mean they'll never induce him to separate from his allies."
"Then they'll have him assassinated or force him to abdicate."
"Abdicate? Can you see the Emperor abdicating? In whose
favour?"
"In favour of his son, with the Empress as Regent. You
may be certain that that is what Sturmer, or rather those
controlling him, are planning. That gang will stop at nothing
to gain their ends; they re capable of anything. They'll foment
strikes, riots, pogroms; they'll try to produce social distress
and famine and make everyone so thoroughly wretched and despondent
that the continuation of the war will become impossible. You should
have seen them at work in 1905? "
I turned over in my mind all he had just said and concluded:
"I see. The first thing to do is to demolish Sturmer.
I'll set about it."
Saturday, October 7, 1916.
Between the Styr and the Zlota Lipa the Russians have been
held up by the network of impregnable fortifications constructed
to defend Lemberg. They have also been compelled to shift their
centre of gravity to the region of Lutzk, a hundred kilometres
to the north, where the Germans are making a strong attack.
Since their vast offensive began, the armies of General Brussilov
have captured four hundred and thirty thousand men, six hundred
and fifty guns and two thousand seven hundred machine-guns.
Madame G - -, whose husband holds an important post in the
Ministry of the Interior, has been Sturmer's Egeria for many years.
Ambitious and addicted to intrigue, she has helped Boris Vladimirovitch
all through his administrative career. Since the day when, thanks
to Rasputin, she got him made President of the Council, there
is no limit to her visions of greatness for him. She recently
remarked to one of her friends, putting a mysterious gravity into
her words as if she were telling some state secret: "You'll
be seeing great things before long. In a short time our dear country
will be in the true path of safety. Boris Vladimirovitch will
be the First Minister of Her Majesty the Empress!"
Sunday, October 8, 1916.
Someone who keeps me well informed as to what is being said
and done in advanced circles has been telling me of great activity
in the social-democratic party, and particularly its extreme wing.
the Bolsheviki.
The long drawn-out war, doubts about victory and the difficulties
of the economic situation have given revolutionary hopes new life.
Preparations are being made for the struggle which is believed
to be at hand.
The leaders of the movement are the three "labour"
deputies in the Duma, Tcheidze, Skobelev and Kerensky. Great influence
is also being exercised from abroad, the influence of Lenin who
has fled to Switzerland.
What strikes me most about the Petrograd triumvirate is the
practical character of its activity. The disappointments of 1905
have borne fruit. There is no idea now of joining hands with the
"Cadets," who are bourgeois and will never understand
the proletariat: all illusions as to the immediate help to be
expected from the rural masses have now vanished, and the revolutionaries
are merely promising them the division of land. But the main thing
is that the "armed revolution" is being organized. It
is by the closest association between the workmen and the soldiers
that the "revolutionary dictatorship" will be established:
victory will be secured by the co-operation of the factory and
the barracks. Kerensky is the soul of this movement.
Monday, October 9, 1916.
The new Minister of the Interior, Protopopov, is showing that
his opinions and programme are ultra-reactionary. He has no fear,
it is said, of facing the forces of revolution; if need be, he
will provoke them and annihilate them at a blow. He feels himself
the man to save tsarism and orthodox Holy Russia: he will save
them. Such is the way he talks to his personal friends with inexhaustible
loquacity and a self-satisfied smile. And yet it is only a few
months since he was reckoned among the moderate liberals in the
Duma. His friends of those days, who thought enough of him to
make him vice-president of the assembly, cannot recognize him
now.
His swift conversion is explained, so I am told, by his state
of health. The sudden revulsions of feeling and the excitement
of his imaginative faculties are the preliminary symptoms of general
paralysis. A fact which is undoubted and has recently come to
my knowledge is that he was brought into touch with Rasputin by
his doctor, the therapeutist Badmaiev, the Mongolian quack who
treats his patients with the magical remedies and mystical pharmacopoeia
of the sorcerers of Tibet. I have referred previously to the alliance
between the spiritualist charlatan and the staretz which
was formed at the bedside of the little Tsarevitch.
As Protopopov had long been initiated into the doctrines of
occultism he was predestined to become a client of Badmaiev. The
latter is always engaged in some intrigue or other and he immediately
realized that the vice-president of the Duma would be a very valuable
recruit to the Empress's camarilla. In the course of his
cabalistic operations he had no difficulty in dominating the disordered
mind and shattered brain in which the early signs of megalomania
were already perceptible. Before long he introduced him to Rasputin.
The neurotic politician and the magician-mystic were delighted
with each other. A few days later Grigori described Protopopov
to the Empress as the God-sent saviour of Russia. Sturmer seconded
with his customary servility and the Emperor once again gave way.
Tuesday, October 10, 1916.
The Rumanians are in retreat along the whole line. The High
Command is incapable and the troops are tired and dispirited:
the news is horrible.
Very fortunately, General Berthelot, who is going to take command
of the French mission in Rumania, has just arrived in Petrograd.
I have been very favourably impressed by him. His shrewd and roguish
glance contrast with his stout and massive figure. He has a lucid
and thoughtful mind and his speech is simple and to the point.
But his outstanding quality is strength of will, a determination
which is quiet and pleasant, but quite inflexible.
I introduced him to Sturmer and we set to work at once. Neratov
and Buchannan were present at the conference. I took up the theme
I have so often argued of the vital importance to Russia of the
operations in the Danube region.
"In spite of the brilliant successes of General Brussilov,
your offensive has not justified all our hopes. Failing some fortunate
happening - which becomes less probable every day - there is likely
to be a deadlock on the whole front from Riga to the Carpathians,
owing to the lack of heavy artillery and aeroplanes. In these
circumstances, if we let Rumania be crushed and Bucharest and
Constanza fall into the enemy's hands, it is Russia which will
mainly have to face the consequences, as Odessa will be threatened
and the road to Constantinople will be blocked. In face of such
a prospect, could not General Alexeiev spare out of all his
armies the equivalent of three or four army corps to send to the
help of Rumania? The offensive of the Salonica army has started
well, but all its efforts will be in vain if the Rumanian army
is put out of action."
General Berthelot supported this argument with facts and figures.
Sir George Buchanan agreed. Sturmer acquiesced, as usual, but
would not commit General Alexeiev, also as usual.
Wednesday, October 11, 1916.
My Japanese colleague, Viscount Motono, has just been appointed
Minister for Foreign Affairs. Of all the Japanese I have known
he is certainly the most open-minded, the best informed on European
politics and the most accessible to European thought and culture.
With his departure I shall lose an excellent colleague, a man
who is perfectly safe to deal with and one with a remarkable all-round
knowledge.
After congratulating him I asked him about the direction he
proposes to give the diplomacy of Japan.
"I shall try," he replied, " to apply the ideas
I have so often expounded to you. In the first place I should
like to make our help in the war more effective. That will he
the most difficult part of my task, as public opinion with us
does not realize the universal character of the problems which
are now being solved on the European battlefields."
This pronouncement in no way surprised me as he has always
been advocating a more active intervention in the European struggle;
he has even tried to persuade his government to send Japanese
army corps to France and has pleaded unceasingly for the output
of Japanese arms and munitions for Russia to be increased, and
the rate of supply accelerated. At every stage he has adopted
the most lofty views of the alliance.
Then I asked him his intentions with regard to China. He continued:
"What can I add to what I have already told you so often?
You know what I shall try to do - and also what I shall refuse
to do."
I will summarize the opinions and prophecies he has often uttered
in my presence on the subject of China:
(1) When the present struggle is over, the Chinese question
will gradually take that place in the general policy of the Powers
which was formerly taken by the Eastern question; (2) At the present
moment there is not one Chinese question; there are several. The
problem has not yet been stated in its full import. The succession
of the Chinese Empire is not open. For a very considerable time,
twenty years and perhaps more, the Powers will only be able to
keep China under observation; they will have to confine themselves
to applying provisional remedies to her, giving her symptomatic
treatment, as the doctors say; (3) The European Powers should
realize that geographical propinquity, ethnical affinities and
historical memories give Japan not prerogatives, but special interests
in China. On her side Japan must realize that the successful solution
of the Chinese problems can only be reached in Europe. If Japanese
diplomacy succeeds in taking a lofty view of its task, Japan should
become the instrument of conciliation between all the rivalries
and antagonisms of which China is the theatre. She must therefore
renounce a policy of exclusive advantages and act as a balance,
as her interests require.
What will become of this wise programme when it has to face
the test of reality? Will not Motono unconsciously recover Japanese
mentality when he has breathed his native air again for a short
time? It is a secret of the future.
As we were separating he said:
"What about the internal situation in Russia? Aren't you
alarmed at it?"
"Alarmed? At the moment, no. Anxious, yes. Judging by
all the information I am getting, the liberal parties in the Duma
have made up their minds not to take up any of the government's
challenges and to defer their claims. The danger will not come
from them; but their intentions may be controlled by events. A
military defeat, a famine or palace revolution - that's what I'm
particularly afraid of. If any one of those three occurrences
materializes it means certain disaster."
Motono was silent. I resumed.
"Don't you think the same?"
Still he did not speak. Then his features contracted as if
he were absorbed in some painful reflection, and he said:
"You've interpreted my own view so faithfully that I thought
I was hearing myself speak."
Friday, October 13, 1916.
Diamandy, the Russian Minister whom Bratiano has been keeping
in Bucharest the last two months, returned to Petrograd this morning
after a visit to the Stavka. He has been to see me.
"The Emperor received me in the kindest possible way,"
he said, "and has promised to do everything he can to save
Rumania. I am much less satisfied with the results of my talk
with General Alexeiev who does not seem to realize how terribly
serious the situation is, or else his conduct is dictated by selfish
private motives or exclusive regard for his own operations. I
was commissioned to ask him to despatch - at once - three army
corps to the region between Dorna Vatra and the valley of the
Oituz; these three corps should cross the Carpathians at Piatra
and Palanka and march due west, that is towards Vasarhely and
Klausenburg. The invasion of Wallachia by the southern Carpathians
would thereby be stopped at once. But all General Alexeiev
consents to do is to send two army corps which are to operate
only in the valley of the Bistritza, in the neighbourhood of Dorna
Vatra, and keeping in liaison with General Letchitsky's army.
These two corps will be drawn from the Riga army so that they
cannot arrive in Transylvania for fifteen or twenty days! In spite
of all my pleading I have not been able to win him over to the
views of the Rumanian General Staff."
He then told me with what feelings of grief he had left his
country. Our long-standing friendship made it possible for him
to speak quite freely. I vigorously maintained that there is nothing
fatal about the military failures so far, but that unless the
Rumanian people and government pull themselves together at once
Rumania is lost beyond hope:
"Whatever happens, your country must take heart and your
ministers recover their courage. I can promise you they're going
to get a splendid tonic in the person of General Berthelot."
We then discussed the circumstances under which Rumania declared
war on Austria and I asked Diamandy a question which, I must admit,
has only a historical interest now:
"Why, at the last moment, did Monsieur Bratiano throw
over the military agreement which Colonel Rudeanu made with the
French and British High Commands at Chantilly on July 23?"
It wasn't an agreement, but simply a plan which had to be ratified
by the Rumanian Government."
"If it was only a plan, why did Monsieur Bratiano, after
knowing of, and impliedly approving all the work preliminary to
the agreement, authorize Colonel Rudeanu to sign it? In any case,
a fact which adequately proves that the French and British High
Commands regarded your undertaking as definite is that the Salonica
army immediately received orders to prepare to attack the Bulgarians
in Macedonia, in order to facilitate the offensive of your army
south of the Danube. Between ourselves, were not considerations
of an exclusively political nature responsible for the sudden
disavowal of the Rudeanu agreement? Were there not secret negotiations
between Bucharest and Sofia at that time? Didn't Tsar Ferdinand
induce Monsieur Bratiano to believe that the continued neutrality
of the Bulgarians could be relied on?"
"I can only repeat that Monsieur Bratiano regarded the
Rudeanu agreement simply as a plan which required ratification
by the government. The main and vital negotiations were being
carried on at Bucharest between General Iliesco and Colonel Tatarinov.
Neither of them ever contemplated the idea of a Russo-Rumanian
attack south of the Danube, as had been stipulated at Chantilly.
In any case, wasn't that a very dangerous plan? In an exposed
position on Bulgarian territory, the Rumanian army would have
been in a very critical plight if the Germans succeeded in forcing
the Carpathians and taking them in rear along the Danube. As for
the secret negotiations between Bucharest and Sofia, it is true
that Monsieur Radoslavoff made indirect overtures to Monsieur
Bratiano, offering him the neutrality of Bulgaria. But it was
easy to recognize Tsar Ferdinand's usual cunning in these overtures
and the Rumanian cabinet paid hardly any attention to them. Monsieur
Bratiano himself has never believed that Bulgaria would remain
neutral."
"It would be ill-bred of me to dispute your argument any
longer. It will be judged by history, when all the documents are
available."
Saturday, October 14, 1916.
B - - has been quoting a proverb which expresses in a very
picturesque form the inability of the Russians to discipline themselves
voluntarily for the sake of a common effort:
"When three Germans meet they immediately form a Verein
and elect a president. When two Russians meet, they immediately
form three parties."
Monday, October 16, 1916.
A few days ago a curious rumour was circulating in Petrograd;
it was being said in all quarters that Sturmer had at last convinced
the Emperor of the necessity of ending the war, if necessary by
making a separate Peace.
More than twenty people came to ask me about it. To each of
them I gave the same answer:
"I don't pay the slightest attention to these silly tales.
The Emperor will never betray his allies."
But I thought that the story could not have been so widely
credited without the collusion of Sturmer and his gang.
To-day, on the Emperor's orders, the telegraphic agency publishes
an official note which is a categorical démenti of
"the rumours published by certain papers as to the possibility
of a separate peace between Russia and Germany."
Tuesday, October 17, 1916.
I have been giving Motono a farewell dinner. My other guests
were the President of the Council and Madame Sturmer, the Minister
of Communications, Trepov, the Italian Ambassador, the Danish
minister and Madame Scavenius, General Volkov, Princess Contacuzene,
M. and Madame Polovtsov, Prince and Princess Obolensky, General
and the Baroness Wrangel, Princess Lucien Murat, who is about
to join her husband in the Caucasus, Vicomte d'Harcourt, who is
going to Rumania with a French, Red Cross mission, and others.
A party of twenty.
Madame Sturmer and her husband are remarkably well matched.
She has the same type of intellect and the same moral qualities.
I was particularly nice to her, as I wanted to get her to talk.
She gave me a long panegyric on the Empress. In the flood of encomiums
and servility I could recognize the wily practices by which Sturmer
has captured the Empress's confidence. He has persuaded that poor,
neurotic soul that she is greatly loved by the nation, contrary
to her previous conviction that she was hated by all her people.
"Not a day passes," said Madame Sturmer, without
the Empress receiving letters and telegrams which have, been sent
her by workmen, peasants, priests, soldiers and wounded men. All
these lowly people, who are the true voice of the Russian nation,
assure Her Majesty of their warm affection and boundless confidence,
and implore her to save Russia."
She artlessly added:
"When my husband was Minister of the Interior, he, too,
received such letters, either directly or through the provincial
governors. It was a great pleasure to him to take them to Her
Majesty the Empress."
"That pleasure is now Monsieur Protopopov's."
"Yes, but my husband still has many opportunities of seeing
for himself how greatly Her Majesty is revered and loved in the
country."
Making a great show of sympathy for her worthy husband,, with
his heavy burden of work, I led her on to tell me how he employed
his time. And I can see that all his activities are inspired by
the Empress and culminate in her.
During the evening, I questioned Trepov about the economic
crisis which is raging in Russia and trying the public nerves.
"The food problem," he said, has certainly become
very worrying; but the opposition parties misuse it to attack
the government. I'll tell you frankly what the position is. In
the first place, the crisis is far from being general; it attains
serious proportions only in the towns and certain rural areas.
But it is true that the public is nervous in certain cities, Moscow
for example. On the other hand, there is no shortage of food,
except certain products which we used to import from abroad. But
the means of transport are inadequate and the method of distribution
is defective. Active measures are about to be ordered. I assure
you that in a very short time the situation will improve, and
I hope that in a month at the outside the present discontent will
have vanished."
He added in a confidential tone:
"I should like to have a quiet talk with you, Ambassador.
When could you receive me?"
"I think I'll come and see you. It would be better to
have our talk at your ministry."
With a glance at Sturmer he replied:
"Yes, it would be better."
We arranged to meet the day after to-morrow.
I went up to Baron Wrangel who was talking to my military attaché,
Lieutenant-Colonel Lavergne, and my naval attaché, Commander
Gallaud. He is aide-de-camp to the Grand Duke Michael, the Emperor's
brother, and was giving them his impressions of the operations
in Galicia.
"There is now a deadlock on the Russian front, from one
end to the other," he said. "You must not expect any
further offensive on our side. In any case we're helpless against
the Germans; we shall never beat them."
Wednesday, October 18, 1916.
Calling on Madame C - - to-day, I found her absorbed in a
lively discussion with three friends.
They were talking about a certain liaison, a recent
liaison which seemed to have a delightful future before
it, but has just been mysteriously broken off. All four of them
were hard at work conjecturing the causes of the rupture. The
mystery was particularly thrilling to them because the parties
to the romance are no ordinary people. But they could find nothing.
But it had to end somehow. Then one of the callers, Countess
0 - -, a young and pretty widow, long of limb, quiet in her movements,
hard-faced and with sparkling, dark-ringed eyes, gave utterance
to the following aphorism:
"We women always yield too soon. The moment the man has
made us his own he hat achieved his object; he has no further
interest in us; he has finished with us. But when we give ourselves,
we women think that our happiness is only just beginning. And
so, all our lives we pursue love because we cannot bring ourselves
to believe that these beginnings have no sequel."
Thereupon she lapsed into silence, with a face that was simply
a mask, and mechanically holding to her lips the pearl pendant
which hung from her neck.
Thursday, October 19, 1916.
Trepov received me at two o'clock in his room at the Ministry
of Communications which looks out on the Yussupov gardens.
Discussing the economic crisis, he repeated what he said to
me at the embassy the day before yesterday, supporting his argument
with figures. Then with that sometimes brutal candour which is
one of his characteristics, he spoke of the alliance and the objects
it has set before it. He added:
"We are at a critical moment. What is being decided at
the present moment between the Danube and the Carpathians is the
issue, or rather the length of the war. The issue of the war can - must
no longer be in doubt. Quite recently I reported to the Emperor
who allowed me to say exactly what I thought, and I had the satisfaction
of finding that he agreed with me as to the necessity not only
of saving Rumania but of attacking Bulgaria with all our might
as soon as the Rumanian army has received some reinforcement and
gained war experience. It is in the Balkan peninsula - not elsewhere - that
we can hope to obtain a decisive result in the near future. If
we don't, the war will go on indefinitely - and at what risk!'"
I congratulated him on his fearless advocacy of views I argued
to Sturmer more than a month ago, and added:
"As we are talking entre nous, I will not conceal
from you that I am very unfavourably impressed by the pessimistic
rumours which are being spread abroad in every quarter. I feel
it all the more because this propaganda is patently inspired by
persons in high social or political positions."
"I suppose you are referring to those people who are clamouring
for the end of the war at any price and Russia's return to the
system of Teutonic alliances? First let me tell you that they
are all mad. Peace without victory, complete victory, means an
immediate revolution. The individuals in question would be its
first victims! But there's more than that: there's the determination
of the Emperor. That determination is unshakable: no amount of
influence will ever make him yield. Only the other day he repeated
that he would never forgive the Emperor William for his insults
and double-dealing, would refuse to make peace with the Hohenzollerns
and continue the war until the hegemony of Prussia is destroyed."
"Then why does he let M. Sturmer and M. Protopopov, who
are notoriously contravening his intentions, remain in power?"
"Because he's weak! But he's as stubborn as he's weak.
It's a curious thing, but there it is!"
"No, it's not curious at all. Psychologists will tell
you that stubbornness is only a form of weakness, and so his present
obstinacy does not really console me. Men who know his temperament
will not defy him to his face; they'll act behind his back. One
fine day they'll present him with a fait accompli and he'll
give way, or, to speak more accurately, give up the fight and
accept what seems inevitable."
"No, no! I believe in my Emperor. But it's more than ever
necessary to have the courage to tell him the truth."
Our talk had lasted more than an hour. I rose to leave. But
before reaching the door I stopped at the window a moment to gaze
at the picture of the Yussupov gardens which adjoin the Minister's
town residence. It was almost dark and snow was falling: it was
as if night and the snow were softly descending together in slow
flakes and mist.
After a perplexed silence Trepov walked up to me and then,
as if he had suddenly come to a bold decision, he. rapped out:
"I shall be seeing the Emperor again in a few days' time.
Have I your authority to report our conversation?"
"I not only authorize, but ask you to do so."
"Suppose he asks me to what persons you are referring?"
"You can name M. Sturmer and M. Protopopov; you may add
that though officially I have no complaint to make about them,
I am none the less satisfied that they are hostile to the alliance,
and that they work for it against their will and are preparing
to betray it."
"I'll tell him that, word for word. No doubt you realize
the gravity of the matters we have been discussing. May I absolutely
count on your keeping everything to yourself?"
"You have my promise."
"Good-bye. Our talk may have great results."
"It all depends on you. Good-bye."
Saturday, October 21, 1916.
Of all the secret agents kept by Germany among Russian society
I doubt whether there is any more energetic, astute and untiring
than the financier Manus.
A Jew by confession, he employed the usual methods to obtain
permission to reside in Petrograd and in recent years has made
a considerable fortune by operations on the stock exchange and
speculation. The genius of his race had inspired him to throw
in his lot with the most rabid defenders of the throne and the
altar. It was thus that he became a servile tool of old Prince
Mestchersky, the famous director of the Grajdanine and
the fearless champion of orthodox absolutism. At the same time
his discreet and well-placed generosity gradually won over the
whole of the Rasputin gang to his cause.
Since the beginning of the war he has been conducting a campaign
in favour of a speedy reconciliation between Russia and the Teutonic
powers. He gets a good hearing in the financial world and has
established links with most of the papers. He is in regular touch
with Stockholm - which means Berlin. I strongly suspect that he
is the main channel of distribution for German subsidies.
Every Wednesday he gives a dinner to Rasputin; Admiral Nilov,
the aide-de-camp of the Emperor and employed in his service, is
invited on principle by virtue of his superb deportment. under
the influence of wine. Another indispensable guest is the ex-director
of the Police department, the fearsome Bieletzky, who is now a
senator; but he has preserved all his influence with the Okhrana
and through Madame Virubova he is in constant touch with the
Empress. Of course there are some charming ladies to grace and
enliven the festivities. One of the regular guests is a ravishing
Georgian, Madame E - -, a lady who is as lithe, ingratiating
and coaxing as a syren. They drink all night. Rasputin gets drunk
very quickly and then talks his head off. I have no doubt that
a detailed description of these orgies is sent off to Berlin next
morning - with appropriate comments and proofs.
Sunday, October 22, 1916.
General Bielaiev, who is going to represent the Russian High
Command in Rumania, has been to say good-bye.
He tells me that in addition to the two Russian army corps
which have already been sent to Moldavia and are to try and enter
Transylvania by Palanka, a third corps will leave on November
7, for Wallachia, where it will operate between the Danube and
the Carpathians side by side with the Rumanian army. He is commissioned
to tell King Ferdinand that "the Emperor is considering the
possibility of sending further reinforcements later on."
I impressed on General Bielaiev that this later reinforcement
seemed to me extremely urgent:
"The character of the operations in the Balkan theatre
is becoming more and more decisive every day - and in whose favour!
The Dobrudja is lost. Constanza is about to fall. All the defiles
of the Transylvanian Alps have been forced. Winter is approaching.
The least delay is irreparable."
He agreed:
"I have pleaded strenuously with the Emperor and General
Alexeiev for an army of three or four corps to be sent in
the direction of Bucharest without delay. There it would amalgamate
with the Rumanian army. We should thus have a fine mass of manoeuvre
in the heart of Rumania and it would enable us not only to close
the Carpathian passes but even to invade Bulgaria. The Emperor
came round to my view; he realizes the necessity of gaining a
great success in the Balkans here and now. But General Alexeiev
will not consent to weaken the Russian front; he fears that the
Germans would take advantage of it to improvise an offensive in
the region of Riga."
"But it's for the Emperor to give orders. General Alexeiev
is only his technical adviser and must carry out his orders!"
"Yes, but His Majesty would hesitate long before imposing
his will on General Alexeiev."
I questioned General Bielaiev about the Emperor's state of
mind. He was obviously uncomfortable as he replied:
"His Majesty is depressed and preoccupied. Sometimes when
you are speaking to him, he seems not to be listening to you.
I was not happy about him."
As we were separating, he reminded me of all the serious confidences
we have exchanged since the war began and thanked me for the welcome
I had always given him. His last words were:
"We have difficult times, very difficult times ahead of
us."'
Tuesday, October 24, 1916.
Contrary to Trepov's anticipations, the economic situation
has got worse instead of better. One of my informers, who went
through the industrial quarters of Galernaia and Narvskaia yesterday,
tells me that there is much distress and bad feeling. The ministers
are openly accused of causing a food shortage in order to provoke
riots and thus have an excuse for taking strong measures against
the socialist organizations. In the factories the workmen are
passing round pamphlets inciting labour to strike and demand peace.
Where do these pamphlets come from? No one knows. Some say that
they are distributed by German agents, others by the Okhrana.
Everyone is saying, "it cannot go on like this."
The bolsheviki, or extremists, are very active, organizing
councils in the barracks and announcing that "the great day
of the proletariat is at hand."
I put a question to my informer, who is intelligent, moderately
honest and moves in liberal circles:
"Do you think there is reasonable ground for crediting
Sturmer or Protopopov with the machiavellian idea of causing famine
in order to provoke strikes and thus make the continuation of
the war impossible?"
He answered:
"Why, Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, that's the whole
history of Russia! Since the time of Peter the Great and his famous
secret chancellery, it has always been the police which has fomented
popular risings in order to have the credit. of saving the throne.
If the continuation of the war means a danger to tsarism, you
may be certain that M. Sturmer and M. Protopopov will have recourse
to the classic methods of the Okhrana. But next time it
will be different from 1905."
Wednesday, October 25, 1916.
The Austro-Bulgarians captured Constanza yesterday. We have
now lost not only the right bank of the Danube - with the possibility
of a subsequent offensive in the direction of the Balkan mountains - but
also the Danube delta, and with it the most direct route between
southern Russia and Rumania, between Odessa and Galatz. The problem
of supplying the Russian and Rumanian armies will soon become
insoluble.
Diamandy has been to see me; he was in despair.
"I'm simply worn out with pleading for further Russian
contingents to be sent. I'm told at headquarters here that they
can only refer the matter to General Alexeiev. I know what
that means. When I apply to Sturmer, all he does is to raise his
eyes. to the ceiling and repeat: "Cheer up! Providence is
so great and good! Oh, so good!"
"It shows that M. Sturmer is not a Jansenist; M. de Saint
Cyran was quite different; he used to say "God is terrible!
God is terrible!"
"But what am I to do
"See the Emperor."
"Seriously, is that what you advise?"
"What else can you do, alas?"
Thursday, October 26, 1916.
The Rumanians have evacuated the whole of the Dobrudja: they
have also had to leave the enemy in possession of the famous Cerna
Voda bridge over the Danube, the spot at which the principal railways
of Wallachia and Moldavia converge.
