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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 IV
NOVEMBER 23-DECEMBER 24, 1916.
Sturmer's dismissal; the Empress's
irritation. - Trepov is appointed President of the Council; the
appointment a guarantee for the Alliance. - General Alexeiev
is replaced by General Gourko for reasons of health. - Conflict
between the Duma and the Minister of the Interior; fierce attacks
on the "occult forces which are ruining Russia."--"Public
opinion loses interest" in Constantinople and the oriental
dream. - The massacre of French sailors at Constantinople. - Consideration
of the measures to be taken to deal with Greece. - The Empress's
camarilla. Who are its real leaders? Germany invites the
United States to open negotiations for peace; the motive which
inspires this step. - Pokrovski, the Comptroller-General of the
Empire. is appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs. His first
meeting with the Duma; the patriotic fervour of his speeches.
I discuss with him the situation arising out of the German proposal. - Position
of the allied armies in Rumania; the transport difficulty. - With
a view to the reply to the German proposals, the French Government
defines the "higher war aim" which the Allies have
taken as the goal of their common effort: the reorganization
of Europe on the principle of nationality, the rights of the
nations to unhampered economic development, etc. Gokrovaki accepts
every article of this programme. - The Emperor prohibits the
use of German terms in the nomenclature of official titles.
Thursday, November 23, 1916.
As I was working alone in my room about ten o'clock this evening,
one of my most reliable informers handed me a note which ran thus:
I do not want to wait until to-morrow to give your Excellency
a great piece of news: M. Sturmer has resigned, and his place
as President of the Council has been taken by M. Trepov.
I am delighted with the news, though it does not surprise me.
By getting rid of Sturmer, the Emperor proves once again that
he is capable of the wisest decisions when he is not under the
influence of the Empress.
The Austro-Germans captured Craïova yesterday.
Friday, November 24, 1916.
Sturmer's retirement is officially published this morning.
Trepov takes his place as President of the Council; the new Minister
for Foreign Affairs has not yet been appointed.
From the point of view of the war, which must take precedence
of any other aspect, the selection of Trepov is a great relief
to me. In the first place, Trepov has the merit of loathing Germany.
His presence at the head of the Government is a guarantee that
there will be no wavering in Russia's loyalty to the Alliance
and that German intrigues will not continue with the same freedom
as before. Moreover, he is active, intelligent and methodical;
his influence on the various public services can only be excellent.
Another piece of news: General Alexeiev is going on leave.
While he is away, his post is being taken over by General Vassili
Josiffovitch Gourko, son of the field-marshal who was the hero
of the Balkans.
The reason for General Alexeiev's retirement is his health.
It is quite true that the General is suffering from an internal
malady which makes an operation in the near future essential.
But there is also a political reason; the Emperor considers that
the Chief of the General Staff committed himself too openly against
Sturmer and Protopopov.
Will General Alexeiev ever return to the Stavka? I
cannot say. If his departure is final, I shall not be very
sorry. No doubt he has won the respect of everyone by his patriotism,
energy, scrupulous honesty and extraordinary capacity for work.
But unfortunately he is lacking in other qualities which are not
less necessary - broad views, a high conception of the Alliance,
the power of visualizing all the theatres of war synthetically
and as a whole. He has rigidly confined himself to his duties
as Chief of Staff to the High Command of the Russian Armies.
The fact is that it was for the Emperor himself to play the great
part the importance of which General Alexeiev has never properly
grasped; but the Emperor's failure to realize it has been even
more complete, especially since the time when Sturmer became his
sole interpreter of the common interests of the Alliance.
General Gourko, who takes his place, is active and brilliant
and has an open mind; but it is said that he is somewhat irresponsible
and lacks authority.
I was dining with some friends at the Café de Paris
this evening. Sturmer's downfall was a subject of gleeful comment
by all the guests who have great faith in Trepov and are already
counting on a vigorous and immediate revival of the national conscience.
Besak alone said nothing. He was plied with questions and answered
in his usual vein of sarcasm:
"Henceforth, nothing will stop the victorious advance
of our armies! On Xmas Day we shall enter Constantinople! In three
months we shall be in Berlin! It's the idea of Constantinople
that I like best; between ourselves, we were rather forgetting
Peter the Great's will and Santa Sophia, etc."
When dinner was over, I took Besak in my car to call on a friend
of mine who has a house on the Admiralty Canal. I asked him:
"Seriously, what do you think of Sturmer's dismissal?"
He thought a minute, and then said in grave tones:
"M. Sturmer is a great citizen, who has tried to
stop his country from proceeding down the fatal slope to which
criminal folly has brought her, a slope which can only lead to
defeat, shame, ruin and revolution."
"Really; so you're a pessimist too?"
"We're lost, Ambassador!"
Saturday, November 25, 1916.
Sturmer's dismissal was decided upon without the knowledge
of the Empress; she knew of it at the same time as he received
notice himself.
She was beside herself with rage and has left at once for Mohilev,
taking her daughters with her, her object being at any rate to
save Protopopov, who has joined her train.
Protopopov's retention of the post of Minister of the Interior
would cause a conflict in the Duma which would be particularly
dangerous because the new President of the Council, Trepov, is
not the man for tactful compromises.
Sunday, November 26, 1916.
For several days there has been much excitement in the councils
of the "Cadets."
The leaders of the party. Trekrassov, Militikov, Shingarev,
Konovalov and others, are saying that the time may have come,
not to overthrow the imperial régime of course,
but to arrange some striking demonstration which would frighten
the Tsar and at last compel him to discard his autocratic prerogatives
and establish free government.
That was the very spirit which inspired the members of the
"Monarchical Opposition" in France towards the end of
1847. We know where the ingenious "banquet" campaign
ultimately took them to.
Monday, November 27, 1916.
I forget who it was said of Cæsar that he had "all
the vices and not one fault." Nicholas II has not a single
vice, but he has the worst fault an autocratic sovereign could
possibly have - a want of personality. He is always following
the lead of others. His wishes are always being evaded, surprised
or over-ridden; it never makes itself felt by any direct and spontaneous
action. In this respect he in many ways resembles Louis XV, whom
the consciousness of his innate weakness of character always kept
in constant fear of subjection to others. Hence the love of subterfuge,
which is a characteristic of both of them.
Tuesday, November 28. 1916.
I had some thirty guests to dinner this evening. Conversation
was slow to kindle and quickly died out. The tone of the voices
was dull and the very air we breathed seemed oppressive. The explanation
was that the news from all quarters is bad. To begin with, there
are rumours of strikes in the city and the daily rise in the cost
of food has produced scenes of violence in the markets. Then the
German-Bulgarian pincers are closing round Bucharest; the Danube
has been crossed at Limnitza and Giurgevo; the line of the Oltu
has been forced; Kimpolung and Pitesti are in the enemy's hands;
the royal government has hastily fled to Jassy.
True to the Russian character of swiftly losing heart, always
anticipating the worst, and so to speak meeting the decrees of
fate half way, my guests were already foretelling the arrival
of the Austro-Germans at the Pruth, the loss of Bessarabia and
Podolia and the capture of Kiev and Odessa. I did what I could
to combat these sinister prognostications which paralyse the spirit
of resistance beforehand, by excluding a priori the possibility
of success and pronouncing something to be impossible which is
only uncertain. I developed the argument supplied me by a fine
thought from La Rochefoucauld: "We should always have enough
means if we had enough will, and when we think that things are
impossible, it is often because we want to find excuses for ourselves."
Wednesday, November 29, 1916.
Trepov, who certainly cannot be suspected of either fearing
or humouring the Duma, has recognized the impossibility of governing
with Protopopov who is betraying signs of mental disorder which
become more obvious every day.
When he was received by the Emperor at Mohilev the day before
yesterday, he begged him to appoint another Minister of the Interior,
reminding His Majesty that he had made the dismissal of Protopopov
an indispensable condition of his accepting the presidency of
the Council. But the Empress, who is still at the imperial headquarters
and keeping a sharp look-out, had anticipated the step. The Emperor,
duly prompted, answered Trepov that he counted on his loyalty
to help Protopopov in his task. Trepov firmly but respectfully
repeated his appeal, but the Emperor was not to be shaken.
"In that case," continued Trepov, "there is
nothing for me but to ask Your Majesty to accept my resignation.
My conscience does not allow me to assume the responsibilities
of power while M. Protopopov retains the portfolio of the Interior."
After a moment's hesitation, the Emperor replied in an imperious
tone:
"Alexander Feodorovitch, I order you to carry out your
duties with the colleagues I have thought fit to give you."
Trepov went out, choking down his anger.
Thursday, November 30, 1916.
At my suggestion, Trepov has been made Grand'croix of
the Legion of Honour. I went straight to his house to give him
the news.
"The Government of the Republic," I said, "wished
this to be some recognition of the signal service you rendered
the Alliance in carrying through the construction of the Murman
railway with such energy; it also wants to give you a token of
its confidence in you in the trying circumstances under which
you take power."
Trepov was very much touched, I think he was sincere, as he
always liked France where he has spent much of his life.
Then we talked business.
Without going into the details of his differences with the
Emperor and the obstacles which the Duma puts in his way, he told
me that he is going to the Tauride Palace the day after to-morrow
and will at once make a speech. The main points on which he will
touch are the following: (1) war to the bitter end; Russia will
shrink from no sacrifice; (2) a pronouncement on the subject of
Constantinople and the Straits; promise to safeguard the interests
of Rumania; (3) confirmation that Poland will be restored within
her ethnical frontiers to form an autonomous state; (4) a solemn
invitation to the Duma to collaborate with the Government in bringing
the war to a successful conclusion.
Trepov added:
"I hope the Duma will give me a decent reception. But
I'm not certain ... You can guess why, and on whose account."
Then he told me that the Duma is absolutely determined to have
nothing to do with Protopopov, and to boo him and break up the
sitting if he enters the chamber. I asked him:
"How is it that the Emperor, after being wise enough to
get rid of M. Sturmer, does not realize that M. Protopopov's retention
of office is becoming a public and national danger?"
"The Emperor is too sensible not to be aware of the fact.
But it's the Empress who would have to be convinced. And she's
absolutely uncompromising on the point!"
After a short silence, he continued in low tones, as if he
were talking to himself:
"It's a decisive moment for Russia. At the rate we are
going, the German party will soon be in control, and that means
disaster, revolution and disgrace! We must put an end to all these
intrigues, once and for all! In the hearing of Russia,
or rather the whole world, the Government must utter irrevocable
words which will bind all future governments. When the Duma meets
the day after to-morrow, the Government will commit itself beyond
recall to continue the war until Germany is crushed; it will burn
all its boats."
"What a great relief it is to hear you talk like that!"
Friday, December 1, 1916.
Sturmer was so terribly humiliated by his fall that he left
the Ministry for Foreign Affairs without saying goodbye to the
allied ambassadors or even leaving a card. It is a significant
lapse from good manners on the part of a man who is usually so
ceremonious and such a slave to tradition.
As I was driving along the Moïka in my car this afternoon,
I saw him opposite the imperial stables. He was stumbling along
against the wind and snow, his back bent, his eyes fixed on the
ground and his face gloomy and grief-stricken. He did not see
me. He did not see anything. As he left the pavement to cross
the road, he nearly fell
Saturday, December 2, 1916.
I was present at the sitting of the Duma this afternoon.
The storm burst the moment the ministers appeared in the doorway
and Protopopov was seen in their ranks.
Trepov ascended the tribune to read the Government programme.
The deputies shouted "down with the Ministers! Down with
Protopopov!"
Quite unperturbed, and proudly facing his audience, Trepov
began to read. Three times in succession the yells from the Extreme
Left compelled him to leave the tribune, but at length he was
allowed to speak.
The speech was the same as he outlined to me the day before
yesterday. The passage in. which the Government affirmed its determination
to continue the war was vociferously cheered, but the phrases
referring to Constantinople left the Assembly cold, a coldness
compounded of indifference and surprise.
When Trepov had finished, the sitting was suspended. The deputies
poured out into the corridors. I returned to the embassy.
This evening I was told that the resumption of the sitting
had been marked by two unexpected and violent speeches by the
two leaders of the Right, Count Vladimir Bobrinski and Purishkevitch.
To the intense amazement of their political brethren, they fulminated
against the "occult forces which are dishonouring and ruining
Russia." Purishkevitch actually said that "it only requires
the recommendation of Rasputin to raise the most abject creatures
to the highest offices. To-day, Rasputin is more dangerous than
the false Dimitri in days of old. Up, you Ministers! If you are
true patriots, go to the Stavka,; fall at the Tsar's feet
and have the courage to tell him that the crisis at home cannot
continue, the multitude is muttering in its wrath, revolution
threatens, and an obscure moujik shall govern Russia no
longer!"
Sunday, December 3, 1916.
Trepov's position is very delicate. On the one hand, he realizes
the impossibility of governing, or rather of loyally supporting
the Alliance, while the direction of public opinion and the police
remains in Protopopov's hands. On the other hand, he is firmly.
attached to the legal constitution of the Empire and denies the
right of the Duma to interfere with the exercise of the sovereign
prerogatives, of which one of the most important is incontestably
the selection of ministers.
Thus the conflict between the Government and the Duma means
that we have more than one awkward incident ahead of us.
Yesterday and the day before, Athens was the scene of grave
events.
As the Greek Government refused to surrender the war material
demanded by the Allies, a detachment of French marines landed
at the Piræus and marched to Athens. The Greek troops opened
fire on our men and killed a large number of them. The next step
was for the principal adherents of Venizelos to be massacred and
their houses looted.
Monday, December 4, 1916.
The passage in the ministerial speech referring to Constantinople
has fallen as flat among the public as it did in the Duma. There
is the same phenomenon of indifference plus amazement, as if Trepov
had exhumed an ancient Utopia, once fancied, but long since forgotten.
Several months ago I was already observing the progressive
disappearance of the Byzantine dream. The charm has been broken.
How Russian it is to surrender one's hopes, to abandon the
very thing one has longed and striven for most ardently, and even
to experience a kind of bitter-sweet delight in admitting one's
failure and disillusionment
Madame P - - said to me this evening:
"The Government's pronouncement is ridiculous. Everyone
has stopped thinking about Constantinople. It was a fine craze,
but a sheer craze for all that. And when you're cured of a craze
you don't start it again; you find another. Trepov and all the
rest who are trying to bring the Russian nation back to the vision
of Constantinople remind me of men who think they can reawaken
the love of a woman by suggesting that they shall revive old memories
together. It's no good recalling how delightful it was in Venice,
in a gondola by moonlight; she will not even listen. When it's
over, it's over."
Tuesday, December 5, 1916.
The detachment of French troops has had to evacuate Athens,
where the germanophile party is the ascendant.
To deal with Greece, Briand is proposing that the Allies shall
take the following steps: (1) blockade of the kingdom; (2) deposition
of King Constantine; (3) recognition of Venizelos.
But he specifies that there can be no question either of declaring
war on Greece or attacking her monarchical constitution.
As Sturmer's successor at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs
has not yet been appointed, I have been discussing the matter
with Neratov who is pro tem. in charge.
Like Briand, he thinks that the King's personal responsibility
is seriously involved by the attack on our troops. But he objects
to the deposition of the monarch:
"It would be taken very badly," he said, "by
conservative circles here. The pro-German gang and the Empress's
camarilla would not fail to use it as a weapon against
the policy of the Alliance with the democratic governments of
the West."
From the practical point of view, Neratov is impressed by the
difficulties of the enterprise and the dangerous consequences
it would involve.
By virtue of what principle would the deposition of the King
be pronounced? By what means could hands be laid on Constantine?
If he fled to Larissa or Trikala, would we go after him? To whom
would the crown be transferred? To the Crown Prince? Suppose the
latter refused to participate in the dethronement of his father?
In any case, should we not find ourselves drawn into a great display
of military force, and perhaps an actual conquest of Greece? If
so, would not the Salonica army be reduced to impotence?
Neratov prefers a more prudent and less risky solution. In
his view, the Allied Governments should defer settling their account
with King Constantine. For the moment all that is required is
that (1) the Piræus should be occupied; (2) the principal
ports of the kingdom should be subjected to a strict blockade;
(3) strategic dispositions should be taken in Thessaly in order
to protect the left flank of the Army of the East. These conclusions
seem to me the very essence of wisdom.
Thursday, December 7, 1916.
Yesterday, the Austro-Germans and Bulgarians entered Bucharest.
Hindenburg's strategic genius has brought about his masterpiece.
Saturday, December 9, 1916.
The cry of alarm, to which Count Bobrinsky and Purishkevitch
, the two champions of naked tsarism, recently gave utterance
in the Duma has had its echo in that archaic citadel of monarchical
absolutism, the Council of Empire.(1)
This high assembly has to-day plucked up courage to express
a wish in the matter of general policy, warning the Emperor against
the evil action of occult influences. This bold stroke - and how
timorous it is! - is provoking lively comment.
History is nothing but a long succession of fresh beginnings.
In March, 1830, the Chambre des Pairs took the same course when
it respectfully proffered Charles X a piece of wise advice But
has anyone ever profited by the lessons of history?
Sunday, December 10, 1916.
There cannot be the slightest doubt that the action of Russia
is inspired by the Empress's camarilla. But by whom is
this camarilla itself inspired? From whom does it get its
programme and leadership?
Certainly not the Empress. The public, which likes simple ideas
and clear-cut types, has got a wrong idea of the part played by
the Tsarina; it materially exaggerates and contorts it. Alexandra
Feodorovna is too impulsive, wrong-headed and unbalanced to imagine
a political system and carry it out logically. She is the omnipotent
political tool of the conspiracy I am always sensing about me;
but she is nothing more than a tool.
So with the individuals who flutter around her, Rasputin, the
Virubova, General Voyeikov, Taneiev, Sturmer, Prince Andronnikov
and the rest; they are only subordinates, supers, servile plotters
or marionettes. The Minister of the Interior, Protopopov, who
seems made of more solid stuff, owes that illusion solely to the
irritation of his meninges. Behind his expansive bravado and restless
activity, there is nothing but cerebral erethism. He is a monomaniac
who will soon be under restraint.
Then by whom is the Tsarskoe Selo camarilla really
inspired?
In vain have I questioned those who seemed best qualified to
satisfy my curiosity. All I have got is vague or contradictory
replies, hypotheses and suppositions.
But if I had to come to some conclusion, I should say
that the evil course for which the Empress and her coterie will
be responsible to History is inspired by four individuals: Stcheglovitov,
the leader of the Extreme Right in the Council of Empire; Monsignor
Pitirim, the Metropolitan of Petrograd; Bieletzky, the ex-Director
of the Police Department, and the banker, Manus.
Apart from these four persons, I see nothing but the play of
nameless, collective, scattered and sometimes unconscious forces,
which are perhaps the sole interpreter of the traditional policy
of tsarism and its instinct of self-preservation, and represents
all the organic vitality and acquired momentum that remains to
it.
In this quartet I assign a special position to the banker Manus:
it is he who keeps it in touch with Berlin, and through him that
Germany plans and fosters her intrigues among Russian society.
He is the distributor of the German subsidies.
Wednesday, December 13, 1916.
Yesterday, Germany transmitted a note to the United States
of America, a note in which she speaks for herself and her Allies,
and declares that she is ready to open negotiations for peace
here and now. This magniloquent pronouncement is not supported
by the slightest hint of what the terms may be.
At first blush this note seems to be a stratagem, or trap,
calculated to provoke a pacifist movement in the hostile camp
and to disintegrate our coalition. If Germany will first inform
us what are her plans, what reparations she is prepared to make,
and what guarantee she offers us, we shall take her proposals
seriously.
I have just had a visit from Buchanan and Carlotti, as I am
kept in bed by a very severe attack of rheumatism. We all think
alike.
Thursday, December 14, 1916.
The Emperor has entrusted the portfolio of Foreign Affairs
to the Comptroller-General of the Empire, Nicholas Nicolaïevitch
Pokrovski.
It is an unexpected choice. Pokrovsky is sixty and has devoted
all his life to questions of finance and public accounts; he has
no idea of foreign problems and diplomacy. But, subject to that
reservation - which is important at the present moment - I am
not dissatisfied with the appointment. In the first place he is
sensible, clever, hard-working and thoroughly devoted to the idea
of the Alliance. As a man, he is of quite uncommon quality, warm-hearted
and modest, with a touch of gay cynicism. He is not well off,
has a large family and leads an extremely simple and upright life.
During the thirty-five years in which he has been employed in
the financial administration of the Empire, not a breath of suspicion
has ever rested upon him.
Friday, December 15, 1916.
By way of inaugurating his term of office, Pokrovski made a
speech to the Duma to-day in which he showed up the illusory and
insidious character of the German proposal in the firmest language.
"The Entente Powers," he said, "proclaim their
unwavering determination to continue the war until final victory.
Our countless sacrifices would be rendered of no purpose by a
premature peace with an enemy who is exhausted, but not yet over
thrown."
These words, which are in such happy contrast to the ambiguous
and tricky phraseology of Sturmer, have made a great impression
on the Duma; the important thing is that they were uttered to
destroy the effect of the German initiative.
As I am still confined to bed, I have not been without visitors.
I hear the same observation from all quarters: "We have got
one very important result already - that the peace question has
now been brought to the attention of public opinion everywhere!
Men's minds are thus being gradually prepared for a reasonable
outcome."
Saturday, December 16, 1916.
Pokrovski called on me this afternoon. I congratulated him
on the firm and frank statements he made in the Duma yesterday.
"In every detail," he replied, " I carried out
the orders of His Majesty, with whose ideas I have the good fortune
to find myself in perfect agreement. His Majesty is determined
that there shall be no further doubt about his intentions, which
are well known to you; on that point he has given me the most
categorical instructions. Why, he has asked me to lose no time
in submitting a draft manifesto, informing the army that Germany
is asking for peace."
We then discussed the proper reply to be made to the note of
the Teutonic coalition. Although he has not come to any definite
conclusion on the subject, Pokrovski thinks that the military
situation (or "the war map," as the Germans call it)
does not yet enable us to formulate our intentions and that it
would be prudent for us to confine ourselves to general expressions,
such as "material and moral reparations," "political
and economic guarantees."
Monday, December 18, 1916.
B - -, who is keeping a pretty close watch on the labour movement,
tells me of a growing tendency among the leaders of the socialist
groups to cut loose from the Duma and organize their plan of action
on other than legal lines. Cheidze and Kerensky are always saying:
"The Cadets don't know anything about the proletariat. They
are no use to us!"
At the moment these leaders are directing their main propaganda
at the army, insisting that it is its interest to throw in its
lot with the workmen in order to secure for the peasants - of
which it is the direct emanation - the triumph of their agrarian
claims. So the barracks are being flooded with pamphlets on the
classic themes: "The land belongs to the agricultural workers.
It is theirs in full right, and therefore without purchase; no
one buys back something of which he has been robbed. The revolution
alone can bring about this great work of social reparation."
I asked B - - if the "defeatist" doctrine of the
famous Lenin, now a refugee in Geneva, is making any headway in
the army:
"No," he said; "the only advocates of that doctrine
here are a few lunatics who are supposed to be in the pay of Germany - or
the Okhrana. The 'Defeatists,' or porajentzy, as
they are called, are only a negligible minority in the social-democratic
party."
Wednesday, December 20. 1916.
I have had a talk with General Polivanov who has himself. had
a long conversation with one of his former aides-de-camp, newly
arrived from Jassy. The situation of the allied armies in Rumania
is as follows:
(1) The Russian forces now operating on Rumanian, territory
comprise six divisions in the Dobrudja, ten divisions (of which
six are cavalry) in the region of the Yalomita, five divisions
(one cavalry) in southern Moldavia. The army of General Leezinsky,
who is under the direct orders of General Brussilov, extends from
Tocna to the Bukovina; (2) the transport of troops and war material
has suffered enormous delays (between four and six weeks) owing
to the defective organization of the Rumanian railways; the seventeen
trains per day which had been reckoned on has often been reduced
to four; (3) with a view to gaining time, some of the troops are
marching along the railway track, the transport of material and
supplies being given a preference. But that does not prevent the
concentration being a very slow business, as the distance between
the Bukovina and Focsani is three hundred kilometres; (4) all
that remains of the Rumanian army (about seventy thousand) is
to be sent to the rear of the Russian troops in order to be reorganized
in training camps. With the reserves which have not yet been mobilized
on Moldavian territory, we shall probably be able to form an army
of three hundred thousand men for next spring.
Thursday, December 21, 1916.
Twice and three times a week Protopopov asks an audience of
the Tsarina, with the excuse of making his report and asking her
advice.
The other day, the moment he entered he fell on his knees before
her and cried out:
"Oh Majesty, I can see Christ behind you!"
Friday, December 22, 1916.
Yesterday, the President of the United States suggested to
the governments of all the belligerent Powers that they should
make known their various views as to the terms on which the war
could end. President Wilson makes it clear that he "is not
proposing peace," that he is not even "offering meditation,
but simply suggesting' soundings,'" so that we may know "how
far off the long-desired haven of peace may be."
Saturday, December 23, 1916.
This morning I have received from Paris a draft reply to the
American note.
After paying tribute to the sentiments by which President Wilson
is inspired, Briand protests against the fact that the note seems
to treat the two groups of belligerents on the same footing, although
one alone bears the whole responsibility for the aggression. Then
he defines the "higher war aims" which the Allies have
made their own. These war aims involve the complete independence
of Belgium, Serbia and Montenegro, with all the compensation due
to them; the evacuation of the occupied territories in France.
Russia and Rumania, with just reparations; the reorganization
of Europe in accordance with the principle of nationality and
the rights of peoples to unhampered economic development; the
restitution of territories torn from the Allies by force or against
the wishes of the inhabitants in times past; the liberation of
the Italians, Slavs, Rumanians and Czecho-Slovaks; the emancipation
of the peoples subjected to Ottoman tyranny; the exclusion of
the Turks from Europe; the re-establishment of Poland in its national
integrity.
An hour later I was in Pokrovski's cabinet, where I had arranged
with Buchanan to meet me. I read Briand's draft to them. They
listened to me with the closest attention, and the further I got
the better they seemed pleased. When I had finished, they burst
out together:
"Splendid! It's perfect! That's the way to talk That's
what we must tell the world!"
At this point my Italian colleague arrived. Pokrovski to whom
I had handed a copy of the draft, re-read it aloud, dwelling on
each phrase. Carlotti warmly approved.
Before expressing his official and final opinion, Pokrovski
asked me to give him time to think it over. I insisted that he
ought at any rate to give me his approval in principle so that
Briand could fortify himself with it in answering President Wilson.
There is no doubt that it is of high importance to us not to delay
our reply, so that we can frustrate the pro-German intrigues which
are feverishly trying to work American opinion.
"Very well! As you please!" he said. "Be good
enough to cable Monsieur Briand that, speaking generally, I approve
his draft and in fact admire it. But I reserve the right to suggest
certain slight and purely formal amendments in the paragraphs
which more particularly concern Russia, those referring to Poland
and Armenia for example."
On leaving, I took Buchanan in my car. We were silent and anxious.
The same thought spontaneously possessed both of us - how far
we still are from seeing the realization of this splendid peace
programme! After all, everything is going from bad to worse here!
We shared our latest news, which is lamentable.
The Union of Zemstvos and the Union of Towns, the great private
associations which have worked so hard together since the war
began to supply the army and the civil population, were to meet
in congress at Moscow next week. The police have just forbidden
that congress, though the two Unions represent all that is most
sound, sincere and energetic in Russian society!
On the other hand, Protopopov is in the highest favour. He
has sent himself off on some mission in the provinces, with a
view both to avoiding contact with the Duma and preaching sound
doctrine to the Governors.
A friend of mine, who has come from Moscow and called on me
yesterday, told me that the public there is furious with the Empress.
In drawing-rooms, shops and cafés, it is being openly said
that the Niemka, the "German Woman," is about
to ruin Russia and must be put away as a lunatic. And as to the
Emperor, men do not stop at remarking that he would do well to
reflect on the fate of Paul I.
Sunday, December 24, 1916.
I will reveal one fact-trivial enough, superficially - which
proves how anxious Nicholas II is to remove the many existing
traces of German influence in Russia.
At the very beginning of the war, he substituted the Slav name
"Petrograd" for the German name "Petersburg."
Many a time since has he shown himself shocked and annoyed at
the German words which are met with in profusion in the nomenclature
of official titles and ranks. Thus "Grand Marshal of the
Court," is called Oberhofmarschall, "Secretary
of State" Staats-sekretär, "Chamberlain"
Kammerherr, "Master of the Horse" Stalmeister,
"Master of the Hunt" Jägermeister, "Aide-de-camp"
Flügeladjutant, " Maid of Honour " Freïlina.
The Emperor has now made up his mind to remove all these evil-sounding
names from the hierarchical lists and replace them by words drawn
from the national idiom.
This linguistic task has been entrusted to Prince Michael Serguevitch
Putiatin, Marshal of the Court and head of the administrative
services of the Tsarskoe Selo palaces. It is an excellent
choice. Prince Putiatin is not only an expert in history, archæology
and the science of heraldry, but also belongs to one of the oldest
families in Russia. In his veins he has nothing but Russian blood,
dating back to the tenth century, for he is a descendant of the
line of Rurik, through his ancestor Ivan Seinenovitch, voïvode
of Lithuania in 1430, who was himself descended from St. Vladimir,
through Michael Romanovitch, Prince of Drutzk in the thirteenth
century.
Chapter Footnote
1. The Council of Empire is composed of one
hundred and ninety-two members, one-half of whom are appointed
directly by the Emperor and the other elected by the clergy,
the provincial assemblies, the nobility, the great landowners,
the chambers of commerce and the universities.
