ST. PETERSBURG BEFORE THE SECOND STRIKE
ST. PETERSBURG, _November 9th_.
I arrived here this morning from Moscow. The chief piece of news which
is being discussed is the dismissal of Trepoff. Of Trepoff one always
hears contradictory accounts: some people saying he is an inveterate
reactionary, a Jew-baiter, &c.; others that he is a man of great common
sense, liberal in policy as far as this is compatible with common sense,
and never afraid of speaking his mind. I heard from people who ought to
know that he was strongly in favour of the granting of the Manifesto of
October 17th. What aroused the general hatred against him was his “order
for the day” telling the soldiers not to spare cartridges, should there
be disorders. I met him once here before the war broke out. I thought he
seemed a sensible, strong-willed person. When he was Chief of the Police
at Moscow he had the reputation of being sensible, of keeping order
well, of being rather heavy-handed, and of committing foolish _gaffes_
from time to time. I am certain he is neither the monster he is made out
by the Liberal press here and abroad, nor yet the Cromwellian genius
other people would have us believe him to be. I expect that his strength
lies in the fact that he does not mind saying what he thinks. In St.
Petersburg this quality is so rare that people who possess it appear to
be geniuses.
_November 12th._
I went this afternoon to hear a performance of Beethoven’s “Fidelio.” I
don’t think the young lions in the gallery realised that this opera was
the complete expression of the “Liberation movement” in Germany!
The number of hooligans who now infest the streets is great. A story is
circulating of a hooligan who stopped a man and demanded his watch. He
gave it. The hooligan then asked for his coat. He gave it also, the
hooligan giving him his own coat in exchange. When the man who had been
robbed got home he found his own watch and 170 roubles in the pocket of
the hooligan’s coat.
_November 14th._
The official declaration of the postponement of the Polish
constitutional liberties is causing a good deal of talk and excitement.
One point with regard to Poland which people sometimes overlook is that
there are Poles in Germany; Poles in the North of Germany besides those
in German Poland; and moreover a great many Poles. German Poland also is
an important factor in itself. The situation therefore is analogous to
what would happen if Ireland were a country shared between France and
England, and if England had been at war with Germany or any Power, just
as Russia has been at war with Japan, and if while that war lasted
France had promised to cause no trouble on our Irish frontier. Whether
the German Emperor made any definite promise not to interfere on the
Polish frontier during the Japanese War it is impossible to say; what at
all events is certain is that an independent Poland would not be viewed
favourably in Germany, because it would tend to produce an independent
German Poland and a discontented and rebellious Polish population in
North Germany. One has only to read Bismarck’s Memoirs to see that one
of the keynotes of his policy was a friendship with Russia based on
common interests and action with regard to Poland. It is unlikely that
the German Emperor has departed from this traditional policy. However
that may be, at this moment the situation in Poland, the prolonged
strike which has continued steadily long after the strikes have ceased
in other parts of Russia, calls for some immediate action. Two courses
were open to the Government: either to grant autonomy at once or to
enforce order by martial law. There is a rumour current here that the
German Emperor, who would, as has already been explained, be strongly
opposed to anything like Polish autonomy, had come to an agreement with
the Russian Emperor on this point. The Russian newspapers to-day say
that German troops are being moved to the frontier. In any case we are
face to face with the fact that martial law has been proclaimed in
Poland; and any sentimental sympathy with the Poles which one might feel
is counteracted by the fact that had they only waited until the Duma or
the Constituent Assembly met in Russia they would probably have got
autonomy without any trouble. Whether the enforcement of martial law in
Poland is a wise measure or not is another question; but it is one of
two necessary courses.
The fact is that the Poles, like the Liberals here, are in a great
hurry. They wish everything to be done at once, and changes which have
taken some centuries to elaborate in other and calmer countries to be
brought about here in a few days. The Liberals are now crying loudly
that nothing will satisfy them but a Constituent Assembly based on
universal suffrage. They are unwilling to wait a few months until order
can be restored, and until the Duma can meet and vote on the adoption or
the non-adoption of such an assembly. They wish it to come straight into
existence, like Pallas from the brain of Zeus. All that is written in
the Liberal papers here must not be taken as an absolutely impartial and
dispassionate record of facts. A well-informed, sensible, and Liberal
Russian told me yesterday that some of these papers—and among them not
the most Radical, some of which, he said, were managed by sincere and
able men—were merely for opposition for the sake of opposition, and that
whatever Count Witte said or did they would say it was wrong; some of
them act the part of deliberate inciters and wish merely to add fuel to
the general excitement. I am not of course alluding to Liberal
newspapers which have an old-established and solid reputation such as
the _Russkie Viedomosti_ of Moscow. There is a newspaper here which was
especially violent in insisting on the fact that not only General
Trepoff but also all the military should be removed from the town; these
violent articles did not prevent them from sending privately to General
Trepoff to ask for a squadron of Cossacks to protect their office,
begging at the same time that this request might be kept secret.
The “Intellectuals” of Russia have many qualities, but everything they
say must not be taken as being irrefutable; they are human, like the
rest of us. They are less practical than some of us, even if we do not
agree with a well-known French manager of a _café_ here, who said: “Les
Intelligents!” (with a snort of disgust). “Ce sont les intelligents les
plus bêtes que j’aie jamais vus.” What one is hearing constantly said by
sensible people is that before any political theory or system is carried
into effect order must be restored; that the reforms which have been
granted cannot be carried out in detail in a day; that there is one man
capable of carrying these reforms out, and that he is Count Witte; that
to oppose Count Witte for the sake of opposition is merely criminal,
because if Count Witte throws up the sponge the game will be lost and
the result will be universal anarchy, the only remedy for which will be
universal and drastic repression. The trouble is that Count Witte is a
man of business, and no one else in Russia is. It seems to me that the
Liberals by their action are in danger of creating a party of reaction.
For the so-called “reactionary party” did not up to the present moment
exist. That is to say, there was practically nobody of any importance
who wished to revert to the state of things before the granting of the
Constitution. On the other hand, there are a great many people who think
that the maintenance of order is all important.
The opponents of the Government, however, say that it is making for
disorder, and point to the massacres of the Jews in the provinces. The
Kronstadt mutiny is said not to have been political; nevertheless if the
sailors had not got drunk, nothing could have prevented their blowing
Peterhof to bits. A universal strike is threatened immediately.
_November 17th._
Last night, while I was at the Opéra Bouffe, where the “Country Girl”
was being given, the electric light went out. The performance continued
all the same; the actors holding bedroom candles in their hands, while
the auditorium remained in the dimmest of twilights. This is owing to
the strike.
_November 21st._
I started for London.