preceded the rebellion that destroyed the Throne of the Romanoffs, it is
essential he should remember the state of mind of the Czarina at this
particular time, as well as the condition of her nerves--a condition
which was very nearly akin to the one into which a man falls when, after
having been the victim of a pernicious drug habit, he finds himself
unexpectedly and suddenly deprived of his favorite morphia or cocaine.
The Empress had been living for months under the influence of these
mysterious night sittings during which Raspoutine evoked for her, as she
firmly believed, spirits of another world from whom she sought
inspiration and in whom she found comfort. All at once this moral aid,
which had helped her to live, was denied to her, and she did not know
any longer what she was to do, surrounded as she felt herself to be by
ever-increasing dangers which threatened not only her own person, but
that of her beloved child, that son in whom she firmly believed Russia
would find its salvation and who was destined to become one of the
greatest and mightiest Sovereigns the country had ever seen reign over
it since the days of Peter the Great. She felt absolutely at sea, like a
ship deprived of its pilot and abandoned to inexperienced hands,
ignorant of the first principles of navigation. Neither her husband,
whom at heart she despised, nor her friend, Anna Wyrubewa, whom she had
never entirely initiated into all the details of her secret intercourse
with the dead, nor her faithful advisers, Sturmer and Protopopoff, could
make up to her for the irreparable loss of the companionship which,
thanks to Raspoutine, she believed she had succeeded in establishing
between herself and the soul of the only man she had ever truly loved.
It is only after having grasped these essential facts in the life of the
misguided Empress of Russia that it is possible to come to a reasonable
appreciation of her person, character, and intrigues.
Once this has been done, it becomes relatively easy to understand the
influence which Raspoutine had acquired over her mind, and not to share
the general opinion that there existed something immoral in her
relations with him. Immorality alone could not explain this entire
submission on the part of a cultured, well-educated, elegant woman to
the will of a dirty, uncouth, ignorant peasant. Besides that, Alexandra
Feodorowna was far too proud to forget for one moment the social
difference which separated her from the “Prophet.” In her intercourse
with him she remained the Empress, and on his side he was far too shrewd
not to remember it also. He knew very well that one indiscreet word, one
imprudent gesture, would have put an end at once to his influence, and
the man as well as his accomplices were working for far too great and
far too important an object to compromise its success by anything which
might have savored of immoral intrigue.
The state of health of the little Cesarewitsch also was not the real
reason why the latter’s mother would not allow Raspoutine to leave
[Illustration: THE CESAREWITSCH]
her. She believed in the efficacy of his prayers for her son, but this
belief alone would not have been sufficient to make her so entirely
submissive to his will and to reduce her to the state of slavery into
which she had been entranced. No, the secret of Raspoutine’s influence
lay in the simple fact that, thanks to the hypnotic faculties which he
undoubtedly possessed, he had contrived to acquire an absolute dominion
over her mind, and to persuade her that every time she prayed with him
she was put into direct communication with her dead lover; that this
lover had been allowed by the Almighty to come to her help in the
troubles and perplexities of her life, to guide her in her conduct as a
woman and a mother and in her duties as a Sovereign.
During the hours of agony which followed upon the news of the murder of
that man whom she had considered as a holy creature and a real Prophet
of God, Alexandra Feodorowna blurted out something of what lay on her
mind to her devoted friend and companion, Anna Wyrubewa. The latter had
removed from her own house to the Palace of Tsarskoye Selo, so as to be
able to remain in constant attendance on the miserable Empress. Seeing
her so forlorn and desolate, she bethought herself of rousing her
faculties, and tried to persuade her that, though she had lost her
advisers and counselors, she had yet a duty to perform, which consisted
in going on with the work they had suggested to her to start. Peace was
more than ever necessary to Russia, as well as to the dynasty, against
which such fierce attacks were being launched. The sacred principles of
autocracy that were being everywhere challenged ought to be maintained,
and how could this be done when the army which was the only force on
which the Czar could rely was being kept at the frontier and uselessly
butchered in battles it could not by any possibility win? There were
other mothers besides herself in Russia who were crying over their dead
sons and appealing to her to spare those who were still left to them.
This war was a monstrous crime against humanity, as well as against the
whole of the Russian nation. It must be stopped because otherwise worse
calamities even than those that had already fallen on the country would
occur. The performance of a duty was sometimes painful, but this ought
not to prevent any right-minded person from trying to accomplish it. It
was quite evident that the duty of the Empress required her to work
toward the conclusion of peace with Germany, and this had been already
suggested to her not only by the devoted friends she still had in the
world, but by the spirit of the dead ones who had loved and honored her
while they had been alive on earth.
Whether Anna Wyrubewa was sincere or not in thus pleading a cause which
she knew her Imperial mistress had but too much at heart even without
her interference, I shall not attempt to guess. Russia was most
certainly going through a terrible crisis, and those who thought that
the quick conclusion of a peace after which so many were secretly
longing and sighing was indispensable were by no means a small minority
in the country. It is quite likely that the Empress’s confidante was
sincere in her conduct, and it seems pretty certain that she had no
pecuniary or material advantages in view when she lent herself to the
dangerous scheme suggested to her by Sturmer and the latter’s
accomplices. _They_ were not disinterested; they had decidedly ambitious
views as to their own future, and they were most certainly in the employ
of Germany, to which they had promised their co-operation. Protopopoff
was a man who, in regard to the large fortune he was credited with
possessing, was entirely self-made; he had never shown any hesitation as
to the choice of the means by which he had acquired it. Sturmer thought
himself endowed with the genius of a Bismarck or of a Richelieu, and
dreamed of the glory of a peace that would leave Russia in appearance as
strong as ever, but united by the closest of ties to the German Empire,
of which he had been all through his political career a devoted admirer
and servant. He had always preached the necessity of the renewal of the
former alliance that in bygone times had united the Hohenzollerns and
the Romanoffs. His vanity felt deeply flattered upon hearing from his
friends in Berlin that the Kaiser, as well as the latter’s Government,
considered him the one great Minister Russia had ever possessed and were
looking up to him to heal all the evils and all the miseries which the
war had brought about. He did not care for the treaties that had been
signed between Russia and her Allies, and probably shared the opinion of
Mr. von Bethmann-Hollweg that all such documents were nothing but scraps
of paper, not worthy of any notice on the part of intelligent people. He
cared only for success, for titles, decorations, power, and a crowd of
flatterers about him. Russia had ceased to be for him a matter for
consideration. She would always fare well, in his opinion, if only he
were allowed to direct her destinies. The war itself, with all the
terrible breakage it had brought about, did not trouble him. It had
begun with broken treaties and broken faith, broken honor and broken
word; its result had been broken houses in broken lands, broken men, and
broken hearts, but about these last Mr. Sturmer did not think at all.
And what about the third personage in this sinister tragedy? What about
Manassavitch-Maniuloff, who had been all along the _Deus ex machina_ of
this dark intrigue, and the chief spy and accomplice of William II.? It
was he who had engineered the conspiracy for peace which was being
carried on by the Empress under his supervision. It was he who had been
the real creator of the Raspoutine legend, and he was perhaps the one
who at first suffered the most through the collapse of the adventurer.
When the “Prophet” was murdered, Maniuloff was in prison under the
accusation of blackmail. Once before he had escaped a trial that had
been postponed on the personal order of Nicholas II. addressed to the
president of the court. But after Raspoutine’s disappearance the
influence of Sturmer alone had not been able to help him. He was sent
before a jury and sentenced to two years’ penal servitude, which,
however, he was never to undergo. The man had more than one arrow to his
bow, and when the Revolution broke out he contrived to let Kerensky know
that he could put at his disposal most incriminating documents in regard
to the part played by the Empress in the peace negotiations which had
taken place in the preceding February between Petrograd and Berlin. The
bait probably took, because the spy who had for a long number of years
cheated everybody was sent across the frontier to expiate his sins and
most probably to go on for the benefit of the new masters of Russia with
the nefarious game he had been playing in regard to all those who had
had the misfortune to employ him.
After Sturmer had been compelled to resign his position of Prime
Minister and leader of the Foreign Office he had, nevertheless,
remained, as I have had already the occasion to tell, in close relations
with the Court and with the Emperor and Empress. He had acquired a new
ally in the person of the Metropolitan of Petrograd, Monseigneur
Pitirim, a friend and favorite of Raspoutine, who now came to offer his
consolations to the half-distracted Alexandra, and who also told her
that it was henceforward her duty to go on doing all that the dead
“Prophet” had suggested to her, no matter how much it might cost her.
Between his preachings, the advice of Sturmer and Protopopoff, and the
adjurations of Anna Wyrubewa, the Empress was at last persuaded to
forget for a while the deep grief into which she had allowed herself to
fall and to resume her political activity. But when she attempted to
influence the Czar to approve of what she was about to do she found, to
her surprise, that he did not show the same enthusiasm for her schemes
as he had done before.
What had happened was this: The Imperial Family had once more tried to
open the eyes of the Sovereign as to the folly of his wife’s conduct.
Nearly all the Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses in Petrograd had sought
his presence in succession, implored him to save the dynasty before it
was too late, and to call together a responsible Ministry, chosen from
among the men who had the confidence of the country and who represented
it in the Duma. Their remonstrances had not convinced Nicholas II., but
they had caused him to pause before consenting to the conclusion of a
peace with Germany, which he began to fear he would not have the power
or the strength to impose upon public opinion in Russia. He believed in
his wife, and he felt convinced that she was the only disinterested
friend left to him; at the same time he could not make up his mind to
take a decision which--this much he knew--would be deeply resented by
his Allies as well as by his own subjects. In his perplexity he
preferred to wait for events to develop themselves in one sense or in
the other, totally oblivious of the fact that there are periods in the
life of nations when waiting is also a crime.
And while this struggle was going on in his mind, that of his wife was
becoming more and more the prey of the evil advisers who had secured her
sympathies and were abusing her confidence. They were becoming bolder
and bolder as time went on, and at last they suggested to her to urge
upon the Czar the necessity of returning to the front, where, they told
her, he could come to a better understanding of the feelings of the army
and be at last convinced that it was, like the rest of Russia, only
longing for peace. Nicholas caught eagerly at the suggestion and
departed, leaving the Empress mistress of the field and free to do what
she liked, together with her friends.
XXIV
YOU MUST BECOME THE EMPRESS
When the Czar left Tsarskoye Selo--for the last time, as it turned out,
as a powerful, dreaded Sovereign--the Empress had not yet made up her
mind as to what she ought to do. She was being urged by Sturmer and
Protopopoff to come to a decision in regard to the future of the
dynasty, which they declared to her was entirely in her hands; at the
same time she lacked the moral courage to put herself boldly at the head
of a movement to dethrone her husband. She had not the audacity of
Catherine the Great, nor the latter’s unscrupulousness, and, moreover,
her mind was so weakened by the superstitious practices in which she had
become absorbed that it is to be questioned whether or not she was given
a true account of what was going on around her. She was entirely at the
mercy of the first determined man who came along, audacious enough to
compel her to sing according to his tune. But neither Sturmer nor
Protopopoff were clever enough to be that. And they had no political
party on whom they could rely to help them execute any plans they might
form. They depended for their inspiration on the directions which they
received from Berlin. By a lucky accident this inspiration failed them
at the very moment they most needed it.
What had happened was this: The Allies had begun to get some inkling as
to the intrigue which was going on under the Czar’s own roof, an
intrigue in which his wife held the foremost rôle. They contrived to put
obstacles in the way of Mr. Protopopoff and of his friends, and to stop
for a while the active correspondence which he was carrying on with the
German Government _via_ Stockholm. At the same time they arranged
matters in such a way that the liberal leaders in the Duma became
apprised of the negotiations pending between the Kaiser and his
kinswoman at Tsarskoye Selo.
The story of the eventful days which preceded the Revolution have
nothing to do with the present book, and I shall refer to them only in
so far as they concern the Empress. She was mostly responsible for the
rapidity with which rebellion spread and for the unexpected way in which
it broke out. Had she remained quiet, it is likely that things might
have dragged on for a few weeks, perhaps even for a few months, longer,
because no one at this particular moment cared to see a change in the
Government. But when it was ascertained that she had become a danger to
the nation in general there was no longer any question of a delay, and
events had to be forced on in some way or other.
What Sturmer proposed to the Czarina was to provoke a movement against
the war in the garrisons of Petrograd and the towns in its neighborhood;
this to be further accentuated by false news concerning the Czar, who
would be represented as having died suddenly. The Government had at its
disposal all the telegraph and telephone wires. It was, therefore, an
easy matter to cut off the capital from all communication with the
headquarters of the army. In the confusion inseparable from the
consternation caused by the news of the Sovereign’s demise it would have
been but a matter of a few hours to get the little Grand-Duke Alexis
proclaimed Emperor under the Regency of his mother, who would thus have
been left free to sign a peace which nothing and no treaty prevented
_her_ from concluding. Nicholas would be easily persuaded to accept
accomplished facts and most likely would surrender with pleasure, or at
least with absolute indifference, a Throne he had never cared for. So
they thought that an act of formal abdication would not be difficult to
obtain from him.
The country also would not feel sorry to be rid of a Monarch who had
never been in possession of its affection or respect, and the army,
glad to return to its homes, would most likely rally with alacrity
around the Regent and the little Czar. The very fact that it was a woman
and a delicate child upon whom the whole burden of an immense
responsibility had fallen would predispose public opinion in their
favor, and most likely this Palace revolution would end with complete
success.
The Empress allowed herself to be won over to the conspiracy, and it was
decided to put it into execution about the middle of the month of
February. Protopopoff declared that he required that much time to gather
together a sufficient number of police agents in Petrograd, without whom
he did not dare to risk the adventure. Alexandra Feodorowna assented to
everything that was proposed to her. She went about like one in a dream,
unconscious of the abominable plot in which she had been induced to
participate, thinking only of the time when she would be able at last to
renew with her own family and with her own people the tender and
intimate relations which the war had forcibly interrupted.
In the mean time the Emperor remained at the front, and if we are to
believe all that was subsequently related about his conduct there, he
changed considerably his opinion and point of view after having resumed
direct contact with his troops. He convinced himself that they were not
at all as anxious for peace as he had been led to expect, and that the
feelings of the men in regard to Germany were revengeful more than
anything else. His generals, and especially Aléxieieff, who was Head of
the Staff, kept urging upon him the necessity of preparing a formidable
offensive, this time on the Riga front. The General gave him hopes that
it would turn out to be a successful one, provided (and this was the one
everlasting and burning question) that the War Office sent sufficient
ammunition to the front. The Emperor was persuaded that this could be
done, but Aléxieieff was not so sanguine, and he started a private
inquiry of his own as to what was going on in Petrograd in that respect.
The result of it was that he was convinced that the Ministry had lately
completely neglected this important item and had spent its time in
arresting workmen whom it suspected of harboring democratic opinions, as
well as in curtailing the hours of labor at the different factories
where ammunition was manufactured. Protopopoff wanted the war to end,
and he hoped that in limiting the output of shells and guns he would be
able to place the country in such a position that a cessation of
hostilities would become unavoidable.
A report to the Emperor, in which the situation such as it presented
itself was exposed with great details, was brought to him by the Staff.
As usual, it left him unmoved. He merely said that he would give orders
to the War Office to take henceforward its orders from the
Commander-in-chief of the Armies in the Field, meaning himself, but he
refused to blame Protopopoff or to hear anything concerning the
appointment of a liberal and responsible Cabinet from whom the Duma
could require accounts. He did not mean to lessen his own prerogatives
by the merest fraction, and he still thought that Russia might hold its
own against her formidable foes without arms, provisions, shells, or big
guns, and in general without means of defense capable of stopping the
progress of the invaders in their triumphal march through his Empire.
The commanders of the different fronts held a consultation, and one of
them, whose name I cannot mention at the present moment, first suggested
the idea that it would not be a bad thing to try and bring about a
military conspiracy which would overthrow the weak Monarch whom it was
impossible to bring to take a sane view of the position in which the
army found itself placed. Another general suggested that such an
upheaval would only bring to the foreground the personality of the
Empress, who would insist on being consulted in all matters in which the
welfare of her son might be concerned. And no one wanted Alexandra
Feodorowna to be raised to a position in which her voice might come to
exercise an influence of any kind on the destinies of the country. It
was by far preferable to let Nicholas II. remain where he was, and try
to persuade him to allow the Staff, instead of the Cabinet, to have the
last word to say in all questions connected with the national defense.
This secret, or rather not secret, conference, because its purport
became known on the very same day it took place, thus accomplished
nothing. In the mean while the object of its deliberations was
communicated to the Ministry in Petrograd, and Protopopoff triumphantly
informed the Empress of the fact that it had come to almost the same
conclusions which he and his friends had arrived at long before. It was
necessary to change the person of the Sovereign. He carefully refrained,
however, from acquainting her with the knowledge of the opposition that
the idea of a Regency had provoked.
It is a curious but certain fact that at this very time large sums of
money were distributed to the troops quartered in Petrograd, Tsarskoye
Selo, Peterhof, and Gatschina by unknown people in the name of the
Empress. The latter declared, later on, when questioned on the subject
by the Provisional Government, that she had known nothing about it;
certainly it had not been her money which had been scattered about with
such reckless generosity. I believe that in saying so she spoke the
absolute truth. But then the question arises, by whose orders was this
money thrown into the arena of the battle-field, where the fate of a
nation and of a dynasty was about to be decided? Some people have
declared that it was Protopopoff together with Sturmer who had hit upon
the idea of making Alexandra Feodorowna popular among the army by
appearances of a generosity with which no one had credited her before.
But against this theory comes the probability that if either of the
above-mentioned gentlemen had been able to draw from the Treasury
several millions of rubles to be applied to secret purposes, they would
have begun by putting them into their own pockets and trusting to the
future and to Providence for the success of any enterprise they embarked
upon. Therefore the question arises again as to the origin of this money
which was circulated with such a generous hand among the regiments
considered as likely to lend themselves to a Palace revolution in favor
of the delicate little boy who was the sole Heir to all the glory and
the splendor of the Romanoffs.
I think that very few people, among those who knew how vital was
Germany’s interest at this particular moment to see a peace concluded,
will doubt whence came these funds. They were certainly spent to favor
the appointment of the Czarina as Regent of the Russian Empire. Who had
procured them for the benefit of a vast conspiracy, the object of which
was to deliver Russia, bound hand and foot, to the tender mercies of her
formidable neighbor and enemy?
On the other hand, the liberal parties, now thoroughly awakened to the
dangers of the situation, were also working earnestly toward the defeat
of the plans conceived by Messrs. Sturmer, Protopopoff & Co. Several
meetings of the leaders of the different factions in the Duma took place
at the Tauride Palace, but none seemed to come to anything serious in
the way of a revolution, which had been by that time recognized as
absolutely inevitable.