Rasputin and the Russian Revolution

by Princess Catherine Radziwill

The arrest of the Prime Minister’s private secretary produced, as may well be imagined, an immense sensation in Petrograd and intense consternation among the friends of Rasputin. They were thus deprived of the one strong ally capable of guiding their steps in the best direction possible under the circumstances, and, moreover, of the one who was possessed of information which no one else could possibly get at. Mr. Sturmer himself was more than dismayed at this step taken by the military authorities without consulting him and resented it as a personal affront. He tried to interfere in the matter and went so far as to demand as his right the liberation of Manassevitsch-Maniuloff. But his intervention, instead of helping the person in whose favour it had been displayed, gave on the contrary the signal for a series of attacks against Mr. Sturmer himself, attacks of which the most important was the speech made by Mr. Miliukoff in the Duma, where he publicly accused the Prime Minister of being in league with Germany and of working in favour of a separate peace with that country.

Of course, the remarks of the leader of the opposition in the Chamber were not allowed to be published, but so many persons had heard them and so many others had heard of them that the contents of the address of Mr. Miliukoff very soon became public property. No one had ever cared for Mr. Sturmer, whose leanings had always been for autocracy. While Governor of Tver he had distinguished himself by the zeal which he displayed in putting down every manifestation of public opinion in his government. In addition he had been connected with various matters where bribery played a prominent part, a fact which had not helped him to win any popularity in the province which he had administered. His only merits lay in his ability to speak excellent French and in his having very pronounced English sympathies. These sympathies, however, by some kind of unexplainable miracle, died out immediately after his assumption of office. He at once fell under the influence of a certain party that clamoured for the removal of foreigners from the administrative and political life of Russia. He was not clever, though he had a very high idea of his own intelligence and knowledge.

Though he had never carried his knowledge beyond a thorough grasp of the precedence that ought to be awarded to distinguished guests at a dinner party (which he had acquired while he was master of the ceremonies at the Imperial Court), yet he was convinced of his capacity to fill the most important offices of the Russian State. These he looked upon with the eyes of a farmer in the presence of his best milking cow. He was not a courtier, but a flatterer by nature, and an essentially accommodating one, too. There was no danger of his ever turning his back on persons who he had reasons to think were in possession of the favour of personages in high places. And he had a wonderful faculty for toadying wherever he expected that it might prove useful to his career.

For some years he had vegetated in a kind of semi-disgrace and fretted over his inactivity. When he found himself able once more to make a display of his administrative talents he took himself and these talents quite seriously and imagined that perhaps he could become the saviour of Russia, but surely a very rich man. This last idea had been suggested to him by Mr. Manassevitsch-Maniuloff, who in conversations with him had imbued Mr. Sturmer with the conviction that it would be a proof of careless neglect on his part if he did not make the most of the many opportunities his important position as Prime Minister put in his way, and did not assure the prosperity of his old age, when he had at his disposal all possible sources of information out of which he might make a profit. Mr. Sturmer was no saint, and the weaknesses of the flesh had always appealed to him. There is nothing wonderful in the fact that he listened with attention, and even with satisfaction, to the confidences which were poured into his ear by his private secretary, of whose talents he had a most exalted opinion.

When his Fides Achates was arrested and thrown into a more or less dark dungeon, Mr. Sturmer was so dismayed that he allowed himself to be drawn into the mistake of identifying himself with the prisoner and claiming his liberty as a right. It is related that when the object of his solicitude heard of the various steps undertaken by the Prime Minister on his behalf he gave vent to words of impatience at what he considered an imprudence likely to cost a good deal to the guilty ones.

“Sturmer ought to have known that a man like myself does not allow himself to be arrested without having taken the precaution to be able to impose on those who had ventured to do so the necessity of liberating him,” he had exclaimed.

The fact was that Manassevitsch-Maniuloff had put to profit the months when, in his capacity as private secretary to the Prime Minister, he had access to all the archives and secret papers of the Ministry of the Interior. He had taken copies of more than one important document, the divulging of which might have put the Russian Government in an embarrassing position. Some persons even said that his zeal had carried him so far as to make him appropriate to himself the originals of these documents, leaving only a worthless copy in their place. True or not, it is certain that the spirit of foresight that had always distinguished him had induced him to take certain precautions against any possible mishap capable of interfering with his career. He was able to regard his imprisonment philosophically. This was more than Mr. Sturmer could do. The latter had reason to fear that during the police search of the flat occupied by Mr. Manassevitsch-Maniuloff some compromising letters had been discovered. This fear did not add to his happiness or to his equanimity. Besides, he was not strong enough to resist the attacks which, dating from that day, were poured upon his head. In spite of the assurances which Rasputin was continually giving him that he had nothing to fear, he did not share the confidence of the “Prophet.”

He had good reasons for this fear. In the Duma, in the Petrograd drawing rooms, in the army and among the public, all had grown tired of Mr. Sturmer, and all spoke of nothing else but of the necessity of compelling him to resign his post. Among the different reproaches which were addressed to him was that of being an enemy of England and of trying to work against the Russo-English alliance. It was very well known that his relations with Sir George Buchanan, the British Ambassador, were not cordial. Sir George, in spite of all that the pro-Germans liked to say about him, was a popular personage in Russia, that is, among the sane portion of Russian society, which had hailed with joy the initiative that he had taken in the great work of reorganisation of the Russian administration.

Thanks to the English officers who had arrived in Russia with the aim of bringing some kind of order out of the chaos that had prevailed not only in the War Office, but in every other branch of the Government, the military position of the Empire had considerably improved, and the great work of national defence had been at last put upon a sound basis. As a man occupying a very important position in Petrograd wrote to me during the course of last summer: “There are some people here who say that Russia is fast becoming an English colony, but I reply to them that she might certainly do worse, if by that word is meant the introduction of the English spirit of order and of English honesty in our country.”

This was the opinion of a sincere Russian patriot. There is no doubt that it was shared by all the best elements of the nation, who had recognised that in the crisis through which their Fatherland was going only one idea ought to dominate everything, and that was the necessity of imposing upon Germany a peace that would at last give to the world the assurance that it would never be called upon again to undergo another such catastrophe as the one under which it was struggling. Mr. Sturmer, however, was of a quite different opinion. This was well known everywhere, especially in parliamentary circles. Mr. Miliukoff made himself the echo of the popular voice when he delivered his famous indictment of the Prime Minister. The latter retorted by issuing against the leader of the Opposition a writ for libel, and applied himself with renewed energy to the task of getting out of prison the man who had been the prime mover in the dark and sinister intrigue of which Rasputin was the principal figure. At last he succeeded, and Manassevitsch-Maniuloff was released on bail. Among all the papers which had been confiscated at his home not one incriminating document had been found, and the only thing against him that could be proved was the blackmailing scheme against the Bank whose director had had him arrested. He threatened, in case he should be brought to trial, to make certain revelations absolutely damaging for more than one highly placed personage, and he contrived to inspire a great terror even among those most eager to have him condemned for his numerous extortions and other shameful deeds. As soon as he was at liberty he set Rasputin to working in his favour, and made the latter display an activity that at last exasperated the public against the “Prophet” to such an extent that the first thought of organising a conspiracy to remove him was started, and very soon became quite a familiar one with more than one person.