Kitabı oku: «The Minister of Evil: The Secret History of Rasputin's Betrayal of Russia», sayfa 15
"And the price?"
"The price will be all right," replied the provocating agent, with a business-like air.
"Then we entrust the affair to you, Ivan," said His Excellency. "You will receive for yourself ten thousand roubles if Miliukoff dies."
And the man went forth to find the woman, who, for money, would not hesitate to commit murder.
That night proved a sleepless one for us all. I tried to warn Miliukoff again by sending him an anonymous letter, which I posted in secret after the monk had retired. But my great fear was lest the letter would not reach his hand in time. Probably it would not be delivered till the midday post—and if so, he would not see it till after the opening of the Duma!
Next morning passed anxiously. Protopopoff had told us over the telephone that Stefanovitch had seen the woman Grozdoff, and that all was arranged.
I went early to the Duma, and sat among the crowd in the public gallery, while Rasputin remained at home, and the Empress at the palace, with Anna near the telephone, she having arranged for brief reports of the proceedings to be telephoned to her at intervals of a quarter of an hour each during the sitting.
M. Michael Rodzianko, the President, gravely took his seat on the stroke of two, and the House was crowded. The diplomatic boxes were filled to overflowing, the British, French, Italian and United States Ambassadors, together with the Ministers of most of the neutral countries, being present.
The usual prayer was offered, but neither M. Miliukoff nor M. Purishkevitch was in his place!
Had the attempt been successful? I held my breath and wondered. I had been listening for a shot, but heard nothing.
Suddenly my heart gave a bound. A pleasant-looking, grey-haired man, in gold-rimmed spectacles, and carrying a big bundle of papers, had entered by the back way, and was walking to his seat. It was M. Miliukoff! He had had my anonymous letter, and had come in by the back way, being followed by his bearded, bald-headed friend. Once again had I been able to warn him of danger.
The Government was now dancing upon a volcano.
The sitting opened, the President Rodzianko made a speech in which he criticised severely the policy of the Stürmer Government, and everyone realised the seriousness of the situation now that the President of the Duma came out against the Prime Minister.
"The Government must learn from us what the country needs," said Rodzianko fiercely. "The Government must not follow a path different from the people. With the confidence of the nation it must head the social forces in the march toward victory over the enemy, along the path that harmonises with the aspirations of the people. There is no other path to be followed."
Then the President went on to declare that, though there was no discord among the Allies, yet there was no trick that the enemy would not play with the treacherous object of wrecking their alliance. "Russia will not betray her friends," he declared, "and I say she, with contempt, refuses any consideration of a separate peace."
The speech was greeted with thunderous outbursts of applause, while Stürmer, who was present, rose and left after its conclusion.
Then, when the applause and cheering of the Ambassadors of the Allies had died down; Paul Miliukoff, the brilliant leader of the Constitutional Democrats, rose gravely and began to speak.
That speech, which the camarilla had vainly striven strenuously to suppress, proved historic, and was mainly the cause of Stürmer's overthrow. Boldly and relentlessly he showed his hearers the favour with which the Teutons regarded Stürmer and the consternation caused in the Allied camp by his activities. Reading extracts from German and Austrian newspapers, he brought out the fact that the Central Powers regarded Stürmer as a member "of those circles which look on the war against Germany without particular enthusiasm"; that Stürmer's appointment to the Foreign Ministry was greeted in the Teutonic countries as the beginning of a new era in Russian politics, while the dismissal of Sazonov produced in the Entente countries an effect "such as would have been produced by a pogrom."
The crowning sensation, however, was what he revealed concerning Stürmer's connection with the blackmailing operations of his private secretary, Manasevitch-Manuiloff, who, a few weeks before, had been arrested on a charge of bribery. The secretary told the directors of a Petrograd bank that proceedings were being instituted against them by the Ministry of the Interior for alleged trading with the enemy, and offered to suppress the affair "through influential friends" for a large consideration.
The representatives of the bank had special reasons to get even with the "dark forces," and especially Protopopoff, since the retired Minister of the Interior, A. N. Khvostov, was a brother of the bank's president. Khvostov owed his dismissal to a plot to kill Rasputin, which was investigated by Manuiloff. The directors of the bank, therefore, accepted the fellow's offer, handing him over a large sum of money in marked notes.
Later Manuiloff was arrested by the military authorities with the bribe in his possession. His release, however, followed soon, and the name of Manuiloff was on everybody's lips. Miliukoff, in his speech, said, regarding Manuiloff's liberation:
"Why was this gentleman arrested? That has been known long ago, and I shall be saying nothing new if I tell you what you already know, namely, that he was arrested for extorting bribes, and that he was liberated because—that is also no secret—he told the examining magistrates that he shared the bribes with the President of the Council of Ministers."
Thus was Boris Stürmer denounced as a traitor and blackmailer!
But worse was to follow. M. Miliukoff vehemently condemned the Empress for her support of the plan, originated in Germany, of a speedy and separate peace, regardless of circumstances, conditions, or national honour. He quoted further passages from German newspapers, in which "die Friedens-partei der jungen Tzarin" (the Peace Party of the young Tsaritza) was freely discussed. He was very outspoken in referring to the "dark forces" which surrounded the Throne and had lately assumed such overwhelming dimensions, and he openly declared "that man, the monk Gregory Rasputin, the ex-horse-stealer and pet saint of Alexandra Feodorovna, is, gentlemen, nothing more than an erotic charlatan, who is the catspaw of the Kaiser!"
The effect of this was electrical. The House sat staggered.
"Yes, gentlemen," he went on, striking the bundle of papers which lay upon the desk before him, "I have here documentary evidence of the traitorous actions of this camarilla, who are attempting to lead Russia to her doom—papers which shall be revealed to you all in due course. It is said that the Prime Minister has already left the Chamber to make a personal report to His Majesty of the President's speech. All I trust is that the words I have just uttered will also reach the Emperor's ears, and that he will trouble himself to examine the irrefutable evidence of Rasputin's diabolical work at the Palace and in the Ministries, and the crafty machinations of the 'black forces' in our midst."
The Manuiloff disclosures were sufficiently dramatic, but this outspoken exposure of Rasputin, the more bitter, perhaps, because of my warnings of the two attempts to assassinate him, caused the House to gasp.
The very name of Rasputin had only been breathed in whispers, and his cult was referred to vaguely as something mysterious connected with the occult. But in that speech, to which I sat and listened, Miliukoff hit straight from the shoulder, and called a spade a spade. One of his phrases was, "Russia can never win so long as this convicted criminal and seducer of women is allowed to work his amazing power upon the rulers of the Empire. Remove him!" he went on. "Let him be placed safely within the walls of Peter and Paul, together with his 'sisters,' and with all his brother-traitors, and then there will be no more suggestion of a separate peace. Remove his evil influence!" shouted the fine orator, his voice ringing through the Chamber. "I say, remove him from the Imperial circle, or Russia is doomed!"
I left the Duma by that long stone staircase with a feeling that at last the power behind the Throne, nay, the very Throne itself, was broken.
I sped to Rasputin's house, and with pretended regret related all that had occurred.
Hearing it, he sprang to the telephone, declaring in a hoarse voice: "The Censor must prohibit every word of it from publication. I will demand this of Nicholas!"
And a few moments later he was speaking with the Emperor, urging that an order to the Censor be immediately issued—a suggestion that was at once carried out.
Meanwhile a dramatic scene was being enacted in the Empress's boudoir, for that day proved the beginning of the end of the holy Father's career, as well as that of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia.
CHAPTER XV
THE TRAITOR DENOUNCED
The Empress, on hearing what had happened in the Duma, had a fit of hysterics. Nicholas was present while the Court physician administered restoratives. Then, without a word, he turned, and, leaving his wife in the care of the traitress Anna Vyrubova, he left for General Headquarters.
When Rasputin was informed by telephone of the Emperor's departure he became furious.
"He fears to meet Stürmer!" he cried to me. "He is leaving him in the lurch."
And this he did, for the next day the fate of Russia trembled in the balance, while the Black Monk went about to the Ministers in frantic haste, hoping and plotting to turn public opinion again in his favour. The charlatan, who could work miracles, and was the Heaven-sent saviour of Russia, had been exposed as a mere impostor. Stürmer's position had also become desperate under the concerted attacks of the Duma. A meeting of the Cabinet was held, at which the monk was present. Stürmer, with Protopopoff's support, proposed to dissolve the Duma. Some members opposed the suggestion, whereupon Stürmer resolved to execute it upon his own initiative.
In Rasputin's room, and in my presence, he drew up a document to that effect, but to make it law it required the Tsar's consent, and Nicholas was far away. It was Stürmer or the Duma.
Alexandra Feodorovna and Rasputin were both working with Stürmer to dissolve the people's representatives, and again prevent them from reassembling.
As Rasputin put it to me clearly that night:
"Féodor, this is a great crisis. The Duma and Stürmer are incompatible. The victory of the latter will mean revolution. The triumph of the Duma will indicate the winning of the battle by the democracy. To achieve his purpose, Stürmer needs an audience with the Tsar, and he must have it. Alexandra Feodorovna seems to be failing us, for Nicholas has hidden himself, hoping that the storm will blow over."
Stürmer strained every effort to obtain audience with the Emperor, but he was elusive, and for days no one knew where he was. An audience would mean the dissolution of the Duma, and this Nicholas feared would bring revolution.
As is well known, by a record published by an American journalist, there suddenly appeared in the Duma the Ministers of War and Marine, General Shuvaiev and Admiral Grigorovitch. They announced that they had a statement to make. The representatives of the people held their breath in suspense. The War Minister mounted the tribune, and paid a tribute to the people's efforts in the cause of national defence, requesting the Duma's and the country's future co-operation in the work of equipping the army. The Minister of Marine reiterated General Shuvaiev's demand for co-operation between the Government and the Duma. The latter, perhaps, never witnessed such a scene as that which followed the two Ministers' speeches. There was a great ovation, after which Miliukoff rose and said:
"The War and Marine Ministers have declared themselves on the side of the Duma and the people. We, on our part, have said that the Duma is with the army and the people."
This sealed the fate of Boris Stürmer. The people had achieved their first victory over the "dark forces," and Stürmer, driven out, came one night to us, and, pacing the room, tore his beard and cursed both the Emperor and Empress.
Then, turning upon Rasputin, he cried with a sneer:
"And you, the holy Father and our divine guide, have been powerless to save us! Where are your miraculous powers? Only in your own imagination, I am beginning to think."
These words led to a serious quarrel and bitter recriminations, for the Empress, to save herself, had dropped Stürmer, so that Protopopoff had become instantly the favourite at Court, and, indeed, dictator.
Two weeks went by, weeks of the tensest scenes in the contest between the democracy and the conspirators, of whom Rasputin and the Empress were the head. Protopopoff defied the new Premier, Alexander Trepov, a hide-bound bureaucrat, as well as the Duma, and it was then that the crisis was reached.
Each day we went regularly to Tsarskoe-Selo, and there another plot was quickly hatched. While the public were daily expecting the downfall of Protopopoff as a natural outcome of Stürmer's denunciation and degradation, they were one day suddenly staggered by the news that the retired Premier was about to be appointed Ambassador to a neutral country.
Everywhere I went I heard the most sinister dissatisfaction. The people knew what was meant, namely, that the Germanophile Stürmer was to negotiate a premature peace, and this within three weeks of his downfall! The whole Empire was agog at the news, yet Rasputin remained calm and silent, believing that his clever plot would be successful.
Certainly it might have been had not the Duma continued its concerted attack on the "dark forces," demanding a responsible Ministry. Even half of the Extreme Right, the most rabid monarchical faction in the Duma, joined the Opposition, a fact which, when told to the Empress, sent her again into hysterics.
I remember that day well. Hardt had arrived hot-foot from Berlin, and brought the monk a dispatch which, when deciphered, read as follows:
"Memorandum from No. 70. A.43,286.
"November 8th, 1916.
"The attitude of the Duma is creating much alarm for your personal safety. As you have failed to suppress Miliukoff, endeavour at once to remove his chief supporter Purishkevitch. Inform A. [Anna Vyrubova] that Korniloff has revealed to P. her duplicity in the Zarudni affair, and P. has in his possession certain documents incriminating her. These should be secured at all hazards. [G. Zarudni, active in political law cases, and who was, after the Revolution, appointed Minister of Justice in the Kerensky Cabinet.] P. intends to make use of these in the Duma. It is suggested, therefore, that the woman X. [Xenie Kalatcheff] be again given the perfume, with instructions from yourself. If not, employ the girl Olga Bauer. She posed as a domestic servant in the Princess Tchekmareff affair, and was successful. Why not utilise her again?
"Inform Her Majesty that Stürmer must come back to power very shortly. But this is impossible while Miliukoff and Purishkevitch have the ear of the people. Not a second should be lost in suppressing them. We have heard with satisfaction of the removal of the woman Marya Ustryaloff and the man Paul Krizhitsky. Both knew too much, and, though they served us faithfully, were not further required. [When the sphere of usefulness of German secret agents ends they generally meet with untimely deaths.]
"Also inform Her Majesty that she and her daughters should exhibit a keener interest in the wounded in order to win back public favour. You, too, should perform another miracle.
"We hear with regret that, though the allegations made by Miliukoff were suppressed by the Censor, typewritten copies of the speech are being widely distributed everywhere. If you do not act with a firm hand, this will upset all our plans. The moment is critical, and all depends upon your own drastic actions.—Greeting,
"S." [Steinhauer].
That same evening the bearded blackguard communicated to the Tsaritza and the elegant morphineuse Anna Vyrubova the contents of the secret dispatch.
Both Empress and lady-in-waiting, in their rich evening gowns, came to the fine apartments which were allotted to the monk in the palace, and as they were seated I read over the message.
"Yes," declared Her Majesty when I had finished; "I quite agree that the girl Olga Bauer should receive instructions. Order Protopopoff to make inquiry into the best means by which she can approach Purishkevitch. The fellow must be prevented from implicating our dear Anna in the Zarudni affair."
"Yes," said Madame Vyrubova in alarm; "it would ruin not only myself, but the Empress also."
"I will do thy bidding," Rasputin responded, standing with his hands behind his back, his great cross suspended from his neck scintillating beneath the light.
"The girl Bauer, posing as a domestic servant, managed to ingratiate herself with Prince Tchekmareff, and gave the perfume to her mistress with success," remarked Anna. "And there was not the slightest suspicion. Xenie Kalatcheff failed, therefore I am not in favour of her being employed again."
"True, Olga is a girl of great daring, and her lover has long been in the German service," Rasputin remarked. "I will see her to-morrow." Then, turning to me, he said: "Féodor, write to her and ask her to call on me to-morrow evening at eight. Send the letter by special messenger."
This I did, and next evening the girl Bauer called. She was slim, very pretty, and dressed as she was, as a girl of the people, none would suspect her of having committed several secret murders at Rasputin's instructions.
"Olga," he said, when she was shown into his room, "really you are growing prettier each day! I envy Ivan Ivanovitch, for he has good taste."
"You flatter me, Father," said the girl, blushing.
"I speak the truth," declared the monk, twisting the end of his beard in his fingers and fixing his strange eyes upon hers. "But," he went on, "I asked you here because I want you to help our cause once again—with the perfume."
She grew serious in an instant.
"Who is obnoxious?" she asked quickly, in a hard voice.
"Purishkevitch," declared the monk. "The man has somewhere in his house certain incriminating papers regarding Madame Vyrubova. These, however, do not concern you. When the Deputy is dead I will have the police search the house at once, and the papers when found will be handed to me. You must repeat the rôle you played in Prince Tchekmareff's household."
With these words he rose and took from a drawer he unlocked a small bottle containing a piece of cotton-wool, saying:
"This wool has been soaked in the perfume and dried, so that it is more easily carried and less suspicious than in liquid form. Just place a little water on the wool and squeeze it out, when you have the perfume ready to hand."
The pretty girl took the little wide-mouthed bottle and held it against the light.
"The Deputy will be difficult to approach," she said. "He is not a fast-living man, like some with whom I have dealt."
"He will not be able to resist a pretty face like yours," Rasputin said confidently.
"Well," she said at last, "I will try, Father. Give me your blessing."
And she went upon her knees, while the erotic blackguard placed his dirty hands upon her head, and, raising his eyes to Heaven, pretended to place upon her his benediction.
Afterwards, before she left us, she told us that she knew that the Deputy had a young man-servant named Protzenko, and it would be her object to first attract his attention and become on intimate terms with him, by which means she would be enabled to visit the servants' quarters of Purishkevitch's house.
"Excellent—if you do not think that you could obtain a place there as servant."
"That would be difficult, for I happen to know that all the servants have been there for years, and that there is no vacancy."
"Well, Olga, act just as you like," the monk said. "Only remove him, and then telephone instantly to me, so that the police can search immediately."
Of the girl Bauer we heard nothing for a fortnight. Time after time I felt impelled to warn the doomed man, but I feared lest Rasputin should suspect me of treachery, the other plots having failed. One night, while at the palace, I was informed by a flunkey that someone wished to speak with the monk on the public telephone, therefore I went to the instrument.
The voice I heard was that of Olga Bauer, who, when she recognised me, said:
"Tell the Father that his wishes were carried out half an hour ago. You know what I mean—eh?"
"Yes," I replied. "I know—I will tell him at once." And then I rang off.
Returning to Rasputin's handsome room I repeated the message, whereupon he sprang up with eager delight, and ringing up Protopopoff at his house in Petrograd, told him to order an immediate police search of Purishkevitch's house, as had already been arranged.
After that I had some business with the Master of the Imperial Household in the opposite wing of the palace, and it was not till half-an-hour later that I re-entered the "saint's" room.
I found Rasputin foaming with rage and stamping up and down the room in fury.
"I told the Empress and Anna the good news, now to find that it is false!" he cried. "The police made a domiciliary visit only to be greeted by Purishkevitch himself. Think of it!"
"Then the fellow is not dead!" I gasped in amazement.
"No. He is still alive. His valet Protzenko died an hour ago. That fool of a girl has blundered!"
As he uttered these words the door opened and the Empress appeared, looking pale and desperate.
"Father," she said, "this is a very serious contretemps for us all. How do we not know that the girl Bauer purposely removed the valet in place of his master? The visit of the police will arouse the suspicion of our enemy, and he may trace the crime to his valet's female acquaintance. What then?"
"I had never thought of that!" replied the monk, halting erect before her. "She might, in that case, betray us! Truly thou hast spoken words of wisdom!"
"Yes. In the girl I discern a possible enemy—and in this crisis we should take no risks."
"I agree. I will take steps. If she has betrayed us, then she shall be tried for the murder of Princess Tchekmareff. Whatever allegations she makes against me will not be allowed to transpire at the trial."
"Or get Nikki to sign an order for her banishment to Siberia as an exile," suggested the scheming Empress.
"Ah! my daughter, thou art always wise. An excellent plan! I will first make inquiries, and then ask for the Emperor's signature."
Though matters had assumed the most serious aspect in those last days of November, Rasputin, bent upon revenge and full of chagrin at being unable to obtain possession of those incriminating letters of the high priestess of his disgraceful cult, Madame Vyrubova, was busy making inquiries, and among those he questioned was Ivan Ivanovitch, a bookbinder in Petrograd, who was Olga's lover, and who regarded the monk with considerable disfavour, a fact of which Rasputin was unaware.
The young man, in consequence of the nature of the questions put to him by the monk, guessed what was in his mind, and that same day told Olga that Rasputin disbelieved her story how the valet had drunk the glass of kümmel that had been poured out for his master, and that, full of chagrin, he was plotting a revenge.
Of this we knew nothing till afterwards. But on the same night as Ivan Ivanovitch revealed the truth to her Olga called upon Rasputin, and I admitted her.
"I wish to see the Father," she said, in a deep, earnest voice.
"I will go and see if he will receive you," I answered, and I left her in the ante-room.
Rasputin ordered her to be shown in, whereupon, as soon as she crossed the threshold, she drew a revolver, and, dashing toward him, fired. The bullet missed, and she fired again, also without effect, before I could rush up and seize her. She struggled with me with a strength born of madness.
"What does this mean, woman?" asked the monk, standing with his arms folded, while I held her wrists, the weapon having fallen upon the polished floor during our wild struggle.
"It means that I intend to rid the world of a base blackguard and betrayer of women!" she said. "I have been in your toils and done your dirty work, and now, because I have failed, you intend to denounce me, and so close my lips. But they will never be closed. The evidence which Purishkevitch holds is complete. I have seen it. Protzenko discovered me tampering with his master's papers, so I first assured him it was out of curiosity, and then I gave him a little of the perfume."
We both stood aghast at learning the truth.
"It surprises you!" she shrieked, still in my grip. "But you may be more surprised when you know that I have become a friend and partisan of the Deputy, and that with Ivan I have united to hasten the downfall of you—the Black Monk of Petrograd!"
"Silence, woman!" thundered Rasputin, casting an evil glance at her. "Hold her, Féodor. I will lock the door!"
Then, picking up the revolver, he strode to the door, which he locked and took the key. Passing to the telephone, he was soon speaking with Protopopoff, whom he ordered to send police officers to conduct the girl Bauer to the fortress of Peter and Paul.
"And I also order you to arrest the girl's lover, Ivan Ivanovitch, as a dangerous political. You know his address," he said to the Minister.
"Now you can release her!" he added, turning to me. "And write at my dictation."
The girl stood staggered at hearing Rasputin's orders to the Minister of the Interior.
"No, no!" she shrieked. "Forgive me! forgive me, Father! I—I was mad—mad! Ivan urged me to do this—to kill you!"
"Write as I tell you, Féodor," Rasputin ordered.
Then, as I sat at the table, he dictated the following lines:
"It is by our order that the woman Olga Alexandrovna Bauer, native of Orel, shall be deported without trial to Yakutsk, in Eastern Siberia, and there sent to penal servitude for life. And further, that Ivan Ivanovitch shall be confined for life in the Fortress of Schlüsselburg. Given at our Palace of Tsarskoe-Selo, December 1st, 1916."
"The Emperor will sign that to-morrow," he added.
The unfortunate girl, shrieking loudly, threw herself at the feet of the monk, imploring forgiveness.
"No, my pretty one!" he replied. "You would open your lips if I gave you the chance. But you will not have it. You are my enemy, and the enemies of Gregory Rasputin never prevail for long, for he takes good care of that!"
She had a fit of hysterics, but quickly came to consciousness again, only to find herself in the hands of six grey-coated police officers, who roughly bundled her out into the hall, shrieking and cursing the blasphemous blackguard who was the real ruler of the Empire.
An hour after the girl Bauer had been taken away a secret messenger from Berlin brought us another dispatch in cipher, which, when I decoded it, read:
"Memorandum from No. 70. 68,428. G.
"Instructions from the Emperor William are to the effect that Germany will deliver a peace offer to Russia on December 12th. Inform Her Majesty of this, and tell her to use all her influence with the Emperor and all the Ministers towards an acceptance.
"Instructions to our friend P. [Protopopoff] are to continue his destructive activities. He must muzzle the Press more closely, hold up all food, and continue provocative work in all quarters. It is only by producing extreme suffering that you can bring about an uprising for peace. Code now changed to No. 5.—Greetings,
"S."
Duly the German offer of peace was made on December 12th, and Russia was tottering to her doom. The offer, engineered by the "black forces," gave opportunity to the Duma to express its pent-up feelings. Both Miliukoff and his friend who had so narrowly escaped the "perfume" declared publicly that the camarilla favoured the acceptance of the offer.
Of the truth of this I can myself vouch, for Alexandra Feodorovna had, since her holy Father had received the secret dispatch, spared no effort to induce the Emperor and the Cabinet to accept the olive branch.
Nicholas refused. Whatever may be said of him, I know personally that on many occasions he proved his loyalty to the Allies against the evil counsels of Stürmer and the others.
The nation, however, had to be pacified, so the Tsar called the newly-appointed Foreign Minister, Petrovsky, who represented the best type of bureaucrat, and instructed him how to act. In consequence, three days after the Teuton proposal was made, he announced Russia's rejection of a "premature peace." Immediately after the Foreign Minister's declaration, the Duma passed a resolution, which contained the following declaration:
"Having heard the statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Duma unanimously favours a categorical refusal by the Allied Governments to enter, under present conditions, into any peace negotiations whatever."
Truly, public opinion was becoming more than ever inflamed.
Yet "Satan in a silk hat," seated in the Ministry of the Interior, was working his evil machinations upon the nation to create the greatest possible suffering and unrest, as his taskmaster in Berlin had ordered. And in this he had an able assistant in the unwashed "saint," who a few days before, in collusion with his friend the ex-conjurer, had in a low quarter of Petrograd performed a trick which all believed to be a "miracle."
One of Protopopoff's schemes, which he successfully carried out, was that of sowing discontent among the masses by spreading mysterious leaflets calling for rebellion on the issue of peace. By this he attempted to disrupt the organic life of the country and of the army. With Rasputin he was plotting to create a clamour which would justify the Government in opening separate peace negotiations and throwing the Allies overboard.
