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The annotation.

A historical novel, fiction about how and for what reasons Tsarist Russia collapsed in 1917. It is dedicated to the entire Romanov family and the arrival of the White Tsar in the 21-st century.

The Crash is an action—packed historical fiction novel that describes in detail the reign of the last Emperor Nicholas II and all the main reasons that led the prosperous empire to collapse in 1917. The novel reads easily and in one go. All the scenes described in the novel took place and somehow led to the collapse of the Romanov dynasty. In particular, it describes the true role of Grigory Rasputin and his relationship with the Royal Family, and reveals all the details of the elder's murder. It also describes the 1905 revolution, the February and October revolutions, the time of the Provisional Government, in detail the murder of members of the Royal Family, as well as those forces who sponsored and ordered the 3 revolutions and the murder of the Royal Family. It describes how Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin came to power. As well as the murder of Yesenin and others. The prophecies of monk Abel, Seraphim of Sarov, about the end of the dynasty in 1917, the assassination of the tsar in 1918, the war in 1941, and the arrival of White Tsar in the 21st century in Russia are cited

Chapter 1. Coronation and Celebrations.

On a warm May day, May 14, 1896, the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich and his wife Empress Alexandra Fedorovna took place in the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow. During the ceremony, the diamond chain supporting the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called suddenly broke and fell to the floor, which the king’s relatives understood as a bad omen, meaning that the dynasty would end. Nicholas Alexandrovich and Alexandra Fedorovna arrived by train from St. Petersburg the day before, May 6, the birthday of Nicholas II. The ceremony was led by Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and member of the Holy Synod Palladius. At the end of the liturgy, the emperor and empress were anointed as kings and received Holy Communion at the altar. The saint and member of the Holy Synod, John of Kronstadt, took part in the service of the liturgy, among others. French journalist Camille Cerf made a documentary film. Meanwhile, in St. Petersburg, on May 14, a liturgy was held in all Orthodox churches and a prayer of thanks was served. In Moscow, the royal couple settled in the Petrovsky Palace, and celebrated their birthday there, and on May 7, the emperor received the Emir of Bukhara, Muhammad Alim Khan, and his heir, as well as the Khan of Khiva, Muhammad Rahim Khan II. On May 8, Nicholas Alexandrovich’s mother, Maria Fedorovna, arrived and that same evening, outside the palace, a choir of 1,200 people performed a serenade for the imperial couple. On May 9, the ceremonial entry into Moscow took place. First there was a police escort with a platoon of gendarmes, then an imperial convoy, then a string of crews of high-ranking officials, followed by horse guards, a personal imperial convoy, a hundred Life Cossacks, His Majesty's regiment, and so on. According to established tradition, a few days after the coronation, folk festivals and a fair on Khodynka Field were scheduled with the distribution of numerous gifts and attractions. The people's memory preserves the wonderful festivities in honor of the coronation of Alexander III and Alexander II.

People began to gather on the evening of May 17, although the festivities were scheduled for 10 am on May 18. The Emperor promised royal gifts for all who came in the form of a package with sausage, cod, large gingerbread, raisins, prunes, candies, nuts and a commemorative coronation mug with the coat of arms and initials N.A. Free distribution of vodka, mead and beer was promised. In Moscow, someone spread a rumor that merchants could distribute gifts among their own, and people who wanted to receive a personalized mug first (which was not present during the festivities in honor of Alexander III earlier), gathered in crowds in advance, since people wanted to be the first to receive it in the morning mug and gifts. Many lay directly on the ground and lit fires.

Several thousand people gathered on Khodynka Field, twice as many as there were during the festivities in honor of the coronation of Alexander III earlier. And already at night, the artel workers began to give out bundles of gifts to their friends. People noticed this and began to threaten the artel workers. The people did not want to wait for the morning and climbed into the windows of the tents, and the artel workers began to give gifts to everyone, then the crowd jumped up at six in the morning after shouting “give away,” all as one, and rushed forward with such swiftness, as if an earthquake had occurred. The back rows pressed on those in front who fell were trampled, they fell to the ground, they ran over the people lying on the field as if over stones. The disaster lasted 15 minutes. Benches, wooden tents, stalls, stages and booths were built along the perimeter of the field. On the left side of the St. Petersburg highway, at a right angle to it, the Khodynka Field was crossed by a deep ravine 60 meters wide. The tents where people rushed to get gifts stood on the edge of the ravine, 15 meters from the ravine. When everyone ran for food, the tents began to overturn, people crushed each other to death, following the wild feeling of the brutal crowd, people, being under the pressure of those running from behind, began to push each other into the ravine. A mountain of corpses formed at the bottom of the ravine. Crushed bodies lay in the first layer, a second layer on top, then dead bodies stood on top, crushed so that they did not have time to fall. But from above came a fourth row of half-dead and half-dead ones, and on the field someone was swearing with choice obscenities, a dying woman was reading the Lord’s Prayer aloud, being pressed into the top row, which rose above the ravine.

At the same time, in the center of the Khodynka Field, many people fell into an old, lightly filled-up well, which was covered with boards sprinkled with earth on top. There were 1,800 police nearby who were unable to control the crowd. The crowd knocked them off their feet and rushed forward, overturning the tents. The merchants in them began to throw bags of gifts at the people running in order to somehow fight off the impending avalanche. Among this entire crowd was a journalist from the newspaper "Russkie Vedomosti" Vladimir Gilyarovsky, who came to the field in the evening, and when everyone ran, the crowd of him she picked it up and carried it along with her. The journalist arrived at this field to report for the newspaper. As a result, miraculously surviving, he was crushed by the crowd when the crowd first pulled him forward to the artel workers’ booths, but after that the people ran back, as Cossacks galloped on horses and began to disperse the people. When the Sun rose, crows flew to the fresh corpses, of which there were more than a thousand, the wounded were moaning nearby, some women were scalped without hair, because during the stampede they had been pulled by their braids. Nearby, people broke barrels of beer and honey and greedily scooped from there and drank from their palms. Gilyarovsky fell on a stone near the ravine, many corpses lay on the ground nearby, and at that moment it was all over. It was stuffy and thirsty.

The journalist picked the herbs and began to chew them – it quenched his thirst. Gilyarovsky took a snuff box from his back pocket, took a sniff of tobacco, and his strength returned. He got up, left the crowd and found a cab near the field and drove to his home on Stoleshnikov Lane, buying three oranges on the way. He crushed one of them and wiped his face with it to freshen up. At home, the journalist took a bath, slept, put on a tailcoat and went to the newspaper office, but he saw many trucks and carts transporting corpses from Khodynka, realized the scale of the tragedy, went to inspect Khodynka again, and saw that the ditch was the epicenter of the tragedy, it was all clogged with pipes , which after so many hours were still being taken out.

The Emperor was not immediately informed about what had happened, but only at 10:30 in the morning before Vannovsky’s report, but he decided not to cancel the planned celebrations. At the same time, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, who was governor general of Moscow, learned about the tragedy. Sergei Alexandrovich told the emperor that, despite what had happened, he had to go to all the planned celebrations, including the ball at the French ambassador Montebello, to which the emperor at first wanted to object, being in a dejected state with a pale face, but the prince told the king: ¨That's it what happened pleased God, the people were sacrificed for the sake of the new emperor, and by a natural coincidence, it means it pleased the Lord¨. To this Nicholas Alexandrovich replied “that everything is God’s will, but it is necessary to compensate the families of the victims from personal funds, bury the dead, conduct an investigation, find out if there is any malicious intent or mistakes on the part of the police and organizers, and someone will be needed remove from their positions, but the main thing is not to offend foreign guests who came from abroad, to carry out everything according to the planned ritual and accepted ceremonies.” During this conversation (of the emperor and his uncle, Prince Sergei Alexandrovich), a messenger arrived from the French ambassador with a proposal to cancel the ball, scheduled for 2 o'clock in the afternoon, or postpone it to another day, due to the tragedy that had occurred. To this proposal, Nicholas II replied: “Tell the ambassador that we will attend the ball, let everything go according to plan.” Count Palen, marshal of the sacred coronation ceremony, also came to the reception to the tsar, who also wanted to dissuade the emperor from attending the ball and dinner with the French ambassador, to which the emperor replied, “that the French were carefully preparing for the ball, and it would be indecent for us not to come to the ball.” After which the emperor went, as if nothing had happened, to have breakfast with the empress.

After breakfast, at about one o'clock in the afternoon, Nicholas Alexandrovich and Alexandra Fedorovna went to Khodynka. Fun began on the field upon their arrival. The field was huge – on one side there was fun, and on the other side, at the same time, corpses were being removed.

A huge crowd surrounded the stage, on which the musicians played “Glory” all the time. The tsar did not pay attention to the fact that under many of the stages lay corpses covered with a tarpaulin, legs were sticking out from under the tarpaulin, and musicians stood on top of the stage (the corpses did not have time to be brought out before the arrival of the royal couple). Nicholas II, with a pale face, looked at the musicians with a glassy gaze, and, turning his gaze to the Empress, told her: “Everything is like in the Englishman’s horoscope – I live in the center of tragedies and disasters, without the ability to prevent them, I can’t look at it,” he turned around and ordered the carriage to arrive. The royal couple went to a ball with the French ambassador.

At the ball, the king danced with the wife of the French ambassador Montebello, and the ambassador danced with the empress. After the ball everyone went to dinner. The ambassador expressed deep condolences to the tsar in connection with the consequences of the stampede on the Khodynka field. To which the king replied to the ambassador: “Prince Edward of Wales sent me a letter from London with my horoscope, compiled by the English astrologer Louis Hamon, which says that we have the evil fate of often being in the center of bloody events without the ability to prevent them, and now I see that it's starting to come true. The blind Japanese seer Terakuto told us the same thing.” Gustave Louis Lannes de Montebello responded to Nicholas II: “I recommend that you, Your Highness, meet with Messrs. Nizier and Papus from the Martinist lodge, they can give you spiritual protection and help you avoid further disasters.” “Thank you, we need to invite them to Russia,” the tsar answered briefly.

The next day, the royal couple went with Maria Fedorovna (the emperor's mother) to visit the wounded in hospitals and clinics. We drove all day. All the wounded were consoled. In one hospital, the following incident occurred: a seriously wounded peasant was lying on a bed, with broken arms and right leg, who said to Maria Fedorovna: “I humbly ask you to forgive me that this happened to me, I didn’t want to upset the holiday of the imperial couple and you with my fractures, it’s my fault – With". In response, Maria Fedorovna only sighed heavily.

In the evening of the same day, after visiting hospitals, the imperial couple returned to the Kremlin Palace, where they had moved from the Petrovsky Palace, where they lived before the coronation in Moscow. The tsar retired to his office, sat down in a chair, took out a box with a cigarette case with Turkish cigarettes and nervously smoked cigarettes one after another, re-reading his horoscope and the cover letter from the Prince of Wales many times. The horoscope spoke about the evil fate that haunts the emperor, about the so-called mystical large square, inside of which there is a large cross – a symbol that the emperor will have a tragic fate and little can be changed; rather, one can accept such a fate, only trying to reduce the force of the blows of fate.

The Prince of Wales asked Louis Hamon, better known under the pseudonym Cairo, to make this horoscope without saying the name of the person for whom he ordered the horoscope, so in the natal chart of Nikolai Alexandrovich the astrologer wrote this: “Whoever this person is, his date of birth shows that during his life he would often have to deal with the horrors of war and bloodshed; that he would do everything in his power to prevent it, but that his destiny was so deeply connected with such things that his name would be linked with the bloodiest and most accursed wars that were ever known, and that, in the end, he will lose everything he loved most." And in the accompanying letter written by the prince, it was said in particular that his other court adviser and numerologist-kabbalist propose to make the coronation of the emperor on May 14, 1896 and mass holiday celebrations for the people in honor of the coronation on May 16, 1896, since these days are special divine kabbalistic dates. The tsar thought that the tragedy that had happened was pleasing to God and Providence, that he himself had given instructions, according to a letter from Prince Edward of Wales, to hold festive festivities on May 16… And he thought about how he now needed to compensate the wounded and the families of the dead with money. And the tsar did not have a single thought about punishing grand duke Sergei Alexandrovich, who was the governor-general of Moscow and was responsible for organizing the celebrations, since the authority of a relative was unshakable for Nicholas II. Meanwhile, people nicknamed the hated governor-general Prince Khodynsky. And that same evening, the tsar wrote a letter to Paris to the martinist, about whom the ambassador had spoken the day before, Mr. Nizier Anthelme Philippe, with an invitation to come to Russia with Mr. Papus (Gerard Anaclet Vincent Encausse).

The next day, the tsar ordered the police to begin an investigation into the causes of the stampede on Khodynka Field, which caused the death of 1,389 people and injured more than 1,500 people, and also ordered the dead to be buried after the funeral service, compensation to be given to their relatives, benefits to the wounded and disabled, and lifelong benefits for many. pensions. The newspapers published lists of those who were entitled to financial assistance. The full benefit was 1,000 rubles, and the partial benefits amounted to 750, 700, 500, 350 and 250 rubles. In addition, annual pensions of 24, 40 and 60 rubles were assigned, as well as annual benefits “issued in return for funeral expenses.” The tsar paid for all this from his own funds and spent a total of 80,000 rubles, and also sent 1,000 bottles of Madeira on his behalf to hospitals for the wounded.

On May 17, 1896, at the Imperial Bolshoi Theater there was the ballet Pearl by Ricardo Drigo, which was watched by the Emperor, Empress Maria Fedorovna, dignitaries, guests and residents of Moscow. The script initially did not have a role for Nicholas II's favorite ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya from the Mariinsky Theater, since she was considered persona non grata, and all roles were distributed among the ballerinas of Moscow theaters. The director of the imperial theaters was aware of the love relationship between Nikolai Alexandrovich and Matilda Kshesinskaya, so in order not to upset Alexandra Fedorovna, he first did not allow the prima ballerina Kshesinskaya to perform in the play. Having learned about this, Matilda complained to the Tsar’s uncle, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, and the Prince reported Matilda’s desire to perform in the Zhemchuzhina ballet to Nicholas II. When Nikolai Alexandrovich arrived in Moscow, he managed to meet with the director of the imperial theaters, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, and said that Matilda should be given a role. Therefore, at the last moment, a new role was added to Matilda – a role that did not exist before, the role of the yellow Pearl. As Matilda herself wrote in her diary: “I was happy because I knew that Nicky had done this for me personally. At the performance, the emperor sits in the royal box, with the emperor’s mother nearby. Alexandra Feodorovna enjoys watching the first 15 minutes of the ballet. And suddenly, unexpectedly for her, they see the hated ballerina Matilda appear on stage. Alexandra Feodorovna shuddered and turned her gaze to Nikolai. Nikolai Alexandrovich took his eyes off the ballerina, blushed and looked into his wife’s eyes, after which he lowered his gaze to the floor for a moment, and then began to watch the ballerina’s performance again. The Empress bit her lip and also began to watch the performance of the brilliant ballerina. During the intermission, Maria Fedorovna told her son, taking him aside, that she should not have been allowed here. Not only Alix is here, but also all the relatives, foreign princes, princesses, nobles, now there will be conversations. To which Nikolai did not answer anything and simply shrugged, turned around and went to the buffet to take Alix’s arm. In the evening, all of Moscow was talking about how brilliantly Kshesinskaya danced and how the tsar could approve it. She also spoke about the numerous victims of the Khodynka tragedy; they recalled that this did not happen under Alexander III; only 32 people died in the stampede. They talked about the poor organization of the festivities on Khodynka of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, that he did not take into account how many people could come for gifts and they dubbed him Prince Khodynsky. They remembered his passion for the hussars of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, and in connection with this they told him a vulgar joke. “Moscow has stood on seven hills until now, but now it must stand on one hillock” (in French, “hillock” is a gay man). This anecdote was told to Vladimir Gilyarovsky by Count Vladimir Lamsdorf (and wrote it down in his diary), and Vladimir Gilyarovsky retold the anecdote to the editor of the newspaper “Russkie Vedomosti” about the prince, also saying that “this “bugre” is unlikely to answer to the people for the poor organization of events, for example, because there were few exits from the field, and when people wanted to leave the field during a crush, there were not enough exits and people fell, being knocked down by the crowd.” On the morning of May 19, an issue of Petersburg Gazette was published with a detailed description of the tragedy. Around 12 noon, police began traveling around Moscow to confiscate newspapers from sale so as not to make public the details of the bloody events, but it was too late, half of the circulation had already been bought by Muscovites and all of Moscow was talking about it. Metropolitan Sergius (before taking the rank – Nikolai Lyapidevsky) called the events on Khodynka “a great sin” and he held funeral services for the victims, after which he decided to talk about it with the tsar.

After the ballet, the imperial couple left for the Kremlin Palace, where they lived in their own half in the personal apartments of the royal family. They dined in silence, as Alix was still angry with Nicky over Matilda's participation in the ballet. They ate dinner in the family refectory. Pies, pasties with lamb, Finnish trout, veal, cold beef aspic, roast chicken, artichokes, a hot dish of rabbit legs in Madeira sauce, sweets, ice cream, strawberries, and a creamy strawberry dessert were served on the table. Alix didn’t touch the pasties, which Nicky ate with pleasure, or the veal, or the roast chicken, but she happily ate everything else. Then they served Madeira Sercial and Madeira Terrantesh, as well as red port Livadia. Their Highnesses drank a glass of each wine, but the Empress refused Livadia and asked to bring her the Massandra wine “Lacrima Christi” (translated from German as “Tears of Christ”) and drank two glasses of wine. After dinner, Alix went to take a bath, and Nikolai continued to smoke cigarettes with turkish tobacco for a long time. At about eleven at night he also took a bath, and at half past twelve at night he entered the queen’s bedroom, where they passionately made peace.

On May 26, in Moscow, the tsar made a quick visit to the Armory Chamber. In the lower halls of the Armory, the Japanese Prince Fushimi presented Nicholas 2 on behalf of the Satsuma Emperor

Chapter 2. Saint Petersburg.

The next day after breakfast, the king was sitting in his office with Alix. Nikolai smoked a cigarette with Egyptian tobacco through his mouthpiece and talked with his wife. He said in English:

– “My beloved Alix, I often have bad dreams about our future, and I often wake up from this and remember the words of the Japanese seer who told us in Japan that we will all die a violent death and our fate is sealed. And the same thing in the horoscope "The astrologer Hamon, predicted for us. We will go to London and talk with him incognito, let him explain how to avoid all this."

“But he didn’t know for whom he wrote this horoscope,” answered the queen. Our relative only told him the date and time of birth, without telling him your name,” Alix continued. Nicky took another drag, and, blowing out smoke, continued: Montebello recommends that we contact the members of the secret society of the Cohens of Martinez de Pasqually – Messrs. Philippe Nizier and Papus He knows them personally and they are magicians and occultists. We will invite them to Russia.

“Yes, perhaps we’ll do that,” answered Niki Alix. And the queen handed Nicholas a sheet of paper and moved the inkwell and pen towards him.

They were sitting at the table. The tsar pulled out the rest of the cigarette from his cigarette holder,

I shook the ashes into the ashtray and put out the cigarette butt. Then he took a piece of paper and began to fluently write a letter in French. The letter began with the following words: “We, the Tsar and Autocrat of Russia, Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov – Holstein – Gottorp, having heard a lot about your order from Ambassador Montebello, we invite you, Mr. Nizier Anthelme-Philippe and your friend Mr. Papus, to advise you to come to us in St. Petersburg and advise us about our destiny." A month later, the king received an answer to his letter from Mr. Nizier. The letter said that this year, unfortunately, it is not possible to come to Russia, but in the future both Nizier Anthelme Philippe and Mr. Papus definitely want to come. At this time, the imperial couple lived in the Alexander Palace in the suburbs of St. Petersburg in Tsarskoe Selo.

On one summer day in 1896, Count Minister of Finance Sergei Yulievich Witte came to receive the emperor. The tsar received him in the Alexander Palace after breakfast. At this time, Alexandra Fedorovna went out for a walk, accompanied by her maid of honor, to the park, to walk along the Lama Ponds, and the tsar was sitting in his office and, as usual, smoking cigarettes. Sergey Yulievich came into office to the tsar after the chamberlain’s report that the Minister of Finance, Mr. Witte, had come to the reception.

“Good morning, Your Majesty,” said the minister, entering the office and

bowed slightly. “Hello, sit down,” the emperor answered briefly. The count sat down opposite the king in a chair and began to report: “The goal

my visit, Your Majesty, to obtain your consent to the introduction of a single gold standard in Russia. We should have this much in our treasury

money in gold, more precisely, we should have so much gold

stock, how much paper money is printed. That is, this is what needs to be done so that anyone can exchange banknotes for gold coins at any given moment,” said Witte.

– “Great idea, this will strengthen the ruble and we will not have inflation,

I approve, we will introduce an appropriate decree on this matter,” the tsar answered and extinguished the half-smoked cigarette.

“I would like also to go to the American states to establish trade relations with the Americans in new areas; not only do they buy grain, flaxseed and sunflower oil from us. I think in New York we can discuss the revision of the agreements on oil and Baku kerosene in our favor, since the 1895 agreement according to which Russia has 25% of the sales market, and the Americans have 75% of the sales market, is clearly unprofitable for us,” Witte continued. Nikolai Alexandrovich took a drag on the third cigarette with Turkish tobacco that he smoked during the conversation, blew out the smoke and said: “We are thinking of calling the American ambassador and discussing everything here first, but it is premature to go to America,” the tsar answered.

“I understand you, Your Majesty, I have no more questions, sir, let me take my leave,” said Witte. The king nodded his head, and the minister stood up and left.

Nicholas’s thoughts were about something else: he was thinking about when Alix would give him an heir, a boy, and not another girl, and he was also thinking about how he could delicately get rid of Matilda Kshesinskaya, who, through the Grand Duke, persistently passed notes with pleas for a date.

After thinking a little, the king took a pen and inkwell and wrote a short note to Matilda in French: Come to Catherine Park tomorrow at noon at

hall on the island, where you get by ferry. Niki.

The king folded the note, called the valet and ordered it to be carried in secret

Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich with words to convey to Matilda.

The next day at a quarter to noon, the Tsar left the Alexander Palace and walked towards the Golden Gate through the Alexander Park, walked across the Great Chinese Bridge, entered the Golden Gate and then diagonally walked through the courtyard and exited the Zubov Gate into his own garden,walked to the Ramp and further along Ramp Alley to the Granite Terrace, went down to the Tsarskoye Selo statue and went out to the Big Pond, where the ferry was already waiting.

The king boarded the ferry. The ferry walked on a cable, the servant stood and turned the winch so that the ferry went to the island. Matilda was already waiting on the island. As soon as the ferry reached the island, Nikolai ran out to meet the ballerina, who stepped towards him, rushed to her beloved, they hugged each other, then there was a long kiss.

Finally, the king freed himself and said to Matilda: “Darling, we need to part, Alix if she finds out about our meeting, there will be a scandal, we

We cannot meet either secretly or openly.”

– “I love you, why are you saying such things!” – Matilda exclaimed.

I was sick with mumps in Moscow, after the performance I immediately fell ill, but I only thought about you Niki.

“Let’s go into the house,” Matilda continued. Hand in hand, Nicky and Matilda entered the Hall on the island. Nicky sat down in a chair and began to smoke cigarettes, taking them out of his cigarette case. As usual, Nikolai smoked cigarettes one after another. Matilda also took a cigarette from Niki and lit a cigarette. She sat down opposite him at the table.

“We have a desire to have a strong family with Alix and give birth to an heir, since she gave birth to only a daughter, now we cannot give Alix any reason to be jealous,” Nikolai said.

Matilda responded resentfully: "Or perhaps you've forgotten that I lost my child to you in 1893, when the horses bolted and I flipped over in the sleigh? And now I don't believe we'll have another chance together; I've barely recovered from the loss."How can you tell me this?”

“Here’s a present for you,” Nicky said, and pulled out a gold ring with a 24-carat diamond from his shirt pocket and handed it to Matilda.

“0-la-la,” Matilda said languidly, took the ring in her hands and began to twirl it in her hands, admiring it, after which she put the ring on her ring finger. The Tsar stood up, went to the table, and opened a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne. There were also grapes, sliced pineapples, French chocolate, marzipan candies and strawberries on the table.

“Thank you dear, what a beautiful stone on the ring,” said Matilda. Nicky poured champagne into glasses, they clinked glasses,

“To you, my pearl,” Nikolai said and they drank. You will dance in all performances, but don’t ask for dates anymore, don’t write to me, please, I’m afraid that Alix will find out about the notes,” Nikolai said.

“But I ask you, at least sometimes I tolerate this Frau of yours. I ask you to meet again!” Matilda exclaimed.

“I can’t give society and my mother a reason, not to mention Alix, to suspect something, so my answer is no,” said Nikolai.

It’s time for us to leave, the minister is waiting for us, the king told Matilda, just to leave quickly. Nikolai stood up and left without looking back. Matilda ran behind, the king stopped at the ferry, and the ferryman waited all this time. Nikolai turned to Matilda and said,

“First we will leave on the ferry, and then the ferryman will return for you, we should not be seen together.” And he passionately hugged and kissed the ballerina. She responded with a passionate kiss, hugged Nikolai, then let go after a minute. The king boarded the ferry and set sail. Then Nikolai took a different route: through the Cameron Gallery to the Zubovsky building, then to the palace in the Amber Room. There the king sat and smoked a pipe and thought about his wife, what to do with her so that she would not guess. The Tsar ordered coffee from the Amber Cabinet, drank the coffee and then went to the Alexander Palace. And Matilda set sail on another ferry.

Chapter 3. Europe.

The Emperor decided to go to London to meet with the astrologer Hamon incognito. In August 1896, Nikolai and Alexandra went on official visits to Europe. In September they were in England and Scotland and lived in Buckingham Palace with Queen Victoria (Alix's grandmother), as well as in Balmoral Castle.

One of these days; On September 22, Nikolai went to see an astrologer alone, without even taking security with him. He was driven by the royal coachman to a street in London, where Count Louis Hamon, known as the numerologist Cairo (from the Greek for “hand”), was receiving visitors. The Tsar looked like an English gentleman in a top hat and suit. The servant reported to Kairo that a certain gentleman wanted to be received incognito. Nikolai paid 5 sovereigns to the servant and entered. He took out the horoscope compiled earlier by Hamon from his pocket and handed it to the astrologer. Hamon recognized the horoscope he had compiled earlier.

Nikolai asked the astrologer to justify what he had written.

“On what grounds did you make these predictions earlier? It says here that whoever this man may be, his date of birth, numbers and other data show that during his life he will have to deal with the danger of the horrors of war and bloodshed, that his name will be sealed with two of the bloodiest wars, that in the end of the second war he will lose everything; that he is loved most of all, his family will be slaughtered and he himself will be violently killed.”

Hamon looked at the horoscope again and in detail explained why he thought so, told Nikolai about the fatal meanings.

Nikolai listened in silence, at the end he said “Thank you” and left the astrologer. The coachman was waiting for him near the house.

Next, Nicholas discussed the horoscope with Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace.

Years passed, and Nikolai kept thinking about Hamon’s horoscope. The king discussed this with his wife. And they came to the conclusion that Russia should become a peacemaker throughout the world, call on all countries to unite around itself and hold a peace conference.

The imperial couple then went on their honeymoon to France. On October 5, 1896, Emperor Nicholas II and his wife disembarked from the deck of the yacht Polar Star in the port of Cherbourg and headed to Paris on a special train. An elegant pavilion was erected at the train station in the French capital "especially for the occasion." Vice-President of the French Chamber of Deputies Raymond Poincaré called this visit the "honeymoon" of Franco-Russian relations. All the movements of the imperial couple were recorded by meticulous reporters and artists.

The visit of the Russian emperor to Paris pursued several goals at once. First of all, the emperor planned to strengthen the Russian-French alliance that had arisen under Alexander III. He also came to France to attend the laying of the foundation of a bridge across the Seine, which was named in honor of his father, Emperor Alexander III. On October 23, we left Portsmouth on a yacht at 7 a.m. and went at low speed to the English squadron, which was waiting on the Isle of Wight. The Tsar was walking on deck during this time. The wind blew stronger and stronger, and the waves became larger as we moved away from the shore. But the weather was clear. The English ships held their positions remarkably well; they were going at 13 knots. The pitching increased, and the battleships took wave after wave. At 11 a.m., we met the French squadron; the English turned back quickly with a salute, and the French took their places. After this, the Emperor went to bed. Poor Alix was completely seasick, and so was her daughter. At 2 a.m., we entered the inner port of Cherbourg, and the Shtandart and the entire squadron stood in the roadstead according to their disposition. We went ashore and were met by President Felix Faure. After the performances we returned to the yacht and transferred to the patrol ship "Elan", where we went round all the ships and visited the flagship, the battleship "Nospe". Here we watched the parade of all the naval teams brought together. The wind was blowing hard. We returned to the "Polar Star" at 5 o'clock on the president's boat. We drank tea at home, as we were quite hungry. At 6.30 the tsar went to dinner at Fora in the naval arsenal. While smoking, he talked with the admirals and generals. Having returned to the "Polar Star" and said goodbye to the officers and crew, Alix and I boarded the tsar's train right there on the pier and at 8.30 in the evening we set off. It rained during the night. And on the morning of September 24 we woke up to wonderful weather. At 9 o'clock Nicholas and Alexandra arrived in Versailles and there transferred to the presidential train. By 10 o'clock they arrived in Paris. The guard of honor from the Garde Republique, all the ministers, our additional retinue and many acquaintances were met in a tent arranged for this purpose. One of the ministers handed the Tsar a letter from Mr. Papus Enclos, in which he wished Nicholas II "to immortalize his empire by complete unity with Providence." Nicholas II and Alexandra Fedorovna, through the Russian ambassador A. P. Morenheim, conveyed their gratitude to Papus. The three of us set off in a 4-seater landau with Faure, with a large escort of cuirassiers. There were troops along the entire route. I can only compare the meeting of the people of Paris with the departure to Moscow, it was so heartfelt and touching! The Tsar and Tsarina were accommodated excellently in the Russian embassy. They found their daughter there. They had breakfast together. Having received Madame Faure and her daughter, we went in the same parade to the Orthodox church, where a prayer service was held. Then Alix returned home, and the Tsar went to visit the President. He introduced me to the entire top administration, the Senate and the deputies. Speaking at an official dinner at the French President Faure's on September 24, Nicholas II even used the language of the Martinists, referring to Paris as "the source of great light." The Tsar was home at 5 o'clock and after tea he received diplomats and Ganoteau, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. At 7 o'clock we went with him to a large dinner at the Elysee Palace. Faure and Nicholas II both read their toasts. At 10 o'clock the Emperor, Empress and President Faure went to a gala performance at the Grand Opera. From there they returned home after half past twelve. The trip around France continued for several more days, the Tsar visited many sights, including the Louvre and left France satisfied with the visit.

In 1899, the first Peace Conference was held in The Hague, where Russian representatives called on all countries of the world to resolve all political issues through peaceful negotiations, not to show aggression, and to reduce the arms race.

Nicholas II did not want to be, as the horoscope says, “at the center of bloody events and two big wars,” so Russia at the conference called on all countries to resolve all issues diplomatically. The Dutch government supported Russia and sent an invitation to 20 European countries and 6 non-European powers. Holland itself adhered to neutrality. The conference took place on the birthday of Nicholas II and began with the Russian Emperor awarding the Order of St. Catherine to Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, which was recognition of her role in organizing the peace conference. The conference took place in the Forest Palace. The conference was chaired by the representative of Russia, Baron E. E. Steel. Each country was given one vote, with the exception of Bulgaria, as Turkey was against granting a vote to Bulgaria. Although the conference did not achieve its main goal of stopping the arms race, it played an important role in the development of humanitarian law and the use of arbitration and mediation in international affairs. Signed conventions on the peaceful resolution of international conflicts; about the laws and customs of land war; on the use of sea force to the '64 convention; signed a declaration banning the throwing of projectiles from balloons for a period of five years; about the non-use of projectiles with asphyxiating gases; about not using bullets that easily unfold in the body. Unfortunately, many countries subsequently ignored these agreements. The conference in The Hague stimulated the development of pacifist movements in Russia and around the world. For the first time in the world, Russia expressed the idea that any conflicts can be resolved peacefully through negotiations.

Chapter 4. The Abel`s letter.

On one March day in 1901, at breakfast, the emperor said to his wife: “Do you remember, dear, how the late father, may he rest in heaven, the day before he died, told us once again about the letter of monk Abel Vasiliev, which Maria Feodorovna (wife of Paul I ) put it in a casket and sealed the casket in March 1801, recalling Paul’s wish to open this casket and read the letter of the monk Abel to the emperor who will rule in Russia in a hundred years? “Yes, I remember,” Alix answered. Nikolai Alexandrovich finished his cup of coffee and continued: “We should go to Gatchina tomorrow and read this letter, since a hundred years have passed.” “That would be good, otherwise I’m also very curious about what they prophesied for us. Pavel believed the monk Abel and had conversations with him, although he imprisoned him, so we are going to Gatchina tomorrow.” The Tsar said to Oberkammerfrau Maria Goeringer, who was having breakfast with them: “Order that tomorrow morning after breakfast a carriage is brought to the entrance to the Alexander Palace, we will go to Gatchina.”

On the morning of March 12, after breakfast, Nikolai and Alexandra got into the carriage, which was accompanied by one guard carriage and several Cossacks on horseback. We left at half past twelve in the afternoon. All the way, the reigning persons chatted about the weather, about the recent ball that took place in the Catherine Palace, and were in a good mood. Already approaching Gatchina, the tsar, smiling mysteriously, said to his wife: “Abel first predicted the empress would have a 40-year reign, but she reigned for 34.5 years, then he predicted a fierce death for Pavel in the Mikhailovsky Castle, which is what happened to him, he predicted that Moscow would be captured enemy and burned in 1812, the riot of 25, the assassination of Alexander II by bombers, after which he told Paul about our future – about the 20th century, which he wrote down in a notebook and gave to Paul I, who put the notebook in a sealed envelope, inscribing “Open to Our Descendant in the hundredth anniversary of my death." So now it’s Our turn to find out the prophecy of the seer.”

Will our kingdom be long, like Catherine’s, or short, like Paul’s? But the Japanese seer Terakuto in 1891 and later Hamon also predicted for us the collapse of the monarchy in 1917, and we will only live until 1918… but what did Abel prophesy to us? “We’ll find out soon.” “You and I are like bargaining chips in the hands of a seer, but everything is God’s Will,” Alix answered. And finally, the carriage arrived at the Gatchina Palace. The couple got out of the carriage, entered the palace and immediately, without undressing, entered the hall where the secret casket with the letter was kept. In a small hall among the suites of halls of the palace, Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna stopped in front of a pedestal on which stood a rather large patterned casket with intricate decorations, locked and sealed. A thick, red, silk cord was stretched around the casket on four posts on rings, blocking access to the casket. The valet came up and gave the key to the emperor. The Tsar unfastened the blocking red cord, walked up and opened the casket, took out an envelope with an inscription in the hand of Paul I, broke the seal on the envelope, took out a letter from the envelope and began to read to himself, then turned pale in the middle of the letter, finished reading it with difficulty and handed it to Alix, she She read it, turned pale and cried out: “Oh, Lord, let this cup pass from us! Rebellion, the collapse of the monarchy, holy Rus' under the yoke of the Jews… Martyr's death, like once the Son of God… betrayal by his people… two terrible wars…" – "Give water to the empress!" – the king shouted. The valet brought a glass of water, Alix drank it in one gulp, her hands trembled, and she almost dropped the glass. The king took the letter with him and immediately left the palace, holding the queen by the arm. We got into the carriage; the horses were not yet unharnessed. We drove back in silence the entire way.

Chapter 5.Germany 1901.

Meanwhile, in Munich, starting from the end of 1900, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov,with money received from Alexander Lvovich Gelfand (pseudonym Parvus), printedthe Iskra newspaper in his apartment, having equipped an underground printinghouse there. Parvus was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany andlived in Munich, but had also visited Russia before. In London, he establishedrelationships with all famous revolutionaries, including Leon Trotsky(Bronstein), Lev Deitch, Plekhanov, Martov and others. Parvus was the literary agent of MaximGorky and receivedfees from the production of Gorky's play ¨At the Lower Depths¨ in Germantheaters, Parvus kept 20% of the profits for himself, sent 25% to the writer,gave the remaining 55% to Ulyanov in the party treasury of the RSDLP, and withthis money they printed the first issue of the Iskra newspaper on December 24,1900, which was brought to Russia through ports in Latvia.The Iskra newspaper united the fragmented revolutionary movement in Russiabased on Marxism. An illegal newspaper distribution center was created in Pskovin 1901. Since 1900, the Swiss group “Emancipation of Labor”, with its leaderGeorgiy Valentinovich Plekhanov, has joined in the activities of publishing thenewspaper in Munich.Vladimir Ulyanov rented an apartment in the center of Munich and printed anewspaper with a circulation of 8,000 copies using money from the partytreasury, and Vladimir’s trip from Russia to Germany was paid for by hismother, Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova, who gave her son money in Podolsk, andthen made him bank transfers. On April 1, 1901, Vladimir Ilyich methis wife Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya and her mother at the station. Theygot out of the first class carriage.- “Hello Nadenka!” said Vladimir, standing on the platform,Nadezhda got off the train with a suitcase in her hand, handed the suitcase toher husband, he took the suitcase, put it on the platform, and Nadya went down,saying in response: “Hello!” Behind her, the carriage driver came down frombehind with two more suitcases in his hands, then Lenin’s mother-in-law,Elizaveta Vasilievna, got out of the carriage. The mother-in-law said: “HelloVladimir!” He replied: “Hello Elizaveta Vasilievna!” And more arrivingpassengers were descending: a German woman of about forty with freckles on hercheeks, her daughter with a suitcase (they were met by her husband), who wasstanding on the platform next to Vladimir - there were many people greetingthem on the platform. A porter came up, took Nadezhda and her mother’s thingson a cart, and the couple left the station, accompanied by a porter who wascarrying the suitcases on a cart. They hired a cab driver, loaded thesuitcases, Vladimir gave a tip to the porter and off we went. What’s the address?” asked the driver,a German about thirty years old.“Kaiserstrasse, 46,” answered Vladimir, dressed in a black raincoat and athree-piece gray suit, with a cap made of gray fabric on his head. The cabdriver drove off, and Vladimir put his hand on Nadezhda’s shoulder, hugging herneck. Elizaveta Vasilyevna was silent the whole way. She was wearing a browncoat. The following conversation ensued:

“Are youtired on the road?” - he asked his wife.-Yes, I’m a little tired, as soon as I arrive, I want to change my dress rightaway, it’s wrinkledon the road,” Nadezhda said. She was dressed in a fox fur coat, andunder the fur coat there is a blue dress, on the head there is a hat, on thefeet there are brown leather boots. It was warm outside; + 10 C, the sun wasshining.We arrived fifteen minutes to the station. They released the cabman, Vladimirgave him several coins. At the house they were met by the owner of the housewho rented the apartment to Vladimir - a local Social Democrat, who was alsothe owner of a pub in the same building - Georg Ritmeyer, a fat bearded German.Vladimir introduced his wife to Georgy, they said hello and Georgy immediatelyinvited them to drink beer at his expense, he, like them, was a Social Democratand they had something to talk about over a glass of beer,Therefore, having put her things down, Nadezhda took off her fur coat, whichwas hot in Munich, put on a new pink dress, and immediately went out with herhusband and the owner of the house to the first floor of the house where thebeer hall was located. We sat with beer and beer snacks for two hours. Theconversation went like this:- “Well, how are things in Russia?” - Vladimir asked Nadezhda.“The newspaper is spreading well and circulation needs to be increased in thesouth and north,” Nadya answered.“Tomorrow I will introduce you to the right people at Parvus’s apartment,”Vladimir continued.“He will also help us spread the Spark?” asked Nadezhda.-"What are you talking about?" - asked Georgiy, who did notunderstand anything, in German.“We’re talking about going to Parvus’s apartment tomorrow,” Vladimir answeredhim in German. And he added in Russian for Nadezhda:“Yes, Alexander Gelfand is our benefactor - he pays all expenses.” ThenVladimir said: “I came up with a new pseudonym for myself - Lenin,” thenrepeated the same in German for Georgy.- “Which Lena do you mean”? - Nadya asked jealously.“No, it’s a beautiful name,” Vladimir answered and took out his passport andhanded it to his wife to look at.“I am now Iordano K. Iordanova, and for the neighbors Mr. Meyer, but for mycomrades I will simply be Lenin,” said Vladimir Ilyich and took the passportfrom the hands of his surprised wife. He then took out another passport fromanother inside pocket of his jacket. - And take this passport for yourself, youare now MaritsaJordanova. On the walls of the restaurant where they sat, and on the beercircles the initials “N.V.” were written everywhere. - short for the name ofthe restaurant “Hofbrauhaus”. – “People's Will”, translated from German.We drank a couple more glasses of beer and went our separate ways, Leninthanked the owner of the restaurant for the good beer.The next day, Vladimir and Nadezhda arrived at Parvus’s apartment. They weremet by the owner of the apartment - a tall, large man,two heads taller than Lenin. They shook hands with each other.Parvus greeted Lenin's wife. Then everyone entered the living room.Maximus Ernst was sitting on the sofa in the living room.

Leninintroduced him to his wife as a Social Democrat and the owner of the printinghouse where Iskra was published. Ernst asked: “What are your thoughts onpublishing the first issue of Zarya magazine?” - Parvus replied: “You Vladimir,it seems you had an interesting article forpublishing me in Stuttgart."“Call me Lenin now,” Vladimir answered and continued asking:- “You better tell me where the money is for the latest productions of the play“At the Lower Depths”?“I’ll give it back later,” Parvus answered quietly. “Help yourself to coffeeand cake.”- continued Parvus.In the living room there was a table covered with coffee cups and saucers, acoffee pot and cakes. Everyone sat down at the table and ate. They talked aboutRosa Luxemburg, Parvus called her “the fiery lady of the revolution.”Krupskaya told her husband: “We need to find another apartment, which we rentin an apartment on Kaiserstrasse is too modest.“Go to Siegfriedstrasse 14 tomorrow - a good apartment is ready for you there,”said Parvus. After that, Vladimir and Nadezhda lefthome after visiting Parvus for an hour. And the next day they moved to a newapartment.

Vladimiranswered: You better tell me where the money is for the last performances ofthe play “At the Lower Depths”?“I’ll give it back later,” Parvus answered quietly. “I’ll treat you to coffeeand cake,” Parvus continued. In the living room there was a table covered withcoffee cups, saucers, a coffee pot and cakes. Everyone sat down at the tableand ate. They talked about Rosa Luxemburg, Parvus called her the Fiery Lady ofthe Revolution.Krupskaya told her husband:- “We need to find another apartment, which we are renting on Kaiserstrasse istoo modest.”- “Go tomorrow to Siegfriedstrasse 14, there is a good apartment for“I’m ready for you,” said Parvus. After that, Vladimir and Nadezhda went home,spending an hour visiting Parvus. And the next day we moved to a new address,into an apartment paid for in advance by Parvus. The new apartment was wellfurnished. After they brought their things into the apartment, they sat down todrink tea and while drinking tea, Vladimir said to his wife:- “You will work with me on the Iskra newspaper. There is little in Munichcomrades. Most live in Switzerland and England."“Okay, I agree,” Nadezhda answered. “And tomorrow we need to go to Stuttgart,I made an agreement with one of the printing houses, they will print my book“What to do?”and we need to discuss what will be published for the Zarya newspaper.“Why do we print in Stuttgart?” asked Nadezhda? “They have a Cyrillic font intheir printing house. We will transport everything to Russia via Prague. Byregular mail to the address of verified persons, in packages of various formatsand colors. This is what Plekhanov advised to do back in 1895 in Switzerland.Then, at the congress, the revolutionaries decided to publish both “Iskra” andthe magazine “Zarya” in Germany,” Lenin answered.- “Where did Pavruz get the money for our apartment in Munich?” - Nadezhdaasked her husband.- “He paid for both the publication of the newspapers and the apartment fromthe party treasury - the money comes from the production of Maxim Gorky’s play“At the Lower Depths” in Germany and with the money of Savva Morozov, hedonates large sums of money for the publication of “Iskra” and “Dawn.”Alexander Erasov also gave me money in Syzran when I was there.He is the richest man in Syzran. Erasov is not an underground worker, we callhim Monk. Now he regularly donates money to the party treasury. August Bebeladvised publishing Iskra in Munich, since we are hereare not exposed and the police are not interested in us,” Lenin continued. “Butwhy did you write to me to look for you in Prague?” asked Nadezhda.“This is a conspiracy, I meant Munich,” answered Lenin.

I receivedletters from you about the Czech, about how good you were in Prague, how youcommunicated with the Czechs. So many lies! I was looking for you in Prague andonly there I found out that you were in Germany. You can’t do this to a wifewho came from exile! – Krupskaya continued dissatisfied.- August Bebel and Plekhanov told me in Geneva that I should live and publish «Iskra»in one country, and pretend to everyone that I was in another country and waspublishing there. And at the meeting they suggested that I live in Germany,specifically in Munich, so as not to attract the attention of the police inthis calm city. And at the same time pretend that I am in Prague. First I cameto Zurich and then moved to Munich. I'm editing«Iskra», together with Potresov and Martov, and Plekhanov insisted onpublishing the thick magazine «Zarya» in order to write long theoreticalarticles there.“Yes, you’re still that adventurer,” Nadezhda retorted. “In Russia, everyonethinks that Iskra is published in Prague or Stuttgart,” Krupskaya continued.“I even wrote letters to my mother and sisters that I was in Paris, so thatthey would believe it, and if the police intercepted the letters, we wouldcompletely misinform them,” Lenin concluded. This ended the conversationbetween the spouses, and they went for a walk around the city, visitingnumerous pubs. In some of them, Lenin, communicating with the Germans, calledhimself Meyer, and in others - Mr. Jordan.Well, the next day, Pavel Borisovich Axelrod, a social democrat and member ofthe Marxist group “Emancipation of Labor,” came to visit Lenin in the morning.Together with Lenin, he edited the next issue of Iskra. He went into Lenin’sroom, said: “Good morning, comrades!”, shook Vladimir’s hand and nodded hishead to Nadezhda.Lenin replied: “Hello! What, do you want to edit something again in the nextissue?”“Yes,” answered Pavel.“I’ll bring tea,” Krupskaya said and left the room.Lenin sat in the room at the table, and Askerold stood next to him, anddictated the text:“Comrades, we must unite.”...At that moment Krupskaya entered with tea.“Just knock the sugar with a hammer, otherwise we don’t have time,” Lenin saidto his wife.And Nadya put a tray with tea, a sugar bowl and a hammer on the table and beganto break large pieces of refined sugar into small pieces. And then everyone satdown to drink tea.

Chаpter 6. Nikolаi II` TRIP in France.

In earlyOctober 1901, the Tsar and his wife traveled to France. On September 17, theyacht "Standart" with the royal couple moored at Dunkirk, where theRussian delegation was personally met by members of the French government,headed by President Emile Loubet. After the ceremonial meeting, all thosepresent went to the city of Compiegne, located 71 km northeast of Paris.

The royal couple traveled by train from Dunkirk to Compiegne, 250 km, in thecarriages of the former Emperor Napoleon III. The carriages were old, butrichly decorated and furnished with gilded furniture. But the compartmentsthemselves were small and cramped. The train shook and swayed the entire way,and Alexandra Fedorovna became seasick. By evening, the train arrived inCompiegne.

Nicholas and Alexandra were accommodated in the Chateau de Compiegne, whichoutwardly resembled a palace, but not all the halls had sewerage and runningwater. The Tsar was met in the castle by the Grand Duchesses of Montenegro -Milica Nikolaevna and Stana Nikolaevna, and the representative of the France,General, Minister of Foreign Affairs Theophile Delnassé.

After the welcoming phrases, the royal couple dined with the Grand Duchesses.They dined in the knights' hall. Chicken Marengo, Brie, Parmesan, Roquefortcheeses with baguette were served on the ceremonial table. Also on the tablewere boiled eggs (poached), omelet, leg of lamb, cutlets, beef fillet, friedpotatoes with lamb breast, chicken wings, beans in herring, olives, pears,apples, grapes, waffles with cream, sweets, coffee and Bordeaux, Perrier-Jouetchampagne and Nicholas II's favorite port wine - white port Lagrima. The tableitself was 20 meters long, designed for many people, but six dined at the table.Above the table hung crystal chandeliers, brightly illuminating the hall,decorated with exquisite tapestries.

In addition to the royal couple and princesses, the head of the royalchancellery, Alexander Mosolov, and Theophile Delnassé were sitting at thetable. The conversation was about a military alliance between Russia andFrance.

Foreign Minister Delnassé rose from the table, raised his glass and said atoast: "Let's drink to the military alliance of two powers - France andRussia! If there is a war with Germany, our countries will smash the Germanmachine."

-"A good toast," answered Nicholas II, raised his glass of Bordeauxwine, clinked glasses with Theophile, and all those present drank. After this,Princess Militsa Nikolaevna said to Nicholas in French: "Your cousinGeorge told us that Your Majesty wanted to invite the magician Nizier Philippeto Russia for consultations with Your Majesty on spiritual matters. We haveinvited him to the castle and all this time he has been waiting for an audiencein the next room."

-"What, Monsieur Nizier is here, and we did not invite him to thetable?!" Nicholas said irritably. The servant standing next to the Tsarimmediately turned around and followed Philippe Nizier. A few minutes later thedoors of the hall opened, a servant entered and loudly announced:

- Monsieur Nizier Anthelme Philippe, who has arrived from Lyon, - and steppedaside.

A black-moustached man of about fifty, of unremarkable appearance, entered thehall, bowed towards the emperor and said: "Good day, Your Majesty and allpresent!"

- Good day, Monsieur Nizier, you are welcome to the table - Alexandra Fedorovnaanswered for everyone. A butler servant approached Nizier, moved a chair, andPhilippe sat down next to Princess Stana Nikolaevna.

StanaNikolaevna said: " Monsieur Nizier, a healer, magician and Martinist, seesthe future, and knows how to heal. We heard about you from AmbassadorMontebello," said the tsar. "We invite you and Monsieur Papus toRussia.

-But first,let's talk tete-a-tete after dinner," said the Tsar, looking at Philippe.-"We will certainly talk," Nizier replied.

Afterdinner, which lasted another half hour, the Tsar went to smoke in his study,decorated with walnut wood, and invited Nizier to come with him. Nicholas tookcigarettes filled with Turkish tobacco and matches from a gold cigarette case,struck a match and took a drag, sitting on a leather chair at a walnut table.Philip sat opposite and listened attentively.

-"Weare worried about the evil fate that was predicted by the Japanese soothsayer,the hermit Terakuto, who said that a martyr's death awaits us, and greatsorrows await Russia. The same thing is told to us in the horoscope drawn up byHamon, and I read the same thing in a letter from the monk Abel, this letterwas written a hundred years ago.

-“Whatinterests us most is whether we can avoid fatal events like those that alreadyhappened on Khodynka Field, and how to avoid two bloody wars, as the astrologerHamon predicted,” said the emperor.

Dr. Nizierreplied to this: “Some events are predetermined from above and cannot beavoided, but the consequences of other events of a different scale, simpler,can be mitigated - they can be avoided. I am a medium and can call upon thesouls of the dead and ask them. In our Martinist lodge, the Kabbalist Papusalso does this.”

- “Could you and Papus be our protection from evil fate?” asked Nicholas II,finishing his cigarette and putting it out in the ashtray.

- “Undoubtedly yes, especially since we are already helping the Montenegrinprincesses,” answered Nizier. “I can also provide you and your family withmedical assistance if needed,” continued Dr. Nizier.

- “We will wait for you in St. Petersburg,” answered the Tsar and lit anothercigarette.

- "I don't know what George is planning, but London has always been arival of both Russia and France. We are concerned about why George not onlysent us this horoscope, but wrote to us that the special date for thecoronation celebration should be May 18, 1896. We did so, and on the appointedday there was a stampede on Khodynka Field, in which 1,379 people died and asmany were wounded and injured," said the Tsar.

- "I will answer this way, Hamon's horoscope, in my opinion, is an attemptto warn Your Majesty about an evil fate, but as for the second question, weshould ask the Kabbalist Papus, he interprets such events better than anyone inthe lodge," answered Nizier.

- "We are also concerned about whether the empress will have a male heirwhile pregnant?" asked the Tsar.

-Yes,certainly, but I will have to talk to her, - the doctor answered.

- "Andit is harmful for Your Majesty to smoke so much. We will come this year ornext," answered Nizier.

-"Then I will not keep you any longer, we will meet in Russia," saidthe emperor.

-"Allow me to take my leave, good-bye," answered the doctor, stood up,bowed slightly and left.

-"Good bye," answered the Tsar.

Chаpter 7. Nikolаi II, Nizier Philippe & Papus.

In Russia, meanwhile, the emperor in 1901 met personally with themagician and Martinist Nizier Anthelm Philippe, to whom he hadpreviously written a letter on the advice of the French ambassador,immediately after Khodynka. Mason, magician, alchemist Papus came to St.Petersburg together with Nizier Philippe, who, being a healer of souls, alsotook on predictions. Papus and Philip were settled in the Alexander Palace inTsarskoe Selo.At the end of January, the first meeting of the emperor with Nizier tookplace. The Tsar sat in the Maple Living Room, decorated in Art Nouveau style,and smoked cigarettes with Turkish tobacco. Stucco ornaments with intricatelycurved branches of flowering plants framed the door and window openings. In theholly, behind molded tree trunks, electrical wiring was hidden. There was apolar bear skin on the living room floor.

PhilippeNizier entered, a plump man of medium height, with a thick, stiff moustache. Hewas dressed simply, in a clean, but not formal black suit. Around themagnetizer's neck hung a small triangular bag of black silk, probably a kind ofamulet. He bowed and greeted in a soft, enchanting voice in French with asouthern accent:

-"Goodday, Your Imperial Majesty, Doctor Nizier Philippe has arrived at yourservice!" - "Good day, doctor!" - the emperor answered inFrench.

-"We are glad to receive you in Russia, after everything that happened inFrance," the Tsar continued.

-"I amglad to serve Your Majesty! We discussed with Monsieur Papus the questions youasked me in France about the fate of Russia and the dynasty, discussed Hamon'shoroscope.

-"Mybrother in the lodge, Mr. Papus, proposes to call upon the spirit of yourfather, the late Emperor Alexander III, to ask him what can be done to preventthe evil fate predicted by Hamon. The astrologer Hamon is not a member of ourMartinist brotherhood, and perhaps, at the request of your cousin, he predictedyour future in a horoscope in too dark tones, which may be advantageous toGreat Britain, but this is already politics," Nizier concluded.

Chapter 8.Rasputin (born Rasputyin).

In 1902, in Siberia, in the Tobolsk province, in the village of Pokrovskoye, apeasant named Grishka Rasputin was working in the field in the spring and heardchurch singing behind him. His daughter Matryona, who was nearby, and otherpeasants did not hear this singing and did not see what Grigory saw. He saw,turning around at the sound of singing, that ten meters away from him, the HolyMother of God appeared in radiance, not touching the ground and singing apsalm. This vision lasted no more than a minute. The Mother of God blessedGrigory Rasputin. Amazed by what had happened, Grigory returned to the houseand sent for the devout peasant Dmitry Pechorkin, Grigory's uncle.

Having discussed everything in detail, the two of them went to the elder of theVerkhoturye Monastery, Makarii, the spiritual father of Grigory Efimovich. Theelder, having listened, said, placing his hand on Gregory's head: "God haschosen you for a great feat. In order to strengthen your spiritual strength,you need to go to Athos and pray to the Mother of God."

Returning home, Gregory and Dmitry decided to go together as pilgrims to Athos.The preparations were short and soon the two friends with knapsacks on theirshoulders and staffs in their hands set off on a long journey. Gregory's wife,Praskovya Feodorovna, cried, saying goodbye to her husband. Almost all thevillagers went out into the street to see them off.

They walked for half a year, spending the night in monasteries. They ate the almsof good people. Arriving at Athos, they became novices. They worked, prayed atservices and wanted to become monks. But one day Gregory saw the sin of Sodom.Grigory went for a walk in the forest near the Athos monastery and saw twomonks in cassocks, who, having lowered their trousers to their knees, werecopulating, lying on top of each other under the trees.

- "Accursed! How dare you!" - Rasputin shouted at them, spat at themand ran away.

Grigory lost his desire to become a monk, and he decided to share with hisfriend what he had seen. But then he changed his mind, so as not to lead hisfriend astray. For himself, he decided to leave the Athos monastery, since herealized that it was even more difficult to restrain sins in a monastery thanin the world. Dmitry took monastic vows, and Grigory went to St. Petersburg.

Chapter 9.Sarov Hermitage.

In 1903, the imperial couple went to the Tambov province, to Sarov, to themonastery for men, on the occasion of the canonization of Seraphim of Sarov tothe rank of saints. During the event, the Tsar visited the Divin Hermitage onJune 20, 1903. The Tsar knew that Mother Maria kept a letter given to her byN.A. Molotilov, a servant of Seraphim of Sarov. The letter was written by thesaint for the emperor who would be the fourth of the emperors to visit Sarov.The saint sealed this letter with “soft bread” and handed it to NikolaiAlexandrovich Molotilov with the words: “You will not live to see it, but yourwife will live to see it, when the entire royal family arrives in Diveyevo andthe Tsar comes to her. Let her give him the letter.”

The Tsar and his wife met Abbess Maria in the cell of the Diveyevo Monastery,crossed themselves, took the letter in their hands and opened the envelope. TheTsar read it to himself, turned pale and gave it to the Empress to read. Sheread it, jumped to her feet and ran out into the courtyard, followed by theTsar. And then the holy fool Pasha of Sarov approached:

- "God's beloved Tsar, do not cry and do not grieve in vain," shesaid. - "Everything is predetermined from above - the fate of Russia, theGod-anointed Tsar, his family.

Reverend Seraphim predicted all the trials for Your Majesty in advance in thisletter, so that the Tsar would have enough courage and fortitude to endure itall steadfastly to the end."

- This is not true, I do not believe you! - Alexandra Fedorovna screamed,almost fainting.

The imperial couple left Sarov darker than a cloud. But Saint Seraphim of Sarovwas canonized at the request of the Tsar and was one of the most revered saintsby the Emperor throughout his life.

The Tsarsaid to his wife: "Be brave, a crown of thorns awaits us at the end of ourreign."

Chapter 10.Botkin and Badmaev.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna sometimes had headaches, especially if HerHighness was nervous. After a trip to the Diveyevo Monastery, her head achedfor a week. Arriving in St. Petersburg at the end of July after this trip, sheturned to Professor of Medicine Botkin, who acted as the family doctor in theroyal family.

The meeting with the doctor took place in the Alexander Palace in TsarskoyeSelo. The Empress was sitting in the Maple Drawing Room. Dr. Botkin came up,bowed and said:

- "Hello, Your Highness, how is your health?"

- "I have had a headache for a week, I have difficulty falling asleep, Ihave nightmares at night. I dream that I was shot by soldiers who rebelledagainst the Tsar. I wake up in a cold sweat, Nicky asks what happened. I tellhim the dream, this whole nightmare. He always answers: everything is God'swill and goes to pray. I also prayed for hours to Seraphim of Sarov, St.Nicholas, the Mother of God, and then in the morning I can hardly fall asleep.In the morning I can hardly get up, all broken down," the empress said ina quiet, sad voice.

-"I have all the necessary sedatives, antidepressants with me," saidBotkin and opened the bag he had brought.

-"Drink this medicine at night, like a mixture, wash down 2 teaspoons withwater before going to bed," the professor continued.

-"And what should I take in the morning? I feel very bad in themorning," said Alexandra Feodorovna.

-"Let me examine you. I need to see what your pupils are like," thedoctor answered and came up close to the empress. He looked into her eyes

She began to blink. And the professor said

- "Relax and don't blink your eyes, please."

The queen continued to sit in the chair. She stopped blinking her eyes, and thedoctor leaned over her, looking her straight in the eyes said:

- "The pupil size is normal, but the eyes are red. The eyeball isinflamed, and I see a red vessel in the left eye. I recommend that you putthese drops in your eyes. Let me do it now and once more at night."

After that, the doctor took out drops in a glass bottle, a pipette, and putthem in first the left eye, then the right.

- "Well, stop thinking about these nightmares. It can't be that soldierswould go against the Tsar Father and Mother Tsarina. Let me give you oneinjection of morphine now, as a sedative, but we will not give you injectionsoften, so that addiction does not occur. "In extreme cases, one more time,if the nightmares repeat themselves in dreams, but I think Your Highness willfeel better now," said the doctor, took a syringe from a bag standing onthe table, filled the syringe with morphine and injected the empress into avein in her right arm.

- "Oh, yes, I feel better already, and my head doesn't hurt,"exclaimed the empress a minute after the injection.

- "Well, thank God," answered the professor. - Now allow me to takemy leave, - he said, bowed, took the bag in his hand and left, saying

- "Goodbye, Your Highness."

The empress replied:

- "Thank you, good-bye, come and see us in a week, EvgenySergeyevich."

And Botkin left the living room.

At dinner, the empress had an excellent appetite, she told her husband aboutDr. Botkin's visit. Nikolai, having listened, said

- "We think that the effect of morphine may be temporary. And immediatelyNikolai and Alexandra went to the house of Pyotr Badmaev in St. Petersburg onPoklonnaya Hill. First, they traveled by carriage to the Imperial RailwayStation in Fyodorovsky Gorodok village (the Tsar had his own separate railwayline, connected to the main line). Then they boarded the Tsar's train andtraveled to Vitebsk Station, disembarking at the Imperial Pavilion. Theaccompanying Cossacks and Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment alsotraveled with the Tsar and his wife, leaving their horses, carriage, andorderly at the entrance to the Imperial Station in St Petersburg. Since theorderly-orderly had called in advance from the Alexander Palace to the securityservice in St. Petersburg, they drove in the carriage to the station. About 50minutes later they arrived at Badmaev's house consisting of: an escortcarriage, a tsar's carriage, and 4 Cossacks on horseback. The tsar's coupleentered the house. Pyotr Badmaev met them. He bowed and greeted.

-"Hello, Your Majesty and Your Highness," said Peter.

-"Hello, Peter Alexandrovich," answered the Tsar.

-"Hello," said the Tsarina. And she continued: "We want you tosee us, I have had a headache for a long time, a whole week."

-"Let's go to the office," answered Badmaev Peter.

First, thedoctor did a pulse diagnosis of the Tsarina. Then he examined the pupils of theeyes, then asked to show the tongue, after which Peter Badmaev said:

-"Here are medicinal Tibetan herbs, they must be brewed in a water bath for10 minutes so that they boil. And pour 3 tablespoons into a glass of water, andthen drink in the morning, afternoon and evening before meals. The herbs arebitter, they can be washed down with water, but cannot be mixed with alcohol.Drink this for 5-6 days and you will feel perfect. Your nerves will calm downand you will sleep well."

-"Thank you," said Alexandra.

-"Come visit us in Tsarskoe Selo, goodbye," said the queen.

- "Seeyou soon," said the king.

-"Farewell," answered Peter and bowed at the same time.

They gotinto the carriage and went back to Tsarskoe Selo.

All prescribed medicines and drops must beused, but let's go now to the Buddhist temple to Dr. Badmaev, he has suchwonderful herbs and Tibetan tinctures. Montenegrin princesses recommendthem."

- "Let's go," the empress answered briefly and told the footman totell the coachman and the guards that we were leaving for the Datsan.

A carriage and a carriage of the accompanying guards with several Cossacks whowere to ride on horseback in front of the carriage were immediately brought.And Nikolai and Alexandra immediately went to the Gunzochoinei Datsan. Firstthey rode in a carriage to the Tsarskoye Selo station. Then they transferred tothe royal train and went to the Vitebsk station. The accompanying Cossacks andthe Preobrazhensky Life Guards also went with the royal couple, leaving thehorses, carriage and orderly at the Station Square. The royal train was alreadybeing met at the Vitebsk Station. Since the orderly had called the securityservice in St. Petersburg from the Alexander Palace in advance, they drove thecarriage to the station. About 50 minutes later, they arrived at the Datsan asfollows: an escort carriage, a royal carriage, and 4 Cossacks on horseback. Theroyal couple entered the Buddhist temple. On the threshold, they took off theirshoes (the king took off his boots, and the queen her shoes), and put on softwoolen slippers. Opposite the altar with a statue of Buddha, PyotrAlexandrovich Badmaev sat in a half-lotus position, next to him sat his brotherEmchi, the Lama, in a lotus position, and they read the mantra of Green Tara.Seeing Nikolai and Alexandra approaching them, the Buryats stood up and bowed.

- “Hello, Your Majesty and Your Highness,” said Peter.

- “Hello and welcome,” said his brother.

- “Hello, gentlemen,” answered the Tsar.

- “Hello,” said the Tsarina. And she continued: “We want you to receive us, Ihave had a headache for a long time, for a whole week.”

- “Let’s go to the offices on the third floor of the temple. We will receiveyou there,” answered Badmaev Peter.

First, both brothers did a pulse diagnosis.Peter Badmayev did of the queen, andhis brother measured the pulse of the king at the same time, who they alsodecided to examine. Then they examined the pupils of the eyes, then asked toshow the tongue, after which Peter Badmayev said:

- "Here are some medicinal Tibetan herbs, they need to be brewed in awater bath for 10 minutes so that they boil. And pour 3 tablespoons into aglass of water, and then drink in the morning, afternoon and evening beforemeals. The herbs are bitter, they can be washed down with water, but cannot bemixed with alcohol. Drink this for 5-6 days and you will feel perfect. Yournerves will calm down, and you will sleep well."

- "Thank you," said the king.

- "Come visit us in Tsarskoe Selo, goodbye," said the queen.

- "See you soon," said the king.

- "Farewell," answered Peter and bowed at the same time as hisbrother.

Nikolai and Alexandra left the office, then went to the altar and stood for awhile, looking at the statue of Buddha, and left the datsan.

They got into the carriage and drove back to Tsarskoe Selo.

Chapter 11.Tsarskoe Selo.

A few days after taking everything prescribed by the doctors, Alexandra feltbetter, and she walked for hours with her maid of honor Anna Vyrubova in theparks of Tsarskoe Selo, accompanied by two Life Guards of the PreobrazhenskyRegiment who guarded her.

One sunny August day during a walk, the Tsarina said to Anna:

- "Please call the holy fool Matryona Bosonozhka to the palace, we haven'tseen her for a long time."

The next day, Matryona Bosonozhka arrived: a village woman came barefoot in avillage dress. The Tsarina talked with her on the Cameron Gallery, first theywalked through the Hanging Garden opposite the gallery.

- "It's beautiful here," said Matryona.

- "Let's sit on the veranda in the gallery," answered the Tsarina.And they sat down inside in the gallery under glass on portable summer wickerchairs.

-"Tell me, Matryona, will I have an heir?" asked Alexandra.

-"Yes, it will not be soon, but it will be," answered the fortuneteller.

At that moment, Nikolai Alexandrovich, who had heard Matryona's answer,approached.

-"And not soon - when?" he asked.

-"Well, maybe in a couple of years. "You need to pray a lot to theMother of God. I will pray for you and ask for you," answered Bosonogka.

-"We thank you," answered the tsar.

-"Thank God," answered Matryona and stood up.

-"If there are no more questions for me, then may I go?" askedMatryona.

-"Go with God," answered the tsarina. The barefoot woman stood up andleft.

The orderly came up and reported that Minister Witte was asking to come in.-Ask him in, - said the Tsar.

Minister Sergei Witte came up. He reported for twenty minutes on how thereforms were going. The Tsar and Tsarina listened. Nicholas smoked fourcigarettes during the minister's report, and after listening to the minister,he said: "You are doing everything right, continue in the samespirit."The minister handed the Tsar the documents to sign. The Tsar signed themsitting at a table in the gallery, and Witte left, bowing.

The next morning, the aide-de-camp approached the Tsar and reported that Johnof Kronstadt had arrived. Nicholas received him at the palace. The followingconversation took place. John reported to the Tsar:

- "Count Leo Tolstoy is stirring up the people with his ideas, writing inhis works that the Apostle Paul is from Satan, not from God. He writes that awife should not answer to her husband, as it is said in the Scriptures, butshould, like a man, directly answer to God for her deeds. And he also writesthat one should not pay taxes to the treasury. What was incorrectly said in theScriptures, that to God what is God's, and to Caesar what is Caesar's, and whatis true is only to God what is God's," said John.

- "And what else can we do with him, we have already excommunicated himfrom the Orthodox Church in 1901!" the Tsar exclaimed.

- "And it is not enough for him that he was excommunicated for rejectingthe Trinity and the divinity of Jesus, for not believing in the afterlife, andnot honoring the sacraments of the Church, he has also encroached on thetreasury," John replied.

- "So be it, but now tell me, why did you not recommend Mitka Kolyaba tous?", - the tsar asked Ivan.

- "He is not from the Holy Spirit, but it is your will with whom tocommunicate. If there are no more questions, then allow me to take myleave," said Ivan.

- "Go," - answered the tsar, and Ivan stood up.

- "Goodbye," - said the elder.

The tsar called his orderly and asked him to go for Mitka Kolyaba. Mitka wasbrought in 2 hours later, who arrived with Prince Obolensky, who was visitinghim. Kolyaba was disabled from birth, limped, had poor hearing, spoke withdifficulty, and was an epileptic.

Prince Obolensky told the tsar that Mitka had predicted the birth of a son forthe prince. The son was born, and Mitka stayed with the prince together withhis assistant Elpidifor, who interpreted Kolyaba's incomprehensible words.

The tsar received Prince Obolensky, Mitka and Elpidifor together with thetsarina in the Alexander Palace in his study. After the greetings, the tsarinaasked Mitya:

- "Will I soon give birth to a son?"

Mitya mumbled something under his breath, and then he had an epileptic seizure.He began to roll on the floor, foam came out of his nose and mouth, to whichObolensky said that this happens to him and he does not need help, and

Elpidifor began to jump around Mitya, who was rolling on the floor, trying tounderstand what he wanted to say, and, having understood, said:

- "The child will be dead or sick, that is God's will!"

The tsarina turned pale. The tsar crossed himself and stood up, and left. Thequeen followed him. And they went, without saying goodbye, to pray in theResurrection Church of the Catherine Palace. They prayed for half an hour, andleft the church and the tsar saw: a soldier in an unbuttoned soldier'sgreatcoat wanted to approach the tsar, but at the entrance to the church theguards grabbed him by the arms and asked him how he dared to go to the tsar.

The tsar approached and asked the soldier who was being held by the arms:

- "Who are you and what did you want?"

- "I am a man of God, a former soldier, Vasily Tkachenko, I am coming toyou, the tsar-father, by the will of God to tell you that the prayer has beenheard, and the heir will be born in 2 years," the soldier said.

The queen, who approached, almost fainted. The tsar caught her in his arms. Shestaggered, but came to her senses.

- "This is wonderful! Let the soldier go, let him come to the palace todine with us, God himself sent you to us!" - the empress saidenthusiastically.

The guards let the soldier go, and he went to the Alexander Palace togetherwith the royal couple, adding on the way:

- "I hear the voice of God in my head. The voice said, go to the tsar andtsarina and tell them that a son will be born in two years."

- "You will live at the palace, you will be assigned a room for servants,but first dine with us," the tsarina answered.

And the royal family, including daughters Olga, Tatyana, Maria and littleAnastasia (who dined with the governess) dined at the same table with blessedVasily Tkachenko.

At the end of September 1903, the royal family moved to live in the WinterPalace in St. Petersburg, and Vasily Tkachenko was recalled from the palace bythe security service.

Chapter 12.Love Triangle.

In St. Petersburg, in Palkin's restaurant, on one of the rainy days in earlyOctober 1903, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, dressed in the uniform of alieutenant of the Guards Horse Artillery Brigade, and prima ballerina of theMariinsky Theater Matilda Kshesinskaya dined. The dinner was held in theFireplace Room. On the table was exquisite Russian cuisine: jellied carp, soupwith stuffed goose, breaded beef, fried hazel grouse and sturgeon caviar. Thedrinks on the table were Russian vodka in a decanter and French champagne"Veuve Clicquot".

Matilda said: "Our son is often ill. Two weeks ago, the flu passed, andtoday he is coughing again. The doctor examined him this morning, perhaps hehas a cold again."

- "Does he have a fever?" - Andrei asked Matilda.

- "The temperature is 37 degrees, the doctor prescribed all the mixturesand medicines," Matilda answered.

- "Let's drink to Vova's health!" - said the prince and pouredchampagne into Matilda's glass, and then vodka into his own. They clinkedglasses and drank. Andrei asked Matilda: "Is our son a good wetnurse?"

- "Yes, a village woman, she has a lot of milk!" Matilda answered. Atthat moment, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich entered the hall, dressed in theuniform of a major general of artillery. Prince Andrei got up from the tableand shook hands.

- "Hello! - Hello!" - they said to each other. Matilda, withoutgetting up from the table, said: "Greetings to the one who came in!"- "Will you have a drink with us?" - Andrey asked Sergey.

- "Certainly," Sergey answered.

And they sat in the restaurant for another hour, after which Prince Andreysaid: "Allow me to take my leave" and said goodbye.

And Matilda and Prince Sergey dined for another half hour and went home to theprince, where Matilda's son from Andrey, adopted by Prince Sergey, was waitingfor them.

Already at home, Prince Sergey said to Matilda at night, when they were in thebedroom:

"Don't have dinner with Andrey anymore and forget about Nikolay,please."

- "As you say," Matilda answered Sergey.

Chapter 13.Rasputin in Kazan.

In 1903, Rasputin, who was wandering on foot throughout Russia, stopping forthe night in monasteries and praying there, came to Kazan to visit hisacquaintance, the merchant widow Bashmakova. They met in the SedmiozernayaBogoroditskaya Hermitage. Bashmakova introduced Rasputin to the abbot of thehermitage, Archimandrite Gavriil Zyryanov. The archimandrite blessed thewanderer and settled him in the monastery hospice, where pilgrims stayed.

One January day in 1904, Grigory prayed for several hours in the church,standing at the Sedmiozernaya Icon. He stood exactly like a taut string, hisface turned to ……The icon, then quickly crossed himself and bowed, then fell tohis knees and kissed the icon. Having finished the prayer, Grigory crossedhimself as he left the church and met with the elder Gabriel.

- "Hello, Grisha!" said the elder. - "Hello, Gabriel!"answered Rasputin.

- "Come in an hour for tea," continued the abbot.

- "I will definitely come," answered Rasputin and, bowing, left.

An hour later, at tea in Gabriel's house, they met at four o'clock in theafternoon at a table set with a samovar with a boot, with bagels, buns, andpies. In addition to them, there were students of the theological academy whohad come to Gabriel for a blessing.

After taking a sip of tea from a saucer and eating some sugar cubes, Rasputinsaid to the elder: - "Bless me for St. Petersburg, I want to collect moneythere for the construction of a new church in my village of Pokrovskoye."

Elder Gabriel's face changed, he turned pale, his pupils narrowed as soon as heheard this.

Grigory, seeing this, was dumbfounded and said: - "Do you think that Iwill perish in Petersburg, that I will become corrupt? And what about God?! AndGod?!"

- "Trust in God, but do not be lazy yourself," the elder said inresponse to Grigory. The students sitting nearby shook their heads in surpriseand one of them said: - "Well, well - he reads minds?!" - theythought.

A few days later, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna came to the SemiozernayaHermitage, and Gabriel introduced her to the elder, saying that there was adevout wanderer from the Tobolsk province, who had walked to Kazan on foot, whowanted to go to Petersburg and collect money there for the construction of achurch in his village.

- "And how did he become a wanderer?" - the Grand Duchess askedGabriel at another tea party, where they were alone.

- "He was a peasant, then a coachman in his province and gave a lift toHieromonk Feofan, and Feofan said: "Go and save yourself!" But thenGrigory also worked in the field, and he had a vision of the Mother of God, whotold him to go to the Athos monastery. After which he left the village and wentfirst to the Verkhnetursky monastery, then to other monasteries across Russiaand reached Athos. He went by steamer to Jerusalem to the places of the Lord -that's what he told me."

- "Yes, he is a man of God, we will support him in Petersburg," saidthe Grand Duchess, after which Gabriel ordered the servant to call Rasputininto the house and he came in half an hour, and the Grand Duchess meanwhiledrank tea with Gabriel. Rasputin entered the living room where they weredrinking. He was 35 years old at the time. He was a thin, tall man with a longbeard and a piercing gaze, dressed in a Russian shirt and boots.

-“Hello, Grigory, we have heard about you and your desire to come to St.Petersburg,” said Elizabeth Feodorovna.

-“Hello, madam,” answered Grigory.

-“This is Her Highness the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna,” said Gabriel.

-“I am glad to meet you, Princess,” answered Grigory.

-“Come to the table, please,” continued Gabriel. Rasputin sat down next to theelder opposite the Grand Duchess. He began to drink tea.

-“When you arrive in St. Petersburg. "Contact me or Feofan," saidElizabeth Feodorovna.

-"Are you talking about the monk who encouraged me to wander?" askedRasputin.

-"Yes, he is in St. Petersburg with the Emperor."

-"The ways of the Lord are inscrutable," said Grigory. They dranksome more tea and went home. The next day, Grigory went to St. Petersburg,having received a blessing from Bishop Chrysanthus Shchetkovsky, vicar of theKazan diocese. The bishop gave a letter of recommendation for Rasputin to St.Petersburg to Bishop Sergius, rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy.

Chapter 14.St. Petersburg, Winter Palace.

The royal family spent the winter of 1903-1904, as usual, in the Winter Palacein the capital. One December day, when there was frost and a snowstorm, thetsar woke up at seven in the morning and decided to go out into the yard andchop wood instead of doing his exercises. Alix was still asleep when the tsargot up, put on his uniform and left the bedroom.- "What are your orders, Your Imperial Majesty?" - asked the valetstanding at the bedroom door.- "Good morning! Set breakfast in the drawing room at 7:30, and in themeantime I will walk unaccompanied into the yard," said the emperor.- "Yes, Your Imperial Majesty," answered the valet, and the tsarwalked along the corridors of the palace, went down the grand staircase. Thesentries standing at the top of the stairs saluted, after which the Tsar said:- "Bring me an axe, I want to stretch my muscles in the cold, chop somewood."One of the sentries ran to the utility rooms of the palace and brought both theaxe and some logs. And Nikolai stood all this time in front of the door on thefirst floor of the palace.- "Take all this out into the yard and put it there," the Tsar saidto the sentry. The Tsar stood for a while longer, waiting for the sentry whohad gone into the yard to return. The sentry returned and said: -"Everything is done. The weather is cold, minus 15 degrees. Would you liketo dress warmer, Your Majesty?"The Tsar ordered a fur coat to be brought. The wardrobe master immediatelybrought it to him. Nikolai threw on a fox fur coat, did not button it up, andwent out into the yard. The wardrobe master obligingly opened the doors of theMain Gate for him.The yard was lightly covered with snow, as it had already been cleared at 6a.m. It was still dark. The logs with an axe lay in the inner yard, in thecenter of the yard. The Tsar slowly approached, took off his fur coat and threwit next to the logs. Then, despite the blizzard and the cold, he took off hisovercoat, shirt and vest, and put it all on the fur coat.Stripped to the waist, he took an axe in his hands and began chopping wood noworse than a simple peasant. With one or two blows, the logs flew into pieces.Meanwhile, a woman from the lower class was walking along the Palace Squareand, out of curiosity, looked through the Main Gate from the side of the squareinto the inner courtyard of the palace. The guards of the Life Guards, standingin front of the entrance to the courtyard, allowed her to approach, butimmediately said to her: - “You are not allowed to stand here, if you were notinvited, go away from the palace,” said the guard of the Life Guards, guardingthe courtyard.- “And the Tsar, as a simple peasant, in the cold, why is he chopping wood?!”she exclaimed.- “Go away then, if you are not invited,” the guard barked and the womanimmediately walked away.By this moment, only about 2-3 minutes had passed, all the logs were choppedand the Tsar threw down the axe, got dressed and returned to the palace frozen,hot and contented.He said to the valet: - "Make a fire in the living room fireplace withthis wood." And he went to the toilet to wash himself.In the afternoon, already in the capital, at the Hay Market and in the ApraksinDvor, all the merchants and merchant wives were telling how the tsar himselfchopped wood for the fireplace in the cold. - "Well, tsar, what asurprise," - the merchant's wife said to her neighbor, a merchant in theApraksin Dvor.In mid-December 1903, Vice-Admiral of the Fleet Makarov arrived at the WinterPalace with a report. The following conversation took place between the emperorand the Tsar.- "Stepan Osipovich, hello! What have you come for?" - the tsarbegan.- "Good day, Your Imperial Majesty! I ask that you allocate more ships tothe Pacific Fleet than we currently have. Perhaps Japan will attack us. Theyhave interests in Korea and Port Arthur is also interesting to them, and oursquadron is not sufficiently staffed. I propose to recall the ships from theBaltic to Port Arthur,” the vice-admiral replied.“Where did you get this information? And we will throw our hats at Japan,Minister of Internal Affairs Plehve told us, if it tries to attack,” theemperor replied.“I command the ships of the Kronstadt port here on the Baltic, and recentlyspoke with a friend of mine who returned from Japan, who was there on his tradebusiness and learned that the Japanese want to attack Russia, take Manchuriaand land in Korea in the near future, a Japanese general blabbed about this tomy merchant friend in a restaurant, so I came to Your Imperial Majesty with areport and ask you to significantly increase the size of the Pacific Fleet,”the vice-admiral reported.

-"Yes, the Japanese will not dare to attack us, I do not believe that theywill attack, and if our intelligence does not report new information to us,everything will remain as is for now," the Tsar replied.- "Well, then that's all for me. Allow me to take my leave," Makarovsaid, took his leave and left. - "Goodbye," Nicholas II told him.On January 23, 1904, the Emperor received a letter from Vice-Admiral Makarov,in which Makarov once again informed the Tsar that a Japanese attack wouldinevitably occur in the coming days and hours. The Admiral wrote that Russiahad weak anti-torpedo defense.The Tsar read this letter and remembered Hamon's prediction that there would betwo difficult, bloody wars that would lead to the death of the empire at theend of the second war. Perhaps this first war will now be with the Japanese,but with whom will the second one be: with the English or with the Germans? -the Tsar thought frantically, smoking cigarette after cigarette.Alix came up and asked in English:- "What are you thinking about, Niki?"- "I think there will soon be a war with the Japanese? Makarov, it seems,is right," the Tsar answered. - "But we are a powerful empire, wewill defeat them!" - Alix exclaimed."- "Undoubtedly, no matter what the cost," Nikolai answered.In January 1904, the Japanese could at any moment attack Russia in the FarEast, enter Manchuria and land in Korea.At the end of January, the Emperor read the plans for conducting a campaignagainst Japan, drawn up by A. N. Kuropatkin, E. I. Alekseev and the Main NavalStaff. But none of the plans were approved by the Tsar. Kuropatkin, Minister ofWar, member of the State Council) accused the actual privy councilor VyacheslavKonstantinovich von Plehve of assisting in unleashing the war, to which hereplied: "In order to hold back the revolution, we need a small victoriouswar. We will not accept Japan's offer to leave Korea, and Manchuria is alreadyours." The Emperor did not respond to the Emperor of Japan's offer,transmitted through the Japanese ambassador, to renounce Korea, after which onJanuary 24 Japan announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Russia.

Chapter 15.The Russian-Japanese War. The Plehve murder. The appearance of a trade union.

On January27, 1904, the Japanese fleet attacked the Russian squadron in the outer harborof Port Arthur, which ensured an unhindered landing of the Japanese in Korea.Having not received sufficient resistance, the Japanese landed on the KwantungPeninsula in May and blocked the railway connection between Port Arthur andRussia.

Meanwhile, Grigory Rasputin, who came to thecapital in December 1903, met with Archpriest John of Kronstadt in Kronstadt.

(Sergiev),the former confessor of Alexander III and an active member of the Synod, andreceived his blessing to stay in St. Petersburg. John of Kronstadt even calledGregory a "man of God."

At theAlexander Nevsky Lavra, Rasputin met with Feofan, who was then the confessor ofthe imperial family, and Bishop Hermogenes. Feofan settled Gregory in therector's wing at the Academy. Later, Rasputin gained many admirers andadmirers, and they rented him furnished rooms at 11 Karavannaya Street. FatherFeofan told about the pilgrim Gregory to the daughters of the Montenegrin KingNicholas I, Milica Petrovich-Negosh (Princess Milica Nikolaevna, wife of GrandDuke Peter Nikolaevich) and her sister, Princess of Montenegro, Duchess ofLeuchtenberg and Grand Duchess Stana, wife of Duke George Maximillianovich ofLeuchtenberg.

In thesecond half of March 1904, there was talk at headquarters about strengtheningour naval forces. Real measures were taken after the death

ViceAdmiral Makarov on the sunken battleship Petropavlovsk. In early August, thesiege of Port Arthur began.

On July 15,1904, Vyacheslav Konstantinovich von Plehve, Minister of the Interior, wasassassinated. When his carriage reached the square of the Warsaw railwayStation, the socialist-revolutionary militant Sozonov threw a bomb. TheMinister was on his way to report to His Imperial Majesty on the activities offormer Finance Minister Sergei Yulievich Witte, Chairman of the Committee ofMinisters.

The nextday, at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, the tsar met with NikolaiValerianovich Muravyov, Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Muravyov,and Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev, lawyer and Privy Councilor. The tsarwas sitting in an armchair in the Maple Living Room and smoking cigarettes.Pobedonostsev reported to the emperor for ten minutes that the murderedMinister Plehve had collected all the evidence that Minister Witte had ties tothe revolutionary movement and received money from American bankers for thefact that Witte had previously introduced the gold standard of the ruble,beneficial to the Anglo-American system, and most importantly, introduced andis introducing laws in Russia that play into the hands of the revolutionarymovement laws that contribute to the collapse of the economy and autocracy.After listening to Pobedonostsev's report, the tsar said: "We have lost afriend and an irreplaceable minister in Plehve. Strictly, the Lord visits uswith his anger, but we cannot believe that Minister Witte, who is devoted tous, is connected with the revolutionary movement and takes money from Americanbankers. If there is no evidence, then we will not talk about it." TheMinister of Justice replied: "The three of us had previously met: me,Konstantin Petrovich and the late Plehve. Plehve told us that his office hadcollected all the evidence of Witte's guilt. And yesterday, Plehve was supposedto provide a folder with evidence, but he was killed. I propose to Your ImperialMajesty that Witte be removed from office."

"Sincethere's no proof, we can't decide that. This is just a suggestion that Plehvemight have evidence against Witte. You don't have the folder in your hands, soplease don't bring it up again," the emperor replied.

- "Whodo you propose to appoint to the post of Minister of Internal Affairsnow"? – the king asked the audience. At that moment, the Dowager EmpressMaria Feodorovna entered the living room, who heard her son's question, and shesaid from the doorway: "We believe that Pyotr DmitrievichSvyatopolk–Mirsky should be appointed. He was an assistant to the Minister ofthe Interior and commander of the Imperial Corps of Gendarmes, and he alsoproved himself well as the governor-general in Vilna, the local nobility issatisfied with them," she said.

"If noone objects, we will sign the Decree on the appointment," said the tsar.

"Weagree," said Pobedonostsev.

"So beit. If there are no more questions, we will end the meeting," said theking. Pobedonostsev and Muravyov bowed to Nicholas II and his mother and left.

Meanwhile, Priest Georgy Gapon gatheredfactory workers around him in the first trade union in Russia, which waslegally registered back in 1903. After the resignation of the first chairman ofthe Zubatov meeting, he became the head of the society. In February 1904, theMinister of the Interior approved the organization's charter, and on April 24,1904, the first meeting of Russian factory workers in St. Petersburg was held,which aimed to improve the lives of workers. The meeting was held at the VyborgDepartment Tea Club in St. Petersburg.

In the autumn, in the theater of militaryoperations, it was decided to create the 2nd Pacific Squadron from theremaining Baltic and unfinished warships under the leadership of Vice AdmiralZinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky.

On October2, 1904, the 2nd Pacific Squadron sailed from Libava, which was published inall the newspapers. People were discussing this everywhere in St. Petersburg.Rasputin, having learned this, prophetically told his flock: - "I feel itin my heart - it will drown!".

On December20, 1904, the Russian garrison of Port Arthur surrendered to the Japanese.

Chapter 16.The Prince Alexei.

The birthof an heir was predicted earlier by the fool Daria Osipova. She suffered fromepilepsy. Her seizures were often perceived as a trance, into which Osipovaplunged in order to prophesy. In her village, Daria became famous for havingthe ability to heal. Although the healer Daria frightened Alexandra Feodorovnawith her behavior and seizures, she was kept in the palace. One day in January1904, Daria fell to the floor in the Winter Palace and rolled on the floor in afit, foaming at the mouth and shouting: "a son will be born to thequeen." Alexandra Fyodorovna and Nikolai Alexandrovich were nearby at thatmoment and watched Daria's seizure. When Daria regained consciousness, the tsarhelped her to her feet and asked: "That's right-will we have anheir?" Daria replied, "Yes, my Lord, this year." "ThankGod, at last!" the queen exclaimed.

In theevening, Nikolai and Alexandra had a pleasant dinner, drank Madeira andChampagne, and went to bed satisfied. At night, the king woke up in a coldsweat and got out of bed. Alix opened her eyes and asked: "What happened?”– I saw in a dream a woman in a red dress with a red rosary with a silver crossin her hands. She came and said that whoever was born "would answer foreveryone, and we would all be killed for her son."…

"Butwho is this?" asked the queen. This is the wife of False Dmitry, MarinaMnishek. My father told me about her, because he believed that his childrenshould know the history of their kind, no matter how tragic and terrible itmight be. In 1608, the first tsar of our dynasty, Mikhail Romanov, ordered, onthe advice of the boyars, the execution of the three-year-old "IvanVorenka", the son of False Dmitry II from the Polish Maria Mnishek,crowned as the Russian tsarina, so that there would be no trouble later. Theboyars demanded a painful death for the child, but my ancestor decided to show"mercy" - to replace the painful execution of the boy with a quickone - hanging. It was winter in Moscow, and it was very cold. The boy wastricked away from his mother and led to the Serpukhov Gate in Moscow in hisshirt sleeves. He asked, "Where are you taking me? No one stood up for theboy. He was hanged, but the thick noose was poorly tied (it could not tightenon the child's thin neck), and instead of a quick death, the boy died in thecold for several hours. An unhappy mother, dressed in a red dress, was forcedto watch her son's execution. She watched in silence, gritting her teeth. Andthen she cursed the Romanov family to the last knee and called for blood tofall on the heads of the Romanov children, saying in Polish with Russian words:"As an innocent son died, so all your sons will die... and there will beno rest for your family until the last of your sons falls where the first rose– under the shadow of the holy Hypatia." A few months later, Mnishek diedof death in the Kolomna Tower in Moscow, she was strangled. Before she died,she gave her maid a strange object– a red rosary with a silver cross."

Alixreplied, "How awful, it looks like a sacrifice–the execution of a baby.Why wasn't he exiled to a monastery? Nothing can be changed now. Your ancestormarked his rise to power with innocent blood... will our son be the lastprince?"- "It seems Abel was right."..Exhaling, Nikolai said."We will not survive 18 years," the king continued, got up and wentto pray.

The birth of the long-awaited heir in. Thebirth of the long-awaited heir in Peterhof on July 30, 1904, did not bringrelief to the reigning sovereign. The attending physician of the Romanovfamily, Botkin, discovered that Tsarevich Alexei was bleeding, which beganspontaneously from the navel 6 weeks after birth. The bleeding could not bestopped for two days, although the dressing was done continuously and theprince could die from blood loss. Mitya Kozelsky, a fool who had previouslylived with monks from the Optina monastery of the Desert, was summoned to thetsar and first prayed for the tsarevich, muttering something under his breath(his speech was always unintelligible, it was guttural sounds with grunts andscreams, which were translated into Russian by Elpidifor accompanying him), andthen Mitya Kolyaba had an epileptic fit, he began to roll on the floor, withoutaffecting the condition of the prince in any way, and Kananykin Elpidifora, whocame with him, took him by the arms.…Then Alexandra Feodorovna called the foolDaria Osipova, who came barefoot to the palace in an old dress., she knelt infront of the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which hung in the corner ofthe room where the prince was, and after getting soaked for half an hour, shealso fell into an epileptic fit, which horrified the empress, and the tsar sentfor Dr. Badmaev, but he came and said that he had no way to stop the blood, buthe would healing baths made from Tibetan herbs and as soon as the blood stops,the baby will benefit from it. Finally, Botkin managed to stop the bleeding,which he made an entry in the journal. Later, Gleb Botkin held a consultationwith Dr. Karl Gottlieb Rauchfuss and Professor Sergey Fedorov. All three cameto the conclusion that there was a suspicion of a royal disease – hemophilia,but they did not make a precise diagnosis, they discussed the prince's bloodclotting and the inability to make a dressing due to the soft tissue. OnSeptember 8, 1904, the emperor wrote the following in his diary: "Alix andI were very concerned about little Alexei's bleeding, which continuedintermittently until the evening." A year and a half later, it was foundthat the child had hemophilia, which is manifested by increased bleeding oncertain days, which Botkin recorded: these days coincided with the dates of theprevious Romanov deaths. For example, blood flowed spontaneously on the day ofthe death of Emperor Pavel Petrovich on February 11-12, on the day of theassassination of Alexander III on March 13, on the day of the death ofTsarevich Alexei Petrovich on June 26, and then on June 28 – this is the day ofthe death of Peter III and Nicholas II's brother George, and especiallystrongly the blood flowed on July 3 on the day of death Marina Mnishek's sonVorenka. The tsarevich's life was under threat every second. The news of anincurable illness about the dream of the only heir made his father finallybelieve in the evil fate that hung over his family. Daria Osipova and MityaKozelsky were removed from the yard, as they could not help the child in anyway. Badmaev's herbs helped – they relieved the condition after bleeding. One day in the autumn of 1905, the Montenegrin Princesses Milica (wifeof Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich) and Stan (wife of His Serene Highness PrinceGeorge Maximilianovich) invited the tsarina to meet with Elder GrigoryRasputin, whom they had previously met on a pilgrimage in Kiev. Rasputin wascalled a "man of God" by John of Kronstadt himself and blessed him.There was a conversation in Peterhof between Princess Milica and the Empressover a cup of tea. "Do youremember, dear Alix," said the Grand Duchess, "what Dr. Philip toldyou before he left? He predicted that God will send you and Nicky a new friendwho will be your support! Trust me, Alix! He's going to be the friend Philipwas talking about! He will save Russia for Nika and cure your son! God sent himto you!"– "Let him come and help, it's God's will!" - repliedAlix. The next day, November 1, 1905, Nicholas II wrote in his diary: "Iwas very busy all morning. We had breakfast: book. Orlov and Resin. I went fora walk. At 4 o'clock we went to Sergievka. We had tea with the Militia and Stana.We met a man of God, Gregory from the Tobolsk province. I went to bed in theevening, studied a lot, and spent the evening with Alix." The heir,Tsarevich Alexei, once again fell ill, bleeding in the navel area opened byitself and the doctors could not do anything, and then the Montenegrin PrincessMilica, the wife of Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich, offered to call the elder,who had a reputation as a healer. Rasputin arrived in a cart pulled by a baymare. He entered the room, bowed to the waist to the tsar and the tsarina,saying to the tsar: "Hello Imperial Majesty," to which the tsar didnot answer anything, but only nodded his head. Rasputin first approached thesick heir and looked at him, then knelt in the corner near the icon and prayedfor half an hour, then got up and went to the child, crossed him three timesand Alexei stopped bleeding. After that, the tsar, the tsarina and the elderdrank tea. Rasputin spoke after his healing about how he had previously madepilgrimages to Mount Athos and Palestine. Rasputin said that "a seriousillness was given to the tsarevich for the sins of the Romanov family, and thatit cannot be cured, but it is possible to control the tsarevich's condition andthat one must pray a lot for his health." After the child began to recover,Empress Alexandra Feodorovna came to believe in the supernatural abilities ofthe Tobolsk elder.

Chapter 17.Rasputin's meeting with the tsar.

One day inthe autumn of 1905, the Montenegrin Princesses Milica (wife of Grand Duke PeterNikolaevich) and Stan (wife of His Serene Highness Prince GeorgeMaximilianovich) invited the tsarina to meet with Elder Grigory Rasputin, whomthey had previously met on a pilgrimage in Kiev. There was a conversation inPeterhof between Princess Milica and the Empress over a cup of tea. "Do you remember, dear Alix," saidthe Grand Duchess, "what Dr. Philip told you before he left? He predictedthat God will send you and Nicky a new friend who will be your support! Trustme, Alix! He's going to be the friend Philip was talking about! He will saveRussia for Nika and cure your son! God sent him to you!"– "Let himcome and help, it's God's will!" - replied Alix.

The meetingof Nicholas II with Rasputin took place later, on November 1, 1905, inSergievka. Rasputin had tea there with Montenegrin princesses Milica and Stana.And there the tsar and tsarina met with Grigory Rasputin. The heir, TsarevichAlexei, once again fell ill, bleeding in the navel area opened by itself, andthe doctors could not do anything, and then the Montenegrin Princess Milica,wife of Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich, offered to call the elder, who had areputation as a healer. Rasputin arrived in a cart pulled by a bay mare. Heentered the room, bowed to the waist to the tsar and the tsarina, saying to thetsar: "Hello Imperial Majesty," to which the tsar did not answeranything, but only nodded his head. Rasputin first approached the sick heir andlooked at him, then knelt in the corner near the icon and prayed for half anhour, then got up and went to the child, crossed him three times and Alexeistopped bleeding. After that, the tsar, the tsarina and the elder drank tea.Rasputin spoke after his healing about how he had previously made pilgrimagesto Mount Athos and Palestine. Rasputin said that "a serious illness wasgiven to the tsarevich for the sins of the Romanov family, and that it cannotbe cured, but it is possible to control the tsarevich's condition and that onemust pray a lot for his health." After the child began to recover, EmpressAlexandra Feodorovna came to believe in the supernatural abilities of theTobolsk elder. Rasputin talked about how he had previously made pilgrimages toMount Athos and Palestine. Rasputin told the Empress that the serious illnesswas given to the tsarevich for the sins of the Romanov family and that it couldnot be cured, but the tsarevich's condition could be controlled and that muchprayer was needed for his health. The tsarina asked the elder to become herspiritual mentor, and he agreed, becoming also the spiritual mentor of theEmpress's friend and maid of honor, Anna Vyrubova. It was taken into accountthat Alexandra Feofan's confessor recommended Gregory as a pious man and theopinion of John of Kronstadt, who called Rasputin "a man ofGod." Rasputin talked about how hehad previously made pilgrimages to Mount Athos and Palestine.

The next day, November 1, 1905, Nicholas IIwrote in his diary: "I was very busy all morning. We had breakfast: book.Orlov and Resin. I went for a walk. At 4 o'clock we went to Sergievka. We hadtea with the Militia and Stana. We met a man of God, Gregory from the Tobolskprovince. I went to bed in the evening, studied a lot, and spent the eveningwith Alix."

Chapter 18.U.G.L.E. (United Grand Lodge of England).

Meanwhile,in London, the King of Great Britain and Ireland Edward VII, concurrently thehead of the Masonic lodge – 33 degrees Grand Master of the United Grand Lodgeof England (United Grand Lodge of England) convened a meeting of the Lodge,which was attended only by masters and apprentices (without students). Afterall the appropriate ceremonies and rituals were carried out, the Grand Masterinvited everyone to the table. He sat at the table next to the Grand Master,the assistant of the Grand Master – a cabbalist-numerologist, and on the otherside of him sat the Grand Secretary of the UGLE. Besides them, there were 10more Freemasons at this table - masters of lodges that are part of the UGLEstructure - provincial Grand Lodges, including the head of the NavalIntelligence Department (NIP), Captain of the Naval Service Sir GeorgeMansfield Smith-Cumming, responsible for foreign intelligence, navalmobilization and war plans, among other things, and who was the Master of the32nd degree of the UGLE lodge.

- "Wehave gathered here to discuss our plans regarding Russia and Japan,"Edward VII began his speech. - It is not enough for us that we did not allowRussia to buy new ships in Latin America, thereby weakening the Russians. Whichled to their defeat in the 2nd Pacific campaign and decided the outcome of thewar. We need to arrange a revolution in Russia, achieve the collapse of thisempire that is hindering us, so that Russia not only does not have its ownterritories in the Far East, but so that it also falls apart in the Europeanpart and in the Caucasus. "All means are good for this, except a directwar with Russia. What proposals do you have?" the King of England finishedhis speech.

The GreatMaster replied: - "I propose increasing the financing of the left forces -Russian revolutionaries, Socialist Revolutionaries and liberals through thebanking houses of Wall Street, Swiss banks and German banks. Let them preparethe population of Russia for a rebellion."

- "Isupport, but we still need to talk to our loyal military men from the GeneralStaff in Japan and to the French brothers from the "Grand Orient ofFrance". The lodge of the "Grand Orient of France" will orderthe lodge subordinate to them in Russia to organize a rebellion," addedthe head of Naval Intelligence Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming.

- "Iagree," Edward replied.

-"Allow me to report the general scenario of the development of events,according to astrological calculations and cabalistic dates," continuedthe assistant of the Great Master, the Master and at the same time the king'sprivy councilor.

- "Weare listening to you, we are still under the impression of how you created atraceless poison for Alexander III, which was on a gift for the Tsar from QueenElizabeth.

And specialthanks for calculating the date of the celebration after the coronation ofNicholas II, which was at Khodynka, the number of deaths exceeded 666, thereputation of the Tsar was undermined from the beginning of his reign. It is apity that he was not killed at all before the coronation by Ivan Rasputin'sgroup, if we had interacted with them, they would have succeeded. Now we needto make a rebellion in Russia and for Japan to put pressure on the other side,and then the monarchy will fall. We are listening to you."

- "Icalculated the Cabalistic date when many times more people should die than atKhodynka. This will be a ritual sacrifice to Baphomet, if it is done on January9, 1905, and if it succeeds, then on this day the Russian Tsar must die at thehands of revolutionaries. This will be the highest sacrifice. And if not thecollapse, then the beginning of the collapse of the Russian Empire. In thissituation, the Japanese fleet will land in St. Petersburg without muchresistance," the king's adviser finished his speech.

- "Inthat case, we must begin in Russia with the organization of trade unions sothat they can organize a revolution by the date we need," said the GreatMaster.

- "Butwe must take into account that according to the horoscope of Brother Hamon,unfortunately, who is not present here, Russia must be shaken by two wars andthree revolutions, after which only the monarchy will collapse in 1917, andthen the dynasty will be interrupted in 1918. According to Hamon's horoscopes,the first revolution follows in 1905, but two more will follow in 1917. Soeverything is going gradually, as predetermined from above, and the main thingis that the Tsar is aware of Hamon's horoscope, and therefore will not resistmuch. That is so, but we should ask Brother Papus from the lodge "Order ofthe Supreme Unknowns" to visit Russia again and confirm Hamon's horoscope,so that the Tsar will definitely not take any measures, understanding allevents as predetermined." - "I agree, so is it!" - said EdwardVII.

The GrandSecretary of the UGLE said: - "We must give the appropriate instructionsto our people in Russia through the lodge "Grand Orient of the Peoples ofRussia". Namely: let the ambassador meet with Princess Stana of Montenegroin St. Petersburg and tell her to tell the empress that the tsar should notprevent the businessman Emmanuel Nobel from buying up oil wells in Azerbaijan;let her say that he is her friend in spiritual interests and is a member of asecret society, and the policy pursued by Russia - to achieve a state monopolyon oil - interferes with his business. And let her also gain the trust of GrandDuke Mikhail Alexandrovich, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, Grand Duke KirillVladimirovich and Prince Felix Yusupov the Younger. At the right moment, theywill help us." - "Yes, we need to achieve control over oil in Bakuthrough Nobel's brother, we have already invested in his business in Baku, hebought up wells, and the income from the sale of oil goes to us. In the eventof a revolution, Russia will lose Azerbaijan and we must not allow Russia tohave a monopoly on the state's oil now," said the Great Master.

- "Wereceived intelligence from an agent in Warsaw, A.N. Grim, about the state ofthe troops and weapons, which the lieutenant colonel managed to pass on toAustro-Hungarian intelligence before his arrest. Our brother in intelligencefrom Austria-Hungary passed all the information to us, and we then passed it onto the Japanese through the Japanese ambassador. But we need to recruit newagents among the military in Russia, for which we need to allocate newfunds," said the head of the Naval Intelligence Department.

- "Youwill receive all the funds tomorrow. And he wrote out a bill for 400,000pounds. "We must make sure that the Tsar is killed during a riot, oroverthrown in the form of a palace coup; with the abdication of Nicholas II infavor of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, we will be able to control him, wehave a dossier on him," replied King Edward VII. The next day, Sir GeorgeMansfield Smith-Cumming, by order of the King, received the necessary sum fromthe London bank "N M Rothschild & Sons" for a secret operation inRussia, the purpose of which was the Revolution, after which he sent a courieron a steamer with the money to Russia to the Chairman of the Committee ofMinisters, the actual privy councilor Sergei Yulievich Witte, a secret agentwho had long been working for Great Britain and America. And Sir GeorgeMansfield Smith-Cumming himself left for Paris for negotiations with theMasonic brothers. A week later, the courier met Witte at his mansion in St.Petersburg on the Petrograd side, on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt. The meetingtook place a few days before the New Year of 1905. Witte was drinking coffeeand eclairs in the living room with his wife Matilda after dinner, while logswere crackling in the fireplace. A servant entered and reported: "YourExcellency, an Englishman has arrived from London and demands to be receivedimmediately in the name of the king." - "Ask for him," the countanswered. The servant left the living room and invited the Englishman. Thecourier entered, bowed slightly and said in English: "In the name of theBritish Crown, I have been ordered to give you an envelope from His Majesty.The envelope contains a letter from Edward VII and a check made out to you bySir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming." - "Thank you, sit down, wouldyou like some coffee, with cream or without?" Witte answered the courierin English. "Hello," said Matilda. "With cream, thank you,"said the courier in English and sat down at the table. A servant came up to thetable and poured coffee with cream into a cup for the guest. "We need totalk privately with the guest after coffee," said Witte to his wife."Okay," said Matilda, finished her coffee, got up from the table andleft the room with the servant. "How are things in London?" askedWitte in English, opening the envelope. "There was a meeting with the kingin London and I was told to tell you that decisive action is expected of you,details in the letter. You can cash the check at the bank and spend part of themoney on bribing the people named in the letter, and the rest of the money isyours," answered the courier. Witte took the check, saw the amount writtenout in his name - two hundred thousand pounds sterling, turned pale, read theletter, which said that he "needs to meet with the leader of the tradeunions Gapon and convince him to bring all the workers to the tsar fornegotiations on January 9, hand the tsar a petition with the demands of thelabor movement and go peacefully with icons to convince the emperor that he isnot in any danger, so that the tsar will come to negotiations and begin to talkto the workers personally. And after these events, regardless of the result,Witte must demand and promote the introduction of a constitutional monarchy inRussia, so that there is a new legislative body in which all parties andestates will be represented, a body that will pass all laws without the willand participation of the emperor. And Witte must promote the forces that wantto overthrow the tsar from the throne." "Tell Sir George MansfieldSmith-Cumming that everything will be done," said Sergei Witte, finishinghis coffee. The Englishman stood up and said: “I’ll pass on everything, allowme to take my leave,” and left.

The nextmorning, Witte opened the safe, which contained more than a million rubles,British pounds sterling and gold bars, took 200,000 rubles from it, put them ina bag, and went to Georgy Gapon. Gapon was not at home, the servant said thathe should be looked for in the apartment building on the corner of Nevsky andVladimirsky Prospects. Then Witte took a cab to the apartment building. Heentered and asked the doorman where Gapon was resting, the doorman led theminister into one of the halls on the first floor.

Gapon wassitting in a cassock on a sofa in the arms of two prostitutes, one of them wassitting on the side hugging him, and the other was on the priest's lap anddrinking vodka from a glass with him as brothers. On the table stood ahalf-drunk decanter, snacks and a gramophone with a record playing. They werelistening to Feodor Schalyapin. - "Hello Georgy," said the minister.- "Hello minister, how are you, your honor," answered the priest. -"You've settled in here not badly, I came here with one errand, we need totalk face to face," answered Witte.- "Girls, scram, come in an hour," said the priest, thrust achervonets into each of their hands, they stood up, said "we'll come in anhour to continue" and left.- "I won't ask for your blessing, but we are paying you 200,000 rubles,they asked me to tell you from England that we need to stir up the workers torevolt on January 9, bring all the workers to the tsar for negotiations, handthe tsar a petition with the demands of the workers' movement and go peacefullywith icons to convince the emperor that he is not in any danger, so that thetsar will come to the negotiations and start talking to the workers personally.Write a petition with demands on behalf of the trade union, set out everythingthe workers want, and when the tsar comes out to speak, let it be at the Palaceon Palace Square, tell the tsar that the people demand the introduction of aconstitution and abdication of the throne. And assign yourself the role ofprime minister in the future cabinet,” said the minister.“God be with you, the tsar will refuse such a thing, it is useless to demandit,” answered Gapon. “And we do not care what he answers and what he wants ingeneral, we are paying you for bringing at least a hundred thousand workers tothe square and luring the tsar to negotiations, and what happens next is noneof your business. If the tsar recognizes you as the new minister, it is betterfor you, if he does not, it does not matter,” answered Witte and opened hisbag, took out 200,000 rubles and put them on the table.“Okay, we will do everything, sir,” answered the priest.- "Allow me to take my leave," said the minister and left.Meanwhile, Japanese intelligence, represented by its operative Colonel Akashi,began to look for ways to contact Russian oppositionists. From the verybeginning of the war, Akashi met with the Finnish nationalist K. Zilliacus, andin March 1904, with Polish radicals. Akashi agreed with the Finns and Poles oncooperation and financing of their revolutionary activities. In 1904, Japaneseintelligence established contact with Lenin and Plekhanov in Switzerland. Leninshowed keen interest in the Japanese proposals and received a large sum fromthem. On January 4, 1905, the Bolsheviks published the first issue of their newspaper"Forward" in Geneva with Japanese money and illegally imported itinto Russia. In the autumn of 1904, Akashi financed a general oppositionconference in Paris, which adopted a resolution on the overthrow of theautocracy. Minister Witte secretly met with Maximilian Ilyich Schweitzer (theleader of the Socialist Revolutionaries) in St. Petersburg in a safe house inOctober and gave him 50,000 rubles for the Socialist Revolutionaries to demanda constitution through their people at the congress of zemstvos, and also tobring militants under the guise of "self-defense units" to ademonstration planned for January 9 with the goal of killing the tsar when hecame to negotiate with Gapon. The congress of zemstvos, which met in St. Petersburgfrom November 19 to 21, 1904, demanded the adoption of a constitution. Thosewho demanded a constitution were for the Socialist Revolutionaries, and theleader of the St. Petersburg Socialist Revolutionaries was paid by the traitorminister Witte. Japanese intelligence also transferred significant amounts ofmoney for the militants' participation in the demonstration on January 9; themoney was received by the Socialist Revolutionary leaders Gershuni, Asef, andGots. Some of the funds also came from international Jewish organizations inNew York. Under pressure from Japanese intelligence and large American capital,Azef and Savinkov prepared an assassination attempt on the Minister of JusticeMuravyov, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, and Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevichin 1904. No peaceful demonstrations were planned. Work was underway to deliverlarge quantities of weapons to Russia via Sweden and Finland. The Japaneseintelligence officer Colonel Akashi actively joined this task. The JapaneseGeneral Staff did everything in its power to hurry the revolutionaries. Theformer military attaché in St. Petersburg, who moved to Stockholm after the warbegan and headed the Japanese spy network in Western Europe, Colonel MatoireAkashi was in contact with Lenin and Plekhanov, who were in exile, in July 1904through the terrorist Vera Zasulich. At his meetings with the haters of Russia,the Japanese spy insisted on organizing armed rebel detachments of up to100,000 fighters. The revolutionaries received 750,000 yen through Akashi andhis people to buy weapons. The agents of the Japanese resident did not lose outeither. Thus, just one of them, Georgy Dekanozov, received 125,000 francs fortravel expenses alone. One of Akashi's main agents was the Finnishrevolutionary Connie Zilliacus. It was through him that Japanese money wasdistributed among the revolutionary parties. Among his papers, discovered byRussian intelligence, a document was found listing the amount of weaponstransferred to the revolutionary parties.

Chapter 19.On the eve of the 1905 revolution.

Meanwhile,in St. Petersburg, a conflict broke out between workers' circles at the PutilovPlant, the largest enterprise in St. Petersburg. The foreman of the carriageshop from the Mutual Aid Society circle fired four workers, members of theAssembly. In response, the management of the Assembly threatened to declare astrike and make it general. The workers presented their demands to the plantmanagement in a resolution - they demanded that the fired workers be rehired,and that working conditions and pay be improved. Putilov rejected the demands.His refusal set in motion a chain of events: on January 3, 1905, the PutilovPlant went on strike, and four more enterprises went on strike in the followingtwo days. On January 5, it became clear to the workers that the plantmanagement would not make concessions. Priest Georgy Gapon wrote a letter tothe Emperor, in which he asked the tsar toconvene a Constituent Assembly, which would include representatives of allclasses and all estates, from the poorest peasants and workers to capitalists -factory owners, nobles and aristocracy. The main argument in the letter wasthatthe ministers governing Russia and the factory owners do not take into accountthe rights and opinions of ordinary people.The letter also listed the following demands point by point:I. Measures against the ignorance and lack of rights of the Russian people.1. Freedom and inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, press, freedomof assembly,Freedom of conscience in matters of religion.2. General and compulsory public education at state expense.3. Responsibility of ministers to the people and guarantees of legality ofgovernment.4. Equality before the law for all without exception.5. Immediate return of all those who suffered for their beliefs.II. Measures against the poverty of the people.1. Abolition of indirect taxes and their replacement with direct progressiveandincomeTax.2. Abolition of forced payments, cheap credit and gradual transfer of landto the people.III. Measures against the oppression of capital over labor.1. Labor protection by law.2. Freedom of consumer-productive and professional labor unions.3. Eight-hour working day and regulation of overtime work.4. Freedom of labor struggle against capital.5. Participation of workers' representatives in the development of a bill onstateinsurance of workers.6. Normal wages.The letter ended with the words: - "And if you do not command, if you donot respond to our prayer, we will die here, on this square in front of yourpalace. We have nowhere else to go and no reason to! We have only two paths:either to freedom and happiness, or to the grave. Indicate, Sovereign, which ofthem, we will follow it unquestioningly, even if it is the path to death. Letour life be a sacrifice for suffering Russia! We do not regret this sacrifice.We willingly make it!

On January5, Finance Minister Vladimir Kokontsev studied the workers' demands anddescribed them in a report to the emperor as "illegal andunfeasible." On January 6-7, the Assembly began collecting signatures fora petition to the tsar from factories and plants. Georgy Gapon gave a speech atmeetings of the organization in all districts of the capital. On the day ofEpiphany, January 6, the Emperor with a brilliant retinue, preceded by theclergy and the metropolitan, left the Winter Palace and went to the gazebobuilt on the Neva, where the blessing of the waters took place. The solemnservice began, and the usual gun salute was given from the Peter and PaulFortress. During the salute, large grapeshot bullets unexpectedly fell - bothon the pavilion and on the facade of the Winter Palace. About 5 bullets werecounted in the gazebo, one of which fell very close to the Emperor. Neither theEmperor nor anyone else from the retinue flinched... Only just before leavingdid I and several other people from the retinue pick up one bullet from thepavilion floor. The religious procession returned to the Winter Palace, and,passing by the Nicholas Hall, we saw several broken window panes. One of theofficials of the Petersburg district approached the Tsar and explained that aforgotten grapeshot shell had been found in the barrel of one of the guns. TheTsar silently walked on. The Tsar, without showing it, after a plannedreception of foreign diplomats, left with his family for Tsarskoye Tselo onJanuary 6. However, despite this, the Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP spreadinformation that the Tsar himself was calling the people to him so that they(the people) would help the Tsar in the fight against the "lords andgentry who do not allow the country to be governed", so the workersprepared for this day thoroughly. For them, it was a holiday. Many were goingto take their children with them, and in addition, the "procession"promised to be led by a priest, who, by tradition, has always been revered inRussian society. On Friday, January 7, 382 enterprises went on strike. Thatsame day, all the printing houses joined the strike - newspapers stopped comingout.

On January8, 456 enterprises stopped — almost 113,000 workers were already on strike.

Chapter 20.Bloody Sunday.

By theevening of January 8, their number was about 150,000 people. For the firsttime, a strike engulfed the huge industrial center of the empire. All thesecrowds took part in the procession the next day. In order to give thedemonstration a “popular” character, Gapon’s henchmen ran into churches andforcibly pulled out church banners. A priest was needed at the head of theprocession so that “revolutionary blood would be spilled,” as the SocialistRevolutionaries said. On the eve of the workers’ procession, on the evening ofJanuary 8, the Minister of Internal Affairs Pyotr Svyatopolk-Mirsky convened ameeting. Based on its results, the authorities came to two decisions: to arrestpriest Georgy Gapon; not to allow the workers onto Palace Square and to set upoutposts along the procession’s route. The government authorized the troops touse force, although everyone believed that it would not come to that. In fact,power in the capital passed to the military. The police were unable to carryout the order. They found the priest in a working-class district and did notdetain him in order to avoid a clash. Morning, January 9. The people take theirplaces in the procession. The procession, the character of which wasrevolutionary from the very beginning. Gapon constantly shouted from the crowd:"If we are refused, then we no longer have a Tsar." Later, in aninterview with the newspapers, he described his actions as follows: "Ithought it would be good to give the whole demonstration a religious character.The procession moved to the powerful singing of "Save, O Lord, Yourpeople," and when it came to the words "To our Emperor NikolaiAlexandrovich," the representatives of the socialist parties invariablyreplaced them with the words "save Georgy Apollonovich," while othersrepeated "death or freedom." The procession was a solid mass, andwhen the procession moved, the police not only did not hinder us, but walkedwith us without their hats…” Among all the others in the crowd, the journalistAlexander Matyushensky stood out, who had previously drafted the ill-fatedpetition to the Tsar together with Gapon. The journalist pushed women andchildren into the massacre in order to more reliably achieve his goal. And hethought this way: “the destruction of adult men will be forgiven, but women,mothers with babies at their breasts - never! So, let them go, I thought tomyself, let them perish and with them perish the only symbol that has shackledRussia with the shackles of slavery, torment and groans.” Each column of workershad its own representative of the revolutionary organization (there were 11 intotal). The militant organization of the Socialist Revolutionaries preparedweapons. Representatives of the RSDLP prepared agitators and standard-bearers.With each agitator there was a defender (in fact, an armed bandit). Among thedelegation of workers there were to be armed militants.

If the Tsarhad come out to the people, he would have been simply killed. The first meetingof workers with the troops took place at 12 o'clock in the afternoon near theNarva Gate. 3,000 workers were moving along the Peterhof Highway to theTriumphal Gate, carrying banners and portraits of the Tsar. They were met bypolice officers who tried to persuade them not to go to the city center, asthey could create a dangerous situation. But all the admonitions did not leadto any result. Then a more powerful squadron of the Horse Grenadier Regimenttook up the matter, but at that moment Lieutenant Zholtkevich was seriouslywounded by a shot from the crowd, and the local police officer was killed. Thecrowd began to disperse, shots from it were heard more and more often. Theplatoon non-commissioned officer was struck in the head with a cross. The firstvictims were not workers, but soldiers. Major General Samghin reported: “Atabout 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the crowd on the 4th Line, having increasedsignificantly in number, began to set up barbed wire, build barricades andthrow out red flags. The companies moved forward. During the movement of thecompanies, bricks and stones were thrown from house No. 35 along the 4th Line,as well as from the house under construction opposite it, and shots were fired.On Maly Prospekt, the crowd rallied and began to shoot. Then one half-companyof the 89th Belomorsky Infantry Regiment fired 3 volleys. During these actions,one student was arrested for addressing the soldiers with a defiant speech, anda loaded revolver was found on him. During the actions of the troops onVasilievsky Island, the troops detained 163 people for robbery and armedresistance.” The Emperor's standard was hung on the Winter Palace so that thelower ranks of the police and the Cossacks would think that they were guardingthe Tsar, but the Tsar had long been safe in the Alexander Palace in TsarskoyeTselo, which only the highest ranks of the police and military knew about. Thelocation of the Emperor was a state secret, since the Tsar was afraid ofmilitants, social democrats and social revolutionaries. Columns, includingrevolutionary terrorists, went out to Palace Square. If the Emperor had goneout to meet them... he would have received a bullet. Then - the capture of theWinter Palace and the establishment of anarchy in the country, and this despitethe fact that there was a war with Japan. But the police and Cossacks dispersedeveryone. After the dispersal of the procession at the Narvskaya Zastava, thepriest Gapon was led away from the square by a group of workers and theSocialist Revolutionary P. M. Rutenberg. In the courtyard, they cut his hairand dressed him in civilian clothes, and then hid him in Maxim Gorky'sapartment.

Accordingto eyewitnesses, Gapon was shocked by the shooting of the demonstration. Hesat, staring at one point, nervously clenching his fist and repeating: “Iswear… I swear…” Having come to his senses, he asked for paper and wrote amessage to the workers. The message said: “Comrade Russian workers! We nolonger have a tsar. A river of blood has flowed between him and the Russianpeople today. It is time for Russian workers to begin the struggle for people’sfreedom without him. I bless you for today. Tomorrow I will be among you,” andhe left for abroad. On “Bloody Sunday,” as it was later called by the people,slightly less than 1,000 people were killed and up to 2,000 were wounded.

The Emperorimmediately responded to the events in St. Petersburg. MinistersSvyatopolk-Mirsky and Muravyov were dismissed. Trepov was appointed the newgovernor-general, who calmed the capital that same day. Upon arrival fromTsarskoye Selo on January 19, the emperor met with a deputation of St.Petersburg workers. He addressed the working delegation with the followingspeech: "The deplorable events with the sad but inevitable consequences ofthe troubles occurred because you allowed yourself to be misled and deceived bytraitors and enemies of our Motherland. I know that the life of a worker is noteasy. A lot needs to be improved and streamlined."

After that,he returned to Tsarskoye Selo, and since then he has never spent the night inthe Winter Palace, fearing militants and revolutionaries who would find iteasier to kill him in the center of St. Petersburg than in Tsarskoye Selo,Pavlovsk, Peterhof or Gatchina, where the tsar now preferred to live. The tsargave the people the right to freedom of assembly and mutual assistance, theopportunity to organize leisure and self-education. Libraries and free lecturehalls were organized at the offices of the "Assembly". The leadershipof the "Assembly" successfully defended the rights of its members,canceled illegal fines and dismissal decisions. And the tsar categoricallyrejected the introduction of the constitution, but introduced the First StateDuma in 1905, having the right to veto the laws it passed, and the tsar had theright to dissolve the State Duma in cases of its disobedience.

Chapter 21.The murder of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich.

In earlyJanuary 1905, His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, popularlyknown as Prince Khodynsky, a member of the State Council, resigned asGovernor-General of Moscow, but remained at the head of the district's troops,becoming Commander-in-chief of the Moscow Military District. To do this, theprince traveled to Tsarskoye Selo, met with the emperor, who appointed himCommander-in-Chief of Moscow, and received from Nicholas a breast portrait ofAlexander III, which he has worn on his chest ever since.

And hereturned to Moscow. He lived in Moscow with his wife, Grand Duchess ElizabethFeodorovna. On February 3, they had dinner together at home and talked. Therewas Tsarevich champagne on the table, Fireman's cutlets with baked potatoes,horseradish piglet, sturgeon caviar with pancakes, ice cream, chocolate, grapesand sweets. There was a samovar with tea in the center of the table. Sergeitold his wife worriedly: "There is a revolutionary committee in St.Petersburg, Vladimir Filipov, the Head of the St. Petersburg Detective Police,told me about this. He said that riots were brewing in both capitals, and therecould be a revolution. And so it happened on January 9, and it was withdifficulty suppressed by the police and the military. But we must expect acontinuation of the riot in Moscow." - "It's good that you are nolonger the governor-general, you will no longer have to be responsible for thesituation in Moscow," said his wife. Let's drink champagne to the Emperor,Sergei proposed a toast. The servant serving at the table opened a bottle,poured champagne into their glasses and moved aside, standing at a distance.They raised their glasses, clinked them together, and took a sip. The wife toldher husband: "Everyone has their own children, but we don't have our ownand we won't have any, your nephews are wonderful children whom we are raising,but I didn't give birth to them. I'm going to die an old maid without knowingwhat the joys of love and motherhood are.… I went to the church of theOrdination of the Sacrament in the afternoon, I prayed for your soul."

"Thankyou for praying for me. You have made a vow of chastity to God, so followit," the prince replied to the princess. - "In Kazan, I talked withElder Grigory Rasputin. He blessed me. He wanted to raise money for theconstruction of a church in his village in the Tobolsk province and went to St.Petersburg for this. As soon as I meet him, I'm thinking of donating 200 rublesto him, I'll do it as soon as I go to St. Petersburg and ask him to pray foryou to leave your sin," she continued. "Let's not talk aboutit," Sergei said, finishing his glass of champagne. Elizabeth alsofinished her champagne and had a bite of grapes. Then they had dinner insilence, at the end of the dinner they drank tea, wished each other good night,and went to bed each in their own rooms, they always slept separately from eachother. Before going to bed, the princess prayed for a long time at the icon ofthe Kazan Mother of God, which hung in her bedroom in the corner. The next day,on February 4, at about 3 p.m., the Grand Duke drove off in a carriage from theNicholas Palace in the Kremlin; upon approaching the Nikolskaya Tower, he wastorn apart by an "infernal car" thrown by a member of the"Militant Organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party" IvanKalyaev, who was detained by the police on the spot. (two days before, onFebruary 2, Ivan refused to throw a bomb at the carriage, seeing that his wifeand young nephews were sitting next to the Grand Duke); he died immediately,the coachman was fatally wounded, the carriage was blown apart. The GrandDuke's body was dismembered by the explosion. The wounded driver, AndreyRudinkin, was taken to the Yauz hospital, where he died shortly afterwards.Elizabeth was informed of her husband's death by a policeman and fainted whenhe told her this. The Grand Duke was buried with great honors, and a memorialservice was held on February 10, 1905, in the Alekseevskaya Church of theChudov Monastery. His remains were soon interred in a shrine built under theAlekseevskaya Church. His remains were soon interred in a shrine built underthe Alekseevskaya Church. On February 7, Grand Duchess Elizabeth visited herhusband's murderer, terrorist Kalyaev, in prison and forgave him on herhusband's behalf. "She, who is forgiving by nature, felt the need to say aword of comfort to Kalyaev, who had so inhumanely taken her husband and friendaway from her." After learning that Kalyaev was a believer, she presentedhim with the Gospel and a small icon, calling him to repentance. She even askedthe emperor to pardon the murderer. "On April 23, at noon, a prosecutorappeared in Kalyaev's cell and told Ivan Kalyaev that his execution wasscheduled for 2 o'clock. Not a single muscle twitched on the convict's face.The prosecutor submitted to him for signature a petition for pardon addressedto Nicholas II. Kalyaev resolutely refused this and asked to be given tea andfood. The prosecutor left, but re-entered 8 times and begged Kalyaev to signthe petition in the "highest name." The convict categorically refusedeach time. "He asked the confessor who came to him to leave, saying thathe had his own religion, an internal one, that his conscience was calm, that hewas convinced that he had done nothing wrong. Kalyaev came out of the cell socalmly, with such confidence, as if he were going for a walk. The authoritiesof the Schlisselburg fortress have never seen such iron calm, in which,however, many victims have already died. Ivan Kalyaev was executed by hanging.

After herhusband's murder, Elizabeth Feodorovna left the secular life and founded theMartha and Mary Monastery, but she did not become a nun herself, but did a lotof charity work. The tsar attended the funeral service in Moscow and then wentback to St. Petersburg. The murder of Grand Duke Sergei shocked conservativemonarchical circles of society, but among revolutionaries and oppositionintellectuals, the news was greeted with satisfaction, as evidenced by acynical joke of the time: "Finally, the Grand Duke had to think aboutit!" "Blood causes blood,— wrote the French newspaper Gil Belge».

Chapter 22.The spiritual seance of Doctor Papus.

Nicholas IIthought a lot about what his late father would do in his place. On all sides,the emperor was demanded to introduce a constitution in Russia, a parliamentwith deputies - the State Duma, freedom of assembly and concessions forworkers, but there were also sensible voices of supporters of absolutemonarchy. Nikolai Alexandrovich often dreamed of his father, who did not sayanything in his dreams, but looked his son straight in the eyes and was silent,as if afraid to say something. And Nikolai remembered that Papus and NizierPhilip were successfully engaged in spiritualism, and the tsar decided tosummon the spirit of Alexander III and invited the magician Papus to come toRussia once more. In October 1905, Mason Mage Papus arrived in St. Petersburg,Moscow was terrorized by the uprising, and some mysterious organizationannounced a general railway strike. The magician was immediately invited toTsarskoye Tselo. After a brief conversation with the tsar and tsarica, the nextday he held a solemn ceremony to summon the spirits of the deceased in theAlexander Palace in the emperor's office. The electric light was turned off andcandles were lit. It was half past eleven at night. Apart from the tsar and thetsarica, there was only one person present at this secret liturgy: theemperor's young adjutant, Captain Mandrygka, who later became a major generaland governor of Tiflis. There was a Ouija board on the table. Nikolai,Alexandra Feodorovna and Papus put their hands on a triangular pointer called atablet. The tablet is lying on the board itself, on which the words"yes" and "no" are written in the upper corners, theletters of the alphabet are in the center, and the phrase "Goodbye"is at the bottom. By the intense concentration of his will, by the amazingexaltation of his fluid dynamism, Papus succeeded in evoking the spirit of themost pious Tsar Alexander III; the unmistakable signs testified to the presenceof an invisible shadow. Despite the horror that gripped his heart, Nicholas IIasked his father whether he should or should not fight the liberal trends thatthreatened to captivate Russia. The spirit responded by moving the tabletacross the board, which the magician interpreted as follows: "thatNicholas should suppress all revolutionary actions," then the table shook,and the spirit of Alexander III entered Papyrus and the magician said inAlexander III's voice: "You must, by all means, suppress the incipientrevolution; but it will still be revived, and it will be all the stronger, themore severe the repression must be now. Whatever happens, cheer up, my son.Don't stop fighting." After that, the spirit of Emperor Alexander III leftthe spiritualist's body and the table stopped shaking. The astonished tsar andtsarina were still puzzling over this ominous prediction when Papus declaredthat his mental strength gave him the opportunity to prevent the predictedcatastrophe, but that his spell would cease as soon as he himself disappeared"from the physical plane." Then he solemnly performed the incantationritual. The Tsar thanked the Teacher (as he called him) for the session, andthen adjutant Mandrygka turned on the light in the office. The conversationcontinued on the topic of Christianity in general, the advent of the lasttimes, the coming of the Antichrist and the ideas of Martinism. The teacherproposed to establish a Martinist lodge in Russia, and the tsar replied that hewould think about it. Then we drank port wine with snacks and went our separateways.

Chapter 23.The end of the war.

And theRussian squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral Rozhestvensky was destroyedin the area of Tsushima Island in the Korean Strait on May 15, 1905.

Russia lostthe war and concluded the unfavorable Portsmouth Peace Treaty on August 23,1905 in the city of Portsmouth in the North American States. According to theTreaty, the treaty between Russia and China, which provided for a militaryalliance of Russia and China against Japan, was terminated, as well as thetermination of the Russo-Chinese Convention of 1898 on the lease of theLiaodong Peninsula, including Port Arthur, and the payment of a largecompensation to Japan (the Tsar did not fulfill the last point, later callingit impudence on the part of Japan).

Rasputinhorrified everyone with his prediction of the death of the 2nd Russiansquadron, and the impressionable Montenegrin princesses Militsa and Stana, whohad already met Rasputin in Kyiv on a pilgrimage to the courtyard of theMikhailovsky Monastery, when they arrived at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, saw inhim even then a man with a spiritual gift.

Now inPetersburg, the princesses invited Rasputin to dinner at their Znamenka estatenear Peterhof. There was dinner and conversations on spiritual topics.

They talkedabout Rasputin's prediction, the princesses remembered Master Philippe anddrank to his repose, they recently learned of his recent death on August 5,drank a lot of French wines, which Rasputin refused. Rasputin said to theprincesses:

-"Let's drink vodka for the repose of Philip" and he drank it togetherwith the princesses. He drank two decanters of vodka, and then some Crimeanport wine - Grigory drank all of this, and the ladies drank two bottles ofBordeaux, refusing vodka.

The nextday they arrived at the Sergeyevka estate, located nearby, and continued tocommunicate there.

Thesubmarine "Yersh" was stationed near the Lower Palace of Peterhof,where the royal family lived in 1905. Nicholas II himself wrote about thissubmarine in his diary on October 11, 1905: We visited the submarine"Yersh," which has been stationed in front of our windows for thepast five months. The sea was like a mirror. After tea, I received Bulygin. Inthe evening, I took Alix to Sonya Orbeliani's house and returned home. I spentthe evening reading. A week later, two fast German destroyers approached Peterhof.Nicholas II noted in his diary: "The naval agent Gintze arrived with twoGerman destroyers from Memel, carrying the embassy's mail." The Tsarreceived the destroyer commanders at the Peterhof Palace. During the dinner,His Majesty asked them, "Will the Kaiser be able to receive us if we areforced to flee a possible revolution?" "Undoubtedly, the German sidewill provide you and your family with a warm welcome and support," thedestroyer commander replied. "We can take our submarine to Tallinn, whereyou will meet us."

Chapter 24.Threads of conspiracy. Grand Duchesses Stanitsa and Militsa.

Two days later, Grand Duchess Stanitsa and Grand Duchess Militsa escortedRasputin from the Sergeyevka estate after a long dinner, having received hisblessing and donated money to him for the construction of a church in hisnative village of Pokrovskoe. After which an Englishman, sent by Britishintelligence, came to their estate under the guise of a business visit. Aservant reported to Militsa and Stanitsa when they were sitting in the livingroom: "A gentleman has come from the King of Great Britain, Sir MichaelGere." "Invite him," Militsa answered. A man of medium height,dressed in the latest fashion, entered and, bowing slightly to the ladies,began a conversation in English: "Hello, Your Excellencies, I am sent byHis Majesty." "Sit down, what will you drink?" asked Stanitsa(the conversation continued in English). – “Scotch whiskey,” the Englishmananswered and sat down on the sofa opposite the coffee table. The princesses weresitting opposite him on chairs. “Bring whiskey,” Stanitsa said to the servantwho had been standing in the doorway all this time. The servant went forwhiskey and returned with a bottle of “Old Highland” and a shot glass. Then heput the bottle on the table and poured whiskey into the shot glass and left.Sir Gere took a sip of whiskey and began: “There was a meeting in the lodge atwhich it was decided that YOU should somehow convince (without reference toEngland) the Empress that the Tsar should not prevent the businessman EmmanuelNobel from buying up oil wells in Azerbaijan; let her say that he is her friendin spiritual interests and is a member of a secret society, and that the policypursued by Russia – to achieve a state monopoly on oil – interferes with hisbusiness. And you also need to gain the trust of Grand Duke MikhailAlexandrovich (the time will come and he will replace Nikolai), you need tomake friends with Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, also with Grand Duke KirillVladimirovich and you need to meet with Prince Felix Yusupov Jr. and give him aletter from his friend from college at Oxford University, Samuel Hoare. Havingsaid this, he pulled out an envelope sealed with wax and handed it to Stanitsa.She took the envelope and asked: "And what if Nikolai is soon toppled fromthe throne and there will be Mikhail?" - "We are working on this anda lot depends on you, but do not tell Mikhail anything about his role rightaway, just gain his trust and tell him that the king will be glad to meet himin London unofficially for a confidential conversation this year," theEnglishman finished his speech, finishing his glass of whiskey. - "Okay,we are at His Majesty's service, tell him that we will do everything,"said Militsa. Sir Richard stood up, saying, "I will convey everything,allow me to take my leave," and left.

Chapter 25.Lenin and Gapon.

After the Bloody Sunday, Father Gapon initially left the capital, and sooncrossed the border to Switzerland. In February, Gapon arrived in Geneva, wherehe took part in an inter-party conference and even temporarily joined theSocialist Revolutionary Party. The Geneva "inter-party conference"took place in April 1905. Representatives of 11 revolutionary parties of Russiagathered there. The Bolsheviks did not participate in this conference; theyheld their "III Congress of the RSDLP(b)" in London. After the IICongress of the "RSDLP", Ulyanov-Lenin ceased his activity in theCentral Organ of the newspaper "Iskra", and left it, since he couldno longer freely dispose of the party's publishing fund. Gapon was electedchairman of the conference, and Nikolai Annensky, who was still an SocialistRevolutionary, was elected secretary. Lenin created his own faction ofsupporters in the "RSDLP" back in 1904. Meanwhile, in Russia, onMarch 10, 1905, the Governing Synod, on the recommendation of MetropolitanAnthony (Vadkovsky) on March 4, defrocked Georgy Gapon and expelled him fromthe clergy. Gapon became a secular person. In Geneva, Gapon met Lenin. Themeeting took place "tete-a-tete" in a cafe. Lenin was noticeablynervous. There was Bavarian beer in mugs on the table, Lenin drank a mug withGapon to their acquaintance and they became friends, and Gapon "lent"him "money for the revolution." Gapon always had money and gave itout "on credit" in bundles, without counting, at the first request.Georgy Gapon personally led the life of an ascetic. Ulyanov-Lenin, in aconversation with Georgy Gapon, warmly supported the idea of unification andpromised Gapon to return the "borrowed" money in the near future andto speak out with the "idea of unification" at the upcoming congress of the "RSDLP". Followingthe meeting, Ulyanov-Lenin wrote an article "On a Combat Agreement for anUprising", in which he cited the text of Gapon's "letter-appeal"and expressed support for him. Speaking at a meeting of 24 of his supportersand friends in the spring of 1905 in London, which was later renamed the IIICongress of the "RSDLP", Bolsheviks, Lenin characterized Gapon as"a man who is unconditionally devoted to the revolution, proactive andintelligent, although, unfortunately, without a consistent revolutionaryworldview", caring too much about the lives of the workers. 21 people fromthose who arrived were declared delegates from various Russian committees ofthe "RSDLP", and Ulyanov-Lenin was "registered" as adelegate with a mandate from the Odessa Committee. The Geneva "inter-partyconference" took place in April 1905. Representatives of 11 revolutionaryparties of Russia came to it. The Bolsheviks did not participate in thisconference, they gathered their "III Congress of the RSDLP(b)" inLondon. Georgy Gapon was elected chairman of the "Conference", andNikolai Annensky, a former Socialist Revolutionary, was elected secretary.

Despite theabsence of the Bolshevik Social Democrats at the Conference, it yieldedvaluable practical results. As a result of the Conference, two declarationswere adopted, which proclaimed the common goals of the assembled parties: an“armed uprising,” the convocation of a “Constituent Assembly,” the proclamationof a “Democratic Republic,” and the “Socialization of the Land.” At theConference, an agreement was reached to create a “United Combat Committee,”which was to lead the preparations for the uprising. In addition to Gaponhimself, the committee included Breshko-Breshkovskaya and Prince Khilkov. Thepurpose of the “Combat Committee” was to increase the moral strength of therevolution, create faith in the unity of revolutionary forces, and facilitate“combat agreements” between parties within Russia. Before that, on theinitiative of Ulyanov-Lenin, in 1904, the All-Russian Bolshevik Party Center,the "Bureau of Majority Committees" (BKB), was created to convene theIII Congress of the "RSDLP" of the Bolsheviks. This was announced forthe legal cover of the activities of the "Combat Center", which beganto prepare for the implementation of "expropriations","ex", as Ulyanov-Lenin called robberies and armed attacks on statebanks and money depositories. Other currents of revolutionaries, socialistrevolutionaries, "SRs" and anarchists, who preferred to robmanufacturers, merchants, shopkeepers, did not climb into the state treasury,were also engaged in obtaining money, robberies, for party activities and thelife of "professional" revolutionaries.

Chapter 26. Traitors and informers (secret employees of the Secret Police).

Meanwhile, Japanese military intelligence sponsored the transportation ofweapons for Russian revolutionaries on the steamship John Grafton. On August26, 1905, the steamship John Grafton, carrying weapons for the SocialistRevolutionaries, purchased by the international group of Connie Zilliacus,Akashi Motojiro and priest Georgy Gapon, who wanted the House of Romanov to diesoon, ran aground on a rocky shoal 22 kilometers from the Finnish island. Thecrew was unable to transport the weapons to the island and blew up the ship.The militant organization of the Socialist Revolutionaries was led by theOkhranka (Russian Secret Police Service) gent provocateur Yevno Azef, who receiveda huge reward from the Okhranka for the fact that the steamship would not reachRussia and would sink. Yevno gave part of the reward to the captain of theship, and he ran it aground.

In April1906, the IV Congress of the RSDLP in Stockholm rejected"expropriations" as a form of obtaining money and resolved: "...not to seize the capital of the State Bank, the treasury and other governmentinstitutions." Lenin did not agree with the resolution. And in May, by amajority vote, the ban on "expropriations" was adopted. One of theactive militants was Joseph Dzhugashvili, acting under the pseudonym Koba, aformer seminarian expelled from the seminary along with Anastas Mikoyan. Kobaorganized successful raids on banks in order to replenish the party coffers.

After beingarrested in 1906, Joseph was recruited by the head of the Tiflis GendarmerieDepartment and agreed to cooperate with the Okhrana as an agent of the Kobapolice. He provided valuable intelligence about his comrades, leading toarrests and the sentencing of some of them to hard labor in Siberia. Later, in1908, Koba provided information to the head of the Baku Security Department,and then, upon his arrival in St. Petersburg, he became an agent of the St.Petersburg Security Department with a high salary, allowing him to livecomfortably in the capital.

IsidorRamishvili, a Menshevik, was the secretary of the Batumi Committee of theRSDLP. In 1903, he publicly accused Joseph Dzhugashvili of being a secret agentof the Okhrana (the Tsarist secret police), but he was unable to prove it. In1905, Joseph returned to Batumi from Stockholm, where he had attended the firstconference of the RSDLP alongside Lenin.

Ramishvili,who was a former member of the first State Duma from the Kutaisi province, metwith Dzhugashvili in an outdoor cafe. They had a conversation over a glass ofKindzmarauli wine:

"Youcan't blame me for anything after Stockholm, where you were and saw that Leninand all the comrades consider me the best in the Caucasus," Joseph said toIsidor in Georgian, sipping his wine.

"I sawyou in 1903 at the Kutaisi Gendarmerie Department, where you shook hands withthe police chief as if he were your friend," Ramishvili replied.

They brokeyou there!"

"That'sa lie, I stood my ground despite all the torture and hardship. I didn't shakehands with the police chief, you're lying. He interrogated me," Jukashvilireplied sharply.

"Itwas me who was interrogated in 1903, but I didn't tell them anything, just likeyou were expelled from the Tiflis Theological Seminary. For your involvementwith your friend Anastas Mikoyan. "You should be expelled from the partyand tried for treason, Judas!" exclaimed Isidore.

"You'rea gossip and a fool, no one will listen to you," said Joseph, throwing aglass of wine in Isidore's face, and then stood up and left. Isidore shoutedafter him, "Secret agent!".

Koba was also involved in expropriations,looting money for the party coffers for the needs of the RSDLP. He organized arobbery (in the language of the RSDLP members, "expropriation" orex), committed on June 13, 1907, on Tbilisi's Erivan Square, which went down inhistory as one of the most daring and major crimes of the early twentiethcentury. The attackers, who killed three people who were accompanying thearmored car and injured 50 others, escaped with 250,000 rubles. Max (Meer)Wallach (Litvinov), Joseph Stalin, and Simon Ter-Petrosyan (Kamo), a residentof Tbilisi, were tasked by Vladimir Lenin, who was in Berlin at the time, withpreparing the robbery. The bombs were made by Leonid Krasin, the futurePeople's Commissar for Foreign Trade of the USSR.

The robbershad accomplices in the Tiflis branch of the State Bank, who informed them aboutthe time and place of the collectors' passage, as well as the amount of moneythey were carrying. Kamo provided practical guidance in place of Koba. Togetherwith him, Tbilisi criminals Eliso Lomidze, Datiko Chiabrishvili, BochuaKupriashvili, Stepko Intskirveli, Vano Kalandadze, as well as ladies – AnnetaSulakvelidze and Patia Goldava, took part in the attack on the collectors.These same names were mentioned in the memoirs of Kamo's widow, SofiaMedvedeva-Ter-Petrosyan. The girls tracked the route of theинкассаторов' phaeton, warned their accomplices,and helped them escape in the labyrinthine streets of Tbilisi after the attack.The "expropriators" threw several bombs (according to varioussources, eight, as stated by the guard Zhilyayev during the interrogation) atthe phaeton. Revolvers were also used in the attack. Kamo, dressed in anofficer's uniform, caught up with the horses that had carried the phaeton afterthe first explosion and, using a revolver, seized two bags of money, after whichthe attackers fled, and none of them were detained. Koba was an informant forthe Tsarist secret police and was supposed to inform the police departmentabout the planned attack. However, he did not do so, as he had taken most ofthe stolen money for himself, and little reached the party's coffers. Duringthe robbery, Koba stood in the doorway of the house, smoking and observing thebloody scene as one of the organizers. The revolutionaries managed to transfersome of the stolen funds abroad, specifically to Paris and Munich, where theyattempted to exchange them for local currency. The French and German policearrested several couriers carrying large amounts of money, and these arrestswere quickly linked to the "ex" incident in Tiflis. In the autumn ofthe same year, 1907, Ter-Petrosyan was arrested in Berlin, and the local policefound weapons, explosives, and revolutionary literature in his apartment. Hefeigned insanity in the Moabit prison and was extradited to Russia. Three yearslater, he escaped from a psychiatric hospital in Tiflis and managed to crossthe border. In Paris, he met with Lenin. Upon his return to Russia, heattempted to organize another party "ex" on the Korjok Highway, butthe attack failed and most of the gang members fled.

Kamo wasarrested again and sentenced to hanging for each of the four crimes he wasaccused of. However, the militant was granted an amnesty on the occasion of the300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, and his death sentence was commutedto 20 years of hard labor.

Chapter 27.Mr. Parvus.

AlexanderParvus met Leon Trotsky (Bronstein) in January 1905 and handed over the moneyhe had received from the German government to increase the circulation of“Iskra” and “Russkaya Gazeta”.

The meetingtook place in Munich, in Parvus's house. Parvus's house was furnished withexpensive furniture. The walls were covered with impressionist paintings byOscar Claude Monet, Edouard Manet and other famous artists. Nothing remindedone of the house of a "fighter against imperialism", rather thishouse looked like an aristocrat's mansion.

-"Hello, Lyova," Parvus said to Trotsky when he entered his house.

-"Hello, Israel Lazarevich," Trotsky replied and extended his hand,which Parvus shook firmly.

-"Come into the living room to have dinner," the host of the housecontinued. The table was already set with German sausages, Bavarian beer, porkstew with potatoes and vegetables. Parvus first poured himself some beer, thenhis friend, and said a toast: "Let's drink to the world revolution!"

"Let'sdrink," Trotsky replied. They drank beer, ate, and then another toast fromTrotsky. "To the overthrow of autocracy in Russia!" Trotsky said andclinked glasses with Parvus, after which they both drank and began to discussbusiness.

-"KaiserWilhelm and the German Foreign Ministry are interested in weakening Russia andhave allocated funds for the revolution in Russia and for the collapse of theruble, which will contribute to this. We must both go to St. Petersburg andcreate a Council of Workers' Deputies there, which will take power into its ownhands after January 9 and support the participants of January 9 and theirfamily members. We also need to increase the circulation of the Iskra andRusskaya Gazeta newspapers.

- "Ino longer collaborate with Iskra, Lenin decides everything there," saidTrotsky, "but I write articles in Russkaya Gazeta and can place yourprogram there."

- "Wewill decide about Lenin and Iskra later, and in “Russkaya Gazeta” we will needto print an economic manifesto. And we will need another new newspaper, inwhich we will also pay for a large print run," answered Parvus.

- "Weneed to unite both parts of the RSDLP, we have a common cause of revolution. Weneed a revolution first in Russia with the coming to power of the RSDLP, andthen throughout the world," continued Trotsky.

- "Weneed to finally agree with you on the economic manifesto now, namely: we needto print in large print runs that the tsarist government is spending all itsmoney on the army and navy, and at the same time lost the Russo-Japanese War.It also spends money to support industrialists, bankers and aristocrats, andthe interests of the people are not taken into account. The country has badroads, few new roads are being built, few new schools are being opened, and theruble exchange rate in these conditions will fall in the near future.Therefore, we can call on the people to take all their savings from the banks,demand payment in gold money or gold, and not take paper money. This in turnwill weaken the banking sector and the banks will have to look for where to getmoney abroad at interest, and Germany will demand payment on all loans andcredits. Russian banks have credit obligations to German banks, and I canassure you that there will be inflation in Russia and possibly chaos,” Parvusconcluded his speech.

- “I fullysupport,” Trotsky replied. - “We are going to Petersburg, and how much moneydid the Kaiser allocate to us?” Lev Davidovich asked.

- “I havehere bills of exchange for the Sibirsky Bank for the required amount, writtenout in marks. They will exchange it for rubles, and I will give it to you inrubles, in Petersburg."

"Excellent,"Trotsky replied, got up from the table and said: "If everything isdecided, I will go make false passports to enter Russia," and, shakinghands with Parvus, left.

"Goodbye,friend," Parvus said to Trotsky as he left the house and shook his hand.

The nextday, Parvus went to meet Lenin in Geneva.

In Geneva,the meeting took place in an apartment rented by Lenin. Parvus outlined ascheme according to which the revolution could not take place without financingfrom Germany. Lenin agreed, squinted and asked: - "Will you be able togive Trotsky enough money in Petersburg to continue the cause of the revolutionafter the unsuccessful uprising of January 9?"

-"Yes, enough. I will go to Petersburg myself on a false passport and giveTrotsky and the Socialist Revolutionary militants 800 thousand rubles. TheKaiser allocated it for the cause of the revolution, I have bills with me forthe Siberian Bank. And from you, I want you to increase the circulation ofIskra and continue your agitation there. Take 30 thousand German marks, and youcan spend some of it on your expenses,” answered Parvus, and took a wad ofbills from his bag and put them on the table in front of Lenin.

“Thank you,I will not write a receipt,” answered Lenin.

There was asamovar and cups of tea with saucers on the table. Sandwiches with cheese andham lay on a plate. The comrades drank tea with sandwiches. Parvus stood up,shook Lenin’s hand, and said:

-“Goodbye,Comrade Lenin.”

-“Goodbye,”answered Lenin, and Parvus left.

In October1905, with the beginning of the All-Russian strike, Parvus arrived in St.Petersburg. Together with Trotsky, Parvus created the St. Petersburg Council ofWorkers' Deputies and headed the Executive Committee. Then Alexander Parvusbrought money not only to Trotsky, but also to the editor of the "Russiannewspaper", which continued agitation and printed articles that, accordingto Germany's plans, influenced the collapse of the ruble exchange rate.Together with the Mensheviks and Trotsky, he organized the printing of thenewspaper "Beginning". Parvus spoke at strikes, at factories and waspopular. Parvus paid workers for every day they missed work. Each workerreceived more money from the party funds than if he had gone to work, and additionallyfor participating in demonstrations. The worker who shouted slogans at thedemonstration received the most. The militants separately received their moneyand weapons, which they used against the police during the demonstration.Parvus's finest hour was the publication of his "FinancialManifesto", which dealt with corruption in the government, its insolvencyand false balance sheets. On behalf of the Workers' Council, Parvus declaredthat "the Russian people will not pay the debts on all those loans thatthe tsarist government concluded when it was clearly and openly waging war onits own people."

After whichParvus was arrested and spent some time in the Peter and Paul Fortress, payingfor expensive suits and silk ties for himself from there. K. Kautsky and RosaLuxemburg came to visit him. Trotsky was also arrested.

At thetrial in the autumn of 1906, he was tried along with other members of theExecutive Committee. Trotsky received a life sentence with settlement inSiberia with the deprivation of all rights, and Parvus only three years withserving in the Turukhansk region. But both Parvus and Trotsky escaped on theirway to exile, after which Parvus spent a long time in Europe and did not returnto Russia.

Chapter 28.The Sveaborg Uprising.

In the summer of 1906, the garrison of the Sveaborg naval fortress nearHelsinki, dissatisfied with their financial situation and the commandant's"tightening of the screws," rebelled. The rebels fought governmenttroops with the support of the Finnish Red Guards for three days. "Thecity at that time presented an unprecedented spectacle. Rarely a Finnishcitizen was sitting at home. Everyone poured out into the streets. The workerswere especially excited. They were called to a general strike. Proclamationscalling for a strike were pasted on the walls and poles," which were hungaround the city by the Bolshevik activist Meer Trilisser and his comrades. Therevolutionary unrest affected not only the capital of the Grand Duchy ofFinland. The garrison of Sveaborg, a fortress located near Helsingfors, alsorevolted. The sailors fought government troops for several days, but weredefeated. The Sveaborg fortress was founded in the 18th century by the Swedes,who owned the territory of Finland at the time. The fortification on the coastof the Gulf of Finland, near the port of Helsingfors, was advanced for itstime.

It wasbuilt in the hope of a successful defense against Russia, with which theScandinavians fought three times throughout the 18th century. In 1808, duringthe next and last Russo-Swedish War, the fortress passed to the Russians andbecame Russia's defensive base in the Baltic. The fortress, together withFinland, came into the possession of St. Petersburg. Sveaborg became animportant link in the defense system of the capital of the empire from the sea.In October 1905, a political strike began in Helsinki. Red Guard units led bythe Social Democrat Johan Kock began to appear on the streets. They activelyinteracted with Russian revolutionaries, carried out sabotage, blew uprailways, and participated in clashes with the police. Largely due to their activities,Finland, which had been suffering from forced Russification for several years,received some political concessions. In October 1905, discontent spread to theSveaborg garrison. Some lower ranks, whose term of service was coming to anend, expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that they were not allowed to gohome. In addition, there were complaints about the quality of food anduniforms. The commandant of Sveaborg, Nestor Kaigorodov, managed to calm theconflict by persuasion, promising to fulfill (under some pressure from otherofficers) the material demands of his subordinates. However, the officer'sinitiative was not duly appreciated in St. Petersburg. The commandant wasremoved from his post, an investigative commission was sent to the fortress,which decided to punish some officers. A new commander, Vladimir Laiming, wasappointed to Sveaborg, who strengthened control over the mood of the garrison.This control most often consisted of frequent searches, which, of course, couldnot lead to the soldiers' calm. The Bolsheviks knew about the events takingplace in Sveaborg. One of the officers, a Socialist Revolutionary captain whohad joined the Socialist Revolutionary Party from the camp of Lenin'ssupporters, distributed the newspaper "Bulletin of the Barracks"among the soldiers, which he himself edited. In addition to him, the agitationof the lower ranks was carried out by second lieutenants Arkady Yemelyanov andYevgeny Kokhansky, who had been transferred to Sveaborg in the summer of 1905.The gendarmes were well aware of what was happening: "In Helsingfors,almost daily Russian-Finnish rallies of a revolutionary nature are held.

Socialdemocratic agitation is successful not only among the lower ranks, but alsoamong the officers." The Bolsheviks began to develop a plan for anuprising in July 1906. The revolutionaries formed a military and combat centerthat united both Russian and Finnish Social Democrats. Its representative inSveaborg was the already mentioned Meer Trilisser. According to therevolutionaries' plan, the uprising in the fortress was only part of a generaluprising in the navy. The agitation fell on fertile ground. The harsh measuresintroduced by Commandant Laiming, coupled with the increasing materialproblems, were already exhausting the patience of the ordinary soldiers of thegarrison. Particular indignation was caused by the cancellation of the paymentof so-called "wine" money, which the lower ranks often spent not onalcoholic beverages, but on new boots. On July 15, news reached the Sveaborggarrison about the beginning of the uprising in Kronstadt. The sailors'uprising near St. Petersburg did indeed take place, but it took place severaldays later and was not very large-scale. In light of this news, the Sveaborgcommandant gave the order to lay minefields near the fortress. The miners notonly refused to comply with the order, but also put forward demands: animprovement in their financial situation, the resumption of the payment of"wine money", and a solution to the problems with ammunition. Thecommandant refused to comply with them. Arrests began. The events took place onone of the islands on which the fortress was located - Lagerny. News of theconflict between the commandant and the miners reached the artillerymen livingnearby. The situation escalated. However, the local committee, realizing thatit was still too early for a uprising, proposed limiting themselves to demandsonly and not resorting to forceful actions. But the revolutionary impulse couldnot be stopped. He was actively supported by rumors, the sources of which arestill unknown. The soldiers were fully confident that ships of the Baltic Fleetwould come to their aid and go over to the side of the rebels. In addition,rumors spread that the commandant was going to disarm the artillerymen, fearingan armed uprising. Under these circumstances, the soldiers decided to launch apreemptive strike and free the miners. The Bolshevik Committee had no choicebut to support the uprising.

Theartillerymen who approached the barracks on the evening of July 17 to free theprisoners were stopped by the garrison soldiers loyal to the commandant withrifle fire. The rebels then moved to the neighboring Mikhailovsky Island. Thesoldiers serving there arrested the officers and joined the rioters. They endedup with artillery guns. Revolutionary demonstrations also took place on threeother islands. The commandant's office did not expect such a turn of events.The situation was saved by the fact that there were enough forces left on thegovernment's side - mainly security companies. Their number was 2 thousandpeople. There were the same number of rebels. On July 18, Commandant Laimingannounced that the fortress was being put under siege. The rebels were able tocut off communication between Sveaborg and the mainland. The next day, onehundred and fifty Finnish Red Guards arrived to help their brothers in arms.There was intense artillery fire between the two parts of the fortress, whichled to great destruction. Despite the initial success, the fate of the uprisingwas sealed. On the evening of July 19, ships of the Baltic Fleet approached thefortress: the cruiser Bogatyr and the battleships Slava and Tsarevich. Themutineers thought that the sailors were coming to their aid and believed theirown fantasies even more when the ships signaled that they supported theuprising. But this was disinformation. Immediately after the naval uprisingbegan, the ship commanders arrested the revolutionary-minded crew members. Theunblocking of Sveaborg by the fleet led to the transfer of government troops tothe islands that remained under the control of the commandant. The rebels hadno hope of success. Under these circumstances, the revolutionary committee decidedto cease resistance. On July 20, white flags were hung on the islands occupiedby the mutineers. After the capitulation, about 1,000 people were arrested.Sergei Zion and several hundred other participants in the uprising managed toescape. The rest were brought to trial. Yemelyanov, Kokhansky and 26 otheractive leaders of the rebellion were sentenced to death. The rest were sent toprison and hard labor. The Finnish Red Guard formations were disbanded by orderof the Finnish Senate.

Chapter 29.Witte and the Tsar.

MinisterSergei Yulyevich Witte convinced the Tsar to make a decision that was, as itlater turned out, fatal for the country and the monarchy: to create the firstState Duma as the highest legislative body making all decisions. In this, Wittewas supported by the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Grand Duke NikolaiNikolaevich, General D.F. Trepov, whom the Tsar considered the only servant hecould completely rely on. And the reason why the Tsar did this was that Russia,which had lost the war with Japan, Russia, shaken by political parties, Russia,which had experienced the revolution of January 9, had a crisis of power, andthe Tsar had a choice: either to suppress all movements in society with a harshhand (which was not in his spirit), or to go the way of reforms; and the tsarchose the second, listening to his entourage, fearing to be misunderstood. Atthe same time, the tsar wanted to see representatives of all classes in theState Duma, including peasants, and hoped that this would weaken the revolutionarymovement. At the same time, the tsar was categorically against the introductionof a constitution, finding a compromise in the introduction of the Duma. AndRussia was becoming a "Duma monarchy", since all laws had to beadopted in the Duma, and the tsar had the right of veto and the right todissolve the Duma. In these conditions, the tsar wanted to see "hisman" in the Duma, and having heard about Pyotr Stolypin as a wise figurein his post as governor of Saratov and in his previous positions. At the sametime, the tsar did not approve the project of the Duma of the Minister ofInternal Affairs Bulygin Alexander Grigorievich, whom he sent into retirement.Bulygin proposed the Duma as a legislative advisory body.

6 августа 1905, The Tsar issued a manifestoon October 17, 1905, which spoke of the introduction of a legislative Duma,after which he appointed Pavel Nikolaevich Durnovo as Minister of InternalAffairs, whom he dismissed for using police agents for personal purposes inApril 1905. And under these conditions, the Tsar summoned Stolypin from Saratovin the spring of 1906 and offered him the post of Minister of Internal Affairs,which Stolypin refused, and only agreed to by order of the Emperor.

Nicholas II told Pyotr Arkadyevich that he would also work in the Duma to representthe interests of the government there.

On March 26, 1906, elections for deputies to the First State Duma began. On May10, 1906, the First State Duma began its work, consisting of 499 deputies, ofwhich 176 were Cadets actively opposing all government proposals.

In particular, the government proposed to allocate 50 million rubles to thestarving people in Russia, but the Cadets, and other deputies who agreed withthem, rejected the government's proposal, which came from the Tsar's principleof "rejecting all government proposals, even those with charitablegoals," and cut the amount to 15 million rubles. Apart from this law, theDuma did not adopt anything specific.

But the Cadets demanded the introduction of an agrarian reform, according towhich land is transferred free of charge to the ownership of the peasants inaccordance with the land law, not only from landowners, but also at the expenseof church and state lands.

The "Trudoviks", as the most radically minded Cadets calledthemselves, demanded the introduction of a "labor norm" on land, andeverything above the norm to be taken from the landowners and distributed tothe peasants. Stolypin offered the deputies more realistic options for landreform. The deputies did not agree, and no compromise was reached between thegovernment and the proposals of the deputies, and the tsar dissolved the FirstState Duma after 72 days of its work on July 9, 1906.

Being pleased with Stolypin's activities as Minister of Internal Affairs, thetsar appointed Stolypin Chairman of the Council of Ministers while retainingthe post of Minister of Internal Affairs on July 8, 1906.

Pyotr Arkadyevich lived with his family in St. Petersburg, on AptekarskyIsland. He proposed to introduce military field courts in Russia to combatterrorism and the revolutionary movement. In Russia, every week someone waskilled by the Cadets and Socialist Revolutionaries. Not only aristocrats died,but also representatives of the authorities, governors, and there were severalattempts on Stolypin himself, but he miraculously escaped each time.

Military field courts had the right to judge and execute without a lengthyinvestigation, and consisted of only a chairman and four members of the courtfrom among the line officers appointed by the head of the garrison by order ofthe governor-general or commander-in-chief. The sentence was passed no laterthan 48 hours and was carried out within 24 hours by order of the head of thegarrison.

These courts were introduced in 82 provinces out of 87, and worked successfullyuntil April 20, 1907. The courts tried terrorists in a simplified manner. Inaddition to terrorists, they tried those accused of murder or robbery ofofficials. A total of 683 terrorists were executed during the period this lawwas in effect.

LeoTolstoy, Leonid Andreyev, Alexander Blok condemned Stolypin forbloodthirstiness and radicalism, ignoring the thousands of victims ofterrorists. Military courts did not always sentence to death. Many of theguilty were sent to hard labor. In 1906, the German government sponsored a hugeintelligence network throughout Russia. The Kaiser was preparing for a futurewar with Russia. In all the ministries there were German agents - people paidby German intelligence and voluntarily collaborating without payment withGerman intelligence for ideological reasons. German intelligence had its peoplenot only in the ministries, but in all the factories, plants, noble assemblies,and even in many markets. A simple merchant could be an agent carrying outdelicate assignments, such as monitoring the number of troops in a given city,the type of weapons, etc. Neither Minister Stolypin nor the Tsar knew anythingabout this. They also did not know that the Socialist Revolutionary andConstitutional Democratic parties were supported by money coming into Russiafrom Germany, Japan, and partly from Jewish bankers from England and the NorthAmerican States. Russia did not have its own agent network in Germany or anyother country. The Tsar held unsuccessful negotiations with Wilhelm II in 1907,as a follow-up to the Björkö Treaty of 1905. In 1908, when a crisis arose inthe Balkans due to the fact that Austria-Hungary demanded that Russia recognizethe annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or abandon it, which meant an attack byAustria-Hungary on Serbia. Stolypin, who headed the Russian government at thattime, said: - "To unleash a war means to develop the forces ofrevolution." And Emperor Nicholas II agreed to fulfill the demands of theGermans, which called off the war in 1908. Stolypin also successfully carriedout an agrarian reform in Russia, making a mass resettlement of peasants: theytraveled together with large cattle in Stolypin carriages to Siberia, with thedistribution of land to them there as property; introduced the possibility ofpeasants receiving loans from banks for a period of 49 years at the lowestpossible interest rate, which made it possible for peasants to buy land fromlandowners, introduced judicial reform and educational reform, the introductionof free primary education for children aged 8-12, industrial reform and thelabor issue: rules for hiring workers, insurance against illnesses andaccidents, working hours of 10 hours a day, the activities of trade unions, aban on the distribution of proclamations.

The Union of the Russian People was created in 1905 as an instrument ofstruggle against the revolutionary movement, which was led by Jews. Stolypindid not approve of the actions of the Council of United Noble Societies, whichindirectly directed the actions of the Union of the Russian People. Stolypinrepeatedly proposed to the tsar to give the Jews the same rights as allsubjects of Russia, but the tsar rejected such bills each time. But at the sametime, Stolypin supported the law of June 1, 1910, which, in particular, statedthat Jews were not allowed to participate in elections.

Later, when the tsar approved the Second State Duma, Stolypin argued in theDuma with deputy Purishkevich on the Jewish question.

The monarchist Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich was an anti-Semite andproposed extreme measures against Jewry, and Stolypin condemned Purishkevichfor this. Stolypin in his youth lived in lands where there were strong Jewishcommunities and knew the life of the Jewish people. He believed that it waswrong to persecute the entire Jewish people just because there were many Jewsamong the revolutionaries.

At the beginning of 1907, the tsar established the Second State Duma. On June3, 1907, the tsar dissolved the Second State Duma, since it proposed laws (likethe First State Duma) against autocracy. The role of the Social Democrats wasstrong in the Second Duma.

Then the tsar established the Third State Duma, which began working on November1, 1907. Stolypin also took part in its work. The new electoral system had beenapproved the day before, and the Duma included 148 Black Hundreds, 148Octobrists (almost all of them were members of Russian Masonic lodgessubordinate to Paris and London), 54 Cadets, 28 Progressives, 26 bourgeois, 19Social Democrats, and all Masons and Trudoviks.

The Duma considered more than 2,500

Pyotr Stolypin became an unpopular figure both at the top of Russian society(for his firm course as an economic manager) and at the bottom, where he wasvilified in every possible way by the revolutionary movement. There wereassassination attempts on Stolypin by revolutionaries. In particular, hisdaughter was injured by a bomb explosion during an assassination attempt onStolypin. She could hardly walk, as her legs were damaged, but she was able towalk after a long period of treatment. Stolypin's son was also wounded, but hequickly recovered. This happened in August 1906 in St. Petersburg in Stolypin'shouse on Aptekarsky Island.

Chapter 30.The idea of abdication.

In 1906, the Emperor, believing in his predetermined tragic fate, predicted bymany seers, including the astrologer Hamon, seeing that the prediction aboutthe "first war" made by Hamon had already come true, seeing theevents of 1905 as the first attempt to overthrow him from the throne, seeingmany deaths, wanted to abdicate the throne, introduce the patriarchate andbecome patriarch.

Grigory Rasputin learned about this from the Tsar in the Alexander Palace.Grigory was in the Palace in the summer of 1906 and saved Tsarevich Alexei. TheTsarevich could have died from loss of blood. He was riding a bicycle and felloff it. Bleeding began, which the surgeon Botkin, who was doing the bandaging,could not stop, but the blood still flowed from under the bandage of theTsarevich, since the Tsarevich was sick with the "Tsar's disease",and the blood did not clot.

Rasputin read a folk conspiracy over the wound: - "Saint George rides on ahorse, and you, blood, do not drip" three times, then he crossed the woundon his hand, previously bandaged by Botkin, from under the bandage the bloodstill flowed, and after Rasputin made the sign of the cross over the wound, theblood stopped.

The Tsar thanked the elder for a long time, gave him money and sat with him,talking in the Maple Living Room.

His Majesty said: - "We have decided to leave the throne, abdicate thethrone and become a patriarch, since we do not want to accept the difficultfate predicted by Hamon, predicted by Abel, predicted by Seraphim."

- "Don't you dare, you were chosen by the Lord to reign, so bear yourcross to the end! For each one has his own cross, don't abandon us, don'tabandon your throne! Reign humbly and accept the will of God," Rasputinshouted at the Tsar. The Tsar shuddered, for he had not expected such a thing.Never before had Grigory shouted at the Tsar, it was unacceptable, but this wasthe first time, a special case. The Tsar said: - "I will ask the confessor Feofan," after whichthe Tsar stood up and went out looking at his feet.

Rasputin fell to his knees and began to pray for the Tsar to remain on thethrone and prayed for an hour.

The Tsar, meanwhile, went to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, where his spiritualfather Feofan of Poltava was at that time. There the Tsar went into the cellwhere Feofan was praying at that time. Feofan stopped praying, rose from hisknees and bowed to the Tsar.

- "Hello, Feofan! We have decided to abdicate the throne, the burden hasbecome heavy. I want to become patriarch and revive the patriarchate, and Iwill abdicate in favor of my son under the regency of Alexandra Feodorovna andMikhail Alexandrovich," the tsar began the conversation.

- "Don't do this, Your Majesty. You are destined to rule to the end, thepeople love you, it is God's will for your rule and God will not abandon you.And thoughts of abdication are weakness, and weakness is unacceptable andcontradicts the laws of governing the empire," Feofan said.

- "Well, if you think so, and Gregory said so, then I will notabdicate," the tsar answered.

“Thank God,” Theophan answered and crossed himself, blessing the Tsar. “Let’sgo have some tea,” the confessor continued, and they left the cell and went tothe dining room to have some tea.

Chapter 31.1908.

John ofKronstadt was seriously ill and practically did not leave Kronstadt since 1906.Meanwhile, the Stavropol St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral was being built inKronstadt, for the construction of which John donated a large sum of money andpublished an appeal in the newspaper calling for joining the fundraising. InSeptember 1902, the construction of the cathedral began, which was preceded bya prayer service performed by Archpriest John of Kronstadt in the presence ofVice Admiral S. O. Makarov. At the base of the cathedral, the buildersconcreted John of Kronstadt's pickaxe, which he brought to a prayer service in1902 on the day construction began.

Holy FatherJohn of Kronstadt had the gift of prophetic visions about the fate of Russia,and shortly before his death in 1908, Holy Father John had a vision of thetimes to come.:

"Ilooked and saw: the royal palace, and all around there were animals ofdifferent breeds and different sizes, reptiles, dragons, hissing, roaring andclimbing into the palace. And they were already climbing onto the throne ofNicholas II, the anointed of God... suddenly the throne shook, and the crownfell and rolled. The animals roared, fought, and crushed the Anointed One. Theytore it up and trampled on it like demons in hell, and everythingdisappeared." This prophecy of John of Kronstadt was reported to NicholasII, which added to the sorrow in his heart, as he remembered the rest of theprophecies, starting with Abel's letter.

In October 1908, at the Alexander Palace inthe Maple Drawing Room, His Imperial Majesty's State Secretary, Chairman of theCouncil of Ministers, Minister of the Interior Stolypin Pyotr Arkadyevich madea report to Nicholas II. In October 1908, Austria-Hungary announced theannexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This caused an international crisis thatthreatened to escalate into a major European war during the first weeks of1909. In his report, Stolypin categorically opposed direct confrontation withGermany and Austria-Hungary, saying that "to start a war is to unleash theforces of revolution." Emperor Nicholas II listened to the report, andsaid in response to the minister: "We will agree to fulfill the demands ofthe Germans, and we will not attack Germany because of Bosnia and Herzegovina,since this can unleash the forces of revolution. Although I already wanted todeclare war on the Kaiser, but you changed my mind." Stolypin then asked anew question with great hesitation in his voice: "Is Your Majesty familiarwith the name of Grigory Rasputin?" The tsar became noticeably wary, butthen calmly replied: "Yes. The Empress told me that she had met himseveral times at Vyrubova's. According to her, he is a very interesting person;a wanderer who has traveled a lot to holy places, knows the Holy Scriptureswell, and is generally a man of holy life.

"HasYour Majesty seen him?" asked Stolypin.

The kingreplied dryly:

–"No."

"I'msorry, Your Majesty," Stolypin replied, "but I've been informedotherwise."

"Whoreported this other thing?" the king asked.

–GeneralGerasimov,– Stolypin replied.

Stolypinwas lying a little bit here. He knew nothing about the tsar's meetings withRasputin, and therefore, in order to understand whether these meetings hadtaken place at all, he came up with the idea of referring to General Gerasimov,who had not actually reported anything about this to Stolypin. And catchingsome hesitation and uncertainty in the tsar's voice, he realized that the tsarhad undoubtedly met Rasputin personally.

Theminister's trick really worked. After some hesitation, the tsar looked down andsaid with an apologetic smile:

"Well,if that's what General Gerasimov reported, then I won't dispute it. Indeed, theempress persuaded me to meet Rasputin, and I saw him twice (Nikolai was lying,he saw Rasputin much more often. But why are you interested in this? After all,this is my personal matter, which has nothing to do with politics. Can't mywife and I have our own personal acquaintances? Can't we meet with everyone whointerests us?" Stolypin, touched by the tsar's helplessness, presented tohim his thoughts that the ruler of Russia could not even do what he wanted inhis personal life. He towers over the whole country, and all the people look athim. Nothing unclean should come into contact with his person. And meetingswith Rasputin are precisely contact with such an impure person, and Stolypinfrankly informed the tsar of all the data collected by the Ministry of InternalAffairs about Rasputin (a report arrived from Siberia, from which it was clearthat Rasputin was for an immoral lifestyle, for involving girls and women in debauchery,for theft and for all sorts of others He served various sentences for crimesmore than once and eventually had to flee his native village. And in St.Petersburg, Grigory Rasputin led a depraved lifestyle. Rasputin was secretlymonitored by police agents installed by Stolypin, and agents repeatedlyrecorded that Rasputin took street women from Nevsky Prospekt and spent nightswith them in suspicious dens. Some of these women were also interviewed. Theygave their "guest" very unflattering reviews, painting him as a dirtyand rude libertine).

This storymade a great impression on the tsar. He asked Stolypin several times whetherthe details he provided had been accurately verified. Finally, convinced thatStolypin was painting him the image of a depraved man and recommending that hebe removed from court, as an association with Rasputin could discredit theroyal family in the eyes of the people, the tsar replied: "We cannotremove Grigory Rasputin from the court, a lot depends on him, and we do notwant to discuss what exactly with anyone, so I will ask you to drop all chargesagainst Rasputin, and never return to this topic again, especially since it mayupset Alexandra Feodorovna," the tsar said.

Policeagents, who were controlled by the head of the St. Petersburg Securitydepartment, Colonel A.V. Gerasimov, on Stolypin's orders, continued toconstantly monitor Rasputin. At the end of 1908, Rasputin left for his homelandin the village of Pokrovskoye, Tyumen district, Tobolsk province, Tobolskprovince for several months. An old-timer from the village of Pokrovskoye, AnnaFedorovna Ivanova, recalled how Grigory Efimovich gave money to the poor for awedding. One peasant asked Grigory Rasputin for 50 rubles, he gave him 100, butasked what he would do with the extra money. According to Anna Fedorovna, ElderGrigory built a house for Mikhail Grigoryevich Podchivalov (a peasant with manychildren) with his own money. He bought a horse or a cow for others, gave thechildren money for school and medicine. Rasputin constantly donated from 100 to500 rubles for public needs, the construction of public buildings, and therenovation of the volost government, which was located next to his house. Withthe money of Elder Gregory, a school was built in the village of Pokrovsky, andhe was elected its honorary trustee. There are many other cases of completelyselfless help to fellow villagers from Elder Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin-Novy(Novy) (as he began to be called since 1906, he asked to be called that, sinceTsarevich Alexei first saw Rasputin in the palace, called him a New personlater, in a conversation with his parents, and formally permission to use thenew surname was given by Emperor Nicholas II), which was recorded in the metricbook in the village of Pokrovskoye.

And theselflessness of Elder Gregory is simply amazing. In 1909, Grigory Yefimovichachieved the return of the "rich fish lake Bolshoe" to his fellowvillagers. Previously, this lake was owned by the peasant community of thevillage of Pokrovskoye. However, after the land management was carried out, itwent to the treasury. The Pokrovsky peasants, led by the former pilot TimofeyKuzmich Zubov, went to the provincial center, to Tobolsk to the governor, butachieved nothing. Then the elder Gregory, taking advantage of the opportunityof the passage of the Governor of Tobolsk through Pokrovskoye, himself went tothe house where he was resting. He soon returned with a petition signed by thegovernor to transfer the lake to the village of Pokrovskoye. Grigory Yefimovichconveyed this petition to the peasants with the words: "Here's a paper foryou to own the lake. It has been returned to the ownership of thevillage." One of the residents of the village of Pokrovsky, according toher grandmother, Izosimova Anna Garmanovna, told how Rasputin helped theirfamily. Izosimova raised three daughters and a son alone, and her husbandserved in the tsarist army. There were not enough funds to send the children tolearn to read and write, because the school needed clothes and shoes befittingan educational institution. Elder Gregory, having learned about this, wrote anote to the merchant's shop, asking to give out leather for sewing shoes forall children and gave the necessary amount of money for this. But a modest peasantwoman, when asked by a shopkeeper how much leather she needed, asked to measureonly for one "cherki" (peasant shoes), although Grigory Yefimovichpaid for leather for several pairs of shoes for all children. Soon, having meta woman, Grigory Efimovich found out from her how it was, went to the store andforced the shopkeeper to give out the missing amount of leather. AnnaGarmanovna's grandmother referred to Grigory Rasputin-Novy as a "kindman", saying that he treated people with respect, that he addressed peopleby their first name and patronymic. And in conclusion, Anna Garmanovna saysthat "all the old people, the same age as my grandmother, remember GrigoryYefimovich with gratitude." Every time Grigory came to Pokrovka, it was aholiday for the children. It was the same this time. He treated the children tolollipops and gingerbread. He didn't give us money in our hands – he wrote anote to the shopkeeper asking him to let someone have a dress or boots, andthen he paid for everything with him. He started a conversation with thechildren: "How are you? Do you have everything, do you have boots, shirts,a dress?" I found out that two guys didn't have shoes and one didn't havea shirt, so I wrote a note to the shopkeeper. With this note, the kids fly tothe shopkeeper, and he picks up the right thing. And then Rasputin paid foreverything. Grigory Yefimovich donated a lot for the needs of the Church of theIntercession. He deposited 5,000 rubles. for the construction of a new chapelof the Church of the Intercession. The money was donated by the Tsar and theTsarina, but gratitude from the rector, Father Peter Ostroumov, and thechurchwarden, Vasily Svistunov, was expressed to Grigory Yefimovich for "aparticularly zealous attitude to the Sloboda church." Then this case wasreflected in the Tyumen newspaper Tobol. After spending several months in hishomeland, Rasputin returned to St. Petersburg in early 1909 with his twodaughters, Matryona and Varvara.

Chapter 32.Jacob Shiffa's struggle with the Russian Empire.

Emperor Meiji (Mutsuhito) awarded the American banker Jacob Schiff (JacobHenry) the Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1905 and later the Order of theRising Sun in 1907 for using his authority and influence in the Americanbanking and financial sector to block Russia's access to foreign loans in theUnited States, participating in the financing of the Japanese government duringthe Russo-Japanese War, and proposing foreign policy initiatives that couldhave worsened American-Russian relations. In the United States, he worked as amanager at Kuhn, Loeb & Co., and before that, in his native Germany, hereceived an excellent religious and secular education, having been born into arabbinical family. Jacob's father worked as a broker at the Rothschild bank inFrankfurt am Main. Jacob Schiff achieved control of the Bavarian Illuminati'slion's share of the country's financial capital in the North American states.Jakob Schiff, a Freemason of the Bavarian Illuminati, waged a personal waragainst Russia that lasted from the 1890s until 1917... which intensified overthe years and developed into an all-consuming passion, the roots of which layfar deeper... The banker persistently compared the plight of Jews in Russia tothe biblical story of the Jewish exodus from Egypt, and he undoubtedly sawhimself as a new Moses... and it was precisely to his crusade against Russiathat Schiff owed his rise to heights previously unseen by a Jewishleader." The plight of Russian Jews had already attracted Schiff'sattention during the pogroms of 1881. By the early 20th century, Schiff hadadded something entirely new to the arsenal of tools developed by the AmericanJewish community in the struggle for Jewish rights abroad as early as themid-19th century, such as shaping public opinion and pressuring the Americangovernment: attempts to isolate Russia diplomatically, particularly throughinternational financial pressure. In 1890, during a visit by a Russian warshipto New York Harbor, Schiff organized a boycott campaign by the city's Jewishcommunity. In the early 1890s, Schiff briefly helped finance the publication ofthe monthly magazine Free Russia, the organ of the Society of American Friendsof Russian Freedom, which, among other things, secretly distributed"moderate allowances" to members of the Socialist RevolutionaryParty. During this time, Schiff became close with the writer, journalist, andtraveler George Kennan, who publicly spoke out in America against the harshconditions of political prisoners in Siberian exile, which were damaging themonarchy's reputation. During the Russo-Japanese War, he published a series ofarticles from the theater of operations and, as he later admitted, engaged inanti-monarchist propaganda among Russian prisoners of war in Japan. From 1904to 1910, he published a number of works on the socio-economic problems of theRussian Empire. Undoubtedly, the connection between Schiff and Kennan placed amore general goal on the agenda than simply improving the situation of RussianJews—the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty. Schiff was primarily concerned withJewish capital in the Russian Empire, including his interest in theredistribution of the Azerbaijani oil market. But why not combine this taskwith the broader strategic goal of democratizing Russia?

In earlyFebruary 1904, Schiff invited Jewish public figures to his home and announced:"In the next 72 hours, war will begin between Japan and Russia. I havebeen asked to provide loans to the Japanese government. I want to hear youropinion on how such actions might affect the situation of our co-religionistsin Russia." Apparently, a positive decision was made at the meeting, andSchiff was pleased that damage had been inflicted on the Russian regime. Withthe outbreak of war, the American syndicate controlled by Schiff, consisting ofhis banking house, Kuhn, Loeb & Co., the National and Commercial Bank, notonly issued two Anglo-American loans for the Japanese government totalingapproximately $110 million (half of this amount was placed by the Schiffsyndicate), thereby playing a significant role in financing Japan and ensuringits victory in the war, but also actively and successfully prevented theplacement of Russian loans on the American market, thereby deterring otherAmerican banks from lending to the Russian government. At a meeting of Americanbankers held at the same time, Schiff delivered a dramatic speech urging hiscolleagues to boycott Russian loans, in which, among other things, he revealedthat he had drawn up a will prohibiting his banking house from lending to"anti-Semitic Russia" even after his death. Schiff also financedGeorge Kennan's project to distribute revolutionary literature in Russianprisoner-of-war camps in Japan. The project was well-disguised, and nothing wasknown about it until March 1917, when Kennan himself publicly revealed it tojournalists. According to Kennan, "tons of revolutionary literature"were brought into the camps, from which 50,000 "ardentrevolutionaries" returned to Russia.The Russian government, suffering damage from Schiff's actions, attempted towin him over to its side or, at least, neutralize him. Minister of InternalAffairs V.K. Plehve invited Schiff to Russia. Schiff set two conditions: 1) hemust receive an official invitation from the minister; 2) Russian visa lawsmust be amended; Schiff, a Jew, must enter Russia on a general basis, not witha special permit. Schiff viewed the change in visa laws as the first steptoward equal rights for Russian Jews. While the letters were being exchanged, asuccessful assassination attempt was made on Plehve. Schiff called Plehve'smurder "God's punishment," but in reality, it was a contract killingpaid for by Schiff.

Chapter 33.Strelna.

InSeptember 1910, the Emperor resided in the Constantine Palace alone. MatildaKshesinskaya spent the entire autumn of 1910 and the winter of 1911 mostly ather dacha in Strelna, rarely appearing in the capital. In 1911, Nicholas II wasat the Constantine Palace in Strelna with the Empress. Matilda Kshesinskaya wasalso there at her dacha. Matilda Kshesinskaya's dacha and the ImperialConstantine Palace in Strelna were adjacent, separated only by a small canal.The dacha in Strelna had previously been given to Matilda Kshesinskaya by GrandDuke Sergei Mikhailovich, who lived nearby at the Mikhailovka family estate andhad been an admirer of the ballerina since the age of 22. The Tsar could notmeet Matilda openly, although he longed to do so. The Tsar informed her throughGrand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich that on a certain day and hour he would ridehorseback with the Empress past her dacha in Strelna. Nicholas asked Matilda tobe in the garden at that time. The ballerina chose a bench that was impossibleto miss from the road. On the appointed day and hour, Nicholas II and theEmpress passed Kshesinskaya's dacha and saw it. Matilda chose a bench that wasimpossible to miss from the road. On the appointed day and hour, Nicky rodewith the Empress past my dacha and, of course, saw me perfectly. They walkedleisurely, and I bowed low to them, which was graciously accepted. Theballerina bowed low to them, which was graciously accepted. Alix turned pale assoon as she saw the ballerina, but said nothing. The following week, MatildaKshesinskaya left for the estate of her friend Sima Astafieva's relatives inthe Staritsky district of Tver province. The estate belonged to the Sevenardnobles, and it was then that the paths of two families, the Kshesinskys and theSevenards, first crossed. Her brother, I.F. Kshesinsky, who had recently lefthis position as a teacher at the theater school, also lived there with hisyoung wife. They spent the entire summer and fall of 1911 at the Sevenardestate, returning to St. Petersburg only in November with their daughter,Tselina, whose birth certificates list her as October, although the newlywedswere seen with the small child for almost the entire summer. By July 1911, shehad returned to the capital, where she appeared at virtually every publicevent. The apogee of her stormy activity was her triumphant performance in the"Russian Seasons" in London in October-November 1911, when VaslavNijinsky himself, partner of Mathilde Kschessinskaya, created a scene ofjealousy towards S. P. Diaghilev and tore his suit in anger, since theLondoners received his partner more enthusiastically than him.

Chapter 34.Ritual Murder.

March 1911 In Kyiv, Jews killed a boy, Andrei Yushchinsky. The police were ofthe opinion that it was a ritual murder by Jews. Pyotr Stolypin did not believethis. He ordered a thorough investigation and a report on the results. It wasonly known for sure that the boy was killed by the clerk of the Kyiv brickfactory, Menachem Mendel Beilis, who was arrested. Before that, the body of12-year-old Andrei Yushchinsky was found in the Kiev suburbs in the village ofLukyanovka.The Black Hundreds accused Beilis in all the newspapers of sacrificing aninnocent boy to Jehovah and demanded a trial. The investigation did not haveany special evidence and Beilis was kept under arrest.

Stolypin said at a Duma session that he "does not believe in ritualmurder," which caused the indignation of deputy Purishkevich and othermonarchists. Meanwhile, an assassination attempt on Stolypin himself was beingprepared. Later, the jury acquitted Beilis for "lack of evidence provinghis guilt, and he was later released from the courtroom," although theritual murder of 12-year-old Andrey Yushchinsky was recognized as having beencommitted by unidentified perpetrators in order to use his blood for thepreparation of matzo, a traditional Jewish bread. The prosecution relied almostexclusively on the testimony of a witness, Zhenya Chekhovskaya, who, accordingto the defense attorneys, had been pressured by the police and agitators fromthe Union of the Russian People.

Chapter 35.Mr. Bogrov.

Mordko Gershkovich, better known as Dmitry Bogrov, wanted to become famous allhis short life by doing something out of the ordinary. On the one hand, therewas a thirst for heroism in his soul, and on the other hand, he suffered frombouts of severe depression, from which he did not know how to get out. Thesewere either drinking parties with friends - students at the University ofMunich, where he studied to be a lawyer, or plans for a revolution in Russia,the assassination of the emperor or high-ranking officials, which were born inthe head of the young man after studying the works of the famous anarchistsKropotkin and Stirner.

In a desire for revolutionary struggle, Dmitry returned to his native Kyiv in1906. In Kyiv, Dmitry became a member of the circle of anarchist communists. In1907, Bogrov was disappointed with his activities among the anarchists. Hewanted to be promoted to a leadership position, but his comrades considered himincapable of much. So Bogrov decided to take revenge on his comrades - hebecame a sexot - a secret employee of the tsarist secret police. Bogrov wasgiven two pseudonyms: Alensky and Kapustyansky.

In 1908, the police destroyed the anarchist group "Burevestnik" ofNaum Tysh and German Sandomirsky. The members of the group were sent to hardlabor.

At that time, Bogrov lived in his father's house on Bibikovsky Boulevard inKyiv, and the feeling of "his meaningless life" overtook him onceagain with renewed vigor, and he wrote in a letter to a friend: "I havebecome a desperate neurasthenic. In general, I am pretty tired of everythingand want to do something extravagant." And so, finally, Bogrov decides toliquidate Stolypin as the minister who gave Russia a chance to change societythrough reforms without revolution and anarchy. And, from Dmitry Grigorievich’spoint of view, the person responsible for all the Jewish pogroms in Russia,since Stolypin was the Minister of Internal Affairs.

In St. Petersburg, where Bogrov arrived, at a meeting of the anarchist circlein 1910, Bogrov declares to Yegor Lazarev, having come to this meeting underthe pretext of having an order to deliver letters to Lazarev, brought by somelady from Paris.

- “I am doing this with all the greater pleasure because I needed to see you.Even more than that, I actually came to St. Petersburg to see you.”

- "So what exactly do you want to do, young man?" Lazarev asks,lighting a cigarette.

- "I have decided to commit a terrorist act and kill Minister Stolypin.You think this is a joke or madness on my part, but what I said is neither ajoke nor madness, but a deliberate task that I have decided to carry out at allcosts."

- "And why Stolypin and not the Tsar?" Lazarev asked Bogrov.

- "Because the murder of the Tsar will not change anything, the heir byregency will reign, but the murder of such an active reactionary Stolypin willstop all reforms, and the revolution will certainly happen and the monarchywill be overthrown," Bogrov answered without thinking.

- «And what exactly motivates you, a brilliant lawyer, intelligent, well-read,to take on such a radical initiative and responsible role, without fear of theconsequences for yourself?!» Lazarev immediately exclaimed.

- «I have come to the conclusion that in Russian conditions a systematicrevolutionary struggle against the central ruling figures is the only expedientone. In Russia, the regime is personified in the ruling figures, who are strongbecause they remain unknown and inaccessible. What is your answer to myproposal, which, after much reflection, I decided to believe you? I see thatyour mood is paternal, not businesslike. You want to set me on the right path,so that I can diligently engage in my legal practice, and, among other things,all kinds of cultural activities, reading and writing revolutionary brochures,etc. Meanwhile, you sometimes actively speak out against such atrocities, andin such cases it is the “scapegoats” who are disappointed. The main culpritsremain unpunished. It is the duty of the socialist parties and the intelligentsiain general to point out to the masses the real culprits. You know that thepowerful leader of the wild reaction that is now underway is Stolypin. I cometo you and say that I have decided to eliminate him, and you advise me toengage in cultural and educational activities instead. I explain this only bythe fact that you are not prepared for a thoughtful answer. Therefore, I askyou to think over my proposal and then allow me to come to you another time,”Bogrov finished his fiery speech. - “We consider the elimination of the Tsar amore important task than his minister, and it is not for you, youngwhippersnapper, to lecture us. You can never come back again,” Lazarevresponded irritably. The rest of those present supported Lazarev. There werecries of “Go away with your ideas,” “Stop throwing a rally here.” And themisunderstood Dmitry stood up and left, slamming the door.

As hewalked down the stairs he muttered: - "I haven't given you up enough tothe police, you'll remember me yet."

Some time passed. Bogrov did not show up at the anarchist meetings, and they,in turn, suspected him of having connections with the secret police. But themain thing for Dmitry was to carry out his plan at any cost, and thereby notonly become a famous terrorist who would finally manage to kill Stolypin, whohad already been the subject of 11 assassination attempts by that time, butalso justify himself to his comrades that he was not an informer for the secretpolice. And he was an informer, because he enjoyed giving up his superiors inthe party line, who did not value him at all.

Two weeks later, Bogrov visited Lazarev again with his proposal and referred tothe fact that his connections in the service in the committee under theMinistry of Trade and Industry would help him get closer to Stolypin, but hewas decisively refused once again. Bogrov did not abandon his goals and enteredinto communication with the head of the St. Petersburg security department, vonKotten. After which von Kotten did not particularly believe him, since he didnot receive any special information from Bogrov. And then Bogrov went to Kyiv,and from there to Nice to improve his poor health.

After returning from Nice, in early February 1911, Bogrov did not participatein the meetings of revolutionaries in Kyiv, and none of the socialists andanarchists put any pressure on him.

On February 19, anarchist Pyotr Lyatkovsky was released from Kyiv prison afterthe event of punishment in the case in which he was brought in together with G.Sandomirsky and others in 1907. Lyatkovsky came to Bogrov's apartment at hisinvitation. They sat at the table, smoked cigarettes one after another, drankvodka.

And then Dmitry said: - "Somehow it turns out that some comrades suspectme of working for the secret police."

- "How can they accuse you of betrayal?!" Lyatkovsky asked inbewilderment. - "After all, you have everything, you are the son of amillionaire. You have no reason to work for the secret police for money, youare an ideological person," he continued.

-"I worked with comrades from the magazine "Byloye" and learned alot from them there, so for some reason I have to rehabilitate myself in theeyes of Lazarev and others? So how can I do this? Only by killingNikolai?"

- "So which of the revolutionaries does not dream of killingNikolai," Lyatkovsky interrupted Bogrov.

- "No," Bogrov continued, "Nikolai is nonsense, Nikolai is a toyin Stolypin's hands. After all, I am a Jew, and by killing Nikolai I will causean unprecedented Jewish pogrom. It is better to kill Stolypin. Thanks to hispolicy, the revolution was strangled and reaction set in."

- "You can't be so naive as to think that you can get through the crowd ofall kinds of guards to both Nikolai and Stolypin. After all, this is beyond thepower of one person, and therefore it is necessary to counter this guard - yourown organization of militants, and that I am personally ready to take part inthis organization, as well as find steadfast, determined comrades for thispurpose," Lyakhovsky objected to Bogrov.

To which Bogrov replied: - "A failure that could happen by chance couldserve as new evidence of his provocation, and therefore I decided torehabilitate myself myself, without any organization. In the autumn of 1911, asfar as I know, there will be military maneuvers in Kyiv, where Nikolai will be,and with him, of course, Stolypin, whom I will reach through my connectionswith Kyiv society,” Bogrov finished.