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7°
7° RASPUTIN
[chap. vii.
interviews with M. Sazonoff, I called on several members
of the Government, and amongst others on M.
Kokovtzoff—at that time already President of the
Council—to whom I was bound by pleasant recollections
of work shared in Paris at the time of our great loans
of 1906. I also did not omit to visit General Polivanoff,
then assistant to the Minister for War, to whom I
always enjoyed talking, and who stood high in my
opinion, for the thoroughness and impartiality which he
displayed in the examination of all business questions.
Moreover, I was bound to inform both these gentlemen
of matters relative to my work in Bulgaria.
I also visited M. Goutchkoff, and talked at great
length with him. Goutchkoff complained, amongst other
things, of our want of all military preparation.
" You cannot imagine," he said, speaking of the
work of the Commission for National Defence for the
Duma, " what it has cost us to make the War Office ask
for supplies to be voted for the making of big guns for the
artillery, of which we hardly possess any. At last the
first orders have been given, but they are quite
inadequate." In spite of its being against his principles that
grand-dukes should be at the head of public departments,
Goutchkoff appeared to be on fairly good terms with
the Grand-Duke Serge Mikha’ilovitch, who was still in
command of the artillery; but he complained bitterly of
the Minister for War, Soukhomlinoff. I do not exactly
remember whether it was on this occasion or later on
that Goutchkoff gave me the full details of his collision
with General Soukhomlinoff on the subject of the retired
colonel of the gendarmerie, Miassoi’edoff, who lived
permanently with the Soukhomlinoffs at the War Office,
as family friend and general factotum, and whom
Goutchkoff openly accused of being a military spy, on
behalf of Germany.
"Your principal will end at the gallows," he said to
Miassoiedoff’s seconds when they presented themselves
at his house. This prophecy was fulfilled in 1915.
Nevertheless it is very regrettable that Goutchkoff
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