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492
REVOLUTION
[chap. xxiv.
facturing centres numbering—as at Kolpino—tens of
thousands of purely Russian workmen ? And above
all, what should you do about the great town of St.
Petersburg—now Petrograd—the capital of the whole
of Russia, with its two million inhabitants, of which
barely fifty thousand are tchouhontzy (Esthonians) ? "
" Oh, well! the Russians would enjoy the guarantees
assured by modern arrangements to minorities. And
as to Petrograd, once it is to be the capital of the
whole of Russia—that is to say of a federation of different
nationalities—why are you set on this capital being
within the limits of the Russian part, and not within
those of the Esthonian part of this great federation ? "
There was a long silence. I felt that I had gathered
all that I wanted to, and did not consider it necessary to
set any further questions. On his side M. Keskula
realised that he had said quite enough. He rose, and
we bade him a friendly farewell. When he had left,
Clive and I went to the drawing-room to beg a good
cup of tea, hot and strong, from charming Mrs. Clive;
it was decidedly necessary for us—forme in particular—
to be braced up after the astounding things we had been
listening to for over an hour!
Towards the end of April I received a telegram from
M. Miliukoff, Minister for Foreign Affairs in the
Provisional Government, announcing my appointment as
Ambassador to Madrid.
I had known Miliukoff for a long time; he had passed
through Stockholm three or four times before the
Revolution, and we had talked at great length then, and
these conversations had led to a common point of view
between us on many questions of home and foreign
policy. What particularly pleased me about Miliukoff
was his frankly Western, European, mentality, his
tremendous energy and his way of asking questions
plainly, without reticence or evasions. I have reason
to believe that in appointing me to Madrid Miliukoff
was actuated by the wish to remove me from a country
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