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I GO TO PARIS
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fold of a grand-duchess’s dress, the graceful bows, the
discreetly warm handshakes were now all bestowed on
former convicts—martyrs to that liberty at last
triumphant ! And all these people sought the approbation
and the favour of the "special commissaries" of the
Provisional Government and of the Soviets who were
being-established in foreign parts so that they could convince
themselves of the fidelity and good behaviour of the
former " agents of Tsarism " who had become the
servants of revolutionary Russia so promptly and so
spontaneously! These "commissaries" were sometimes
sedate men quite capable of assuming the direction of
affairs, but there were also some curious specimens,
for instance, the famous M. Svatikoff who went abroad
armed—according to him—with unlimited mandates,
who caused ambassadors to tremble and dismissed
military agents, and who was finally disowned by the
Central Government for having abused his power,
which was extremely limited as a matter of fact.
When I saw this spectacle of human frailty before
me, I could not help cross-examining myself and
thinking : " Is it possible that I should really be like
those people ? Should I fear so terribly for my personal
career and for the comfort I derive from it?"
I was still in Paris when the news arrived of the
taking of Riga and the islands of Oesel and Moon by
the Germans and of their invasion of Livonia and
Esthonia. The most fervent admirers of the Kerensky
regime bowed their heads and admitted that things
were going badly. Every minute one might expect to
hear of an overwhelming advance by the German
armies on Petrograd. It was not yet known that our
adversaries were contriving a very different conclusion
—that of a shameful treaty agreed to by the Bolshevist
rabble.
The day before my departure from Paris my
predecessor in Madrid, Prince John Kudascheff, came to
call on me in my hotel. We talked mournfully of
what was going on in our country. " No," I said in
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