Russia from the American Embassy, April, 1916-November, 1918

Front matter

PS-/

CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

Introduction

My commission as Ambassador to Eussia was dated March 9th, 1916. As I was so long in regaining my health and strength after leaving Bussia, I offered to resign the Ambassadorship three or more times, but each time the Secretary of State or the Acting Secretary dissuaded me from presenting my resignation. I have drawn no salary as Ambassador since the 26th of April, 1919, but since^ then I have held myself subject to being sent back to Bussia as American Ambassador in the event a stable government was established there. At no time was there any likelihood of our recognizing the Bolshevik Soviet Government. My resignation as Ambassador to Bussia was presented on the 3rd of March, 1921, but I have not had advice of its acceptance up to the present writing. It will be seen, therefore, that my services have covered five years.

During this period I was credited to the Monarchy of Bussia thirteen months. I represented the United States with the Provisional Government of Bussia for eight months. I remained in Bussia from the inception of Bolshevik usurpation and imtil within five days of the Armistice, when a surgical operation necessitated removal to a hospital in London. Upon leaving the hospital I went by direction of the Secretary of State to Paris, to be present at the meeting of the Peace Conference in February, 1919. My urgent recommendation that I be sent back to Petrograd was under consideration. I was continued as Ambassador to Bussia on the inactive list vi INTRODUCTION

and without pay, holding myself in readiness to return if there should be at any time a favorable decision upon my recoromendation.

Bolshevism began to show itself eighteen months before my departure from Russia. I saw its spasmodic manifestations through the summer of 1917, its usurpation of power in the autumn of that year. I was in the midst of Lenin's experiment in government for more than a year. I have seen this monstrosity run its course, to become the world wide danger which my observation at close hand had convinced me it would become. I have kept in close touch with developments in Russia up to the present time, reading most of the articles written by newspaper men and magazine authors who have journeyed to Russia, having obtained the consent of the Soviet Government previous to entering that country.

On the 25th of February, 1917, I sent this cablegram from Petrograd :

"Secretary of State, "Washington.

' ' Strictly confidential for President. Understand Customary to tender resignation on beginniag of new term. Mine is herewith presented. Thoroughly reconciled to return or entirely willing to remain or to serve in any position where you think can be most effective. Personal interest and inclination subordinated to country's welfare in this critical juncture.

"Feancis."

I received no reply to the tender of my resignation, but I thought nothing strange of this, as the diplomatic regulations state an ambassador or a minister does not have to resign; he should take the sending of his successor's name to the Senate for confirmation as a removal or recall.

INTRODUCTION vii

While at Vologda, I received from the Secretary of State, under date of May 24th, 1918, this cable :

"The following is for your information: Governor Gardner of Missouri has stated that on account of the recent death of Senator Stone, he desired to appoint you to vacancy in the Senate. In reply the Department has stated that your services are regarded as essential to the Government's relations with Russia, and that you could not be dispensed with at this time.

' ' The above statement was made by the Department in full confidence of your desire to serve where you are most needed.

"Lansing."

This was exceedingly gratifying to me, not only because of the compliment Governor Gardner paid me, but I considered it an answer to my tendered resignation.

Before leaying Petrograd for Vologda, I received two cablegrams from the Department of State. The first one authorized me to leave Petrograd when I considered it unsafe. The second authorized my departure "whenever your jjidgtnpnt so dictates."

On my return to Washington a year later, I asked the Department of State where they expected me to go when they authorized me to leave Petrograd. The reply was, I was expected to go to London and await orders, or to return to Washington. My colleagues all endeavored to return to their own countries, but I cabled my Government that I did not think it wise to leave Russia, and would uot do so unless ordered, and I went to Vologda.

After being iu Vologda four or five days, the Department cabled me I should remain there until I considered it unsafe, when I could select my own location in Russia, if I thought any place was safe.

viii INTRODUCTION

While in Archangel, after the Department had been advised of my condition, Secretary of State, cabled me under date of October 11th, 1918:

"The Department regards your devotion to duty as an example of the highest traditions of the Service. In order to be able to continue your valued service, I believe • you should proceed at once to London for consultation as to whether surgical assistance can be rendered there. Please take all precautions in your journey. I am asking the Secretary of War for special assistance from the medical officers with Colonel Stewart. Advise me of your departure and your arrival in London. You wiU leave Poole in charge. Please accept my cordial good wishes for your speedy restoration to active work.

"Lansing."

On the 18th of November, 1918, Secretary of State Lansing cabled me through the American Embassy at London :

"As you were advised October 12th, Department plans ■. for you to return to Archangel unless situation changes, but no definite decision will be reached until your health is restored."

From the time of my: arrival in Eussia, I followed the practice of committing fully to paper the incidents, the interviews, the impressions, in short whatever interested \ me about Russia, whether official or unofficial. I endeavored to present to the Department of State not always in i formal but rather in intimate and confidential detail the \ quickly shifting changes that were taking place in Russia. These reports are drawn upon extensively in the chapters which follow. I

In my personal letters to my family, to friends, to busi- ■ ness associates, I wrote of Russia and of Russians, as I

INTRODUCTION ix

might have done in the freedom of a diary. Liberal extracts from these 'letters have been introduced. From time to time my opinions of Eussiah leadership and of general conditions were revised, my hopes of governmental reform and stability shattered, my predictions were not realized. The readers of this narrative will discover that. I thought it best to carry them through these different times and perilous changes ih the hope that they would reach the same conclusions that I did, and which conclusions have not been changed up to the present time. Those conclusions are that Bolshevism, if it dominates the world, will lead us back to barbarism.

All the enciphered cables are set forth in paraphrases thereof.

I cheerfully acknowledge my obligation, for their valued and helpful assistance, to Mr. Lyman Beccher Stowe and Mr. Walter B. Stevens.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I First Impressions 3

II German Influence in Russian Affairs . . 19

Chapter I

At two o'clock in the morning on the 28th of April, 1916, with the grinding of brakes and the pushing of people toward the doors, the Stockholm Express came to a stop in the Finland Station of Petrograd, and I realized that my duties as Ambassador from the greatest Eepublic of the New World to the Court of the mightiest Autocracy of the Old had virtually begun. It was dark and cold. I was alone except for my loyal colored valet, Philip Jordan. I had never been in Eussia before, I had never been an Ambassador before. My knowledge of Eussia up to the time of my appointment had been that of the average intelligent American citizen — ^unhappily slight and vague. In order to meet without quailing the heavy responsibilities and the unknown problems which lay before me I needed all the self-confidence born of my experience as Mayor of my City, Governor of my State, Member of the President's Cabinet, and as head for many years of my own business.

Any momentary misgivings I may have felt, however, were soon dispelled by my cordial American greeting from the members of the Embassy staff who had loyally stood by to welcome me since 11 p.m., the hour at which the train had been due.

As I began to familiarize myself with my duties I was appalled at the enormous amount of work and responsibility entailed by my uncongenial task as the representative of German and Austrian interests in Russia. There were at the time one and a quarter million Austrian prisoners and a quarter of a million German prisoners in Russian prison camps. In addition there were about 200,000 interned German civilians and 50,000 Austrians. I had to supervise the care and attention received by these hundreds of thousands of persons and act as the official intermediary between them and their governments. This work was conducted from the Austrian Embassy which we had taken over at the time we assumed charge of Austrian interests. It required not only the exclusive services of a large corps of able assist-, ants, known as the Relief Corps, but demanded my personal attention for several hours daily.

Among the first places that I visited was the German Embassy which was also, and for the same reason, under my charge. This capacious and imposing structure had been sacked by the Petrograd populace in 1914 in retaliation for indignities which had been shown the Russian Empress Dowager when she passed through Berlin on her return from Switzerland to Russia after Germany's declaration of war against Russia. The angry crowd had done its work thoroughly. On inspecting this large building I found the luxurious furnishings mutilated and useless, the great mirrors broken, the electric light fixtures twisted out of shape, and even the oil paintings of the German Emperors, Chancellors and Ministers of Foreign Affairs, disfigured beyond repair.

This huge, costly and. partially demolished Embassy seemed to me to well symbolize the relations between Germany and Russia. This Embassy had been a part of Germany's long and persistent campaign to gain a dominating influence in Russia. At a pre-arranged meeting in Baltic waters on July 24th, 1905, Kaiser Wilhelm iiad induced his weak and easily influenced cousin, Nicholas, to sign the secret Treaty of Bjorke. This Treaty, whose provisions became known several years later, hound the two nations mutually to assist each other against any third party and prohibited the conclusion of a separate peace with a common adversary. This agreement, signed during the Eusso-Japanese War, was to become effective at the restoration of peace between Russia and Japan. It also provided that France was not to be informed of the Treaty until after it came into effect, when she should be invited to become a party to it. Obviously this Treaty would have been a breach of faith on Russia's part with her ally, France, and could only have resulted in severing the close relations between those countries and thus strengthening Germany at the expense of both which was, of course, the Kaiser's object. Thanks to Count Witte this mischievous Treaty never went into effect. He was at the time Minister of Finance and the dominating personality in the Government. He succeeded in over-ruling the Czar himself, and checkmating this intrigue of the German Emperor. By so doing, however, he incurred the displeasure of the Czar and the active hostility of the Czarina.

I had heard before leaving America that the Russian Court circles were honeycombed with German spies and German sympathizers. As a result I was on the lookout for the activities of such persons. I also knew that important Russian industries, mines and financial institutions were controlled by German capital. Immediately before the outbreak of the war 49% of Russia's foreign commerce was with Germany. In the same year Germany had taken advantage of Russia's weakened condition because of her disastrous war with Japan to force upon her a commercial treaty in whicli all the advantages were on the side of Germany, and which was effective for ten years, or until the year 1915. The bitterness against Germany was greatly increased by the effects of this treaty. In fact, by the year 1914 the Russian industries that were not under German control were comparatively few. Germany well knew that public sentiment in Russia would never tolerate the renewal of this unfair treaty and that knowledge was one of the immediate causes which induced Germany to force Russia into war in 1914.

The bitterest enmity had grown up since the outbreak of the war, twenty-two months before, between the Russian nobility who were purely Russian and those who were accused of German sympathies. The latter became known as the Court Party and were headed by the Empress, who before her marriage had been a German Princess from Hesse-Darmstadt, and a cousin of the German Emperor. The Empress was said to have gained such a strong influence over the Emperor that even his mother, the Empress Dowager, to whom he had always been so devoted, could not counteract it. In fact, it was believed that at the behest of his wife the Emperor had required his mother to leave Petrograd. In any case, she had left and was living in Kieff. In addition there were many charges of the direct use of German and Austrian money in high places. The former Minister of War, Sukhomlinoff, had been charged by Grand Duke Nicholas with intentionally aiding the enemy by deliberately failing to provide the troops with arms and ammunition. He had been arrested and imprisoned in the St. Peter and Paul Fortress. His wife, a beautiful and attractive woman, had accepted attentions from a Russian General, who had been charged with taking a bribe of 400,000 roubles from the enemy in return for information concerning Russian troop movements and the Russian lack of ammunition. This General had been tried, convicted and shot. There was at this time a Russian Commission in America for the purchase of arms and munitions. It was commonly believed that a member of this Commission had been bribed to give wrong specifications for ammunition, and that when tried in actual battle it was found this ammunition could not be used.

These exposures had naturally made the Russian people extremely anxious and suspicious. The Secret Service of the Empire also had corrupted several of the revolutionary leaders, among whom were Azef and Father Gapon, the leader of the Black Friday demonstration of 1905. Some of these leaders had been induced to make attempts upon the lives of members of the royal family and in some instances had actually committed murders with the knowledge of the Secret Service. The Secret Service was willing to offer up these royal personages as sacrifices in order to obtain justification for suppressing the revolutionary spirit with an iron hand. I shall tell my story from here on largely by means of extracts from confidential letters and dispatches which I sent and received between April 28th, 1916, and November 6th, 1918— the dates marking my active services as Ambassador. Since leaving Russia, while still holding the office, I have been on the inactive list. Although these dispatches and letters, so far from being written with a view to publication, were prepared in most cases for the confidential information of those to whom they were addressed, I shall use them for two reasons : first, because I wish my readers to know that there are no inaccuracies owing to lapses of memory on my part, and second, because it seems to me that many of these accounts have an added interest by reason of the fact that they were written immediately after the stirring events described.

In a letter to my son, Perry Francis, written May 1st, 1916, three days after my arrival in Petrograd, I said:

"On the day of my arrival a note was sent to the Foreign Office asking when I would be received, and on the following day, Saturday, had an audience with Sazonoff, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and also with Stunner, President of the Council of Ministers, and also Minister of the Interior. My interview with Sazonoff was prolonged through an hour and twenty minutes and was by no means satisfactory. He was exceedingly cordial, but I was disappointed in that he said that Russia was not prepared at this time to negotiate any commercial treaty with our country or any other country until all of the Allies arrived at some understanding on economic questions. I told him my last advices were to the effect that he was willing and desirous of negotiating a new commercial treaty, to which he replied that he had so stated six months ago, but that not since June or July of 1915 had the subject been broached to him, and now it was too late as the Allies have agreed upon a program which provides for an understanding between themselves not only as to the prosecution of the war, but as to the commercial relations between themselves and friendly, neutral and belligerent countries after the close of the war. Of course, this is strictly confidential and should not be given to the public prints, nor told to anyone except those upon whom you can thoroughly rely. Immediately upon returning to the Embassy, I prepared a cablegram to the State Department of 500 words, informing the Secretary of the situation and expressing my great disappointment.

I told Sazonoff, who speaks very good English, that I was greatly disappointed, and in fact decidedly so, because to negotiates, suoli a treaty had been the main object I had had in view when accepting the appointment as Ambassador. The Allies have called an economic council to meet in Paris about June first, at which this country will be represented by the Comptroller of the Empire and four other potential officials. It seems, therefore, that the negotiation of a commercial treaty must be postponed until after the council is held ; it will continue in session about thirty days. There is no hope, therefore, of negotiating a tieaty between our country and Russia before July." "When First Secretary Bearing made the appointment for my initial interview with Minister of Foreign Affairs Sazonoff there was no thought of my also calling upon Baron Sturmer, who was at the time both President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of the Interior, but a message was received at the Embassy the morning of the day I was to meet the Foreign Minister requesting that I call upon Minister Sturmer before going to the Foreign Oflfice. I soon learned that there was friction between the two Ministers which undoubtedly accounted for this unusual request. I naturally called upon Sturmer as requested. Although he was exceedingly cordial and expressed himself as very anxious to establish closer relations with my Government, I was by no means favorably impressed by him. His appearance was as German as his name. His mind worked slowly and his temperament was phlegmatic. In short, he impressed me as a dull man. Shortly after my presentation to the Emperor, he called on me at the Embassy. He was again extremely cordial and emphatic in his protestations of a desire for close relations with the United States Government, but I liked him no better. As Minister of the Interior he had charge of the prison camps which it was the duty of the Relief Corps of the American Embassy to inspect. The entire Corps cordially disliked him and when in

10 EUSSIA FBOM THE AMERICAN EMBASSY

July, 1916, lie was transferred — through the influence of the Empress and Easputin as I later learned — and made Minister of Foreign Affairs, great was the rejoieing among the members of the American Belief Corps. Shortly after his appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs he moved into a palatial summer residence on the island in the Eiver Neva opposite the Winter Palace. Here I called one afternoon and met the Baroness Stunner. During my conversation with her I could not help noticing how the Baron paced up and down the room and every now and again stopped in front of a long mirror in which he surveyed himself with evident satisfaction, while he turned up the ends of his mustaches which were in the style of the German Kaiser.

After my original brief conversation with Baron Sturmer I went to the Foreign Office for my appointment with Minister Sazonoff. He greeted me cordially although he was not as excessively cordial as had been Sturmer. He looked about 55 years old, is slightly under medium height and of a spare build. His nose is rather prominent, his mouth firm set and his chin neither square nor pointed. His face and manner bore evidence of overwork and mental strain. His mind was evidently as alert as Stunner's lethargic. His replies to my questions were prompt to the point of abruptness. When I told him I had no experience in diplomacy but had accepted the appointment in the hope and expectation of negotiating a commercial treaty between Eussia and the United States he arose abruptly from his chair and made the statement given in the letter above. I could well imagine him entering the great Hall of Tsarskoe Selo Pjdace on the fateful night of July 31st, 1914, with his quick firm step to tell the Emperor that Germany had declared war. The royal family and some prominent members of the nobility were attending an entertainment at the

Palace when the Foreign Minister entered, and went direct to his Majesty, took him to one side, told him the ominous news and then left the hall with him while the entertainment continued and the guests were left to speculate on what had happened.

Within ten days of my arrival in Petrograd I determined to make the acquaintance of the American colony, so I invited the Americans to tea at the Embassy on a Sunday afternoon. The invitations were generally accepted and the guests remarked that they had not realized there were so many Americans in Petrograd. They seemed greatly pleased and were, in fact, profuse in their expressions of appreciation. Although the colony is so small it has been split into factions — a condition that seems to have been brought about by rivalry between some of the American women in regard to what is called the American Refuge (an orphan asylum supported by Americans).

But the war was the all-absorbing subject in Russia : at this time. Everyone in any position of responsibility \ was under the highest tension. Recruits were being drilled on the street in front of the Embassy. This street I is nearly 200 feet wide and paved with cobblestones which i are not pleasant to walk upon, but the soldiers didn't seem to mind them. These soldiers often sang familiar i Russian airs. They are plaintive but enchanting — so much so that one found the airs running through one's : mind long after the songs had ceased. Soldiers were being sent out of the city by train loads, thousands daily, but no one knew where they were going except the general in supreme command.

The hatred of Germany was intense, just as the feeling in Germany toward England was exceedingly bitter. The merchants and all of the people seemed to feel that Germany had for a century or more been growing rich at the expense of Russia, and that during the Russian-f| Japanese War Germany took advantage of conditions to force upon Russia a burdensome treaty whereby Germany not only got advantage over other countries, but was enabled to exact tribute from all of her patrons in Russia. The Russian merchants, and in fact the nobility and even the Emperor himself, seemed determined that no other country should ever occupy the same relation to Russia that Germany did before the war. Such a position pleased me to a degree, as I had been fearful on account of the financial aid she was rendering to Russia that England might be planning to assume a position of superiority over other nations in her relations to Russia. I was not fully qualified as Ambassador until I had been received by the Czar. This was both an impressive and pleasant experience, which I described to Mr. Polk in the following letter:

"American Embassy, "Petrograd.

"May 9th, 1916.

"Dear Mr. Secretary:

"I address you mainly for the purpose of making a report about my reception by the Emperor and Empress on Friday, May 5th, advices of which I have cabled the Department. ^

' ' The day before calling on the Emperor and Empress,! accompanied by First Secretary Dearing, I called upon Baron Korff, Grand Master of Ceremonies, and also upon Dame d'honneur Elizabeth Narychkine, Maitresse de la Cour Imperiale ; both of these calls were very agreeable, both officials responding promptly and cheerfully to my expressed desire of increasing the good feeling existing for so many years between Russia and the United States,

' * The following day, Friday, accompanied by the Embassy staff and the Commercial Attache, I went to a special station on the railroad leading to Tsarskoe-Selo where a special train was waiting, which conveyed us to the Emperor's station, near the castle, after a journey of about 25 minutes. There we were met by the Master of Ceremonies and his staff aU arrayed in gorgeous uniforms. It has been the custom of my predecessors, I am told, to wear uniforms on such occasions as this and Of many other occasions, but I have not yet procured a uniform and don't know that I shall; my impression is that some of the Secretaries have them, but they are not permitted to wear them unless the Ambassador is \S0 attired. We journeyed from the station to the palace in vehicles so rich in gilt finish that they had better be termed chariots. The one in which I was, was drawn by six horses with an outrider on the front lead horse. The only one who accompanied me in this carriage was a uniformed and titled attache of the Master of Ceremonies, whose name I do not recall. In the second vehicle were Dearing and Mr. Peirce; in the third were Second Secretaries White and Sterling; in the fourth were Third Secretary Ryan and Commercial Attache Baker; in the fifth Lieutenant Riggs and Captain Mc- CuUy; ia the sixth was Captain Breckinridge of the Marine Corps, — ^ten in all including myself. In each vehicle was a member of the retinue of Baron Korff.

"The drive to the castle was about half a mile; on arrival the doors were opened and there were more uniformed servants ready to receive us than I could count. After a very short delay I was conducted to a room where I found the Emperor awaiting me. The doors were closed behind me; the Emperor advanced and gave me a cordial handshake and accompanied me to a seat. The staff were all outside awaiting my return, and although the conference lasted but about 35 minutes by the watch, as they were kept standing during this time, it must have seemed like hours to them. |

"After expressing to the Emperor my appreciatio!j)| of the honor conferred by his receiving me, I handed him the sealed missive from the President and almost immediately proceeded to tell him that I had come to Russia mainly for the purpose of negotiating a new commercial treaty. He smiled and said that Russia was equally desirous to have a new treaty, and trusted there would be no diflSculty in negotiating one. (As I later learned this was a very characteristic attitude. This unfortunate monarch was always trying to avoid difficulties.) At some stage of the conversation I congratu-. lated him upon his vodka edict, at which he seemed pleased, saying that when it was first issued the period for its operation was limited to 30 days, or during mobilization. The appeals from women, communities, and associations, however, were so numerous and importunate that it be extended for the duration of the war, which at that time doubtless no one thought would last more than a few months, that he prolonged the operation of the edict to make it contemporaneous with the war; as the war progressed and the benefits of the prohibition i of the sale of vodka became more and more apparent, j he issued formal edict making the prohibition perpetual, !

"He asked me with great interest about the relations between our country and Germany and I told him that the first official information received at the Embassy j was in regard to treatment of merchant vessels by the Allied and Belligerent Powers, but that the newspapers \ contained reports to the effect that Germany's reply to the President's note suggested arbitration and that they further stated that the proposition had not been accepted. I also told him that our official advices from Washington which had been transmitted to the Foreign Office were not only a virtual reply to Germany's proposition to arbitrate, but an announcement to the world of the position assumed by the United States on the question so long discussed — a position our country meant not only to observe, but to enforce. His reply was, *0f course such matters cannot be arbitrated.' I told him that as the representative of a neutral country, I should be discreet in my expressions concerning the great war in which Russia and most of Europe was engaged, especially as the United States was here looking after the interests of Germany and Austria. During this statement he was smiling and bowing his head affirmatively, and when later I told him that my personal sympathies were with the Allies and had been from the beginning and that my sentiments on the subject were well known in the community where I lived and also throughout the country, he smiled ih a pleased manner, and said he was confident such was the case but was delighted to hear it from my own lips.