The Days of a Man 



Witte 

 and the 

 Tsar 



Treaty 

 finally 

 concluded 



autocracy. Corruption and graft permeated the whole 

 government and made defeat a moral certainty. At 

 Portsmouth the nation was represented by the 

 greatest of its modern statesmen, Count Sergius 

 Witte, sent by the Tsar in the hope that inevitable 

 failure would bring about his political downfall. For 

 it was certain that no attainable settlement could 

 satisfy his master or the group of conspirators that 

 had brought on the war, while failure to secure peace 

 would discredit him as a leader of the anti-militarists. 1 



A desire for peace was shared by the two delega- 

 tions, although each side felt bound to secure the 

 best possible terms in order to disarm opposition at 

 home. At the same time it was plain that war to the 

 bitter end meant ruin to both countries. Witte, 

 however, was embarrassed by daily orders from 

 Nicholas to grant no concessions, and finally received 

 one to quit and come home. But pleading that such 

 conduct would be discourteous to the President and 

 the nation whose guests they were, he reached an 

 agreement with the other side and concluded a treaty 

 in spite of the Tsar. Meanwhile, by signing, the 

 Japanese defied mob opinion in Tokyo, where for a 

 time the hitherto-honored name of Roosevelt was 

 ignorantly held in execration. Nevertheless, accord- 

 ing to Witte, the influence of the President through- 

 out was strongly exerted to secure the "fruits of 

 victory" for the Japanese. 



During this war the sympathies of America were 

 almost entirely with Japan, because she had been 

 grossly imposed upon, and most people supposed her 

 to be "the under dog." As a matter of fact, her 

 government was extremely well prepared, their 



1 According to Dr. E. T. Dillon, "The Eclipse of Russia." 



