Review of Reriews, lJl3fC6. 



Character Sketch. 



567 



cause it will be idle to argue to a Russiau audience 

 that the Duma is other than a farce so long as you 

 keep Milyukoff in prison." 



" Well," he said, '' I told you I would have the 

 report in two or three days." 



I replied, " To-day is Wednesday. Thursday is 

 one day, Friday is two days, Saturday is three days. 

 I will wait till Saturday, and if Milyukoflf is liberated 

 then I will begin." 



PERSONAL IMPRESSIONS. 



I took my leave, and I never saw him again. He 

 left upon me the impression of a tall, powerful man, 

 simple and unpresuming, who had fully realised the 

 fact that force was no remedy, and was doggedly 

 holding together the fabric of society until the new- 

 structure was ready. He was a W. E. Forster kind 

 of a man crossed with Sir Charles Warren. I was 

 surprised at the frankness with which he admitted 

 the faults of the existing system and the width of 

 his programme of reform. He may have been pos- 

 ing. But, on the other hand, his subsequent career 

 justifies the belief that he was honestly expressing 

 his inmost thought. In the very last recorded inter- 

 view published since his death. General Trepoff is 

 reported to have refused to introduce a reactionary 

 journalist, M. Sherapoff, to the Tsar, on the ground 

 that his Majesty was determined to introduce a con- 

 stitutional form of government into Russia, a reso- 

 lution in which he— General Trepoff — entirely con- 

 curred. 



When I reported the result of mv interview with 

 General Trepoff to my Russian Liberal friends in 

 St. Petersburg they shrugged their shoulders. They 

 did not disguise their conviction that the General 

 was fooling me. '• Maybe," I replied. " The release 

 of Milvukoff will be the touchstone of his sincerity. 

 If he lets the Professor go free, then I think I shall 

 be justified in going ahead." 



'■ Yes." they said, " if " 



I had sufficient faith to make all preparations for 

 going ahead. I invited a company of Russian, Eng- 

 lish and .\merican friends to a conference at the 

 Hotel d'Europe on Sunday afternoon to discuss 

 the Duma, and I also invited Professor MilyukofT to 

 meet them. 



I admit that my faith was somewhat tried. Thurs- 

 <lav passed with no sign. On Friday there was a 

 false report that Milyukoflf was released, but he still 

 lay behind prison bars. Saturday came, and still 

 there was no news of his release. 



JflLTUKOFF'S EELE.\SE. 



I was sitting in my room in the hotel at six o'clock 

 on Saturday evening, when a military officer in full 

 uniform and decorations was ushered into the room. 

 He bow-ed, and then said in French : " His Excel- 

 lency the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, Gene- 

 ral Trepoff, has commanded me to present his com- 



pliments to Mr. Stead, and to inform him that Pro- 

 fessor Milyukoff is free." 



My readers can imagine how I rejoiced over this 

 confirmation at the eleventh hour of my confidence 

 in the determination of the Tsar and his Mayor of 

 the Palace to make the Duma a success. The truth 

 of the news of the release of the Professor was gene- 

 rally discredited. On Sunday afternoon my guests 

 arrived, but the Professor was absent. We got well 

 nigh through lunch, and were discussing the advice 

 given bv an ex-boss of Tammany in New York as to 

 The conduct of an electoral campaign for the Duma. 

 Said the newspaper man across the table to another : 

 " Stead thinks Milyukoff has been freed. Nothing 

 of the kind. Thev are fooling him." 



Just at that moment my friend, Mr. Keay, heanng 

 a noise at the door, went to see who was outside. 

 Another moment and he returned, his face aglow. 

 '■■ Professor Milyukoff," he exclaimed, and we all rose 

 in honour of our distinguished guest. 



ITS SIGNIFICANCE. 



I had to leave before the rest of my guests to keep 

 an appointment at the Anitchkoff Palace, and I did 

 not see Professor Milyukoff again till we met at 

 Moscow a few days later. Then he kindly read my 

 paper to the Conference at Prince Dolgorouki's 

 palace, and acted as my interpreter in the debate 

 that followed. As might be imagined, his services 

 to me w-ere misrepresented. Suspicious Liberals ac- 

 cused him of aiding and abetting my propaganda 

 for the Duma as a guid pro quo for his release. To 

 remove the stigma he wrote a letter in which he 

 protested that he would rather remain in gaol to 

 the end of his natural life than owe his release 

 to one who had undertaken the thankless role of 

 parJcamcniairc for the Tsar. General Trepoff was 

 equally indignant at the suggestion — a post hoc prop- 

 ter hoc suggestion — that my conversation with him 

 had anything whatever to do with Professor Milyu- 

 koflf's release. Be that as it may, the whole story 

 is now on record, and the world can form its own 

 judgment. I never claimed to have secured M. 

 }sIilvukoff's release. I onlv pointed to that release 

 as the first-fruits of the policy which both the Em- 

 peror and General Trepoff declared it was their firm 

 intention to carry out. But the belief w^as general 

 in St. Petersburg that the release resulted from my 

 representation, and General Trepoflf was more se- 

 verelv baited in the Liberal papers for releasing 

 Milvukoff on a foreigner's appeal than he had ever 

 been abused for locking him up. 



There is little more to add to this history. But I 

 mav quote one or two communications that passed 

 between General Trepoff and myself as the sequel of 

 this visit. 



TAKING TREPOFF AT HIS ■WORD. 



T had taken General Trepoff at his word, and I 

 had the release of Milvukoff as an outward and 



