circumstances, among them, as is now universally believed, the guiding hand of Germany. Grishka was the "obscure influence hostile to Russia" referred to in identical language by the United Nobility of Russia, the State Council, the State Duma, the United Zemstvos' organization; language, in fact, composing the single cry of the whole nation, which, save for three brief days soon after his death, dared not mention the dread name aloud. The high authorities sternly forbade, and the nation obeyed.

Into this story of the public status of Rasputin, as distinct from his personal character, there would enter, were it fully displayed, the question of his support by the Pravoslavny Church in Russia, the most powerful instrument of State governance. And with that would also have to be related the incidents leading up to the authority which Rasputin came to acquire with the Empress, through his pretensions-possibly backed by his hypnotic powers-to wield a miraculous influence over the life and wellbeing of the Grand Duke Alexis, the heir to the Russian throne. It will be enough to say that however it came about-on several occasions when Rasputin was sent away or absented himself in ostentatious pique at some disfavor some ill did occur to the boy. And thus it was that Rasputin was given rooms at the palace at Tsarskoe Selo in the apartments occupied by Mme. Virubova, favorite Lady in Waiting to the Empress, and his personal safety was in charge of the special corps known as the Palace Police," who are responsible for the safety of the sovereign.

Protected at Tsarskoe Selo

been the mainspring of this venal conspiracy; but Rasputin himself, with all the shrewdness of the mujik, was unsparing of his enemies. Kokovtsov, Premier Minister of Russia, once succeeded in getting him banished from the Court; he returned, and Kokovtsov was dismissed with remarkable suddenness. The Adjunct Minister of the Interior, who controls the police of the empire, Dzhunkovsky, incurred his enmity, (knocked him down, it is said, for unparalleled impudence by word and gesture,) and Dzhunkovsky had to go. Samarin, barely appointed Procurator of the Holy Synod, showed plain intentions of cleansing the Pravoslavny Church from these malign influences and filthy practices, but was dismissed before he had time to act. Stürmer's was perhaps the worst of Rasputin's appointments, and it immediately led to rebellion throughout Turkestan.

The Murder on the Moyka

From this appointment of Stürmer dates the belief that Rasputin was manipulated from and in the interest of Berlin. But, like other "holy" rascals in Russia, he took from all and sundry and for every kind of service. Getting military appointments and exemptions from war service was a fruitful source of income to Rasputin. Frequently he would play the kindly benefactor, doing deeds of charity by assisting poor supplicants, and dipping heavily only into the pockets of the rich. In fact, there was neither limit nor bottom to the wickedness which he contrived to execute in every walk of life. Every man in Russia would gladly have seen Rasputin butchered any time these five years past, and many would have done the deed with their own hands if they could have come at him through the protective cordon (the same as for the sovereign) of the "Palace Police." In the end he was assassinated with their own hands by men of such rank as has not for over a hundred years in Russia taken an active part in like bloody deeds. Not since the murder of the Emperor Paul have persons of their rank who assassinated Rasputin thus imbrued their hands in blood.

Color was given to the story of Ras

putin's assassination being a political murder by the presence at it of a member of the Right Party in the Duma, who took a leading part in the disposal of the corpse. He has been credited with engineering the affair, and in consequence has won an unprecedented popularity throughout Russia. Rasputin was invited on the night of Dec. 17 (30) by a gentleman in an automobile-a private carwho brought a note, said to be in the hand of a lady devotee of Grishka, and took him to the house on the Moyka of the young Prince Y., Count S. E. There a distinguished party was assembled. Y., it ought to be remarked, is heir to the richest patrimony in Russia. It is said that he can ride behind horses from end to end of European Russia and sleep on his own land every night. There were present, among others, the Grand Duke D. P. and two sons of the Grand Duke, who married the Emperor's sister. In the company, as has been said, was the Duma member whose activity at the front with his feeding points and other organizations has made his name a household word throughout the empire.

About 6 in the morning, when most of the party had dispersed and Rasputin was almost certainly beastly drunk, according to his later habit, a number of shots were fired in the house, and Rasputin was brought out bleeding, in volumes indicative of his alcoholized state, and put into a motor. Whether or not he was then dead seems uncertain; he certainly had mortal wounds in the side of his head and trunk. He was driven off some way and flung over a bridge. The Grand Dukes appear to have gone home, and Prince Y., having reported the whole affair to the Minister of Justice, attempted later to leave by train for the Caucasus or some other of his estates, but was stopped at the station. An abandoned motor soaking in blood was found miles out of town; it belonged to a Grand Duke.

Rasputin's Body Discovered

The entire police and detective force of the capital was afoot and raked through all the houses of ill-fame, gypsy singers' haunts, and, in fact, every con

ceivable place else, until the finding of a bloodstained golosh brought them to a deserted part of one of Petrograd's smaller rivers. The ice, of course, was several feet thick, but it is the custom in Russia to cut openings where water is obtained and linen is rinsed by laundresses. Divers went down and found nothing; eventually the body was picked out near the bank. Orders had been given to break up the ice if necessary all the way to Kronstadt, but the body must be found. When it was discovered it was secretly interred at Tsarskoe Selo.

The Emperor meanwhile had arrived in haste from the front. For three days extremely guarded references to an "interesting murder" appeared in the press: alongside were printed seemingly inconsequent biographical notes about the chief actors in the tragedy. Officially, however, nothing whatever was allowed to appear beyond the statement of death ("ended his life," not said how!) and the fact that the body had been found. After these three days not even the most distant references were any longer possible. The Grand Duke D. P. took upon himself the whole responsibility, and Grand Dukes are above the law. Under these circumstances the officials found that murder was committed, but that "the evidence was insufficient," and

so on.

The Grave of Rasputin

A correspondent of The Associated Press visited Tsarskoe Selo on March 27 and had an opportunity to see Rasputin's grave, from which the body had been removed and burned by the revolutionists. He found the spot on the edge of a ravine beyond a desolate and roadless plain covered with deep snow. His narrative continues:

"The grave is surrounded by an unfinished log chapel, which adherents of the monk, with the monetary assistance of the former Empress, planned to raise Rasputin's remains. Beside the chapel nave are half a dozen tiny cells for pilgrims, and near the end is the tenfoot hole from which the revolutionaries disinterred the body.

over

"The chapel was filled with soldiers,

6

some of whom were inscribing ribald remarks on the log walls. One of the inscriptions reads: Here lay Rasputin; foulest of men, the shame of the Romanoff dynasty, the shame of the Russian Church.'

"As the correspondent was reading the inscriptions he heard loud shouts. Looking down into the grave, he saw a little brown Siberian soldier on his haunches, doing the Russian squat dance. The soldiers told the correspondent that Countess Hendrikoff, at the request of the former Empress, had offered a large sum to the guards if they would have the grave covered so as to prevent its further desecration.

"The superstitious belief that the health, and even the life, of Grand Duke Alexis, the young heir apparent, depended on the presence of Rasputin is explained in the following extraordinary manner by the Russky Slovo:

"Rasputin, according to the newspaper, stated in confidences to friends at convivial moments that he was able to fortify this superstition with the help of Mme. Virubova, lady in waiting to the Empress, and M. Badmaef, Court physi

cian, until the Empress was absolutely convinced that the life of her son depended on the monk. Whenever Rasputin was absent for any length of time from the Court Mme. Virubova, according to the monk's story as given by the newspaper, obtained poisonous powders from the physician and contrived to place them in food brought to Alexis. The result was that during Rasputin's absences the delicate health of the young heir apparent grew steadily worse, until Rasputin was summoned back to the Court, when the powders were stopped and Alexis became immediately better.

HE record of the Russian Provisional Government in the first month showed steady and con

sistent progress along the path it had struck out on its sudden accession to power after the overthrow of the old régime. On the one hand, it went ahead rapidly with the work of introducing internal reforms and cleaning out the abuses of the old system; on the other, it set itself sternly to the task of bringing the organization of its military strength to the highest possible point of efficiency for the vigorous prosecution of the war against the Central Powers.

The ability of the men in control of the Government was partly explained in a statement made by the Minister of Justice, Kerensky, to an American correspondent. "Our aim is," he said, "to use talent wherever we can find it." The

Russians themselves never doubted their capacity for self-government once they were given the chance. "We knew what we could do," Premier Lvoff declared on March 21. "We have gone ahead and done it, and now, a week after the revolution began, the whole country is in smooth running order. The bureaucratic obstacle is gone, the new Russia is before us. The future is so brilliant I hardly dare to look into it."

As the days succeeded it became more and more apparent that public opinion in Russia was overwhelmingly in favor of a republican form of government similar to that of the United States, with perhaps a greater measure of local autonomy. The sentiment in the large cities was republican from the very start. Not only were the extreme radicals in favor of a republic, but even the Constitutional

of

Democratic Party, of which Milukoff is the leader. The Central Committee and the Parliamentary representatives this party, at Petrograd, voted in favor of a republican form of government; and meetings of peasant communities also declared themselves unanimously for a republic.

On March 21 the Government ordered that the ex-Czar and Czarina be imprisoned in Tsarskoe Selo. The same day Dr. Milukoff, the Foreign Minister, stated that nothing stood in the way of a new commercial treaty between Russia and the United States, now that Russia was on the point of granting full and equal rights to the Jews.

Recognized by the United States

The next day, the American Ambassador, David R. Francis, accompanied by his entire staff, went to the Marinsky Palace to convey the formal recognition by the United States of the new Russian Government. America was thus the first country to welcome Russia into the family of free nations. Addressing the Council of Ministers, Ambassador Francis said:

I have the honor, as the Ambassador and representative of the Government of the United States accredited to Russia, to state, in accordance with instructions, that the Government of the United States has recognized the new Government of Russia, and J, as Ambassador of the United States, will be pleased to continue intercourse with Russia through the medium of the new Government.

May the cordial relations existing between the two countries continue to obtain. May they prove mutually satisfactory and beneficial.

Professor Milukoff, Foreign Minister, replied for the Council of Ministers, saying:

Permit me, in the name of the Provisional Government, to answer the act of recognition by the United States. You have been able to follow for yourself the events which have established the new order of affairs for free Russia. I have been more than once in your country and may bear witness that the ideals which are represented by the Provisional Government are the same as underlie the existence of your own country. I hope that this great change which has come to Russia will do much to bring us closer together than we have ever been before.

I must tell your Excellency that during the last few days I have received many congratulations from prominent men in your country,

assuring me that the public opinion of the PerUnited States is in sympathy with us. mit me to thank you. We are proud to be recognized first by a country whose ideals we cherish.

On March 23 Great Britain, France, and Italy also extended formal recognition of the Russian Provisional Government through their Ambassadors at Petrograd.

Former Czar a Prisoner

The former Czar Nicholas's arrival at Tsarskoe Selo the day after his arrest, in the custody of four members of the Duma, caused no stir. The crowd that had gathered at the station looked on silently, and even the residents of the Court village, whose livelihood depended upon the imperial patronage, remained cold and unmoved. Nicholas was turned over to the Tsarskoe Selo commander and taken to the Alexandrovsky Palace, where a strict guard was established. He and his wife are being kept under close surveillance. He is allowed to walk in the garden only twice daily and only in the presence of the palace commander, Kotzebue. For many days he was in close attendance on his son, who He took was very ill with measles. some recreation by shoveling snow. He wept occasionally, but was quite submissive. At church he was the first to kneel when a prayer was offered up for the new Government.

Along with Nicholas and Alexandra there were 200 other inmates, courtiers, and adherents of the old régime, who were held prisoner in the palace. These were subsequently transferred to the Fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul in consequence of alleged plotting against the new Government, and the former Czar and Czarina were thus isolated.

Meanwhile the cleansing process was prosecuted with energy. Every day members of the Secret Police, the Black Hundreds, and spies were put out of harm's way. Up to March 25, 4,000 had been arrested and imprisoned in Petrograd alone. It was these elements that had created the counter-revolution in 1905, and their elimination freed the Government from a source of danger to the

stability of the new-won liberty and the effective prosecution of the war.

Reform Measures

Simultaneously with the internal reforms the War Office began vigorously pushing the work of military reorganization under the leadership of War Minister Gutzkov, and introduced measures of radical reform. Among those contemplated was the concentration of the supreme direction of the army in a war council consisting of the Ministers of War, Marine, and Foreign Affairs, who would be in constant touch with the Ministers of Railways and Agriculture, the last to give special advice and information in the matter of food supplies.

The Russian War Office renewed its youth. Under the old régime new ideas, dictated by the obvious necessities of the war and the bitter experience of all the Allies, had fallen for the most part on stony soil. Intrigue, inertia, and a score of other deadening influences presented insuperable barriers to effective reform. Now all the reserves of youth and intelligence have been enlisted, and reforms long overdue have been put into effect.

The removal of Grand Duke Nicholas from the post of Commander in Chief of the Russian armies was officially confirmed on March 28, and General M. V. Alexieff, Chief of the General Staff, was appointed his successor. All members of the imperial family and all officers friendly to the autocracy were likewise removed from army posts, and all the Grand Dukes were forbidden to leave the military district of Petrograd.

New Oath of Office

On March 28 all the Ministers of the Provisional Government took the following oath of office in the Senate:

In the capacity of a member of the Provisional Government created by the will of the people and at the instance of the Duma, I promise and swear before Almighty God and my conscience to serve faithfully and justly the people of the Russian State, sacredly guarding its liberty, rights, honor, and dignity, inviolably observing in all my acts and orders civil liberty and civic equality, and in all measures intrusted to me, suppressing any attempts, direct or indirect, toward the restoration of the old régime.

I swear to apply all my intelligence and

strength completely to fulfill all the obligations assumed by the Provisional Government before the eyes of the people. I swear to take all measures for the convocation of the Constituent Assembly in the shortest possible time on the basis of universal, direct, equal, and secret suffrage, to transfer to the hands of the Assembly all the authority provisionally exercised by me in conjunction with other members of the Government, and to bow before the people's will as expressed by that Assembly concerning the form of government and the fundamental laws of the Russian State.

May God help me in the fulfillment of this oath.

One of the most-hated features of the old bureaucratic Government was its system of raising revenue. The burden fell most heavily upon the peasants, who were taxed to the starvation point. As the Russian population is largely agricultural, the prosperity of the country depended chiefly upon the welfare of the peasants. Consequently, their oppression greatly retarded Russia's normal development. The new Government began to grapple with this problem at

once.

Important Financial Program

Tereshchenko, the Minister of Finance, outlined his financial program on March 29 as follows:

The country is full of capital, which has grown out of the increased industrial activity since the beginning of the war, and my plan is to institute immediately a new system of taxes based on war profits. Since 1915 all industrial enterprises of the country have shown most remarkable increases in earnings and have issued millions of new shares. It is only proper that the Government should have a more adequate share in these profits.

In the past, revenues have been obtained only in a casual manner by the Ministry of Finance, and, although they far exceeded the financial loss to the Government occasioned by the suspension of the liquor traffic, they have not been properly or thoroughly applied to the resources of the country, which ought to contribute largely to the expenses of carrying on the war.

This new revenue will enable the country to meet at least the accumulating interest on outstanding loans. Russia will have to depend, of course, upon foreign loans, and, judging by the sympathy and support with which the new Government has been greeted by its allies and in the United States, there should be no difficulty in arranging a basis for a continuance of financial assistance abroad.

A not inconsiderable item of expense was saved by the elimination of the