The Last Tsar (26 page)

In conclusion, Nicholas Mikhailovich suggested that the tsar grant “the much desired ministry responsible to the Duma and do so before outside pressure is brought to bear,” that is, not in the way the memorable act of October 17, 1905, had come about.

They were threatening him with a new revolution. And reminding him of the last.

She: “Nov. 4th.… I read Nikolai’s & am utterly disgusted. Had you stopped him in the midle of his talk & told him that, if he only once more touched that subject or me, you will send him to Siberia—as it becomes next to high treason. He has always hated & spoken badly of me since 22 years.… But during war & at such a time to crawl behind yr. Mama & Sisters & not stick up bravely … for his Emperor’s wife—is loathesome & treachery.… You, my Love, far too good & kind & soft—such a man needs to be held in awe of you—He & Nikolasha are my greatest enemies in the family, not counting the Montenegrin women—& Sergei.… Wife is your staunch One & stands as a rock behind you.”

Postscript:

“… I dreamt I was being operated on: th’ my arm was cut off I felt utterly no pain. After a letter came from Nikolai.”

Now she began her struggle against the entire Romanov family. She remained intact.

He: “5 November.… I am so sorry that I have upset you and made you angry by sending the two letters of N., but as I am in a constant hurry I had not read them, because he had spoken exhaustively of the matter for a long time. But he never once mentioned you, discussing only the stories about spies, factories, workmen, disorders, Ministers, and the general internal situation. Had he said anything about you, you do not really doubt that your dear hubby would have taken your part!”

She: “Nov. 12th 1916.… I am but a woman fighting for her Master & Child, her two dearest ones on earth—& God will help me being your guardian angel, only dont pull the sticks away upon wh. I have found it possible to rest [i.e., Rasputin and Protopopov].… What joy to rest to-morrow in your arms to kiss & bless you.… True unto death.”

Postscript:

“Darling, remember that it does not lie in the man Protopopov or x.y.z., but its the question of monarchy & yr. prestige.… Dont think they will stop at him, but they will make all others leave who are devoted to you one by one—then ourselves. Remember, last year yr. leaving to the Army—when also you were alone with us two [her and Rasputin] against everybody, who promised revolution if you went. You stood up against all & God blessed your decision.”

She: “Dec. 4th 1916.… Show to all, that you are the Master & your will shall be obeyed—the time of great indulgence & gentleness is over—now comes your reign of will & power, & obedience they must be taught.… Why do people hate me? Because they know I have a strong will & when am convinced of a thing being right (when besides blessed by Gregory), do not change my mind & that they can’t bear.… Remember Mr. Philipps [the charlatan mystic Monsieur Philippe from France] words when he gave me the image with the bell. As you were so kind, trusting & gentle, I was to be yr. bell, those that came with wrong intentions wld. not be able to approach me & I wld. warn you. Should Motherdear write, remember the Michels [the Mikhailovich brothers] are behind her.—Don’t heed & take to heart—thank God she is not here, but kind people find means of writing & doing harm.”

The bell rang and rang.… And then the family played its trump: her sister Ella went to Tsarskoe Selo and attempted to explain to her beloved Alix as kindly as possible the horror of the situation, by which she meant Rasputin. But Alix immediately shut her out and cut the conversation short.

Alix saw her sister off at the train, but they parted in silence. Ella would never reappear at Tsarskoe Selo. They would not see each other again.

He: “10 December, 1916.… Things do not look too bright in Roumania.… In the Dobrudja our troops had to retire to the very Danube.… By the 15th of Dec. the concentration of our forces will, I hope, [be] more or less accomplished and perhaps toward Christmas we shall begin our offensive. As you see, the position there is not a happy one.”

What was the extent of his participation in the war? An ignorant, weak-willed executor of the wishes of his hysterical wife and Rasputin—that was the answer given by the coming revolution.

But here is another widely known opinion. Winston Churchill wrote about it in
World Crisis:
“Surely to no nation has Fate been more malignant than to Russia. Her ship went down in sight of port.… Every sacrifice had been made; the toil was achieved.… The long retreats were ended; the munition famine was broken; arms were pouring in; stronger, larger, better equipped armies guarded the immense front.… Alexeiff directed the Army and Kolchak the Fleet. Moreover, no difficult action was now required: to remain in presence: to lean with heavy weight upon the far stretched Teutonic line: to hold without exceptional activity the weakened hostile forces on her front: in a word to endure—that was all that stood between Russia and the fruits of general victory….

“The brunt of supreme decisions centred upon him. At the summit where all problems are reduced to Yea and Nay, where events transcend the faculties of men and where all is inscrutable, he had to give the answers. His was the function of the compass needle. War or no war? Advance or retreat? Right or left? Democratise or hold firm? Quit or persevere? These were the battlefields of Nicholas II. Why should he reap no honor for them?… In spite of errors vast and terrible, the regime he personified, over which he presided, to which his personal character gave the final spark, had at this moment won the war for Russia.”

He: “I am so glad that you were pleased with Novgorod.… You saw more there than I did in 1904.”

In Novgorod Alix had been to see the famous prophetess, the holy woman Maria Mikhailovna, who lived in the Desyatinna Convent.
He hoped her trip would divert her indomitable energy into a new channel, so he could pause for breath.

Subsequently Alix would repeat the legend: Maria Mikhailovna was lying in the darkness when Alix appeared. Then the holy woman suddenly rose up on her bed, climbed down to the floor, and bowed to the ground before the empress. And she said: “You, beautiful lady, shall know suffering.” But what was the point of legends if Alix herself described the meeting?

She: “She lay in bed in a small dark room, so they brought a candle for us to see each other. She is 107, weares irons … generally always works, goes about, sews for the convicts & soldiers, without spectacles—never washes. And of course, no smell, or feeling of dirt, scraggy grey hair standing out, a sweet fine, oval face with lovely young, shining eyes & sweet smile. She blessed us & kissed us.… To me she said: And you the beautiful one—dont fear the heavy cross’ (several times)—has grey hair and a sweet, delicate, oval face—‘for your coming to visit us, two churches will be built in Russia.’ … Said not to worry about the children, will marry, & could not hear the rest.”

Or maybe poor Alix didn’t understand what marriage she was talking about. Old-style Russian was hard for the Hessian princess. Her friend Anya preferred “not to hear” it either. The holy woman was speaking of Alix’s daughters’ being wed to death.

He: “3 December, 1916.… Endless thanks for your long interesting letter with the many details of your trip to Novgorod.… Well now, about Trepov [in 1916 Alexander Feodorovich Trepov was appointed prime minister]. He was quiet and submissive and did not touch upon the name of Protopopov.… He unfolded his plan concerning the Duma—to prorogue it on the 17th of December and reassemble it on the 19th of January so as to show them and the whole country that, in spite of all they have said, the Government wish to work together.… I went to pray before the ikon of the Mother of God before this conversation, and felt comforted after it.”

She: “Dec. 14th.… Scarcely slept this night again.… Trepov was very wrong in putting off the Duma now & wishing to call it beginning of January again, the result being … nobody goes home & all will remain, fomenting, boiling in Petrograd.… Lovy, our Friend begged you to shut it 14th … & you see, they have time to make trouble.… Be Peter the Great, John [Ivan] the Terrible, Emperor Paul—crush them all under you—now don’t laugh, naughty one—but I long to see you with all those men.… ‘Do not fear,’ the old woman said & therefore I write without fear to my agoo wee one.”

Her constant pressure had kept him on the brink. Now she had gone too far.

He: “14 December, 1916.… Tender thanks for the severe written scolding. I read it with a smile, because you speak to me as though I was a child.”

She: “Dec 15th 1916.… Please, forgive me for my impertinent letters, but writes from deepest love—& sometimes driven to exasperation, knowing one cheets you & proposes wrong things.… Wish the telephone were not so bad.”

He: “16 December, 1916.… No, I am not angry with you for the other, written by you. I perfectly understand your desire to help me! But I cannot change the day for the reassembly of the Duma, because the day is already fixed in the Proclamation.… Tender greetings and kisses sends to you Your ‘poor, weak-willed little hubby.’ ”

Yes, this time he was implacable.

She: “Dec 17th 1916.… Again very cold & gently snowing.… Heart is not famous & don’t feel well. You see my heart for some time was bad again.… The moral strain of these last trying months on a weak heart of course had to tell … the old machine broke down.… Has Baby’s ‘worm’ quite been got rid of? Then he will get fatter & less transparent—the precious Boy!”

The end of her letter was finished in pencil—after she learned of what was for her the most dreadful event possible:

“We are sitting together—you can imagine our feelings—thoughts—our Friend has disappeared. Yesterday A[nya] saw him & he said Felix [Prince Yusupov] asked him to come in the night, a motor wld. fetch him to see Irina.—A motor fetched him (military one) with 2 civilians & went away. This night big scandal at Yousupov’s house—big meeting, Dmitrii [Pavlovich, Nicholas’s cousin], Purishkevich [Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich, extremely right-wing Duma member], etc all drunk. Police heard shots, Purishkevich ran out screaming to the Police that our Friend was killed. Police searching & Justice entered now into Yusupov’s house—did not dare before as Dmitrii there. Chief of police has sent for Dmitrii. Felix wished to leave to-night for Crimea, [I] begged Protopopov to stop him. Our Friend was in good spirits but nervous these days & for A[nya] too, as Batiushin [the military investigator handling the case of the German spies] wants to catch things against Ania. Felix pretends he never came to the house & never asked him. Seems quite a paw. I still trust in God’s mercy that one has only driven Him off somewhere.… We women are alone with our weak heads. Shall keep her [Anya] to live here—as now they will get at her next. I
cannot & wont believe He has been killed. God have mercy. Such utter anguish.… Come quickly—nobody will dare to touch her or do anything when you are here.”

They had been plotting Rasputin’s murder for a long time. The large Romanov family saw it as the sole means of saving the dynasty. And the Holy Devil knew about it. When the clouds had thickened, he made a brilliant move, as always. He composed a will and prophecy, which he showed to the tsaritsa.

The “Spirit of Grigory Rasputin Novykh” promised:

“Russian Tsar!

“… Know, that if your relatives commit murder, then not one of your family, i.e., your relatives and children, will live more than two years.… The Russian people will kill them.… They will kill me. I am no longer among the living. Pray. Pray. Be strong. Worry about your elected family.”

Rasputin transmitted it to the empress through his secretary. Imagine what poor Alix felt! She did not show the letter to Nicholas, but the holy man’s guard was strengthened. The tsaritsa and her daughters themselves went to ask Rasputin not to receive any guests without her knowledge. They locked up his clothing and so on.

But the cunningly artless holy man outwitted the “accursed aristocrats.”

Vera Leonidovna:

“It was a puzzling intrigue in the spirit of my favorite play,
Masquerade
. Dmitry and Felix dreamed it up. Felix was an old enemy of the holy man. Through Mania Golovin he let it be known he was looking to reconcile with the holy man. It was all done very realistically. The holy man knew that Felix wanted to join the Guards; but the tsar, who did not want homosexuals, opposed it. So through poor, unsuspecting Mania, who was certain she was going to reconcile the holy man and her friend Felix, Felix asked the holy man to put in a word for him with Alix, which Rasputin agreed to do. That fateful evening, Grigory was going to see Felix in his palace for a complete reconciliation. He had been promised wine and dancing, of which he was passionately fond. One day I’ll tell you how marvelously he danced. That evening he had promised to heal Princess Irina.… The legend about the holy man lusting after Irina was created later by the assassins themselves: ‘Grigory’s filthy intentions toward the daughter of Sandro himself.’ All this was supposed to vindicate the assassins. Subsequently there was a legend about how Rasputin had been poisoned with potassium cyanide, but it wasn’t
poison that took him. In fact, the person who gave him the poison didn’t want to take a sin on his soul, so he gave him a harmless powder.… When Felix realized the poison wasn’t working, he shot him and Rasputin fell. A second legend arose that Felix killed him and he rose up. In fact, he was only wounded. Felix wasn’t a murderer, and he was nervous. Rasputin was lying motionless on the pelt of a white bear, and Felix was with him in the room. Rasputin evidently came to and hurled himself on Felix to strangle him, bellowing horribly, like a wounded beast. Imagine what Felix must have felt when the ‘corpse’ fell on him! Horrified, Felix froze, and Rasputin was able to flee the cellar for the courtyard. He was killed right by the gate, with a revolver, and evidently not completely, because when they rolled him onto a portière to load him into Grand Duke Dmitry’s automobile he opened his eyes—and none of them ever forgot that inexpressible look. They had tried to kill Rasputin in the half-cellar.”

She (telegram): “Dec. 18th 1916. In your name I order Dmitrii forbidden to leave his house till yr. return. Dmitrii wanted to see me today, but I refused. Mainly he is implicated. The body still not found. When will you come?”