'The following passages from a communication from a St, Petersburg correspondent' which we find in our exchanges are of interest at a moment when the eyes of the world are so largely fixed upon the doings, of M. de Witte In St. Petersburg the firm belief prevails that the first step towards peace between Russia and Japan will be peace between the Czar and M. de Witte. "When it comes to making peace, the work must inevitably be left to Witte," it is argued; "for he is the only man we have—that we must all allow—who, could even attempt to hold his own against Ito and Katsura, Our one chance of obtaining fair terms is. to Jeave the arranging of them to him, 'This oven the Czar knows. When once be realises, therefore, that he must make peace'with Japan, he will begin by. making peace with Witte." There is in fact much' anxious conning over of the "Czar's reasons for cherishing ill-will against this man who, with all his faults, is, as friends and foes alike admit ablest statesman, most far-sighted dipl matist, and most skilful financier Russia can to-day call her own.
Why doss Czar Nicholas dislike M. de Witte?" isa question that is. asked at every turn in St. Petersburg just now, and almost always in a tone that implies regret that he should dislike him.. And the answer given is more often than. not, "The Czar does not dislike Witte: he hates him." That the Czar does really hate his former Finance Minister no one can doubt who over sees the two together, for his Majesty makes no attempt to conceal the fact; on the contrary, it almost seems sometimes as if he wont out of his way to emphasise it, Even in public, at State entertainments, he will frown if his eyes fall upon him, and become nervous and irritable if forced by Court ati to address him. At council meetings it is an open secret that for months past he has treated him not only with a lack of the most ordinary courtesy, but with direct personal rudeness. Upon more than one occasion, indeed, his demeanour towards him has been insulting in the extreme, Hoe has even gone so far as to tell him openly that he does not trust him; that ho believes as little in his patriotism and his loyalty as in his statesmanship and his diplomacy. Again and again he has taunted him with being pottifoggin, in his views, a huckster at heart; and has told him that be looks upon him as being neither a true Russian uor yet a true friend to Russia. Nay, it said that he has called bim—in his absence, bien entendu—a traitor, and has implied that, when framing his policy as Finance Minister, ho thought more, of the' success of his own schemes than of the. honour and glory of Russia. There is little doubt that it was with the Czar's full knowledge and. consent that M.~Plebve, only an hour or two before he was killed, signed that decree by which the police were authorised, in -Jeortain circumstances, to seize M." Witte's private papers.
Cautiously enough, while proclaiming, aloud that he kes nor trusts M.
-y. turn.shows. plainly, though unwittingly, that in his heart he has more faith in him than in anyone else. Whenovor things go wrong, and they always are going wrong, h cat thought is always to eond for kim; and although he rarely acts on his'advie ho always insists on having it. Eve when most angry with him, he confided td bini the task of carrying out the Reform Rescript, in spite of all BIN. Pobiedonostzeff could say or do; just as, " few months before, he had confided to him the task of ranging the Commercial Treaty with many. The famous Religious Toleration Edict, which be published recently, is, as all the world knows, the handiwork of his former Finance Minister. Moro than once of late M. de Witte has expressed the wish to resign his position as President of the Committee of Ministers, but he was refused permission to do so; and when he annotnesd his intention of leaving Russia the Czar was seized with something very like a panic. Evidently his Majesty is alive to the fact that it behoves him, for the sake of his own safety, to cop within his roach Russia's one strong man.
a courtier were asked: what reason the Czar has for his pronounced dislike of his former Minister, he would probably reply, "Oh! Witte is so uncouth he has no manners at all, and steps on the Tmperial toes at every audience." And to certain extent he would be -right.
Sergius de Witte is far too much in earnest to be courtly: there is ud doffing of hats, no bending of knees about him; and speak with b ted breath he simply cannot, even when in. the presence of the Great White Czar. It is extremely probable, therefore, that Nichols the Second, "who has lived all his life in an atmosphere of adulstivn, finds his manners a little trying; _stili, this does not explain his dislike of him, as these traits "sre nob niore trying now. than they were (hree years ago, when he was devoted to hi and treated him as a friend, As a point fact, it was not until the Yalta episode that he showed any signs of ill-will towards him, When M. de Witte returned from his famous. tour of inspection through Siberia, he found his fellow-Ministers wringing their hands; for a charlatan of the worst type had, by dint of some spiritualistic jargon or other, captured the Car completely, and installed himself by his side as adviser-in-chief.. He started off at once for Yalta, where the Court was then in resid-nce, and-had a long interview with the spiritualist, followed by a short. one with the. Czar. Of what he said and did the world knows nothing but patience is not his strong: point; and as ho was dealing with an adventurer on the ove haud and a weakling on the other, it is possible that ho used. his strength a little brutally. Bo this as it may, the spiritualist was put to flight, and' the Czar's feelings werd sorely wounded. Ho does not, however, scorn to have waxed resentful until M, Plohve appeared upon the scone, and told him that Witte was regarded in Berlin as the ruler of Russia. From that day to this the relations between the. two, have aln been more or less strained. Since the time when M. Plehve was murdered, they have become more strained than before, owing to the fact that MI. de Witte, far from expressing horror at the dood, expressed only very. mollified regret, holding that the murdered man had richly deserved the fate he met. When this was reported to Czar Nicholas his indignation knew no bounds. Ho "do-clared that Witte should never again be allowed to enter his presence, Within twenty-four hours, however, he changed his mind and sent for him in all haste, What renders the making of porce-between the Czar and M. de Witte the more difficult is the fact that the latter has just as bitter a feeling against the former, a8 the former against the latter. If Czar Nicholas dislikes his Minister because of his aggressive strength, hi old Minister dislikes the Czar because of his vacillating weakness. There. is no touch of the lamb in M. de Witte when he is struck he strikes back, even though the striker be his' Sovereign. There is probably not another living Russian who would have dared to denounce the Czar as ho denounced him, openly, face to face, for allowing Russia to be dragged into the present war; or who would have had the courage to him, as he did, that the St. Viadimir's Day massacre was a "crime which neither God nor. the nation would over forgive." He is furious with the Czar for having turned a deaf enr-to his warnings, and ho shows it. Had his advice been taken, as he tolls him, there would have been no wae disasters, no disgraceful surrenders, no defeats, For months ho was forced to play the, role of Cassandra, but now ho, is playing one more.
his taste, Ho rails against all who had a hand in. bringing about this war, and denounces. them as the bitter otomies of Rassia. Little wonder' ho feels strongly on the subject, for the war, by undermining the credit of the Empire,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.