The sun., 1909-01-12
RUSSIA TURNING TO WITTE
HE MAY BE ASKED TO DIRECT
hi HER FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
First Move an Ann nouncement OF Hls Will
ingness 10 Accept q Diplomatic Post
Es --Stolypln IL the Obstacle Failure
OF IsyoiskS's Mission TO Austria.

IL -StOypln IL inc OOstncie
OF IsyOisky's Mission TO Austria
ST. PETERsBuRo, Dec. 2s. Periodically
Russian politics go adrift and this dis
turbing phenomenon is followed in
variably by the cry -Send for Coun
Witte.' That distinguished man hal
owed every opportunity in his career tC
being sent for by Ministers who dislikec
him. When Russian finances we're worse
even than they are now he was sent tc
struggle with them, TO the inevitable
personal failure that is only thrust on q
man by influences that wish his destruo.
ton. Later. in the revolutionary tumult
he was put again in the foreground by
men who foresaw that the Minister who
had TO temporize and conciliate a dis
loyal proletariat would be for the rest
Of his life repugnant TO his emperor.
But circumstances are stronger than
Czars, and Count Witte. after long wan
derings as private citizen abroad. is
back in st. Petersburg and 10 a much
discussed figure on the political horizon.
Quite recently. when Russia's foreign
policy began 10 wabble through want
Of grip. foresight and direction. there
was word that Count Witte would be
placed at the head OF the Foreign Office
in place OF NJ. Isvolsky. There are wide
intervals OF time here between cause
and effect. and although the wheels Of
Russian diplomacy are still grinding
something like sheer emptiness. the right
man is not yet installed in the right place.
Instead his name is put forward as that
Of successor 10 NJ. Mouravieff. Ambassa-
dor 10 Italy. who has died at Rome. Count
Whites friends have now made their
first move since his return. They an
nounce that he is willing TO enter the
service Of Russian diplomacy. He feels
a strong wish TO work actively for Rus
sia's interests. especially in her foreign
affairs. His friends avow as plainly
as they can his candidacy for office.
Prompt as an echo comes the rejoinder
from the camp of NJ. Stolypin's adher-
dangerous man. One Of them. NJ. Polovt-
zoff, a prominent member Of the Octo-
brist party, which supports the Govern
meuts internal policy. has declared
publicly that Count Witte while Prime
Minister used to let into his working
cabinet by one door NJ. Petruenkevitch,
leader of the constitutional reformers,
and by another Chrystaleff- Nossar, leader
Of the revolutionary workmen's commit
tee. In one room Count Witte was work.
ing out a decree OF dictatorship and in
another he was pressing gold into the
hands Of the revolutionary Father Gapon.
Count Witte'categorically denies this.
sDuring my presidency OF the Council Of
Ministers. from the date Of the October
1905. till the eve OF the meet
ing OF the first Duma In the following
spring. l neither saw nor had dealings
with Chrystaleff Nossar nor with Gapon.
j was concerned neither with a decree of
nor payments TO Gapon. As
for meeting NJ. Petru nkevitch, he came TO
me officially with NJ. Gutchkoff. now leader
Of the Octobrist party in the Duma. when
both were delegates from the Zemstvo
Congress"
The significance Of this incident turns
on Count Whites eagerness 10 put him
self right with moderate public opinion.
IL is an axiom OF the situation here that
Count Witte can have no share in the
internal administration OF Russia SO
long as NJ. Stolypin is Prime Minister,
and NJ. Stolypin has the complete con-
fdence OF the Car and OF the ma jority
of the present Duma. Can the two men
Do brought into the same cabinet, with
Count Witte confined exclusively TO the !
lomain Of foreign policy? The question 1
becomes moro pressing as the conviction /
yrows that under the present Foreign /.
NJ. Isvolsky, Russa's whole .
in the politica Of the world /,
a being let drift. /
Alone among European ca pitals st.
Petersburg still manages TO envelop its .
diplomacy in the glamour OF Disraelis 1
novels. The society salon, with its high /.
political DANES and cavaliers, still sur /
'ives its victories count more in a dip
omat's career than his record in the .
oigeonholes Of the Foreign Office; il is
'etter for him to cultivate epigrams than
consular reports. This atmosphere Of
landyism and ideas invaded the Duma
he other day as bodyguard for NJ.
svolsky, whose management Of his de-
,artment was up for examination.
'ynio essayed to sum up Disrael after
he Berlin congress, when the map Of the
BALKANS as proposed by Russia was cut
n pieces by the Western Powers, in the
'hrase: "His politics are romantic, his
omances political. and bis whole career
} a fiction founded on fact" So far as
signifies the absence of solid foothold
his epigram holds good Of the Russian
foreign Minister who is trying thirty
ears after to piece together the broken
Ierlin treaty. The worst that was said
o his face in the Duna in its inquest on
lis recent mysterious tour among foreign
came from lively Radical
chool teacher. NJ. Pokrovsky. who
yerred that NJ. Isvolsky had departed
white falcon and returned black crow,
Thich is picturesque Russian for saw
az that he had gone out shearing and
ome home shorn. NJ. Isvolsky knows
hat this view Of his performances pre-
ails among his countrymen; hence his
agerness to defend hin self.
The case for the prosecution. the in
ictment Of having failed in foresight
nd craftsmanship. lights up clearly the
ark places In the diplomatic history of
le last three months. NJ Isvolsky
allied forth In September for campaign
victory: he was to restore Russia g !
International reputation. TO recoup her &
,r her Manohurian defeats and the I
lame OF political bloodshed at home.
10 found his first engagement at the castle 8
Buchlau, the country seat Of the Aus
'o-Hungarian Foreign Minister, Baron I
nm Aahrapthal uhn had baar ,,ron,a,oxl