Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-01-18
r ASPUTIN --- Devil or Sal t.?
= By the Princess Radziwill =
wright 1917, Ledger All Rights Reserved

ing but a German intrigue which aimed
at discrediting the dynasty and perhaps
even at overthrOwing the sovereign from
his throne.
Thanks to the Internal cunning of the
people who were its leaders, the impe-
rial circle and even some of the impe-
rial family were represented as being
entirely under the prophets" influ-
ence. And thanks to the solitary exist
ence which the emperor and empress
we're leading. and to the small num-
Der Of people who were allowed to see
them, these rumors gained ground, for
the simple reason that there existed no
one capable of contradicting them or
of pointing out their absurdity. Calum-
mics as stupid as they were degrading
to the authors of them were set in cir
culation, and the revolutionary move
ment which Germany had been foment-
ing grew stronger and stronger every
day, until IL reached the lower classes.
These classes by kind of miracle were
also kept very we'll informed as to every
thing that was connected with Rasputin
or with the subterranean work perform
ed by his party, a work which tended
to only make the house Of Romanoff UNI
popular, and to represent it as incapable
of taking to heart the interests of the
country over which it reigned.
The Character Of Rasputtn's Associates
II we consider who were the people at
the side Of the prophet" and who in
spfred all his actions as well as his ut
terances, we find police agents, adven-
turers who had been sometimes in pris-
on and sometimes in exile; functionaries
eager to obtain some fat sinecure in
which they might do nothing and earn
a great deal; stock exchange spectators
of doubtful morality and still more
doubtful honesty; women of low char
acter and army purveyors, mixed up
with an innumerable number of spies
Most of these last were in the German
service and we're working for all that
they were worth to bring about some
palace conspiracy or some popular move
ment capable Of removing from his
throne the tar whose honesty and
straightforwardness of character pre-
cluded the possibility Of Russia betray-
ing the trust which her allies had put
in her.
Yet this was precisely what these peo-
pie wanted, and what they had made
up their minds to force through, thanks
to the indignation which the various
stories which were being repeated every
day concerning Rasputin and the favor
which he enjoyed was arousing all over
Russia The emperor. of course, knew
nothing of all this; the empress even
less. There was no one to tell them
the truth, and they would have been
more surprised than any one else had
they suspected the ocean of lies which
had been told concerning themselves, and
concerning the kindness with which they
had treated a man whom they considered
as being half saint and half mad, but
OF whom they had never thought in
their widest dreams of making Their
chief advisor.
Ty. W. history there =
also a1other point which must be no.
ttcsd When the first receptions pro-
duced by the disaster of the beginning
of the campaign mad thrown public opin~
ion into a state of mind which was bor>
dering well nigh upon despair. and be-
fore it had had time to recover from
the shock of the fall of Warsaw and the
line of fortresses upon which they had
relied TO protect the western frontier,
people had begun to seek for the cause
of the great establishment they had
been called upon to experience. One
had very quickly discovered, partly
through the revelations that had been
made i'm the duma, that the real reason
for all the sad things which had hap
pened lay in the systematic plunderlng
of the public exchequer, that had been
going on for such a long time and which
even the experiences of the Japanese war
had not cured. WnSn the fierce DSALllc
against Germany began in grim earnest
the first thought of the emperor had
been to try to put an end to these dep
relations that had compromised the
prestige and the good name of Russia
abroad as well as at home. Great Sc
verify was shown to the many adventur-
ers who had encircled themselves al
he expense of the nation. When 1t ha"
.ome to the fabrication Of the neceS-
airy ammunition required by the army,
then the help of Russias allies-England
and France-had been sought Thanks to
the efforts of these two powers, some
thing like order was re-established in
the vast machine of the war office.
The fabrication of shells Of a size
that could not fit any gun was stopped.
The army at the front got clothes and
food of which it had been in want at
he beginning of the campaign. Am
munition was dispatched where ii was
required, and not in the contrary d.
recJion, as often had been the case be-
fore. The allies helped Russia to the
best of their ability, and Russia, al
least the sane and honest part of Rus
sian society, felt grateful to them for
their cooperation in the work of their
common defense against a foe which II
had become necessary to defeat 50
thoroughly that civilization could no
longer be endangered by its existence
and activity.