New-York tribune., 1919-06-08

tary disaster at Iarnopol and by ey
pressing the view that Russian -.
diers were cowardly dogs.
Both Russians present, Ge,.~.,
Neuslochowsky and MIR. Soskice l.s
the room. They would listen M lo,..
They departed red, and also s.sss
red. They were through.
British Diplomacy
RUT General Knox was not throw,
~ He entered on colloouv W..
Robins which l think can exac.,v =.
cite.
General Knox was thoroughly M,
est, thoroughly patriotic, thorouoA,,
Intelligent. He simply apparently h.a
not Informed himself. When RoM.-
thinks of General Knox's opinions AVA
statements on that day in the Ha,.
Europe he is inclined to grasp at N.
thought that every diplomatic and mil
ltary mission in the world ought to %.
a cable every morning saying: "Unleu
you go outdoors to-day, unless Won Ana
something out outdoors to-day. anon,
the common people of the country h
which you are accredited, you will N
dismissed at nightfall."
General Knox said to Robins; "Yor
are wasting Colonel Thompson.
money"
"1f am, general" said Robins, Ss
knows all about it,"
"You should have been with Ko,.
nilov," said General Knox.
"You were with him." said Robin,
The general flushed. well" h.
said, chat effort may have been pre.
mature. But I am not interested. in
the Kerensky sort of government. Too
weak. What's wanted is military
dictatorship. What's wanted is Cos.
sacks. These people need whip. A
dictatorship's the thing
Robins expressed the fear that they
might get a dictatorship in Russia
quite different from the kind of die.
tatorship General Knox was thinking
of.
What" said the general. "You
mean Lenine and Trotzky? Bolshe.
wiki? That soap-box talk? Colonel
Robins, you are not a military man. III
tell you what we Go with such people.
We shoot them"
Robins was q bit reused probably
by this time. "You do" said he. II
you catch them. But you will have to
do some catching. You will have 10
catch several million. General, at
not military man. But you are nc,
up against a military situation. You
are up against a folks situation"
eve shoot them" he repeated.
That was Friday. On Monday, thre.
days later, the Bolsheviki took the
Fortress of Peter and Paul in Petro-
grad, and also the arsenal. On Tues.
day Robins spoke for the war at the
Orenbaum barracks, and the Bolshe.
Wiki did better. They took the tele.
graph station and the telephone station
and the principal railway station. On
Wednesday, in the evening Robins
stood on bridge across the Neye and
watched Bolshevik sailors from Bol-
shevik ships firing shells in the air TO
explode over Kerensky's Winter
Palace.
For Robins it seemed just about the
end Of the world. He was seeing
Kerensky go down and Russia go down
and the war against Germany go down
and therefore the whole world go down.
with everything humanity supremely
worth while in it defeated and lost
SO he thought at the time. A mighty
nation and the world with it was fall'
ing to pieces before his eyes under th.
fire Of a new and incalculab.e social
engine-the Russian Soviet.
He looked around for General Knox
to shoot these Soviet people or for
some other stern resistance to them
There was none. That morning al
o'clock at Smolny the Soviet people met
in their Second Ail-Russian Congress
and decreed all power TO the Soviet and
all land to the people and all industry
to the people, and elected TO power the
man Lenine, who has held that power
from that moment in November Of 1911
to this moment in April of 1919.
But on the bridge across the Ners
Robins made Up his mind to a poi;ey.
He made IN his mind that TO mater
where the power went he would foilow
IT and look at it and see # in any way
1T could be made to serve the war and
to serve the cause of the Allies and o.
the United States. Adopting thst
policy and executing ii, he came 10 ne
next chapter OF his experiences-an m
Inmate acquaintance, such as TO otAef
American or Allied representatives. 80
a long time even tried 20 ;,et, wita~iIa
government Of Lerine.
Copyriskt 1919 BY The Neu YoTs
Tribune Inc. By arrangement 'c'''
"The Metropolitan MagosSne.")