If Admiral Koltchak was compelled to make a
reasonable arrangement with Japan, their army would guarantee to
liquidate the Bolshevik forces in two months and establish a monarchy
satisfactory to the Russian officers. This propaganda had reached the
front, and had been referred to as assuming very serious importance by
his front-line generals in their dispatches. To counteract this
pernicious influence, he was proposing to visit the front himself to
point out the impossibility of Japan, as one of the Entente Allies,
being able herself to execute such a programme. I asked him how this
propaganda began and who engineered it. He answered: "General Muto and a
staff of twenty-six officers and intelligence assistants are working
hard here in Omsk to influence Russian opinion in their direction."
Finally the Supreme Governor said, "I make no complaint against these
very excellent Japanese officers, they are only carrying out the orders
of their political and military chiefs, but it makes my work of
restoring order much more difficult."
There were other little rifts within the lute. The Russian officers are
Royalist almost to a man, and will remain so, for they are all most
childlike in their adherence to this principle. Some gossip informs one
of them that Prince Kuropotkin is still alive and has been seen on the
Russian frontier.
Pages:
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184