54 исторические миниатюры и 29 переводов. Сборник
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S.Yu. Witte continued his thought:
– Thought to immediately extinguish the fire with a small jet of water. Due to a small, although a long stream, also launched by an incompetent fire-master, the fire was not extinguished. I had to put it out in Portsmouth on August 23 (September 5) in 1905.
At night before the conclusion of the Portsmouth peace, I did not sleep.
The worst state of a person when inside, in his soul, something twofold. Therefore, the weak should be relatively unhappy. On the one hand, the mind and conscience told me what a happy day, if tomorrow I sign a peace, but on the other hand, my inner voice tells you: "But you'll be much happier if destiny will prevents the conclusion of Portsmouth peace. They will blame you for everything. For no one will want to confess their sins, their crimes before the Fatherland and God. Even the Russian Tsar, and especially Nicholas II. "
I spent the night in some sort of fatigue, in a nightmare, in sobbing and praying.
Seeing the Americans thanking God with tears for the gift of peace, I had a question - what do they care about our Portsmouth world? And to this I had a clear answer: yes, because we are all Christians. When I left the church, the choir sang "God Save the Tsar", to the sound of which I made my way to the car and, when the anthem ceased, left.
In my deepest conviction, if the Portsmouth peace were not concluded, then there would be such external and internal catastrophes in which the Romanovs' house could not be kept on the throne.
– So it was scary? Because of this - a split? Because you did not sleep? Prayed? Was there a chance to evade the peace and to decisively modernize Russia without delay?
– Asked one of the listeners.
– Or the Portsmouth peace plus October 17, 1905 - is the salvation and renewal of Russia?
– Having returned to Petersburg and after October 17, 1905, having taken power, - continued S.Yu. Witte, - I clearly saw that in order for Russia (relatively safely) to survive the revolutionary crisis, and the Romanovs' house was not shaken, two things are necessary: to obtain by loan a large sum of money so as not to need money (in loans) for several years, and to return most of the army from Transbaikalia to European part of Russia.
Having money and the army, and then following in good faith the policy exactly according to the promises made by the manifesto on October 17, I was sure that in the end everything will calm down and get back to normal, for the life of 150 million people would require it.
I.L. Goremykin looked blankly somewhere into the sky. Involuntarily he remembered: "In 1906, the resignation of S..Y Witte was final."
– However ..., - S.Yu. Witte slightly doubted - the loan would be directed against Germany and would be contrary to the interests of France itself (and Russia).
The German Emperor Wilhelm II and (ex) Minister of Finance of Russia Ivan Pavlovich Shipov, who came to the cafe-library, exchanged views on the Russian alternative "foreign loan (and preservation of ruble exchange for gold) - or refusal to exchange credit tickets for gold (which reduces the need for foreign Loan). "
Minister of Finance I.P. Shipov expressed his point of view, being in a very gloomy mood:
– A short-term loan of 267 million francs does not solve the issue and does not eliminate the need to introduce compulsory paper circulation ... Some more favorable information from many state Chambers on the receipt of state revenues does not deserve much faith, since they can be replaced by the same catastrophic news that have been received...
I think it is advisable to repeatedly introduce the draft Decree on the suspension of the exchange of credit tickets for gold.
One of the participants of the forthcoming presentation, who was standing nearby, thought: "The termination of the exchange of the ruble for gold, the issue of paper money would have facilitated the beginning of the redemption of land from the landlords and the subsequent sale of these lands to the peasants. And who knows what is more important - a hard ruble (exchange of the ruble for gold ), stimulating economic growth, or - resolving the agrarian issue, agrarian reform, giving land to the peasants. However, the refusal to exchange credit tickets for gold, the issue of paper money is unlikely to become insurmountable obstacle for stimulating economic growth."
The German Emperor Wilhelm II reacted rather dryly and indifferently to the words of Minister I.P. Shipov:
– I'm not a big financier, and I don't understand why Russia needs so much to care for its monetary system, when she has so many other worries?
Tell me, please, do not you think that it is simply wild that among the general disintegration, among the constant unrest that can sweep away everything that is still conservative in Europe, the two Monarchic countries can not join together to form one dense core and defend their existence .
Is it not a direct madness that Monarchist Russia, over the head of Monarchist Germany, seeks support in Revolutionary France and, together with it, always goes against its natural and historical friend.
Several steps alongside the German Emperor and the Minister of Finance of Russia were stepped by Lev Davidovich Trotsky (who in 1905 became chairman of the Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies). As if speaking aloud to himself, he said:
– The debt obligations of the Romanovs will not be recognized by the victorious nation. We decide to avoid the payment of debts for all those loans, which the Imperial government has concluded. The Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of February 10, 1918 declared all tsarist debts to be completely annulled. Those who claim that the October Revolution does not recognize any obligations are wrong. The revolution recognizes its obligations. The obligation, which she assumed on December 2, 1905, she carried out on February 10, 1918. To creditors of tsarism, the revolution has the right to recall: "Gentlemen, you were warned in time!".
Having stated, L.D. Trotsky stepped aside, waiting for the start of the presentation of the memoirs unified in one edition. Not far from him was the chairman of the First State Duma, Sergei Andreevich Muromtsev. S.A. Muromtsev dispassionately said: "The Vyborg appeal, adopted in Vyborg on July 10, 1906 in response to the dissolution of the First State Duma, called upon citizens of all of Russia, before the convening of the Duma, not to" give a penny to the treasury, no soldier to the army". Loans that will be concluded without consent of the Duma, were declared invalid".
The German Emperor and the Minister of Finance of Russia politely bowed to the Empress Maria Feodorovna, the mother of Emperor Nicholas II. She spoke out to the Minister of the Imperial Court, Vladimir Borisovich Frederiks:
– Unfortunately, my son is too kind, soft ...
It's really terrible, and I understand that Stolypin simply drops his hands, and he has no confidence in how to do business.
The Emperor is too proud of himself and is experiencing the crisis that has developed together with the Empress, without showing any appearance to those around him. He is worried and is looking for an outcome.