54 исторические миниатюры и 29 переводов. Сборник
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I do not see anything good ahead.
The farther away, the more and deeper the Emperor's grievances with Stolypin will grow. And I'm almost sure that now poor Stolypin will win the case, but for a very short time, and we will soon see him out of work, and this is very unfortunate for the Sovereign and for all of Russia. I personally do not know much of Stolypin, but it seems to me that he is necessary for us, and his departure will be a great grief for us all.
My poor son, how little luck he has in people. There was a man whom no one knew here, but who was smart and energetic and was able to enter the order after the horror that we experienced only 6 years ago, and this man is being pushed into the abyss. And who? Those who say that they love the Sovereign and Russia. But in fact, these people are ruining Him and homeland. That's just terrible...
V.B. Frederiks looked sympathetically at the Empress-Mother.
– During my long diplomatic service, held among a variety of peoples under all latitudes, - joined in the conversation with Witte and Goremykin Foreign Minister Alexander Petrovich Izvolsky, - I saw many public figures who were known for their radicalism, since they remained in the opposition, and who became ardent supporters of order, when they were called to power.
Is it really possible to seriously believe that the most influential figures of the First Duma like Muromtsev, Shipov and Prince Lvov, who are big landowners and so vitally interested in maintaining peace and resolving the agrarian question peacefully, would be less loyal and less conservative than the bureaucrats category Schwenenbach. Who have no connection with the land and whose well-being consists in receiving a salary on the twentieth day of each month?
S.Yu. Witte - more and more nervously - continued to state his point of view:
– ... They did not dare to dissolve or disperse the Duma, not to set a date for elections to a new Duma and not to give a new election law, that is, they did not dare to completely destroy October 17, or, in other words, destroy legislative institutions. But only decided to make such a law, so that the State Duma was completely obedient.
Which, in the end, the results will give an elective law on June 3 (1907) - a dark question.
I think that this law will not last long, or it will be changed to a more reasonable, principled one, or there will be no Duma at all. Why actually own the Duma?
This coup essentially consisted in the fact that the new election law excluded the people's voice from the Duma, that is, the voice of the masses and their representatives, but gave only a strong and obedient voice: the nobility, bureaucracy and part of the obedient merchant class and industrialists.
Thus, the State Duma ceased to be the spokesperson for popular desires, but only expressed the desires of strong and rich, desires, made in such a way as not to incur a stern look from the top.
This coup completely violated the basic state laws promulgated in my ministry, after October 17, 1905.
To the group of listeners who surrounded S.Yu. Witte, came (ex) Prime Minister Vladimir Nikolayevich Kokovtsov (who became Prime Minister after P. A. Stolypin):
– I, as an honest man, passionately fond of my Motherland and my Sovereign, I will say: you can be calm for the fate of the country and the dynasty, as long as the finances and the army are in order. Finances are good. But the army is not in order. army is not arranged and is badly managed. Military Minister Sukhomlinov is not respected by any of the prominent military: some are mocked at him, others despise him, and with such a military leader to prepare the army for a victorious battle - it is impossible.
God forbid that I should be mistaken, but I have fear for the future, and I see terrible signs in it. I hope that the Emperor of Russia and the Heir will be saved by God.
S.Yu. Witte, as if agreeing, bowed his head.
Someone from the public commented: "With an influential, capable Duma, - as it was supposed on October 17, 1905, - there would not be Sukhomlinov a military minister."
V.N. Kokovtsov continued:
– When the "honeymoon" of my premiership passed and the clouds were already gathering over my head, my liquidation (like the premiere) was nearing its culmination, I in one of the conversations with the Comrade of the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Commander of the Gendarmes Corps received in response: "I have nothing I dispose of and decisively do not know who and how he gets access to the places of residence of the Royal Family. " I have only to add to him (the Commander of the Gendarmerie Corps): "So close to Bagrov."
S.Yu. Witte looked at V.N. Kokovtsov with understanding eyes.
The student who appeared in the ranks of the public suddenly announced:
– There is virtually no autocracy!
The public cautiously moved away from the student.
– This was clearly expressed by Leo Tolstoy in his work "Meaningless Dreams"!
– Continued the student. And he quoted the words of Leo Tolstoy:
"It is believed and is supposed that the Tsar governs the affairs of the state, but this is only considered and is supposed: one Tsar can not rule the affairs of the state, because these matters are too complicated ... he can not rule affairs because It is absolutely impossible for one person. To really rule: ministers, members of different councils, directors and all kinds of bosses ... In Russia today, ten thousand daily decisions are needed to govern the state. "Who is to deliver these decisions?" .
– The question is how to legally formalize the ALREADY-EXISTENT disappearance of the autocracy, - the student explained.
– Instead, they retain the sign "autocracy" and the corresponding legal arbitrariness, organizational confusion, business confusion. Top often endows with power ineffective people. "Denounced" the October 17, 1905. Willy-nilly, Tsar gradually transfer power to the hands of the government and the bureaucracy. And to preserve the signs "autocracy" Tsar changing-shuffle premiers and ministers.