Stockholm Conference and appoint delegates. Point 4 deals
with the question of nationality. An open conflict had broken out
between the Petersburg Workers' and Soldiers' Deputy Councils and
the Ukrainian Soldiers' Congress, sitting at Kieff, on account of
the formation of an Ukrainian army. The appointment of an
"Ukrainian Army General Committee" further aggravated the
conflict.

With regard to the increasing internal confusion, the growing
seriousness of the nationality dispute, the further troubles in
connection with agricultural and industrial questions, a detailed
report dealing separately with these heads will be forwarded
later.

Towards the end of November I wrote to one of my friends the following
letter, which I have given _in extenso_, as it shows faithfully my
estimate of the situation at the time:

_Vienna, November 17, 1917._

MY DEAR FRIEND,--After many days, full of trouble, annoyance and
toil, I write to you once more in order to answer your very
noteworthy observations; to be in contact with you again turns my
thoughts into other channels, and enables me, for the time at
least, to forget the wretchedness of every day.

You have heard, you say, that matters are not going so well
between the Emperor and myself, and you are sorry for this. I am
sorry myself, if for no other reason than that it increases the
friction of the daily working machine to an insupportable degree.
As soon as a thing of this sort leaks out--and it does so fast
enough--all enemies, male and female, rush in with renewed
strength, making for the vulnerable point, in the hope of securing
my overthrow. These good people are like carrion vultures--I
myself am the carrion--they can scent from afar that there is
something for them to do, and come flying to the spot. And the
lies they invent and the intrigues they contrive, with a view to
increasing existing differences--really, they are worthy of
admiration. You ask, who are these inveterate enemies of mine?

Well, first of all, those whom you yourself conjecture.

And, secondly, the enemies whom every Minister has, the numbers of
those who would fain be in his place. Finally, a crowd of
political mountebanks from the Jockey Club, who are disgusted
because they had hoped for some personal advantage through my
influence, and I have ignored them. No. 3 is a comfortingly
negligible quantity, No. 2 are dangerous