Lenin, possibly also from the reasons
already mentioned; they are inconsistent in this, as is often the
case. The German military party--which, as everyone knows, holds
the reins of policy in Germany entirely--have, as far as I can
see, done all they could to overthrow Kerenski and set up
"something else" in his place. Now, the something else is there,
and is ready to make peace; obviously, then, one must act, even
though the party concerned is not such as one would have chosen
for oneself.

It is impossible to get any exact information about these
Bolsheviks; that is to say, there is plenty of information
available, but it is contradictory. The way they begin is this:
everything in the least reminiscent of work, wealth, and culture
must be destroyed, and the bourgeoisie exterminated. Freedom and
equality seem no longer to have any place on their programme; only
a bestial suppression of all but the proletariat itself. The
Russian bourgeois class, too, seems almost as stupid and cowardly
as our own, and its members let themselves be slaughtered like
sheep.

True, this Russian Bolshevism is a peril to Europe, and if we had
the power, besides securing a tolerable peace for ourselves, to
force other countries into a state of law and order, then it would
be better to have nothing to do with such people as these, but to
march on Petersburg and arrange matters there. But we have not the
power; peace at the earliest possible moment is necessary for our
own salvation, and we cannot obtain peace unless the Germans get
to Paris--and they cannot get to Paris unless their Eastern front
is freed. That is the circle complete. All this the German
military leaders themselves maintain, and it is altogether
illogical of them now apparently to object to Lenin on personal
grounds.

I was unable to finish this letter yesterday, and now add this
to-day. Yesterday another attempt was made, from a quarter which
you will guess, to point out to me the advantage of a separate
peace. I spoke to the Emperor about it, and told him that this
would simply be shooting oneself for fear of death; that I could
not take such a step myself, but would be willing to resign under
some pretext or other, when he would certainly find men ready to
make the attempt. The conference of London has determined on a
division of the Monarchy, and no separate peace on our part would
avail