m putting in an appearance there, and the very thing
we had endeavoured with the utmost of our power to avoid from the
start--to have the reins torn from our hands and these elements take
the lead--would infallibly have taken place. We must now wait to see
what to-morrow brings: either a victory or the final termination of
the negotiations.

"Adler said to me in Vienna: 'You will certainly get on all right with
Trotski,' and when I asked him why he thought so, he answered: 'Well,
you and I get on quite well together, you know.'

"I think, after all, the clever old man failed to appreciate the
situation there. These Bolsheviks have no longer anything in common
with Adler; they are brutal tyrants, autocrats of the worst kind, a
disgrace to the name of freedom.

"Trotski is undoubtedly an interesting, clever fellow, and a very
dangerous adversary. He is quite exceptionally gifted as a speaker,
with a swiftness and adroitness in retort which I have rarely seen,
and has, moreover, all the insolent boldness of his race.

"_January 10, 1918._--The sitting has just taken place. Trotski made a
great and, in its way, really fine speech, calculated for the whole of
Europe, in which he gave way entirely. He accepts, he says, the
German-Austria 'ultimatum,' and will remain in Brest-Litovsk, as he
will not give us the satisfaction of being able to blame Russia for
the continuance of the war.

"Following on Trotski's speech, the Committee was at once formed to
deal with the difficult questions of territory. I insisted on being on
the Committee myself, wishing to follow throughout the progress of
these important negotiations. This was not an easy matter really, as
the questions involved, strictly speaking, concern only Courland and
Lithuania, i.e., they are not our business, but Germany's alone.

"In the evening I had another long talk with Kuehlmann and Hoffmann, in
the course of which the General and the Secretary of State came to
high words between themselves. Hoffmann, elated at the success of our
ultimatum to Russia, wished to go on in the same fashion and 'give the
Russians another touch of the whip.' Kuehlmann and I took the opposite
view, and insisted that proceedings should be commenced quietly,
confining ourselves to the matters in hand, clearing up point by point
as we went on, and putting all doubtful questions aside. Once we had
got so far, in clearing up things generally, we could then take that
which remained toge