as was the case with the act
of October 17, 1905. I hesitated a long time before
venturing to tell you this truth, and I finally consented
when your mother and sister urged me to do so. You are at
the beginning of a new era of disturbances, I will go
farther, at the beginning of a new era of attempts at
assassination. Believe me that in trying to loosen you from
the chains that bind you I do it from no motives of personal
interest and of this you and Her Majesty are convinced, but
in the hope and in the expectation of saving you, your
throne, and our dear native land from some very serious and
irreparable consequences." (_Rech_, March 9-22, 1917.)

[FN: "An important role was played at court by Dr. Badmaev,
Rasputin's friend. There were many rumors afloat in court
and it is difficult to tell the truth. But this I can say
that Nicholas Alexandrovich was drugged with different drugs
from Thibet. In this Rasputin took part. During the last
days they brought the Emperor to a state of almost total
insanity and his will power was completely gone. In all
matters of state he consulted the Empress who led him to the
edge of the precipice." Interview given out by Prince
Iusupov, in _Novoe Vremia_, March 14-27, 1917.]

[FN: One of the editors of the _Novoe Vremia_ who has large
acquaintance in the aristocratic circles of the capital told
the writer that for months before the revolution it was
commonly talked about in the homes of military leaders and
fashionable circles that for the good of Russia the Empress
must be killed. Last fall (1916) there came to his home one
of his friends, an aide-de-camp of one of the grand dukes,
and confided to him that he was meditating an act of
terrorism in order to get a certain person out of the way.
Another topic of conversation was the revolution after the
war.]

[FN: "I will say this--at court there reigned a kind of
nightmare, each day fewer and fewer people remained there.
If the revolution had not broken out from the bottom it
would have from the top." Interview given out by Prince
Iusupov, in _Novoe Vremia_, March 14-27, 1917.]

It is only since the political upheaval that the activities and plans of
the grand dukes have become public, but the cry for a revolution on
the part of the great mass of in