he hoped would be the foundation of Russian
liberty. How fortunate for Russia that she had such a man to call upon
in her hour of need! No matter what the final result of his efforts may
be, whether success or defeat, his was the mind and personality that
enabled this great people to bridge what looked like an impossible gulf
and turn their faces to the sun.

How fortunate it was that at this critical hour in Russian history
England was represented by Major-General Knox! I had never heard of him
till I went to Siberia, yet in him we have a man combining the courage
of the soldier with the higher qualities of a statesman, ready made for
the special business in hand. The British Empire doubtless, like Topsy,
"growed"! It is more an exhibition of race luck than genius. The way in
which we occasionally drop the right man in the right place is not an
act of Government so much as a stroke of chance. We make awful bloomers
in these matters sometimes, but in this case our luck stood by us to
some purpose. More than once, when the timidity of the "Politicals" had
almost destroyed Russian faith in our honesty of purpose, the robust
honesty of his personality turned the scale in our favour. Every Russian
trusts him, except those who have forgotten they are Russians. They
hate him. That is the real certificate of his worth. I can quite
understand the fear of some Labour elements at home that our presence in
Siberia may be used by reactionaries to re-establish the old regime. Had
I been at home I might have had the same feeling. But I was there, and
knew that it was our very presence which made that for the moment
impossible. The excesses of the Bolsheviks made the people, both peasant
and workman, hanker after the comparative security of the Tsars. The
reactionary elements would have been only too pleased to see our backs;
our presence was a safeguard against the absolutism for which some of
them scheme. The weariness of the peasantry and workmen with
revolutionary disorder gave the opportunity to reaction to establish
another absolutism which was only restrained by outside influence.
Major-General Knox does not write polished dispatches upon army
movements under his command, but he perhaps performed greater service to
humanity and democracy by his patient and efficient handling on the spot
of one of the great world problems.

CHAPTER XX

MAKING AN ATAMAN

General Evan Pootenseiff arranged a parade of the 2nd Siberian C