Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXII. Evil omens in Petrograd
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
i9I6] RUMANIA JOINS IN THE WAR 443
the best relations with the society and Government of
Bukharest. With regard to this, he was even the
object of an intrigue got up by a kind of naval agent,
inclined to drink and very bellicose, and by the
Counsellor to the Legation. This intrigue nearly caused
Poklewski’s fall; but, as a former comrade and personal
friend of Sazonoff’s, he had only to come to Petrograd
to frustrate all these machinations and to cause the
Minister to uphold him in exalted circles. But then,
and with StQrmer in office, Poklewski was considered
incapable of facing the fresh situation, and a new Envoy
Extraordinary was appointed to Bukharest, in the
person of the amiable General Mossoloff,1 head of the
Lord Chamberlain’s Office. Nevertheless, Sturmer did
not make up his mind to "shelve" Poklewski entirely,
and so there were two Russian representatives in
Rumania. Alas! this diplomatic plethora was of scant
assistance to our new allies in the campaign—disastrous
to them—which was about to open.
On the 28th August, towards mid-day—it was the eve
of my departure for Stockholm—I met M. Sazonoff,
accompanied by Baron Schilling, in the Square of the
Winter Palace. We stopped to talk. "I saw you
coming out of the Foreign Office," said Sazonoff to me;
" what have you heard there about the Rumanians ?
Can one consider their entry into the war an
accomplished fact ? "
"Yes, yes! the deed is done," I replied; "it will be
announced in the papers to-day."
" Thank God! Thank God! " exclaimed Sazonoff.
As I could not help evincing a great deal of scepticism,
Sazonoff pressed me to say why this excellent news left
me cold. I then related to him the interview that I had
had six months previously with General Polivanoff.
" That is curious," said Sazonoff in a hurt voice;
" Polivanoff never told me all that and yet we were
very intimate." This time it was my turn to be hurt,
and we parted somewhat coldly.
1 The same whom I mentioned in Chapter VIII.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
