4, BRUNSWICK PLACE, LONDON, N.W.

1, December, 1921.

Sir,—Not every proverb is a good guide. Some are even misleading; take for instance: “One soldier does not constitute a regiment.” In the first place, there could be no regiment at all unless there had once been a single soldier. Secondly, anyone who works hard must have the conviction that his work, being good, should succeed, and that, through his moral influence, he may gain power sooner or later, at all events, over his fellows. No defender of truth must allow his energy to be paralyzed merely because he does not immediately find outside support. He must look for inspiration to his own heart and soul. The task I recommend is undoubtedly not an easy one. Yet characters of this kind can be found—as, for instance, the American Ambassador in London at the time of the outbreak of the Great War. His letters to President Wilson, published in the November issue of World’s Work, offer a noble example, which has received the unstinted praise of Viscount Grey, who said: “Mr. Page is one of the finest illustrations I have ever known of the value of character in a public man.” But appreciations of this kind, even when obtained, are only secured after much effort. Here is Mr. Page’s own statement regarding his difficulties at the commencement of the war:

“Those two first days there was, of course, great confusion. Crazy men and weeping women were imploring and cursing and demanding—God knows, it was bedlam turned loose. I have been called a man of the greatest genius for an emergency by some, by others an absolute fool, by others every epithet between these extremes.

“Men shook English banknotes in my face and demanded United States money, and swore our Government and its agents ought to be shot. Women expected me to hand them steamship tickets home. When some found out that they could not get tickets on the transports (which they assumed would sail the next day), they accused me of favouritism. These absurd experiences will give you a hint of the panic.”

But there is a saying which I sincerely like: “To lose money is to lose nothing; to lose courage is to lose everything ” (including, I would add, Christian Faith). Let the single upholder of truth cling to his courage as a soldier follows a banner.

Such a soldier should command a hearing, even when defending a cause which has gone out of fashion. The Russian Monarchical Party in Berlin, the President of which is M. Markoff, have published a pamphlet¹ by V. Rudneff with a preface by M. Garanin, the contents of which are undoubtedly a revelation. M. Rudneff was Vice-Procurator of the Legal Council of Ekaterinoslav. During the disgraceful Kerensky Government, he received a special commission to study all the documents relating to the rulers in Russia, both the Imperial family and those in official circles. But, to the surprise and great indignation of those who had appointed him, M. Rudneff, being an honest man, wrote nothing but the truth, and described facts as he actually found them, with integrity and courage. By that act M. Rudneff became one of those single soldiers; already he has become one of a regiment—the Russian Monarchical Party—and undoubtedly his efforts will bear increasing fruit.

Now the two positions of the late Mr. Page and of M. Rudneff may be very different, but their devotion to truth made them akin.

Ah, yes, thank God, there are still good examples in this degenerate, atheistic world which we ought to find and follow courageously. Then help—unexpected, unforeseen, and unknown help—is sure to come sooner or later. The spread of monarchical views contains the germ of salvation. Do not laugh at my dogmatic tone; I base my assertions on concrete facts.  

OLGA NOVIKOFF (née KIREEFF)

1. “The Truth about the Russian Imperial Family.”