[Footnote: As late as October, 1916, the old Empress saw her son at Kiev
and pointed to him that Rasputin and the other members of the court circle
would overthrow the dynasty and destroy the country but it did no good.
Only a few days before the outbreak of the revolution his own brother,
Mikhail Alexandrovich, pleaded with him along the same lines and with the
same success. (_Rech_, March 7-20, 1917.)]

[Footnote: The old and scholarly Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich went to
see the Emperor about November 1, 1916, and in order to impress him with
the critical situation of the country he wrote out his ideas so as to leave
them. He was received in a kindly manner by the Tsar who listened to
the reading of the letter and then took it over so as to read it to the
Empress. When he came to the place where her name was mentioned she
snatched it from him and tore it up. In the course of the conversation that
followed the old Duke said some sharp things but he could not get anything
but smiles from the Tsar, and when the old man's cigarette went out the
Tsar lighted it for him. It was impossible to get an out and out talk,
or satisfaction of any kind, and Nicholas Mikhailovich left the court in
disgust. Two days later he was requested to retire to his estate for two
months. Here is the Grand Duke's letter:

"You have said more than once that you would carry on the war to a
successful finish. Do you believe that with the conditions as they exist at
present in the rear this can be done? Are you acquainted with the internal
situation, not only in the interior of the Empire but also on the outskirts
(Siberia, Turkestan, Caucasus)? Are you told all the truth or is some of
it concealed from you? Where is the root of the evil? Allow me to tell you
briefly the essentials of the case.