The court circle was not ignorant of what was being said for the spies kept
them fully informed. In conversation with a journalist two months before
the outbreak of the revolution, the Minister of the Interior, Protopopov, a
protege of Rasputin, said that he was aware of the revolutionary propaganda
and that he was ready to face any attempt that might be made to overthrow
the government.

"I will not stop at anything," he remarked, ... "the first thing that I
shall do is to send them [revolutionaries] from the capital by the car
loads. But I will strangle the revolution no matter what the cost may be."
[Footnote: _Novoe Vremia_, March 19-April 1, 1917.] He had no doubt that he
could handle the situation and he inspired those about him with the same
confidence, particularly the Emperor whom he assured that the discontent
was confined chiefly to the intelligentsia and to a small number of the
gentry, and that the common people and the army were devoted to the
autocracy.

To the question that arises why the revolution, which was expected after
the war, came off before its conclusion, the answer is that the present
revolution was not planned nor desired by any one of importance; it came as
a surprise to all. It just happened. If some one must have the credit
or blame, it is Protopopov who was at the time suspected of being queer
mentally and who has since lost his reason entirely. He was so sure of
himself and of his ability to put down the uprising and thereby show
himself a real statesman that he concluded not to wait for the revolution
to come in the ordinary course of events, but to hurry it a bit. Although
there is no conclusive proof for this statement, there is plenty of
convincing circumstantial evidence. We know that it was proposed to have
the workmen of Petrograd strike on February 27, the day of the opening of
the Duma, as a protest against the government; we know also that to meet