The question of mobilization—War passions—War propaganda—Declaration of London—Opportunity for a League of Neutrals—Disorganization in Russia—The Tsar and a separate peace—Rasputin—The Grand Duke Nicholas—The “Progressive Bloc.”

The Emperor William himself, it was said, had not scrupled, in haranguing a crowd from the balcony of his palace, to accuse the Emperor Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaevitch of treachery, waving in the faces of the maddened multitude the "scrap of paper" representing the Treaty of Bjorkoe, bearing the Emperor's signature and afterwards denounced by him. The violence of the hatred against Russia seemed to have somewhat abated when, after the British declaration of war, "hymns of hate" and "Gott strafe England" became the order of the day. The conduct of the foreign policy of the country was in the hands of a very honourable man, whose incredible self-sufficiency, however, joined to glaring incompetence, rendered his occupancy of the office of Minister of Foreign Affairs a disastrous calamity for Russia and was one of the main contributory causes of her downfall.