ABSTRACT
After my return to Petersburg [in the fall of 1903], I found myself at odds with Plehve on several occasions in the State Council. 1 This led him to think that I was trying to replace him. 2 I tried to persuade him that his fears were unjustified, that if I sometimes opposed him it was because we disagreed on most political questions. I told him that for someone in my position to seek the post of minister of interior would be stupid, and no one had yet accused me of being stupid. Also I tried, unsuccessfully, to convince him that the policy he was following would end badly for him and for the state.
