Of course, if the new Prime Minister succeeds in quieting the country and carrying out Liberal reforms on a large scale every one will admit that the Government was right from the first, and that the Duma was wrong. “But what use are reforms,” said some one to-day, “when the Government has decided not to give the initial reform which should be the cause of all the others: namely, a change of _régime_, a constitution and a system of responsible government?” Besides, in order to quiet the country the Government must first succeed in recovering the confidence of the people. At present it has not got the confidence of any party, any group, or any section of the population. St. Petersburg is full of troops. A cabman said to me yesterday that these were not Russian troops, but _Austrians_ in disguise. This is a curious reflection of the remarks on foreign intervention which were published on the first page of the semi-official newspaper here last week, without, of course, the knowledge of the Ministers. I asked the same man what he expected would happen. “There will be a big _skandal_,” he answered. “It is impossible that it should be otherwise. They say: ‘Let us have a Duma,’ and then they say, ‘Let us send it away’; there can only be disorders after that. We, the cabmen, have never yet struck, but we shall this time when the moment comes.” (I think he thought that would make all the difference.) “What about the soldiers?” I asked. “The soldiers oughtn’t to rebel,” he answered, “but they ought to refuse to fire on the people. They would not be breaking their oath. Their oath obliges them to fight the enemy, but not their brothers. That is wrong.” Another cabman said a curious thing to me, as we were driving along the Quays. “We of ourselves can do nothing,” he said; “but those are the people who will do it for us,” and he pointed to a student who was passing by. The hall porter at the house where I lived told me he had known it all along. “It is bad,” he said; “very bad.” I think that is really all there is to be said about the matter. It is bad; very bad—that is to say, if one looks back and then forward. _Later._ News has come of the appeal the ex-members of the Duma have made to the country, urging citizens not to pay taxes and to refuse to serve in the Army. Everybody is agreed that their action is a fatal mistake, since they have no means of having any such measures carried out. CHAPTER XXV IN THE COUNTRY AFTER THE DISSOLUTION NEAR MOSCOW, _August 1st_.