Such were the secret instructions received from Berlin by the murderous charlatan who posed as one of the most loyal Russians in the Empire. His reply, of which a copy is appended--for strangely--enough he was a businesslike rascal--is as follows. It is brief but to the point:-- "Yours and remittances received. S. already at work. Have informed Her Majesty. All is being prepared for our great coup. The more disasters and loss of life in munition factories the better the impression towards yourselves. S. has already sent four hundred extreme revolutionists to the front with money and instructions. Have noted all your points. Martos takes this to Helsingfors, and will await your reply with any further orders. "Have had no instructions concerning the Englishman C. Please send. Suggest imprisonment upon false charge of espionage. If so, please send incriminating papers to produce as evidence.--G." The scoundrel's reply here before me is, in itself, in his own handwriting, the most damning evidence against him. That Sturmer and Protopopoff acted upon those instructions has since become apparent. Events have shown it. Puppets in the hands of the Emperor William, with money flowing to them in an ever-endless stream from businesslike sources entirely unsuspected by the highly patriotic banks handling those substantial amounts, they were swiftly yet surely undermining the greatness of the Russian Empire and seriously cutting the claws of the Russian bear. The "Russian steam-roller," as certain English prophets--oh! save them!--were so fond of calling the Muscovite army in the early days of the war, was growing rusty for want of proper lubrication. Rasputin and his friends were placing its machinery in the reverse gear by their marvellously well-concealed intrigues, and their lavish distribution of money to those long-haired revolutionists who had honestly believed that by removing the autocrat they would liberate their dear Russia. No plot more subtle, more widespread, or more utterly amazing has ever been conceived in the whole world's history than the one which I am here disclosing. A convicted criminal, a mere unmannered and uncouth peasant from far Siberia, held both Emperor and Empress of Russia beneath his thumb. He gave to both of them orders which they weakly obeyed. If one of the erotic scoundrel's "sister-disciples" asked a favour--the appointment of lover or of husband to a lucrative post--he went at once to the Emperor, and actually with his own illiterate hand wrote out the orders for His Majesty to sign. And to that unkempt blackguard, who seldom indulged in the luxury of a bath. Her Majesty the Empress bowed her knee, honestly believing that the Almighty had endowed him with powers superhuman, and that he could cause disaster or death whenever he willed it.