It appeared to us Russians that England was always on the look out for something to magnify into an international incident. As I write, I am reminded of another incident where the sacredness of the person of British subjects was demonstrated. This was the Dogger Bank affair. Although the circumstances are well known, I will recapitulate them. Russia was at war with Japan, and her Baltic Fleet was on the way to the Far East. On the night of October 21st-22nd, 1904, fifty British trawlers, manned by some five hundred men, were engaged in fishing on the Dogger Bank. The first division of the Baltic Fleet passed them, the second division turned their searchlights upon the fishing boats. The officers in charge imagined that they saw torpedo boats approaching. They immediately opened fire on the trawlers with quick-firing guns, and in the course of twenty minutes had fired some three hundred shots. Their gunnery was not very good, however, as fortunately only six of the boats were hit, one being sunk. Two fishermen were {198} killed, and four wounded. The Russian fleet then steamed away to the south. Unfortunately the officers of this scratch fleet seemed to have been suffering from nerves, but that did not, I think, justify the outcry raised in this country. I wrote to the Press, drawing attention to a similar mistake that had occurred in 1890, in which the position had been reversed. It was on the occasion of the joint international forces that were being sent from Tientsin to Peking at the time of the Boxer Revolt. About midnight on June 4 a body of Russian sailors were returning on foot from their work. Some English sailors, believing them to be Boxers, opened fire from the railway carriages. Before the mistake had been discovered two Russians had been killed and several others wounded. Vice-Admiral Seymour, who was in command of the British forces, hastened to send an official letter of regret, which was immediately accepted, and there the matter ended. There was no outcry in the Russian Press--we understood and accepted the Englishman's word. {199} CHAPTER XIV THE PHANTOM OF NIHILISM England's Sympathy with the Nihilists--Cabinet Ministers' Indiscretion--Mr. Gladstone's Incredulity--I Prove My Words--Mr. Gladstone's Action--A Strange Confusion--A Reformed Nihilist--His Significant Admission--The Nihilist's Regret--The Death of Revolutionary Russia--The Greatness of the Future--The Reckless, Impulsive Russian--The Russian Refugees at Buenos Ayres--They Crave for a Priest