This drunken immoral peasant nevertheless played a political _rôle_. He gave advice to the Tsar on all sorts of important matters. He even had the audacity to stamp his foot at Nicholas for not heeding it. We know that at least on one occasion he directly influenced the Tsar to take a fatal decision. For the Imperial fête day, December 6/19, 1916, all political Russia, nobles, burgesses, and peasants, expected the Tsar to go to the Duma and announce the formation of a Ministry enjoying public confidence. Alexandra was, of course, violently opposed to any concession, but she feared the influence of the Army on Nicholas, and Razputin was produced for the occasion. He succeeded in dissuading the hapless Monarch, to his undoing and to the ruin of the Army and of Russia. I do not propose to rehearse the well-known stories about Razputin’s influence on the dismissal or appointment of Ministers or prelates. Those stories are true only in so far as they represent Grishka acting as the instrument of another person’s will, in most cases Alexandra’s. He was too ignorant, too petty, to understand political questions. For instance, he was always urging the Emperor to come into direct contact with the people. “Get rid of the Ministers. They lie to you. Address yourself direct to the people. You will then know the truth and everything will right itself.” Nicholas became rather tired of this parrot-like repetition. He had heard it all so often from his wife. One day he told Razputin:--“It sounds very nice, but how is it to be done? You know quite well that if I took your advice I should very soon lose my life.” “No, never,” was the reply. “You will be killed by an intellectual, not by a peasant”--not a convincing or cheerful response. On one point Razputin took what seemed to be a line of his own: he was against the war with Germany. “She is too strong. We must be friends,” he declaimed. This view did not reflect the mind of the Empress. Who had instilled it into him? It is not difficult to guess. His daughter and her husband are known to have been acquainted with one of the secret agents of Germany. Besides, there were also Badmaiev and a number of other doubtful personages around him. When war broke out Razputin was lying wounded at Pokrovskoe. The Tsar telegraphed to him about the war. Grishka fell into such rage that his wound reopened. He served the German interest in a more subtle and redoubtable manner. His very existence was bringing about the collapse of Russia by destroying the faith of the people in the Tsar. All the foremost supporters and friends of the “saint” were of the German orientation. That was not a coincidence. Every one who even tolerated Razputin was helping the enemy.