On the 10th President Wilson issued his famous note, prepared in response to the radical formula of the council, declaring for a peace "without annexation and without indemnities." In spirit it was in perfect accord with what the council had demanded: that no people should be annexed against their will, that democracy should be the guiding principle, etc. Certainly it was in accord with his previous declaration made before the war; a "peace without oppressive victories," a principle quite as radical as anything the Petrograd radicals had ever formulated. There was then, and has been ever since, every indication that the Provisional Government and the big majority of the members of the council accepted this declaration as being in harmony with their own sentiments. Nevertheless, it became the object of a very noisy attack by those extreme elements known as the Maximalists, best represented by Lenine and his type. CHAPTER LXXXVII THE AMERICAN COMMISSIONS To the members of the German Government the Russian revolution undoubtedly came as a great surprise, placing their faith, as they did, in the efforts of Protopopoff and his machinations. It is extremely unlikely that Petrograd was infested with German agents disguised as radicals in the earlier days after the overthrow of the autocracy. But by this time, in June, 1917, Germany had had time to meet the new conditions, and obviously the German agents had arrived and were busy. The only fertile ground available was that occupied by the Leninites. While the genuine Maximalists may have been, and in all probability really were, unconscious of the spies in their midst, they accepted the cooperation of the dark elements, and together they set to work to create disorder. The Kronstadt affair was their initial success. In the early days of June, 1917, armed bands of these disturbers began parading the streets of the capital, haranguing the crowds. The Provisional Government followed the policy of noninterference. One party of the armed propagandists entered and took possession of a large residential building in the Viborg section of the city and held this position until late in July, 1917. These activities culminated in an attempt on the part of the Maximalist leaders to organize a giant demonstration in the streets on June 23, 1917. Placards were posted all over the city denouncing the war, calling upon the soldiers to refuse to fight for the capitalist governments, etc.