None of the elements hid its disappointment over the results of the conference. And the general disappointment was more or less centered on Kerensky. His position was, indeed, a difficult one. He realized the need of a united nation, if the war was to be continued. A radical himself, affiliated with the Socialist Revolutionary Party, at one time the most radical of all factions, he now felt drawn toward the comparatively conservative elements, represented by the Cadets, or Liberals, on account of their prowar attitude. Yet his human sympathies were all with the recalcitrant mujiks who, soldiers now at the front, no longer felt any desire for fighting. Endeavoring to draw these two greater elements together, he stood between and lost the support of each. The last day of the Moscow Conference marked the beginning of Kerensky's downfall. Throughout the rest of the month and during the beginning of September, 1917, there was ample evidence that Kerensky was keenly alive to the dangers about him; counter-revolutions from two directions. On the one hand were the conservatives, now thoroughly disgusted with the new régime and the disorganization which it seemed to them to represent. During the first week of September, 1917, it was reported that a plot to reestablish, if not the autocracy, at least a modified form of it, had been uncovered, and a number of titled personages were arrested, among them Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch, brother of the former czar, and Grand Duke Paul. General Gurko, too, was accused of writing compromising letters and was exiled from the country. But more portentous, considering later events, was the reported results of a municipal election held in Petrograd, wherein the Bolsheviki polled an unusually large vote; 174,000, as compared to 182,000 by the more moderate Socialists and 101,000 by the Constitutional Democrats. It was from this quarter that the second counter-revolution threatened. The conservative elements were to be heard from first. Whether they really attempted a genuine counter-revolution remains to this day somewhat of a mystery. The facts, as reported, bear very much the aspect of an intrigue against the conservatives themselves. On September 10, 1917, it was announced that General Kornilov, commander in chief, had asked the Provisional Government to eliminate itself and hand over its power to him; that he proclaimed himself dictator. Kerensky himself supplied the first details in a personal proclamation.