Meanwhile almost daily changes were taking place in the personnel of the Cabinet, members of which were resigning, withdrawing their resignations and again resigning. Finally this body was reduced to five members, with Kerensky still at the head, with practically plenary powers. Every official utterance, whether by the premier or any one of his associates, sounded one note: the need of stricter discipline. Evidently there was now a genuine effort being made to counteract the laxness which had been continually increasing since the July defeat. It was at this time that the name of Kaledine, the hetman of the Don Cossacks, first began to appear prominently in the reports of events. Kaledine had evidently shown himself in sympathy with Kornilov, for an order was now sent to the Don Cossacks to arrest their chief and send him on to Petrograd. To this demand the Cossacks returned an evasive reply, saying that they were holding a congress at which the presence of Kaledine as presiding officer was necessary. One of the accusations against Kaledine was that he was attempting to organize a separate government among his people in southern Russia. During these exciting days the soldiers' and workmen's councils had indeed given their full support to the Provisional Government against the Kornilov movement. But if Kerensky had hoped thereby to silence the voices of the extremists, the Bolsheviki, and to create solidarity among the radical groups, he was to be strongly disappointed. The effect was directly contrary; within the councils, and especially in the Petrograd Council, there was a strong reaction in favor of the extremists. For at a meeting of that latter body, held in the evening of the 13th, in which the policy of the Council was being discussed, the Bolsheviki for the first time gained a substantial majority, numbering 279 against 150. The resolution bringing out this vote demanded the absolute exclusion from participation in the government of all representatives of the propertied classes, with the usual invitation to all the warring states to come together at a general peace conference. Already the second counter-revolution was lifting. Nor was the developing situation any more reassuring when, on the 19th, Chiesde, Skobeliev, Tsertelli, Chernov and the rest of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Council resigned on account of the majority vote polled by the Bolsheviki on the 13th. Meanwhile, from Finland and from the Ukraine, or Little Russia, came rumors of secret conferences wherein was discussed the establishment of separate governments. In Kiev was held a congress of non-Slavic peoples inhabiting Russia, which declared for a "democratic federal republic," in which the separate nationalities should each enjoy a large measure of autonomy.