Later I was to acquire a considerable respect for his intellectual capacity , but at that moment I was more impressed by his tremendous will-power , his relentless determination , and his lack of emotion .sx He furnished a complete antithesis to Trotsky , who , strangely silent , was also present at our inter-view .sx Trotsky was all temperament an individualist and an artist , on whose vanity even I could play with some success .sx Lenin was impersonal and almost inhuman .sx His vanity was proof against all flattery .sx The only appeal that one could make to him was to his sense of humour , which , if sardonic , was highly developed .sx During the next few months I was to be pestered with various requests from London to verify rumours of serious dissensions between Lenin and Trotsky dissensions from which our Government hoped much .sx I could have given the answer after that first interview .sx Trotsky was a great organiser and a man of immense physical courage .sx But , morally , he was as incapable of standing against Lenin as a flea would be against an elephant .sx In the Council of Commissars there was not a man who did not consider himself the equal of Trotsky .sx There was not a Commissar who did not regard Lenin as a demi-god , whose decisions were to be accepted without question .sx Squabbles among the Commissars were frequent , but they never touched Lenin .sx I remember Chicherin giving me an account of a Soviet Cabinet meeting .sx Trotsky would bring forward a proposal .sx It would be violently opposed by another Commissar .sx Endless discussion would follow , and all the time Lenin would be writing notes on his knee , his attention concentrated on some work of his own .sx At last someone would say :sx " Let Vladimir Ilyitch ( Lenin's Christian name and patronymic ) decide .sx " Lenin would look up from his work , give his decision in one sentence , and all would be peace .sx In his creed of world-revolution Lenin was as unscrupulous and as uncompromising as a Jesuit , and in his code of political .sx ethics the end to be attained justified the employment of any weapon .sx On occasions , however , he could be amazingly frank , and my interview was one of them .sx He gave correctly as events proved all the information for which I asked .sx It was quite untrue that the peace negotiations had broken down .sx The terms were such as one might expect from a militarist regime .sx They were scandalous , but they would have to be accepted .sx They would be signed preliminarily the next day and would be ratified by the overwhelming majority of the Party .sx How long would the peace hold ?sx He could not say .sx The Government was to be transferred to Moscow to enable him to consolidate his power .sx If the Germans forced their hands and tried to instal a bourgeois government , the Bolsheviks would fight even if they had to withdraw to the Volga and the Urals .sx But they would fight on their own conditions .sx They were not to be made a cat's-paw for the Allies .sx If the Allies understood this , there was an excellent opportunity for co-operation .sx To the Bolsheviks Anglo-American capitalism was almost as hateful as German militarism , but for the moment German militarism was the immediate menace .sx For that reason he was glad that I had decided to remain in Russia .sx He would give me all facilities , guarantee , as far as lay in his power , my personal safety , and grant me a free exit from Russia whenever I wanted to leave .sx But he was sceptical about any possibility of co-operating with the Allies .sx " Our ways , " he said , " are not your ways .sx We can afford to compromise temporarily with capital .sx It is even necessary , for , if capital were to unite , we should be crushed at this stage of our development .sx Fortunately for us , it is in the nature of capital that it cannot unite .sx So long , therefore , as the German danger exists , I am prepared to risk a co-operation with the Allies , which should be temporarily advantageous to both of us .sx In the event of German aggression , I am even willing to accept military support .sx At the same time I am quite convinced that your Government will never see things in this light .sx It is a reactionary Government .sx It will co-operate with the Russian reactionaries .sx " I expressed my fears that , now that peace was a certainty , the Germans would be able to throw all their forces against the Western front .sx They might then crush the Allies , and where would the Bolsheviks be then ?sx Even more serious was the danger that Germany would be able to relieve her starving population with grain forcibly exported from Russia .sx Lenin smiled .sx " Like all your countrymen you are thinking in concrete military terms .sx You ignore the psychological factor .sx This war will be settled in the rear and not in the trenches .sx But even from your point of view your argument is false .sx Germany has long ago withdrawn her best troops from the Eastern front .sx As a result of this robber peace she will have to maintain larger and not fewer forces on the East .sx As to her being able to obtain supplies in large quantities from Russia , you may set your fears at rest .sx Passive resistance and the expression comes from your own country is a more potent weapon than an army that cannot fight .sx " I went home in a thoughtful mood to find a batch of telegrams from the Foreign Office .sx They were full of complaints about the peace .sx How could I insist that the Bolsheviks were not pro-German , when they proposed giving half Russia away to Germany without firing a shot .sx There was , too , a strongly-worded protest against Litvinoff's activities in London .sx Would I warn the Bolshevik Government immediately that such conduct could not be tolerated .sx As I sat paraphrasing the sense of the protest into Russian , the telephone rang .sx It was Trotsky .sx He had received news that the Japanese were pre-paring to land troops in Siberia .sx What did I propose to do about it and how could I explain my own mission in the face of this open act of hostility ?sx I queried the authenticity of his information and sat down again at my desk .sx My servant brought in yet another telegram .sx It was from Robins , advising me to come to Vologda .sx I got on to him by telephone , told him that I was going to see things through to the bitter end in St. Petersburg , and requested him to inform his Ambassador about the Japanese imbroglio .sx Japanese intervention in Siberia would destroy all possibility of an understanding with the .sx Bolsheviks .sx Common sense seemed to indicate that as a measure for reconstructing an Eastern front against Germany it was ludicrous .sx The final blow of a shattering day was a telegram from my wife cryptically worded , but conveying unmistakably the information that my efforts were meeting with no sympathy in London .sx I was to be careful or my career would be ruined .sx London had neither approved nor disapproved my decision to remain on after Lindley's departure .sx From the fact that the Foreign Office continued to bombard me with telegrams I concluded that it had acquiesced in the new situation .sx I indulged in a minor orgy of self-pity , which stiffened my obstinacy .sx Assuredly , my lot was a hard one .sx Then I went to bed and read the life of Richard Burton .sx In the circumstances it was perhaps the most dangerous tonic I could have taken .sx Burton had fought against Whitehall all his life , and the results had been disastrous .sx Life in St. Petersburg during this period was a curious affair .sx The Bolsheviks had not yet succeeded in establishing the iron discipline which to-day characterises their regime .sx They had , in fact , made little attempt to do so .sx There was no terror , nor was the population particularly afraid of its new masters .sx The anti-Bolshevik newspapers continued to appear and to attack the Bolshevik policy with violent abuse .sx In particular Gorky , then editor of the Novaia Zizn , excelled himself in denouncing the men to whom to-day he has given his whole-hearted allegiance .sx The bourgeoisie , still confident that the Germans would soon send the Bolshevik rabble about its business , was more cheerful than one might have expected in such disturbing circumstances .sx The population was starving , but the rich still had money .sx Restaurants and cabarets were open , and the cabarets at any rate were crowded .sx On Sundays , too , there were trotting races before our house , and it was strange to contrast these beautiful , well-groomed horses with the starved and skeleton nags of the unfortunate " droschke " drivers .sx The only real danger to human life during these early days of the Bolshevik revolution was furnished , not by the Bolsheviks , but by the .sx Anarchists bands of robbers , ex-army officers , and adventurers , who had seized some of the finest houses in the city and who , armed with rifles , hand-grenades , and machine-guns , exercised a gangsters' rule over the capital .sx They lurked at street corners for their victims and were utterly unscrupulous in their methods of dealing with them .sx They were , too , no respectors of persons .sx One evening , on his way back from Smolny to the centre of the city , Uritsky , who was subsequently head of the St. Petersburg Cheka , was pulled from his sleigh by bandits , stripped of all his clothes , and left to continue his journey in a state of nudity .sx He was fortunate to escape with his life .sx When we went out at night , we never went alone , no matter how short the distance .sx We walked , too , in the middle of the road , and we kept our finger tight on the gun in our overcoat pocket .sx Desultory firing went on all through the night .sx The Bolsheviks seemed quite incapable of dealing with this pest .sx For years they had been crying against the Tsarist suppression of free speech .sx They had not yet embarked on their own campaign of suppression .sx I mention this comparative tolerance of the Bolsheviks , because the cruelties which followed later were the result of the intensification of the civil war .sx For the intensification of that bloody struggle Allied intervention , with the false hopes it raised , was largely responsible .sx I do not say that a policy of abstention from interference in the internal affairs of Russia would have altered the course of the Bolshevik revolution .sx I do suggest that our intervention intensified the terror and increased the bloodshed .sx On Saturday , March 3rd , the preliminary peace was signed by the Russian delegates at Brest , and the next day a Congress of all the Soviets was summoned to meet at Moscow on March 12th , in order to give the formal ratification .sx At the same time the Bolsheviks announced the formation of a new Supreme War Council and issued an order for the arming of the whole people .sx Trotsky was appointed President of the new Council , and Chicherin took his place at the Bolshevik Foreign Office .sx I saw Chicherin on his return from Brest .sx He was dejectedand therefore friendly .sx He informed me that the German terms had raised a feeling of resentment in Russia similar to that in France after 1870 , and now was the most favourable moment for a demonstration of Allied sympathy .sx The peace was a dictated peace which Russia would break as soon as she was strong enough .sx This , indeed , was the attitude of every Commissar with whom I came into contact .sx As St. Petersburg was now to be evacuated by the Government , I asked Chicherin what arrangements he could make to house my mission in Moscow .sx As usual , he was all promises and vagueness .sx I therefore went to Trotsky , who , when he was in the mood , could get things done and done quickly .sx I found him in a state of exaltation .sx His sense of the dramatic had adapted itself to his new office .sx Almost in a night he had be-come a soldier .sx His whole conversation breathed war .sx Ratification or no ratification , there would be war .sx At the small committee meeting of the leading Bolsheviks , which had already decided on ratification , he had abstained from voting .sx He would not attend the formal ratification in Moscow .sx He was remaining in St. Petersburg for another week .sx He would be glad if I would remain with him .sx