Revolutionary Days: Recollections of Romanoffs and Bolsheviki 1914-1917 by Julia Cantacuzene

Author:Julia Cantacuzene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Ebooks
Published: 2019-10-21T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XIV

KERENSKY AND BOLSHEVIKI

I reached Petrograd on July fourteenth, a Saturday, and settled down at once in my old apartments at the Hotel d’Europe to the complicated measures necessary for supplying my company of travelers with passports, money, and so on. for beyond the frontier. We had been forewarned by everyone of the great difficulties we should encounter on the trip from the Crimea to the capital: but we had suffered no inconvenience at all, save from heat, and from the crowds everywhere, which made it impossible to move about at any of the stations. We had supplied ourselves with provisions, and were therefore able to eat and live in our reserved compartments. There we were quite unmolested by what seemed to be the millions of deserters, swarming like flies on the roofs, in the corridors, on the platforms — everywhere. They were noisy, but perfectly good-natured, and entirely willing to fetch and carry for us, and make themselves useful. With these three days successfully behind us, and with the supreme triumph of finding all our baggage still on our train, and intact, my optimism grew as to the children’s long trip through Siberia. I was glad enough, however, to see their time for starting nearly at hand; for I had noticed both on the railroad and in the capital a queer general effervescence, which was vastly increased in the past six weeks and it could scarcely be expected an improvement would occur with time.

The day of our arrival in Petrograd I met several acquaintances, and it struck me that those who were best placed to observe events were looking most serious. My own business could all be easily arranged, and was immediately put in hand. On Monday I must present myself with petitions for each passport, photographs of each member of the party, also with all the travelers in person and with two sponsors for my veracity, who must viva-voce assert the destination, and all possible details as to the proposed trip. The engagement was made for this serious conference. Two old friends of ours promised to answer for us in required form, and my man of business was to go ahead and pave our way with money. Everything came off perfectly. After a quiet Sunday, during which we had driven about the city, lunched out pleasantly, and I had seen a number of people, who returned from old habit to my tea-table, we met promptly at two o’clock, on Monday, at the passport division of police city headquarters. Our large party, which consisted of three children, nurse, governess, a business man and myself, together with General Zolotnitzy and M. Tatischtcheff, attracted immediate and amiable attention from the old regime officials, who were still in charge and who had been prepared to receive us. The business was put through with much effort on all sides in record time, — about an hour and a half. In spite of the prepared written petitions, many questions still had to be answered, explanations made, and everyone had to sign six times or more.

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