the negotiations, and I suppose to collect the money.  When I was at “Vlady,” in June, 1919, huge stores of iron were being collected, and some of it had already been shipped to Japan.  Avkzentieff was exiled and Bolderoff was living in comfort and safety in Japan.  These were the things that were above and could be seen; what happened to the other part of the first instalment of Japanese proposals for “helping” Russia will doubtless be known later.

At the end of August, 1918, it was decided that until some sort of central authority to act as the organ of Government was set up, it was futile to hope for the return of orderly government.  For this purpose the British went forward to Omsk and asked the Japanese to do likewise.  The Japanese would not move, first because they wished to consolidate their power in the provinces nearest Japan, and secondly secure as many concessions as possible before America arrived on the scene.  When America did arrive she still tarried to watch American operations.  The British moved off into the unknown with a 5,000-mile line of unguarded communications; the Japanese, true to type, opened negotiations with the Directorate for the absolute possession of the railway to the Urals, and also asked what concessions she could expect to receive, territorial and mineral, as compensation for the use of her army for the Directorate’s protection.  A convention had just been signed, or was on the point of signature, between the Japanese and the Directorate, placing the entire railway under Japanese hands, when the Directorate fell.  The first act of the Supreme Governor, Admiral Koltchak, was to inform the Japanese that the change in the Government involved a change in policy with regard to the advance of Japanese troops and the occupation of the railway.  The Japanese protested, but the admiral stood firm.

This attitude of the Supreme Governor was a serious setback to Japanese policy, and they became alarmed for their position in the Far East should his authority extend in that direction; but it is not difficult as a rule to find tools for any kind of work in Russia.  Ataman Semianoff had for some time been kept by the Japanese in reserve for such an occasion.  His forces were ranged around Chita, and his influence and authority extended from the Manchurian border to Lake Baikal.  On receiving intimation of the change in policy from Admiral Koltchak, the Japanese ordered Semianoff to repudiate the Supreme Governor’s authority; they gave the same instructions to Kalmakoff, who occupied a similar position on the Ussurie Railway and so placed an effective barrier between themselves, their Eastern concessions, and the Supreme Governor.  The Supreme Governor ordered his Staff to clear these two mutineers off the line, but the Japanese Staff informed the Supreme Governor that these two Russian patriots and their forces were under the protection of Japan, and if necessary they would move the Japanese Army forward to their succour.