threatened to resign if the note was not sent immediately. The Government decided to send it. Next day was April 18—the first of May in the European style—and the workers celebrated the first May-day since the Revolution. It was the greatest and the most glorious May-day ever celebrated. The international significance of this holiday was enhanced by the fact that the Government was known to have consented to send a note. On that morning I saw Kerenski, and he told me of this new victory of the democracy with the greatest elation and hope.
This "new victory," which was nothing but a new mean falsification by Miliukov, very nearly became a source of civil war. This is how Miliukov himself described his proceeding to the May Congress of the Cadets: "When the representative of the democracy began to insist that the Act of March 27 must be converted into a diplomatic document, I decided on a new compromise. I decided not to send a note, but to despatch the original document itself (the declaration to the citizens of Russia of March 27) with a covering letter which would safeguard the Foreign Office from any inaccurate interpretation or misrepresentation of the compromise."
This note (the "covering letter" referred to in his speech) simply annulled all the ideas which were expressed in the declaration of March 27. It was simply an appeal for a fight to a finish and a reaffirmation of the imperialistic policy of old Russia in its entirety. It was a challenge to the Russian democracy, to the whole of the Russian people. The sequel will be remembered. There was a spontaneous outburst of indignation; the crisis came to a head. The indecision of the Government and the Machiavellian tactics of Miliukov had to be done away with. But the indecision of the Government was met by a correspondong indecision and wavering on the part of the democracy. The great clash led only to a miserable compromise. Miliukov was compelled to send a new note to the Allies to undo
