were neutral, and 1 was for resubmission of the question to the people. For what it is worth, this journalistic inquiry gives the prohibitionists the most favourable results which the Research could obtain. Its final test was a ballot of 597 men assembled in a Citizens' Military Training Camp in 1924. Only 104 of them favoured prohibition.

A question will naturally arise on these facts: Why, if prohibition is so unpopular, did so many legislators vote for it? We have given one answer-Governor Clement's-on an earlier page. The Bulletin. also offers its answer-a significant answer.

'So much stress is put upon the moral issue involved in prohibition that it is highly probable that many persons, and especially legislators, vote for prohibition laws against their preference, because they cannot "stand the gaff" of moral criticism' (p. 77).

This statement of the politicians' attitude is polite to the verge of euphemism. But is the 'moral issue' so clear? It appears to be clear enough to the Federal Council of the Churches-and that is what gives a particular effectiveness to the criticism of prohibition which their report presents; for the compilers of this report are still so sympathetic with the prohibitionist idea that they can produce no more effective conclusion to their labours than the expression of a hope-sincere, if faint that the Government's new efforts to enforce prohibition may yet be successful. But it is not clear to men like Dr Murray Butler, the President of Columbia University, and other men of note and independent thought in America, who have already protested that the moral issue is quite other than prohibitionists assume that the real moral issue is the eternal issue of liberty, upon which Prohibition stamps as though it were a reptile to be destroyed.

Art. 12.-THE LAST DAYS OF THE GRAND DUKE
MICHAEL.

THE tragic end of the Emperor Nicholas II, of the Empress and their children, has been the subject of many articles in the Press. The deaths of the Grand Dukes Paul Alexandrovitch, Dimitri Constantinovitch, Nicolas, George and Serge Michaelovitch, and of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth, sister of the Empress, are established facts; but the fate of the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch, the youngest son of the Czar Alexander III, and in fact the last Czar of the eldest branch of the Romanovs, by right of the abdication of the Emperor Nicholas II, has remained to this day lost. in mystery.

I knew the Grand Duke Michael well. I was an eyewitness of his abdication, which took place in my residence at St Petersburg; I have been able to follow up all the incidents of his confinement in Smolney, where I visited him several times, and was one of the last of those who saw him before he was sent as an exile to Perm, and started on that journey from which he never returned.

My friendship with the Grand Duke dates from 1912. At that time, His Highness was in command of the 'Chevaliers Gardes,' and my husband was serving under him. He was born at St Petersburg, on Nov. 22, 1878, and was the third and youngest son of the Emperor Alexander III. His mother, the Empress Maria Feodrovna, seemed particularly attached to him. The Grand Duke, after having received an excellent foundation for his education, went to the School of Artillery, where he took a high place in the military examinations, and passed out with the first class of officers into the Artillery of the Guards, in which he served for several years.

The Emperor Alexander III died on Oct. 20, 1894, and the Cesarevitch Nicholas Alexandrovitch came to the throne. His brother, the Grand Duke George, was declared heir to the throne, with the title of Cesarevitch,

Smolney was a school in St Petersburg for daughters of the Aristocracy, which was used in the Revolution as a prison and became afterwards also a headquarters of the Bolshevists.

but a cruel and lingering disease, gradually undermining his health, carried him off in the flower of his manhood, and he died in 1899, at his favourite residence, d'Abas Touman, in the Caucasus. By right of birth, the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch should have succeeded him, and it was then that an Imperial Manifesto declared him heir to the throne: Until such time as God in His goodness, gives us a son.'

Shortly afterwards he was appointed Commandant of a squadron of Cavalry of Her Majesty the Empress, stationed at Gatchina, and there he met, for the first time, the woman who played a very large part in his life's history. So great was the impression that she made on him, that he renounced for her sake the hereditary rights of his high office as Cesarevitch, and the honours due to him by his close relationship with the Emperor. This enchantress was Nathalie Sergueyevna Voulfert, the wife of one of the officers in the regiment, and by marriage, Madame Mamontov, the future Countess Brassov. Captivated by her great and infinite charm, the Grand Duke fell desperately in love with her, and when he was convinced that his feelings were reciprocated, it was arranged that she should apply for a divorce.

In 1913, the Grand Duke handed over the command of the regiment to Prince Dolgorouky, and went to Vienna to be married. After the marriage he wrote to the Emperor, informing him of his wish to live the life of a simple commoner. As a result of this letter, the Emperor issued a manifesto, founded on the regulations binding the Imperial family, and so deprived the Grand Duke Michael of his especial rights, putting his estates and possessions under guardianship, and only allowing him a modest income for personal expenses. The Grand Duke and his wife retired to Cannes, where they spent several months, and then left for England, living in Hertfordshire.

At this time, the Grand Duke had with him a Mr Johnson, who was not only a capable secretary but the most devoted of friends. Mr Johnson soon became indispensable, both to the Grand Duke and his wife, and I feel it is my duty to say that the memory of Nicolas Johnson remains inseparably united with that

חור

ho

Abe

Graz

eed

Lore

dan

Dress

firs

E

of the Grand Duke, with whom he remained faithfully during the cruel privations of 1917 and 1918. The Grand Duke stayed in England until August 1914.

Then, as soon as he heard that Germany had declared war on Russia, he wrote a letter to the Czar, appealing to him as his brother, and begging to be allowed to return and take his place once more in the army, offering to accept any post that His Majesty thought fit to assign to him. This letter so deeply touched the Emperor that his desire was granted. On being reinstated in the army by Imperial ukase, the Grand Duke went with his family to St Petersburg, and shortly afterwards settled at Gatchina, where he lived until he received his commission. It was during his stay at Gatchina that I became acquainted with his wife, and fell at once under the spell of her delicate beauty, grace, and charm. The Grand Duke was appointed to the command of the Caucasian native regiment, nicknamed 'La Division Sauvage.' It was formed of six battalions, the pick of the Musulman Cavalry. This division formed part of the great South-Eastern Army, and soon won laurels at the front. The Grand Duke nearly always led it himself, and astonished every one by his sangfroid and courage.

Meanwhile, events were rushing to chaos. Rasputin had been murdered. In Moscow, feelings were overwrought; while in St Petersburg there appeared a deadly calm, though under the surface there were indications of approaching storm; and those who had eyes to see became more and more convinced that a tragedy unparalleled was imminent. On New Year's Eve, 1917, the Prime Minister Trepov, a courageous man, heart and soul with the Emperor, was forced to leave his office as President of the Cabinet. He was replaced by the Prince Galitzine, who also was loyal to his Czar and country; but he was a thorough bureaucrat, and had not the physical strength to perform the arduous duties of his high office.

A rumour was current in St Petersburg that the members of the royal family, with the Grand Duke Michael, were staying at the palace of the Grand Duchess, Marie Pavlovna. The purpose of this reunion was to write a letter to the Emperor, endeavouring to point out that

unrest was brewing, that public opinion was hostile to the principal ministers, and that disaster threatened the Romanov Dynasty and the whole of Russia. The letter ended by begging the Emperor to have mercy on the Grand Duke, Dimitri Pavlovitch, who had lately incurred the wrath of His Majesty and been arrested.

The only result was that the Grand Duke Nicolas Michaelovitch, whose idea it had been originally, was banished by order of the Czar to his estates in Grouchovka. We were much distressed by these trying events; while the war news became worse and worse. Confusion and despair were supreme. The revolutionary parties alone did not cease from work; secretly they developed their propaganda amongst the troops in St Petersburg, who listened willingly to the orators of the Revolution.

By Feb. 27, all the ministers were arrested and interned in the Palace of Taurida, where the Provisionary Cabinet was sitting with Rodizanko as president. The following were the members of the Provisionary Cabinet: Milioukov, Chulgine, Konovalov, Tsheidze, and Kerensky. This committee had come into power by force, and had tried to re-establish order; but anarchy was prevalent everywhere. The Palace was full of armed soldiers, and the sittings of the committee were frequently interrupted by the cries of the mob outside. The streets were overrun with stolen motors and omnibuses, carrying drunken soldiers and sailors who fired at the slightest provocation.

On the evening of that day, Mr Johnson came to tell me that the Grand Duke Michael had gone to the Palace Marie in St Petersburg, where the Imperial council used to sit. The President of the Douma, Rodizanko, had recalled the Grand Duke, so as to begin negotiations by telephone with the Emperor at once; but, as a matter of fact, the Grand Duke at that moment was interviewing the Emperor. Their meeting lasted into the small hours of the morning. His Highness informed the Emperor of the perilous condition of the capital, and advised him to stay at Stavka, his headquarters, where he would be surrounded by loyal soldiers; but the Czar, not doubting for a second that his presence in the distraught city would re-establish peace and order, was determined to return to St Petersburg. During those interviews, the Minister of War, General Beliaiev, warned