ture of Petrograd by
the anti-Bolshevists. The end, therefore, was good, and the means seemed
effectual to those who employed them. The Kolchak-Denikin party could,
it was believed, have taken possession of that capital long before, by
obtaining the military co-operation of the Esthonians. But the price
asked by these was the recognition of their complete independence by the
non-Bolshevist government in the name of all Russia. Kolchak, to his
credit, refused to pay this price, seeing that he had no powers to do
so, and only a dictator would sign away the territory by usurping the
requisite authority. Consequently the combined attack on Petrograd was
not undertaken. The Admiral's refusal was justified by the circumstances
that he was the spokesman only of a large section of the Russian people,
and that a thoroughly representative assembly must be consulted on the
subject previous to action being taken. The military stagnation that
ensued lasted for months. Then one day the press brought the tidings
that the difficulty was ingeniously overcome. This is the shape in which
the intelligence was communicated to the world: "Colonel Marsh, of the
British army, who is representing General Gough, organized a republic in
northwest Russia at Reval, August 12th, _within forty-five minutes_,
General Yudenitch being nominally the head of the new government, which
is affiliated with the Kolchak government. Northwest Russia opposes the
Esthonian government only in principle because it wants guaranties that
the Esthonians will not be the stepping-stone for some big Power like
Germany to control the Russian outlet through the Baltic. If the
Esthonians give such guaranties, the northwestern Russians are perfectly
willing to let them become an independent state."[321]

Here then was a "British colonel" who, in addition to his military
duties, was, according to this account, willing and able to create an
independent republic without any Supreme Council to assist him, whereas
professional diplomatists and military men of other nations had been
trying for months to found a Rhine republic under Dorten and had failed.
Nor did he, if the newspaper report be correct, waste much time at the
business. From the moment of its inception until northwestern Russia
stood forth an independent state, promulgating and executing grave
decisions in the sphere of international politics, only forty-five
minutes are said to have elapsed. Forty-five minutes by the