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.

The successful resistance of Semenoff and Kalmakoff to the Omsk
Government, backed up by the armed forces of one of the Allies, had a
disastrous effect upon the situation throughout Siberia. If Semianoff
and Kalmakoff could, with Allied help and encouragement, openly deride
the Omsk Government's orders, then it was clear to the uninitiated that
the Allies were hostile to the supreme Russian authority. If Semianoff
and Kalmakoff can wage successful hired resistance to orderly government
at the bidding of a foreign Power, why cannot we do so, to retain the
land and property we have stolen and prevent the proper administration
of justice for the crimes we have committed? It was intended as a
deliberate attack upon authority and an incentive to the disorderly
elements to continue the prevailing anarchy. A united, well organised
Russia is not the kind of Russia Japan wishes to see established. If
Japan is to succeed in her territorial ambitions in the Far East, Russia
must be kept in a state of mental disorder and physical paralysis.
Germany used the Russian love of conspiracy and intrigue to create
disorder and destroy the Muscovite power; Japan intends, if possible,
to continue that disorder for her own political reasons.

Directly it became known that Semianoff and Kalmakoff had set the Omsk
Government at defiance, numerous other would-be Semenoffs came on the
scene until the very residence of the Supreme Governor and his
Headquarters Staff scarcely escaped attack, and it became necessary to
show the British Tommy on the side of order. This was the position up
till the early days of December, 1918.

Just about this time the fact that Germany was beaten began to take
shape in the Japanese military mind, and the fact was hammered home by
the terms of the Armistice. For some days the Japanese Mission at Omsk
flatly refused to believe the cables; their