ered the room of conference,
and found it filthy with smoke; the Bolsheviki were extremely
hilarious, and laughed and joked among themselves. To show his
independence Monsieur Trotsky was sitting on the table; others were
without collars and in the most unrespectable state of humor. When
the German delegation entered they did not move; the leader of the
Germans, an old general, stopped for a moment, looked at them in
disgust, and then suddenly shouted: "Stand! Attention! Get up, you,
Kameraden!"

Electrified--they all got up, Trotsky first, although with the remark
"For why"? The General continued:

"By order of His Majesty the King and Emperor, I declare that there
is at Tobolsk in your hands the relative of my August Master,--Her
Imperial Majesty the Empress of Russia with her consort and children.
Until this is arranged--we shall not proceed with this conference of
ours. We demand your guarantees that 1st--you vouch for their perfect
safety; 2d--you immediately will take steps to deliver the prisoners
abroad. Now, at rest! Sit down!"

I was told that the delegates from the soviets had the authority to
vouch for them in this regard, for they say unofficially that the
matter had been previously taken up by Russian and German diplomacy.
So a telegram was sent by Joffe to Lenine, who answered, "measures
taken." Then the Brest-Litovsk sale commenced.

This evidently was not fulfilled, although I have heard that there is
certain movement on the part of Germans, especially amongst the
war prisoners. I consider it impracticable. At present the military
situation is as follows: the Czechs are nearing the Samara-Zlatoust
line; in Siberia--there is a very big movement of Czech war prisoners
and Russians--to assist the Czechs in their task of reaching the
Pacific. Battles are raging on the Volga front. It is evident that the
salvation of the Family cannot come from Germany, for there would not
be any place and way to take the Emperor out of Tobolsk, but by way of
the Trans-Siberian,--a long journey with no possibilities of getting
out of this country. The local Bolsheviki are beyond the control
of the centers. They want to "govern" themselves--evidently with no
orders and particularly confidential (I think this one would be such)
would not be executed.

The Ekaterinburg organization is weak as I already wrote you. First
because the organization is in Ekaterinburg and the Emperor in
Tobolsk.

Who are these people? They w