True, a strict jurist might object that he fails to see why there need be continuity in the life of the order. Thus, in 1918, the French military mission in Moscow placed its acting4 officers at my disposal. This could hardly have been done for an “undesirable” alien deprived of admission to France. Again, on October 10, 1922, M. Herriot paid me a visit in Moscow, not at all to remind me of the order for my expulsion from France. On the contrary, it was I who recalled it to him, when M. Herriot courteously5 inquired when I planned to visit Paris. But my reminder6 was in the nature of a jest. We both laughed, for different reasons, it is true, but we laughed together all the same. True, too, that in 1925 the ambassador of France, M. Herbette, on behalf of the diplomats7 present at the opening of the Shatura power station, replied to my speech with a most amiable9 greeting, in which even the most captious10 ear could not have detected the slightest echo of M. Malvy’s order. But what of that? There is significance in the fact that one of the two police inspectors11 who were conducting me from Paris to Irun in the autumn of 1916 explained to me: “Governments come and go, but the police remain.”
For the better understanding of the circumstances of my expulsion from France, it is necessary for me to dwell for a moment on the conditions under which the tiny Russian paper existed during my editorship. Its chief enemy was, of course, the Russian embassy. There the articles of the Nashe Slovo were diligently12 translated into French and forwarded with appropriate comments to the Quai d’Orsay and the Ministry13 of War. Thereupon, telephone calls of alarm would go to our military censor14, M. Chasles, who had spent several years in Russia as a French teacher before the war. Chasles was not distinguished15 for any quality of resolution. He always solved his hesitations16 by crossing out rather than leaving in. (What a pity that he did not apply this rule to the unusually poor biography of Lenin that he wrote several years later!) As a timorous17 censor, Chasles extended his protection not only to the Czar, Czarina, Sazonov, the Dardanelles dreams of Miliukoff, but to Rasputin as well. It would require no great effort to prove that the whole war against the Nashe Slovo a veritable war of attrition was waged not against the paper’s internationalism, but against its revolutionary spirit in opposition18 to Czarism.
We ran into the first acid bit of censorship at the time of the Russian successes in Galicia. At the least military success, the Czar’s embassy would become arrogant19 to an extreme. This time the censor went so far as to cross out the entire obituary20 notice of Count Witte and even the title of the article, consisting only of five letters: WITTE. At that very time the official organ of the St. Petersburg Navy Department was publishing uncommonly21 insolent22 articles aimed at the French republic, sneering23 at the parliament and its “sorry little czars,” the deputies. With a copy of the St. Petersburg journal in my hand, I went to the censor’s office to ask for an explanation.
“I have nothing to do with this,” M. Chasles said to me. “All the instructions concerning your publication come from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Would you like to speak to one of our diplomats?”
Half an hour later a gray-haired diplomat8 arrived at the War Ministry. The conversation between us, which I wrote down soon after it was over, was something like this:
“Could you explain to me why an article in our paper dealing24 with a Russian bureaucrat25 who was in retirement26 and also in disfavor, and, moreover, already deceased, has been crossed out? And what relation this measure has to military operations?”
“Well, you know such articles are displeasing27 to them,” the diplomat said, as he inclined his head vaguely28 presumably in the direction of the Russian embassy.
“But it is precisely29 to displease30 them that we write them.”
The diplomat smiled condescendingly at this answer, as if it were a charming joke. “We are at war. We depend on our allies.”
“Do you mean to say that the internal affairs of France are controlled by the Czar’s diplomacy31? Didn’t your ancestors make a mistake then in chopping off Louis Capet’s head?”
“Oh, you exaggerate. And besides, please don’t forget; we are at war.”
Our further conversation was fruitless. The diplomat explained to me with a suave32 smile that since statesmen are mortal, the living ones do not like to hear the dead spoken of disparagingly33. After the meeting, everything went on as before. The censor continued to blue-pencil. Instead of a newspaper, often all that appeared was a sheet of white paper. We were never guilty of disregarding M. Chasles’ will; he, in turn, was even less inclined to disregard the will of his masters.
Nevertheless, in September, 1916, the prefecture handed me the order for my expulsion from French territory. What was the reason for it? But they told me nothing. Gradually, however, it became apparent that the cause was a malicious34 frame-up organized by the Russian secret police in France.
When deputy Jean Longuet came to Briand to protest, or, to be more precise, to grieve (Longuet’s protests always sounded like the gentlest of tunes) about my expulsion, the French prime minister answered him: “Do you know that the Nashe Slovo was found on the persons of the Russian soldiers who murdered their colonel at Marseilles?” Longuet had not been expecting this. He knew of the “Zimmerwald” policy of the paper; he could reconcile himself more or less to that, but the murder of a colonel could not but find him at a loss. He turned to inquire of my French friends there, and they in turn asked me, but I knew no more about the murder at Marseilles than they did. Correspondents of the Russian liberal press who were patriotic35 enemies of the Nashe Slovo accidentally came into the affair and cleared up the whole Marseilles incident.
It happened that when the Czar’s government brought troops to the soil of the republic troops called “symbolical” because of their slim numbers they also mobilized in haste the requisite36 number of spies and agents-provocateurs. Among these was a certain Vining (I believe that was his name) who arrived from London with a letter of introduction to the Russian consul37. To start things going, Vining tried to induce the most moderate of the Russian correspondents to take part in the “revolutionary” propaganda among the Russian soldiers. They refused. He did not dare address himself to the editors of the Nashe Slovo, and consequently we did not even know of him. After his failure in Paris, Vining went to Toulon, where it seems he had some success among the Russian sailors, who were unable to see through him. “The soil is very favorable for our work here. Send me revolutionary books and papers,” he wrote to certain Russian journalists, whom he chose at random38; but he received no answer. Serious mutinies broke out on the Russian cruiser Askold, stationed at Toulon, and were cruelly suppressed. Vining’s part in the business was only too obvious, and he decided39 that it was an opportune40 time to transfer his activities to Marseilles. The soil proved “favorable” there, too. Not without his co-operation, mutinies broke out among the Russian soldiers and culminated41 in the stoning to death of the Russian colonel, Krause, in the courtyard of the barracks. When the soldiers concerned in the affair were arrested, copies of the same issue of the Nashe Slovo were found on them. The Russian correspondents, coming to Marseilles to investigate, were told by the officers that during the disturbances42 a certain Vining had distributed the Nashe Slovo to all soldiers, whether they wanted it or not. And that was the only reason why the paper was found on the arrested soldiers, who had not even had a chance to read it.
Immediately after Longuet’s interview with Briand concerning my expulsion that is, before Vining’s part in the affair had been disclosed I wrote an open letter to Jules Guesde in which I suggested that the Nashe Slovo might have been intentionally43 distributed among the soldiers at the right moment by some agent-provocateur. This surmise44 was completely confirmed by bitter opponents of the paper, sooner than I could have hoped for. But it did not matter. The Czar’s diplomacy gave the government of the republic to understand, only too dearly, that if France wanted Russian soldiers the nest of Russian revolutionaries must be destroyed at once. The object was achieved; the French government, hesitant until then, closed down the Nashe Slovo, and the minister of the interior, Malvy, signed the order, previously45 prepared by the prefect of police, expelling me from France.
Now the ministry felt that it was well covered. Briand quoted the Marseilles incident as the reason for my expulsion, not only to Jean Longuet, but to a number of other deputies as well, among them the chairman of the parliamentary committee, Leysgues. This could not fail to have its effect. But since the Nashe Slovo was a censored46 paper sold openly on the newsstands, and could not call upon soldiers to kill their colonel, the case remained a mystery until the frame-up was disclosed. It became known even in the Chamber47 of Deputies. I was told that Painlevé, then the minister of education, when he was told the “inside” story exclaimed: “It’s a shame . . . things must not be left at that.”
But there was a war on. The Czar was an ally. Vining could not be exposed. There was nothing to do but to carry out Malvy’s order.
The Paris prefecture informed me that I was being expelled from France to any other country I might choose. I was also in formed that England and Italy declined the honor of having me as a guest. My only choice was to go back to Switzerland. Alas48! the Swiss legation flatly refused to issue a visa to me. I telegraphed my Swiss friends and received a reassuring49 answer from them: the question would be decided favorably. The Swiss legation, however, continued to refuse me a visa. I found out later that the Russian embassy, with the help of the Miles, put on the screws in Berne when it seemed necessary, and the Swiss authorities deliberately50 delayed the solution of the question hoping that in the meantime I would have been expelled from France. I could get to Holland and Scandinavia only through England, but the English government refused me the right of passage. Spain was the only country left. But now it was my turn to refuse to go voluntarily to the Iberian peninsula.
Arguments with the Paris police continued for about six weeks. Detectives followed me wherever I went; they stood on guard outside my home and the offices of our paper, never once letting me out of their sight. Finally, the Paris authorities decided to take firm measures. The prefect of police, Laurent, invited me to his office and told me that since I refused to leave voluntarily, two police inspectors in “plain clothes” however, he added with the utmost consideration would be sent to conduct me to the frontier. The Czar’s embassy achieved its end; I was expelled from France.
The details of this account, which is based on the entries I made at that time, may show some slight inaccuracies. But all the main facts are absolutely irrefutable. Besides, most of the people who had anything to do with the episode are still alive; many of them are in France now. There are documents as well. It would therefore be quite easy to establish the facts. For my part, I have no doubt that if Malvy’s order for my expulsion were resurrected from the police archives and if the document were subjected to a dactyloscopic examination, it would be found to bear somewhere in a corner the finger-prints of Monsieur Vining.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
catastrophes
|
|
| n.灾祸( catastrophe的名词复数 )；灾难；不幸事件；困难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
razed
|
|
| v.彻底摧毁，将…夷为平地( raze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
cataclysm
|
|
| n.洪水，剧变，大灾难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
acting
|
|
| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
courteously
|
|
| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
reminder
|
|
| n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
diplomats
|
|
| n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
diplomat
|
|
| n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
amiable
|
|
| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
captious
|
|
| adj.难讨好的，吹毛求疵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
inspectors
|
|
| n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
diligently
|
|
| ad.industriously;carefully | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
ministry
|
|
| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
censor
|
|
| n./vt.审查，审查员；删改 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
hesitations
|
|
| n.犹豫( hesitation的名词复数 )；踌躇；犹豫（之事或行为）；口吃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
timorous
|
|
| adj.胆怯的，胆小的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
arrogant
|
|
| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
obituary
|
|
| n.讣告，死亡公告；adj.死亡的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
uncommonly
|
|
| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
insolent
|
|
| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
sneering
|
|
| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
dealing
|
|
| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
bureaucrat
|
|
| n. 官僚作风的人，官僚，官僚政治论者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
retirement
|
|
| n.退休，退职 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
displeasing
|
|
| 不愉快的，令人发火的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
precisely
|
|
| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
displease
|
|
| vt.使不高兴，惹怒；n.不悦，不满，生气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
diplomacy
|
|
| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
suave
|
|
| adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
disparagingly
|
|
| adv.以贬抑的口吻，以轻视的态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
malicious
|
|
| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
patriotic
|
|
| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
requisite
|
|
| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
consul
|
|
| n.领事；执政官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
random
|
|
| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
opportune
|
|
| adj.合适的，适当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
culminated
|
|
| v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
disturbances
|
|
| n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 )；打扰；困扰；障碍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
intentionally
|
|
| ad.故意地，有意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
surmise
|
|
| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
previously
|
|
| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
censored
|
|
| 受审查的，被删剪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
chamber
|
|
| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
alas
|
|
| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
reassuring
|
|
| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
deliberately
|
|
| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |