The sun shines so brightly and I felt such peace and tranquility next to his precious grave! He died to save us.
The first red banner has appeared, a vile rag.
There are no pleasures, only profanity.
At around ten o’clock, reports came from the outskirts of the city that the troops had begun to fire on the crowds.
A company of the Pavlov regiment refused to put down the disturbances, they shot at the mounted police patrol (a policeman and two horses were killed). The battalion commander, Colonel Eksten, was badly wounded in the head.
The palace is deadly quiet. It is unsettling. And most importantly- his Majesty is not here. It is necessary for his Majesty to return immediately from Stavka.
Told much about the disorders in town (I think over 200,000 people) -- find that one does not keep good order. But I wrote all this yesterday, forgive me, I am foolish. But one ought to arrange card system for bread (as in every country now) as one has it for sugar some time and all are quiet and got enough. Our people are idiots. See more
On the third day I left Sevastopol in the morning for Trabzon and, with my usual bad luck, we ran into rather blustery weather, with brisk winds from the NW at times reaching storm levels. With the boat pitching violently on enormous overtaking waves there was only one thing I could do: sleep.
Everyone is extremely worked up and no one has any illusions concerning the success of the revolutionary movement. It seems more likely to imagine that the insurrection will be supressed by the usual combination of police and bayonets. The insurrection itself, at the very least, can already be spoken of as a done deal.
The rioting in Petrograd has intensified — about 200 people have been killed on Suvorov Avenue and on Znamensky.
It was almost three in the morning by the time I got home from the cabinet meeting at Prince Golytsin’s house. The ministers were in a state of great aggravation, and at the same time, clearly suffering from their awareness of the heavy responsibility which they bore for the current situation, seemed despondent, which I found rather dispiriting.
Had a talk with Mother about Russian and Nicky. She is very much upset about it all.
On the 26th, a Sunday, General Halle telephoned me once more to warn me that the situation in the city was very serious, and that I should save what I could from my house before it was too late. He telephoned repeatedly all through the day. Although he still considered the situation very serious, he hoped it might improve "if the abscess burst". His advice to save what could still be saved placed me in a real dilemma. Although I never kept my large diamond jewellery at home, but left it with Faberge, I still had at home a great number of small jewels, not to mention the silver and other precious objects with which my rooms were decorated. What was I to choose? What was I to take away, and where?
I spent the morning with Markozov, whom I interrupted at breakfast at 10 a.m. There is no lack of rye flour in Petrograd. It is true that from the 1st till the 9th only 210 wagon-loads of flour came in, but 100 wagons came in yesterday, and there are now 459,000 puds in store, in addition to quantities estimated at 20,000 puds with the bakers and perhaps 100,000 puds with private consumers. See more
On the 11th the situation suddenly became very critical and the most alarming news arrived without warning. The mob made its way into the centre of the town, and the troops, who had been called in the previous evening, were offering but slight resistance. See more
General Khabalov, Military Governor of Petrograd, has had the city placarded with the following warning this morning:
"All meetings or gatherings are forbidden. I notify the civil population that I have given the troops fresh authority to use their arms and stop at nothing to maintain order."