Before proceeding to examine the contents of the Protocols, let us briefly give Mr. Nilus’s account of the way in which they came into his possession and of his views in regard to their origin.
Mr. Nilus, at pages 86 to 92 of his book, “It is Near, At the Door,” states that he received the manuscript containing the Protocols of the Meetings of the Zionist Men of Wisdom in 1901 from Mr. Alexis Nikolajevich Souchotin, at one time Marshal of Nobility in the District of Chern, Central Russia, and later Vice Governor of the Government of Stavropol, South Russia, and that when giving the manuscript to Mr. Nilus, Mr. Souchotin said:
“Take it into your full possession. Read it. Become inspired and make out of it something useful to the Christian soul. Otherwise it might remain with me unused. From a political standpoint it is useless, for it is too late to act on it. From a spiritual standpoint, however, it might be otherwise. In your hands, with God’s help, it will bear fruit.”