Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XVII. The tragic week
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
i9i4] CONVERSATION WITH REICHENAU 299
probably unparalleled in history. I will be frank with
you to the end ; I fear this war, I dread it terribly for
my country. If we are beaten, Russia will be
shipwrecked. But calculate carefully what the result for
you will be ? You may be quite sure that in the country
that goes under, revolution will break out, and it will be
a terrible revolution ; but we are far too near neighbours :
our interests, our economic life, our history even are far
too much mixed up for such a revolution to be restricted
to one country without hitting the other. If the Emperor
William declares war on Russia, he had better know
what the result will be : he will deal a decisive blow at
the monarchical principle in Russia, Germany, Europe !
It is in the name of ancient traditions, in the name of the
monarchical principle that I come and warn you that
you are riding for a fall! Perhaps by to-morrow we
shall not be able to see one another; but one day you
will remember my last visit and my last words."
I had probably spoken with much heat and conviction,
for at one moment I saw Herr von Reichenau’s eyes
filling with tears.
"Let us hope, my dear colleague," he said in
conclusion, " that we shall still have many opportunities
for seeing each other and that the troubles you predict
will not occur."
"We will hope so," I said, and on that I took leave of
my German colleague, and I never had an opportunity
or a possibility of seeing him again.
If Herr von Reichenau ever sees these lines I feel
sure he will remember our last conversation and that he
will admit the absolute accuracy of my account.
The terrible events which have occurred since have
exceeded my gloomiest prognostications, making these
appear trifling. It was not only the dynasty of the
Hohenzollerns and that of the Romanoffs that were
judged and condemned in the hour when war broke out
—it was the monarchical principle itself that was struck
and perhaps irremediably. The monarchical power is
the preponderance of the will and the reason of one man
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
