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244 MY TRANSFER TO STOCKHOLM [ch. xiv.
abroad were not at all alarming at this time. In March
—on the 17th, if I am not wrong—the French
Ambassador to Berlin, M. Jules Cambon, wrote his famous
dispatch which was a cry of warning, and which
foresaw all that was about to happen; this was followed by
reports from other French representatives which were
equally prophetic. All these dispatches figure in the
French Yellow Book on the origin of the war. One
would search in vain in our Orange Book for anything
on the same subject. There was nothing either in the
documents communicated to the Russian
representatives abroad. Perhaps there may have been some very
confidential letters which have not been printed. But
then why have these not been published in the Orange
Book so as to make known to the public the vigilance
and the perspicacity of our representatives at the most
dangerous and most responsible posts ? All this is
even now a riddle to me.
At last the divorce of the Grand-Duchess Maria
and Prince William of Sweden was pronounced, the
pecuniary questions in connection with it were settled,
and I was able to think of taking up my post. Before
starting I called again on the Emperor, who received
me very graciously, but did not detain me long. At
the Foreign Office also no one talked seriously to me
about the conditions and object of my new post. They
spoke of the Court, of the Grand-Duchess’s divorce, of
Savinsky, but not a word about our relations with
Sweden and the attitude of the Swedes towards us.
" Oh, well! You will arrive, you will see, you will write
to us "—that was the viaticum with which I departed.
I had as usual studied the record of the dispatches
of my predecessors; I could add to this most meagre
equipment opinions gathered from M. Zinovieff and
interesting information that I obtained in my private
and friendly conversations with another of my
predecessors, Baron Budberg, a man of judgment, tact and
experience who had managed to make an admirable
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