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34 SWEDISH NEUTRALITY [chap, xviii.
the final statio dolorosa: we were about two hundred
Russians of both sexes and all classes, surrounded by
soldiers with fixed bayonets ; we had been standing for
more than two hours, dropping with fatigue, in front of
our wretched trunks open in order to undergo a tenth
search. Suddenly an old non-commissioned officer of the
Landsturm, fat and jovial, appeared and began to make
us a speech, or rather preach us a sermon : ’ We Germans
are a good-natured people {em guimiithiges Volk);
nevertheless you must not abuse our good-nature,’ and
so on, and so on. But all the eloquence of this worthy
man was wasted; we had become completely insensible
even to the proof of the good nature of the German
people!"
Poor Casso died of cancer a few months later. He
was a very highly-educated man and full of spirits in
private life; but on the other hand, he was universally
disparaged as a Minister.
Then the staff from our Embassy in Berlin arrived
after a halt of a few days in Copenhagen. It was
grievous to see poor M. Sverbeieff. He could not sleep,
he had to force himself to eat. "And yet they had
always been so good, so kind to me during the whole of
my time in Berlin !" he repeated over and over again.
" But the last days were a nightmare, an absolute
nightmare ! . . Indeed, recalled hurriedly from a delightful
and quiet visit to the country, and having returned to
Berlin just in time to take part in the upheaval of the
last days before the declaration of war, he must have
gone through a terrible time, feeling his powerlessness
to avert the inevitable ! The day after the arrival of the
staff from the Embassy, on going into our office I noticed
an enormous fire burning in the fireplace; it was the
Berlin ciphers that were being burnt. It was of no
importance, but I remember the painful impression it
made on me.
The members of the Embassy told us of the
disgusting treatment they were subjected to—men, women, and
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