Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXI. A visit to Petrograd
<< 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.
CHAPTER XXI
a visit to petrograd
From the beginning of 1916, everything led me to
believe that we should not get through the spring
without fresh efforts by the Swedish Activists. The
object would be the same one as before; that of
creating discord between Sweden and the Powers of
the Entente, and thus irrevocably to throw her into
the arms of Germany; the pretexts for this campaign
would be furnished (1) by the questions relative to
the revictualling of Sweden, (2) and chiefly, by the
question of the Aland Islands. I foresaw that this time
all that was possible would be done by Germany and
her Swedish friends and clients; hence, we should
have to be careful and make it our business to support
the sensible portion of the Government and of the
Swedish public by just concessions. I felt that I
should overcome these difficulties more easily by
getting into direct and personal touch with St.
Petersburg, and I therefore begged permission to go there to
discuss the present situation and various questions in
connection with Sweden at the Foreign Office and the
War Office. In answer, I was told that they would be
glad to see me; only they begged me to give private
affairs as the reason for my journey to every one in
Stockholm. This was not difficult: my second son was
about to get his commission and to leave Tsarskoe-Selo
soon after to join his regiment at the front; thus,
naturally I was going to bid him farewell.
I arrived in St. Petersburg (already re-named
" Petrograd ") in the evening of the 12th February, after
a somewhat tiring journey of seventy-two hours across
385
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
