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464
RUSSIA IN DECLINE [chap, xxiii.
What had passed in the sphere of international
politics, and in Sweden in particular, during the six
weeks which preceded the Russian Revolution ? To
tell the truth I have no recollection. There are spaces
of time before great historic events which appear to
one’s memory later as blank spaces, like those minutes
of deadly calm preceding the first violent gust of wind
and the first clap of thunder of a mighty storm. This
must come from an illusion of " retrospective vision " ;
the events themselves are so colossal that anything that
immediately preceded them seems insignificant, and
vanishes from one’s memory.
I remember that the season was beautiful in
Stockholm ; bright sunshine, dazzling snow, moderate frosts,
beautiful blue sky, the town enlivened by winter sports
and a busy life of pleasure. The Russian birds of passage
were more numerous than ever. Some had merely
come to rest and divert themselves in this pleasant
atmosphere, and under this kindly sky, after the icy fogs
of Petrograd and the political nightmare which was
oppressing every one.
I remember taking luncheon in the sunlit
dining-room of the Grand Hotel with an agreeable and witty
compatriot who was in Stockholm for the third time,
nominally for political meetings, but really and above
all to amuse himself. He was an elected member of the
Council of the Empire who formerly had had a brief
moment of fame. Always a Liberal, and airing the
most independent views in the salons of Petrograd, he
was, at the time of the first Duma, one of the three or
four courageous people who, without abjuring their
political convictions, yet opposed the outbursts of the
assembly and founded a sympathetic—though later on
absolutely colourless—party called "the pacific renovation."
Years had gone by since then, and my friend, older,
stouter, and more or less ruined, had passed from the
Duma into the ranks of the elected members of the
Council of the Empire; had had to accept a post on
the board of directors of a large banking business, a
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