What clarity of political vision there is in such passages as these:
(1813.) "He who fancies that Europe will be delivered by Russia and her
confederates, or that the progress of the Cossacks is for the advantage
of Sweden, may perhaps be in the right; but his views are very different
from mine. In the hatred of the Barbarians I am born and bred, and I
hope to die in it, unbewildered by modern sophisms."
(1814.) "Who can believe in the re-establishment of the European balance
of power or rejoice in the victory of wretched mediocrity over power and
genius. The upheavals of the age will soon affect us all--at least us
Swedes."
(1817) "That we are living on an earth yet quaking from the French
Revolution is undeniable; and extremely foolish seems to me the speech
of those who insist that the Revolution is finished, or even approaching
its end."
"Napoleon fell, not on account of his wretched opponents, but because
despotism is the livery of all strong souls, because his spirit was
opposed to the spirit of the age, with which he wrestled, and which was
stronger than he.
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