In the first chapter of A Revision of the Treaty (‘The State of Opinion’, JMK, vol. III, pp. 1–5) Keynes distinguished between what he called ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ opinion. Outside opinion was ‘the opinion of the public voiced by the politicians and the newspapers’, while inside opinion was ‘the opinion of the politicians, the journalists and the civil servants, upstairs and backstairs and behind-stairs, expressed in limited circles’. He wrote this sequel to The Economic Consequences of the Peace believing ‘that outside opinion is now ready for inside opinion to disclose, and act upon, its secret convictions; and that it is no longer an act of futile indiscretion to speak sensibly in public’. It was his own efforts, in the months following the publication of Economic Consequences, that did much to bring about this transformation.

Economic Consequences brought Keynes fame, a brief affluence, much correspondence, public involvement, and new opportunities. The months following its writing were occupied with decisions as to his future, a return to academic life, enjoyment of success and a recouping of financial losses. By the latter part of 1920 he had returned to work on the Treatise on Probability; he seemed to be marking time while the European situation began to sort itself out.

His resignation from the Treasury did not cut him loose from the habit of responsibility. From ostensible retirement, 21 July 1919, he addressed the following note in the form of a minute to his old chief, Sir John Bradbury, thinking ahead and not losing sight of British interests in the process.