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Czartoryski’s Attempts at a New Foreign Policy under Alexander I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Charles Morley
Charles Morley*
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
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Extract

Hardly was the stain of parricide cleansed from the hands of Alexander I when he wrote Prince Czartoryski to return posthaste from Italy to Russia. Scion of one of Poland's most distinguished noble families, Prince Adam George Czartoryski had been summoned as a hostage to the Russian Court following the last partition of Poland. Here the handsome, young, and cultured Polish nobleman became a friend and confidant of the impressionable Alexander, who was still only in his teens. The Prince's relations with the Grand Duchess Elizabeth were even more intimate and when she gave birth to a daughter bearing striking resemblance to the dark Polish nobleman, Emperor Paul ordered Czartoryski to leave the country immediately to serve as ambassador to the throneless King of Sardinia. The murder of Paul and the accession of Alexander brought to an end the brief diplomatic exile of Prince Adam, who returned from Italy to become one of the closest advisers of the new Tsar.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , December 1953 , pp. 475 - 485
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1953

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References

1 The murder of Tsar Paul, of which Alexander was not entirely innocent, occurred on March 11/23, 1801. Alexander's letter to Czartoryski was dated March 17/29, 1801. See de Mazade, Charles, ed., Mémoires du Prince Adam Czartoryski et correspondance avec l'Empereur Alexandre ler (2 vols., Paris, 1887), II, 1–2.Google Scholar

2 Marceli Handelsman, Adam Czartoryski (3 vols., Warsaw, 1948-), I, 35–36. Seeing his granddaughter for the first time when she was three months old, Paul expressed public surprise that she was so dark; both Alexander and Elizabeth were of light complexion. Born on May 29, 1799, Marie Alexandrovna died on August 7, 1800. On the relations of Prince Czartoryski with the Grand Duchess Elizabeth see also Paleologue, Maurice, The Enigmatic Czar, Alexander I of Russia (New York, 1938), pp. 27–29 Google Scholar. The best biography of Czartoryski is the three-volume posthumous work of Professor Marceli Handelsman. An excellent biographical sketch can be found in Russkij biografičeskij slovar’ (St. Petersburg, 1896–1913), XXII, 38–56.

3 The Dowager Empress, the Empress Elizabeth, and Prince Peter Dolgorukij were among the more prominent Russians who opposed Czartoryski's appointment to the foreign office. Prince Dolgorukij even spread rumors that Czartoryski aspired to the Polish throne and that he was ready to betray Russia for it. On the other hand, Czartoryski's young Russian friends on the Secret Committee urged him to accept. See Nicholas, Grand Duke, Le Comte Paul Stroganov (3 vols., Paris, 1905), I, 60, fn. 2, and p. 78, fn. 2Google Scholar; Memoires de Czartoryski, I, 363; Handelsman, Czartoryski, I, 40.

4 Czartoryski claims that his appointment as Foreign Minister was the result of Alexander's whim. “Cétait une de ces lubies comme il en avait souvent: Alexandre n'eut pas de repos qu'elle ne fût satisfaite,” Mémoires de Czartoryski, I, 360.

5 1bid., I, 324.

6 Ibid., I, 361 and 370; Schilder, N. K., hnperator Aleksandr Pervyj (4 vols., St. Petersburg, 1897–1898), II, 122.Google Scholar

7 French armies abducted the Due d'Enghien on March 15, 1804, from his place of refuge at Ettenheim in the neutral state of Baden. Charged with conspiracy, he was executed on March 20, 1804.

8 The complete text of Instructions secrètes à M. de Novosiltzow allant en Angleterre, le 11 septembre 1804 can be found in Mémoires de Czartoryski, II, 27–45. The Adam Gielgud English translation of the Mémoires (2 vols., London, 1888) contains a slightly abridged version of the Instructions in volume II, pp. 41–51. Detailed excerpts are reprinted in F. Martens, Recueil des traités et conventions conclus par la Russie avec les puissances étrangères (15 vols., St. Petersburg, 1874–1909), XI, 84 ff.

9 Written in 1823, the book was first published in 1830. Another edition was published in Paris in 1864.

10 For a discussion of the authorship of the Novosilcev Instructions see Pilawski, Bronisław, “Adam Czartoryski, projekt ligi Europejskiej” in Panstwo i Prawo, V, No. 2 (February, 1950), 40–68 Google Scholar; Mirkin-Gecevič, B. S., “Russkij proekt meždunarodnoj organnizacii Evropy 1804 goda” in Sbornik statej, posvjaščennykh Pavlu Nikolaeviču Miljukovu, 1859–1929 (Prague, 1929), pp. 435–49Google Scholar; and by the same author, “Un projet de fédération Européenne en 1804” in Mélanges offerts à M. Nicolas lorga (Paris, 1933), pp. 677–94.

11 According to another rumor, Novosilcev was going to London to replace S. R. Voroncov, who was well known for his “Anglomania and venality.” The British Ambassador thought the visit was connected with “agricultural and legal pursuits.” See Sbornik Imperatorskago russkogo istoričeskago obščestva (148 vols., St. Petersburg, 1867–1916), LXXVII, 749 Google Scholar; Holland Rose, J., Select Despatches from the British Foreign Office Archives Relating to the Formation of the Third Coalition against France, 1804–1805 (London, 1904), pp. 39–40.Google Scholar

12 Mémoires de Czartoryski, I, 374–375.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid., II, 28. Although Novosilcev was sent to London to conclude a treaty of alliance, negotiations for an alliance were initiated not by Russia but by England as early as October, 1802. See Beeley, Harold, “A projected alliance with Russia in 1802,” in English Historical Review, XLIX (July, 1934), 497–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

15 Mémoires de Czartoryski, II, 28–31.

16 Ibid., II, 35.

17 Ibid., II, 41.

18 Ibid., II, 34–36.

19 Ibid., II, 35–36.

20 Ibid., II, 35–37. Schaeder, H., in Die dritte Koalition und die Heilige Allianz (Berlin, 1934) pp. 12 ff.Google Scholar, states that Czartoryski's ideas of federation stem from one of his early teachers, Scipione Piattoli.

21 Mirkin-Gecevič, “Un projet de federation,” op. cit., p. 678.

22 See the Sixth Separate Article and the First Separate and Secret Article of the treaty of April 11, 1805. The text of the treaty can be found in Rose, Select Despatches, pp. 265–76. For summaries of the treaty see Pičeta, V. I., “Meždunarodnaja politika Rossii v načale carstvovanija Aleksandra I” in Otečestvennaja voina i Russkoe obžčestvo (8 vols., Moscow, 1912) I, 162 Google Scholar; Lobanov-Rostovsky, A. A., Russia and Europe, 1789–1825 (Durham, 1947), pp. 83–84 Google Scholar; SirWard, A. W. and Gooch, G. P., eds., The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy, 1783–1919 (3 vols., New York, 1922), I, 340–41Google Scholar.

23 For a more complete treatment of this subject see the author's article entitled “Alexander I and Czartoryski, the Polish Question from 1801 to 1813” in the Slavonic and East European Review, XXV, No. 65 (April, 1947), 405-26.

24 Mémoires de Czartoryski, I, 361.

25 Ibid., I, 372–73. For an excellent analysis of Alexander's interest in the Southern Slavs see Vernadsky, G., “Alexandre Ier et le problème slave pendant la première moitie de son règne” in Revue des Ètudes Slaves, VII (1927), 94–111 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26 For the details of these negotiations see Martens, Recueil, VI, 350–67; Rose, Select Despatches; Sbornik, LXXXII, 123–31.

27 Mèmoires de Czartoryski, 396; Martens, Recueil, II, 478.

28 For the text of the Treaty of Potsdam see Martens, Recueil, II, 476 ff.

29 Mèmoires de Czartoryski, II, 84; Martens, Recueil, VI, 366–67.

30 The complete text of this memorial can be found in Ladislas Czartoryski, ed., Alexandre ler et le Prince Czartoryski, 1801–1823 (Paris, n.d.), pp. 19–56, and in Mémoires de Czartoryski, II, 104-31.

31 Both Czartoryski and Kočubej opposed the visit when it was being planned. See Nicholas, Grand Duke, L'Empereur Alexandre ler (2 vols., St. Petersburg, 1912), I, 25–26 Google Scholar; Nicholas, Grand Duke, Stroganov, II, 138 Google Scholar. The historian Theodor Schiemann in his Geschichte Russlands unter Kaiser Nikolaus I (4 vols., Berlin, 1904–1919), I, 62, says that the “Memel Freundschaftsbund … hat mehr als alles Übrige die europäische Politik in der ersten Hälfte unseres Jahrhunderts und darüber hinaus bestimmt.”

32 “II était bien rare que la vertu des dames dont ce prince était occupé se trouvât réelement en danger,” see Mémoires de Czartoryski, I, 294–96.

33 Ibid., II, 113; Handelsman, Czartoryski, I, 61.

34 Mémoires de Czartoryski, II, 113–19. Negotiations for a Russian-Prussian alliance had been going on throughout most of 1804 and 1805.

35 Ibid., III; Martens, Recueil, II, 478; Schilder, II, 129–30.

36 Mémoires de Czartoryski, I, 398–09.

37 Schilder, II, 283, fn. 210; Mémoires de Czartoryski, II, 111.

38 Ibid., II, 114 and 141–43.

39 These statements are from Czartoryski's letter of March 22, 1806, to the Tsar, in which he asks permission to resign. See ibid., II, 100–1.

40 Ibid., II, 117.

41 Askenazy, Szymon, “Adam Jerzy K. Czartoryski” in Chehnonska, Maryja, ed., Album biograficzny zasluzonych Polakow i Polek wieku XIX (Warsaw, 1901), I, 248–55Google Scholar. K. Waliszewski in his La Russie il y a cent ans. Le Règne d'Alexandre Ier (3 vols., Paris, 1923), I, 159–60, reveals that copies of the instructions to Alopeus, the Russian Ambassador, were found in the Prussian State Archives and that they were believed to have been communicated to the Prussian Government by the Tsar's envoy himself.

42 “Malgré les instances de Czartoryski, il répugnait à violenter un ami si doux, si touchant, si angoissé,” see Sorel, Albert, L'Europe et la Révolution française (8 vols., Paris, 1895–1904), VI, 463.Google Scholar

43 Grand Duke Nicholas, Stroganov, I, 79; Schilder, II, 123–24.

44 Martens, Recueil, VI, 365–66.

45 Mémoires de Czartoryski, I, 398.

46 Schilder, II, 122 and 281–82, fn. 196. Schilder quotes Count Stroganov on Alexander's indecision and explains that it was apparent in Alexander's internal as well as foreign policies. His reforms, Schilder points out, were only in his mind; their application frightened him and he would fall into irresolution.

47 Waliszewski, I, 146–47.

48 Cresson, W. P., The Holy Alliance (New York, 1922), pp. 29 ff.Google Scholar

49 Pilawski, op. cit., pp. 49–68; see also Dziewanowski, M. K., “Czartoryski: European Federalist” in Current History, XIX (July, 1950), 21–28.Google Scholar