Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T01:09:32.527Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Madame Olga Novikov, Propagandist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Joseph O. Baylen
Joseph O. Baylen*
Affiliation:
New Mexico Highlands University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The almost continuous conflict between the interests of the United Kingdom and the Russian Empire in the Near and Middle East, during the latter half of the nineteenth century, gave rise to several attempts on the part of Pan-Slavs and some Slavophiles to win the English over to the Russian point of view. It was the opinion not only of such a prominent Slavophile as Ivan Aksakov, and the militant independent, Mikhail Katkov, but also of certain officials, that a “great understanding” with England would be more advantageous to Russia than “a great war.” Many, even before 1878, sought to woo England by interpreting to the English public Russian objectives in the Balkans and Central Asia. With the aid of sympathetic English journalists and encouragement from leaders of the Liberal Opposition, these Russian groups sought to explain Russia's past sins and honest motives. It was, in effect, a strange alliance of the anti-imperialist and democratic Western Liberals and the imperialist Pan-Slavs and a small group of reactionary Slavophiles, united by a common desire for peace.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , December 1951 , pp. 255 - 271
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1951

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Up to 1862, Katkov was so enamored with England that he voiced the belief that England and Russia were natural allies whose duty it was to carry civilization to “the barbarous nations … , ” Sutherland, H. Edwards, Sir William White (London, 1902), p. 239 Google Scholar. See also Griining, Irene, Die Russische öffentliche Meinung und ihre Stellung zu den Grossmächten, 1818-1894 (Berlin, 1929), pp. 39–40 Google Scholar.

2 See letter of Sir Robert Morier to Sir William White, December 27, 1885 Google Scholar, Edwards, , op. cit., p. 239 Google Scholar. For an excellent study of the trends in Russian foreign policy during the nineteenth century, see Zajončovskij, A., Podgotovka Rossii k mirovoj voine v meždunarodnom otnošenii (Moscow, 1926)Google Scholar, passim. See also Fischel, Alfred, Tier Panslavismus bis zum Weltkrieg (Stuttgart, 1919), pp. 1–200 ffGoogle Scholar.

3 Kornilov, Alexander, Modern Russian History (New York, 1948), II, 194 Google Scholar.

4 See Černyševskij's statement cited in Laserson, Max M., The American Impact on Russia—Diplomatic and Ideological, 1784-1917 (New York, 1950), p. 250 Google Scholar.

5 Up to 1861, Aksakov and even Katkov were willing to concede self-government to the Poles, but changed and favored repression after the outbreak of hostilities in 1863, Edwards, , op. cit., pp. 30, 386–90Google Scholar; Grüning, , op. cit., p. 40 Google Scholar. Katkov even forecast the revolt and demanded severe measures; see article by “An English Resident in Russia,” “Michael Katkoff,” The Contemporary Review, LII (October, 1887), 510-11.

6 Madame Novikov's brother, Alexander, was an ardent Pan-Slav and aide-decamp to the Viceroy of Poland, the Grand Duke Constantine.

7 Wereszycki, Henry, “Great Britain and the Polish Question in 1863,” English Historical Review, L (January, 1935), 78 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Napier made no secret of his belief that England's religious and national interests drew England toward Russia rather than Poland; see SirWard, Adolphus and Gooch, George P., The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy, 1783-1919 (New York, 1919), II, 460 Google Scholar.

8 Napier, Lord to Novikov, Madame, undated, 1863, The M.P. for Russia; Reminiscences and Correspondence of Madame Novikoff, Stead, William T., ed. (London, 1909), I, 61 Google Scholar, hereafter cited as Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff. See also Ward, and Gooch, , op. cit., II, 461–62Google Scholar, and letters of Lord Napier to Sir William White on October 22, 1862, and December 28, 1862, in Edwards, , op. cit., pp. 34–35 Google Scholar.

9 Napier, Lord to Novikov, Madame, undated, 1863, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 64 Google Scholar. The attempts of her friend, Baron Brunnow, the Russian Ambassador in London, to play on the latent English prejudice against the Catholicism of the Poles, and his use of the press through the efforts of Delane, editor of the Times, and the banker, Lionel Rothschild, may also have set the pattern for Madame Novikov's later work in England; see anonymous, , The History of the Times (New York, 1935), II, 333 Google Scholar.

10 Villiers, Charles P. to Novikov, Madame, September 20, 1866, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 100 Google Scholar.

11 Villiers, to Novikov, Madame, October 26 and December 1, 1866, ibid., pp. 102–3, 105.Google Scholar See also Gavard, Charles, Un Diplomate á Londres, Lettres et Notes, 1871-79 (Paris, 1895), passim Google Scholar.

12 Novikoff, Madame Olga, “O. K.,” Russian Memories (London, 1916), pp. 23–24, hereafter cited as Novikoff, Memories.Google Scholar

13 Ibid., p. 24.

14 Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 186. Madame Novikov, like General Kaufmann, the conqueror of Khiva, seriously questioned whether Russia's “legitimate and unavoidable advance” in Central Asia was really regarded by the English public with the amount of suspicion that the English press would have the world suppose; see Wellesley, Col. F. A., With the Russians in Peace and War (London, 1905), p. 308 Google Scholar.

15 On the organization and activities of the Slav Welfare Committee, see Masaryk, Thomas Garrigue, The Spirit of Russia (London, 1919), II, 314 Google Scholar; Grüning, , op. cit., p. 32 Google Scholar. On the work of Madame Novikov as the representative of the Committee in London, see SirWallace, Donald Mackenzie, Russia (London, 1905), II, 451–52Google Scholar.

16 Sumner, B. H., “Ignatyev at Constantinople, 1864-1874,” The Slavonic and Eastern European Review, XI (January, 1933), 341–53Google Scholar. For a contemporary account of Ignatev's work in Constantinople, see von Radowitz, Joseph Maria, Aufzeichnungen und Erinnerungen aus dem Leben des Botschafters Joseph Maria von Radowitz (Berlin, 1925), I, 237–42Google Scholar. Ignatev's greatest dream was to become Russian Ambassador in London: Wellesley, op. cit., p. 291.

17 Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 205-6; Novikoff, , Memories, pp. 38–39 Google Scholar.

18 Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 238; Rev. Tuckwell, William, Kinglake, A. W., A Biographic and Literary Study (London, 1902), p. 90 Google Scholar.

19 Novikoff, , Memories, pp. 39–40 Google Scholar.

20 Col. Wellesley undoubtedly had Madame Novikov in mind when he wrote of “the emissaries” and “friends” of Count Ignatev in England “who grossly exaggerated reports of Turkish misrule and atrocities … ,” Wellesley, op. cit., p. 162. See also Thompson, George Carslake, Public Opinion and Lord Beaconsfield, 1875-1880 (London, 1886), I, 373–77, 382-84Google Scholar; Harris, David, Britain and the Bulgarian Horrors of 1876 (Chicago, 1939), p. 123 Google Scholar. Perhaps the best study on British policy during the Eastern crisis is Rudolf Liebold, Die Stellung Englands in der russischtürkischen Krise von 1875-78 (Wilkau, 1930), passim.

21 Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, Third Series (Hansard), cols. 102-6, hereafter cited as H.C. Deb. 3s. See also Gladstone, Viscount, After Thirty Years (London, 1929), p. 126 Google Scholar.

22 Harris, , op. cit., pp. 132–33Google Scholar.

23 Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 253; Stead, Estelle W., Stead, W. T., Personal and Spiritual Reminiscences (New York, 1913), p. 58 Google Scholar; Frederic Whyte, The Life of W. T. Stead (London, 1925), II, 50. On the response of the clergy, see Maccoll, Malcolm, Memoirs and Correspondence, Russell, George W. E., ed. (London, 1914), pp. 45–46 Google Scholar.

24 Gladstone later attempted to explain that he had acted “under a strong sense of individual duty without a thought of leadership… .” Morley adds that the story of Nikolaj Kireev's death greatly “intensified” Gladstone's feelings on the Eastern question. Morley, Viscount, Life of Gladstone (London, 1911), II, 550–57Google Scholar. Seton-Watson accepts this explanation: Seton-Watson, R. W., Disraeli, Gladstone and the Eastern Question (London, 1935), p. 562 Google Scholar, hereafter cited as Seton-Watson, The Eastern Question.

25 Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 257.

26 Harris, , op. cit., pp. 249–50Google Scholar.

27 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, October 17, 1876, in Morley, op. cit., II, 557 Google Scholar.

28 Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 244–45Google Scholar.

29 On Aksakov's views, see Grüning, , op. cit., p. 32 Google Scholar.

30 Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 245; Wallace, , op. cit., II, 351–52Google Scholar.

31 Kinglake, Alexander W., “The Slavonic Menace to Europe,” Quarterly Review, CXLIV (January, 1880), 273 Google Scholar.

32 See reprints of Madame Novikov's writings in Olga Aleksieevna Novikoff, Is Russia Wrong? (London, 1878), p. 23, hereafter cited as Novikoff, Russia.

33 See letters of Napier, Lord to Novikov, Madame, undated, 1876, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 241 Google Scholar.

34 Kinglake, , loc. cit., p. 281 Google Scholar.

35 Seton-Watson, R. W., “Russo-British Relations during the Eastern Crisis, Part III,” The Slavonic and Eastern European Review, IV (June, 1925), 70 Google Scholar.

36 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, October 13, 1876, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 261 Google Scholar.

37 On the views of Sir William Harcourt, see Gwynn, Stephen and Tuckwell, Gertrude, The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles Dilke (New York, 1917), II, 200–10Google Scholar.

38 Harris, , op. cit., p. 396 Google Scholar; Novikoff, , Memories, pp. 49–50 Google Scholar. Among the newspapers hostile to Gladstone were the Pall Mall Gazette, Daily Telegraph, and Morning Post (1877-1878).

39 Harris, , op. cit., pp. 374–75Google Scholar.

40 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, October 20, 1876, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 298. Gorlov apparently communicated the memorandum with the approval of ŠčuvalovGoogle Scholar.

41 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, November 22, 1876, ibid., p. 299 Google Scholar.

42 Ibid., pp. 299-300.

43 London Daily News, October 25, 1876; see also Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 301 Google Scholar.

44 Gladstone, W. E., “Russian Policy and Deeds in Turkistan,” The Contemporary Review, XXVII (November, 1876), 891 Google Scholar. See also the criticism of Gladstone in the Pall Mall Gazette, October and December, 1876.

45 London Daily News, October 26, 1876.

46 Edwards, , op. cit., pp. 116, 118Google Scholar; Seton-Watson, , The Eastern Question, p. 102 Google Scholar. See also Lady Gwendolyn Cecil, The Life of Robert Marquis of Salisbury (London, 1922-1923), II, passim. Radowitz takes an opposite view: Radowitz, op. cit., 11, 6.

47 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, November 13, 1876, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 268–69Google Scholar.

48 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, November 15, 1876, ibid., p. 303 Google Scholar.

49 Whyte, , op. cit., II, 43 Google Scholar; Seton-Watson, , The Eastern Question, pp. 100, 110-11Google Scholar.

50 Seton-Watson, , The Eastern Question, p. 111 Google Scholar.

51 “The Great Agitator Unmasked,” Vanity Fair, March 3, 1877.

52 Russell, , op. cit., p. 56 Google Scholar.

53 Seton-Watson, , The Eastern Question, p. 101 Google Scholar; Wellesley, , op. cit., p. 175 Google Scholar.

54 Baron Jomini vetoed Ščuvalov's proposal for the purchase of the unnamed Ldhdon newspaper, but suggested that the Ambassador buy the services of the journal with an annual subsidy: Seton-Watson, R. W., “Russo-British Relations During the Eastern Crisis, Part II,” The Slavonic and Eastern European Review, III (December, 1924), 430 Google Scholar.

55 See Seton-Watson, , The Eastern Question, pp. 253–62Google Scholar; Gardiner, Alfred George, The Life of Sir William Harcourt (New York, 1923), II, 311, 320–24Google Scholar.

56 Novikoff, , Memories, p. 104 Google Scholar. In her efforts to enlist the support of Gorčakov, Madame Novikov was even less successful, ibid., pp. 51-52. See also Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 504-5, 524-28.

57 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, December 13, 1876, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 311–12Google Scholar.

58 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, December 18 and December 22, 1876, ibid., pp. 312–13Google Scholar.

59 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, February 6, 1877, ibid., pp. 328–29Google Scholar.

60 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, April 23, 1877, ibid., p. 345 Google Scholar.

61 See Gladstone's memorandum of a proposed talk with Ignatev dated March 21, 1877, ibid., pp. 339-40. Stead was undoubtedly in error when he listed the date of the memorandum as 1878. On certain aspects of Ignatev's mission to England, see Seton-Watson, , The Eastern Question, pp. 162–63Google Scholar; Wemyss, T. Reid, Life of the Rt. Hon. William Edward Forster (London, 1888), II, 171 Google Scholar.

62 See London Times and the Pall Mall Gazette, April-July, 1877.

63 234 H. C. Deb. 3s., cols. 101-2, 427, 885, 972. On the division of the Liberals, see Seton-Watson, , The Eastern Question, p. 189 Google Scholar; Garvin, J. L., The Life of Joseph Chamberlain (London, 1932), I, 241–45Google Scholar. Madame Novikov encouraged Gladstone with the words: “You are again fighting a noble and grand battle …” telegram, Madame Novikov to Gladstone, May (?), 1877, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 357.

64 Thompson, , op. cit., II, 225–26Google Scholar.

65 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, May 8, 1877, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 356 Google Scholar.

66 Liddon, Canon H. P. to Novikov, Madame, May 29, 1877, ibid., p. 364 Google Scholar.

67 Seton-Watson, R. W., ed., “Russo-British Relations During the Eastern Crisis, Part VI,” The Slavonic and Eastern European Review, V (December, 1926), 422–27Google Scholar.

68 Monnypenny, William Flavelle and Buckle, George Marie, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield (London, 1929), II, 1027 Google Scholar.

69 Wirthwein, Walter G., Britain and the Balkan Crisis, 1875-1878 (New York, 1935), P. 255 Google Scholar. On the anti-Russian campaign of the Russophobe Ambassador in Constantinople, Sir Henry A. Layard, see Edwards, , op. cit., pp. 121–26Google Scholar. See also reports in Pall Mall Gazette and London Times, July-August, 1877.

70 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, August 24, 1877, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 376 Google Scholar.

71 Wirthwein, , op. cit., pp. 268–69Google Scholar. See also Pall Mall Gazette, December 20, 1877.

72 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, October 30, 1877, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 390 Google Scholar.

73 Grüning, Cf., op. cit., pp. 40–44, 55 ffGoogle Scholar. Katkov's views on Russian foreign policy coincided with those of the Pan-Slavs only insofar that he believed that it was to the best interests of Russia to offer sympathy and support to the Balkan Slavs.

74 Whyte, , op. cit., I, 49 Google Scholar. On Stead's use of “sensational” journalism, see Hale, Oron James, Publicity and Diplomacy, 1890-1914 (New York, 1940), p. 13 Google Scholar. See also Darlington Northern Echo, 1877—1878. T. Wemyss Reid accused Stead of basing his views on Russia solely from Madame Novikov's information and printing nothing in the Northern Echo unless it had her approval, The Memoirs of Sir T. Wemyss Reid, 1842-188$, J. Stuart Reid, ed. (London, 1905), p. 314.

75 Correspondence of Mine. Novikoff, I, 385, 407. See also Darlington Northern Echo, January 17, 1878 Google Scholar.

76 London Times, November 14, 1877.

77 Novikoff, , Russia, pp. 34–35, 40Google Scholar.

78 Ibid., pp. 81-82.

79 Ibid., p. 88; see Madame Novikov's letters reprinted verbatim in Novikova, Olga Aleksieevna, Russia and England from 1876-1880. A Protest and Appeal (London, 1880), pp. 78–79 Google Scholar, hereafter cited as Novikova, Russia and England.

80 Novikoff, , Russia, p. 102 Google Scholar.

81 Ibid., p. 24.

82 Novikoff, , Memories, pp. 162–63Google Scholar.

83 Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 400.

84 Stead later wrote: “My contributions to … Katkov's wastepaper basket were much more numerous than those which found their way into his columns. The really important work was that of keeping Madame Novikoff … posted as to the progress of the campaign against Beaconsfield … ,” ibid., p. 408.

85 Ibid., pp. 406, 409.

86 Seton-Watson, , The Eastern Question, p. 254 Google Scholar; Gardiner, , op. cit., II, 231 Google Scholar.

87 Gladstone, to Stead, William T., January 20, 1878, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 436 Google Scholar. See also Gladstone to Madame Novikov, January 25, 1878, ibid.

88 Gladstone, to Stead, , January 22, 1878, ibid Google Scholar.

89 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, January 25, 1878, ibid., p. 445 Google Scholar.

90 Seton-Watson, , The Eastern Question, p. 280 Google Scholar.

91 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, February 5, 1878, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 452–53Google Scholar.

92 Novikova, , Russia and England, pp. 71–72 Google Scholar.

93 237 H. L. Deb. 3s., cols. 1319-20.

94 Seton-Watson, , The Eastern Question, p. 313 Google Scholar.

95 Sumner, B. H., Russia and the Balkans, 1870-1880 (Oxford, 1937), pp. 375–76. hereafter cited as Sumner, Russia and the Balkans.Google Scholar

96 Wirthwein, , op. cit., p. 342 Google Scholar.

97 Grüning, , op. cit., p. 55 Google Scholar; Sumner, , Russia and the Balkans, pp. 370–90Google Scholar.

98 Novikov, Madame to Stead, , February 5, 1878, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 459 Google Scholar.

99 Ounou, Alexander, “The Memoirs of Count Ignatieff, III,” The Slavonic and Eastern European Review, XI (July, 1932), 110–14Google Scholar. See also Alexander Nelidov, “Souvenirs d'avant et d'apres la guerre de 1877-1878,” Revue des deux Mondes, XXII (May 15, 1915), 302-39; ibid., XXX (November 15, 1915), 241-71.

100 Gladstone, W. E., “The Peace to Come,” The Nineteenth Century, III (February, 1878), 209–26Google Scholar.

101 Gladstone, W. E., “Paths of Honor and Shame,” The Nineteenth Century, III (March, 1878), 603 Google Scholar.

102 Novikova, , Russia and England, p. 72 Google Scholar.

103 Ibid., p. 72.

104 Novikov, Madame to Stead, William T., April 9, 1878, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 482. Italics are mineGoogle Scholar.

105 Novikov, Madame to Stead, , April 9, 1878, ibid., pp. 482–83Google Scholar.

106 On April 9, Novikov, Madame wrote to Stead, : “Give me some hopes that all the Liberal party have not deserted God's justice,” ibid., p. 482 Google Scholar.

107 See Stead, to Novikov, Madame, May 29, 1878Google Scholar; James A. Froude to Madame Novikov, May 20, 1878; and Freeman, Edward A. to Novikov, Madame, undated, 1878, all in ibid., pp. 492–501 Google Scholar.

108 Sumner, , Russia and the Balkans, pp. 485–88Google Scholar.

109 Novikov, Madame to Stead, , June 18, 1878, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 507 Google Scholar; Novikova, , Russia and England, p. 93 Google Scholar.

110 Grüning, Cf., op. cit., p. 57 Google Scholar; Eckhardt, Julius W. A., Russia Before and After the War (London, 1880), p. 349 Google Scholar.

111 Novikov, Madame to Gladstone, , July 23, 1878, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, I, 511–12Google Scholar. Gladstone tried to explain some of the reasons for the failure of the Liberals in a letter to Stead on July 4, 1878, ibid., p. 511.

112 Novikova, , Russia and England, pp. 112–14Google Scholar.

113 Gladstone, to Novikov, Madame, November 24, 1879, Correspondence of Mme. Novikoff, II, 17 Google Scholar.

114 Gladstone, W. E., “The Friends and Foes of Russia,” The Nineteenth Century, V (January, 1879), 173, 179Google Scholar.

115 Novikova, , Russia and England, pp. 127–33 ffGoogle Scholar.

116 See “very confidential” memorandum of the German Foreign Office, November 6, 1905, Die Grosse Folitik der Europäischen Kabinette, 1811-1914: Sammlung der Diplomatischen Akten des Auswärtigen Amtes, Lepsius, Johannes et al., editors (Berlin, 1922-27), XIX, No. 6364Google Scholar.