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Schuyler: Honorable but Misled

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

David MacKenzie
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Extract

Let me Thank Mr. Siscoe for raising some pertinent issues relating to my article “Kaufman of Turkestan.” His objections refer almost exclusively to my brief references to Eugene Schuyler's appraisal of the Kaufman administration. It was definitely not my intention, as Mr. Siscoe suggests, to undermine or discredit the reputation of Schuyler. Unquestionably, he was an able, conscientious American diplomat, and his book, Turkistan,contains a wealth of valuable material about the region, its people, and the Russian impact upon Central Asia. Mr. Siscoe could contribute significantly to scholarship by describing at greater length Schuyler's role as diplomat and traveler.

Type
Forum
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , March 1968 , pp. 124 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1968

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References

1 Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1874 (Washington, 1874), Schuyler to Jewell, March 7, 1874 (henceforth cited as Schuyler's report), p. 819.

2 “Depesha g. Skailera o nashikh sredne-aziatskikh delakh,” Novoe vremia, April 16, 1875. Moskovskie vedomosti, M. N. Katkov's influential Moscow daily, also devoted a lead article to the discussion of inaccuracies in Schuyler's report and concluded that the section of it concerning the Turkestan administration lacked serious significance. “Proshlaia nedelia v Rossii i zagranitsei,” Golos, March 5, 1875, P.1.

3 Tsentral'nyi Gosudarstvennyi Istoricheskii Arkhiv Leningrada (TsGIAL), fond 776, Glavnoe Upravlenie po delam pechati, delo 52, chast’ 2, liniia 229 f. This was one of the principal emphases of that newspaper. It objected to the War Ministry's liberal reforms for ideological reasons and to Miliutin personally because he had removed Cherniaev as governor of Turkestan.

4 Russkii mir, Jan. 30, 1875, P. 1. Schuyler's report appeared in the same number (pp. 4-5) and in that of January 31 (p. 3). The responsible editor at this time was Il'ia Pokhitonov; the owner was Cherniaev.

5 TsGIAL, f. 776, d. 52, ch. 2, ll. 239-40, A. Petrov to Main Press Administration, Feb. 27. 1875.

6 Ibid., l. 241.

7 Ibid., l. 243, Grigor'ev to Aleksandr L'vovich.

8 E. Schuyler, Turkistan (New York, 1876), II, 210.

9 Turkestanskii krai : Sbornik materialov dlia istorii ego zavoevanii, comp. A. G. Serebrennikov (Tashkent, 1912-16), XX, 185, Kryzhanovskii to Miliutin, Nov. 14, 1865.

10 Otdel rukopisei biblioteki im. Lenina (Moscow), D. A. Miliutin fond, karton 15, No. 3, ll. 122-83.

11 Significantly, Miliutin concluded his account of Cherniaev's intrigues : “I mention them only in case Cherniaev should at some time succeed, thanks to his intrigues and the simplicity of his admirers [of whom the new emperor, Alexander III, was the most prominent], in once again swimming to the surface of the career ocean and in once again playing the role of a great man. Let die materials which I have cited serve as data for his future biographer” (ibid., k. 16, No. 1, II. 31 and reverse).

12 In 1882 Cherniaev finally achieved his goal. After Kaufman's death Alexander III, who had long patronized Cherniaev, appointed him governor general of Turkestan. During his rule (1882-84) Cherniaev took particular delight in destroying institutions which Kaufman had established, such as the Tashkent Public Library. The author is preparing a full-length study of General Cherniaev which will describe his intrigues and administration in detail.

13 Schuyler, II, 216-17.

14 Gosudarstvennyi istoricheskii muzei (Moscow), Otdel pis'mennykh istochnikov, M. G. Cherniaev fond, item 8, II.87 and reverse.

15 Ibid., II. 89 reverse and 95-96.

16 Schuyler's report, p. 817.

17 Schuyler, II, 218.

18 Schuyler's report, p. 821.

19 Terent'ev, Istoriia zavoevanii Srednei Azii (St. Petersburg, 1906), III, 296.

20 K. P. fon-Kaufman, Proekt vsepoddanneishago otcheta… 7 noiabria 1867-25 marta 1881 g. (St. Petersburg, 1885), pp. 371 ff.; Terent'ev's “Statisticheskie ocherki Sredne-Aziatskoi Rossii,” cited in his Rossiia i Angliia v Srednei Azii (St. Petersburg, 1875), pp. 306-9. See also A. Stetkovich, Ubytochen li Turkestan dlia Rossii? (St. Petersburg, 1899).