MME. NOVIKOFFS MEMORIES.* Mate. Novi:Koss tells us in the course
of her recital that for her part she has often regretted having said too much and never deplored having said too little. In this interesting volume she has, on the whole, steered a mean course between the extremes of excessive reticence and expansion. There are no blazing indiscretions; whether because the book has been edited or from her recognition of the dangerous vitality of the Ultra scripta we cannot say. Anyhow, it is a vivacious and sufficiently self-revealing record of the activities of the most ener- getic of the unofficial promoters of the Anglo-Russian Entente. We use the word " unofficial " advisedly, because this chronicle of her forty years' work as a propagandist is in great measure a vindication of herself from the charge, so freely levelled against her in former years, of being a Russian agent, and even a spy ; and though she may fail to convince the remnant of the Russophobes, she must be admitted to have made out a very good case for acquittaL So far from having been the accredited emissary of Russian Ministers, she assures us that her methods were resented and censured by Shouvaloff and Gortschakoff. The fact, again, that she reckoned amongst her intimate friends in England men so widely different in temperaNhnt and political outlook as Gladstone and Froude, Kinglako and Carlyle, Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman and Mr. W. T. Stead, does not lend support to the sensational view which prevailed in tho " seventies " and " eighties." Those who were most active in seeking to discredit her then have not since gained in repute as wise guides in the sphere of foreign policy. They were those who backed the wrong horse. No; on the internal evidence sup- plied by these memories, wo are prepared to accept Mine. Novikoff 's estimate of herself as substantially correct : that her work—she objects to the word " mission "—was self-imposed, and that her methods were natural to an impulsive, clever, brilliant woman who by her family traditions and upbringing and personal convictions was a firm believer in what she calls the tenets of Pan-Slavism—religion, autocracy, and nationality. She began her active career as no lover of England, holding that our policy of bolstering up the Turk was responsible in the last resort for the death of her brother, Nicholas Kirdeff, who was killed fighting for the Serbs in 1876, and whose heroism, to which Kinglake paid a glowing tribute, invested him with legendary attributes in the country for which he gave his life. She was also the wife and mother of Russian officers ; intimately associated with the Grand Ducal clan ; her brother-in-law was Russian Ambassador at Vienna ; Nicholas L was her great hero, " who was always for peace, and in particular for an understanding with England," and she declares that in whatever she has done she has been carrying on his ideaL She disdains to be the apologist of Tsardom ; she believes in it as essential to Russia's existence. Almost all the great reforms she traces to that source. The Duma is never mentioned, nor is there a reference to the names of Plehve or Stolypin or the leaders of the Consti- tutional Democrats. Revolutions are negligible incidents, and her perfunctory allusion to the outbreak of 1906 merely servos as the excuse for a long analysis of the recantation of M. Tikho- znirov, Why .1 Hare Ceased to be a Revolutionist. The Intelligentsia is dismissed in one sentence of disparagement ; she defends the system of deportation to Siberia and dwells on the lenient treatment of the exiles ; she does not admit that the Jews in Russia have any serious ground for complaint, in view of their avowed anti-Slav leanings and ',Russian Memories. By Mme. Olga Novikoff (" 0. K."). With an Introduction by noshes Graham sad 15 Illustrations. London : Herbert Jenkins. [lOs. dd. nski
their financial oppression of the peasantry. Mme. Novikoff makes no attempt to sail under false colours. But she is on much stronger ground when criticizing the long and largely ill-founded suspicion of Russia entertained by the average Englishman than as an uncompromising champion of the old political regime in Russia. She has lived to see that suspicion abated and supplanted by a friendly understanding, and she is fairly entitled to feel legitimate pride in the share which she took in bringing it about. In her account of the genesis of that ill-feeling she does not go back beyond the middle of the last century ; she makes no mention of the activities of Russophobes like Urquhart, nor does she trace the mutual misunderstanding, as some authorities have done, to the machinations of Napoleon. For her Disraeli is the evil genius who more than any one else kept the two countries apart by his support of the Turk, and she glories in the title which he bestowed on her of " the M.P. for Russia in England." Her analysis of the Treaties of San Stefano and Berlin and the results of the modifica- tions introduced by the British Government have far too much truth in them to be agreeable reading at the present time.
Mme. Novikoff on coming to England in 1873 was introduced to Disraeli and Gladstone on the same evening. As a Russian and unsym- pathetic—to put it mildly—towards Jews, she never varied in her cordial dislike of the Conservative statesman. Mr. Gladstone remained her great English hero to the day of his death. They corresponded frequently on various subjects—on the Old Catholics and the immortality of the soul as well as on politics—and Mr. Gladstone incurred considerable unpopularity by his chivalrous support at a time when Mine. Novikoff was commonly regarded as a secret agent of the Russian Government. With Carlyle, who never showed her his rough side, the chief bond was a common distrust of Disraeli. But perhaps her greatest conquest was that of Kinglake, who, she reminds us, shared her own brother's, but not her own, belief in the value of duelling, and himself sent a chal- lenge to Louis Napoleon. The narrative is interspersed with many anecdotes of eminent personages—Grand Dukes and musicians, painters and authors. It is curious to hear from Mine. Novikoff that " nothing amuses Russians more than to see how gravely Tolstoy's philosophy and theology' is taken abroad. Amongst us he is only great as a novelist "—a view, by the way, which was shared by his illustrious compatriot Turgenieff. Of Dostoycvsky she relates a strange story :— " He called on me one afternoon and began talking of his life in Siberia, and the wonderfully beneficial effect it had had upon him. We were interrupted by a flippant young dandy, just arrived from abroad, who chattered animatedly about his impressions of various ballets and theatres. I thought he would never stop, and felt rather angry. Dostoyevsky, however, listened attentively, his wonderful, dark velvet eyes, with the deep expression so peculiar to them, fixed kindly on the gossiper. After a while he remarked, I am interested in what you say. There is life in you, artistic instinct and good nature. If you could spend thirteen years in a Siberian prison, as I have done, it would be most beneficial to you, and might make you a useful, energetic member of society.'" But the best story is that of Baron Brunow, the Russian Ambassador in London in the early " seventies " :— " On arriving in London for the first time I was pleased to receive an invitation to the Russian Embassy, because Baron Brunow knew my mother personally, and also because I had heard the following anecdote about him which had greatly amused me : Queen Victoria, deeply grieved by the death of the Duke of Wellington, had expressed her wish that the funeral of the ' Iron Duke,' as he was called, should be as splendid as possible. The whole of the Corps Diplomatlque was requested to attend the ceremony. All the diplomatists unhesitatingly accepted the royal invitation—with one exception, that of the French Ambassador. The latter, in a state of great perplexity and indecision, hurried to the Doyen of the diplomatic' world, Baron Brunow. ' I am in a very disagreeable position,' he said, I am indeed quite at a loss what to do. How shall I escape from my dilemma ? Of course, one does not like to disobey Her Majesty's wishes—almost her orders ; but one must nevertheless consider before all else one's duty to one's country, one's national dignity ! ' Unlike a Frenchman, the visitor seemed particularly agitated and nervous. ' But what is the matter ? ' ex- claimed the Baron. I have received no communication about your difficulty. None of my secretaries has informed me of anything unusual. What is the matter ? ' repeated the old Baron somewhat impatiently. Don't you understand ? ' exclaimed the other. The Queen desires every diplomatist to attend Wellington's funeral. From her point of view she is quite right. But I, as a Frenchman, can never forget the terrible harm done by the Duke to the country I represent.' Oh I' exclaimed the Russian in smiling surprise. You dislike the idea of attending the State funeral ? I confess that I also hardly liko the idea of the fatigue it involves. But then, you are much younger and stronger than L Of course, if you were asked to attend Wellington's resurrection, perhaps I should say " don't go "—but his funeral, which represents the end of all possible mischief to your country, I can only say, " Go and attend it by all means with great satisfaction I " ' "
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