The Genesis of Russophobia in Great Britain - A Study of the Interaction of Policy and Opinion

328 Pages·1950·7.397 MB·English

by  John Howes Gleason

HARVARD HISTORICAL STUDIES
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
FROM THE INCOME OF
THE HENRY WARREN TORREY FUND
VOLUME LVII
HARVARD HISTORICAL STUDIES
The Suppression of the African Slave 26. Bismarck's Diplomacy at its Zenith, by
Trade to the United States of America, J. V. Fuller.
1638-1870, by W. E. B. DuBois. 27. Studies in the History of Mediaeval
The Contest over the Ratification of Science, by C. H. Haskins.
the Federal Constitution in the State 28. Origins of the War of 1870, by R. H.
of Massachusetts, by S. B. Harding. Lord.
A Critical Study of Nullification in 29. The Monroe Doctrine, 1823-1826, by
South Carolina, by D. F. Houston. D. Perkins.
Nominations for Elective Office in the 30. The Franco-Russian Alliance, 1890-
United States, by F. W. Dallinger. 1894, by W. L. Langer.
A Bibliography of British Municipal 31. Fur Trade and Empire: George Simp-
History, Including Gilds and Parliamen- son's Journal, 1824-1825, together with
tary Representation, by C. Gross. Accompanying Documents, edited by
The Liberty and Free Soil Parties in F. Merk.
the Northwest, by T. C. Smith. 32. The Schleswig-Holstein Question, by
The Provincial Governor in the Eng- L. D. Steefel.
lish Colonies of North America, by 33. The Presbyterian Churches and the
E. B. Greene. Federal Union, 1861-1869, by L. G.
The County Palatine of Durham: A Vander Velde.
Study in Constitutional History, by 34. The Influence of the Commons on Early
G. T. Lapsley. Legislation, by H. L. Gray.
9 The Anglican Episcopate and the Ameri- 35. The National Workshops: A Study in
can Colonies, by A. L. Cross. the French Revolution of 1848, by
10, The Administration of the American D. C. McKay.
Revolutionary Army, by L. C. Hatch. 36. Franz Joseph and Bismarck before
11, The Civil Service and the Patronage, by 1866, by C. W. Clark.
C. R. Fish. 37. The Caracas Company, 1728-1784: A
12, The Development of Freedom of the Study in the History of Spanish Mo-
Press in Massachusetts, by C. A. Duni- nopolistic Trade, by R. D. Hussey.
way. 38. Great Britain and the Cyprus Conven-
Ii. The Seignorial System in Canada: A tion Policy of 1878, by D. E. Lee.
Study in French Colonial Policy, by 39. The Fronde, by P. R. Doolin.
W. B. Munro. 40. French Foreign Policy during the Ad-
14. The Frankpledge System, by W. A. ministration of Cardinal Fleury, 1726-
Morris. 1743. by A. M. Wilson.
15. The Public Life of Joseph Dudley: A 41. The Genesis of Napoleonic Imperialism,
Study of the Colonial Policy of the by H. C. Deutsch.
Stuarts in New England, 1660-1715, by 42. The Diplomacy of the Balkan Wars,
E. Kimball. 1912—19Γ3, by E. C. Helmreich.
16. Mémoire de Marie Caroline, Reine de 43. Lord Ellenborough: A Biography of Ed-
Naples, Intitulé de la Révolution du Ward Law, Earl of Ellenborough, Gov-
Royaume de Sicile, par un Témoin Ocu- ernor-General of India, by A. H. Imlah.
laire, Publié pour la premiere fois, avec 44. The Emperor Claudius, by V. M. Scra-
Introduction, Notes critiques, et deux muzza.
Facsimiles, par R. M. Johnston. 45. Robert Dale Owen, by R. W. Leopold.
The Barrington-Bernard Correspondence, 46. Sea Power and British North America,
by E. Channing. 1783-1820, by G. S. Graham.
The Government of the Ottoman Em- 47. Constitutional Thought in Sixteenth-
pire in the Time of Suleiman the Mag- Century France, by W. F. Church.
nificent, by A. H. Lybyer. 48. The Reign of King Pym, by J. H.
I?· The Granger Movement in the United Hexter.
States: A Study of Agricultural Organi- 49. A Wavering Friendship: Russia and
zation and Its Political, Economic, and Austria, 1876-1878, by G. H. Rupp.
Social Manifestations, 1870-1880, by 50. Boston's Immigrants, 1790-1865, by O.
S. J. Buck. Handlin.
Burgage Tenure in Mediaeval England, 51. British Policy and the Turkish Reform
by M. de W. Hemmeon. Movement, by F. E. Bailey.
Wraxall's Abridgment of the New York 52. The Revolutionary Committees in the
Indian Records, 1678-1751, edited by Departments of France, by J. B. Sirich.
C. H. Mcllwain. 53. The Imperial Privy Council in the
22. English Field Systems, by H. L. Gray. Seventeenth Century, by H. F. Schwarz.
23· The Second Partition of Poland: A 54. Urban Impact on American Protestant-
Study in Diplomatic History, by R. H. ism, by A. I. Abell.
Lord. 55. John Company at Work, by H. Furber.
24· Norman Institutions, by C. H. Haskins. 56. The Mining Guild of New Spain and Its
25· Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, Tribunal General, 1770-1821, Walter
by C. W. David. Howe.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U.S.A.
THE GENESIS OF RUSSOPHOBIA
IN GREAT BRITAIN
A Study of
the Interaction of
Policy and Opinion
By
JOHN HOWES GLEASON
Cambridge
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON : GEOFFREY CUMBERLEGE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1950
COPYRIGHT, 19S0
BY THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO MY MOTHER AND FATHER

PREFACE
FEW MATTERS can be of greater importance at the present day
than the establishment of mutual trust and toleration between
the Soviet Union and English-speaking peoples. It is my hope
that the present study of the origins and early development of
Russophobia in Great Britain may in some slight measure foster
such sympathy. The story is one of the disruption of cordiality
and the growth of hostility between Russia and the United
Kingdom at a time when the basic foreign policies of the two
nations were, if not identical, at least complementary. It is to
be hoped that relatively trivial disagreements will not again
perpetuate a lack of mutual understanding and thus induce
insuperable fear and hatred.
In spite of the fact that the period comprehended by the study
is only a quarter century, with the heart of the problem falling
into little more than a decade, its scope should not appear to
be unduly narrow, since it includes a careful survey of Anglo-
Russian relations and of British policy toward Russia between
1815 and 1841, which has nowhere appeared in print, and an
analysis of Anglo-Russian commercial relations, as well as a
chapter in the intellectual biography of Great Britain.
This study is based upon both manuscript and printed
sources. Manuscripts in the Public Record Office included all
the correspondence of the foreign office with the British em-
bassy in St. Petersburg and with the Russian embassy in
London between 1815 and 1841, other materials, chiefly min-
utes and memoranda, from the files of the foreign office and
the embassy in St. Petersburg, selected portions of the corre-
spondence with the British missions in Paris, Constantinople,
and Teheran, and certain private papers particularly those of
J. A. D. Bloomfield, Earl Granville, and Stratford Canning.
Of the British Museum Additional Manuscripts the Sir Robert
Wilson, Macvey Napier, Broughton, and Auckland papers were
the most useful. The Urquhart papers now in the library of
vili PREFACE
Balliol College were of capital importance. Printed sources
included, in addition to standard historical works, many of the
biographical and autobiographical materials with which nine-
teenth-century British history is replete and almost equally
numerous more or less monographic studies. Those which fur-
nished useful evidence are cited in footnotes, as are also the
parliamentary papers which were drawn upon for economic
statistics and for evidence with regard to the circulations of
newspapers. No good purpose would be served in repeating
in the bibliography what would necessarily be an incomplete
list of such titles. Hence the bibliography is limited to two
types of printed sources: (i) publications in English dealing
with Russia prior to 1842; (2) germane articles in scholarly
journals. It is my hope that each is reasonably complete.
I have worked through the files of all the major British
periodicals of the period, including six leading newspapers.
The labor entailed was reduced by the expedient of using
Palmer's Index for the Times and then making that journal
in turn an index of the others. It is possible that some signifi-
cant articles may have escaped me, but it seems unlikely since
it is characteristic of newspapers that they all deal with all the
major questions of the day and hence the topics, though not
the attitudes, of their columns are nearly identical. Early in
the work the validity of this method was tested with wholly
satisfactory results. When the pages of the Times were bare
of material on Russia, so were those of other papers.
I regret that I was unable to consult the files of the Russian
embassy in London and of the foreign office in St. Petersburg.
But the reports of the American ministers in London substan-
tiated purely British sources, and it seems unlikely that the
dispatches of the Russian emissaries would have altered the
picture in significant fashion though they might probably have
provided much corroborative evidence.
The notions which underlay the investigation and my con-
ception of how the problems of the historical study of the in-
teraction of policy and opinion may be met are fully explained
in the first chapter. The conclusions which I reached are sum-
marized in the final one.
PREFACE ix
This study of Russophobia has been carried on at intervals
for more than fifteen years. My interest in the problem was
first stirred by Β. H. Sumner, Esq., formerly of Balliol, now
Warden of All Souls College, while I was a candidate for the
degree of B.Litt. at Oxford, and a discussion of part of the
subject was presented as partial fulfillment of the requirements
of that degree. I returned to the problem some years later when
I prepared my doctoral dissertation at Harvard under the di-
rection of Professor W. L. Langer. In its present form the
study is a thorough revision of the Harvard thesis. For their
great assistance I am very much indebted to both Messrs. Sum-
ner and Langer. Professors Michael Karpovich, David Owen,
A. D. Nock, and E. A. Whitney of Harvard, and W. T. Jones
of Pomona College have given me very useful counsel with
regard to several portions of the manuscript. I owe a great
debt, of a nature not directly connected with the manuscript,
to the late Dean of Balliol, F. F. Urquhart, Esq., who regarded
with a kindly tolerance my early efforts to do justice to the
youthful years of his father, and to the late Professor R. B.
Merriman of Harvard, who more than anyone else taught me
to love and helped me to understand the history of England.
My mother, my father, and my wife have all helped me with
stylistic problems and with proofreading. To all of them and to
many others whose influence is less clearly identifiable, I offer
my sincere thanks.
JOHN H. GLEASON
i8 July 1949