Russian Memories

nt—Lord Salisbury and General Ignatieff—Mutual Regard—The Turks Displeased—An Embarrassing Tribute—The End of the Constantino

not Mr. Disraeli. The first sign came from the north, and meetings of protest were held in different large towns, the upshot of which was the calling of a National Conference on non-p

e received an ovation, and it was some minutes before the uproar subsided sufficiently to allow of his being heard. I was thrilled as I had never been thrilled {44} before. The speech w

shed and buffeted by the vast throng that was pouring out of the hall, I heard my name called and I recognised Mr. Gladstone's voice. He had seen me as he, too, was making his way out, and, offering me his arm, he conducte

ne for Russia in striking a blow at Turkish prestige in England, he s

gry and diplomatically impatient. He tendered his apologies, also for the fact that he had not had time to dr

a foreign Power with whom relations were somewhat strained. The jingo and Turkish newspapers seized upon the incident as an admirable means of prejudicing Mr. Gladstone in the eyes o

he was not convinced was right, and then he faced the world wit

lthough what I said has already been partly printed, it so clearly sh

i and the Queen, he was waging a revolution. He interrupted me: 'Quite so, that is just the word for it. But my conscience has nothing to upbraid me with, for it is pre-eminently a Christian revolution. Besides,' he went on more slowly, 'I am not {46} the only one who is doing so. The four thousand people who were present in the hall were almost unanimous in their adherence, and did not hesitate to express their sympathy with the noble p

suspicion of General Ignatieff, the Russian Ambassador at Constantinople. Poor Ignatieff had been the text for many journalistic sermons upon the duplicity of

the chagrin of the Turks, he soon threw his suspicions aside and entered into

erting, there was a man of honour and conviction. The British plenipotentiary was a just man w

first assured himself of its truth. There is one quality in an Englishman that no one appeals to in vain, and that is his sportsmanship.

me extremely unpopular. Sir Edwin Pears in his fascinating book, Forty Years in Constantino

f antagonism, and the sending of a plenipotentiary to Constantino

ull title Count Nicholas) Ignatieff, became Minister of the

their house and to go to the meeting with them. The Countess, by the way, was as good a Slavophil as her husband. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Count made a very enthusiastic and {48} eloquent s

and this wish increased when almost the entire audience surrounded me to express their ef

endeavoured to impress upon the Turks that against Russia they stood alone, that is as far as Great Britain was concerned. Abdul Hamid knew Great Britain's suspicions of

ss without comment, and certain busybodies became very active. Mr. Gladstone was said to have "compromised" himself politically by writing letters to the "agent" of a foreign Power which was at the very time being th

Athens and Crete, preventing Greece by all means from rising and helping us; (2) refusal to permit Russian vessels to pass Gibraltar; (3) and occupy Constantinople if Turkey

t directions. "It was too little, far too little." Then it was decided to consider the sum as a simple beginning. The merchants also met together and the same thing was repeated; also a voluntary donation of a million; 160 ladies offered their services as Sisters of Charity; 10

et in England it appeared impossible for people to see that this was not a piece of political jobbery. When I went to Russia

rumours as to what England intended to do, whilst in England there seemed to be

it was certainly forlorn. For a woman to endeavour to keep apart two nations who seemed determined to misunderstand each other, was a folly which, had I been more versed in the ways o

y of getting England embroiled with Russia was not overlooked in Britain, yet eve

e British Army to the East so that her hands {51} might be freed in the West, and the very newspapers

that I wanted to shake the silly men who would not understand th

ine can give the slightest idea of what I suffered in those days. I could not sleep and I could not thi

ost distraught: "I would willingly give my

h Petrograd, I made a point of seeing Prince Gortschakoff: to urge

he sympathies of the real representatives of well-thinking Englishmen. That same eve

oodwink them at a moment's notice. I could only reply that I hoped not. But I insisted on rendering justice t

ial," the Pri

eplied, "

and and the popular England. Thus many of my countrymen and countrywomen who favoured a rupture with "Perfidious England" were angry wit