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GORTCHAKOFF, ALEXANDER M. 



the Cape ministry, disliking his conciliatory 

 proposals, interfered to modify the terms, and 

 General Gordon resigned in October, 1882. 

 He was about to start for Central Africa, at 

 the invitation of the King of the Belgians, to 

 carry on and extend the work begun on the 

 Congo by Stanley, when, after the destruction 

 of the army of Hicks Pasha, the English and 

 Egyptian Governments urged him to under- 

 take a mission to the Soudan as plenipotenti- 

 ary to conclude the transfer of the western 

 provinces of the Soudan to the native rulers, 

 and arrange a peace with the Mahdi and the 

 revolted provinces, on the basis of the retire- 

 ment of the Egyptian officials and military, 

 and the abandonment of sovereign rights. In 

 the winter of 1883-'84 he crossed the Nubian 

 Desert without escort, and on his arrival at 

 Khartoum issued a proclamation announcing 

 the terms of peace, and promising that the in- 

 stitution of slavery would not be interfered with. 

 GORTCHAKOFF, Alexander Mikhailowitch, 

 Prince, a Russian statesman, born July 16, 

 1798; died March 11, 1883. He came of a 

 princely family, and was educated at the cele- 

 brated Lyceum of Tzarskoye-Selo. The famous 

 poet, Pushkin, whose widow he subsequently 

 married, was one of his fellow-pupils. Imme- 

 diately after his graduation he became private 

 secretary to Count Nesselrode, Minister of For- 

 eign Affairs, and was present at the Congress 

 of Laybach and that of Verona. In 1824 he 

 was appointed secretary to the Russian lega- 

 tion in London; in 1830 charge d'affaires at 

 Florence; and in 1833 first secretary to the 

 Russian legation in Vienna, where the illness 

 and death of his chief left him as acting head. 

 In 1841, as embassador extraordinary at Stutt- 

 gart, he negotiated a marriage between the 

 Crown Prince of Wurternberg and the Princess 

 Olga, sister of the Emperor Nicholas. This 

 was a very considerable diplomatic triumph, 

 and he was rewarded with the dignity of privy 

 councilor. In 1850 he was appointed minis- 

 ter at the German Diet, where he became the 

 friend of Bismarck, the Prussian representa- 

 tive, and where he was the center of all oppo- 

 sition to revolution. 



Hitherto Russia had represented the policy 

 of conservatism in Europe, and had been ready 

 to crush the spirit of progress wherever it 

 might appear. Though Gortchakoff was not 

 in full accord with his master's ambitions, he 

 was supposed to be more ductile than some of 

 the older statesmen. Accordingly, in 1854, 

 during the Crimean War, he succeeded Meyer- 

 dorff as embassador in Vienna, discharged his 

 difficult duties with skill and courage, and 

 played an important part in the negotiations 

 which preceded the Treaty of Paris. He ceded 

 only positions which were irrevocably lost, 

 such as the exclusive protectorate of the Danu- 

 bian provinces and the oversight of the mouths 

 of the Danube, and inspired his adversaries 

 with a high idea of Russia's powers of resist- 

 ance even in the face of defeat. 



In 1856 he was chosen by the new Emperor, 

 Alexander, to succeed Nesselrode as Minister 

 of Foreign Affairs, and this post he held for 

 more than twenty-five years. Heretofore the 

 Russian foreign ministers had been little known 

 at home, and were considered as mere clerks 

 of the Emperor, but Gortchakoff was highly 

 popular as the inveterate enemy of Austria. 

 From this time his one object was the aggran- 

 dizement of Russia, and his policy non-interfer- 

 ence in the affairs of other countries. In 1856 

 he issued a circular denouncing France and 

 England if they attempted to interfere with 

 the administration of government in the Two 

 Sicilies. An expression in this circular has 

 become historical : " Russia does not pout 

 she meditates." For the most part she kept 

 this attitude of meditation and recuperation 

 many years. Gortchakoff rejoiced in the over- 

 throw of his enemy, Austria, at Magenta and 

 Solferino ; and he acquiesced in French inter- 

 vention in Syria in 1861 as a blow struck at Ot- 

 toman independence. A year later he energeti- 

 cally opposed any interference by France and 

 England with the civil war in the United States. 

 He was at that time engaged in repressing the 

 Polish insurrection, and in replying haughtily 

 to the notes addressed to him by the various 

 European powers, remonstrating with him for 

 his severities. He had been appointed vice- 

 chancellor in 1862, and in 1863, to the delight 

 of the Russian people, he became chancellor. 

 Gortchakoff kept his attitude of absolute neu- 

 trality during the struggle of 1866 between 

 Prussia and Austria; but in 1870, when Paris 

 was besieged and Victor Emmanuel was enter- 

 ing Rome, he seized the opportunity to propose 

 a revision of the treaty of 1856. In the Lon- 

 don Conference that followed, he secured for 

 Russia the right of having her war-ships in 

 the Black sea which was a great victory for 

 Russian policy and he was rewarded by the 

 Emperor with the hereditary title of Serene 

 Highness. 



From this time until the Turko-Russian War, 

 Gortchakoff was occupied in strengthening 

 Russian influence in the East and bringing 

 about an alliance between the Emperors of 

 Russia, Germany, and Austria, and stood at the 

 height of his power and influence. But after the 

 Russian army crossed the Danube he was com- 

 pelled to yield in importance to generals and 

 engineers. When Europe refused to sanction 

 the Treaty of San Stefano, Gortchakoff was 

 discredited, as well as Gen. Iprnatieff. At the 

 Berlin Congress Schouvaloff played a more im- 

 portant part than he. He never forgave Bis- 

 marck and Beaconstield for thwarting all his 

 designs at this congress, and his resentment 

 toward Bismarck led to a coldness between 

 Berlin and St. Petersburg. He had ceased to 

 be a prime factor in European or even Russian 

 politics before Alexander II was assassinated, 

 and long before he was superseded by M. de 

 Giers as Minister for Foreign Affairs. He lived 

 to a time when Russia could no longer play off 



