HISTORICAL REVISION

Abstract

HistoryVolume 18, Issue 71 p. 241-247 HISTORICAL REVISION LXVII.—The Seymour Conversations, 1853 1 G. B. Henderson, G. B. HendersonSearch for more papers by this author G. B. Henderson, G. B. HendersonSearch for more papers by this author First published: October 1933 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-229X.1933.tb01778.x Bibliographical Note.—For the Conversations in June 1844 see Stock mar's Memoirs (1872), II. 101 seqq., and Guizot's Mémoires (Paris, 1864), VI. 207 seqq. The Memorandum itself (Sept. 1844) is in Parliamentary Papers, session 1854, House of Commons vol. LXXI (“Eastern Papers,” vi). For reasons that are not quite clear, the description of the Memorandum in that volume is misleading: it states that the Memorandum is based on communications received from the Czar subsequently to his visit to England. The manuscript copy preserved in the Record Office [F.O. 65/307] reads “during,” not “subsequently to.” The correspondence between Nesselrode and Aberdeen was published by S. M. Goryainov in The Russian Review (Liverpool, 1912). The texts of the despatches and extracts from memoranda of the Seymour Conversations are in the same vol. of Parl. Papers (“Eastern Papers,” v); there are some important omissions, but this is, on the whole, a fair and judicious selection, although it conceals, to a large extent, Seymour's suspicions of the Czar's attitude, revealed in the Foreign Office MSS. cited below (pp. 246–6). Zaionchkovskii's work is in Russian: but many documents in French are published in the appendices. Valuable additional material is to be found in the privately printed Selections from the Correspondence of the Earl of Aberdeen (1885); Nesselrode's Lettres et Papiers (Paris, 1904); the Peter von Meyendorff Brief wechsel (ed. O. Hoetzsch, Berlin u. Leipzig, 1923); M. C. M. Simpson's Many Memories of Many People (3rd edu., 1898); Queen Victoria's Letters; Greville's Journal; J. K. Laughton's Henry Reeve (1898); Dr. G. P. Gooch's Later Correspondence of Lord John Russell (1925), and many other works. The accounts of the Seymour Conversations in the standard biographies of the last century are often defective: see e.g., S. Lane Poole's Stratford Canning (1888); Evelyn Ashley's Lord Palmerston (revised edn., 1879); Spencer Walpole's Lord John Russell (1889); Stanmore's Lord Aberdeen (1893), and Sidney Herbert (1906). The earlier Russian accounts are as unsatisfactory: e.g. [Jomini], Étude diplomatique (St. Petersburg, 1878; trans. 1882) and S. M. Goryainov, Le Bosphore et les Dardanelles (Paris, 1910). But some of these works contain most important relevant material: the defects are those of interpretation. Of secondary authorities, perhaps the most trustworthy is the massive work of Theodor Schiemann, Geschichte Russlands unter Nikolaus I (Berlin, 1904–19), but its treatment of this particular episode is unfortunately brief. In English there is a brief and cautious account by W. F. Reddaway in the Cambridge Hist. of British Foreign Policy, II, chapter viii (1923). Mr. Puryear's book, mentioned in the text, contains much new material and some interesting suggestions, but it must be used with great caution. It includes an excellent bibliography. Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume18, Issue71October 1933Pages 241-247 RelatedInformation