?
Британский посол в Петербурге при Екатерине II: Дипломатия и мелочи жизни лорда Чарльза Каткарта. Исследование и публикации
This monograph by Professor Elena B. Smilianskaia (NRU-HSE)
and Erofei Iu. Moriakov (National Historical Archive of Belarus)
is dedicated to the study of Charles Cathcart’s diplomatic mission
to Russia (1768–1772). The study of diplomatic correspondence,
memoranda, and diaries produced by Charles Cathcart and his
wife, who accompanied him to St. Petersburg, provides us with
front-row access to the diplomatic and ceremonial protocols at
court, the daily life in an ambassador’s residences, and the unique
challenges facing major players in international politics. Through
these documents, we can also glimpse the mechanisms of political
decision-making in the court of Catherine! II. Turning to the
methods of microhistory allows as to use “small” phenomena
and the particularities of the British ambassador’s diplomatic
mission to the court of Catherine II to reveal the larger world of
international relations in eighteenth-century Europe, and beyond.
The Cathcart family archive, preserved in the National Library of
Scotland, contains a rich, but so far underused, trove of materials
about the life of the diplomat in Russia. The materials held in
this archive, and above all the unpublished diaries of Charles
Cathcart’s wife, Lady Jean Cathcart, prompted this inquiry into
Cathcart’s diplomatic mission and the diplomatic culture of this
epoch. The National Archives and the Archive of Foreign Policy
of the Russian Empire (AVPRI) contain additional materials
relating to their professional and private affairs, including the
perlustration of correspondence sent by post.
In Chapter 1, “The Diplomatic Service of Lord Charles
Cathcart: Goals, Tools, and Capabilities of an Ambassador,”
we examine how the British ambassador addressed the main
purpose of his mission: the preparation of a treaty of alliance
between Britain and Russia. His task was made more difficult
by the outbreak of the Russian-Ottoman war (1768–1774) and the
SUMMA RY
preparations for the first partition of Poland in 1772. Cathcart,
like his predecessors and successors, did not achieve this goal.
However, this does not mean that we should consider Cathcart
another failure in a line of British diplomats. The chapter shows
how Cathcart used his position in the Russian court to collect
and pass information about the state of affairs in Russia back
to London. He informed his government about Catherine! II
and the statesmen around her, including how he obtained the
empress’s favor. Through his dispatches we see how through both
etiquette and ceremonial protocols the two powers expressed their
friendship and regard for one another. The period of Cathcart’s
mission to Russia marks a rare period of amicable relations
between the two countries. This chapter also shows that the
British ambassador faced limitations in addressing the aims set
out for him: his diplomatic staff had only two or three members,
one of whom was employed in enciphering documents; occasional
correspondence arrived by courier, but most dispatches were
sent by post, which was perlustrated; and, the ambassador was
compelled to use his servants for the purposes of his mission,
to pass correspondence with occasional visitors to the Russian
capital, and to devise innovative ways to deliver his reports to
receive his instructions from London.
In the second chapter, “A Source of Support or a Burden?
Ambassador Cathcart’s Family,” we set out to show the role of
the family in diplomacy of the second half of the eighteenth
century. Lady Jean Cathcart (née Hamilton) and six children
accompanied the ambassador to Russia. In Petersburg, the seventh
Cathcart child was born, and Catherine! II agreed to be the
child’s godmother. The ambassadress Jean Cathcart was a source
of support for her husband, and she too had obligations to the
mission. She kept the ambassadorial residence, attended court
functions and ceremonies, appeared at the events in the Smolny
Institute and the Cadet Corps, and kept a close relationship with
Catherine! II. Through diaries kept during this time, Lady Jean
Cathcart shows us the life and obligations of an enlightened
British aristocratic woman, including reflections on her reading,
and ideas on education and childrearing. We show that in Russia
the education of British aristocratic offspring did not cease; the
SUMMA RY
Cathcart children had tutors, books, instruction in music, theater,
and riding. The lives of the children of Charles and Jean Cathcart
show that they inherited from their mother and father not only
their aristocratic titles and wealth, but also their intelligence,
warmth, and spiritual ideals.
In the third chapter, “The Residences of the Cathcarts in
Petersburg: A Lifestyle in the ‘English Manner,’” we present
material about the winter residence of the Cathcarts on Bol’shaia
Morskaia Street and the summer residence on Kamennyi Ostrov.
The chapter covers the running of the residences, their visitors,
and the relationships of the Cathcarts with their servants. The
chapter argues that the Cathcarts’ residences were an example
of a British style and taste, contributing to the Anglophilia in
Russia at this time.
The appendices present the first ever publication of Jean
Cathcart’s “Memoranda of St.
