EDITOR'S PREFACE

The late W. T. Stead in saying to Madame Novikoff, "When you die, what an obituary I will write of you," was paying her a great compliment; just as was Disraeli, although unconsciously, in referring to her as "the M.P. for Russia in England." With that consummate tact which never fails her, Madame Novikoff has evaded the compliment and justified the sarcasm. Disraeli might with justice have added that she was also "M.P. for England in Russia"; for if she has appeared pro-Russian in England, she has many times been reproached in Russia as pro-English.

Of few women have such contradictory things been said and written, things that clearly show the gradual change in the political barometer; but her most severe critics indirectly paid tribute to her remarkable personality by fearing the influence she possessed. In the dark days when Great Britain and Russia were thinking of each other only as potential antagonists, she was regarded in this country as a Russian agent, whose every action was a subject for suspicious speculation, a national danger, a syren whose object it was to entice British {6} politicians from their allegiance. Wherever she went it was, according to public opinion, with some fell purpose in view. If she came to London for the simple purpose of improving her English, it meant to a certain section of the Press Russian "diplomatic activity." The Tsar was told by an English journalist that he ought to "be very proud of her," as she succeeded where "Russian papers, Ambassadors and Envoys failed"; another said that she was "worth an army of 100,000 men to her country"; a third that she was a "stormy petrel." She was, in fact, everything from a Russian agent to a national danger, everything in short but the one thing she professed to be, a Russian woman anxious for her country's peace and progress.

In Serbia there is a little village whose name commemorates the death of a Russian hero, Nicolas Kiréef, Madame Novikoff's brother. In his death lay the seed of the Anglo-Russian Alliance. Distraught with grief, Madame Novikoff blamed Great Britain for her loss. She argued that, had this country refused to countenance the unspeakableness of the Turk in 1876, there would have been no atrocities, no Russian Volunteers, and no war. From that date she determined to do everything that lay in her power to bring about a better understanding between Great Britain and Russia. For years she has never relaxed her efforts, and she has lived to see what is perhaps the greatest monument ever erected by a sister to a brother's memory—the Anglo-Russian Alliance.

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Nothing discouraged her, and at times, when war seemed inevitable, she redoubled her efforts. In all her work, she had chiefly to depend on her own ardour and sincerity. It was this sincerity, and a deep conviction as to the rightness of her object, that caused Gladstone to become her fearless ally. Politically he compromised himself by his frank support of her pleadings for peace and understanding.

For many years feeling ran too high in this country for a reasoned consideration of Madame Novikoff's appeals. "Peace with honour" talk became a meaningless catch phrase, otherwise it would have been seen that it was "peace with honour" that she advocated, and has never ceased to advocate, peace with honour, not to one, but to two great peoples.

Slowly the eyes of empire shifted from one continent to another, and gradually Madame Novikoff found her voice commanding more and more attention, until at last the Anglo-Russian Agreement paved the way for the present Alliance.

Her success is largely due to the methods she adopted. She gave and received hard knocks, and she never fell back upon her sex as an argument or a defence. She was fighting with men, and she fought with men's weapons, and this gained for her respect as an honourable and worthy antagonist. Even at the time when feeling was most strongly against her work, there appeared in the newspapers many spontaneous tributes to her ability and personality. {8} The very suspicion with which she was regarded was in itself a tribute.

Later when Russia and Great Britain had drawn closer together, there appeared in the Press some of the most remarkable tributes ever paid to a woman, from which in justice to her and the Press I venture to quote a few of the many that appeared.

"If we were writing at a date which we hope is a good many years distant of the career of Madame Olga Novikoff, we should begin by saying that she was one of the most remarkable women of her time."—Daily Graphic.

"Whatever the reader's political predilections may be, he is unlikely to dispute the claim of Madame Novikoff to rank as one of the most remarkable women of her generation."—Daily Telegraph.

"No one will deny the right of Madame Novikoff to a record in history: ... For nearly ten years her influence was probably greater than any other woman's upon the course of national politics."—Daily News.

Madame Novikoff, "who for so many years held a social and political position in London which few women, and no ambassador, have ever equalled."—Observer.

"From beginning to end Madame Novikoff's record is clear and honourable. There is not the slightest evidence of any intrigue on her part, of any effort to use the statesman she influenced for underhand purposes, or to work for or against any {9} particular individual in her own country."—Westminster Gazette.

"It is seldom that anyone sees such a fruition of his labours as does this marvellous lady, who has worked all her life for one thing and almost one thing only—an Anglo-Russian understanding."—Daily Mail.


And now in the autumn of her life (it is impossible to associate the word winter with so vital a personality) Madame Novikoff has seen her years of work crowned with success. To-day she is as keen in regard to public affairs, especially where her beloved Russia is concerned, as she was in the days when her life was one continuous fight with the war-spirit. In the preparation of these Memories I have seen something of her application, her industry and her personality. In the past I have often asked myself what was the secret of Madame Novikoff's remarkable success. But now I know. Time after time when we have seen things from a different angle, I have found myself accepting her point of view before I was even conscious of weakening.

Of all the compliments ever paid to Madame Novikoff, the one that probably pleases her most is that which recently appeared in a London daily written by a famous writer upon Russian life, who described her as "a true Russian."

This is not an autobiography; for Madame Novikoff has always refused to undertake such a responsibility. In the first place she thinks it {10} would be too long, and in the second too personal. "I have been talked about quite enough," she will say, "without starting to talk about myself." In 1909 there appeared The M.P. for Russia, edited by the late W. T. Stead, which told much of her association with her distinguished friends, Gladstone, Kinglake, Villiers, Clarendon, Carlyle, Tyndall, Froude and others. "These have been taken," she says, "and I am left." But she has continued her work, and many of her friends have told her that at this time, above all others, she should tell personally something of her Russian memories. As she phrases it, "For forty years I have been wandering in the Wilderness, and now I have been permitted the happiness of entering the Promised Land. At last the gates have been opened. We are now brothers-in-arms."

THE EDITOR.