A FAIR ENCHANTRESS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 2996, 1 February 1881, Page 4

A FAIR ENCHANTRESS.

More than half a century ago the large share a certain lady had in bringing about a total change in the sentiments of the London Cabinet, which till then had always been friendly to the Turks, was a common topic of remark on the Continent. In Europe at that time the number of political newspapers and periodicals was probably not a tenth of what it is in our own day, and the comparatively few political papers of that day were tinder restrictions and bound by considerations that now seem incredible. But m the years from 1825 to 1834 it would be difficult to find anybody who had not heard of the Princess Dorothea Lieven, and of the skill and address with which that lady contrived to conciliate the sympathies of the British aristocracy for the cause of Greek independence, and thus to influenco tho attitude of the London Cabinet in *-his position of its foreign policy. To-day a similar drama is being played, only, so to speak, behind the scenes. Not, indeed, in the exclusive drawing-rooms of the higher nobility, but in the saloons more or less accessible to the press —in fact, in the press itself. A woman's skilful hand is performing a delicate political task, and the name of the performer is nevertheless known to very few people. Have you never heard of Mme. Novikoff, the intimate friend of the Gladstone family, the prophetess of Philo-Slavism in England, the writer of a number of articles advocating the Russo-English alliance which have appeared in Frazer's Magazine and other publications of similar tendencies ? This lady, the wife of a Russian General and sister-in-law of the Russian Ambassador in Constantinople (formerly in Vienna), has claims to European celebrity at least equal to those whilom of the Princess Lieven. For a couple of years or so past Mme. Novikoff has been constantly to be found hanging on the skirts, so to speak of the present British Premier— always in his company, or not far away. Mme. Novikoff has known how to play on the religious side of Mr Gladstone's character, and to inspire him with a warm interest in the Greek Church and in the dream of a future union between Anglican and Oriental Christianity. And it is mainly to the skill with which that lady has worked on his feelings that the noted statesman believes in the possibility of realising Balkan Salvonic Federation independent alike of Russia and of Austria. It was on this foundation, laid only after some years of intimate intercourse, that the federation project was erected whereby so fanciful a character has been imparted to the Gladstone policy. It is, however not only the leader of the advanced Whigs, but also numbers of the friends and adherents of Mr Gladstone who have been seduced by the siren songs of the lady missionary of Philo-Salvism. From her they have caught the warmth and religious enthusiasm of her Moscow friends for their religious brethren in the East and the political disinterestedness of the Slavophils dwelling on the banks of the Morkva. Mme. Novikoff's descriptions of the true tendencies of Aksakoff and his friends were adapted with the most delicate tact to meet the prejudices and peculiarities of British churchmen and sectarians. At the same time, with Sir Charles Dilke and other unecclesiastical people, she showed herself equally skilful and equally eloquent in the employment of the languago of " this world," and of their common political faith. During the whole of last winter the pen of this talented lady was actively engaged in the service of the Whigs in their electioneering agitation. Three-fourths of the attacks directed against the Beaconsfield Eastern policy, and against the representations contained in the work entitled " Russia Before and After the War," are to be traced to this lady's initiative or to her influence, not to speak of the numerous letters she addressed during Gladstone's electoral campaign to all the journals to whose columns she had access. But it was not only British, but likewise Russian prejudices that Mme. Novikoff had to overcome if the plan of combined Russo-British action against tho Austro-German Alliance was to succeed. The Muscovite of the genuine old stamp had from time immemorial been accustomed to look upon all English parties in the same light. He hated them all without distinction. Perfidious, heretical Albion and every boul connected with it he cursed without hesitation and without discrimination. These Russian Jingoes, therefore, the lady had likewise to win over, and this she did by letters addressed to the Moscow Gazette and other Russian papers. She taught them not all Britons held the same views as Lord Beaconsfield. She made them understand that even beyond the German Ocean there were still good Christians to be found, and that even among the heretics there were disinterested friends of the Orthodox Church of the East, and that these good people might be and ought to be won over to the good and common cause of Russia. After the English elections of April this year the two ends of this net which had been woven with so much delicate address and industry were carefully made fast upon the banks of the Moskva and of the Thames. The only question now is how long this net will hold, and how long the English Slavophila who have been caught in it will deny their true nature and character sufficiently to preserve the credit and confidence of their Russian allies. —Hamburg Correspondent.