A Russian prince in a Boer republic

“A RUSSIAN PRINCE IN A BOER REPUBLIC” Boris Gorelik Almost all the Russian travellers who visited South Africa in the nineteenth century only saw the Cape Colony. Their stay in this part of the world was too brief to allow them trips deeper into the interior. And even those who made it a point to explore the Cape did not reach further than Worcester. That is why the long-forgotten memoir of Prince Grigory Volkonsky (1864-1912), rediscovered by Karel Schoeman thirty years ago,1 is so valuable, even unique. A member of Russia’s most distinguished aristocratic families lived for several months in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange Free State, a Boer republic and wrote down his impressions. His grandfather, a hero of the Napoleonic Wars, took part in the Decembrist uprising of 1825, against Emperor Nicholas I, and was deprived of his titles and banished to Siberia. Prince Grigory’s father was registered as a serf at birth and, after the amnesty was granted to the Decembrists, carved out a spectacular career for himself, which culminated in his appointment as senator. Not much is known about Prince Grigory. He had certainly inherited his grandfather’s genes. Very outspoken in his views, he published pamphlets criticising both British imperialism and Russian conservatism. During the Revolution of 1905, when people all over his country demanded constitution, he contributed essays to the libertarian Russian-language weekly Osvobozhdenie (Liberation) in Paris. “He showed interest in social and political issues,” his brother recounted, “he was a constitutionalist. Once he went to Darmstadt to give a memorandum on political reforms for Russia to Nicholas II. I remember a phrase in his draft, “Your Majesty, do not prepare the fate of Marie Antoinette for your wife.’ “He said ‘No, it is too sentimental’—and struck it out … A vehement striving for the new and a mawkish fixation on the old coexisted in him in a restless combination.”2 1 K. Schoeman, “Bloemfontein deur Russiese Öe: ’n Adellike Besoeker uit die Negentiende Eeu” Africana Aantekeninge en Nuus 26, 4 (1984): 135-140. Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa, vol. 70, no 1, June 2016 35 Prince Grigory had very poor health. Evidently, he suffered from tuberculosis. His condition required him to leave Russia and settle in a place with a better climate. The bachelor prince chose Madeira, where many illustrious people used to go for recuperation. He lived in Funchal, the island’s capital, in 1887-1888. Figure 2-1. Prince Grigory Volkonsky at Cardwell's Hotel, New Road (the present-day Estrada Monumental), Funchal. Vicentes Photographos, 1887. Courtesy of Photographia, Museu “Vicentes”, Funchal, Madeira 2 Sergei Mikhailovitch Volkonsky, Moi Vospominaniya: v Dvukh Tomakh. Volume 1 (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1992), 346-347. 36 Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa, vol. 70, no 1, June 2016 In February of the following year, the 25-year-old Volkonsky was already in the Cape Colony, staying at the Sea Point Hotel. There, in Cape Town, the Russian prince struck up an acquaintance with the national hero of Portugal, Alexandre de Serpa Pinto. The restless viscount was on his way to his last military expedition in Southern Africa. His dream of connecting Angola and Mozambique with a continuous chain of Portuguese colonies was never to come true. Eventually, he proceeded to Bloemfontein on the Kimberley train. It took him forty-two hours to get to the diamond-mining town. In the summer heat, Kimberley made a “horrible impression” on the Russian prince, and all he could remember of the town later was “its dust; brick houses with roofs of corrugated iron; market place crowded with ox carts; bad but pretentious hotels; mock nascent gardens behind hedges of aloe and cactus.” He could breathe freely again only when he reached the veld. For another two days, he travelled from Kimberley to the Boer capital in a post coach. It was an enormous two-wheeler with seats for four passengers, drawn by four to six horses. The veld reminded Volkonsky of the Russian steppes, “except for the kopjes which one sees from time to time.” It is not clear why Volkonsky went to the Orange Free State. Perhaps it was because he had heard that the Bloemfontein climate was considered beneficial. Quite a few people from Europe settled in the Free State for health reasons. In the account he published later, he mentioned that he was planning to live there for two years but had to return to Europe before long. He stayed in and around Bloemfontein for several months. Those were the times of peace between the British-dominated Cape Colony and the young Boer republics. But F. W. Reitz, elected president of the Free State the same year Volkonsky arrived in Bloemfontein, was already promoting the idea of a military union between the Transvaal and his country. The memory of the First Boer War was still fresh. There was even talk of some sort of a Boer federation. Nine years later, the Second Boer War broke out. Living on the French Riviera, Volkonsky passionately defended the republican cause in the press. He even sent a request to Leo Tolstoy, whom he had not known personally, Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa, vol. 70, no 1, June 2016 37 to give an opinion regarding the pro-Boer ideas Volkonsky had expressed in his articles in French, Russian and German papers. Tolstoy, perhaps the world’s biggest literary and moral authority at the time, sympathised with the struggle of the republics against the mighty British Empire. In December 1899, he wrote a detailed reply, in which he agreed with the prince on most accounts.3 Tolstoy’s letter served as an introduction to a pamphlet that Volkonsky brought out in Geneva, Brussels and Lisbon in 1900, entitled For the Boers against Imperialism! It was a collection of Volkonsky’s writings in condemnation of the British aggressive stance in South Africa. It also contained an account of his brief residence in the Orange Free State, which we are reproducing in this edition. It seems that the prince’s memoir, which had originally appeared in the French language in the Express Algérien, has never been published in Russian. Prince Grigory Volkonsky. Bloemfontein4 This town has the appearance of a provincial town, at the same time Russian and German; German for the tidiness of its small houses, all brick; Russian for its wide streets from which the flat countryside can be seen where they end. Ten years before, the town had 3,000 inhabitants.5 Without railway, remote from the big road linking Cape Town with Johannesburg, it could develop with little contact with the cosmopolitan turf and preserved its provincial and decent character. The houses in Bloemfontein are often separated by small gardens, the pride of their owners because of the difficulties involved in raising the water, found very deep underground. But once the water is obtained, the vegetation grows in the same prodigious fashion as in Transcaspia.6 3 Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Polnoe Sobranie Sochineniy. Volume 72 (Moscow; Leningrad: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura, 1933), 264-266. 4Original French text: Prince Grégoire Volkonsky. Pour les Boers Contre l’Impérialisme; préface du Comte Léon Tolstoi (Genève, etc.: chez les principaux libraires, 1900), 36–41. 5 Volkonsky referred to the period of his stay in the town, a decade before he wrote this text. In 1890, Bloemfontein had a population of 3,379. Karel Schoeman, Bloemfontein: Die Ontstaan van ’n Stad, 1846-1946 (Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau, 1980), 119. 38 Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa, vol. 70, no 1, June 2016 The town has a large square, serving as a market; the main buildings are the Parliament, the post office, a club and the best hotel.7 The Reformed cathedral, very large, is located not far from there;8 one Sunday, I entered it; the pastor was on leave but there were people in the church. In small, dispersed groups, a man or a woman was discussing a text from the Gospel. The speaker sometimes asked his listeners questions to see if he was well understood. In this church, devoid of an altar or any ornament, all the attention had to be drawn to the words of Christ. I admit it was strange at first to see a low-rank telegraph employee acting as a preacher. But it was a thousand times less strange than to hear the German emperor, disguised as a pastor, preach on a Sunday among his cannons. All these people probably knew the Gospel much better than the rest of us; it is natural to conclude that those doctrines have left their mark on the moral and social development of the population. On leaving there, I thought of Peter the Great, the embodiment of the Russian national character; he never went through a foreign city without inquiring whether there were Quakers there, with whom he loved to have conversations.9 Could it be that the great reformer had another programme 6 Transcaspian Oblast was a province of the Russian Empire from 1854. It roughly covered the territory of the present-day Turkmenistan. 7 This area is now called Hoffman Square. The Bloemfontein Club and The Free State Hotel were among the most prominent buildings. The hotel on the eastern side of the square, founded in 1861, was the biggest and best appointed in the country. Parliament held its sessions in the Government Building, at the upper end of Maitland (Charlotte Maxeke) Street. It now houses The National Afrikaans Literary Museum. Schoeman, “Bloemfontein deur Russiese Öe,” 139. 8 The Tweetoringkerk, the only Dutch Reformed Church with two steeples in South Africa. It had been erected on the corner of Floreat Avenue and Charles Street in 1880. 9In 1698, Russian tsar Peter I was introduced to prominent Quakers in London. William Penn paid a visit to the ruler presenting him with books on their teachings. In April that year, the tsar attended a Quaker meeting. According to Thomas Clarkson, when much later, in 1712, Peter I visited Frederickstadt in Holstein, “one of his first inquiries was whether there were any Quakers in the place; and being told there were, he signified his intention of attending one of their meetings.” This he did and said afterwards “that whoever could live according to such doctrines would be happy.” Thomas Clarkson, Memoirs of the Private and Public Life of William Penn; in two volumes. Volume 2 (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1813), 175-177. Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa, vol. 70, no 1, June 2016 39 he unconsciously charted for his country, and that it has not yet been understood? Will it ever be understood? Certainly not, if they continue to regard Russia’s destiny through the spectacles of the obdurate Mr Pobedonostsev …10 Figure 2-2. Portrait of Francis William Reitz Source: National Archives Repository (Pretoria) TAB 4150 (ii) The Presidency is at the other end of the town; this is an elegant building surrounded by a garden, recalling a large villa rather than a British-style house.11 Mr Reitz, the president, was a tall man, affable, dignified in his 10 Konstantin Pobedonostsev (1827-1907), a conservative Russian statesman. He was adviser to Russian emperors, who made him Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod—effectively, the head of the official Russian Orthodox Church. For Russian libertarians, Pobedonostsev was a quintessential example of a reactionary. 40 Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa, vol. 70, no 1, June 2016 grand simplicity, speaking perfect English. He was a man of a vast erudition, I was told, especially in jurisprudence.12 One day, he requested our company at a grand ball, to where the whole town was invited: from 200 to 300 people, including small staff. It was Miss Reitz, the graceful sister of the president, who did the honours that evening. (The president was widowed; only the following year, he married a very beautiful Dutch lady from Europe). The ball began with a quadrille, which everyone danced very well, except your servant. I still remember a lady who darted a mocking glance at me saying, ‘It is never too late to learn, sir...’ Since then, I have learnt indeed ... I also remember the games of chess we played at the small veranda of the club, overlooking the central square; my opponent was a burly fellow with a beautiful beard, a Boer born and bred; his surname was Steyn.13 His brother, whom I often saw pass by in a black coat and tall hat, a portfolio under his arm, was Secretary of State for Justice; nowadays, he is President of the Orange Free State.14 Around eight o’clock in the evening, the famous town bell chimes, and it is the law that speaks; all the blacks in the capital must leave it to spend the night in their black village, a kilometre away. Out of town, by a trough, they throw down the sacks that constitute a most economical town dress for them: a flour bag with three holes cut for the head and the arms. They wash themselves and go into their shacks, so low, so dark, so smoky... I also think, with pleasure, of the evenings I spent among some German residents and merchants at the small club they favoured;15 we drank beer, played Skat16 while the Iron Chancellor17 was looking at us gravely from the 11The present-day Old Presidency (1886), on the corner of President Brand and St George’s Streets. 12 Francis William Reitz (1844-1934), State President of the Orange Free State from 1889. During the Second Boer War, he was State Secretary of the South African Republic. 13Probably, Johannes Wilhelmus Gysbert Steyn, attorney and general agent in Bloemfontein. Schoeman, Bloemfontein: Die Ontstaan, 136. 14 Marthinus Theunis Steyn (1857-1916), State Attorney (since 1889) and the last President of the self-governing Orange Free State (1896-1902). 15 The building of the German Club in Fontein St had been erected in 1884. Schoeman, Bloemfontein: Die Ontstaan, 65. Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa, vol. 70, no 1, June 2016 41 top of the wall; the initials under the photograph were his authentic signature. I remember the consternation produced at this remote corner of the Vaterland by a laconic telegram announcing the dismissal of the prince. He was fired like some unknown duke ...18 They did not understand anything except that a part of imperial prestige went with him. Figure 2-3. Parlour in the Presidency under President Reitz Source: Karel Schoeman, Bloemfontein in Beeld (Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau, 1987) One day, the entire little town was in turmoil; the Presidency was preparing for a great celebration; the whole population, in wagons, on horseback, on foot, was out of town on the main road from Kimberley. Who was then the great man they were expecting? It was the high commissioner and gover16A German card game. Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck (1815-98), Chancellor of Germany. He was the architect of the empire that had unified smaller German states around Prussia. 18 Bismarck resigned at Emperor Wilhelm II’s insistence on 18 March 1890. 17Otto 42 Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa, vol. 70, no 1, June 2016 nor of the Cape Colony, Sir Henry Loch!19 He arrived very serious. A grand banquet was held in the evening, and Loch became talkative. He told his enchanted listeners how, with his eye trained by travel, he could appreciate the fat pastures of the Orange Free State, which would surely become even more beautiful; he was hoping one day to see the Orange sheep surpass those of Australia, whence he had come.20 At that banquet, they duly spoke of closer links between the British and the Boers. In short, the enthusiasm was at its peak. The following day, Sir Henry Loch left, mysterious as a sphinx, with an enigmatic smile in his beard. His small card, with the traditional “poste restante,” was delayed. But ten years later, at the beginning of the war, Loch finally showed his true colours. Recently, speaking at the Imperial Institute,21 he expressed the hope to see the two republics annexed! Goodbye, Sir Henry! I spent a month in the country, five kilometres from Bloemfontein, with the amiable family of Mr C…, an Englishman from Britain. Having arrived at the Cape, he married an Englishwoman from the Colony and came to live in the Orange Free State, where he occupied himself with agriculture and raising sheep. One of his brothers was an admiral in the British Navy, and a relative of his was among the most remarkable politicians of the Cape Colony. Mr C… seemed very happy with his lot; he was on best terms with the Bloemfontein authorities and was surrounded by general consideration. I also remember several Englishwomen, based in Bloemfontein for health reasons, along with an English nurse, who all expressed to me their admiration for the country where they were living. Certainly, that small stock of uitlanders would not have strengthened the case of Mr Chamberlain.22 19 Sir Henry Brougham Loch (1827-1900), Governor of the Cape Colony and High Commissioner for Southern Africa. He came to Bloemfontein on 23 April 1890. Schoeman, “Bloemfontein deur Russiese Öe,” 139. 20 Before his appointment to the Cape Colony, Sir Henry had served as governor of the territory of Victoria in Australia. 21 The Imperial Institute in London encouraged research that furthered industrial and economic development of the British colonies. In 1899, at the beginning of the Second Boer War, Loch rose and equipped a unit of mounted men, named after him Loch’s Horse. 22 Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914), Secretary of State for the Colonies. He is regarded as one of the chief instigators of the Second Boer War. Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa, vol. 70, no 1, June 2016 43 And one more little detail before leaving Bloemfontein. Having the intention to stay in the Orange Free State for two years, I chose furniture for a thousand francs. A few days later, I had to abandon my plan and return to Europe; I went to the furniture shop, explained my situation and said that, if they insisted on proceeding with the purchase, I shall leave the furniture to the Bloemfontein hospital. On brief reflection, the owner told me that, although he regretted that the sale would not take place, his company did not wish to benefit from my circumstances. It is with this impression I was leaving that town of peace and integrity. 44 Bulletin of the National Library of South Africa, vol. 70, no 1, June 2016