Introduction
Back in 1801, Napoleon almost persuaded Tsar Paul I to invade India. Further lobbying fell on deaf ears but many in London still believed Russia was poised to invade India, and even Western Europe. After pre-emptive wars in Afghanistan (1838-42) and the Crimea (1853-56), Richard Cobden urged Westminster to get to know Russia better.
THIS people, whom Western Europe regards with terror as a horde of imprisoned barbarians, dissatisfied with their fate, and eager to escape from their rigorous climate and ungrateful soil, to pour the tide of conquest over more favoured and civilized regions, are, beyond any others, proud of their own country: they love its winter as well as summer life, and would not willingly exchange it for any other land.
There is no greater delusion in the world than that which attributes to the Russian people a desire to overrun and occupy, in the spirit of the ancient Goths and Huns, any part of Western Europe. With the exception of the disposition to encroach upon neighbouring Mahometan countries,* the people feel no interest in foreign politics, and the intervention of the government in the affairs of Europe excites no sympathy in Russia.*
Neighbouring countries including the Roman (‘Byzantine’) Empire, Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania came under Turkish domination after The Fall of Constantinople in 1453. The Russians, who had been evangelised by emissaries from Constantinople themselves, felt a strong affinity with these countries and were keen to help them shake off the irksome government of the Ottoman Empire. See also The Conversion of Vladimir the Great.
* The Communist era of 1917-90 saw expansion into Eastern Europe, but that came courtesy of a political ideology exported to Russia from the German Empire, and was something quite alien to Imperial Russia. See Germany’s Secret Weapon.
About the Author
Richard Cobden (1804-1865) was the son of a bankrupt Sussex farmer. By a mixture of talent and audacity, Richard rose from sweeping his uncle’s warehouse floor to become a Manchester mill-owner and then Liberal Party MP for Rochdale in Lancashire. He came to prominence in the late 1830s as a vocal critic of London’s panicky and greedy policies towards Russia and later China. Soon afterwards, he emerged as the leader of the Parliamentary rebellion against economic protectionism, i.e. the policy of using sanctions and trade tariffs to ring-fence the profits of domestic corporations and cripple the economies of foreign countries. The Corn Laws, the flagship protectionist policy that had brought thousands close to starvation, were repealed in 1846. The campaign almost ruined him financially, but he recovered and his final triumph was the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty of 1860, a landmark free-trade agreement between Britain and France which put centuries of mistrust behind us. Richard married Catherine Anne Williams, from Wales, in 1840 and they brought up five daughters together.
Archive
Word Games
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Civilize. Pour. World.
2 Affair. Fate. Which.
3 Imprison. Overrun. Would.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Subject and Object Find in Think and Speak
Use each word below in two sentences, first as the subject of a verb, and then as the object of a verb. It doesn’t have to be the same verb: some verbs can’t be paired with an object (e.g. arrive, happen), so watch out for these.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1. Part. 2. Great. 3. People. 4. Love. 5. Winter. 6. Beyond. 7. Affair. 8. Spirit. 9. Climate.
Variations: 1.use your noun in the plural (e.g. cat → cats), if possible. 2.give one of your sentences a future aspect (e.g. will, going to). 3.write sentences using negatives such as not, neither, nobody and never.
Homonyms Find in Think and Speak
Each of the words below has more than one possible meaning. Compose your own sentences to show what those different meanings are.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1. Country. 2. Well. 3. Own. 4. Occupy.
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
grs (7+6)
agrees. gears. gores. grease. grouse. gurus. ogres.
augers. auguries. augurs. giros. goers. gorse.
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