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[ page 121 ]
[Originally published in Canadian Slavonic Papers 35, nos. 1–2 (March–June 1993): 121–130.]
On 17 September 1861 Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin, having escaped from Siberian exile, left the port of Yokohama on the American ship Carrington for San Francisco, continuing the circumnavigation that would land him in London at the house of A.I. Herzen just before the end of the year. On board he made the acquaintance of Frederick Pemberton Koe, an English clergyman who was chaperoning a young boy named Charles Simpson on a round-the-world tour.[1]
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E.H. Carr, in his half-century-old biography of Bakunin, made passing reference to the diary which Koe kept during his travels, in which Bakunin figures. Carr’s selective references, however, serve only to reinforce those aspects of Bakunin’s personality and behavior which contribute to the generally negative albeit sometimes entertaining portrait that Carr chooses to depict.[2] In fact, the diary has greater significance for the study of Bakunin than Carr’s excerpts would lead his reader to believe.[3]
Koe’s diary, of which the relevant passages are reproduced below, is the only primary source extant concerning Bakunin’s activities and thoughts between his departure from Siberia and his arrival in America en route to England. Valuable not only for this reason in general, Koe’s diary is in fact pertinent to Bakunin’s person and activity in three particular respects.
First, scattered throughout the text one finds Koe’s own impressions of Bakunin. Koe’s testimony, in contrast to a well-established historiographic tradition, portrays Bakunin as an amiable and serious-minded fellow. To Koe, Bakunin is “a remarkable man in many ways” and “a man of mind [who] interests me much.” When Bakunin left San Francisco following their arrival there, Koe wrote, “I was sorry to part with him. He has been more like a friend
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than any one I have met for a long time.” Koe also discusses the loan of money upon which Carr lays such stress: noting at one point that he will lend Bakunin $250 but in the end lending him $300, Koe records that he was “glad” to do it. Koe also records some of Bakunin’s observations on the nature of friendship in general. This testimony sheds light on the psychology of Bakunin’s personality, an issue that has been particularly controversial in the historiography. On the nature of friendship in general, for example, Koe records his agreement with Bakuin that it is only in the sphere of “that second or inner self-world or life … that friendships are made.” This makes Bakunin out to be in fact less subjectivist than many of his English-language biographers have insisted.
Second, there is Koe’s testimony on Bakunin’s views of relations between Koe and Jane Bethell, from whom the former’s family was seeking to distance him because they were scandalized at the prospect of an Anglican clergyman considering marriage to a Catholic. During the long trip, Koe retained an affection for her but had become somewhat ambivalent about marriage. Thus while he finds “great pleasure” in taking care of one of the women on board ship, because this “takes me back home & I fancy I am with the girl again,” he nevertheless mentions his own opposition to marrying her. Responding to this, Bakunin, with whom Koe has “much talk” about Jane, contends that such opposition “proceeds from pride.” Koe mentions Bakunin’s comment that his own wife (Antonia Kwiatkowska, whom he married in Siberia) “is a Catholic but under gentle treatment she begins to think she is becoming Protestant.” This is prima facie doubtful to say the least, and no evidence exists for it. We must conclude that Bakunin was trying to encourage Koe not to give up the hope of happiness with Jane Bethell. When Bakunin taunts Koe in this connection that he (Bakunin) “is going to marry me [Koe] when he gets home,” poor Koe is unable to grasp the meaning: “I dont know what to think, but it is of no use to try.” Some interpreters of Bakunin would see this as confirmation of supposed homosexual tendencies, but in context it is clear that Bakunin is mocking Koe’s indecision as, to his mind, womanish. The diary also records Bakunin’s testimony that his own wife Antonia Kwiatkowska was already on her way from Siberia to meet him in London, and it confirms that Bakunin’s escape from Siberia was not serendipitous but the result of a plan formed in advance.
Finally, Koe records Bakunin’s testimony as to his political views and projects at the time, including his impressions of American society expressed at a reunion in New York before Bakunin embarked for England.
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[Note 1]. Frederick Pemberton Koe (1829–1889) “obtained a scholarship to Pembroke College, Oxford. He took a degree in Mathematics in 1849 and later his M.A., after which he was for some time tutor to the sons of a Mr. J.T. Macaulay of Bayswater and to Lord Carrington’s sons. In 1852 he was ordained to a curacy at St. Martin-in-the-Fields … . He was for a time interested in obtaining a teaching post and to this end obtained several excellent testimonials. However, in 1858 his brother Frank came home on sick leave from Gibraltar having never recovered from the yellow fever he had contracted in Antigua. It was recommended that he should go to Malta and Fred went with him, but as they did not like the climate they took a steamer to Naples and it was on this trip that Fred met Jane [“Janie”] Bethell. Frank was very weak and died off Messina and was later buried in the cemet[e]ry at Naples. No doubt Jane was a comfort to [Fred] in his sorrow. He fell deeply in love with her, but on his return his family and friends were horrified at the very idea of a Church of England Clergyman even considering the idea of marrying a Roman Catholic, as was his closest friend, who was also a friend of all his family, Digby Latimer. Letters flew in all directions, and in the end a tutorship was found for him to take a young man named Simpson on a two-year world tour—thus hopefully to remove him from the charms of Jane. … [Fred] returned via America and visited San Fran[c]isco and New York and arrived in Liverpool on 7th January 1862. His father had died during his absence, his mother was ill and living in Kingston with two of her daughters. Fred wasted no time, and after agreeing with Janie’s father—in writing—that any children born of a marriage with her would be brought up as Catholics, he and Janie were married on the 29th July 1862. Subsequently he gave up his Ministry and joined his father-in-law’s firm. John Bethell (brother of Richard Bethell, Lord Westbury and Lord Chancellor) was the original patentee for creosoting timber, and after his death in 1867 Fred carried on the business with Harry and Charles Bethell for the benefit of Mrs. Bethell and the family. When Harry withdrew, Fred and Charles carried on the business with some
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success until the extreme depression in trade made it impossible for them to continue with contracts they had with the Gas Companies. They became bankrupt in 1866, which was a very severe blow to them all but more especially to Fred, who seems to have suffered more than the Bethells financially and but for the help of his friends and relations would have been destitute. As it was, Fred and Janie now lived in extreme poverty. Fred died on 3rd December 1889. His wife in 1900. They had 4 sons, and 4 daughters (of whom 3 survived).” Wendy Stuart Koe, The Jackdaws: A History of the Koe Family (N.p., 1981), 66–67. I wish to thank Wendy Koe for her permission to quote extensively from this family history, Catharine Winefride Koe for her hospitality and permission to publish these excerpts, as well as her son Adrian Michael Koe and his wife Elizabeth in this same connection.
[Note 2]. E.H. Carr, Mikhail Bakunin (New York, 1961), 246–47; also Carr, “Bakunin’s Escape from Siberia,” Slavonic and East European Review, 15 (1937): 383–84. Carr tells us that Bakunin and Koe subsequently encountered one another in London. As there is no written record of Koe having met Bakunin in London, this information may have come orally from F.P. Koe’s son Digby, who was in possession of his father’s diary when Carr borrowed it. Bakunin, in a letter dated less than two months after his arrival in London, gives the home of Koe’s friend and future brother-in-law as his own postal address (“London | Reverend H. Swabey Esqu. | 6 Suffolk Street — Pall Mall | For remitting to Mr G. Sanders”). Bakunin to Adolf and Maria Reichel, 15 February 1862, in Michel Mervaud, “Lettres de Bakunin à Adolf Reichel et à Adolf Vogt,” Revue des études slaves, 56 (1984): 535.
[Note 3]. Internal evidence reveals that Koe’s common language with Bakunin was French, although it seems they may also have used English occasionally. On Bakunin’s fluency in English, see Paul Avrich, “Bakunin and the United States,” International Review of Social History, 24 (1979): 327 and n. 34.
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< Manuscript page 92 recto >
<…> Monday [September] 18th [1861] <…> The greatest pass⟨enge⟩r we have on board is a Man named Bakunin.[a] He was in ’49 member of the Provisional Gov⟨ernmen⟩t at Dresden & for 8 1/2 y⟨ea⟩rs after that was in a dungeon & the last four years has been in Irkutsk in exile. He has just made his escape & is now on his way to London to meet his wife who is gone home thro⟨ugh⟩ Russia. He is a remarkable man in many ways. He is the eldest son of a noble family wh⟨ich⟩ I expect means in our sense a gentlemans family. He was in the Army but left it hav⟨in⟩g as I hear led a most dissipated life. He became [b]‘fortrepublicainrevolutionaire’[b] & finding he c⟨oul⟩d do nothing in Russia went to France & Germany where he appeared on the revolutionary platform as aforesaid. When the King[c] returned to Dresden he was taken & condemned to death, but after being a year & a half in a dungeon he was delivered over the Austrians who put him into the dungeon of Olmütz where he was chained to the wall & had irons on his arms & legs. He was then handed over to the Russians who confined him first in the fortress of Petropavloffski at St Petersburg & then when it was apprehended that St Petersburg w⟨oul⟩d be attacked he was moved to Schlusselburg ab⟨ou⟩t 50? [sic] miles from St Petersburg. He was then sent to Siberia. The Gov⟨erno⟩r General[d] was a relation of his & he accord⟨in⟩gly enjoyed
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privileges wh⟨ich⟩ few c⟨oul⟩d obtain. After this
< Manuscript page 92 verso >
Gov⟨erno⟩r General was gone Bakunin carried into execution his plan of escape. He obtained permission to travel on the Amoor & in pursuit of his ‘studies’ on that river[e] found himself at last at Nicolaieffski. There he was made much of by the Officials as being related to the late [former] Gov⟨erno⟩r General. He took passage in a ship for Olga & Hakodadi [Hakodate]. At the former place he lodged with the Russian off⟨ice⟩r quartered there & came on without further incident to Hakodadi in Kanagawa. <…>
Tuesday Oct⟨ober⟩ 1. <…>
< Manuscript page 93 recto >
<…> I had talk with Bakunin ab⟨ou⟩t Ic.[f] He is of opinion that matters are in a somewhat dangerous state. I dont think so, but I sh⟨oul⟩d be wretched enough if I did so I dont wish to think so. The overland journey occupies a good deal of our time. My own idea is that very few of us will go that way. The season will be too far advanced & on the whole the steamer will probably offer greater inducements. For my own part I also much prefer the overland route, but on Chas’ [Koe’s charge Charles Simpson’s] acc⟨oun⟩t I think we shall have to take the other. <…> I.c. is not a bad sort of fellow – barring slight affectations &c. I think Bakunin is wrong. I was talking to him today ab⟨ou⟩t his imprisonment. Austria was the only place where he was chained to the wall. In Saxony he was a year in prison. In Austria a year and a half(?) [sic] & Russia six years. In Siberia 4 years. At one time in Olmutz he thought all was over, that he c⟨oul⟩d never do anything more so he tried to starve himself. He ate nothing for fourteen days, but he drank water during that time & that kept him alive. At the end of that time he heard some soldiers outside his prison talking of the war then just begun (in 1850) between Austria &
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Prussia.[g] This gave him hope & he resolved to live so he ordered some roast mutton & he had fasted so long he was able to eat it with the greatest relish. We have much talk on various
< Manuscript page 93 verso >
subjects. He is a man of mind & interests me much. He says he owes Austria in grudge for having imprisoned him he says – It was perfectly natural [that Austria should have done so], his great objects are a Slave [Slav] Confederation & the destruction of Austria.[h] This morn⟨in⟩g after hav⟨in⟩g favourable winds for many days we had weather for some hours. <…> Tomorrow we are to have another Tuesday & another Oct⟨ober⟩ 1.[i] <…> I remained on deck ab⟨ou⟩t 2 hours & then c⟨oul⟩d get no sleep. <…> Bakunin & I however had our bath. Nothing but potatoes & bacon & ham c⟨oul⟩d be cooked. <…>
< Manuscript page 94 recto >
<…> Bakunin & I had some talk. He explained to me what he had done ab⟨ou⟩t [fellow passengers] the Dr [Fish] & Miss H⟨epburn⟩. I wish him success. I had to take care of Miss Hepburn, a duty I liked
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much. It is to me a great pleasure to look after women. It takes me back home & I fancy I am with the girl [Jane Bethell] again. It blew very hard all day this second 1st Oct⟨ober⟩ & everyone on board was generally uncomfortable. <…>
< Manuscript page 94 verso >
<…> Oct⟨ober⟩ 2. <…> Heine[j] hung out strings for one of the birds wh⟨ich⟩ have been following us for some days now. <…>
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<…> I have had some talk with Bakunin. He has given me the address of his friend Hertzen’s in London.[k] He & all the others fight rather shy of going overland. So do I for I dread
< Manuscript page 96 recto >
the snow &c. <…>
< Manuscript page 96 verso >
<…> Thursday [October 10]. <…> Bakunin was singing some Russian songs the other night. Some of them were melancholy or rather plaintive. Others put me much in mind of the Neapolitan airs.[l] The national music is always in a minor key. Some of their Church Music is he says magnificent. I find I shall have to lend him the money to reach New York, some $250. <…>
Friday & Sat⟨urda⟩y [October 11 and 12]. <…> I had some talk with Bakunin last night. We hit upon the subject of that second or inner self-world or life. It is in this sphere only that friendships are made, &c. It was pleasant to hear him give expression to what I had so often thought. I used to want always to get at that inner self of everyone I met, but if many people doubt if they have it, or if
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others [have it, then] I doubt whether [m]le jeu vaut la chandelle[m]. Bakunin tells me that Hertzen
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is a rabid atheist & that they will have great discussions.[n] His wife (B⟨akunin⟩’s) is a Catholic but under gentle treatment she begins to think she is becoming Protestant. Bakunin was talking of a Russian paper wh⟨ich⟩ is now published in London. He is anxious to establish an agency at Hakodadi & Yokahama for the sale of this paper to the Russian ships there & wants to know if Hiko[o] could do it. This paper is of course revolutionary, but every official in Russia from the Emperor downward is anxious to get hold of it. On the question of the emancipation of the serfs great efforts were made by the employés;[p] in the Ural mines to retain as serfs some 300 to 400000(?) [sic] serfs & by various devices they had almost succeeded, but this paper the ‘Bell’ published the whole course of transaction, every debate & discussion from the most secret councils – & concluded by an appeal to the Emperor to set the Example to his nobles by himself freeing these serfs—for the property had come into his family as Emperor—the result was that the intrigues were baffled, the serfs were freed. Another story – Gen⟨era⟩l Ignatieff[q] father of the Crimean Gen⟨era⟩l was shown up & properly abused for something he had done. He called for his aide de camp, & said [“Y]ou are correspondent of the ‘Bell’ – No Sir I assure you! Well but I dont ask you as Gen⟨era⟩l Ignatieff but as one gentleman of another willing as I am. He has been abusing me. I want you to write to him & say that I am not so bad as he makes me out. That I am an old
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man. I wish he w⟨oul⟩d let me alone!” This shows what influence the paper has.[r]
< Manuscript page 99 recto >
Sunday [October] 13. <…>
< Manuscript page 99 verso >
<…> I had some little trouble to get a bill [of exchange, i.e., a promissory note] for £60 or $300 = £61.17.d. cashed for Bakunin, but I managed it at last thanks to Booker the Consul[s]. He kindly spoke to Mr. Burnett of [illegible].[t] I was glad to get it. I cashed circular notes for £50 & rec⟨eive⟩d $242.75. <…>
< Manuscript page 100 recto >
<…> Monday morning [October 14] I was up to see Bakunin off. I never saw such a crowd & bustle. 400 troops are going off & what with them & the pass⟨enge⟩rs one c⟨oul⟩d scarcely get ab⟨ou⟩t at all. Poor old Bakunin I was sorry to part with him. He has been more like a friend than any one I have met for a long time. <…>
< Manuscript page 116 recto >
<…> [New York.] Next morning Monday [November] 25 <…> . After b⟨rea⟩kf⟨a⟩st of course we went to the Consul’s & there I found only [one]
< Manuscript page 116 verso >
letter & that from Bakounine who is at Boston.[u] <…>
< Manuscript page 121 recto >
<…> Sat⟨urda⟩y [December 7]. <…> Bakounin came here in the morn⟨in⟩g & gave us letters for Boston wh⟨ich⟩ I hope I shall be able to use Agassiz Longfellow & one or two others.[v] He himself is full of business.
This morn⟨in⟩g Sunday [December] 8th I b⟨rea⟩kf⟨a⟩st⟨e⟩d with him at the Maison Dorée. We had a long chat ab⟨ou⟩t all kinds of things. He tells me that one
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suggestion has been made with reference to the extinction of slavery & that is to raise the position of slaves to that of serfs – render them adscripti glebe[w]. This w⟨oul⟩d
< Manuscript page 121 verso >
of course be only a step but it w⟨oul⟩d be a great one. He speaks of the men of Boston[x] as much more decided in their views of slavery – that they wish & insist upon slavery as being recognised as an institution of limited existence, that it must die & a means must be devised to kill it. This is strongly opposed to the feeling of a large party here & elsewhere – for these hold that it is only due to the South that slavery [would] be recognised as an institution of the country (& as [such] perpetuated).[y] Bakounin & I have much talk too ab⟨ou⟩t Janie. He insists that my opposition [to marrying her] proceeds from pride & declares that he is going to marry me when he gets home. I dont know what to think, but it is of no use to try. <…>
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[Note a]. All emphases, strike-throughs, and non-English words and phrases are in the original. The original orthography is preserved, with two exceptions. First, a subscripted dash is transcribed as a full stop if it appears at the end of a complete sentence and context reveals that no parenthesis is intended. Second, letters that are superscripted in the manuscript are reproduced here in regular type, while angled brackets supply any missing elements within individual words; thus “passr.” in the manuscript is rendered as “pass⟨enge⟩r”. Ellipsis points inside [more acute] angled brackets [i.e., “<…>”] signal the abridgment of material unrelated to Bakunin [and pagination of the original (unpaginated) manuscript]. Square brackets are reserved for the editor’s contextual and syntactical emendations.
[Note b…b]. ‘strongly republican
revolutionary’.
[Note c]. Friedrich August II (1797–1854), King of Saxony from 1836 until his death.
[Note d]. Nikolai Nikolaevich Murav′ev (1809–1881), called Amurskii for his conquest of the Amur-Ussurri region from China and its annexation to Russia. Bakunin’s first cousin once removed, he was Governor-General of Siberia from 1847 to 1861 and founder of the Siberian branch of the Imperial Russian Geographic Society in Irkutsk, where he was patron to exiled dissidents. Bakunin’s escape occurred several months
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after Murav′ev left his posting in Siberia for effective retirement in St. Petersburg, where there was intrigue against him in the Imperial Court, and Paris where he died.
[Note e]. Koe refers to Bakunin's articles published in the Siberian newspaper Amur on 11 and 25 April 1861. These are reprinted and introduced by A.V. Dulov, "Neizvestnye stat′i M.A. Bakunina v gazete ‘Amur’,” in Ssylka i katorga v Siberi (XVIII – nachalo XX v.), ed. A.M. Goroshkin et al. (Novosibirsk, 1975), 161–76.
[Note f]. E.H. Carr wrote Digby L.F. Koe to whether “I.c.” could be identified but does not mention the shipboard encounter in his biography of Bakunin.
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[Note g]. The war between Austria and Prussia broke out in late 1849, and it was not in Olmütz but in Königstein that Bakunin fasted, from 13 through 26 November of that year. Records show that his fast was not from despair but in protest at being denied, by the prison authorities, newspapers and other reading materials to which he had right. See Mervaud, “Lettres de Bakunin,” 515, 519–20; and Josef Pfitzner, Bakuninstudien: Quellen und Forschungen aus dem Gebiete der Geschichte (Prague, 1932; reprint ed., Berlin, 1977), 205. However, Bakunin was in Olmütz in November 1850 when the Russian emperor Nicholas, to whom the Austrian and Prussian kings submitted their dispute, travelled there to announce his decision in favor of Austria. Bakunin discussed the political significance of these events in his 1873 work Gosudarstvennost′ i anarkhiia. See Œuvres complètes de Bakounine (Paris, 1973− ), 4, Étatisme et anarchie, 97–99, 136–39.
[Note h]. Compare the three brief papers that Bakunin presented to the 1848 Prague Congress. These are translated into English by Lawrence D. Orton, “Bakunin’s Plan for Slav Federation, 1848,” Canadian-American Slavic Studies, 8 (1974): 107–15. Although Polish events distracted Bakunin somewhat from Austrian affairs after he arrived in London at the end of 1861, his interest in the revolutionary movement in Austria continued. See, for example: G.I. Eremeeva, “Pis′ma M.A. Bakunina Iosefu Vatslavu Frichu (1862 g.),” in Obshchestvenno-politicheskie dvizheniia v Tsentral′noi Evrope v XIX – nachale XX v. (Sbornik statei i materialov), ed. V.A. D′iakov et al., resp. ed. I.S. Miller (Moscow, 1974), 161–183; M.N. Chemerisskaia, “Eshche odno pis′mo M.A. Bakunina I.V. Frichu,” in ibid., 184–85; G.I. Eremeeva, Cheshskii radikal′nyi demokrat Iosef Vatslav Frich: Iz istorii obshchestvenno-politicheskoi bor′by v Chekhii v 40 – 60-e gody XIX v. (Moscow, 1984), 51–59; Miklós Kun, “Bakunin and Hungary (1848–1865),” Canadian-American Slavic Studies, 10 (1976): 503–34; and Miklós Kun, “M. A. Bakunin i vengerskoe natsional′no-osvoboditel′noe dvizhenie,” Studia Slavica (1973): 177–197.
[Note i]. Due to the eastward crossing of the mid-Pacific date line.
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[Note j]. Peter Bernhard Wilhelm Heine (1817–1885) met Bakunin in the late 1840s in Germany, whence he fled the unsuccessful Dresden revolution to New York. After several years’ travel in Central America, he returned to New York, where he was selected as official artist to accompany Commodore Perry’s 1853 expedition to Japan. In 1859, having returned to Germany, he was invited to join the Eulenberg expedition from Prussia as official artist. In Tientsin, he left the expedition to return alone to America, and it was while he was waiting in Yokohama that Bakunin and he met again. Heine mentions his crossing of the Pacific Ocean on board the Carrington in his Eine Weltreise um die nordliche Hemisphäre, 2 vols in 1 (Leipzig, 1864), 2, 221. Once returned to America, Heine participated in the War between the States as an officer on the side of the Union. After the war he was named U.S. consul in Paris and Liverpool concurrently; after the foundation of the Hohenzollern Empire in Germany in 1871 he returned to Dresden.
[Note k]. Inscribed on the first page verso inside the cover of the large notebook, in Bakunin’s hand: “M. Bakunin | Hertzen 10 Alpha R⟨oa⟩d. P⟨ar⟩k R⟨oa⟩d | Regent’s Park | Librairie Tkörizeffski [Tkhorzhevskii] | 1 Macclesfield S⟨tree⟩t. Ger⟨r⟩ard S⟨tree⟩t [Road] | Soho”.
[Note l]. I.e., Such songs as “La donna e mobile” and “Santa Lucia”.
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[Note m…m]. the game is worth the candle.
[Note n]. Compare Carr, Michael Bakunin, 246: “Bakunin condemned the ‘rabid atheism’ of his friend Herzen, and foresaw ‘great discussions’ on the subject when they met in London.”
[Note o]. Joseph Hiko, anglicized name of Hamada Hikozô (1837–1897), pioneer of the newspaper world in Japan who was on ship with Bakunin and Koe.
[Note p]. employees.
[Note q]. Count Pavel Nikolaevich Ignat′ev (1797–1879) was Governor-General at St. Petersburg from 1854 to 1861, member of the State Council (1852–79) and chairman of the Council of Ministers (1872–79). His son Nikolai Pavlovich Ignat′ev (1832–1908), who served in the Baltic provinces during the Crimean War and was named major general shortly thereafter at the age of 26, is best known for negotiating the treaties of Peking with China and San Stefano with Turkey.
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[Note r]. P.N. Ignat′ev was complaining about Herzen’s accusations, in both in Kolokol and Pod sud!, of “criminal complicity” in repressing peasant revolts in the region. See, e.g., “Opozdavshiia pis′my iz Peterburga,” Kolokol, nos. 23–24 (15 September 1858): 187–88; “Pis′mo k redaktoru,” ibid., no. 25 (1 October 1858): 201–08; and “Iz Peterburga,” ibid., no. 64 (1 March 1860): 534–35.
[Note s]. William Lane Booker (1824–1905) spent nearly four decades on Her Majesty’s Service in America. He was Consul at San Francisco from 1856 to 1883, subsequently Consul-General at New York from 1883 until 1894 when he retired. He was made C.M.G. in 1886 and knighted upon retirement, returning to London where he died.
[Note t]. Mr. Burnett, clearly a banker, could not be further identified; the name of the bank is illegible.
[Note u]. This letter has not survived.
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[Note v]. Bakunin had met the illustrious naturalist Jean Louis Rodolphe Aggasiz (1804–1873) in Switzerland in the 1840s. On his meeting with the author Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882), see Avrich, “Bakunin and the United States,” 326–28. (Koe, according to a subsequent entry in his diary, spent only one afternoon in Cambridge and was unable to use any of the letters of introduction Bakunin had given him.)
[Note w]. I.e., to attach them to the land. This would be tantamount to turning the slaves into serfs. The supposed progress in this is that whereas slaves can be sold and thus alienated from their family, serfs being attached to the land are less likely to be separated from their kin. Probably this idea was suggested to Bakunin in Boston by Karol Forster, to whose political philosophy it conforms. See Robert M. Cutler, “An Unpublished Letter from M.A. Bakunin to R. Solger,” International Review of Social History, 32 (1988): 212–217.
[Note x]. For discussion, see Avrich, “Bakunin and the United States.”
[Note y]. Bakunin has in mind the circle around his friends Reinhold Solger and Friedrich Kapp, and those like-minded. See, e.g., Friedrich Kapp, Geschichte der sklaverei in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika (New York, 1860).
Dr. Robert M. Cutler [ website — email ] was educated at MIT and The University of Michigan, where he earned a Ph.D. in Political Science, and has specialized and consulted in the international affairs of Europe, Russia, and Eurasia since the late 1970s. He has held research and teaching positions at major universities in the United States, Canada, France, Switzerland, and Russia, and contributed to leading policy reviews and academic journals as well as the print and electronic mass media in three languages.
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