Hotel Lambert wobec wizyty cara Mikołaja I w Londynie w 1844 r.
Streszczenie
The visit of the tsar Nicholas I in London in 1844 was paid by the Russian monarch
to reach two aims. First - to maintain the good relations between Great Britain and Russia
which had existed since an agreement related to the Turco-Egyptian crisis in 1840 and to
show to other European states that it still works. Second - to suggest the possibility of the
partition of the Ottoman Empire and to investigate the readiness of the British government
to advance such a policy.
Of course the presence of the tsar in Great Britain gave an unique opportunity to the
Polish emigrants in England and British society as well to manifest their feelings towards
Nicholas I. The members of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland in London
and especially lord Dudley Coutts Stuart - the president of that Association and several ladies
form British aristocracy - mainly the wives of the Whigs who were at that time in opposition
towards governing Tory’s cabinet of Sir Robert Peel - organised the charitable ball for the
Polish refugees just in the days of the tsar’s visit. All the Polish political parties in exile got
united to proclaim a common manifest against the tsar. Lord Stuart and other Polish collaborators of the prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski - the head of the monarcho-liberal camp
of the Polish emigration (called Hotel Lambert) had tried to obtain from the Poles in London
the promise of security for the tsar during his visit in Great Britain, but they failed.
At first, Nicholas I met with a warm reception in British press, but soon it appeared
that the British society was ready to manifest its cool feelings towards him. The public meeting
against the tsar organised by the Chartists in High Holbom on Jun 6lh assembled several
thousands people. During the Ascot-Races (horse-races) attended by the tsar he met the hostile
cries of the crowd just the same as in the opera and in the streets of London. In a few days
it was clear that his visit not only missed its political aims but failed on the field of
propaganda as well. There is no doubt that Polish emigrants contributed to that second result
of the visit.
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