University of Southampton Research Repository Eprints Soton
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of Southampton Research Repository ePrints Soton Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk University of Southampton FACULTY OF HUMANITIES History The Polish Questions in British Politics and Beyond, 1830-1847 Milosz K Cybowski Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2016 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES History Doctor of Philosophy THE POLISH QUESTIONS IN BRITISH POLITICS AND BEYOND, 1830-1847 by Milosz Krzysztof Cybowski The problem of the Polish Question, usually understood as the issue of Polish exiles’ efforts to restore Poland to its previous glory and independence, remains overshadowed by much more visible topic of the Great Emigration that followed the fall of the November Uprising (1830-31). At the same time the problem of Poland, despite its continuous presence in British political and social life of the 1830s and 1840s, has so far remained outside the interest of historians of nineteenth-century British political and social history. This thesis sets out to, on the one hand, broaden the study of the Great Emigration and Polish nineteenth-century history and, on the other, to introduce the subject of Poland, Polish independence and Polish refugees to British historiography. Central in the analysis presented below is the idea of the Polish Question, or, as will be argued, two Polish Questions: one associated with the problem of Polish independence, promoted at various times and with various intensity throughout the 1830s and 1840s; the other linked with the issue of Polish refugees in Britain. The central problem analysed in this work is the impact of the two Polish Questions on British foreign politics and parliamentary debates, as well as the broader question of public interest, contemporary press and public opinion. By presenting developments of both questions in the context of contemporary British domestic and foreign politics, as well as social and economic changes of the period, this thesis shows the dynamics of the Polish Questions in Britain between the outbreak of the November Uprising and the beginning of the Springtime of Nations. i ii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................... i Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. iii List of Tables........................................................................................................................ vii Declaration Of Authorship .................................................................................................... ix Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... xi Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................... xiii Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Historiography ................................................................................................................... 4 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 11 Defining the Polish Question ........................................................................................... 14 The Main Argument ......................................................................................................... 17 Structure ........................................................................................................................... 19 PART I ................................................................................................................................. 21 Chapter 1: The November Uprising and Europe (1830-1831) ............................................ 25 Europe before 1830 .......................................................................................................... 25 Poland Before 1830 .......................................................................................................... 29 Europe and Poland in 1830 .............................................................................................. 33 The November Uprising: from the Outbreak to the Dethronement ................................. 38 The Polish-Russian War and the Defeat of the Uprising ................................................. 40 Polish Diplomacy and the Polish Question in Europe ..................................................... 43 Polish and Belgian Questions in European Politics ......................................................... 47 Chapter 2: Europe, Britain, and the Great Emigration (1831-1841) .................................... 53 Europe and the Defeat of the November Uprising ........................................................... 54 The Great Emigration Emerges ........................................................................................ 58 Europe after the Defeat of the November Uprising (1831-1841) .................................... 62 Political Evolution of the Great Emigration..................................................................... 67 Chapter 3: Years of Stabilisation and Revolution (1841-1847) ........................................... 73 Europe and the East in the Aftermath of the Straits Convention (1841-1846) ................ 74 The Great Emigration: Towards Another Revolution (1841-1846) ................................. 76 The Cracow Revolution and Its Impact on Europe and the Great Emigration (1846-1847) .......................................................................................................................................... 82 PART II ................................................................................................................................ 87 Chapter 4: The Polish Question in Great Britain: The Formative Years (1831-1833) ........ 91 Origins of the Polish Question in Britain ......................................................................... 93 The Polish Questions: Year One ...................................................................................... 96 During the November Uprising .................................................................................... 98 After the November Uprising .................................................................................... 104 iii Prince Adam Czartoryski and the Polish Question .........................................................108 ‘Engraving the name of Poland on the walls of European Parliaments’ ........................116 The British Friends of Poland and the Polish Question ..................................................123 Chapter 5: The Changing Character of the Polish Question in Britain (1834-1841) ..........131 The Problem of Polish Refugees in Britain before 1834 ................................................132 Harbingers of Change .....................................................................................................136 From the Question of Independence to the Question of Refugees: The 1834 Turn .......142 The New Polish Question (1834-1841) ..........................................................................148 The ‘Old’ Polish Question (1834-1841) .........................................................................159 Chapter 6: The Polish Questions and a History of Adjustment (1841-1845) .....................171 New Government, New Relations: Czartoryski, the Tories, and the Polish Question (1841-1845) .....................................................................................................................173 The LAFP and the Continuity of Extra-Parliamentary Pro-Polish Actions (1842-1845) .........................................................................................................................................181 Before the Fraternal Democrats: Other Ways of Promoting the Cause of Poland in Britain (1841-1844).........................................................................................................188 The Fraternal Democrats and the Polish Questions in 1845 ...........................................194 Chapter 7: Britain, the Cracow Revolution, and the Aftermath (1846-1847) .....................201 The Cracow Revolution of 1846 and British Politics .....................................................203 British Politics and the Annexation of Cracow ...............................................................213 The British Press and the Issue of Cracow .....................................................................223