An american ambassador at the court of St. Petersburg, Russia : Henry Middleton of south Carolina and John Capodistrias (1821-1827)

Abstract

This study examines the last twö years (1820-1822) of John Capodistrias
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia as reported by Henry Middleton,
the United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary (Ambassador)
to Russia, in his diplomatic dispatches addressed to his government in
Washington.
The first part of the study deals with Middleton’s life and political career
in the State of South Carolina, following by his appointment to the Russian
diplomatic post by President James Monroe in 1820, serving in it until 1830.
In St. Petersburg Middleton dealt in his diplomatic matters with Capodistrias
and Count Karl Robert Nesselrode, the two secretaries who shared the affairs
of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Middleton’s first two years at the Court of St. Petersburg coincided with
Capodistrias’ last two years in the Russian diplomatic service. During this
period Middleton collaborated and worked closely with Capodistrias on
several important questions dealing with Anglo-American and Russian-

American relations, European diplomacy, the revolts in Western Europe, and
the Greek Revolution. His diplomatic dispatches provide new information
about Capodistrias’ role in resolving crucial issues regarding the Anglo-
American dispute stemming from the war of 1812 and the Treaty of Ghent,
which ended that Anglo-American conflict, as well as the Russian-American
controversy over the Northwestern Coast of North America, an area under the
jurisdiction of the Russian company, and in contention by the United States. In
addition, Middleton’s dispatches provide a new and interesting information:
Capodistrias, perhaps on his own initiative, made a proposal to the American
government, through Middleton, its representative in St. Petersburg, for a
Russian-American treaty of alliance in the summer of 1821 to counterbalance
the growing threat of England and Austria against Russia in the Near Eastern
crisis. Such Russian-American alliance, Capodistrias believed, would indirectly
aid the Greek struggle of liberation from the Turks. But the American
government refused to enter in a treaty with Russia and followed a Turkophile
policy during and after the end of the Greek war of independence. In view of
the vacillating attitude of Russia toward the Greek struggle of liberation,
Capodistrias became disappointed with Emperor Alexander’s Near Eastern
policy and had no alternative but to resign from the Russian diplomatic
service. Capodistrias, however, worked at the Russian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs almost to the last weeks before his departure for Western Europe on
August 8/20 1822, as Middleton’s dispatches reveal.
Finally, Middleton gives a few details about Capodistrias’ last visit to St.
Petersburg in the spring of 1827 when he asked Emperor Nicholas for his
official resignation from the Russian service, as he was soon to assume the
office of the presidency of Greece.