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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 January 2017
In his article “Kaufman of Turkestan: An Assessment of His Administration, 1867-1881” in the Slavic Review (June 1967, pages 265-85) Professor David Mac- Kenzie appears to have been unduly sensitive to any critical contemporary comment concerning General Kaufman. In his protective zeal he has sought to undermine the reputation of Eugene Schuyler, one of the most capable American diplomats of that period, whose diplomatic and literary careers were distinguished by perceptive and candid reporting.
Nothing in Eugene Schuyler's writings justifies the generous use of depreciatory language in Professor MacKenzie's article. To claim that Schuyler was “unfair or malicious,” “misrepresented” Kaufman's work, and presented a “distorted picture“ of his regime is unwarranted by the record.
1 Eugene Schuyler, Turkistan : Notes of a Journey in Russian Turkistan, Khokand, Bukhara, and Kuldja (2 vols.; New York, 1876).
2 U.S. Department of State, Despatches from US. Consuls in Moscow, 1857-1906, Despatch No. 25, June 27, 1868 (T-97, rollT-i, Jan. 7, 1857—Dec. 31, 1869, microfilm). U.S. Archives, Washington, D.C.
3 Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1874 (Washington : Government Printing Office, 1874); Jewell to Fish (March 10, 1874), p. 815.
4 Ibid.;Schuyler to Jewell (March 7, 1874), p. 817.
5 Ibid., p. 820.
6 Ibid., pp. 823, 831.
7 Ibid., p. 819. Italics supplied to indicate the added material.
8 Letter Book kept by or for Eugene Schuyler, containing copies of miscellaneous letters of period Dec. 31, 1873—Jan. 9, 1879, unpublished, Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress, p.254.
9 Letter Book, p. 240.
10 The Times (London), March 17, 1875, p. 6, col. 4. The correspondent is in error regarding the Blue Book. The usual name of the Department of State publication was the Red Book.
11 Ibid., March 26, 1875, p. n , col. 1. Note that the Western spelling of Geins is used.
12 Letter Book, p. 254.
13 Ibid., p. 310.
14 Evelyn Schuyler Schaeffer, Eugene Schuyler : Selected Essays With a Memoir (New York, 1901), p. 54.
15 Schuyler, Turkistan, I, v-vi.
16 Geoffrey Wheeler, ed., Turkistan by Eugene Schuyler (London, 1966), pp. xi, xii.
17 Ibid., pp. xxiii-xxiv.
18 Schuyler, Turkistan, II, 203.
19 Schaeffer, p. 83.
20 Ibid., p. 128.
21 National Cyclopedia of American Biography (New York, 1900), VIII, 339.
