A Trip up the Volga to the Fair of Nijni-Novgorod.

First US edition, same year as the first UK. The author was MP for Canterbury, his " main interest was foreign affairs He was an ardent imperialist and advocated the maintenance of a strong army and navy. During the Eastern crisis of 1875-8 he became a leading Russophobe and philo-Turk He warned against Russia obtaining access to the Dardanelles and supported the work of Turkish constitutional reformers. In 1876 he answered Gladstone's pamphlet on the Bulgarian atrocities by denying the responsibility of the Turkish government and by claiming that Gladstone's portrait of the Turks was a travesty During the Russo-Turkish War, he actually lent money to the Turkish government for attacks on the Russian army and sent over military advisers (who were not employed). He resigned his parliamentary seat in 1878 in order to visit Turkey but later came to despair of the nation" (ODNB). The present work is based upon a series of letters first published in the Daily News, giving an account of his travels "on board the steamer Alexander II from Astrakhan to Nizhnii Novgorod in the Summer of 1874, first describing his trip in a series of letters to the Daily News. Due attention is given to the German colonies around Saratov, the koumiss-cure establishments near Samara, and the attractions of Kazan, but it is the annual fair at Nizhnii that is described in particular and interesting detail" (Cross). It is interesting that in his Preface Munro-Butler-Johnstone describes the inhabitants of the banks of the Volga as "among the pleasantest and most engaging people in the world".