Colonel V. A. Pashkov and the Late Nineteenth-Century Protestant Movement in Russia, Jan M. Surer, 1999

circumstances." All that was needed to confirm him in the job were "character and managing abilities." 17 The employment of foreign managers typical of such large estate owners was no exception with Pashkov; at one point he hoped to acquire a Swiss "experienced agriculturalist" for his Matcherka operation. 18 Leonard Owen was presumably English. Pashkov also corresponded in English with Torrens. Pashkov himself, as "chief manager", tried to be "just" and "kind" in his dealings with these employees. In August of 1888 he wrote from France to tell Giwult of his dismissal from Pashkov's service and listed his reasons for the dismissal. He claimed that Giwult had given 40 desiatines of land to employees without permission and was himself working several desiatines in a similar manner. He had also disrupted operations at the mine by refusing necessary hay for no reason and had gone to Orenburg at a crucial time of farm work, again for no reason. In general, Pashkov thought Giwult spent money thoughtlessly and unproductively. Finally, Giwult's answers personal unpleasantness interfere with a question of such paramount importance for the carrying out of the plans devised for next year's farming (Letter to Mr. Hilton, 26 September 1887,PP 2/l/d/72)." See also a letter to Mr. Torrens, 10/22 November 1887, PP 2/l/d/83. 17 PP 2/1/d/lll. 18 PP 2/l/d/131. 52 to the manager's ( glavnoupravlyayushchii ) questions did not seem to accord with reality. Pashkov then assured Giwult that by this necessary step he did not wish to place Giwult's family in a hopeless position. 19 Pashkov wrote Owen the next day of possible accomodation for Giwult and his family and of his willingness to let him have rent-free land for two or three years as long as he manured the soil. 20 In addition to the income from his estates, Pashkov, like many aristocrats, had also turned to investments. These were apparently railway bonds for the most part. 21 On at least one occasion, the sale of some of these bonds provided necessary cash, which was sometimes lacking despite his extensive land holdings in Russia. One reason for this was the trend of diminishing estate earnings. In December of 1885 he wrote to a Mr. Compton: "It is a painful thing to hear from all sides calls for help" both for missionary work and for aid to the unemployed in Russia; "here in Paris great need and very scanty means to meet it. With all that it pleases my Lord to give me less and less yearly. He alone knows why it must be 19 PP 2/l/d/171. 20 PP 2/l/d/172. Giwult subsequently seems to have sent a letter of explanation, but his dismissal still stood. It is possible that the friction with Torrens also prevented his reinstatement. See Pashkov's letter to Giwult, 22 November (old style) 1888, PP 2/l/d/178. 21 See, for example, PP 2/l/d/91 and 93; and 2/l/f/33, in which Pashkov requests the London and County Banking Company, Ltd. and the St. Petersburg