Alexander I. The most mysterious emperor of Russia. Russian Hamlet. Paul I, the rejected emperorExcerpts from the book "Tretyakovka" and other Moscow stories of the poem; poems; The Tale of the Bear, the Beautiful Princess, the Wise Raven and the Iron Shoes

THE HISTORY OF HOMELAND

THE LEGEND ABOUT KING ALEXANDER THE BLESSED
AND OLD FEDORA KUZMICH

Humbly, like a simpleton, the Elder lay down in the grave,
And only the King, the Father of the universe, knows
Who was the deceased...
Only God knows...
(A. Mirskaya)

Didn't believe

Ten years after the death of Tsar Alexander the Blessed - the conqueror of the Gauls and twenty languages - news began to come from Siberia: the sovereign was alive and hiding in Tomsk under the name of Elder Fyodor Kuzmich.

How much can you believe this? In order for the tsar in Russia to die, it is not enough for him to stop breathing and be laid in a coffin. This, one might say, is only a prelude to death, and not death itself.

Even at the time when the body of Tsar Alexander the Blessed was being transported from Taganrog to St. Petersburg, rumors began to multiply that he was alive and well, but ...

Subsequently, the largest researcher of the life of Alexander the Blessed, N.K. Schilder, calculated that in a few weeks, 51 views on this subject were born among the people. The rumors were numbered by Schilder in order of occurrence.

- The sovereign was sold into foreign captivity (10th hearing).

- He left on a light boat at sea (11th hearing).

- The king himself will meet the sovereign's body. On the 3rd verst from Petersburg, a ceremony will be arranged for them. And in the coffin they carry the adjutant who laid down his life for the tsar (37th hearing).

- One soldier went up to the sovereign and said to him: "Today they prepared to cut you down by all means." He put on the royal uniform, and the sovereign was let down through the window.

When the monsters ran in, they cut down the entire soldier instead of the sovereign. And so they chopped it up, as their noble conscience pleased, and they threw his body out of the chambers.

And the real sovereign fled under cover to Kyiv and there he will live in Christ with his soul and begin to give advice that the current sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich needs for better government (40th hearing).

But here's what's amazing. Schilder himself was also inclined to think that the sovereign did not die in Taganrog in 1825. He relied on facts, but before moving on to them, let's try to understand why the people so resolutely refused to believe in the death of the sovereign.

Alexander the Blessed was loved in Russia, but as if they were waiting for him to seriously atone for the sin of parricide. The early death of Alexander did not answer these aspirations. Therefore, the rumor number 40, about the departure of the king to Kyiv for repentance, was not at all accidental.

And here is what is important to note. God was waiting for redemption, the people were waiting, and the sovereign himself wanted to make it. As Herzen said about Tsar, it was "crowned Hamlet, who was haunted by the shadow of his murdered father all his life."

This unity of the three wills must have, or at any rate could, produce the most extraordinary results.

With burning eyes

However, before talking about the death of the sovereign, imaginary or real, let's try to study the roots of the legend that lie directly in his biography.

Grandmother - Catherine the Great - doted on the boy.

“His enterprises will not harm his neighbor, because tears appear in his eyes when he sees or thinks that his neighbor is in trouble,” she said.

Alexander was three years old when the empress began to teach him morality and respect for people, reminding him that everyone is born naked, like a palm, and only knowledge makes endless differences between us.

The boy listened attentively, which touched everyone terribly, and what was even more surprising - he heard. Already at the age of five, the child could not be torn off from the book.

We do not know its name, but we know that the most honorable place in the library of Catherine II was occupied by freethinking philosophers Voltaire and Rousseau. There was little literature in Russian, and even then mostly translations.

Two teachers had the greatest influence on him: the Swiss Laharpe and Archpriest Andrey Somborsky.

The first is a free-thinking European, almost a Jacobin, but a man of great honesty. He instilled in Alexander the concepts of nobility, compassion for the people, noting that the peasant class is the most unspoiled and most useful for the country.

The second was a man even more amazing. Father Andrei received the most generous rewards from several generations of monarchs, for example, an estate of 500 souls. And he died owing a fortune. He spent everything on hospitals, almshouses, schools, etc.

Contrary to the views of La Harpe, Archpriest Samborsky managed to instill in his pupil respect for God and the Greek-Russian faith.

But, alas, behind this sublime picture, some shortcomings were hidden. After all, both teachers were faithful children of the Age of Enlightenment. Catherine the Great simply did not perceive others.

Here is one detail. Father Andrei Samborsky did not want to wear cassocks, preferring secular dress to her. The detail is almost insignificant, but it explains a lot about the religiosity of Emperor Alexander. Just like the teacher, he felt little of the flavor of Orthodoxy.

Approximately the same consequences had the upbringing of La Harpe, but in a different area. The sovereign practically did not know his country - some fantastic alpine shepherds and shepherdesses bounced before his eyes, but what a natural Russian peasant is like, what he wants from life - it remained a mystery.

"Where is your oath to me?"

Alexander grew up outside the Russian element, and this predetermined a lot in his reign.

The mind is alien to intuition, and without it, we, meanwhile, cannot even take a step, we become like a cook who is not able to distinguish smells.

Such a cook will certainly poison someone. But what dangers await the ruler, even if endowed with a lively mind, who is forced to rule an incomprehensible country and an unfamiliar people?

The first of the difficulties is the inability to guess the consequences of one's actions.

For the first time, the sovereign began to suspect this shortcoming in himself on the day of his father's death, which any soldier, any royal groom in Alexander's place could have foreseen and prevented. Anyone, but not the noble young man whom La Harpe taught to see only the good in others.

And now the bastards, who had come close to the throne, took advantage of this circumstance, killing the old sovereign, breaking the heart of the new one.

This did not bring them happiness. All three leaders of the regicides - Zubov, Beningsen, Palen - went crazy. Each in his own way. Zubov devoured the impurities he left, Beningsen went to the parade in his underwear after World War II, Palen poured precious stones from one hand to the other, screaming heart-rendingly: “Blood, blood.”

Upon learning of the death of his father, Alexander cried out, sobbing:

- You killed him! Where is your oath to me?

Then, they say, he lost consciousness.

The scene is spectacular, but not the point. How did he proceed? Hating the murderers, he did not touch them with a finger, he limited himself only to what he expelled from St. Petersburg.

Because he took all the blame. He executed himself for agreeing to the removal of his parent from the throne. By that time, Pavel had seriously quarreled with the nobility, and all his mistakes were inflated into some kind of enchanting nightmares. Alexander also fell under the influence of this propaganda.

However, two people who remained faithful to Pavel - the squadron commander Sablukov and Arakcheev - later went to the new sovereign as favorites all their lives.

“Poor Alexander,” his brother Konstantin said with pain, one of the first days after the death of his father.

Konstantin Pavlovich knew that Alexander would never forgive himself for this. This guilt, this ruthless honesty towards oneself were the most precious qualities of Alexander the Blessed.

I will give just one example. At Austerlitz, the tsar, it seems, for the first and last time in his life intervened in the course of the battle. And then he took the blame for the defeat, although the army was led by Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov.

The only thing the king reproached him with was his pliability, making it clear that he should not listen to bad advice, even if they come from the monarch.

disappointment

Now let's briefly talk about the disappointments of the king in the field of government.

He never sought power. Even in his youth, he expressed his cherished dream orally and in writing: “My plan is to ... settle with my wife on the banks of the Rhine, where I will live quietly as a private person, relying on my happiness in the company of friends and the study of nature.”

However, at the same time, the sovereign was tempted to shower Russia with blessings. La Harpe gave him thousands of useful tips in this regard, forgetting to clarify that they are suitable only for Switzerland.

As soon as he ascended the throne, Alexander created a committee that the old aristocracy would call "the gang of Jacobins." The ideas were great.

First of all, the twelve thousand disgraced nobles were given back their former rights. The gallows are gone. It was allowed to bring books from abroad. Printing houses that fell under the ban of Pavel were opened. The first Masonic lodge was created. Liberal reforms began in the field of education, etc.

However, a significant part of the benefits quickly revealed some unpleasant side.

And then the war with Napoleon began, during which the sovereign got the opportunity to closely explore Europe (which he looked up to), including studying the most advanced country of his time - France.

There, Alexander the Blessed made one curious observation, saying that thirty million cattle live in this country, endowed with words without rules, without honor, and nothing can be where there is no religion.

After that, the dream of making mankind happy, alas, did not completely disappear, but took a new direction. The old faithful Arakcheev was called up, who was instructed to make Russia great through the creation of military settlements.

The sovereign read this idea in a French book. There is reason to believe that he also became acquainted with the experience of the English proto-communists. Unfortunately, he liked it all.

However, there is some logic here. It did not work out with the liberal idea, which means that we need to move on to communist experiments - one follows from the other. The way that Russia in the name of "progress" in the 20th century will go en masse, Emperor Alexander tried to test at the beginning of the 19th century.

With the same success.

The military settlements rebelled, their inhabitants (crowds of thousands of people) fell on their knees before the king, begging to save them from experiments on arranging a paradise on earth. During these years there was one very characteristic episode. Once, being present at the maneuvers of the troops, the tsar sternly remarked to the head of the exercises, Count M.S. Vorontsov: “It would be necessary to speed up the pace!”

To which Vorontsov calmly objected: “Sire! With this step we came to Paris.”

overcoming

But how many at that time thought and felt like Count Vorontsov? Alas, he was a happy exception - in any case, his own grandmother did not stuff him with Voltairianism - this is already great luck.

And here we are faced with the question - what criteria are allowed to us by God for judgments about people? Let us recall how Pushkin grew morally, how the revolutionary Lev Tikhomirov overcame himself. Only by separating the delusions imposed by circumstances from a person's own aspirations, we are able to stand on the ground of truth.

To begin with, we note that the tsar himself came to Paris with the same Russian step as his soldiers. During the war, having humbled himself, he chose the only correct line of conduct. He appointed Kutuzov commander-in-chief, with whom he was on cool terms, and supported him in every possible way, forgiving even the fall of Moscow. I never took credit for other people's victories.

This ability in difficult times to rise to the height of his task was characteristic of the sovereign. It seems to others that he did nothing special in 1812, everything went naturally. But if we remember the lost Crimean War and our other unsuccessful campaigns, we will understand how expensive naturalness is.

The sovereign gradually began to find more and more consolation in simple, folk forms of faith, to seek communion with the elders.

There is reason to believe that around this time, Alexander the Blessed met with the Monk Seraphim. A story about this by an eyewitness monk from Sarov has been preserved (N.B. Gorbacheva. "Seraphim of Sarov". M., "Olympus", 1998)

The Orthodox noticed this turn immediately. Against the mystics-masons, who were patronized by the chief prosecutor of the Synod Golitsyn himself, the rector of the St. Petersburg Seminary, Father Innokenty (Smirnov), to whom His Grace Mikhail of Petersburg sympathized, rebelled.

After the expulsion and death of Father Innokenty (he died as Bishop of Penza - Golitsyn wanted to send him to Orenburg, but Vladyka Michael stood up), the banner of resistance was picked up by Archimandrite Photius, an ascetic, a zealot from the simple.

Golitsyn and he managed to expel him from St. Petersburg, but on the eve of his departure, in 1820, Father Fotiy delivered a sermon in the Kazan Cathedral, in which he called on the Orthodox to fight against Freemasonry.

With this speech, he was able to gain loyal supporters, thanks to whom he met with the sovereign. The king bowed at Photius' feet and subsequently called him an angel sent from heaven.

At that time, an even more determined enemy of Freemasonry, Metropolitan Seraphim, took the place of Vladyka Michael at the St. Petersburg cathedra.

The admission of Western mystics into the sphere of our religious education was probably the most dangerous "good deed" performed by the sovereign. Fortunately, he corrected this error as best he could.

"Grow my beard"

Over the years, the sovereign increasingly spoke of leaving the throne. Not a single friend remained around him, except perhaps the old man Arakcheev, who had inherited from his father.

By 1819, negotiations on the transfer of power to brother Konstantin ended in vain. He, according to Baron Korf, flatly refused the rights of the heir. (Baron Korfa. "The Accession to the Throne of Emperor Nicholas I". St. Petersburg, 1857). Then the choice finally fell on the Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich.

It can be assumed that the sovereign still dreamed of settling on the Rhine. But by this time his relationship with his wife was already hopelessly damaged, and idyllic plans lost all price for Alexander the Blessed.

But is there any evidence that he could, having abandoned everything, leave to wander around Rus'?

Surprisingly, such confirmation, although indirect, exists.

After the capture of Moscow by Napoleon, when the question arose of signing peace with the Corsican, Tsar Alexander exclaimed:

- I will grow my beard and agree to eat bread in the bowels of Siberia rather than sign the shame of my Fatherland!

We cannot ignore these words for a number of reasons.

First, we know about the secret desire of the king to leave the throne.

And then - where did this beard come from, the idea of living on bread alone, and, finally, why on earth was Siberia, as the desired place for self-expulsion, indicated by the sovereign in a moment of great excitement?

Here it must be definitely said that even if all this was not thought carefully before being expressed, then, at least subconsciously, the sovereign had already found a replacement for the “house on the Rhine”.

And so, we are forced to admit that even if the mysterious old man Fyodor Kuzmich was not Emperor Alexander, then the tsar himself laid the first stone in this legend in 1812.

But if everything was limited to the first stone ...

Departure to the south

In 1821, the tsar first received news that a secret society had formed in the country, claiming power. In response, he remarked: "It is not for me to judge them."

In principle, some measures were taken against the conspirators. Masonic lodges and underground societies were banned, and the secret police were recreated. But there was no real determination to fight the future Decembrists in the sovereign. Saying “it’s not for me to judge them,” he recalled how he himself ascended the throne. And it tied hands, led to a dead end, from which there was no way out, except perhaps ...

With love, the sovereign looked at his brother Nicholas, remembered him as a child. Grandmother Catherine the Great laughed, looking at the newborn: “His hands are a little smaller than mine.” It was a hero who is born one in ten thousand. A week later he was already eating porridge, the nurse could not cope with him, he held his head straight, rotating it with curiosity.

Alexander the Blessed knew that Nicholas could deal with the conspirators without much difficulty. And regardless of whether he was going to grow a beard and leave for Siberia or was preparing for death, we have reason to believe that on September 1, 1825, Tsar Alexander knew that he was leaving Petersburg forever.

Here are a few details of his farewell to the capital. During the prayer service before the shrine of St. Alexander Nevsky, the sovereign began to cry. Then, having made three bows before the relics of his heavenly patron, the sovereign said goodbye to Metropolitan Seraphim of Petrograd, visited the cell of hermit Alexei and went out into the courtyard of the Lavra.

There he turned to the brethren of the monastery: "Pray for me and for my wife." There were still tears in his eyes.

He left with his head uncovered, often turning to the cathedral and crossing himself.

From that day and for a month, the people saw a dark comet over St. Petersburg, the rays of which extended upward for a considerable distance.

On November 1, the comet disappeared, and after another 19 days a messenger rushed to St. Petersburg from Taganrog with the news: "Tsar Alexander the Blessed has died."

demise

A more or less official version of the death of Tsar Alexander is as follows. During a trip to the monastery of St. George carved into the rock in the Crimea, the sovereign caught a cold. The living quarters in the monastery were damp, and the emperor was lightly dressed. Meanwhile, his servant, wrapped in a warm coat, was shaking from the cold.

This was followed by a trip to Sevastopol, a study of the surroundings of Bakhchisarai, where the earth exudes poisonous vapors. At some point, the king admitted to his doctors that he had been feeling unwell for several days. From drugs and bloodletting, he flatly refused. The doctors were in despair, but they could not cope with their royal patient.

On November 15, Alexander confessed and took communion after the doctor Willie, in the presence of the Empress, announced to him that the end was approaching. The priest begged the sovereign to fulfill all the prescriptions of the doctors, but it was too late. Willie wrote on November 18: "There is no hope of saving my adored sovereign."

The excruciating agony lasted almost twelve hours. On Thursday, November 19 (December 1, according to the new style), at 10:50, Tsar Alexander the Blessed died. The empress, who did not leave the patient, closed his eyes and tied his chin with her handkerchief.

But only at first glance everything is clear here. The death of the sovereign is covered with a thick veil of secrecy. To begin with, there is no evidence that it was his body that was delivered to St. Petersburg in a coffin.

True, Empress Maria Feodorovna kissed the hand of the deceased several times and said: “Yes, this is my dear son, my dear Alexander.” But a few hours before, when the coffin arrived in the capital, the head of the cortege warned:

"Inexorable decay turned the sovereign face into a black-and-green mask, unrecognizably distorting the features." And he gave recommendations not to open the coffin at all.

Thus, the testimony of Maria Feodorovna loses all value. It can only be assumed that the deceased had a certain anatomical resemblance to Emperor Alexander.

Where the body went afterward is unknown. There is numerous evidence that in 1921 the sarcophagi of members of the royal family were opened by the Bolsheviks. All the remains lay in their places, and only the ashes of Alexander the First were missing. The famous artist Korovin spoke about this, referring to the People's Commissar Lunacharsky.

Similar data came from A. Sievers, V. Lukomsky (well-known experts in various historical and art disciplines), O.V. Aptekman (an employee of the Petrograd Historical and Revolutionary Archives), Archbishop Nikolai (in the world of doctor V.M. Muravyov-Uralsky). If a new opening of the tomb shows that they were telling the truth, we will have to finally admit that instead of the ashes of the sovereign in November 1925, the body of a completely different person arrived in the capital.

We add that the records of Count P. Volkonsky, who was relentlessly with the tsar until his death, the records of the life physician and the doctor, are full of contradictions, and the diary of the empress suddenly breaks off a week before the death of her husband. When she died, the papers of the empress fell into the hands of the new sovereign, Nikolai Pavlovich. He carefully examined them and burned them.

Prince Baryatinsky, the most famous researcher of the legend of the elder Fyodor Kuzmich, collected countless evidence that under the guise of the ashes of Tsar Alexander, the body of a completely different person was delivered to Petersburg.

According to Baryatinsky, we are talking about the Sergeant Major of the Life Guards Semenovsky Regiment Strumensky.

The prince got the main argument from the pathoanatomical examination of the body of "Alexander", which showed that the "king" died from an old "French disease". This became known when, at the request of Baryatinsky, the autopsy protocol was independently studied by four of the most prominent medical authorities in Russia. Meanwhile, in the history of the life of the king and all the diseases with which he had been ill, even after opening the archives, no indications of syphilis could be found.

But they could well have been infected in France by a soldier - a participant in the war with Napoleon. It is known that shortly before the official date of his death, the sovereign visited a military infirmary. Was it not there that he found a dying man who temporarily took his place in the coffin, and then was buried in a place unknown to us?

And, finally, we give one more argument. The nephew of the life surgeon D.K. memorial service until 1864, after which he began to serve them annually.

What happened in 1864?

And here we return to where we started this material. On January 20, 1864, the mysterious old man Fyodor Kuzmich, Saint Fyodor of Tomsk, died in Tomsk, whose memory we commemorate on February 2 and July 5 according to the new style.

V.MAMAEV

(Ending to follow)

New 19th century Russia started with a new emperor - Alexander I Pavlovich (1801-1825) .
And the first quarter of this century passed under the sign of inconsistency.

The emperor himself and his deeds were contradictory.
Contemporaries and historians not only noted this inconsistency, but also tried to find its causes.

Let's start with Alexander Pushkin, a contemporary of the namesake emperor.
IN 1822 in his "Message to the Censor" one line: he described the hopes of the advanced part of society for the Russian future.
But already in subsequent works, Pushkin expresses disappointment with the results of the emperor's activities.

In a poem "On Alexander I" , written in the last years of the reign of the emperor, there are lines:

Pushkin sneers at Alexander's addiction to military parades and divorces, the love for which he inherited from his father Paul I, and the soldier-Prussian atmosphere of the Gatchina courtyard, in which he spent his childhood.

Well, in "Eugene Onegin" (1827-1830 ) he no longer spares the memory of the emperor:

The era of Alexander I is also an era of hopes and disappointments.
Here are some of the historians' assessments.

Klyuchevsky V.O.:

« Alexander came to the throne with a reserve of lofty and benevolent aspirations, which were supposed to establish freedom and prosperity in the ruled people, but did not give an account of how to do this. This freedom and prosperity, it seemed to him, should have been established immediately, by themselves, without labor and obstacles, by some kind of magical “suddenly”.

Of course, at the first experiment, obstacles were encountered; not accustomed to overcome difficulties, the Grand Duke began to get annoyed with people and with life, became discouraged. Unaccustomed to work and struggle developed in him a tendency to give up prematurely, to tire too soon; barely starting the business, the Grand Duke was already weary of him; tired before going to work.

Such shortcomings, taken out of education, were most strongly reflected in the initial reformative program.».

Klyuchevsky V.O.:

« ... If an outside observer who had the opportunity to get acquainted with the Russian state order and Russian public life at the end of the reign of Catherine, then returned to Russia at the end of the reign of Alexander and carefully peered into Russian life, he would not notice that there was an era of government and social transformations; he would not have noticed the reign of Alexander.

What was the reason for this failure of these transformational undertakings? It consisted in their internal inconsistency ... The emperor and his staff decided to introduce new state institutions before civil relations agreed with them were created, they wanted to build a liberal constitution in a society half of which was in slavery, that is, they hoped to achieve consequences before causes who produced them».

Grech N.I.:

« The accession to the throne of Emperor Alexander was the most blessed: he ended the reign of horror, destroyed the Secret Chancellery, restored the rights of the Senate, the nobility and humanity, abolished strict and, of course, ridiculous and stupid censorship. Russia rested. But the image of accession to the throne left in the soul of Alexander an unbearable burden, with which he went to the grave..

Alexander was a problem for his contemporaries, he is unlikely to be unraveled even by posterity. Nature endowed him with a kind heart, a bright mind, but did not give him independence of character, and this weakness, by a strange contradiction, turned into stubbornness. He was kind, but vindictive at the same time; he did not execute people, but pursued them slowly with all the outward signs of benevolence and mercy; they said about him that he used a whip on cotton wool ...»

Solovyov S. M.:

« Unusually receptive, impressionable by nature, at the most impressionable age he was impressed by a whole range of phenomena, unprecedented in their strength, and when their deafening effect began to stop, this internal shaking, pitching began, which did not give rest and the opportunity to concentrate thoughts and feelings. . The impression of this pitching could be further weakened if a young person could be accustomed to mentally focus on important activities, go into the details of affairs and through this create a solid ground for himself, rotate among real, close, tangible relationships. But he was deprived of such occupations; he was condemned to treat everything either passively or negatively».

2. The formation of the personality of Alexander Pavlovich

Alexander Pavlovich was born December 12, 1777 during the reign of his grandmother Catherine II the Great.

Levitsky, Dmitry Grigorievich. Portrait of Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich as a child. 1787

His childhood passed against the backdrop of difficult relations between the Empress and her son Paul, who, in order to avoid conflicts, moved to the Gatchina estate.
The empress-grandmother directed all her unspent emotions to her grandson, to teach him to read and write she even compiled an alphabet, which in history was called "grandmother's alphabet".

Since childhood, the boy had to balance between Gatchina and Tsarskoye Selo, which taught him to be secretive, deceitful, flattering, deceitful and betrayal.
Alexander learned to play roles well, to create the impression that was expected of him.

Catherine planned to deprive her son Paul of the right to the throne, making her grandson Alexander the heir.
To this end, in 15 year old the age of Alexander Pavlovich was married to 14-year-old Louise Maria Augusta of Baden-Baden Durlach (in Orthodoxy Elizaveta Alekseevna).

Monnier, Jean Laurent. Portrait of Empress Elizabeth Alekseevna. 1807

Shortly before her death, Catherine the Great directly announced her plans to her grandson, for which she received written gratitude.
But the highest dignitaries did not go to violate the order of succession to the throne, and in 1796 , after the death of Catherine II the Great, her son Pavel I Petrovich becomes emperor, and Alexander becomes crown prince.

The relationship between father and son was irreparably damaged, and therefore it is not surprising that Paul I began to approach his wife's nephew, Prince Eugene of Wuntemberg , whom he even intended to adopt.
That is why Alexander, knowing about the palace coup against his father, approved it, taking only an oath from the conspirators not to kill Paul.
However, the emperor was brutally murdered, and this guilt weighed heavily on Alexander's soul.

A.I. Herzen wrote about him:

« Crowned Hamlet, who was haunted by the shadow of his father all his life».

3. Reforms of the first years of the reign

Alexander I Pavlovich ascended the throne in 1801 23 year old idealist.
But his idealism lacked willpower and perseverance.
He quickly became infected with progressive ideas, spoke about them with frank enthusiasm, but also quickly cooled down if he encountered difficulties that he could not overcome.

Unknown artist. Portrait of Alexander I. Around 1802

The French envoy Viscount La Ferrone wrote in 1823 about the Russian emperor:

« What every day becomes more and more difficult for me to understand and recognize is the character of the emperor himself. I do not think that it was possible to speak better than him in the language of frankness and frankness: a conversation with him always leaves a favorable impression; you leave him in the full conviction that this sovereign combines the qualities of a true chevalier with all the qualities of a great monarch, a man with a deep mind and endowed with the greatest energy. He argues excellently, his arguments are the most convincing, he speaks with the eloquence and fervor of a man of conviction. But in the end, experience, the history of his life and what I see every day, warns you not to trust all this too much. Numerous examples of weakness prove to you that the energy he expresses in his words is not always in his character; but on the other hand, this weak character may suddenly experience attacks of energy and irritation, and such an attack may be enough to suddenly make the most drastic decisions, the consequences of which become incalculable ...».

Since childhood, maneuvering between the Catherine and Pavlovsk courts, Alexander in his reign was afraid to rely on the dignitaries of his grandmother and father.
So he made up his court of the liberal-minded friends of his youth.

Under the young emperor, a circle of like-minded people formed - The secret committee , which included V.P. Kochubey, P.A. Stroganov, N.N. Novosiltsev, A.A. Czartoryski.

These people entered Indispensable advice , consisting of 12 people, involved in the development of reforms and had the right to protest the actions and decrees of the emperor.

This council met regularly until May 1802 when the Committee of Ministers was created by ministerial reform, and with the establishment of the State Council in 1810 was finally abolished.
But at the first stage, the Indispensable Council played an important role in the development of the reforms of Alexander I.

"The Days of Alexander's are a great start" was marked by the lifting of the prohibitions established by Paul I:

March 14, 1801.	- a nominal decree on lifting the ban on the export of products and goods from Russia;
March 15, 1801.	- restoration of noble elections; - personal decree "On the forgiveness of people held in cases carried out in the Secret Expedition" (political amnesty);
March 16, 1801.	- removal of the ban on the import of goods from abroad;
April 2, 1801.	- Restoration of Letters of Complaint to the nobility and cities; - Manifesto "On the destruction of the Secret Expedition and on the conduct of affairs carried out in it, in the Senate."

But if we talk about the main directions in the domestic policy of Alexander I, then the following stand out:

1) attempts to eliminate serfdom;
2) reforming public administration.

4. Reforming the serfdom

The young emperor was not the first of the Russian monarchs to think about the need to eliminate serfdom in Russia.

His grandmother Catherine II at the beginning of her reign ordered to consider the issue "on the benefits of free labor" .
Moreover, when developing the "Order", she planned to insert a clause on the abolition of serfdom, but these theses did not pass the nobility's censorship.
Subsequently, as we know, "Pugachevism" finally turned her away from thoughts about the liberation of the peasants.

Under Alexander I, the law provided for several ways to free the serfs:

1) obtaining (purchasing) free;
2) release as a reward for long-term service (it happened quite rarely);
3) obtaining freedom after captivity in Muslim countries;
4) obtaining freedom by graduates of some educational institutions.

But Alexander wanted to create a legislative instrument for the mass emancipation of the peasants.

With his first step, the emperor stopped the grants of state peasants to landowners, which was widely practiced by his father Paul.

At the same time, he decided to stop the practice of selling peasants one by one without land, which destroyed peasant families.
Already in May 1801 Alexander forbade newspapers to publish advertisements for the sale of serfs.
But this attempt ended unsuccessfully - in the newspaper ads, the peasants began to "lease" .

The project of buying estates with peasants for non-nobles on the condition of automatic release of the peasants of the purchased estate was not fully implemented either.

December 12, 1801 a law was issued on the right to purchase land by merchants, petty bourgeois, state and specific peasants, but without serfs.
Without changing the position of the serfs, this law, however, deprived the nobility of the monopoly on land.

IN 1802 graph S.P. Rumyantsev (son of the famous field marshal of Catherine's times) expressed a desire to free the serfs of one of his estates, for which he asked permission from the emperor.

Alexander enthusiastically met this initiative, which came from the landowner.

In a letter to the count, the emperor expressed his gratitude:

« From Moniter, May 3, 1803: With sincere satisfaction, I grant you what you have asked of me. It is clear to me that the motives that guided you belong to those generous impulses of sympathetic and firm souls, which at all times contributed to the happiness of mankind; to this due tribute that I pay to you, I also add the hope of happy results, which the decree given by me at your suggestion cannot but have; regardless of the advantages received by those to whom it refers, it should contribute to the improvement of agriculture and strengthen the general well-being on unshakable foundations: this is what I consider it my duty to be grateful to you; my favor belongs to you forever, and as evidence of my feelings, I ask you to accept my portrait.

Count S.P. Rumyantsev receives a decree from Emperor Alexander on the release of the peasants

This appeal was used by the emperor to publish February 20, 1803 Decree on free cultivators .

The decree determined the conditions for release:

1) voluntary release;
2) release one by one or by entire villages with land for a ransom or service (the decree forbade landless release, since a landless peasant is not a taxpayer, and, having no means of subsistence, will be dangerous for the state);
3) the contract was submitted for approval by the emperor (after approval, the peasants were transferred to the category of free cultivators).

1804 was marked by two decrees.

The Baltic States is the western region of the Russian Empire, where it has long been forbidden to sell peasants without land.
By a new decree, the Livonian peasants were given the status "households" (lifetime and hereditary tenants who have the right to redeem their lands).
Here a layer of prosperous peasantry is being created, freed from recruitment duty and corporal punishment without trial.

The second decree in October 1804 gave the right to merchants who had risen to the 8th level of the Table of Ranks to buy inhabited lands, provided that the peasants became free, and the new owner would conclude an agreement with them.

Since 1805 Russia entered a period of wars with Napoleonic France.

The victorious conclusion of the war, according to Alexander, created favorable conditions for the resumption of reform activities.

Firstly During the war, rumors spread that, in gratitude for the fight against the French, the tsar would grant freedom to the people after the war.
Under such conditions, the lack of change in the situation of the peasants could lead to a mass revolt.

Secondly , among the noble officers who had been abroad and compared the development of the West and Russia, supporters of the abolition of serfdom appeared, who could support the emperor.

Third , landlords came up with initiatives to abolish serfdom on their lands Estonia (Baltic).

In 1816 was published Regulations on Estonian peasants , according to which the peasants of Estonia became personally free, but the land remained in the ownership of the landowners.
The law ordered that half of the landlords' land be transferred to the peasants on the basis of agreements.

In 1818-19. similar provisions have been issued for Courland And Livonia , a project was being prepared for Ukraine.

Thus, the Baltics , as a more developed region in close contact with the West, was the first to abandon serfdom.

But the landlords of Russia itself stubbornly opposed this.

In 1818 Alexander I instructed to develop three alternative projects for the liberation of the peasants at once.

First developed by admiral N.S. Mordvinov .

He proposed landless release of the peasants for ransom to the landowner, while the proceeds were to go to the development of the landowner's economy.
The size of the ransom depended on the age and labor force of the employee: children 9-10 years old - 100 rubles, adults 30-40 years old (the most able-bodied) - 2 thousand rubles, and from 50 years old, due to old age and weakness, the size of the ransom was sharply reduced.

Such a project had serious drawbacks, because. allowed only prosperous (“capitalist”) peasants to be redeemed for freedom, moreover, without land.

Second project was presented A.A. Arakcheev , With 1815 became the second person in the state.

Arakcheev proposed to the state to redeem peasants with land from the landlords (2 acres per capita) at prices prevailing in the area.
However, to implement this project, the state needed about 5 million rubles annually, and the liberation itself had to drag on for 200 years.

Third project owned by the Minister of Finance E.F. Kankrin .

His note to the emperor contains a whole program for the gradual abolition of serfdom, designed for 60 years, i.e. before 1880 :

1819	- Establishment of a commission to accurately monitor the progress of affairs.
1820	- granting peasants the right to acquire land and fixing houses and real estate in their inalienable property.
1822	- reforming the state peasants. State lands are to be divided among the peasant communities, which, in turn, divide the land among households. Over time, this rule was planned to be extended to landlord peasants. At the same time, Kankrin proposed replacing the poll tax with a household tax.
1825	- reduction and concretization of peasant duties and the appointment by the government of certain world mediators who act as patrons of the peasants.
1827	- granting the peasants the right to inherit the yards and the elimination of the patrimonial landlord court.
1830	- the establishment of the right of birthright in estates with the number of peasants less than 250 souls, which was supposed to stop the fragmentation of estates. Birthright – A system of inheritance in which the father's estate passes to the eldest son.
1835	- arrangement of everyday life of yard people.
1840	- the definition of a tax for the redemption of peasants with land and without it, for which a loan bank was established.
1850	- the beginning of the gradual declaration of the land as the property of the peasants.

By 1880 the final completion of all redemption operations was planned.

All three projects proposed very different methods for the abolition of serfdom, but they had one important thing in common - they were all aimed at protecting the landowners from material damage.

Despite the secrecy, information about the projects was leaked to the nobility, which quite weightily expressed their dissatisfaction, which finally forced Alexander I to abandon the planned transformations.

5. Public Administration Reforms

The liberal ideas of Alexander I went much further than plans for the abolition of serfdom.

As a monarch, he opposed hereditary absolute monarchy, capable of taking the form of despotism.

The young emperor said: "To give freedom to Russia and protect it from encroachments, despotism and tyranny - that's my only desire."

But even his "young friends" opposed the restriction of autocracy, believing that only with strong power would the emperor be able to transform Russia.

The transformation began in 1802 With ministerial reform based on the introduction of the principle of unity of command.

September 8, 1802 Alexander I signed the Manifesto "On the Establishment of Ministries" , by which the colleges of Peter I, based on the collegial principle of management, were replaced by ministries with the sole control of the minister.

Total was created 8 ministries : military ground forces, military naval forces, foreign affairs, internal affairs, finance, justice, commerce, public education.

Ministers and chief executives with the rights of ministers formed Committee of Ministers , the status of which was legislatively fixed only in 1812 .
Some colleges were introduced into the ministries as departments.

The same manifesto confirmed the status State Treasury as the central institution of state administration, to which they subordinated Expedition about state revenues .

Simultaneously with the ministerial reform began Senate reform .

Decree September 8, 1802 "On the Rights and Duties of the Senate" this state body was assigned the highest administrative, judicial and supervisory authorities.

The Senate was given the right to make representations about issued decrees if they contradicted other laws.
Moreover, the ministers were obliged to submit their reports to the Senate annually, which the senators could protest.

True, a few months later, due to an attempt by the Senate to protest the report of the Minister of War already approved by the emperor, a conflict arose that led to a decree dated March 21, 1803 prohibiting the Senate from challenging newly issued laws.
And in 1805 The Senate was transformed into a purely judicial body.
The main governing body is the Committee of Ministers.

The ministerial and senatorial reforms drew a line under the initial stage of the reforms of Alexander I.

Firstly , the emperor realized that the weakening of autocratic power only leads to increased noble resistance to his reform plans.
That is why he tends to plans to concentrate all power in his hands.

Secondly , the emperor realized that even his "young friends" were so closely connected with the noble elite that they could not serve as his faithful support.
That is why he from May 1802 collects the Indispensable advice less and less, and increasingly begins to rely on people personally devoted to him, among whom is his father's favorite A.A. Arakcheev , A since 1806 - M.M. Speransky .

Varnek, Alexander Grigorievich. Portrait of M.M. Speransky. 1824

Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky was the son of a village priest.

After graduating from the Alexander Nevsky Seminary, he was left there as a mathematics teacher.
In search of additional income, Speransky simultaneously enters the service as a personal secretary to the Prosecutor General A.B. Kurakin .
But very soon he finally stops teaching and completely switches to the civil service.

In March 1801 Speransky becomes secretary of state under D.P. Troshinsky, who performed the work of state secretary under the emperor.

And already summer 1801 member of the secret committee V.P. Kochubey attracts Speransky to the development of state bills.

Since 1806 , after a personal acquaintance, Alexander I begins to bring Speransky closer to him, entrusting him with "personal affairs."

The plan for state reform was outlined by Speransky in 1809 in a note "Introduction to the Code of State Laws" .
The project was based on the idea that Russia belongs to European civilization and the need for a gradual transition to a constitutional monarchy.

The Speransky project proposed the introduction of several new for Russia principles :

1. Selectivity principle government agencies:

only the merchants and the nobility, who were to choose the county, volost and provincial Dumas, were to receive the right to vote with a property qualification;
The top of the electoral system was to be the legislative State Duma.

2. The principle of separation of powers:

legislative power - the elected State Duma;
executive power - the Committee of Ministers, accountable to the State Duma;
judiciary - the Senate;
The State Council, appointed and headed by the emperor, was to become the pinnacle of the system of state power.

3. Giving civil and political rights:

civil rights were to be received by all estates, including serfs (for example, the impossibility of punishment without trial), but the scope of rights depended on the estate;
only the propertied strata received political rights.

Speransky stated that the purpose of the law is to protect the person and property, and only those who have the most interest in protecting the right to property.
In addition, there are more poor than haves, and if they are given the right to vote, they will achieve a majority in the legislative State Duma.

The project started in 1810 with the establishment of the State Council, in which Speransky himself was appointed secretary of state.

IN 1811 law "General Establishment of Ministries" ministerial reform was completed.

The law specified the functions of ministries and established the principle of direct responsibility of ministers to the emperor.

At the beginning of 1811 presented to the Council of State Senate transformation project .

Speransky proposed to divide the Senate into two special institutions:

1) Governing Senate , consisting of ministers with their comrades (deputies) and heads of special (main) parts of the administration.
Its competence included: promulgation of laws; conclusion of contracts and placement of contracts for "important amounts"; reports to the emperor.

2) Judicial Senate , half of whose composition is appointed by the emperor, and half is elected by the nobles.
The decisions of the Judicial Senate were to be recognized as final and not subject to appeal.
It is worth noting that it was the plans to elect half of the Senate by nobles that provoked a protest from the members of the State Council, who believe that this leads to a harmful restriction of autocracy.

Despite the approval of the draft reform of the Senate, this reform stalled and was not implemented.

The dissatisfaction of the bureaucracy caused and Decree on court ranks April 3, 1809 , instructing courtiers in the ranks of chamberlain and chamber junker to enter the civil service within two months (previously these titles were not connected with certain and permanent official duties, but gave important advantages).

August 6, 1809 was published Nominal Decree "On the rules of promotion to ranks in the civil service and on tests in the sciences, for the production of Collegiate Assessors and State Councilors" .

According to it, the practice of conferring the ranks of collegiate assessor (grade 8) and state councilor (grade 5) for long service was terminated.
For production to these ranks, applicants had to submit a certificate of completion of a course at one of the Russian universities or pass an exam on knowledge of Russian and one of the foreign languages, natural, Roman and civil law, national history and basic information about world history, statistics of the Russian state, geography , mathematics and physics.

Both decrees were developed by Speransky in secret from the courtiers and officials, and their publication caused a commotion among the aristocracy.
The reforms were criticized primarily for the fact that in order to obtain a rank they excluded the availability of experience and special knowledge, but required a general university education.
Moreover, Russian reality led to the fact that passing the exam took the form of a formality and led to the trade in university certificates.

6. Reforms in the financial sector

Another area of reform activity of the pre-war period was financial transformation .

As a result of the wars against Napoleonic France, which began in 1805 , and the continental blockade, which Russia was forced to join due to Tilsit treaty 1807 , the financial sector was in a deplorable state.

IN 1810 the budget deficit was 66 million rubles with an income of 127 million rubles.

Speransky proposed a number of measures to improve finances:

1) Reducing the costs of all government departments and establishing strict control over them .
The expenditures of state departments were placed under the control of the Minister of Finance and the State Council, without whose approval not a single ruble could be spent.
2) Monetary reform .
To restore confidence in money, Speransky planned to increase the number of small silver coins that were supposed to replace copper ones.
The silver ruble was adopted as the main monetary unit.

3) Development of domestic and foreign trade .
Designed by Speransky customs tariff 1810 And Trade Code introduced protectionist measures that reduced the influx of foreign factory goods and facilitated the export of Russian goods.
Speransky's tariffs imposed a huge duty on a number of French goods, and the trade code allowed English ships under neutral flags to enter Russian ports.
This aroused Napoleon's indignation and prompted him to prepare for war with Russia, which he wanted to force to submit to the anti-British continental blockade.

4) tax reform .
February 2, 1810 And February 11, 1812 laws were issued that significantly increased taxes (for example, the poll tax increased from 1 ruble to 3).
But most of all, the nobility, previously freed from all taxes, was outraged by the introduction of a tax on noble estates.
Moreover, a progressive tax was established, i.e. the greater the income from the estate, the greater the tax.
From 500 rubles of income, the tax was 1%, and from income over 18 thousand rubles - 10%.

The result of the tax reform was the reduction of the state budget deficit to 6 million rubles.
But the increase in taxes caused dissatisfaction among the population, which was taken advantage of by conservative circles, which opposed "priest upstart" Speransky conspiracy.

Among the conspirators were the highest persons and top officials, of which Arakcheev stood out.

Speransky was accused of spying for Napoleon, and the emperor could not stand the pressure.
March 17, 1812 Speransky was summoned to an audience with the emperor, after which he was sent into exile in Nizhny Novgorod.

« If your hand were cut off, you would surely scream and complain that you were in pain; Speransky was taken away from me last night, and he was my right hand!”.

At this, the reforms in the field of public administration of the pre-war period ceased.

7. Constitutional reforms

The post-war period is characterized by the attempts of Alexander I to spend in Russia constitutional reform .

Constitutionalism in Russia began in the annexed European territories.

By Friedrichsham Peace Treaty 1809 who ended the Russo-Swedish War 1808-1809. , Finland retreated to Russia.
On its territory was formed Grand Duchy of Finland with broad autonomy and an elected representative body of power - the Sejm.

The defeat of Napoleonic France gave a new impetus to the reform activities of Alexander I.

Firstly by decision of the Congress of Vienna May 3, 1815 most of the territory Duchy of Warsaw was transferred to the Russian Empire.

Alexander I promised to grant Kingdom of Poland (as it was planned to call this new territory) a constitution and autonomous rights.

Secondly , among the noble officers who visited the Foreign campaign, there were supporters of the constitutional development of Russia (the future Decembrists).

In November 1815 Emperor signed the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland.

Poland was turning into a hereditary monarchy with broad autonomy.
The Russian emperor was declared the Polish king, but only a Pole could be appointed governor.
Legislative power was concentrated in the hands of the king and the bicameral parliament - the Sejm.

At the opening of the Polish Sejm in March 1818 Alexander I delivered a speech in which he stated that he hoped to extend the Polish experience to the entire empire:

« The device that already existed in your region allowed me to immediately introduce the one that I bestowed on you, guided by the rules of free institutions, which have not ceased to be the subject of my care and whose beneficial influence I hope, with the help of God, to extend to all countries entrusted to my care. Thus, you gave me a means to show my fatherland what I have been preparing for it for a long time and what it will use as soon as the beginnings of such an important matter reach proper maturity ... ".

At the end of 1818 On behalf of the emperor, work began on the Russian constitution.

The management of the development of the project was entrusted to a former member of the Unspoken Committee, the representative of the emperor at the council in the Kingdom of Poland during the formation of constitutional bodies there. Nikolai Nikolaevich Novosiltsev .

By 1820 drafted a constitutional "Charter of the Russian Empire" , which used elements of Speransky's draft and the Polish constitution.

The "letter" provided for the transformation of the empire into a federation, consisting of 10-12 governorships headed by governors-general, who ruled jointly with local bicameral diets.

The central authorities were to be built on the principle of separation of powers:

sovereign power in the hands of the emperor

« Article 12
The sovereign is the sole source of all civil, political, legislative and military powers in the empire. /…/"

Legislative power belongs to the bicameral parliament - the State Seimas, consisting of the Senate and the Chamber of Ambassadors:".

« Article 91
Let the Russian people be, from now on forever have a people's representation. It should consist in the State Sejm (State Duma), composed of the sovereign and two chambers. The first, under the name of the highest chamber, forms the Senate; and the second under the name of the embassy chamber, zemstvo ambassadors and deputies of district city societies ".

« Article 101
Legislative power lies in the person of the sovereign with the assistance of the two chambers of the State Seimas ... "

« Article 114
The General State Diet is composed of the sovereign and two chambers. The first, under the name of the Higher House, is formed by the Senate Department, which is present in one of the two capitals, with the addition to it only for the time of the Sejm and by appointment of the Sovereign from the Two Departments of a certain number of senators, an educational institution determined. The second, under the name of the chamber of zemstvo ambassadors, is compiled, by appointment of the sovereign from half the number of ambassadors and deputies, in each viceroyal region by the ambassadorial chamber from among its elected ones ".

executive branch entrusted to the State Council:

« Article 36
The State Council is divided into a general meeting of the council and a governing council or committee of ministers..

« Article 45
The execution of laws is entrusted, according to the General Establishment of Ministries, issued on June 25, 1811, to the following ministries or main departments. /…/"

judicial branch finally separated from the legislative and executive:

« Article 175
Courts and persons bearing the rank of judges, in the performance of the duties assigned to them, act according to the laws and independently of any authority..

« Article 182
The department of the supreme state court is subject to investigation and punishment for all crimes of lèse majesté, for crimes against the state and all illegal acts of high officials, whose prosecution depends on the senate, by virtue of Art. 145, and from the general meeting of the State Council, by virtue of Art. 42".

« Article 184
The verdicts of the supreme state court are final, but the execution of them is not carried out without the highest approval..

As an experiment, one governorship was established in Russia, and in 1821 returned from exile, Speransky was instructed to develop "Project for the Establishment of Viceroys" , but Novosiltsev never got around to implementing the Constitution.

There are several reasons:

Firstly , opposition of the nobility.

Secondly , the emperor was agitated by reports of secret revolutionary societies among noble officers.

Third , news of unrest in military settlements.

Fourth , the opposition of the Polish Sejm.

As a result, Alexander was convinced that the introduction of a constitution in Russia could lead to serious upheavals.

The last 10 years of the reign of Alexander I ( 1815-1825. ) went down in history under the name "Arakcheevshchina" (named after the Minister of War Arakcheev Alexey Andreevich ).

Doe, George. Portrait of Alexei Andreevich Arakcheev. 1823

"Arakcheevshchina" refers to the policy of reaction and abandoning the course of liberal reforms.

Among the signs, one can distinguish the imposition of cane discipline in the army, the tightening of censorship, the suppression of free thought, the introduction of military settlements.

The most striking reform of A.A. Arakcheev was the creation in Russia military settlements .

Even Emperor Paul I set himself the goal of how to sharply increase the size of the army in wartime and reduce it in peacetime in order to reduce the cost of maintaining it.

During the reign of Alexander I, two options were considered at the top.

First option provided for a reduction in the service life from 25 to 8 years and the creation of a reserve from the dismissed.
However, with the vast territories and the weak development of transport in Russia, a quick mobilization of reserves was impossible.

Second option assumed the creation of military units that combined military service with field peasant work.

The first military settlement was established in 1810 in the Klimovsky district of the Mogilev province, where the reserve battalion of the Yelets Musketeer Regiment was introduced.

In 1817 Arakcheev was appointed the official head of the military settlements.

The settled troops were formed from family soldiers and local male peasants aged 18 to 45.
After 45 years, the military settlers retired, but continued to serve in auxiliary jobs (for example, in hospitals).

"Military settlers" had to combine military service with agricultural work.

All military settlements were exempt from taxes and duties, but were obliged to supply food to the active army.

The life of military settlers was strictly regulated by military officers who supervised both agricultural work, and life, and military training.
However, the officers were most concerned about military training, which led to the fading of all trade and craft activities.
Yes, and agriculture, under the leadership of military men who were ignorant in agriculture, sometimes suffered greatly.

Military discipline extended to women with children.
Even marriages took place under the control and at the will of military officers.
The commander lined up single guys and unmarried girls in two lines and, walking between them, appointed grooms and brides.

Any disobedience was severely punished up to punishment with sticks and gauntlets (flexible vine rods 2 meters long).
The convict was tied by the hands to the butts of rifles and led between two ranks of soldiers, and each soldier inflicted a blow on the back of the offender.
An adult could not withstand more than 6 thousand sticks, and up to 10 thousand were prescribed.
In the end, the person was simply dragged, and the last blows were applied to the dead body.

The history of military settlements was accompanied by constant uprisings, the largest of which was the performance in the city of Chuguev, Kharkov province in 1819 .
275 people were then executed by the verdict of a military court.

IN 1857 during the reign of Alexander II, military settlements were finally abolished.

9. Reasons for the failure of reforms

The full implementation of the reformist plans of Alexander I and M.M. Speransky would lead to the evolution of Russian absolutism in the direction landlord-bourgeois monarchy .

It is worth remembering that the young idealist emperor's early ideas went even further.

Shortly before his death, he says: “And yet, no matter what they say about me, I lived and will die a Republican” .

But the plans were not destined to come true, and the emperor himself falls into apathy, falls into mysticism and religion and moves away from public affairs.

Several reasons can be identified.

Firstly , in the face of opposition from the nobility, the emperor showed an inability to rely on any new force interested in his transformations.

Recall that the success of the struggle of John IV the Terrible and Peter I with the noble boyars was largely supported by the nobility.

The bourgeoisie could have become the most interested in reforms in Russia, but by the beginning of the 19th century it had not yet formed.

Alexander did not dare to rely on the townspeople and the advanced nobility.

Secondly , the inconsistency of reforms.

Civil institutions cannot be grafted into a society that is mostly in slavery.

The main consequence of the failure of the reforms from above was the disappointment of the liberal part of society and the development of the Decembrist movement, which was inclined towards the idea of transformations through revolution from below.

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No. 6 [Posev, 1987]

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F. Batyushkov. Theatrical notes (novelties on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre). Publication. comments

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No. 5 [Amateur, 2019]

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Art history. Section "Choreography" study method. allowance

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No. 6. (214) My friend - William Shakespeare [I enter the world of art, 2015]

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No. 2 [Motherland, 2018]

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No. 28 [Interlocutor, 2019]

All-Russian weekly newspaper. One of the authoritative socio-political publications in Russia, the CIS and Baltic countries. The brand name throughout history remains an independent position. The newspaper was the pioneer of the principles and rules of the free press, which later began to be used by the new generation of media. "Interlocutor" is loved and read by the whole family, because the editorial board very correctly determines the interest of its readers and writes not only about political events in Russia and the world, social and economic problems and issues, but also raises issues of human health, analyzes the psychological aspects of ordinary people, gives reviews of novelties in cinema, theater and the book market.

. - The authority of Shishkan is based on the fact that, firstly, he is a Slav, and secondly, he was crowned in the early 90s<...>He was crowned in 1992.<...>For example, when an offer was received from Grigory Kozintsev to play Hamlet in the film, dad at the first moment<...>Dad took all the translations of Hamlet that were at that time, began to study and read them.<...>And Smoktunovsky entered the top five world artists who have ever played Hamlet.

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Library life of Kuzbass: express information. Issue. 2

In issue 2 collections "Library Life of Kuzbass" for 2006 present a chronicle of library life, materials on the assortment policy of Kuzbass libraries, on the main activities of the Krasnoyarsk State Regional Universal Scientific Library.

Desdemona /Othello/ Constance Bonacieux/ Dartagnan/ Ophelia /Hamlet / Dulcinea /Don Quixote/ Copyright JSC<...>/ Reward / If you want to meet this, you need to visit the crowned couple.

History of foreign literature. Renaissance study guide: workshop: Direction of preparation 032700.62 - Philology. Undergraduate

NCFU publishing house

The manual contains lecture notes, excerpts from documents, works of art and monographic works on each specific topic, equipped with terminological tools, questions for self-control, written tasks and tasks for monitoring competency, as well as lists of references on specific topics. The topics of the lectures correspond to the main theoretical and actual content of the discipline. It is intended for bachelors studying in the specialty 032700.62 - Philology of full-time and part-time forms of education and corresponds to the FSES VPO III generation.

A portrait in Avignon depicts him in his mature years: the Capitoline laurels with which he was crowned, as<...>sky, that night began to give way to Aurora, when a certain Beauty, as marvelous as Her earthly crowned<...>Hamlet and Laertes, Hamlet and Fortinbras, Hamlet and Horatio.<...>Russian translations of Hamlet. 8. " Hamlet"On the stage of the theater and in the cinema.<...>("Hamlet", II, 2.

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An attempt was made to follow the roads and worlds of Daniil Andreev's books - following the author, but with today's knowledge and understanding. This path is compared with the spiritual experience of other Russian ascetics. Published in: Bulletin of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, N1 (19), 2007.

However, Shakespeare's Hamlet and Dante utter similar bitter words about their native Denmark-prison.<...>unearthly calm emanating from this man suggests that if you imagine Gautama Buddha crowned

No. 1 [Text. Book. Book publishing, 2013]

The scientific journal was created in 2012 with the aim of bringing together scientists, editors and publishers - all those who are engaged in theoretical research of texts, issues of book culture and book publishing, solve applied tasks of editing and preparing printed and electronic publications.

Having four spear pieces of iron, and in the middle of it there is a small blue shield, in which a crowned<...>projected onto his inner state and allows him to perceive him as a kind of "Sicilian Hamlet<...>"Sicilian Hamlet" in the story by P. E de Musset is presented as a sacral-comic image that reveals<...>Hamlet as a literary archetype is both poeticized and parodied in Musset's story.<...>The image of the protagonist of Musset's play allows us to perceive him as a kind of "Italian Hamlet" of the period

preview: text. Book. Book edition №1 2013.pdf (0.5 Mb)

The article considers the formation of M.O. Menshikov (1859–1918) as a literary critic, the features of his polemics with representatives of the new populist criticism A.I. Bogdanovich and V.A. Goltsev, protection by Menshikov of the heritage of V.G. Belinsky, A.N. Dobrolyubova, N.G. Chernyshevsky in a polemic with A.L. Volynsky and D.S. Merezhkovsky

After all, Belinsky, in his hands, at his heart, endured the barely born literature, proclaimed it, crowned<...>Small critical notes of the same Turgenev (on Hamlet and Don Quixote), as notes on the art of L.N.

No. 6 [Literature (ID September 1), 2015]

COMPARISON OF THE IMAGES OF HAMLET AND DON QUIXOTE Hamlet Don Quixote Character Ideas about good and evil Attitude<...>Hamlet despises people, but Don Quixote loves them.<...>But it is I, in which he does not believe, dear to Hamlet.<...>Hamlet and Don Quixote) LLL D. David.<...>The young man was allegedly crowned in Salisbury with a large gathering of people.

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№3(15) [Amateur, 2017]

Diletant is a monthly history magazine for family reading. It was created for those who love history and want to know as much as possible about it. This is an easy way to enter the fascinating maelstrom of historical events. Here you do not have to read cumbersome texts, everything is simple, understandable and exciting. Each issue has a central, cross-cutting theme. In addition, the magazine contains several permanent headings: historical photography, historical parallel, infographics representing various weapons from ancient times to the twentieth century, archival materials, novelties on historical topics from the world of cinema, book publishing, electronic and board games... Their permanent headings are Andrey Bilzho and Dmitry Bykov.

She managed to convince her husband that she should be officially crowned as a co-ruler.<...>Nikolai on such a long journey was accompanied by an extensive retinue, including other crowned persons<...>The tragic story of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.<...>"The tragic story of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" by William Shakespeare was published in the translation of Andrei Korchevsky with<...>Be that as it may, for the first time in Russian, Hamlet is published, which is not known to the Russian public.

Preview: Amateur No. 3 (15) 2017.pdf (0.4 Mb)

№9(21) [Amateur, 2017]

chandeliers for the Hermitage Hall Historical lamps are an integral part of the Hermitage interiors. 50)J/.W"#$ Hamlet<...>Poster for the film Ivan the Terrible. 1944 Rubrika is conducted by Yuliya Kantor Hamlet and a neurasthenic Copyright OAO «<...>Your king turned out to be indecisive, similar to Hamlet.<...>The reason for its establishment came in 1967, when Pahlavi decided to officially crown Farah with the title<...>campaign and defeat near Poltava, the Swedish king Charles XII conquered Poland, and in 1705 he was crowned in Warsaw

Preview: Amateur No. 9 2017.pdf (0.2 Mb)

of the globe, from this monstrous empire in which every police officer is a king, and the king is crowned<...>knight”, “The Nose” and collections of poems by Koltsov and Polezhaev, Glinka’s “Susanin” and “Hamlet

Shakespeare, Bakhtin and Dostoevsky: Heroes and Authors in Big Time [monograph]

M.: Languages of Slavic culture

In the monograph by K.A. Stepanyan "Shakespeare, Bakhtin and Dostoevsky: heroes and authors in the big time" for the first time in domestic and foreign literary criticism, the entire creative heritage of the great English playwright and Russian writer, including letters, notebooks, Dostoevsky's journalism, was compared. Artistic echoes, reminiscences, the main principles of the creative method, the author's assessment of the personality and works of his great predecessor and his direct and indirect answers to existential questions posed in Shakespeare's dramas and tragedies are considered and analyzed. The concepts of mask, carnival, artistic polyphony and “supra-legal crime” are studied with a detailed account of the works of M.M. Bakhtin on these issues (at the same time, the author of the monograph largely argues with Bakhtin's concepts). The phenomenon of the tragic in the works of Shakespeare and Dostoevsky is comprehended in the context of the historical development of the tragedy genre in world literature.

Hamlet! Hamlet!<...>But remember that at the beginning of the tragedy, she was never crowned (in contrast, the well-known icon<...>Pasternak's own poem "Hamlet", I think everyone remembers. Hamlet I.<...>Hamlet and b) replaced by Hamlet.<...>"Hamlet ... S. 79).

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Poems

Moscow: Publishing House "Children's Literature"

The collection of works by the outstanding Russian poet Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva includes both her early poems (from the books "Evening Album" and "Magic Lantern"), and mature lyrics (the cycles "Poems about Moscow", "Poems to Blok", "Student", "Youth", "Table", "Bush", etc.). And therefore she sings a hymn to "treason", "disobedience", "willfulness" - these eternal companions of passion, love madness, obsession and irresistibility. Eternal companions of life. They are the source and condition of creative immortality. A small section is occupied by translations of the classics of foreign poetry.

We are crowned by the fact that we are the same with you We trample the earth, that the sky above us is the same!<...>Along the lines, along the lines... October 12, 1922 OPHELIA - TO HAMLET Hamlet - tight - tight, In a halo of disbelief<...>Prince Hamlet! Enough of the queen's bowels To denigrate ... Not virgin - judgment Over passion.<...>- Hamlet! At the bottom she, where silt: Silt! ..<...>Crowned 17 July 1429 at Reims. During the celebration?

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Mythological Transhumanism in Russian Literature: Dostoevsky and the Silver Age

The book deals with the problem of transhumanism as a permanent element of the cultural and philosophical anthropology of European and Russian culture. Transhumanism is explored in religious (the disastrous self-deification of Dostoevsky's heroes, implicitly opposed to Christian deification, or theosis) and mythological (the poet as a cultural hero in the poetry of the Silver Age) interpretations.

What does Hamlet himself keep him from.)<...>Laudatory paeans to Hamlet or assertions that, due to his weakness, Hamlet did not cope with the task assigned to him.<...>The right of Hamlet to kill Claudius is based on the principle of revenge, and the right of Hamlet to kill Polonius, Rosencrantz and<...>Hamlet is a hero because his name is in the title of the play, and therefore Hamlet's point of view determines<...>here, I stole all affability from heaven itself, clothed myself in such humility that even in the presence of a crowned

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"Tretyakovka" and other Moscow stories of the poem; poems; The Tale of the Bear, the Beautiful Princess, the Wise Raven and the Iron Shoes

Moscow: Terevinf

In addition to the new "Moscow Tales", the book includes previously published poetic works, as well as the play-parable "The Tale of the Bear, the Beautiful Princess, the Wise Crow and the Iron Shoes".

We were bent scoundrels, But Hamlet, Hamlet Never before them did not bend.<...>Our Hamlet was genuine, alive And was called Innokenty Smoktunovsky.<...>Oh, how we loved you, Our bright Hamlet!<...>He was born to play Hamlet.<...>I Minister Greetings, crowned muses! II sister Hello, Mr. Minister!

Preview: The Tretyakov Gallery and other Moscow stories. - 3rd ed. (el.).pdf (0.2 Mb)

#10 [Why? , 2019]

everything was arranged, Augustus II with great pleasure showed his paintings to guests, including the crowned<...>Soon, the Yaroslavl people played for the empress Sumarokov's tragedies "Khorev", "Sinav and Truvor" and "Hamlet" by Shakespeare

Preview: Why? №10 2019.pdf (0.4 Mb)

History of foreign literature. Middle Ages and Renaissance studies. allowance; workshop

M.: FLINTA

The manual contains lecture notes on the history of foreign literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, which are provided with terminological apparatus and bibliography on topics, as well as assignments. Guidelines for their implementation, as well as questions for self-control are given.

falls on the reign of Charlemagne and is called the Carolingian Renaissance (768-814; crowned in 800<...>Hamlet as a tragic hero: a) reasons for Hamlet's long inaction.<...>Hamlet and Laertes, Hamlet and Fortinbras, Hamlet and Horatio.<...>; c) two conceptions of the image of Hamlet. 7. Russian translations of Hamlet. 8.<...>"Hamlet" W. Shakespeare.

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No. 1 [Literary journal, 2015]

The Literary Journal has been published since 1993 and was originally called the Russian Literary Journal. The publication is devoted to the issues of scientific study of the theory and history of Russian and foreign literature, as well as the chronicle of literary life and bibliography on issues of literary criticism. Domestic and foreign literary critics take part in the journal. The participation of young scientists is especially welcome.

And soon Hamlet's forebodings are justified: in the fifth scene, the Ghost openly accuses Hamlet's mother of<...>What a fall it was, Hamlet!<...>Oh my dear Hamlet... Drink, drink! They poisoned me! ……. Hamlet Damn Denmark!<...>At least before Hamlet.<...>But if we ask ourselves why instability and uncertainty are crowned with Dubrow, then we will be forced to

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No. 1 [Bulletin of PSTGU. Series III. Philology., 2012]

Series III. "Philology" is a periodical of the philological faculty of PSTGU. The journal is published 5 times a year with a total volume of 40 author's sheets (600 pages). The "Philology" series is not a narrowly corporate publication of PSTGU - it accepts materials from representatives of Russian and foreign scientific communities on an equal footing. The subject of publications is research in the field of philological sciences (literary criticism and linguistics) and related areas: historical and philological articles, criticism of sources, New Testament philology, problems of philosophical and theological terminology, etc. Every year, a separate issue of the journal is devoted to materials on the philology of the Christian East (Arabic, Ethiopian , Coptic, Syriac, etc.).

Pasternak in Hamlet: “The rumble has subsided.<...>Knight Ricarleir asks Alexander to personally crown Betis.<...>It would be good to have him crowned while I am in the country, and I cannot stay long - I must<...>“Sire,” said one of the knights named Assarcus, “Pir, our deceased ruler, was crowned in Troy<...>To honor the king, she ordered to make a crown, and he will be crowned with her and no other.

Preview: Vestnik PSTGU. Series III. Philology. №1 2012.pdf (0.2 Mb)

No. 149(7907) [Russian newspaper - Week. Northwest, 2019]

National socio-political newspaper

Her crowned followers would act that way, but the princess was a very different person.<...>I always wanted to read Hamlet's monologue, but in all sections and circles they told me: not our format.<...>(Hamlet)". The viewer will find himself on a real trial in the case of the crime of the Prince of Denmark.<...>The only witness to the crime is Hamlet's mother, Gertrude.<...>Together with the St. Petersburg actors, the trial of Hamlet will be carried out by real professional lawyers.

Preview: Russian newspaper - Week. North-West №149(7907) 2019.pdf (1.0 Mb)

No. 4 [Culturology, 2012]

Vygotsky "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, W. Shakespeare"1.<...>Isn't Hamlet the nerve of this contradiction? (p. 66).<...>“Thanks to Hamlet, the thing also takes off its mask.<...>This is the hour when the ghost of his father appears to Hamlet.<...>such dandies medora, voluptuaries, nonentities and kestrels prospered at his court, and even the crowned

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#4 [History (ID September 1), 2018]

In 1730, she was crowned Empress of Russia and dragged her favorite to St. Petersburg - sad<...>Russian Diaspora Mark Aldanov argued that "in the Romanov dynasty, except for Peter", this "crowned<...>Hamlet" was the most outstanding person.

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No. 3 [Russian reporter, 2014]

Russian Reporter is a nationwide illustrated weekly magazine of Expert Media Holding. An independent publication for people who are not afraid of change and prefer to determine their own style of life. The magazine covers socially significant topics, political events and news. Main headings: "Actual", "Reportage", "Trends", "Figure", "Culture", "Habitat", "Afisha", "Case". Saturated with high-quality photo reports and illustrations by famous world authors. Socio-political publication. Main headings: "Reportage", "Actual", "Figure", "Trends", "Culture", "Poster", "Habitat", "Case" and much more. In addition, the magazine publishes photo essays by famous world authors. The format of the "Russian Reporter" is similar to the format of such world-famous magazines as "Time" or "Stern".

When the century began Perhaps in 1804, when Napoleon was crowned: the actions of this man determined<...>In the play "Hamlet Lesson" (2001), the 65-year-old actress played the role of Hamlet, following in the footsteps of Sarah Bernhardt.<...>Vysotsky was so unlucky: he was seen in Hamlet in the early 70s.<...>If they wrote about the last "Hamlets", they would understand that this is a completely different actor.<...>In Hamlet, the winner is Ophelia, the non-winner is Gertrude.

Preview: Russian Reporter #3 2014.pdf (0.4 Mb)

No. 2 [Theatrical world, 2015]

Educational magazine about the formation of artistic thought in art through the cultural and historical context.

at the rehearsal he asked me: “Why does Hamlet say these words when there is no reason?”<...>We have Hamlet saying this monologue in the cemetery, when he sits among the decomposed bones. it makes more sense to me<...>the following inscription appeared on the stage: Long live safely Elizabeth the Most Worthy, longed for, crowned<...>Bulgakov LOVED JOURDIN 4 cf. (16+) PREMIERE W. Shakespeare HAMLET 5 Thu, 19 Thu, 26 Thu (16+) PREMIERE<...>Lindt Vanya IN A Sarafan 14 Sat, 15 Sun, 2 pm (6+) according to W. Shakespeare HAMLET - POINT G 17 Tue, 7 pm (18+)

Preview: Theater World No. 2 2015.pdf (0.6 Mb)

№2(26) [Amateur, 2018]

FINE FAVORITES OF THE CROWNED C R  D B  Copyright JSC «<...>rivals, Pompadour began to personally select young foolish mistresses for the king. 7 favorites of the most famous crowned<...>BIBCOM & OOO Agency Kniga-Service  9 2018<...>In 1882, Michael's adopted son, Milan, declared himself king and was crowned.<...>It is no coincidence that the personality of Paul I, who is often called the "Russian Hamlet", is in the center of the exhibition.

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No. 11 [Posev, 1951]

Socio-political magazine. Published since November 11, 1945, published by the publishing house of the same name. The motto of the magazine is "God is not in power, but in truth" (Alexander Nevsky). The periodicity of the journal has changed. Initially published as a weekly publication, for some time it was published twice a week, and from the beginning of 1968 (number 1128) the magazine became a monthly one.

During the 75 years of the existence of this magnificent palace, there was probably not a single crowned person whose<...>C E B No. 11 (250) André Gide's idea to remake Kafka's "Trial" for the scene; inspired by the character of Hamlet<...>Along with a new interpretation of classic comedies and tragedies - Hamlet, Marivaux's "False Confessions" (

Preview: Sowing No. 11 1951.pdf (0.1 Mb)

No. 4 [Siberian Lights, 2004]

"SIBERIAN LIGHTS" is one of the oldest Russian regional literary magazines. It has been published in Novosibirsk since 1922. During this time, several generations of talented writers known not only in Siberia, such as Vyach. Shishkov and Vs. Ivanov, A. Koptelov and L. Seifullina, E. Permitin and P. Proskurin, A. Ivanov and A. Cherkasov, V. Shukshin, V. Astafiev and V. Rasputin and many others. Among the most famous poets are S. Markov and P. Vasiliev, I. Eroshin and L. Martynov, E. Stuart and V. Fedorov, S. Kunyaev and A. Plitchenko. Currently, the literary, artistic and socio-political magazine "Siberian Lights", awarded with diplomas of the administration of the Novosibirsk region (V.A. Tolokonsky), the regional council (V.V. Leonov), the Siberian Agreement MA (V. Ivankov) , edited by V.I. Zelensky, worthily continues the traditions of his predecessors. The editorial staff of the magazine is a team of well-known Siberian writers and poets, members of the Writers' Union of Russia.

"Hamlet" becomes more and more convincing, Hamlet - more and more alive.<...>And whose son is Shakespeare's Hamlet?<...>"Hamlet").<...>left alive, and Laertes crowned.<...>Ionidi ("Hamlet"), S Dubrovin ("Hamlet") and S. Afanasiev ("Dreams of Hamlet").

Preview: Siberian Lights No. 4 2004.pdf (0.4 Mb)

In the architectural decoration of Gothic cathedrals, the wheel of Fortune reveals a wide range of its symbolic meanings. The article presents a brief history of the appearance of the Wheel of Fortune and possible prerequisites for the formation of its iconography in the Middle Ages. Turning points in the history of perception and the image of this symbol determined the choice of the described cathedrals.

signed “regnabo” (I will edit); in the center of the upper part of the wheel - “regno” (I rule), usually the figure is crowned<...>The crowned king stands on the top of the wheel and holds in his hand a bident, teeth down, with which<...>The crowned character at the top is larger than all the others.<...>Eight figures are attached to the wheel and are completely subject to the will of the crowned figure, three more figures are not

LOGICAL ANALYSIS OF WORDS ACCORDING TO THE THEORY OF RENE DE SAUSSURE (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE FRENCH, ENGLISH AND TURKISH LANGUAGES) [Electronic resource] / Dmitrieva // Moscow University Bulletin. Series 19. Linguistics and intercultural communication. - 2010 .- No. 4 .- P. 122-127 .- Access mode: https://site/efd/469903

The word-formation theory of the Swiss scientist Rene de Saussure, which is an anticipation of structural linguistics, is considered. The theory is illustrated by the example of French, English and Turkish.

So, the French verbs frapp-er “knock”, couronn-er “crown”, bross-er “brush” structurally<...>-iste in violon-iste "violinist"; -er in couronn-er “to crown”).<...>noun, adjective, and verb ideas (for example, the affix-ending -er in the word couronn-er “to crown

№4(28) [Amateur, 2018]

Subsequently, the monarchs were crowned with the imperial crown.<...>But patriarchal traditions did not allow her to be crowned officially.<...>Princes for pro forma The participation of the two crowned princes at the receptions was formal.<...>Firstly, the patriarch did not want to hear about crowning a woman.<...>, eclogues, epistles, satires, parables, fairy tales, songs, sonnets, epigrams, epitaphs, tragedies: Chorev, Hamlet

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No. 7 [Literary newspaper, 2017]

Literaturnaya Gazeta is the oldest Russian periodical. The first issue of the newspaper, founded by a group of writers with the close participation of A.S. Pushkin was published on January 1, 1830. Today "LG" is primarily a social and political weekly for a wide range of intellectuals, dedicated to politics and economics, society, literature and art, and man. Mandatory topics for each issue: "Events and Opinions", "Politics", "Society", "Literature", "Art", the famous "12 Chairs Club". Issues with extensive appendices are periodically published: "Characters", "LAD - Russian-Belarusian Newspaper", "Club 206". "Literaturnaya Gazeta" is an integral part of the history, culture and spiritual life of Russia, its national treasure.

The other day we watched an English film - "Hamlet".<...>"This is not Hamlet, but an opera premiere."<...>He could not and did not want to accept anything from the game of Hamlet just because his own Hamlet (he rehearsed<...>Chekhov" by Olga Koshelenko, "Shakespeare's Motifs and Images in Chekhov's Works on the Example of the Comparison of Hamlet<...>In the white smoke crowned park, As in the spirit. The janitor sweeps away asphalt talcum powder, melting into fluff.

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№3(4) [Theatre, 2011]

The Theater magazine is the oldest of the currently existing Russian magazines about the performing arts. It started coming out in the mid 30s. Over the years, it has gone through several radical updates, each reflecting a new historical era - from Stalinism to the thaw and perestroika, but in all eras it has remained the main media resource about the theater. In 2010, after a two-year break, the STD RF decided to revive the Theater.

The Mighty One felt exactly the time: it was then, at the turn of the 2000s, that he turned Hamlet the Machine, which<...>Nervous, ascetic face, explosive temperament - he should play Hamlet or Raskolnikov.<...>The next stage interpretation of "Hamlet-Machine" in Russia belongs to Kirill Serebrennikov.<...>One can imagine a very metaphorical Hamlet, but if in it Hamlet is a priori good, and<...>As a rule, the theater was a favorite entertainment not only for the people, but also for the crowned persons.

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#154 [Labor, 2013]

"Trud" is a newspaper about work and life, but most importantly - about ordinary people who find themselves in unusual circumstances. The newspaper raises acute issues of public and political life and, as before, invites readers to discuss. Hamlet, but, in my opinion, his most successful role still remained

ON MAY 25, 1857, THE SIGNS OF THE ORDER OF A SPECIAL PATTERN WERE GRANTED TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE STATE COUNCIL OF THE PAPANIC REGION, CARDINAL-STATS-SECRETARY GIACOMO. ANTONELLI (1806-1876), WHO IS ALSO GOVERNOR OF THE PAPES BY THE LAW OF SEPTEMBER 11, 1850. POPE Pius IX AT THIS TIME FOCUSED ON THE DIRECTION OF HIS SPIRITUAL RESPONSIBILITIES, LEAVING THE GOVERNANCE TO THE CARDINAL. THE SIGNS OF THE ORDER, GRANTED TO THE CATHOLIC CARDINAL GOVERNOR OF THE PAPES’ REGION, WERE A SPECIAL PATTERN; ORTHODOX AND CATHOLICS.

EL I VANOV So in the sign and star of the order there was no image of a two-headed Russian eagle crowned<...>So, when awarding the highest order of the Russian Empire to crowned persons and senior officials of non-Christian

Chronicle of Simeon Magister and Logothetes

M.: Russian Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Science

In this edition, the reader will find the first translation into Russian of the "Chronicle" by Simeon Logothetes, a Byzantine historiographer of the 10th century. His work was very popular in Byzantium and abroad and formed the basis of many other chronicles, in particular the "Chronicle" of Pseudo-Simeon, excerpts from which are given in the commentary. The publication is provided with historical and textological commentary and a preface.

.>547 98 Markian Markian reigned for six years and five months548 crowned by Patriarch Anatoly.<...>Someone said to him: "The crown with which you were crowned was buried with your father."

Magazine for boys, girls and their parents about science, technology, nature, travel and more. Sports, games, puzzles

After all, it was in it, and not in THE WHERE THE FRENCH MONARCHS WERE CROWNED in Notre Dame Cathedral, from ancient times<...>And when, already in the 9th century, the Christian Church made it a rule to crown Frankish monarchs in the temple<...>The first to be crowned here in 816 was the son of Charlemagne, Louis I, called the Pious.<...>After all, it was in Reims that French kings have long been crowned.<...>Soon the French army moved to Reims, where Jeanne intended to crown the heir - this

Preview: Why? №10 2018.pdf (0.4 Mb)

Prompt publication of articles by graduate students and applicants for the defense of dissertations.

The article analyzes the attempts to restore and renew the Western Roman Empire by "the force of German arms", undertaken by the kings of the Germanic-Roman states, and then by the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. It is shown how the ambitious project "Sacrum Imperium Romanorum" turned into the first "Reich of the German nation". The long conflict between the imperial and papal authorities showed the unwillingness of both sides to subordinate the personal motives of the historical mission they had undertaken. Not only did popes and emperors fail to fulfill Charlemagne's command to restore the unity of the Christian world, or at least Western Europe, but their policies led to the opposite result. This conflict was also one of the reasons for the failure of the crusades of 1096-1270, designed to return the Middle Eastern provinces of the former Roman Empire taken away by Islam. However, most of the leaders of the crusaders showed an inability to constructively interact. The loss of control of Italy after the fall of the Hohenstaufen led to a change in the character of the empire. The Roman-German "Sacrum Imperium Romanorum" lost its "universal" character, turning into the "Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutcher Nation", and de facto into the first "Reich of the German Nation". The formula "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" appeared in the second half of the 15th century. under Emperor Frederick III, but the actual state of affairs developed earlier. However, the idea of "translatio imperii" has not exhausted itself. Its new modifications and new contenders appeared

The vanquished was imprisoned in a monastery, and the winner was crowned with his crown.<...>This confirmation he had to "repeat to them again, after being crowned with the imperial crown<...>". 28 King of Rome - the title of the head of the Holy Roman Empire elected, but not crowned by the pope.<...>However, only in 1433 did Pope Eugene IV crown him with the imperial crown.<...>The first Habsburg emperor to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor was a relative of Albrecht.

The article is devoted to the history of the marriage of the Portuguese Infanta Leonor, daughter of King Duarte, and Emperor Frederick III. The circumstances and context of its preparation, wedding rituals are consistently considered. The family life of the imperial couple is shown, the role of dynastic marriages in the European international politics of the 15th century is analyzed.

Duke of Austria (Lower and Upper) and Emperor, he was chosen as heir in 1440 and crowned two years later<...>Then the emperor was crowned, who received the symbols of his power - the sword, scepter and orb (Frederick<...>III became the last emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, crowned in Rome by the pope), and after him

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Last December marked the 240th anniversary of the birth of the most mysterious Russian emperor, Alexander I the Blessed. As soon as his contemporaries called him: "a real deceiver" (M.M. Speransky), "the ruler is weak and crafty" (A.S. Pushkin), "The Sphinx, not solved to the grave" (Prince P.A. Vyazemsky), "this is a true Byzantine ... subtle, feigned, cunning" (Napoleon) ...

But there was another point of view.

"Alexander was not an ordinary and limited person ... This is a deeply melancholy person. Full of great plans, he never brought them to life. Suspicious, indecisive, devoid of faith in himself, surrounded by mediocrities or retrogrades, he, in addition, was constantly tormented by his semi-voluntary participation in the murder of his own father. Crowned Hamlet, he was truly unhappy" 1 - wrote Alexander Ivanovich Herzen.

Nowadays, historians have a unique opportunity to get closer to unraveling the nature of the remarkable monarch.

Professor of Moscow State University Andrey Yuryevich Andreev and his colleague from Lausanne, Mrs. Daniel Tozato-Rigo, did a titanic job and prepared for printing a major three-volume large-format book - a complete correspondence between Emperor Alexander I and his Swiss mentor Frederic-Cesar Laharpe (1754-1838). Before us are almost three thousand pages - 332 letters and 205 documents of the Appendix, not counting the List of Historical Realities, the Annotated Index of Names and the Annotated Index of Geographical Names. In a word, we have before us a capital and carefully funded academic publication of a first-class historical source.

Let us dive into these beautifully edited and lovingly illustrated volumes. The crowned Hamlet awaits the verdict that the court of History will pass on him.

Between the tutor, who was granted the rank of prime minister of the Russian army, and the Grand Duke Alexander, a trusting relationship was immediately established - despite such a different age and social status.

La Harpe taught the pupil many useful things:

Disorder and carelessness in business are hateful.

The king must work.

You have to get up at six in the morning.

Do not allow yourself to be deceived.

The king should be for his subjects a model of a loving husband.

Do not succumb to aversion to power.

The pupil responded to the teacher with sincerity. In the famous letter to La Harpe from Gatchina dated September 27 (October 8), 1797, the Tsarevich formulated his cherished dream: after accession to grant Russia a constitution: a quiet corner where I will live peacefully and happily, seeing the prosperity of my homeland and enjoying the spectacle of it. That is my intention, dear friend "2.

Let's think about it: the Tsarevich entrusted La Harpe with the most important state secret! You don't write to a teacher like that. So they write only to a friend - close and only.

A painful goodbye...

Catherine II, perceptively noting that a trusting relationship had been established between her beloved grandson and his tutor, decided to take advantage of this (). She honored La Harpe with a lengthy two-hour audience in the inner chambers. The Empress intended to deprive her son Pavel Petrovich of the right to inherit the throne and, bypassing her son, to transfer the throne to her eldest grandson Alexander. Grand Duke Alexander had to be prepared in advance for the coming change in his fate.

According to the empress's plan, it was La Harpe who was able to do this: "Only he alone could exert the necessary influence on the young prince" 3 .

So the Swiss was involved in the epicenter of a very serious political intrigue. But he had the intelligence and tact not to accept the role offered to him. The wounded Empress did not forgive this. Laharpe was dismissed, having paid 10 thousand rubles instead of the due pension. However, this was enough for La Harpe to acquire a beautiful estate on the shores of Lake Geneva.

On May 9, 1795, the Grand Duke, in order to hug his friend for the last time before leaving, quietly left the palace and arrived incognito in a hired pit carriage at La Harpe's apartment. Alexander embraced his friend and wept bitterly. "Our farewell was painful" 4 . At the same time, the Grand Duke uttered the phrase that later became famous that he owed everything to La Harpe, except for his birth.

... and a long-awaited meeting

Shortly after his accession to the throne, Emperor Alexander hastened to send the Swiss to St. Petersburg. La Harpe was not slow to arrive. The emperor came to him twice a week to discuss urgent matters of state. "The days of Alexander's wonderful beginning" is impossible to imagine without La Harpe. According to the authoritative testimony of Nicholas I, for his older brother Alexander, "heartfelt relations" with La Harpe "became a need of the heart" 5 .

We can safely say that for 35 years the Swiss was almost the only friend of the fickle sovereign. History does not know of another example of such a long friendly relationship between an august person and a private person. This is convincingly evidenced by the letters of Alexander, among which, according to La Harpe, "there are those who deserve to be cast in gold." And even more so - the letters of La Harpe himself to Alexander, many of which would be more correctly called scientific treatises.

The emperor sympathetically read the teacher's lengthy letters. “Undoubtedly, he was not made of the dough that all other sovereigns, once for three decades allowed a simple citizen to address himself with letters, ... in every line of which frankness is visible, even rare between equals,” La Harpe admitted.

What did the “simple citizen”, who possessed a pragmatic mind and encyclopedic knowledge, write to the sovereign about?

Do not abuse trifles, because you can drown in them, but solve all issues yourself, so that the nobles and ministers of the imperial decision could not guess.

Civilize your fellow citizens.

The Russian Empire needs, first of all, not lyceums and universities for the nobility, but primary rural schools for the common people.

Plant gardens and plant forests. Master the production of your own sugar in the country and do not spend money on its purchase. The Russian Empire has three climatic zones, without knowing it, it has enormous agricultural wealth: why import what you can grow yourself.

La Harpe urged the tsar to proceed with the gradual abolition of serfdom, "without which Russia will remain forever dependent and weak, and the history of Stenka Razin and Pugachev will be repeated in its expanses whenever enemies and rivals decide to expose it to this danger" 7.

And the Swiss wrote about the private life of the sovereign, impartially blaming Alexander for the lack of legitimate children and unobtrusively condemning the long love affair with Maria Antonovna Naryshkina, from whom the daughter Sophia was born:

"... Do you really think that if you are the emperor, you have the right to do so?" 8

Reflection on the throne

Empress Elizabeth Alekseevna's favorite lady-in-waiting, Roxana Skarlatovna Sturdza (by marriage, Countess Edling), claimed that Laharpe repeatedly used "the influence that he always had over the conscience of his pupil" 9 . However, La Harpe himself was not inclined to exaggerate the degree of his influence on the autocrat. "The truth is that the Emperor obeyed only his own heart and excellent mind" 10 .

The Swiss urged the monarch to become "emperor of the people" and "emperor-citizen" 11 . Along with Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin, he purposefully inspired the sovereign with the idea of his future responsibility to History: "... Do not forget for a moment that your first and most sacred obligations are obligations to Russia, that Russia has been waiting for you for ten centuries! From the current decisions Your judgment largely depends on what kind of offspring will make about your reign, ... and it will judge according to the facts, according to what you did and what you did not do "12.

Why was the monarch in no hurry, following the advice of his teacher, to carry out fundamental reforms to modernize the Russian Empire? He was not a coward. In 1813, during the battle of Dresden, General Jean Victor Moreau, who was watching the battlefield near the sovereign, was killed by a French cannonball. If the core had deviated a few meters to the side, the Russian Tsar would have become its victim. Alexander was not afraid of attempts on his life, making alone, without protection, long walks around St. Petersburg, residents of the capital were well aware of them. "The Emperor, as everyone knows, used to walk along the Fontanka in the morning. Everyone knew his hours..." 14 - recalled Anna Petrovna Kern. When La Harpe decided to discuss the problems of personal security with Alexander, the tsar answered briefly: "My only defender against new assassination attempts is a clear conscience" 15 .

But Alexander's desire to "be a man on the throne" and always act according to his conscience caused discord with himself. Remember the key phrase from the famous monologue of the Prince of Denmark: "How conscience makes us all cowards"? The crowned Hamlet continually experienced painful doubts and hesitations. Reflection often triumphed in him over the thirst for action. And this despite the fact that, having made a decision and made his choice, Alexander, like Hamlet, acted fearlessly and decisively, slew the enemies skillfully and accurately.

His last order before his death was the order to arrest members of a secret society - Ensign Fyodor Vadkovsky and Colonel Pavel Pestel, and his last words: "Monsters! Ungrateful!"

Nomadic Monarch

The monarch, not trusting the official reports of the ministers, wanted to see with his own eyes how his subjects live. He was well aware of the ordeals of honored people: "with us, many Russians find themselves without jobs, due to the impossibility of finding such ones ..." 16 . Therefore, Alexander I ruled a vast empire not from a palace office, but from a road carriage open to all winds and deprived of minimal amenities, in which he spent most of his reign.

"A nomadic despot" - this is how Pushkin attested to the monarch.

Alexander I was not pampered, did not shy away from Spartan life and was not afraid of the accidents of the high road. At hand he always had small pocket pistols and a leather suitcase with a folding camp bed 17 . On the way, the emperor slept on a red morocco mattress stuffed with straw, and put a morocco pillow stuffed with a horse's mane under his head.

Wherever he has been!

In 1816 he visited Tula, Kaluga, Roslavl, Chernigov, Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Warsaw, Moscow. In 1819 he went to Arkhangelsk, then through Olonets to Finland, visited the monastery on the island of Valaam and reached Torneo. In 1824 he visited Penza, Simbirsk, Samara, Orenburg, Ufa, Zlatoust factories, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Vyatka, Vologda, and from there returned to Tsarskoe Selo via Borovichi and Novgorod.

In 1825, Alexander decided to make a trip to the south of Russia, to the Crimea, to the Caucasus, and then even to visit Siberia, but he only reached Taganrog.

Pushkin is credited with the epigram:

Spent all my life on the road
And he died in Taganrog.

Reflection did not prevent the crowned Hamlet from doing things, with the exception, perhaps, of the most important thing: he did not dare to embark on reforms to modernize the Russian Empire. And he explained his own inconsistency briefly: "There is no one to take it." Ideal and reality are at odds. The unattainability of the former ideal, its unconditional loss in the last years of his reign - such is the basis of a truly Shakespearean tragedy experienced by the emperor.

Once, Alexander I could not resist a bitter remark that "if he had not been mistaken so often in those whom he invested with his trust, then his reform projects would have long been put into practice" 18 .

Perhaps the only one to whom this could not apply one iota was Frederic-Caesar Leharp.

LOOKING THROUGH THE YEARS

"They respect and fear Russia"

Other advice from La Harpe, especially about the relationship between Russia and the West, has not lost its relevance today.

“Is it really impossible for Russia to exist and flourish without foreign help? I am convinced of the opposite. Moreover, my cherished conviction is that it will be especially formidable, powerful, influential, if without fuss, never threatening anyone either in words or in writing, not in deed, without revealing his secrets to his neighbors, he will observe what is happening, so that at the decisive moment he will strike with lightning speed and not according to other people's prescriptions, but according to his own understanding.

No one dares to challenge this giant for fear of being slain by the first blow, for neither diplomacy, nor diplomats, nor intriguers of the upper class, nor intriguers of the lower class are able to repel a blow delivered swiftly, with an irresistible hand.

When Russia acts independently, the Sovereign behaves proudly and majestically, and her opponents themselves are forced to admit this in the depths of their souls. They respect and fear Russia; they see in it a dark cloud, hiding in its depths hail, lightning and deadly streams, which in the imagination seem even more terrible than in reality.

BRIEFLY ABOUT THE MAIN

"The ignorant and semi-knowledgeable were the scourge of Russia..."

A few aphorisms of La Harpe addressed to us

Until now, ignorant and half-witted people have been the scourge of Russia, ... it is urgently necessary to replace them not with empty talkers, but with deeply educated people, capable of developing with all clarity those true rules on which science is based.

No talents give the right to be freed from control, especially in Russia, where they are accustomed to please the viziers and submit to arbitrariness.

In the matter of administration, and especially in the matter of education, everything that glitters is either useless or harmful.

Nations perish when their rulers nip the social spirit in the bud.

It is necessary for Russia to be in readiness, to preserve its dignity and its secrets, and, most importantly, not to hand over notes without having two hundred thousand people at the ready, capable of immediately achieving their execution.

People pass, institutions remain.

After the victory over Napoleon and the capture of Paris (the tsar entered the capital of France riding a white stallion named Eclipse, presented to him by Napoleon in 1808), at the moment of the highest personal triumph, Alexander the Blessed again remembered his mentor and friend, granting him the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called - the highest award of the Russian Empire.

FROM THE EDITOR."Motherland" considers the capital publication "Emperor Alexander I and Frederic-Cesar Laharpe: Letters. Documents" worthy of nomination for the award of the Government of the Russian Federation and invites the heads of Russian universities and academic institutions to support our initiative.

1. Herzen A.I. Russian conspiracy of 1825 // Herzen A.I. Collected Works: In 30 vols. T. 13. M.: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1958. S. 129.
2. Emperor Alexander I and Frederic-Cesar Laharpe: Letters. Documentation. T. 1. M.: ROSSPEN, 2014. S. 338.
3. Ibid. S. 363.
4. Ibid. S. 164.
5. Emperor Alexander I and Frederic-Cesar Laharpe: Letters. Documentation. T. 3. M.: ROSSPEN, 2017. S. 509.
6. Emperor Alexander I and Frederic-Cesar Laharpe: Letters. Documentation. T. 1. S. 4.
7. Emperor Alexander I and Frederic-Cesar Laharpe: Letters. Documentation. T. 2. M.: ROSSPEN, 2017. S. 336.
8. Ibid. S. 290.
9. Emperor Alexander I and Frederic-Cesar Laharpe: Letters. Documentation. T. 3. S. 5.
10. Emperor Alexander I and Frederic-Cesar Laharpe: Letters. Documentation. T. 2. S. 233.
11. Ibid. pp. 9, 79, 84, 93, 132, 199.
12. Ibid. S. 273.
13. Emperor Alexander I and Frederic-Cesar Laharpe: Letters. Documentation. T. 2. S. 286.
14. Kern A.P. Three meetings with Emperor Alexander Pavlovich // Kern (Markova-Vinogradskaya) A.P. Memories. Diaries. Correspondence. Moscow: Pravda, 1989, p. 94.
15. Emperor Alexander I and Frederic-Cesar Laharpe: Letters. Documentation. T. 2. S. 812.
16. Ibid. S. 167.
17. Great Emperors of Europe Napoleon I and Alexander I. Exhibition catalog: Moscow 18.10 - 18.12.2000 / GIM; Moscow Kremlin. M .: Constant, 2000. S. 62, 63, 175, 212. A group of weapons belonging to Alexander I is stored in the museums of the Moscow Kremlin. It consists of five pairs of pistols, including three pairs of pocket ones, one of them is a pair of rifled four-barreled pistols made in Liege, with a barrel length of 8.1 cm and a caliber of 9 mm. Such miniature pistols were intended for point-blank shooting: they were fired to kill, for example, robbers from the main road. It took a firm hand, a strong will, and a calculating composure to put them into action. Let us recall Pushkin: “Suddenly there were shouts of the chase, the carriage stopped, a crowd of armed people surrounded it ... The prince, without losing his presence of mind, took out a traveling pistol from his side pocket and fired at the masked robber. Dubrovsky was wounded in the shoulder, blood appeared. The prince, without wasting a minute, he took out another pistol ... ".
18. Emperor Alexander I and Frederic-Cesar Laharpe: Letters. Documentation. T. 3. S. 13-14.

Without any doubt, the unusual character of Alexander I makes him one of the most important characters in the history of the 19th century. At the same time, the range of opinions about him is extremely wide. For example, Napoleon, already on the island of St. Helena, spoke of him like this:

"This is undoubtedly the most capable of all reigning monarchs."

And he also considered him a "northern Talma", an actor who was able to play any prominent role. However, Napoleon himself was an actor, with the only difference that Alexander's "acting" was in close connection with the main shortcomings of his character - suspiciousness and weakness of will. Yes, and his roles were mostly not Russian, but Western repertoire, and they were played mainly in front of a Western audience

By the way, many contemporaries called Alexander "an actor on the throne", and A.S. Pushkin in his poem "To the Bust of the Conqueror" wrote about him like this:

You see the error here:

Art hand induced

On the marble of these lips a smile,

And anger on the cold gloss of the forehead.

No wonder this face is bilingual.

Such was this ruler:

Accustomed to opposition

In the face and in life - Harlequin.

And the word "Harlequin" is not used here by chance. Harlequin is not just a jester, it is one of the masks of the Italian comedy dell'arte, cheerful and naive, not very clever and invariably arousing sympathy.

Historian N.I. Ulyanov:

“It would hardly be a mistake to say that all the guises that this man alternately put on himself during his reign were theatrical masks. the dress that was fashionable."

Historian S.P. Melgunov:

“In life, Alexander is always like on stage. He constantly assumes one or another pose. But it’s too difficult to be an actor in life. With all restraint, natural inclinations should have manifested themselves. "Under such conditions, Alexander made a very different impression on his contemporaries. Their reviews are utterly contradictory. True, the testimony of contemporaries is very subjective, far from always they can be unconditionally trusted."

Many contemporaries, who knew the future king from childhood, noted the inconsistency of his character: a smart and educated man, at the same time he was afraid of state concerns, which seemed unbearable to him. It is no coincidence that A.I. Herzen uses the image of Hamlet to characterize Alexander: "Crowned Hamlet, he was truly unhappy."

This definition is very apt, if we keep in mind his moral experiences. But, unlike the Prince of Denmark, Alexander knew how to show both firmness and flexibility, and sometimes sophisticated cunning.

Historian A.Z. Manfred, in his brilliant book on Napoleon, writes of Alexander:

"A student of La Harpe, who easily mastered the vaguely" freedom-loving" phraseology of the 18th century, a flexible, excellent actor who hid deceit under attractive frankness, Alexander I was both prudent and tougher than he seemed to his contemporaries.

The same Napoleon spoke of him like this:

"Alexander is smart, pleasant, educated. But he cannot be trusted. He is insincere. This is a true Byzantine, a subtle pretender, a cunning one."

The Austrian diplomat Klemens von Metternich is even more ruthless towards Alexander:

"It is not Russia that is leading us, but we are leading Emperor Alexander, influencing him with the simplest arguments. He needs advice and has lost all his advisers<…>. He doesn't trust his army, ministers, or nobility, he doesn't trust his people."

And another assessment:

"Moving from cult to cult, from one religion to another, he shook everything, but did not build anything. Everything was superficial in him, nothing touched him deeply."

Comte de La Ferronnet (Ambassador of France to Russia in 1820–1827):

“Every day I find it more and more difficult to understand and recognize the character of Emperor Alexander. Hardly anyone can speak with a tone of sincerity and truthfulness greater than he<…>. Meanwhile, frequent experiments, the history of his life, everything that I am a daily witness, do not allow anything to be completely trusted.<…>. Its most essential properties are vanity and cunning or pretense; if you put a woman's dress on him, he could imagine a thin woman."

Many also noted that there was something feminine in the king's cunning. No wonder the Swedish ambassador in Paris at that time, Count Gustav Lagerbielke, said that "in politics, Alexander is thin, like the tip of a pin, sharp like a razor, and false, like sea foam."

But in Russia of the 19th century, Alexander was called the "royal mystic." and the "mysterious Sphinx".

Poet P.A. Vyazemsky wrote about him in September 1868:

The Sphinx, not solved to the grave, -

About him and now argue again;

Anger murmured in his love,

And in anger, love glimmered.

Eighteenth century child

He was a victim of his passions:

And he despised the man

And he loved humanity.

The Sphinx, not unraveled to the grave ... This is how one of the most insightful memoirists of the last century called Emperor Alexander I. And after all, for sure - the inner world of this king was tightly closed to outsiders.

The French writer Henri Troyatt (aka Lev Tarasov, born in 1911 in Moscow) characterizes Alexander as follows:

"Upon accession to the throne, he was surrounded by the reverent adoration of his subjects, but did not justify anyone's hopes, without carrying out any of the liberal reforms promised to the country. A new surge of people's love surrounded him after the victory over Napoleon, but, returning to Russia from foreign campaigns, he again betrayed the trust of the nation, turning into an autocratic ruler. Allegedly enlightened by the Lord, he became the inspirer of repression both in Russia and in Europe. Every now and then appealing to Christian mercy, he created the Holy Alliance in Europe, and in Russia - hard labor of military settlements<…>.

It was called the "Northern Sphinx", "crowned Sphinx", "Sphinx, not solved to the grave." Did he know who he was? Is it not his tragedy that, constantly dreaming of doing good, he was unable to do it? Yes, throughout his entire earthly journey, he was afraid of the deed that he would like to do. Fearing the confusion that any innovation inevitably causes, he most often stopped halfway. Two steps forward, three steps back."

Two steps forward - three steps back? Russian publisher and publicist N.I. Grech strongly disagrees with this. He's writing:

"There is not a single branch of state administration that would not be transformed, corrected, supplemented during his reign; many parts were created by him completely."

And here is the opinion of Alexander M. M. Speransky, who knew it very well:

"Everything he does, he does by half. He is too weak to control and too strong to be controlled."

But, it is quite possible that this was all invented by the Minister of Police A.D. Balashov that he simply attributed these words to Speransky.