Count Vorontsov. His contribution to the development of the Crimea

Count Vorontsov. His contribution to the development of the Crimea

Count, later His Serene Highness Prince Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov, is a very significant figure in Russian history, especially for the newly acquired southern provinces of the Russian Empire. Novorossia and Crimea owe him the beginnings of European civilization.

In the personality of M.S. Vorontsov organically combined European education and a certain liberal outlook with truly Russian lordship and sybarism. In the world, the count was known as an Angloman. He owes this to his youth spent in the UK. The parent of the future governor general, Vorontsov Sr., for many years during the reign of Mother Empress Catherine II, was a Russian envoy to the English court. In England, M.S. Vorontsov was educated and, being less than 20 years old, arrived in Russia in 1801 to enter military service.

Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov

His military and administrative service continued almost until his death in 1856. Vorontsov received the general's epaulettes in 1811, after a successful assault on the Ottoman fortress of Bazardzhik. During the Patriotic War of 1812, he commanded a grenadier division, fought near Borodino, and was wounded. Then he fought against Bonaparte on the fields of Europe. For valor and leadership talents, Vorontsov was awarded the Order of St. George. In 1814, the count successfully commanded the Russian garrison in Paris. By the way, the debts of the Russian gentlemen of the officers, who borrowed several hundred thousand rubles in Paris, Vorontsov paid from his own pocket.

In 1819, he was appointed manager of the Novorossiysk and Bessarabsk provinces and remained in the south forever.

Many generations of compatriots associate the image of Count Vorontsov with the caustic and ignoble epigram of A.S. Pushkin. Once in exile to the south and thanks to the protection provided, being surrounded by M.S. Vorontsov as a petty official of the governor's office, Alexander Sergeevich, not burdened with special duties, led a life as cheerful as possible. The subject of another hobby of the young poet was the wife of the Governor-General, Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Vorontsova (nee Branitskaya). The reaction of M.S. Vorontsova was more than restrained to this. Despite this, the poet "bite" him with an epigram. We will omit its well-known text. The governor-general did not take revenge on Alexander Sergeyevich.

Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov and his wife Elizaveta Ksaverevna

M.S. Vorontsova brought the completely disordered affairs of the southern provinces into a state, if not brilliant, then quite acceptable. Territories were added, land routes and ports were built. Thanks to a wisely arranged tax system, trade and entrepreneurship flourished. Industrial enterprises were built, agriculture and crafts developed. On the Black Sea, a steamship service was launched.

The result of a competent migration policy was the settlement of vast, once almost deserted, spaces of Tavria. The region became attractive for settlement not only by Little and Great Russians, but also by people from Southern and Central Europe. Odessa became the third largest city of the empire, a kind of multilingual Babylon. The Crimea also came to life. Subsequently, M.S. Vorontsov received another “promising” region, the Caucasus, as governor and commander of the troops. He left this position only a couple of years before his death.

Note that all the successes were achieved in the "front line". The southern provinces directly bordered on the theaters of Russian-Turkish military conflicts and the ongoing Caucasian war. Vorontsov periodically had to break away from administration and return to military pursuits. The crown of the military career of M.S. Vorontsov was the capture of the Ottoman fortress of Varna in 1828. True, there was a failure in his military activity - 1848, a campaign against the fortified village of Dargo, one of Shamil's residences, which ended in heavy losses and did not give the proper result. But by this time M.S. Vorontsov had already been dilapidated for years, he had not been engaged in mountain warfare before and did not delve into its features.

M.S. ended his days. Vorontsov in Odessa in 1856. He was buried in the Transfiguration Cathedral, the inhabitants of Odessa soon erected a monument to him. In the Crimea, the ungrateful descendants of Vorontsov's merit have not been marked with a monument to this day. Here he himself, with his activities, erected monuments to himself: the Vorontsov Palace, the park, the Vorontsovskoe highway along the southern coast of Crimea. So, with respect to M.S. Vorontsova not A.S. Pushkin, and history placed accents.

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Ivanov A.V. Alupka: a guide. - Sevastopol: Bybleks, 2008.

On May 20, 1819, Liza Branitskaya left the Parisian Orthodox Church as Countess Elizaveta Vorontsova. Elizaveta Ksaveryevna and Count Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov lived together for almost 40 years, until the death of Mikhail Semyonovich.

Her father is Count Ksavier Petrovich Branitsky, a Pole, the great crown hetman, the owner of a large estate of Belaya Tserkov in the Kyiv province. Mother, Alexandra Vasilievna, nee Engelhardt, Russian, was Potemkin's niece and was reputed to be an immensely rich beauty. Liza was brought up in strictness and lived in the village until the age of twenty-seven. Only in 1819 did she first go on her first trip abroad, here in Paris and met Count Vorontsov.

Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, wife of Alexander I, knew and adored Liza Branitskaya well. Therefore, apparently fearing that the father of Mikhail Semyonovich, Count Vorontsov Semyon Romanovich, who had served as the Russian ambassador in London for many years, would be against the marriage of his son to a Polish woman, she wrote to him: “The young countess combines all the qualities of an outstanding character, to which all the charms are added beauty and mind: it was created to make happy a respected person who will unite his fate with her.

However, Lisa, along with her mother, had concerns about the impossibility of marriage. After all, Lisa's father decided that only clairvoyant gentlemen from a noble family would be the husbands of his daughters. Her older sisters Ekaterina and Sofya have already married Polish lords from the Potocki family.

Liza, expecting their marriage, as the youngest, stayed up in the girls (she was born on September 8 (19), 1792), and of course dreamed of marriage. And then Natasha Kochubey, her distant relative, told her with enviable joy that her engagement to Lieutenant General Count Vorontsov was about to be announced. How did it all happen? After all, the count came to meet his future, and suddenly Lisa ... Indeed, both the count and Natasha were not at all against the upcoming marriage, but most likely only because at the age of 37 he finally decided to start a family, and she, like any girl, wanted this. Yes, and the groom, what an enviable.

In addition to wealth, nobility of the family, intelligence and courageous appearance, he had something to be proud of. Much was said about his bravery on the battlefield during the War of 1812. In the battle of Borodino, he himself led the soldiers in a bayonet attack and was wounded. And when he learned that carts had come from his family estate of Andreevsky to take property from their Moscow palace, he ordered to leave things behind, and take the wounded to the carts. Thus, hundreds of wounded were taken out of Moscow, which Napoleon was advancing on, and the manor house in Andreevsky turned into a hospital.

As everyone knows, the war with Napoleon ended with the complete defeat of his army (Napoleon was the first to flee Russia, leaving his army in the Russian snows), and Russian troops entered Paris. Before returning to his homeland the corps commanded by Count Vorontsov, he paid all financial debts to the local population from his subordinates from his own funds.

It's good that they did not have time to announce the engagement of the count and Natasha Kochubey. And soon, to the surprise of friends and acquaintances, Mikhail Semyonovich asks for Lisa's hand in marriage with her mother Alexandra Vasilievna Branitskaya. Taking advantage of the absence of the father, who referred to employment, the mother and daughter agreed to the marriage. The journey through Europe of Lisa and her mother ended with a wedding.

At this time, a portrait of Liza was painted on porcelain, which was sent to London to the count's father. Semyon Romanovich noted the attractiveness of the girl and added that over time the colors on porcelain do not darken. Indeed, the portrait of the bride of Mikhail Semyonovich looks beautiful even today, because beauty is eternal.

In 1823, Count Vorontsov was appointed governor-general of the Novorossiysk Territory and governor of Bessarabia. A.S. was in exile in the same places. Pushkin, and of course the fate of the poet intertwined with the fate of the Vorontsovs. The poet admired the countess, her grace, intelligence and beauty. But nowhere and never in his later life did he mention her, only numerous profiles of a beautiful female head could be seen on all the papers of the poet from the Odessa period of his life.

Many tried to find a secret in their relationship, but ... if there was this secret, let it remain in eternity. E.K. Vorontsova kept the warmest memories of Pushkin until the end of her days and read his works almost every day.

In 1844, Nicholas I invited the count to become governor of the vast territory of the Caucasus. Mikhail Semyonovich doubted whether he could justify this trust, he felt that his health had deteriorated, but nevertheless accepted the offer of the king. And from that moment on, the south of Russia - the Crimea, the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia were under his control. He had to solve the most complex issues of the Caucasus torn apart by sharp contradictions. And he, with the constant participation of his wife Elizaveta Ksaveryevna, successfully solved them.

From the memoirs of Count Vorontsov's colleagues, it is known that Elizaveta Ksaveryevna was always next to her husband. She was his life-giving force, "... the whole region lit up with her smile, benevolence, ardent participation in useful and charitable affairs." Always calm, friendly, everyone saw her kind look, heard her kind word. She was next to Mikhail Semyonovich in all his affairs, helped to draw up documents.

In addition to the affairs and concerns entrusted to them on duty, Elizaveta Ksaveryevna passionately loved gardening. She knew botany well. In Alupka, where the Vorontsov Palace was built, there were two gardens - upper and lower, which were planted with rare imported plants.

Under her personal guidance, trees and shrubs and her favorite flowers, roses, were planted. The best gardeners of their time worked on the park of Count Vorontsov. But the Countess herself was engaged in the arrangement of the rose garden and the selection of varieties of roses. The luxurious collection was constantly maintained and replenished.

In Odessa, with the assistance of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna, a women's charitable society was founded, which established a home for orphans, a shelter for the elderly and crippled women. And in Tiflis, by her care, the educational institution of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina was founded for the children of employees of the Caucasian vicegerency. Similar establishments were opened in Kutaisi, Erivan, Stavropol, Shamakhi.

Her merits were highly appreciated at court. Already in 1838 she was granted a lady of state, and in 1850 she was awarded the Order of St. Catherine of the Grand Cross - a scarlet ribbon and a star, decorated. After the death of her beloved husband, she completely withdrew from secular life, and in Odessa she kept orphanages for boys and girls, as well as shelters for the elderly and nurses.

She dedicated the Mikhailovo-Semyonovsky orphanage to the memory of her husband. Over the years, devoted only to charity, Vorontsova gave away more than 2 million rubles. So many of the best Russian people represented the best use of wealth on earth. Elizaveta Ksaveryevna, died at the age of 87 on April 15 (27), 1880 in Odessa and was buried in the Odessa Cathedral next to her husband.

Today I will start talking about a person whom I respect and can still say, I just adore, about Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov.

I strongly recommend visiting the magazine of the respected Katerina aka catherine_catty , there is a tag, there is a lot of interesting things.
Katyusha, correct me if, what, otherwise I have not completely moved away from my steep dive and my brains are not cooked well: o(

Count Mikhail Vorontsov was born on May 18 (29), 1782 in St. Petersburg, his parents were:
Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov, (1744-1832) - Russian politician and diplomat. Brother of the famous princess E. R. Dashkova, chancellor A. R. Vorontsov and E. R. Vorontsova, favorite of Emperor Peter III. He was ambassador to Italy, general of infantry from November 10, 1796. In 1784 the Russian ambassador in London.

Vorontsov Semyon Romanovich. Written by Veil Jean Louis. 1774.

And Ekaterina Alekseevna (1761-August 25, 1784) - maid of honor, daughter of Admiral A. N. Senyavin.

Artist D. G. Levitsky, 1783

Little Misha was the godson of Empress Catherine II.


That's because fate twists, at that baptismal ceremony no one knew that in the future the fate of this baby would be closely connected with the city, which did not exist yet. That his godmother will sign a decree on the founding of this city in 12 years. And not a boy, but a husband, he will do so much for him!

The following year, the couple had a daughter, Ekaterina. Countess Ekaterina Alekseevna herself fed the children, which was set by her relatives as an example to others, but, absorbed in caring for children, she neglected her own health. Count Semyon Romanovich wrote to his father: “My wife, due to her ardor towards her son, does not sleep all night, I am afraid that she will not fall ill, as during Mishinkina’s smallpox ... She will not be able to stand separation from her son, because since then, he has him, he cannot be separated from him for an hour, he does not go anywhere for this, and when he is with his relatives, he drags him with his nurse and nanny with him; gets up repeatedly at night to see him. In a word, this child does all her happiness and all her joy ... "

Countess E.A. Vorontsova, a modified copy from the original by Levitsky.

Appointed at the end of 1783 to the newly established place as an envoy to Venice, Count Semyon Romanovich left with his wife and children for Italy. The situation in which they had to live upon arrival in Venice, where they settled in a house that had "only walls, without double frames in the windows and pipes in the rooms", during the severe cold in the winter of 1783-1784 ("so the canals froze" ) and the complete lack of comfort could not but respond detrimentally to the poor health of the countess: here she felt the first bouts of a fatal ailment - consumption. Life in Venice was expensive, there was not enough money, the climate was unfavorable, and his wife was ill. All this forced Vorontsov to write letters to St. Petersburg with a request to recall him from Italy. Therefore, the Vorontsovs were happy to learn about the upcoming transfer of Count Semyon Romanovich as an envoy to England and began to prepare for moving to London. But the illness of Ekaterina Alekseevna took quick steps, and in June 1784 her situation was very serious. On August 25, 1784, Countess Vorontsova died. The body of Countess Vorontsova was placed in a lead coffin and interred in Venice, in the Greek Church of St. George, at the left kliros.
Church of San Giorgio dei Greci.

Interior decoration of San Giorgio dei Greci.

At the final resting place of Countess Ekaterina Alekseevna, in Venice, Vorontsov put capital on the eternal holding of the annual memorial service on the day of her death.

Semyon Romanovich was appointed Russian ambassador to the UK. Semyon Romanovich arrived in London on May 22 (June 2), 1785. Since that time, England has become for Misha the country of his childhood and youth, and for Katya - a new homeland.

Vorontsov M.S. 1780s Unknown artist.

Soon, at the request of the King and Queen of England, Misha and Katya were introduced to them. “Their Majesties,” wrote Semyon Romanovich, “were pleased with my children and yesterday spoke to me of them with great praise. They find that Katenka is prettier and more amusing, but that Mishenka has a milder and more interesting expression on his face: this is absolutely true, because this child really has something in him that shows kindness and reasonableness, which makes him very interesting.
Semyon Romanovich decided in the best possible way to prepare his son for serving for the benefit of the fatherland, and his daughter for the worthy performance of the duties of the mistress of the house. He himself supervised their upbringing and education. First of all, he made sure that Misha and Katya spoke their native language and knew Russian literature and history well. And unlike many of his peers, who preferred to communicate in French, Misha spoke fluently not only in French and English, but also in Russian.

Vorontsov M.S. and Vorontsova E.S. (brother and sister) 1786. Engraving by Watson after an original by Cosway.

Michael's curriculum also included the study of classical languages ​​- Greek and Latin. And many, many years later, on the slope of his life, Mikhail Semenovich loved to read Titus Livius, Tacitus, Julius Caesar in the original, he remembered the poems of Horace and Virgil by heart.
Mikhail's schedule included mathematics, the study of which his father attached particular importance to, the natural sciences, architecture, and other arts. Mikhail learned to use different weapons, became a good rider. To broaden his son's horizons, Semyon Romanovich took him to meetings of parliament and secular meetings, examined industrial enterprises with him, they also visited Russian warships that anchored in English harbors.

Ludwig Guttenbrunn. Portrait of Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov with children. 1791.

Semyon Romanovich believed that Russia could not avoid a revolution similar to the one that took place in France. He wrote to Alexander Romanovich that it would be "a life-and-death war between those who have nothing and the owners of property, and since the latter are much fewer, they will eventually die." We won’t see the revolution, but Mikhail will, “and therefore I decided to teach him some trade, plumbing or carpentry, so that when his serfs tell him that they don’t want to know him anymore, and his lands are divided among themselves, he could earn a living by honest work and have the opportunity to become one of the members of the future Penza or Dmitrovsky municipality.

Like many boys, Mikhail was happy to be distracted from his studies and reading books for horse riding and chess. He achieved considerable success in playing the viola. But the real delight caused him to walk on the sea on a small yacht. In any weather, he went sailing alone or in the company of ordinary fishermen.
The Russian ambassador was visited by well-known politicians, scientists, representatives of the art world of England. Mikhail was present at the conversations of his father with the guests and learned a lot of interesting things. Envoys from distant Russia were received with special cordiality in the house.
In 1790, young Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin visited the house of Semyon Romanovich,

The result of Karamzin's communication with the eight-year-old Misha was the poem “Mishenka” composed by him. It ends with these words:
The day you were born
Nature smiled.
Your soul is kind
Like this smile
beautiful nature,
Blossom, dear boy!
Love goodness with all your heart
You will be happy in life;
She will be like
The sweetest smile
Lovely Nature.
According to the customs of the time, when Misha was not even four years old, he was enrolled in military service as a scorer-corporal in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment. In 1786 he was already an ensign of this regiment. With the assistance of A. A. Bezborodko, sixteen-year-old Mikhail Vorontsov was transferred from ensign to chamberlain, bypassing the rank of chamber junker. Thus, instead of a military rank, the young man received a high court rank. At the same time, the performance of chamberlain duties at the court of the emperor was replaced by his service in the office of the embassy. And since by that time Semyon Romanovich's eyesight had deteriorated, Mikhail, who had read newspapers and books to him before, began to write letters and diplomatic reports under his dictation. The latter greatly expanded his horizons and contributed to his acquaintance with international politics.

It turned out a lot of words, so I’ll stop for today and continue to be.

Books used in this post:
Vyacheslav Udovik "VORONTSOV".
Vorontsov. Their life and social activities - VV Ogarkov.
Field Marshal General His Serene Highness Prince M.S. Vorontsov. Knight of the Russian Empire.O.Yu.Zakharova.

Moscow Society of Naturalists continues to publish biographies of prominent members. From archival materials* we learned with great pleasure that M.S. Vorontsov was a member of the MOIP, where he was accepted for the development of natural science, the arrangement of the southern territories of the Russian Empire, and educational activities.

M.S. Vorontsov has many services to the Fatherland, however, we will focus only on his activities as the Governor-General of Novorossia, where his talent as a statesman, administrator and naturalist was most clearly manifested. Novorossia owes him the development of industry and agriculture, the development of viticulture in the region, the breeding of fine-fleeced sheep, the creation of agricultural societies, archaeological research, the development of education, the construction of cities, the development of the coal industry, and many others. It should be recalled that the then Novorossia included the modern Odessa, Nikolaev, Kherson, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye regions, the Republic of Crimea, Moldova, and a number of other regions. Let those who do not know history, or pretend to know it, should understand for themselves that Novorossiya owes its development to Russia and its outstanding personalities alone and to no one else. However, everything is in order.

Count, (since 1845 the most illustrious prince) Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov(1782-1856) - Russian statesman, field marshal general, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812. In 1815–1818 commander of the Russian occupation corps in France. Honorary Member of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Member of the Moscow Society of Naturalists; Novorossiysk and Bessarabia Governor-General (1823-1844), who contributed to the economic development of the region, the construction of Odessa and other southern cities of Russia. In 1844–1854 he was viceroy in the Caucasus.

Portrait Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov,
artwork by artist George Doe Military Gallery of the Winter Palace, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg).

Mikhail Vorontsov was born on May 19 (30), 1782 in St. Petersburg, spent his childhood and youth with his father, Semyon Romanovich, in London, where he received an excellent education. The family happiness of Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov was short-lived. In August 1781, he married Ekaterina Alekseevna, the daughter of Admiral A.N. Senyavin. On May 19, 1782, their son Mikhail was born. A year later - daughter Ekaterina. And in August 1784, after a short illness, Ekaterina Alekseevna died. Semyon Romanovich did not marry again and transferred all his unspent love to his son and daughter, Misha and Katya.

In May 1785, S.R. Vorontsov arrived in London as the plenipotentiary ambassador of Russia to England. Since that time, foggy Albion has become a second home for Mikhail Vorontsov.

Semyon Romanovich himself supervised the upbringing and education of his son, trying to prepare him in the best possible way to serve for the good of the Fatherland. He was convinced that, first of all, it was necessary to be fluent in the native language and to have a good knowledge of Russian literature and history. Unlike many of his Russian peers, who preferred to communicate in French, Mikhail, knowing excellent French and English, Greek and Latin, spoke and wrote Russian fluently.

Mikhail's schedule included mathematics, natural sciences, fortification, architecture, military affairs, music, and drawing. He learned to wield different types of weapons, became a good rider. To broaden his son's horizons, Semyon Romanovich took him to meetings of parliament and secular meetings, examined industrial enterprises with him, they were on Russian ships that called at English harbors.

From an early age, Semyon Romanovich inspired his son: any person belongs, first of all, to the Fatherland, his first duty is to love the land of his ancestors and valiantly serve it. And this is possible only with a firm concept of faith, honor, and in the presence of a thorough education ...

Semyon Romanovich himself selected teachers for his son, he himself compiled programs in various subjects, he studied with him himself. This well-thought-out system of education, coupled with Mikhail's brilliant abilities, allowed him to acquire the store of knowledge with which he would subsequently amaze his contemporaries throughout his life. Vorontsov set himself the goal of raising a Russian from his son and nothing else. Having lived half his life abroad, S.R. Vorontsov liked to repeat: “ I am Russian and only Russian". This position determined everything for his son.

The father considered it necessary to give his son a craft in his hands. The ax, saw and planer became not only familiar objects for Mikhail: the future Most Serene Prince became so addicted to carpentry that he gave him all his free hours until the end of his life. This is how one of the richest nobles of Russia raised his children.

In the spring of 1801, the Russian ambassador to England, Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov, sent his 19-year-old son Mikhail to his homeland, which he did not remember at all. After all, he was a little over a year old when his father, a diplomat, having received a new appointment, took his family away from St. Petersburg ...

Seeing off his son to serve in Russia, the father gave him complete freedom: let him choose a business to his liking. The capital life of the young Vorontsov did not satisfy, in 1803 he went as a volunteer to the Caucasus, where the war was going on. Thus began the fifteen-year, almost uninterrupted military epic of Vorontsov. All promotions and awards went to him in the powder smoke of battles.

Vorontsov met the Patriotic War of 1812 with the rank of major general, commander of the 2nd consolidated grenadier division. As part of the army of Prince Bagration, he took part in the battles near Smolensk.

In the battle of Borodino on August 26, Vorontsov and his grenadiers received the first and most powerful blow from the enemy on the Semyonov flushes. It was here that Napoleon planned to break through the defenses of the Russian army. Against 8,000 Russians with 50 guns, 43,000 selected French troops were thrown, whose uninterrupted attacks were supported by the fire of two hundred guns. All participants in the Borodino battle unanimously recognized: Semenov flushes were hell. The fierce battle lasted three hours - the grenadiers did not retreat, although they suffered huge losses. Almost all of them died. When someone later dropped that Vorontsov's division "disappeared from the field," Mikhail Semenovich, who was present at the same time, sadly corrected: "It disappeared on the field."

Vorontsov himself was seriously wounded. He was bandaged right on the field and in a cart, one wheel of which was hit by a cannonball, was taken out from under the bullets and cannonballs. At his home in Moscow, Vorontsov saw about a hundred carts that were supposed to take out of the capital the wealth accumulated by several generations of the Vorontsovs. But the count ordered everything to be unloaded and 50 wounded officers and 300 soldiers to be taken to carts. In his estate Andreevsky in the Vladimir province, he organized a hospital where the wounded lived and were treated at his expense. After recovery, each soldier was supplied with linen, a sheepskin coat and 10 rubles. Then in groups they were transported to the army. Vorontsov himself arrived there, still limping, moving with a cane. Meanwhile, the Russian army was moving inexorably to the West. Having barely recovered, Vorontsov returned to duty.

In 1815, M.S. Vorontsov was appointed commander of the occupation corps, which occupied France until 1818. The war was over and the officers of the corps, apparently, remembered the peaceful joys of life and allowed themselves to have fun in Paris. What it resulted in, only one person knew for sure - Vorontsov. Before sending the corps to Russia in 1818, he ordered to collect information about the debts made during this time by his officers. In total, it turned out one and a half million rubles. Believing that the winners should leave Paris in a dignified manner, Vorontsov paid off this debt by selling the Krugloye estate, which he had inherited from his aunt, Countess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova.

Vorontsov in the corps establishes his own rules, which, of course, was not encouraged by the St. Petersburg government. He draws up a set of rules that the officers of the division had to follow. He is the first in the history of the Russian army to ban corporal punishment in his troops. He declares officers equal with soldiers before the law. “The duty of honor, nobility, courage and fearlessness,” he writes, “should be holy and indestructible; without them, all other qualities are worthless.” Among other things, in all divisions of the corps, by order of the commander, schools were organized for soldiers and junior officers. Senior officers and priests became teachers. Vorontsov personally compiled the curriculum: one of his subordinates learned the alphabet, someone mastered the rules of writing and counting.

In February 1819, the 37-year-old general went to his father in London to ask permission to marry. His bride, Countess Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Branitskaya, a Pole by her father, a Russian by her mother, relatives of G.A. Potemkin, possessed not only a huge fortune, but also a bewitching charm. On April 25, 1819, the wedding took place in the Orthodox Cathedral of Paris. The Vorontsov couple returned to St. Petersburg, but not for long.

Already in 1823, Vorontsov Mikhail Semenovich received a new appointment, became the Governor-General of Novorossia and Bessarabia. This region was in some kind of dormancy, with poorly developed agriculture and industry. In a word, the tsarist government did not reach his hands. With the arrival of Vorontsov in Odessa, the region literally changed, the "Novorossiysk boom" began. The secret of Vorontsov's unusually productive activity was not only in his state mentality and extraordinary education. He possessed another quality, the ability to "assemble a team." He himself found specialists, enthusiasts, craftsmen, brought them closer to him and invited them to joint service to the Fatherland. Several officers who had previously served under his command went into the civilian service to remain on his command. In a short time, the Governor-General managed to gather around him a large group of talented, energetic and businesslike assistants. Vorontsov attracted many noble persons to Odessa who wanted to serve under the count for the benefit of their country.

Count Vorontsov, having appreciated the advantages of the local climate, contributed to the development of the Crimean viticulture. He ordered seedlings of many varieties of grapes from France, Germany, Spain and, inviting foreign experts, set them the task of identifying those that would be better able to produce the required yields. Painstaking selection work was carried out for several years until the appropriate grape varieties for the Crimean lands were obtained. First of all, Vorontsov planted vineyards on his own plots of land, which he acquired in the Crimea. The mere fact that the famous palace complex in Alupka was built to a large extent with the money Vorontsov received from the sale of his own wine speaks eloquently of the importance of winemaking for this region. He grew valuable varieties of grapes and seedlings of fruit trees in his nurseries and distributes them free of charge to those who wish. Gradually, many residents of Novorossia began to engage in viticulture.

Vorontsov from Spain and Saxony ordered elite breeds of fine-fleeced sheep, built small wool processing enterprises. He also distributed sheep to the population for free. Fine-wool sheep breeding has become one of the most important branches of the Novorossiysk industry. He built a stud farm and others followed suit. People, seeing the enthusiasm of the Governor-General, were actively involved in the transformation of the region. He started tobacco plantations, and this type of activity is picked up by the population.

Vorontsov established the Odessa Agricultural Society, which coordinated the development of agriculture in the region, and everything connected with it. It carried out purchases of elite breeds of animals, seeds of plants, agricultural implements abroad, created farms and nurseries, held exhibitions of livestock and fruits and vegetables. The society carried out an exchange of experience in managing the economy, and all this was carried out with the active assistance of the Governor-General. The society was engaged not only in practical activities, it published scientific works, in which Vorontsov himself took an active part.

The steppe south needed fuel to heat homes and cook food. There were few forests. Vorontsov organized the search for coal deposits, and then its extraction. This was followed by the first Black Sea commercial Russian shipping company in the south of Russia. Vorontsov built the first steamboat in the local area on his estate, and a few years later shipyards appeared in a number of southern ports, from the stocks of which a steamboat followed a steamboat. In 1828, steamship communication began between the ports of the Black and Azov Seas. To serve them, in 1834, a merchant navigation school was organized in Kherson to train navigators and shipbuilders. The school of navigation mainly enrolled the children of merchants and townspeople. The course of study was designed for 4 years, the school program, in addition to general education and special subjects, included foreign languages: Greek, Turkish, Italian, and later German and French.

Vorontsov was fond of archeology. In 1839 in Odessa, Vorontsov established the Society of History and Antiquities, which was originally located in his house. The count's personal contribution to the collection of antiquities at the Society, which began to replenish, was a collection of vases and vessels from Pompeii. The Governor-General regularly organizes archaeological expeditions to study Novorossia, describe the surviving monuments of antiquity, and conduct excavations. According to experts, "the entire Novorossiysk Territory, the Crimea and, partly, Bessarabia, in a quarter of a century, were explored, described, much more accurately and in more detail than many inland regions of Russia." All this was done fundamentally: many books were published related to travel, descriptions of flora and fauna, with archaeological and ethnographic finds, museums were opened in the region.

The governor-general was occupied with questions of education and culture. As a result, newspapers were established, and the multi-page Novorossiysk Calendar and Odessa Almanacs began to appear. The first public library is established. The count supports theater troupes. And that's not all.

Schools are opening one after another. Before Vorontsov, there were only 4 gymnasiums in the region. Five years after his arrival, a school of oriental languages ​​was opened, then he opens a whole network of schools in the Bessarabian lands recently annexed to Russia: Chisinau, Izmail, Kilia, Bendery, Balti, etc. A Tatar department begins to operate at the Simferopol gymnasium, and a Jewish school in Odessa . For the upbringing and education of children of poor nobles and higher merchants, in 1833 the Highest permission was received to open an institute for girls in Kerch. His wife also made her own contribution to the count's undertakings. Under the patronage of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna, a charity home for orphans and a school for deaf and dumb girls were created in Odessa.

For his support of scientific and educational activities, on December 29, 1826, Vorontsov was elected an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, and then a member of the Moscow Society of Naturalists.

Novorossiya is beginning to develop rapidly, the population has been growing year by year, literally the “Novorossiysk boom” has begun. All this, in addition to the revival of life in Novorossia itself, changed the attitude towards it as a wild and almost burdensome land for the state treasury. Suffice it to say that the result of the first years of managing Vorontsov was an increase in the price of land from thirty kopecks per tithe to ten rubles or more. This, in addition to employment, gave money to both people and the region. Not relying on subsidies from St. Petersburg, Vorontsov set out to put life in the region on the principles of self-sufficiency. As they say now, the subsidized region could soon provide for itself. Hence Vorontsov's transformational activity, unprecedented in scale.

For almost twenty years, M.S. Vorontsov was the head of the Novorossiysk Governor-General. As a result, Vorontsov is indebted to: Odessa - hitherto unprecedented expansion of its commercial value and increase in prosperity; Crimea - the development and improvement of winemaking, the construction of an excellent highway bordering the southern coast of the peninsula, the cultivation and multiplication of various types of bread and other useful plants, as well as the first experiments in afforestation. The road in Crimea was built 10 years after the arrival of the new governor. Thanks to Vorontsov, Odessa was enriched with many beautiful buildings built according to the designs of famous architects. Primorsky Boulevard was connected with the port by the famous Odessa staircase, at the foot of which a monument to the Duke of Richelieu was erected. Odessa rightfully began to be considered one of the most beautiful Russian cities.

On August 26, 1856, the coronation of Alexander II took place in Moscow. The illness forced Vorontsov to stay at home. After the coronation, the grand dukes came to his house and presented the emperor's rescript on conferring the highest military rank on him and a field marshal's baton decorated with diamonds. Vorontsov lived in the rank of Field Marshal for a little over two months. Brought by his wife to Odessa, he died here on November 6 (18), 1856. Crowds of Odessa residents of all classes, all religions, all ages came to see off their governor-general on his last journey.

Vorontsov died, but for many years there was a saying among the soldiers: "God is high, far from the tsar, but Vorontsov died."

M.S. Vorontsov is the only statesman to whom two monuments were built with the money collected by subscription - in Odessa (1863) and in Tiflis (1866). Vorontsov's portrait is located in the front row of the famous "Military Gallery" of the Winter Palace, dedicated to the heroes of the war of 1812. The bronze figure of the field marshal can be seen among the prominent figures placed on the Millennium of Russia monument in Novgorod. His name is also on the marble plaques of the St. George Hall of the Moscow Kremlin in the sacred list of the faithful sons of the Fatherland. Vorontsov was awarded more than 30 highest orders, of which 17 are Russian. Among them are three orders of St. George and the highest order of Russia - St. Andrew the First-Called.

References

* Moscow Island of Nature Testers (until 1917). General alphabetical list of members of the Imperial Moscow Society of Naturalists, 1838

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/; http://www.diary.ru/; http://aidatiflis7.livejournal.com/;

http://odesskiy.com/; http://pomnipro.ru/; http://www.tudoy-sudoy.od.ua/; http://alchevskpravoslavniy.ru/

A.P. Sadchikov
vice president of MOIP,
Professor of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov
(http://www.moip.msu.ru ;
http://viperson.ru/people/sadchikov-anatoliy-pavlovich)

Portrait of Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov the work of George Doe.

Military Gallery of the Winter Palace, State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg)

In the 19th century, epigrams were written on everyone: on each other, on kings, ballerinas and archimandrites. But by some irony of fate, Pushkin's biting quatrain - Alexander Sergeevich himself was subsequently not happy that he had written it - played a cruel joke on a man who was less worthy of it than others.

In the spring of 1801, the Russian ambassador to England, Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov, sent his son Mikhail to his homeland, which he did not remember at all. He was a little over a year old when his father, a diplomat, having received a new appointment, took his family away from St. Petersburg.

Vorontsov Semyon Romanovich

... Nineteen years ago, on May 19, 1782, the count took his first child in his arms. A year later, the Vorontsovs had a daughter, Ekaterina, and a few months later, the count was widowed - his young wife, Ekaterina Alekseevna, died of transient consumption. And Vorontsov arrived in London with two small children. Count Semyon Romanovich never married again, devoting his whole life to Misha and Katya.

Vorontsova Ekaterina Alekseevna (1761-1784), daughter of Admiral A.N. Senyavina, wife of S.R. Vorontsova, Dmitry Grigorievich Levitsky

From a young age, Semyon Romanovich inspired his son: any person belongs primarily to the Fatherland, his first duty is to love the land of his ancestors and valiantly serve it. And this is possible only with a firm concept of faith, honor, and in the presence of a thorough education ...

Mishenka and Katenka are the children of S.R. Vorontsov. Etching from the original by R. Cosway

Count Vorontsov was no stranger to pedagogy even before: at one time he even compiled programs for Russian youth in military and diplomatic education. He was inspired to do this by the conviction that the dominance of ignoramuses and foreigners in high positions is very harmful to the state. True, Vorontsov's ideas were not met with support, but he could fully realize them in his son ...

Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov with children Mikhail and Ekaterina

Semyon Romanovich himself selected teachers for him, he himself compiled programs in various subjects, he studied with him himself. This well-thought-out system of education, coupled with Mikhail's brilliant abilities, allowed him to acquire the store of knowledge with which he would subsequently amaze his contemporaries throughout his life.

Vorontsov set himself the goal of raising a Russian from his son and nothing else. Having lived half his life abroad and having all the outward signs of an Angloman, Vorontsov liked to repeat: "I am Russian and only Russian."

This position determined everything for his son. In addition to Russian history and literature, which, according to his father, should have helped his son in the main thing - to become Russian in spirit, Mikhail knew French and English perfectly, mastered Latin and Greek. His daily schedule included mathematics, natural sciences, drawing, architecture, music, military affairs.

The father considered it necessary to give his son a craft in his hands. The ax, saw and planer became not only familiar objects for Mikhail: the future Most Serene Prince became so addicted to carpentry that he gave him all his free hours until the end of his life. This is how one of the richest nobles of Russia raised his children.

Vorontsov Semyon Romanovich, Richard Evans

And now Michael is nineteen. Seeing him to serve in Russia, his father gives him complete freedom: let him choose a business to his liking. From London to St. Petersburg, the son of the Russian ambassador arrived all alone: ​​without servants and companions, which indescribably surprised Vorontsov's relatives. Moreover, Michael refused the privilege, which was due to having the title of chamberlain, assigned to him, even when he lived in London. This privilege entitles a young man who decides to devote himself to the army to immediately have the rank of major general. Vorontsov, on the other hand, asked to be given the opportunity to start his service from the lower ranks and was enlisted as a lieutenant of the Life Guards in the Preobrazhensky Regiment. And since the life of the capital did not satisfy the young Vorontsov, in 1803 he went as a volunteer to where the war was going on - in Transcaucasia. He endured the harsh conditions stoically. Thus began the fifteen-year, almost uninterrupted military epic of Vorontsov. All promotions and awards went to him in the powder smoke of battles. Mikhail met the Patriotic War of 1812 with the rank of major general, commander of a consolidated grenadier division.

Jacobin General

In the battle of Borodino on August 26, Vorontsov and his grenadiers received the first and most powerful blow from the enemy on the Semyonov flushes. It was here that Napoleon planned to break through the defenses of the Russian army. Against 8,000 Russians with 50 guns, 43,000 selected French troops were thrown, whose uninterrupted attacks were supported by the fire of two hundred guns. All participants in the Borodino battle unanimously recognized: Semenov flushes were hell. The fierce battle lasted three hours - the grenadiers did not retreat, although they suffered huge losses. When someone later dropped that Vorontsov's division "disappeared from the field," Mikhail Semenovich, who was present at the same time, sadly corrected: "It disappeared on the field."

Battle of Borodino. In the center of the picture is the wounded General Bagration, next to him on horseback is General Konovnitsyn.

In the distance one can see the square of the Life Guards. Hood. P. Hess, 1843

Vorontsov himself was seriously wounded. He was bandaged right on the field and in a cart, one wheel of which was hit by a cannonball, was taken out from under the bullets and cannonballs. When the count was brought home to Moscow, all the free buildings were filled with the wounded, often deprived of any help. On the carts from the Vorontsov estate, the lordly property was loaded for transportation to distant villages: paintings, bronze, boxes with porcelain and books, furniture. Vorontsov ordered that everything be returned to the house, and that the convoy be used to transport the wounded to Andreevskoye, his estate near Vladimir. The wounded were picked up along the entire Vladimir road. A hospital was set up in Andreevsky, where up to 50 officer ranks and more than 300 privates were treated at the full support of the count until his recovery.

View of the St. Andrew's Church with the Holy Gates, an almshouse and a school. Hood. Kondyrev. 1849

After recovery, each soldier was supplied with linen, a sheepskin coat and 10 rubles. Then in groups they were transported by Vorontsov to the army. He himself arrived there, still limping, moving with a cane. Meanwhile, the Russian army was moving inexorably to the West. In the battle of Craon, already near Paris, Lieutenant General Vorontsov independently acted against the troops led personally by Napoleon. He used all the elements of Russian combat tactics, developed and approved by A.V. Suvorov: rapid infantry bayonet attack deep into enemy columns with artillery support, skillful deployment of reserves and, most importantly, the admissibility of private initiative in battle, based on the requirements of the moment. Against this, the French bravely fought, even with a two-fold numerical superiority, were powerless.

Battle of Craon, Theodor Jung

“Such feats in the eyes of everyone, covering our infantry with glory and eliminating the enemy, certify that nothing is impossible for us,” Vorontsov wrote in an order after the battle, noting the merits of everyone: privates and generals. But both of them personally witnessed the enormous personal courage of their commander: despite the unhealed wound, Vorontsov was constantly in battle, took command of the units whose commanders had fallen. No wonder the military historian M. Bogdanovsky, in his study on this one of the last bloody battles with Napoleon, especially noted Mikhail Semenovich: “The military field of Count Vorontsov was lit up on the day of the Craon battle with a brilliance of glory, sublime modesty, the usual companion of true dignity.”

Mikhail Vorontsov, 1812/1813 Painter A. Molinari

In March 1814, Russian troops entered Paris. For four long years, very difficult for the regiments that fought through Europe, Vorontsov became the commander of the Russian occupation corps. A plethora of problems befell him. The most pressing ones are how to maintain the combat readiness of a mortally tired army and ensure the conflict-free coexistence of the victorious troops and the civilian population. The most mundane and everyday: how to ensure a tolerable material existence for those soldiers who fell victim to charming Parisians - some had wives, and besides, an addition to the family was expected. So now Vorontsov was no longer required to have combat experience, but rather tolerance, attention to people, diplomacy and administrative skill. But no matter how many worries, they all expected Vorontsov.

A certain set of rules was introduced in the corps, drawn up by its commander. They were based on a strict requirement for officers of all ranks to exclude from circulation by soldiers actions that degrade human dignity, in other words, for the first time in the Russian army, Vorontsov, by his will, forbade corporal punishment. Any conflicts and violations of the statutory discipline were to be dealt with and punished only according to the law, without the "vile custom" of using sticks and assault.

Progressive-minded officers welcomed the innovations introduced by Vorontsov in the corps, considering them the prototype of the reform of the entire army, while others predicted possible complications with the St. Petersburg authorities. But Vorontsov stubbornly stood his ground.

Vorontsov M. S. 1818-1819. Roxtuhl. Historical Museum

Among other things, in all divisions of the corps, by order of the commander, schools were organized for soldiers and junior officers. Senior officers and priests became teachers. Vorontsov personally drew up curricula depending on the situation: one of his subordinates learned the alphabet, someone mastered the rules of writing and counting.

And Vorontsov also adjusted the regularity of sending correspondence from Russia to the troops, wishing that people, cut off from their homeland for years, would not lose touch with their homeland.

R Ozen I.S. Guards carriage in Paris in 1814 1911

It so happened that the government allocated money for the Russian occupation corps for two years of service. The heroes remembered love, women and other joys of life. What it resulted in, one person knew for sure - Vorontsov. Before sending the corps to Russia, he ordered to collect information about all the debts made during this time by corps officers. In total, it turned out one and a half million banknotes.

Believing that the winners should leave Paris in a dignified manner, Vorontsov paid off this debt by selling the Krugloye estate, which he inherited from his aunt, the notorious Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova.

Gold medal presented to M.S. Vorontsov by residents of the Vouzier district in 1818 (front and back sides)

The corps marched east, and rumors were already circulating in St. Petersburg that Vorontsov's liberalism indulged the Jacobin spirit, and the discipline and military skills of the soldiers left much to be desired. Having made a review of the Russian troops in Germany, Alexander I expressed dissatisfaction with their insufficiently fast, in his opinion, step. Vorontsov's answer was passed from mouth to mouth and became known to everyone: "Your Majesty, by this step we came to Paris." Returning to Russia and feeling obvious hostility towards himself, Vorontsov submitted a letter of resignation. Alexander I refused to accept it. Whatever you say, it was impossible to do without the Vorontsovs ...

Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov (1782-1856), Thomas Lawrence

Governor of the South

... In February 1819, the 37-year-old general went to his father in London to ask permission to marry. His fiancee, Countess Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Branitskaya, was already in her 27th year when, during her trip abroad, she met Mikhail Vorontsov, who immediately proposed to her. Eliza, as Branitskaya was called in the world, a Pole by her father, a Russian by her mother, relatives of Potemkin, possessed a huge fortune and that incredibly charming charm that made everyone see her as a beauty.

Unknown artist. Portrait of E.K. Vorontsova. 1810s Podstanitsky collection.

The Vorontsov couple returned to St. Petersburg, but not for long. Mikhail Semenovich did not stay in any of the Russian capitals - he served wherever the tsar sent him. Appointment to the south of Russia, which happened in 1823, he was very pleased. The edge, to which the center still did not reach the hands, was the focus of all possible problems: national, economic, cultural, military, and so on. But for an enterprising person, this vast half-asleep space with rare patches of civilization was a real find, especially since the king had given him unlimited powers.

The newly arrived governor-general began with impassability, an ineradicable Russian misfortune. A little more than 10 years later, having traveled from Simferopol to Sevastopol, A.V. Zhukovsky wrote in his diary: "Wonderful road - a monument to Vorontsov." This was followed by the first Black Sea commercial Russian shipping company in the south of Russia.

Today it seems that the vineyards on the spurs of the Crimean mountains have come down to us almost since antiquity. Meanwhile, it was Count Vorontsov, having appreciated all the advantages of the local climate, who contributed to the emergence and development of Crimean viticulture. He ordered seedlings of all varieties of grapes from France, Germany, Spain and, inviting foreign experts, set them the task of identifying those that would take root better and be able to produce the necessary yields. Painstaking selection work was carried out for more than a year or two - winemakers knew firsthand how stony the local soil is and how it suffers from lack of water.

Palace of Prince Vorontsov in Alupka, Carlo Bossoli

But Vorontsov, with unshakable tenacity, continued his plan. First of all, he planted vineyards on his own plots of land, which he acquired in the Crimea. The mere fact that the famous palace complex in Alupka was built to a large extent with the money Vorontsov received from the sale of his own wine speaks eloquently of Mikhail Semenovich's remarkable commercial acumen.

Palace of Prince Vorontsov in Alupka

In addition to winemaking, Vorontsov, carefully looking at the activities that had already been mastered by the local population, did his best to develop and improve existing local traditions. From Spain and Saxony, elite breeds of sheep were issued and small wool processing enterprises were set up. This, in addition to employment, gave money to both people and the region. Not relying on subsidies from the center, Vorontsov set out to put life in the region on the principles of self-sufficiency. Hence Vorontsov's previously unprecedented in scale transformative activities: tobacco plantations, nurseries, the establishment of the Odessa Agricultural Society for the Exchange of Experience, the purchase of agricultural implements new for that time abroad, experimental farms, a botanical garden, livestock and fruit and vegetable exhibitions.

Alupka

All this, in addition to the revival of life in Novorossia itself, changed the attitude towards it as a wild and almost burdensome land for the state treasury. Suffice it to say that the result of the first years of managing Vorontsov was an increase in the price of land from thirty kopecks per tithe to ten rubles or more.

Alupka, Carlo Bossoli

The population of Novorossiya grew from year to year. A lot was done by Vorontsov for enlightenment and scientific and cultural upsurge in these places. Five years after his arrival, a school of oriental languages ​​was opened, in 1834 a school of merchant shipping appeared in Kherson to train skippers, navigators and shipbuilders.

Before Vorontsov, there were only 4 gymnasiums in the region. With the foresight of a smart politician, the Russian governor-general opens a whole network of schools precisely in the Bessarabian lands recently annexed to Russia: Chisinau, Izmail, Chilia, Bendery, Balti. At the Simferopol gymnasium, a Tatar department begins to operate, in Odessa - a Jewish school. For the upbringing and education of children of poor nobles and higher merchants, in 1833 the Highest permission was received to open an institute for girls in Kerch.

His wife also made her own contribution to the count's undertakings. Under the patronage of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna, a charity home for orphans and a school for deaf and dumb girls were created in Odessa.

All the practical activities of Vorontsov, his concern for the future of the region were combined in him with a personal interest in his historical past. After all, the legendary Taurida absorbed almost the entire history of mankind. The Governor-General regularly organizes expeditions to study Novorossiya, describe the preserved monuments of antiquity, excavations.

In 1839 in Odessa, Vorontsov established the Society of History and Antiquities, which was located in his house. The count's personal contribution to the collection of antiquities at the Society, which began to replenish, was a collection of vases and vessels from Pompeii.

Palace of Count Vorontsov in Odessa. 19th century lithograph

As a result of Vorontsov's keen interest, according to experts, "the entire Novorossiysk Territory, the Crimea and partly Bessarabia in a quarter of a century, and the hard-to-reach Caucasus in nine years were explored, described, illustrated much more accurately and in more detail by many of the internal components of the most extensive Russia."

Carlo Bossoli, Odessa

Everything related to research activities was done fundamentally: many books related to travel, descriptions of flora and fauna, with archaeological and ethnographic finds, were published, as people who knew Vorontsov well testified, "with the unfailing assistance of an enlightened ruler."

Painting by M.N. Vorobyov. Vorontsov Palace in Odessa

The secret of Vorontsov's unusually productive activity was not only in his state mentality and extraordinary education. He impeccably mastered what we now call the ability to "assemble a team." Connoisseurs, enthusiasts, craftsmen, in their thirst to attract the attention of a high-ranking person to their ideas, did not knock on the count's threshold. “He himself looked for them,” recalled one witness of the “Novorossiysk boom”, “he got acquainted, brought them closer to him and, if possible, invited them to joint service to the Fatherland.” One hundred and fifty years ago, this word had a specific, soul-elevating meaning that moved people to many …

In his declining years, Vorontsov, who dictated his notes in French, will classify his family union as happy. Apparently, he was right, not wanting to go into details of a far from cloudless, especially at first, marriage of 36 years. Lisa, as Vorontsov called his wife, tested her husband's patience more than once. “With innate Polish frivolity and coquetry, she wanted to please,” wrote F.F. Vigel, and no one could do it better than her.” And now let's make a brief digression to the distant year 1823.

Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov

Engraving by an unknown German artist, 1845-1852 (From the collection of Leonid Rabinovich, published for the first time)

Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Vorontsova, Pyotr Fedorovich Sokolov

... The initiative to transfer Pushkin from Chisinau to Odessa to the newly appointed governor-general of the Novorossiysk Territory belonged to Alexander Sergeevich's friends - Vyazemsky and Turgenev. They knew what they were seeking for the disgraced poet, being sure that he would not be bypassed with care and attention.

At first it was. At the first meeting with the poet at the end of July, Vorontsov received the poet "very affectionately." But in early September, his wife returned from Belaya Tserkov. Elizaveta Ksaveryevna was in her last months of pregnancy. Not the best, of course, the moment for acquaintance, but even that first meeting with her did not pass without a trace for Pushkin. Under the stroke of the poet's pen, her image, albeit sporadically, appears on the margins of manuscripts. True, then somehow ... disappears, because then the beautiful Amalia Riznich reigned in the poet's heart.

Pushkin in Odessa. Galushchenko Vladimir Viktorovich

Note that Vorontsov, with complete benevolence, opened the doors of his house to Pushkin. The poet comes and dine here every day, uses the books of the count's library. Undoubtedly, Vorontsov was aware that before him was not a petty clerk, and even in bad standing with the government, but a great poet entering into glory.

Vorontsov Palace in Odessa

Old theater in Odessa

But month after month goes by. Pushkin in the theater, at balls, masquerades sees Vorontsova, who has recently given birth - lively, smart. He is captivated. He is in love.

The true relationship of Elizabeth Ksaveryevna to Pushkin, apparently, will forever remain a mystery. But there is no doubt about one thing: she, as noted, was "nice to have a famous poet at her feet."

A.S. Pushkin, Konstantin Andreevich Somov

But what about the all-powerful governor? Although he was used to the fact that his wife was always surrounded by admirers, the poet's ardor, apparently, crossed certain boundaries. And, as witnesses wrote, "it was impossible for the count not to notice his feelings." Vorontsov's irritation was further strengthened by the fact that Pushkin did not seem to care what the governor himself thought about them.

Let us turn to the testimony of an eyewitness of those events, F.F. Vigel: "Pushkin settled in his wife's living room and always met him with dry bows, to which, however, he never answered."

Did Vorontsov, as a man, a family man, have the right to get annoyed and look for ways to stop the red tape of an overly emboldened admirer?

“He did not stoop to jealousy, but it seemed to him that the exiled office official dared to raise his eyes to the one that bears his name,” wrote F.F. Vigel.

And yet, apparently, it was precisely jealousy that forced Vorontsov to send Pushkin, along with other petty officials, on an expedition to exterminate locusts that had so offended the poet. How hard Vorontsov experienced his wife's infidelity, we know again first-hand. When Vigel, like Pushkin, who served under the governor general, tried to intercede for the poet, he answered him: “Dear F.F., if you want us to remain on friendly terms, never mention this scoundrel to me.” Said more than sharply!

The irritated poet, who returned "from the locust", wrote a letter of resignation, hoping that, having received it, he would still live next to his beloved woman. His romance is in full swing.

The novel with Vorontsova is Pushkin's feat in creating a number of poetic masterpieces. They brought the unceasing interest of several generations of people to Elizabeth Ksaveryevna, who saw in her the Muse of a genius, almost a deity.

And to Vorontsov himself, who for a long time, apparently, gained the dubious fame of the persecutor of the greatest Russian poet, in April 1825, the charming Eliza gave birth to a girl, whose real father was ... Pushkin.

“This is a hypothesis,” wrote one of the most influential researchers of Pushkin’s work, Tatiana Tsyavlovskaya, “but the hypothesis becomes stronger when it is supported by facts of a different category.”

These facts, in particular, include the testimony of Pushkin's great-granddaughter, Natalya Sergeyevna Shepeleva, who claimed that the news that Alexander Sergeyevich had a child from Vorontsova comes from Natalya Nikolaevna, to whom the poet himself admitted this.

The youngest daughter of the Vorontsovs outwardly differed sharply from the rest of the family. “Among the blond parents and other children, she was the only one with dark hair,” we read from Tsyavlovskaya. Evidence of this is the portrait of the young countess, which has successfully survived to this day. An unknown artist depicted Sonechka at a time of captivating blossoming femininity, full of purity and ignorance. Indirect confirmation that the chubby girl with full lips is the daughter of the poet was also found in the fact that in the Memoirs of Prince. M.S. Vorontsov for 1819 - 1833 ”Mikhail Semenovich mentioned all his children, except for Sophia. In the future, however, there was not even a hint of the absence of the count's paternal feelings for his youngest daughter.

Nicholas I appointed him viceroy of the Caucasus and commander-in-chief of the Caucasian troops, leaving behind him the Novorossiysk general government.

The next nine years of his life, almost until his death, Vorontsov - in military campaigns and in the works to strengthen Russian fortresses and the combat readiness of the army, and at the same time in unsuccessful attempts to build a peaceful life for civilians. The handwriting of his ascetic activity is immediately recognizable - he has just arrived, his residence in Tiflis is extremely simple and unpretentious, but here the beginning of the city numismatic collection has already been laid, in 1850 the Transcaucasian Society of Agriculture was formed. The first ascent of Ararat was also organized by Vorontsov. And, of course, there is again the hassle of opening schools in Tiflis, Kutaisi, Yerevan, Stavropol, with their subsequent merger into the system of a separate Caucasian educational district.

According to Vorontsov, the Russian presence in the Caucasus should not only not suppress the identity of the peoples inhabiting it, it simply must be considered and adapted to the historically established traditions of the region, the needs, and the character of the inhabitants. That is why, in the very first years of his stay in the Caucasus, Vorontsov gives the green light to the establishment of a Muslim school. He saw the path to peace in the Caucasus primarily in religious tolerance and wrote to Nicholas I: “The way Muslims think and treat us depends on our attitude towards their faith ...” In the “pacification” of the region with the help of military force alone, he did not believed.

It was in the military policy of the Russian government in the Caucasus that Vorontsov saw considerable miscalculations. According to his correspondence with Yermolov, who for so many years pacified the militant highlanders, it is clear that the fighting friends agree on one thing: the government, carried away by European affairs, paid little attention to the Caucasus. Hence the long-standing problems generated by an inflexible policy, and besides, disregard for the opinion of people who knew this region and its laws well.

Elizaveta Ksaveryevna was inseparably with her husband in all places of service, and sometimes even accompanied him on inspection trips. With noticeable pleasure, Vorontsov reported to Yermolov in the summer of 1849: “In Dagestan, she had the pleasure of going two or three times with infantry in martial law, but, to her great regret, the enemy did not show up. We were with her on the glorious Gilerinsky Descent, from where almost the whole of Dagestan is visible and where, according to the common legend here, you spat on this terrible and damned region and said that it was not worth the blood of one soldier; It’s a pity that after you some bosses had completely opposite opinions.”

According to this letter, it is clear that over the years the couple became closer. Young passions subsided, became a memory. Perhaps this rapprochement also happened because of their sad parental fate: of the six children of the Vorontsovs, four died very early. But even those two, having become adults, gave their father and mother food for not very joyful reflections.

Daughter Sophia, having married, did not find family happiness - the spouses, having no children, lived separately. Son Semyon, about whom they said that “he was not distinguished by any talents and did not resemble his parent in any way,” was also childless. And subsequently, with his death, the Vorontsov family died out.

On the eve of his 70th birthday, Mikhail Semenovich asked for his resignation. His request was granted. He felt very bad, although he carefully concealed it. "Idle" he lived less than a year. Behind him are five decades of service to Russia, not for fear, but for conscience. In the highest military rank of Russia - field marshal - Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov died on November 6, 1856.

For many years, stories about the simplicity and accessibility of the supreme governor were preserved among the soldiers in the Russian troops in the Caucasus. After the death of the prince, a saying arose there: “ God is high, the tsar is far away, and Vorontsov died

Vorontsov's portrait is located in the front row of the famous "Military Gallery" of the Winter Palace, dedicated to the heroes of the war of 1812. The bronze figure of the field marshal can be seen among the prominent figures placed on the Millennium of Russia monument in Novgorod. His name is also on the marble plaques of the St. George Hall of the Moscow Kremlin in the sacred list of the faithful sons of the Fatherland. But the grave of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov was blown up along with the Odessa Cathedral in the early years of Soviet power ...