From letters to K.P.

From letters to Alexander Sergeevich Nuremberg. E. S. wrote these letters to her brother on a typewriter, densely, at one interval, on both sides of the sheet. She left the second copies of the typescript for herself (and us). February 13, 1961. After skiing - the general “Blockade”, after that - the acting club,

From letters to his brother Alexander Kama, August 3, 1862. What, brother, can I say about what Siberia seemed to me like? I deceived you! After all, from childhood we are taught about the Siberian taiga, about the tundra, about the steppes, and when we hear the word steppe, we picture the Sahara with its sands. But here it turns out quite the opposite. To Tyumen

From letters to brother Alexander Blagoveshchensk, June 1864 I had just arrived here when I received your letter sent to me from Irkutsk. I hope that there won’t be a big gap between mine. On June 1, I was already in Aigun, this is a Chinese city on the Amur, 30 miles from Blagoveshchensk.

The edition of the manifesto sent from Your Imperial Majesty did not seem satisfactory to me. It was copied (as you can see from the attached book) from a similar manifesto dated April 17, 1856, and this is quite inconvenient. It seems to me that for the sake of decency the editorial staff should be diversified. Moreover, the current edition, with some changes, seems to me weaker than the previous one. I preferred to draw up a new one, which I present to Your Majesty’s discretion.

At that time, one could point to the Peace of Paris as a clear sign that “the former calm had been returned to Russia,” that is, a peaceful state had returned after a disastrous war. Now it is impossible to point out such a sign, and therefore I really don’t like the phrase: “Now, when all-good providence returns Russia to its former calm” (as if it was in the internal state in the last years of the past reign).

I think that it is much more decent not to mention this at all, but to go straight to the idea that the time has come, etc. And before that it was said in general about calming the indignant feelings of the people. In the same way, I found it necessary to change the formula of prayer. At the beginning I put the phrase: “during times of unrest.” If this word turmoil seemed too harsh, it could be released, leaving only the words “in a moment of terrible shock.”

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

One more note. At the end I put: concern for the welfare of the people, and not the peoples, as it was said in the previous and in the printed edition. And in 1856 this word: peoples - seemed strange. They noticed that the Austrian emperor can talk about his people, but we have one people and one power.

With heartfelt gratitude I return to Your Majesty the letters of V. A. Zhukovsky. Truly it was a simple, pure and clear soul - and all of it is reflected in the letter dated August 30, 1843.

When you read this letter, your thoughts involuntarily turn to the era when it was written - 40 years ago. This was the clearest and most brilliant time of the reign of Emperor Nicholas. Much around the poet was simple and clear; The tasks of life, which have since become unimaginably complicated and confused, also seemed simple and clear. There are times when the road ahead is wide and you can see where to go. There are other times when there is fog ahead, around the swamp. That time and now - what a difference - it’s as if the world around us has changed. The thought involuntarily comes to mind: this simple soul, this clear thought - how would Zhukovsky have expressed it if he had written not in 1843, but at least twenty years later?

And God did not want him to live to see the time when his sovereign pupil became Emperor and entered into business. It seems that for the late Sovereign and for all of Russia, the presence - only the presence - of a person with such a soul, with a direct and clear view of a Russian person on affairs and people, would be an invaluable blessing. With Zhukovsky - and maybe only with him - the late Sovereign would have been able to speak directly, without the slightest shadow, and would have accepted his word with complete confidence. Zhukovsky, with his clear instinct, would have understood everything that was false in many of the measures that were presented to the Sovereign during the era of reforms, and would have pointed directly to the danger that threatened those fundamental principles of government, which he so simply and clearly set out in his letter. And when you remember what kind of people at that time - in the mid-60s - decided the fate of these reforms, you will regret, with human reasoning, that Zhukovsky did not exist. But apparently it was God’s will that there should be neither him nor others like him.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

Once again I dare to appear as a petitioner to Your Imperial Majesty - to beg for help for a good cause.

You will please remember how several years ago I reported to you about Sergei Rachinsky, a respectable man who, having left his professorship at Moscow University, went to live on his estate, in the most remote forest wilderness of the Belsky district of the Smolensk province, and has been living there forever now for more than 14 years, working from morning to night for the benefit of the people. He breathed completely new life into a whole generation of peasants who were sitting in pitch darkness, became truly a benefactor of an entire area, founded and runs, with the help of 4 priests, 5 public schools, which now represent a model for the whole earth. This is a wonderful person. He gives everything he has and all the resources of his estate to this cause, limiting his needs to the last degree. Meanwhile, the business is growing under his hands, and he is already forced to reduce it due to lack of funds.

In addition to schools, he set up a special hospital for syphilis, which, as you know, in other areas is an ulcer of the population in villages, transmitted hereditarily from one generation to another. This hospital is extremely helpful; but, unfortunately, it too must close.

“Alas!” Rachinsky wrote to me in December last year, “this undertaking is too expensive for me to hope to receive funds from anywhere for its further support. Her annual budget is 600 rubles (paramedic - 300, sick care - 200, servants, medicines, lighting - about 100 rubles. Heating is provided by her brother). But not only that, the temporary premises are worthless; we need a building that will cost 1,500 rubles. There are 4 permanently occupied beds in the hospital; 21 people were treated for 9 months; at home - about 90. It is undoubtedly useful - syphilis, except in exceptional cases, is probably curable (the paramedic is excellent, the doctor comes six times a year). But I cannot continue this business except on debt. This is madness that I decided on - and now I don’t know what to do.”

And the other day he writes: “It’s a difficult but necessary task to put my budget in order... The hospital will close in May (in winter you don’t raise your hand - there are so many patients).”

Forgive me, Your Majesty, for bothering you with reading all of the above. My thought is this: while a person who knows how to conduct such a good work for the people and puts his soul into it is still alive, it is worth supporting him. You allowed me to ask, and this time I make up my mind. Would you be kind enough to donate 2,000 rubles for the maintenance of this hospital, of which 1,500 will go towards the building and 500 towards maintenance for a year? This gift from Your Majesty will encourage and enliven with joy all those who labor in this work.

I consider it my duty to add that Rachinsky himself has no idea of ​​asking, expecting or hoping for anything from Your Majesty’s generosity.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

Forgive me, Your Imperial Majesty, that I dare to bother you again with a letter on the same matter. And now, like that time, I have only one goal in mind - the good of Your Imperial Majesty and the dignity of power in difficult times. I continue to consider this matter a matter of great importance, precisely in view of the coronation and the existing popular mood.

Just now I saw Count Tolstoy, to whom you deigned to send my letter. I learned that on the theater case, Count Vorontsov presented a report to Your Majesty, which received approval.

I would not hesitate to say to Count Vorontsov that he should not have done this without consulting in such an important matter with other persons other than the ranks of the theater management. It turns out that, wanting to secure the consent of another ministry, he had an explanation with Count three months ago on the same subject. Tolstoy and received from gr. Tolstoy’s answer is that Russian opera performances cannot be allowed during Lent, since this is contrary to the already announced Imperial command of 1881.

Regardless of that, gr. Vorontsov decided to come in with a report to Your Majesty directly.

The meaning of the Highest Command is clear, and the present resolution amounts to a revocation of it. This is how it will be accepted by the people. You can explain as much as you like that opera is a combination of living pictures and music. This may be understandable to St. Petersburg society, but in Russia they will not understand it, but they remember very well that in the past, before the Highest command requested by Count. Adlerberg, no operas were allowed to be presented. Based on the same logic, nothing prevents ballet from being allowed: there is not even a conversation here, and dancing is not directly mentioned in the text of the law.

It occurred to Count Tolstoy whether it should now be placed in the “Government. Vestnik” a note explaining that opera is supposedly not a dramatic performance, but a combination of a living picture with music. But I rejected this idea: such an announcement on behalf of the government would not reassure anyone, but would only strengthen the grave impression.

Your Majesty! This is the last [time] I’m bothering you with these lines regarding the present case. But the duty of my rank and my heartfelt concern tells me to say again: the impression will be grave. It would have been less severe if permission had followed later, a year later or several years later. But now... now people will refuse to believe at first. Moreover, the coronation is being prepared in Moscow, and the main petition came from Moscow to close theaters during Lent, and in Moscow the permission for performances resonated most sensitively. It is necessary to preserve the people's feeling in its religious element precisely now, when it is so inclined before the coronation. This is how the groom protects the bride’s shy feeling before marriage...

There will be many people who will say that these are empty whims on the part of the synod, that this is priestly fanaticism, etc. The Synod knows nothing about the present case, and the point is not in it, but in the people’s feeling, which will never understand how there can be performances in those days when every day in church it is read: “Lord, the Lord of my life.” Ordinary people will also not understand how the royal word, greeted by all the people with such joy in the days of mourning and weeping, could suddenly change.

I dare to assure Your Majesty that my pride is not at all involved in this matter. Although the Highest command of 1881 was not asked for by me, and gr. Vorontsov, who did not listen to the advice of the Minister of Internal Affairs, did not want to consult with me - this does not offend me personally at all. I will intervene in this matter because I deeply feel the importance of the present moment for the whole reign, all the difficulty of the present era and all the burden of the burden placed on you by God's providence. It hurts me that others don’t feel this, but I can’t shy away and say: it’s none of my business.

The order to allow opera performances is internal, at home, at the Imperial Theatres. It was not announced anywhere. Apparently, it would not be difficult to cancel it while there is still time. Even if this resulted in a loss for the theater box office, it would not be worth the embarrassment that would arise from putting the order into effect. All this depends solely on the will of Your Imperial Majesty. Your heart is in the will of God, and may God send you the right decision.

Your Imperial Majesty
loyal subject
Konstantin Pobedonostsev

The other day I saw old Dobryansky, who came here for several days from Germany, secretly, so that agents of the Austrian government would not find out about his trip to Russia. He tells a lot of terrible and instructive things.

The monstrous trial on charges of high treason, brought against Dobryansky, Naumovich and other, the best and most valiant people of the Russian people, amazed sensible people throughout Europe. On behalf of the government, without the slightest reason, an accusation of a crime entailing the death penalty was raised against the Russian people, only because they wanted to remain Russian and keep their church to themselves! These people were locked up in prison for 7 months, tortured and subjected to shame and insults at trial. The court did not find them criminally guilty. Everyone asked in surprise: how crazy must a government be that allows such lawless persecution, needlessly irritating an entire nation with it?

But here’s what’s very instructive, especially for us Russians. The Austrian government itself was saddened by this process and understood all its lawlessness, but was powerless to prevent it and saw itself in the need to submit to the party that initiated this process. A role unworthy of government; but the Austrian government forced itself into this lie because it is based on the constitution.

In the diverse composition of the state, the Austrian government is forced to reckon with the representatives of the party that currently has power in parliament. Ministers, depending not on the single will of the monarch, but on the play of parties in parliament, in order to maintain their position and stay in their places, enter into a deal with the ruling parties and are forced to carry out their will, contrary to the true interests of the state. And so it turns out that these parties rule the state; in their spirit and according to their instructions, local administrators are appointed, with whose assistance a false game of elections is carried out, which are nothing more than a lie, and so the false parliamentary majority and the false direction of the whole government are supported by false representatives of the people.

It is impossible to imagine how much lies and lawlessness stems from this, and how much theft and bribery spreads. Members of parliament, having ministers at their disposal, trade in both places and government transactions and contracts. This phenomenon is common, more or less everywhere where parliamentary government is established. Recently in the Revue de deux Mondes (I Feb.) there was a beautifully written article: La Republique en 1883, which depicts the extent to which this parliamentary corruption and this electoral lie have reached in France. Dobryansky, who knows both the people and the parties there, told me about Austria:

“In Russia now and again you hear about embezzlement and theft. But all these phenomena of yours, no matter how depraved they may be, pale in comparison to what is happening here in Austria, and which has already turned into a system, thanks to parliamentary rule.”

Now all parliamentary power is in the hands of the Magyars and Poles. The Magyars are the complete masters of their country and crush any other nationality without mercy and without conscience, and the election system is so cunningly arranged by them and the Poles that no other Slavic nationality can have a strong voice in the chamber. The Poles have arranged it in such a way that in the Polish provinces, even where, like in Galicia, the people are all purely Russian, the entire administration and all power are in the hands of the Poles.

When the court is separated from the state (to our grief, they managed to do this in Russia as well), and the court becomes an instrument of the dominant party or well-known political tendencies. The Poles, in an inextricable alliance with the Catholic Church, with priests and Jesuits, undertook to crush and Polish and Catholicize the Russian tribe. Having power in parliament, they conceived a whole series of laws to suppress the Russian people: changing the calendar, replacing the Russian alphabet with the Latin one, expelling the Russian language from the Russian school, replacing the Russian clergy with Latin ones, transferring Russian monasteries and theological schools to the Jesuits; it has gotten to the point where the police are removing Russian six-pointed crosses from churches and replacing them with Latin ones. In recent years, a fierce struggle has ensued between the Russian people and clergy - against the Latin-Polish authorities and propaganda. A people without leaders is lost, and so the Poles decided to crush the main leaders - Dobryansky and Naumovich - with the process. The Poles have in their hands both the prosecutor's office - a terrible weapon of a political tendency - and the court. They brought charges, threw the accused in prison - the government from Vienna was forced to look at all this lawlessness with folded hands. The investigation revealed nothing other than the most ordinary and insignificant facts that the indictment constructed as evidence of high treason. Suffice it to say that one of the proofs of treason was my imaginary (it never happened) petition to admit Dobryansky’s daughter to be raised at a St. Petersburg institute and my subscription to the most innocent Galician newspaper through the mediation of one of the accused. Any thought about the possibility of a guilty verdict seemed ridiculous; but the Poles decided, and when the case came to trial, the prosecutor - the Pole took away all the Russian jurors - there were only Poles left with a mixture of Jews. The accusation was undeniable.

And this is what a court means in a constitutional state! A few days before the verdict, Dobryansky’s wife came to tell him that there was no other means of acquittal than bribing the jury. But Dobryansky no longer had any funds. His significant estate in Hungary was completely ruined and barren, because the Hungarian authorities forbade anyone from entering into transactions and business operations on his estate. With difficulty, his wife managed to borrow 20,000 guilders, and 6 jurors were bribed with this money. This is the only reason why the acquittal took place!

These are the fruits of constitutional government! Nowadays it has already been discredited everywhere, but this lie has taken root everywhere, and the peoples are unable to free themselves from it and are moving towards their fatal fate. Especially for the young Slavic states, this is the first and most terrible ulcer, corroding the entire composition of society with lies and discord, creating discord and mutual misunderstanding and alienation between the people and the government. The evidence is obvious - in Romania, in Serbia, in unfortunate Bulgaria, to which, to our shame, we instilled this ulcer with our own hands - both a constitution and a court separated from state power!

How crazy, how blinded were those quasi-state Russian people who planned to supposedly renew Russia and lead the government out of turmoil and sedition by discussing who knows what, the representatives of the peoples and foreigners of the empire he painted, embracing the universe, filled with deserts, an empire in which another parish of the Yakut region (1100 versts long) or a Siberian district can accommodate the space of the whole of France. Who would benefit from this would be the Poles, who undoubtedly stand, hidden, at the center of every so-called constitutional movement in Russia. Here there would be for them a free field of activity, free play - and the death of Russia.

Forgive me, Your Majesty, for bothering you with reading this long scripture. This is the most terrible danger that I foresee, for my fatherland and for Your Majesty personally. As long as I live, I will not leave this faith, I will not stop repeating the same things and warning about danger. My soul hurts when I see and hear that people who have power, but apparently do not have a Russian mind and a Russian heart, are still whispering about the constitution. Let them sometimes look at me suspiciously, as if I were a known opponent of this fatal fantasy. I am still alive and do not shut my mouth; but when I have to die, I will die with consolation, if I die with the confidence that Your Majesty stands firmly guarding the truth and will not lower that banner of unified power, which is the only guarantee of truth for Russia. This is where the truth is, and there is a lie, an alien, fatal lie for the fate of Russia.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

In the Volkovysk district of the Grodno province there is a town called Svisloch, which has long been known as one of the centers of Polish culture, which was once for the entire Polesie what Vilna is for Lithuania. Formerly Russian, this place was completely Polished in the 18th century by Count Tyshkevich, its owner. That is why even now the inhabitants there, although for the most part Orthodox, are significantly Polished and the literacy among them is Polish.

In 1881, the efficient priest Yanushkevich was appointed there, who diligently set about returning the local population to Russian churchliness and literacy. The main means of this he chose to establish a school for girls, since culture is mainly spread through women, and now almost no woman there reads Russian.

After much hassle, he managed to agree to come to the opening of the school and receive a monetary allowance from the educational department. In January 1882, the school was opened and up to 40 girls attended. The priest set to work very wisely, and we need to support him, which is what we try to do whenever possible.

A powerful means for raising this school and attracting people to it would be to show the highest attention to it.

Therefore, I dare to ask Your Imperial Majesty if it would be good for you, as a sign of your attention and approval, to bestow on you personally an icon of the Mother of God to the Svisloch school. This gift would produce the most beneficial effect on the spot and would excite other zealous people to imitate it.

And if, moreover, Your Majesty deigned to donate 200 rubles of money for the purchase of good Russian books for the school and parish library, this would serve doubly to revive the good undertaking.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

I never tire of asking Your Imperial Majesty.

At the present moment, with St. The synod is working on the issue of organizing parochial schools, a matter of paramount importance for the state. Our people are disappearing, schism and sects are maintained due to ignorance: people grow up without receiving the first, most basic concepts about God, about the church, about the commandments. This ignorance will not be helped by a teaching that is crookedly structured and not adapted to life; it can further corrupt the common man, separating him from life and reality.

For the good of the people, it is necessary that everywhere, close to them and precisely near the parish church, there should be a primary school of literacy, in inextricable connection with the teaching of the Law of God and church singing, which ennobles every simple soul. Orthodox Russian people dream of a time when all of Russia will be covered in parishes with a network of such schools, when each parish will consider such a school to be its own and take care of it through parish trusteeship, and church singing choirs will be formed everywhere in churches.

Nowadays, all reasonable people realize that it is precisely this kind of school, and not another, that should be the main and universal means of elementary public education in Russia. In this sense, our commission receives statements from everywhere, from the most efficient representatives of the zemstvo, and from the clergy, who perked up noticeably when they heard that they were not leaving him in oblivion, but were relying on his activities. It is impossible to do without a village priest and, apart from him, there is no one to take on this great task in the middle of the deserted spaces in which our parishes are located. We hope that soon a diocesan movement in this sense will manifest itself everywhere. Meanwhile, the first experiment was made in the Mogilev diocese by the new bishop Vitaly, who arrived there, who had the opportunity to familiarize himself with our assumptions here in St. Petersburg before leaving there.

Turning to the clergy of his diocese, he established in Mogilev (or, more correctly, restored the ancient, existing since 1602) Epiphany Brotherhood precisely with the goal of establishing, if possible, public schools in all parishes and taking care of maintaining them.

This first undertaking must be encouraged; I think it is worthy and righteous to encourage him with the highest attention, which will undoubtedly cause imitation in other places.

Would it please Your Imperial Majesty to allow me to express your attention to this institution with some kind of monetary gift, for example, 1,000 rubles?

When this becomes known, many will be consoled by this, and there will no doubt be other benefactors.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

I rejoice with all my heart that the long-awaited day has finally arrived and Your Majesty’s entry into the Kremlin was successfully accomplished. The Russian people watched with tears and prayed fervently for you. Now may God bless you to pass the remaining days before the sacred coronation in silence and solitude, in sight of Moscow, in the greenery of the blooming Neskuchny Garden!

Yesterday's letter was sent by me to Prince. Meshchersky immediately. I was delighted by Your Majesty’s note, for I myself wanted to ask permission to appear before you even before the coronation. I will await instructions of the day and hour from Your Majesty.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

At the same time returning the most humble request of Mrs. Zhadovskaya, I dare to report that, in my opinion, her request to Your Majesty cannot in any way be satisfied.

She writes that she was married, but divorced, and she took the blame (probably adultery) upon herself; she was accused and condemned to celibacy by a church court. Therefore, now, if she wanted to get married, her new marriage cannot be solemnized.

Now, according to her, she entered into a relationship, gave birth to a child and asks to lift the ban imposed by the decision of the synod and allow her to marry.

Many such requests are received in the name of Your Majesty, and for all these requests it is announced, in accordance with the Highest command given under the late Sovereign, that they cannot be satisfied.

And indeed, if the supreme power took upon itself to lift the prohibitions imposed by the church court according to church law, extreme difficulties and considerable temptation would arise from this. Marriage for us is a sacrament, and is performed only in church form. The priest, by virtue of his rank, submits exclusively to ecclesiastical authority in matters of church discipline and ritual. So, if church authority prohibits him from performing a marriage as illegal, and civil authority orders him to perform this marriage, that is, to perform a sacrament where it is not permitted by church authority, the priest’s conscience is placed in an impossible position. That is why in our country the supreme power has never interfered in matters of this kind. Under the late Emperor, there were abuses of his name; Once in Yalta, police officer Zefiropulo, taking advantage of his position, ordered a priest in the name of the Sovereign to perform an illegal marriage, but the late Sovereign, when I reported to him about this matter, deigned to tell me that he never gave such orders. Especially with the current ease of marriage and separation of spouses, such Highest commands could serve to increase promiscuity. Nowadays people, having married frivolously, soon, at the slightest disagreement, think about divorce and arrange it in such a way that one of the parties takes upon itself the guilt of adultery, in the hope that later it will be possible to ask for the ban on entering into a new marriage to be lifted. There are cases that after a new marriage, spouses soon plan a new divorce. So, if people could have hope for the lifting of the church ban through royal mercy, the strictness and strength of the marriage union would suffer even more from this.

That is why the supreme power has always avoided direct permission for marriage. But in some cases, the late Emperor accepted requests to terminate cases of illegality of a marriage that had already been completed. There is no direct interference with ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The marriage was performed by a priest, although contrary to church prohibition; The spouses live together and have children. A case begins about the illegality of marriage, mostly based on denunciation. In such cases, the Supreme Command is sometimes announced: to suspend proceedings in the consistory on the illegality of marriage. Thus, the marriage remains in fact as it was originally recorded, that is, in the form of a legal one.

Such Highest commands were announced repeatedly and on behalf of Your Majesty, according to my report. This is the only possible remedy in such cases. Let Mrs. Zhadovskaya look, as she pleases, in addition to the participation of the supreme power, for a way to get married; then the question of the illegality of this marriage may not arise at all, and if it does arise, then she can already turn to royal mercy.

I consider it my duty to add that matters of this kind, that is, marriages, as well as matters of legitimizing illegitimate children, always require special caution, for here not everything depends on the consciousness of the innocence of spouses or children and on compassion for the unfortunate and innocent. Issues of this kind are often related to the legal rights of third parties - relatives, other children of the same person, finally, the honor of another, legitimate family, and often the inviolability of inheritance rights.

If Your Majesty were pleased to agree with the above considerations in this case, then would you please order that it be announced to the petitioner, as is announced to many others, that her petition for permission to marry contrary to the prohibition imposed by St. synod, is not subject to satisfaction.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

I consider it my duty to report to Your Imperial Majesty about the following:

1. I know that here, in the Historical Museum, founded under your patronage, they are eagerly waiting to see if you would like to visit it. Count Uvarov arranged for viewing ancient objects, very interesting and put in order by him. Everyone knows to what extent Your Imperial Majesty's time is occupied: but the people who devoted their work to this subject would be upset if you did not have the opportunity to come for at least half an hour to see what they have done and give them encouragement for the future.

2. Today I heard that Your Majesty will deign to move this evening to the Petrovsky Palace and will not return to Moscow, but will go straight to the Nikolaevskaya road, and not on the 29th, as was announced in the schedule, but tomorrow, i.e. On the evening of the 28th.

The people, to whom this change has not been announced, will be very embarrassed and upset when they learn on the morning of the 29th that the Tsar is no longer in Moscow.

If my position included taking care of this subject, it would seem to me that the easiest and best thing would be for Your Majesty, after all the festivities, to rest for a day or two in complete peace, in sight of Moscow, in Neskuchny, and then straight from there along Kaluzhskaya Street, through Kremlin and Myasnitskaya go to the Nikolaevskaya road station. It would be a joyful and calm farewell to Moscow and the people.

But I do not dare insist on this subject, because the persons to whom it directly concerns may see special reasons for acting in one way and not another.

In any case, however, I dare to report that if it pleases Your Majesty to leave Moscow completely today, then on the way to the Petrovsky Palace, would you please stop at the Iverskaya Chapel and go there. This may also serve as a sign of farewell to Moscow for the people.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

I dare to draw the attention of Your Imperial Majesty to the attached letter from Rachinsky. This is one of the countless cries now heard everywhere, from all over Russia. During the coronation, this nationwide call to the government was especially heard for the healing of this terrible ulcer that is corroding the people - for liberation from the tavern, before the omnipotent power of which the people are powerless, and the individual efforts of those entering the fight against the tavern and tavern keepers are also fruitless.

Rachinsky, who lives constantly in the village, among the people, knows better than anyone about all this evil. He managed to do a lot at home, attracting children, fathers of peasants, and local clergy to the union of sobriety: but all these efforts are broken by the power of the tavern.

The tavern is our main source of crime and all sorts of mental and moral depravity - and its effect is unimaginably terrible in the dark peasant and working class environment, where nothing can be opposed to its influence, where life is empty and only the material interests of daily bread dominate. The tavern sucks all the healthy juices out of the people and spreads bare beggary and disease everywhere. Vast Russia consists of deserts, but there is no such desert, no remote corner where taverns do not appear in abundance and do not play a leading role in people's life. And the further it goes, the worse it gets.

The destruction of the tavern is absolutely the first need, it is a necessary measure to save Russia. The fight against nihilism by external measures will not be successful as long as the tavern remains in current power, and Rachinsky says quite rightly that the taverns are the main conductor of nihilistic theories among the people, that is, the gradual corruption of that only healthy environment in which building instincts and creative principles are stored national and state life.

This is the first need. Along with her is another. In order to save and raise the people, it is necessary to give them a school that would enlighten and educate them in the true spirit, in simplicity of thought, without separating them from the environment where their life and activities take place. I never stop thinking about this great matter, in agreement with I.D. Delyanov. At this moment the drafting of regulations on parochial schools has already been completed. But when it begins to be put into action, it will be necessary to turn to the government for help. to the Treasury. God knows whether this petition will be successful, but the money invested here, of course, will be much more fruitful than the millions that are assigned to many scientific institutions.

The enormous importance of this subject cannot be sufficiently appreciated, and it is worthy of Your Majesty's intense attention. Here, one might say, are the very keys to Russia’s future well-being. That is why I turn to Your Majesty with my most earnest request. I know how valuable your time is, but if the idea of ​​your trip to Denmark comes true, please take with you the attached book (which, if I’m not mistaken, was already presented by me once) and read it. I am sure that once you start reading, you will not tear yourself away from it until the end - it is so vividly written, it breathes so much real truth and concerns such an important subject for Russia. I ordered it to be printed in large quantities and am distributing it everywhere to excite people to good activities.

These are the first, main people's needs of the present moment. And along with them there are others, equally significant and who also do not wait. In connection with the tavern, the local peasant government or self-government is so upset that the truth is drying up everywhere. There is no power that acts intelligently, the weak do not find protection from the strong, and power has been seized into the hands of local capitalists, that is, village kulaks-peasants and merchants, innkeepers and village officials, that is, ignorant and depraved volost clerks. It is necessary to establish order here, but I am afraid that the projects drawn up in the Kakhanov Commission are unlikely to be established.

Finally, the court is such a great and terrible thing - the court, the first instrument of state power, falsely set up by institutions, falsely directed - the court is in disorder and powerlessness. Instead of simplifying, it has become more complex and will soon become inaccessible to anyone except the rich and skilled in casuistic formalism.

But it's time for me to finish. I apologize for bothering Your Majesty, but the matter is so important that I could not resist writing a few words about Rachinsky’s letter, which again aroused my thought and concern.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

To prevent false rumors that could reach Your Imperial Majesty, I hasten to report on what happened today at the meeting of the Committee of Ministers.

Reported in the presence of the Grand Duke. Mikhail Nikolaevich the case, which he initially initiated, about the establishment in Tiflis by the government and at the expense of the “state treasury” of a closed school for Muslim women. This case was submitted to the committee by the Highest command, due to a disagreement between I. D. Delyanov and Prince Dondukov and the Great prince

I was forced in conscience, in agreement with Delyanov, to object to the proposed establishment. Its very task, in my opinion, was formulated incorrectly, and the government would put itself in a false position by this institution, obliging itself at public expense to educate Muslim women in the spirit of the Muslim religion and monitor their performance of Muslim rituals. They assured that some of the noble Muslims in Tiflis wish to give their daughters a European education; and if they themselves had drawn up a plan and wanted to set up an establishment at their own expense, with supervision only from the government, one could only rejoice. But when the Russian government itself takes upon itself this matter and the role of, so to speak, guardian of education in strictly Muslim law, the situation becomes false. The Russian boss, according to the instructions of the Sheikh-ul-Islam and the Mufti sitting on the board of trustees, must ensure that the girls are taught the dogmas of polygamy and the Mohammedan paradise. This situation is impossible. This is what I tried to prove, and then, in agreement with the Minister of Finance, I argued that it was strange to spend 40 thousand rubles from the treasury on such a thing, when the treasury should refuse to satisfy the most essential and urgent needs of the indigenous Russian population for lack of funds, when In 17 dioceses the clergy are begging and are left without salaries when there is no money for literacy schools for the peasants. Then I pointed out that in the Caucasus itself there are glaring needs for which there is no money. The Georgians are ignorant, the clergy lives in ignorance and beggary, and there is nothing to train them for. I pointed out that in Ozurgeti, in a religious school, 700 Georgian children live like animals in windowless huts, walk half naked in winter and prepare lessons by the light of fires, by which they warm themselves: there is no money to arrange a room for them. I mentioned that previously the Society for the Propagation of Orthodoxy Beyond the Caucasus spent 63,000 rubles. for clergy benefits; but now it has fallen into insolvency and gives nothing.

Here the Grand Duke interrupted me: it did not occur to me that this society, which during its administration had upset its affairs, constituted a sensitive chord in it. He stood up and announced to Reitern that he could not stay, since what I said constituted criticism of his administration.

Reitern began to calm him down, and he sat down again, and I expressed my surprise, in which His Highness was pleased to see criticism of his administration, which I did not touch in a single word, but only wanted to show what needs there are in the Caucasus, incomparably more serious and more fundamental than the establishment of a Muslim women's school at state expense.

The matter ended well. Almost everyone present on the committee expressed the opinion that the establishment of such an institution at the expense of the treasury is undesirable; and if some Tiflis Muslims desire such an institution, then, just as happens when establishing gymnasiums, the society itself can raise funds for this; subsequently, the government may, for its part, provide assistance to such an institution.

Thus, the matter ended happily and without disagreement; but I consider it my duty to report the above episode to Your Imperial Majesty, since it concerns me and may come to your attention in an inaccurate form.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

Please accept, Your Imperial Majesty, my heartfelt congratulations on the threshold of the new year 1884. May God's blessing and God's mercy be upon you and your entire household in the coming year!

This is the third time during your reign that you have to enter a new year and carry over the threshold the heavy burden of power over the whole world entrusted to your rule in the most difficult era for your reign. The people feel in their hearts how difficult it is for you, and they pray for you fervently everywhere. The providence of God, having placed this burden on you, also showed you a destiny that is entirely in the hands of God, inextricably linked with the destinies of the people, who have held on for centuries only by faith in God and hope in the Sovereign. If anything can encourage and strengthen you, it is faith in God’s providence and in people’s prayer.

Letter from Ataman Krasnov to Kaiser Wilhelm with a request for help and recognition of the separation of part of the territory of the Great Don Army from Russia.

Letter from Ataman Krasnov to Emperor Wilhelm II of the German Empire.

“Your Imperial and Royal Majesty! The bearer of this letter, Ataman of the Zimovaya Stanitsa (envoy) of the All-Great Don Army at the Court of Your Imperial Majesty and his comrades, are authorized by me, the Don Ataman, to greet Your Imperial Majesty, the powerful monarch of great Germany and to convey the following:

Two months of the struggle of the valiant Don Cossacks, which they waged for the freedom of their homeland with such courage with which the Boers, related to the German people, recently fought against the British, were crowned with complete victory on all fronts of our state and now the land of the Great Don Army is nine-tenths liberated from wild Red Guard gangs.

State order within the country was strengthened, and complete legality was established. Thanks to the friendly assistance of Your Imperial Majesty's troops, silence was created in the south of the army, and I prepared a corps of Cossacks to maintain order within the country and prevent the onslaught of enemies from without. It is difficult for a young state organism, which is currently the Don Army, to exist alone and therefore it entered into a close alliance with the heads of the Astrakhan and Kuban troops, Colonel Prince Tundutov and Colonel Filimonov, so that after clearing the land of the Astrakhan army and the Kuban region from the Bolsheviks, to form a strong state formation on the basis of a federation from the Great Don Army, the Astrakhan army with the Kalmyks of the Stavropol province, the Kuban army, and subsequently, as the liberation proceeds, the Terek army, as well as the peoples of the North Caucasus. There is agreement among all these powers.

And the newly formed state, in full agreement with the All-Great Don Army, decided not to allow its lands to become the scene of bloody clashes and pledged to maintain complete neutrality.
The Ataman of our Zimovaya village at the court of Your Imperial Majesty is authorized by me to ask Your Imperial Majesty to recognize the rights of the All-Great Don Army to independent existence, and as the last Kuban, Astrakhan and Terek troops and the North Caucasus are liberated, the right to independent existence of the entire federation under the name Dono- Caucasian Union.
To ask Your Imperial Majesty to recognize the borders of the All-Great Don Army in its former geographical and ethnographic dimensions, to help resolve the dispute between Ukraine and the Don Army over Taganrog and its district in favor of the Don Army, which has owned the Taganrog District for more than five hundred years and for which the Taganrog District is part of Tmutarakan, from which the Don Army became.

To ask Your Majesty to facilitate the annexation of the cities of Kamyshin and Tsaritsyn in the Saratov province and the cities of Voronezh and the stations of Liski and Povorino to the Army for strategic reasons and to draw the border of the Don Army^, as indicated on the map available in the Zimovaya village.
ask Your Majesty to put pressure on the Soviet authorities of Moscow and force them with your order to clear the borders of the All-Great Don Army and other powers that have access to the Don-Caucasian Union from the robber detachments of the Red Guard and make it possible to restore normal, peaceful relations between Moscow and the Don Army. All losses to the population of the Don Army, trade and industry resulting from the Bolshevik invasion must be compensated by Soviet Russia. To ask Your Imperial Majesty to help our young state with guns, rifles, ammunition and engineering equipment, and if you find this beneficial, to establish gun, rifle, shell and cartridge factories within the Don Army.

The All-Great Don Army and other states of the Don-Caucasian Union will not forget the friendly service of the German people, with whom the Cossacks fought shoulder to shoulder during the Thirty Years' War, when the Don regiments were in the ranks of Wallenstein's army, and in 1807 and 1813 the Don Cossacks with their Ataman Count Platov fought for the freedom of Germany. And now, almost 31/* years of bloody war on the fields of Prussia, Galicia, Bukovina and Poland, the Cossacks and Germans have mutually learned to respect the courage and steadfastness of their troops and now, holding out their hands to each other, like two noble fighters, they are fighting together for the freedom of their native Don.

The All-Great Don Army undertakes, for the service of Your Imperial Majesty, to maintain complete neutrality during the world struggle of peoples and not to allow armed forces hostile to the German people into its territory, to which the Ataman of the Astrakhan Army, Prince, gave his consent. Tundutov and the Kuban government, and upon accession the rest of the Don-Caucasian Union.

The All-Great Don Army grants the German Empire the right of preferential export of surpluses to meet local needs of bread, grain and flour, leather goods and raw materials, wool, fish products, vegetable and animal fats and oils and products made from them, tobacco goods and products, livestock and horses, grape wine and other horticultural and agricultural products, in return for which the German Empire will deliver agricultural machinery, chemical products and tanning extracts, equipment for an expedition for the procurement of government papers with an appropriate supply of materials, equipment for cloth, cotton, leather, chemical, sugar and other factories and electrical engineering accessories.

In addition, the government of the All-Great Don Army will provide German industry with special benefits for investing capital in Don industrial and commercial enterprises, in particular for the construction and operation of new waterways and other routes. A close agreement promises mutual benefits, and friendship, welded together by the blood shed on common battlefields by the warlike peoples of the Germans and Cossacks, will become a powerful force for the fight against all our enemies.

This letter is addressed to Your Imperial Majesty not by a diplomat and a subtle expert in international law, but by a soldier who is accustomed to respecting the strength of German weapons in a fair battle, and therefore I ask you to forgive the directness of my tone, which is alien to any tricks, and I ask you to believe in the sincerity of my feelings.

Respecting you, Donskoy Ataman, Major General Krasnov.”

Read the statesman's address to the emperor.

“Your Imperial Majesty. Forgive me for God's sake for bothering and bothering you so often. Today a thought was put into motion that terrifies me. People have become so depraved in their thoughts that others consider it possible to spare convicted criminals from the death penalty. The fear is already spreading among the Russian people that they may present perverted thoughts to Your Majesty and convince you to pardon the criminals.

Could this happen? No, no, and a thousand times no - it cannot be that you, in the face of the entire Russian people, at such a moment would forgive the murderers of your father, the Russian Sovereign, for whose blood the whole earth (except for a few, weakened in mind and heart) demands vengeance and loudly complains that it is slowing down.

If this could happen, believe me, Sovereign, it will be considered a great sin and will shake the hearts of all your subjects.

I am a Russian person, I live among Russians and I know how the people feel and what they demand. At this moment everyone is thirsting for retribution. Whichever of these villains escapes death will immediately build new forges. For God's sake, Your Majesty, let not the voice of flattery and dreaminess penetrate your heart.

Your Imperial Majesty's loyal subject

Konstantin Pobedonostsev."

Using the passage and your knowledge of history, choose three true statements from the list given. Write down the numbers under which they are indicated in your answer.

1) This appeal is addressed to Emperor Nicholas II.

3) The criminals whose execution the author of the appeal insists on were members of the Black Redistribution organization.

5) Among the criminals mentioned in the appeal were P.I. Pestel and K.F. Ryleev.

6) The emperor, whose murder is discussed in the address, abolished serfdom in Russia.

Explanation.

1) This appeal is addressed to Emperor Nicholas II - NO, incorrect, it is addressed to Alexander III.

3) The criminals whose execution the author of the appeal insists on were members of the “Black Redistribution” organization - NO, incorrect, they were members of the “People's Will”.

5) Among the criminals discussed in the appeal were P.I. Pestel and K.F. Ryleev - NO, incorrect, the Decembrists Ryleev and Pestel were executed much earlier.

6) The emperor, whose murder is discussed in the address, abolished serfdom in Russia - YES, that’s right.

Answer: 246.

Great troubles, by the will of Divine Providence, visited Russia. War, civil strife and frequent hunger strikes showed the internal weakness of our 140 million-strong fatherland. This cannot be, Sovereign, it cannot be otherwise, since for 25 years, burdened with taxes and taxes, being in ignorance and lack of rights, the working and peasant population has been impoverished from year to year. The land per capita is decreasing. We, peasants, who do not know whether we will be able to feed ourselves next year, bear all rural, volost and most zemstvo expenses; our land does not pay the expenses on it, and is rented for a cheaper price than we pay for it. taxes We pay an indirect tax to the treasury for every lump of sugar for tea, for every pound of kerosene and box of matches that we consume, for every calico shirt that we wear, such taxes are unaffordable for us poor people, but these taxes are easy for the rich.

Now, Sovereign, in order to improve the State structure, you ordered the convening of the State Duma and, by decree of February 18, ordered all persons and institutions to submit to your name their proposals for better State administration. Let us, your loyal subjects, express our thoughts before you.

Great Sovereign, alarming rumors have reached us that your officials want to admit only the rich and powerful classes into the State Duma, your officials write that only rich property owners are interested in state improvement and tranquility; great thing, Sovereign, is not true: the poor working population cannot

To protect itself, going to work, it leaves unprotected its homes and families, which are also dear to it, if not more dear, than the rich. We read that your officials propose to exclude those of other faiths and heterodoxes from the elections to the Duma. Sovereign, Russia consists of 80 nations, and therefore it can only be strong if all peoples / enjoy the same rights and there is no discord and hostility between us. Therefore, they ordered that there should be universal elections, the rights of all classes and peoples and faiths should be equal. We have heard, Sovereign, that your officials propose to give the rich greater rights, to give them more votes in elections than the working people. Sovereign, without land allocation we will never be residents, and therefore we ordered that elections to the State Duma be equal, so that whether rich or poor people have only one vote, so that the rich and powerful classes cannot oppress the poor people; We heard, thirdly, that your officials want the sessions in the State Duma to take place secretly and for the people not to be aware of them. It is not appropriate, Sovereign, to conduct affairs concerning the entire people and the state in secret; they ordered that the proceedings in the Duma be public, and that those elected to the State Duma be obliged to report to the people who elected and sent them. We learned, fourthly, that your officials wished that elections should be held not locally, but in provincial cities, and that representatives to the Duma be elected not directly by us, but by representatives from the district assemblies. Sovereign, the people should know their elected representatives, and therefore order that the elections be direct, we finally heard that it is planned to organize public elections, Sovereign, your poor people are oppressed and downtrodden, and therefore elections are needed by secret ballot. Sovereign, only when electors from the working and peasant people sit in the Duma on an equal basis with other classes will our needs be satisfied by cutting off the land, taxes and taxes will be equalized, and therefore they ordered that elections be general, equal, secret and direct.

The original was signed by the Zemsky Chief Lieven

Authentically correct: Head of Department Colonel /Signature/

GARF. F. DP. 00. 1905. On. 233. D. 2550. Part 50. LL. 57-58 rev. Typewritten copy.