home Heating

The secret committee under Alexander 1. The secret committee - what is it? Who was a member of the Secret Committee. See what "tacit committee" is in other dictionaries

Or by 1805. It included the closest associates of the king: Count P. A. Stroganov, Count V. P. Kochubey, Prince A. Czartorysky and N. N. Novosiltsev. The task of this committee was to help the emperor " in the systematic work on the reform of the formless building of the administration of the empire". It was supposed to first study the current state of the empire, then transform individual parts of the administration and complete these individual reforms. code established on the basis of the true national spirit».

Links

// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
The secret committee- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

See what the "Secret Committee" is in other dictionaries:

An unofficial body under Emperor Alexander I from his associates (P. A. Stroganov, A. A. Chartorysky (Chartorysky), V. P. Kochubey and N. N. Novosiltsev) in 1801 1803. The basis of the activities of the Private Committee was the reform program ... ... Political science. Dictionary.

PRIVATE COMMITTEE, an informal advisory body under Emperor Alexander I in 1801 03. Consisted of his closest associates (PA Stroganov, AA Czartorysky, VP Kochubey, NN Novosiltsev). Prepared projects for the establishment of ministries, ... ... Modern Encyclopedia

Unofficial organ under Emperor Alexander I from his associates NEGLIGE (French neglige) morning light home clothes. In the 18th century this was also the name of a comfortable suit (both male and female) for traveling and walking ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

TASK COMMITTEE, an informal advisory body under Alexander I in 1801 03 (P. A. Stroganov, A. A. Czartorysky, V. P. Kochubey and N. N. Novosiltsev), prepared projects for the establishment of ministries, the transformation of the Senate and other reforms. Source ... Russian history

The secret committee- PRIVATE COMMITTEE, an informal advisory body under Emperor Alexander I in 1801 - 03. Consisted of his closest associates (P.A. Stroganov, A.A. Czartorysky, V.P. Kochubey, N.N. Novosiltsev). Prepared projects for the establishment of ministries, ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

An unofficial body under Emperor Alexander I from among his associates [P. A. Stroganov, A. A. Czartorysky (Czartorysky), V. P. Kochubey and N. N. Novosiltsev] in 1801 1803, prepared projects for the establishment of ministries, transformations of the Senate and others ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Unofficial advisory body in Russia under Alexander I (See Alexander I). He acted from June 1801 to the end of 1803. The closest employees of the tsar, the so-called "young friends", Count P. A. Stroganov, Prince A. ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Unofficial consult. organ in Russia under Alexander I. Operated from June 1801 to September. 1803. The closest employees of the tsar, the so-called. young friends gr. P. A. Stroganov, Prince. A. Czartoryski, c. V. P. Kochubey and N. N. Novosiltsev. ... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia

TASK COMMITTEE- in 1801–1803 unofficial advisory body under Emperor Alexander I ... Russian statehood in terms. IX - beginning of XX century

"Unspoken Committee"- PRIVATE COMMITTEE a kind of informal supreme. state an institution that existed in Russia in 1801 03. In essence, it was a meeting of Alexander I with the so-called. young friends of the emperor P. A. Stroganov, V. P. Kochubey, N. N. ... ... Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary

The days of the Alexandrovs are a wonderful beginning.

Alexander Pushkin

It was very easy for Russian sovereigns who ascended the throne to begin: it was enough to cancel, forgive, rehabilitate - to correct what was done by their predecessor. Pushkin recalled with longing in 1822 the wonderful days of the beginning of Alexander's reign. In 1801 everyone was happy. On March 15, 4 days after the assassination of Paul, the new tsar forgave 156 people, including Radishchev. The subsequent decrees pardoned other victims of the deposed emperor - a total of 12 thousand people. Taking into account the small number of the ruling stratum, which was the first to fall under the wrath of Paul I, this figure is very impressive. In March, noble elections in the provinces were restored; those who fled abroad were amnestied; declared free entry and exit abroad; private printing houses and the import of all kinds of books from abroad are allowed. On April 2, the charter granted to the nobility and cities, given by Catherine, was restored. The secret expedition, the emperor's secret police, has been destroyed. On September 27, torture and "biased interrogations" were banned. The very word "torture" was forbidden to be used in business.

In manifestos, decrees, private conversations, Alexander I expresses his ardent desire to put law in place of arbitrariness. To prepare and implement the necessary reforms, Alexander gathers friends around him, young people who, in May 1801, become members of a special Unspoken Committee.

The composition of the committee, which met in secret meetings until September 1804, aroused hopes among supporters of reforms and fears among opponents. Alexander appointed four representatives of the new generation as members of the committee, brought up on the most advanced ideas of the 18th century, who knew perfectly well Western Europe. Laharpe, who came to St. Petersburg at the invitation of the emperor, Alexander did not appoint to the committee, although he spoke with him a lot.

In the second half of the XIX century. the minutes of the meetings of the Private Committee were published, all of its members wrote memoirs. The first clash of dreams and reality experienced by Alexander I is well documented. Count Pavel Stroganov (1772-1817) presented a note to the tsar on the need to create a special Unspoken Committee to discuss the plan for the transformation of Russia, The only son the richest of Catherine's nobles, a personal friend of Alexander. In 1790, together with his tutor, French Republican mathematician Gilbert Romm, Pavel Stroganov ended up in Paris. He joined the Jacobin club, became the lover of the violent revolutionary Terouan de Mericourt. Summoned by Catherine to St. Petersburg and sent to the countryside, Pavel Stroganov was soon returned to court. He was introduced to Grand Duke Alexander by Prince Adam Czartoryski (1770-1861). Alexander, rushing between the court of Catherine and the Gatchina court of his father, chose as his friend Prince Czartorysky, who was in St. Petersburg as a hostage after the defeat of the Kosciuszko uprising. Friendship continued even after the heir became emperor. Even rumors about the passion of the young wife of the heir to the Polish prince did not prevent close relations. It was said that when a daughter was born to Grand Duchess Elizabeth in May 1799, she was shown to Pavel. The emperor asked the lady of state Lieven: “Madame, is it possible for a blond husband and a blond wife to have a black baby?” The lady of state quite rightly objected: “Sire! God is omnipotent." Adam Czartoryski was "exiled" as an ambassador to the court of the king of Sardinia, who was in exile, but remained close to Alexander - and was summoned to St. Petersburg after the assassination of Paul.

The third member of the committee was Pavel Stroganov's cousin Nikolay Novosiltsev (1761-1836). The fourth was Viktor Kochubey (1768-1834), the nephew of Chancellor Bezborodko, brought up in England, who at the age of 24 served as ambassador in Constantinople.

Talented, educated friends of the emperor at the very first meeting of the Secret Committee formulated the tasks and plan of its work: to find out the actual state of affairs in Russia; to reform the machinery of government and, finally, to ensure the existence and independence public institutions a constitution bestowed by autocratic power and corresponding to the spirit of the Russian people. Two fundamental, invariable problems were on the agenda: autocracy and serfdom. Alexander understood the need for reforms, agreed with La Harpe, who said that "the law is higher than the monarch." The dilemma was the squaring of the circle: how to limit the autocracy without limiting the power of the sovereign? Derzhavin says that, as a minister, he insisted in a conversation with Alexander on some of his proposals: “You always want to teach me,” the sovereign said angrily. “I am an autocratic sovereign and so I want.” The conversation took place in the most liberal era of the reign.

The peasant question was no less difficult. During its discussion in the Unspoken Committee, various opinions were expressed. Czartoryski spoke out against serfdom, for keeping people in slavery is immoral. Novosiltsev and Stroganov spoke of the danger of irritating the nobility. The only measures to resolve the peasant issue were the adoption of the project of Admiral Mordvinov (who spent many years in England, where, as his biographer writes, “he was imbued with the spirit of English science and respect for the institutions of this country”) and the project of Count Rumyantsev on free cultivators. Mordvinov approached the peasant question from an unexpected angle. An admirer of Adam Smith and Bentham, he believed that it was necessary to create an economic system in which the nobility itself would recognize the unprofitability of forced labor of serfs and would itself renounce their rights. Mordvinov proposed to give the right to own real estate to merchants, petty bourgeois and state peasants, thus depriving the nobility of the monopoly on land ownership. As a result, in his opinion, there will be farms with hired workers who will compete with serfdom and induce the landowners to agree to the emancipation of the peasants. In 1801 this project became law.

In 1803, according to the draft of Rumyantsev, the law on "free cultivators" was adopted. The landlords were allowed to release the peasants into the wild with land plot for a bite. The peasants, not signing up for another state, became "free cultivators". For the conclusion of the transaction, therefore, the consent of the landowner and the availability of money from the peasant were necessary. On the basis of this decree, 47,153 families were released during the reign of Alexander I, and 67,149 families during the reign of Nicholas I.

The law on “free cultivators”, as well as the deprivation of the nobility of the monopoly on land ownership, testified to the desire to find a solution to the peasant problem and, at the same time, to the absence of both a plan and the will to implement it. La Harpe, who was considered a Jacobin and a democrat, also did not know what to do. He considered education the main need of Russia, without which nothing can be done, but at the same time he recognized that under the conditions of serfdom, education is very difficult to spread. Even the Swiss republican could not find a way out of the vicious circle.

The members of the Unspoken Committee completed only one work - the transformation of the central government. On September 8, 1802, ministries were established that replaced the former colleges: foreign affairs, military and naval, and new ministries - internal affairs, finance, public education, justice and commerce. The new regulations of the Senate defined its functions as a body of state supervision over the administration and the highest judicial authority.

The activities of the Secret Committee caused fears, discontent, and resistance. Derzhavin, who was appointed Minister of Justice, sharply criticized the idea of ministries, emphasizing that the project was composed by "Prince Czartoryski and Kochubey, people who do not thoroughly know either the state or civil affairs." The poet-minister did not like not only his new colleagues (Adam Czartoryski was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Count Vorontsov, and Viktor Kochubey - Minister of the Interior), but also the unpreparedness of the law, the uncertainty of the rights and duties of the minister.

What irritated Gavrila Derzhavin most of all was the "constitutional French and Polish spirit" with which the emperor's entourage was "stuffed". The author of the "Notes" gives the full name of Czartorysky, but confines himself to letters, speaking of other "Jacobins": N[ovosiltsev], K[ochubei], S[troganov]. Prince Czartoryski, who became under Alexander Vorontsov, who was considered a deep old man (he turned 61), was practically the leader foreign policy Russia, was especially unpleasant to Derzhavin, as the most influential of the "Poles and Poles surrounding the sovereign." The hint of "polka" was obvious to contemporaries, who knew that the emperor's mistress was Maria Naryshkina, nee Princess Chetvertinskaya, a polka, therefore, "a beauty and a coquette", as they said about her.

Gavrila Derzhavin's opinion about the activities of the Private Committee and about its members was generally accepted in the highest circles of society.

Not only this hindered the work of the Committee. There was a reason that can be called administrative. Dreaming of a constitution, of a constitutional state, the Committee was a body without rights, born by the will of the monarch. “In the meantime,” wrote Adam Czartoryski, “the real government—the senate and ministers—continued to manage and conduct business in its own way, because as soon as the emperor left the toilet room in which our meetings took place, he again succumbed to the influence of the old ministers and did not could carry out none of the decisions that we made in the informal committee. Prince Czartoryski, who wrote his memoirs many years after his work in the Unspoken Committee, lays the blame for the insignificance of the results on the emperor, on his hesitation and concessions to the "old ministers". A modern historian agrees that Alexander I was not ready to take decisive steps in the field of reforms, that he “perceived the invincibility of the coming changes only with feelings, but with his mind, as a son of time and a representative of his environment, he understood that their onset would mean before just a change in his own position as an unrestricted monarch."

Alexander Kizevetter, the author of a psychological portrait of Alexander I, argues with his eyes about the weakness and indecision of his son Paul. On the contrary, he emphasizes his determination and ability to insist on his point of view. At the same time, the historian admits that among the members of the Unspoken Committee, "Alexander was the least inclined to take any decisive steps along the path of political innovation." He explains this for two reasons. The first is a combination of enthusiastic attitude towards the beautiful specter of political freedom and unwillingness to actually embody this specter. “There was no insincerity or weak will here; there was only a cold love for an abstract dream, combined with the fear that the dream would fly away when trying to realize it. In addition to fears of a psychological nature, Alexander lived in a completely real fear: his grandfather and his father were killed by their inner circle, dissatisfied with their policies.

Hesitation, indecision, fears and fears of Alexander had real grounds. The sober La Harpe, who for some time was a member of the Helvetian directory, which gave him state experience, returned to Russia at the invitation of the emperor, compiled for his former student analysis of social forces depending on their attitude to reforms. Against - according to La Harpe - will be almost all the nobility, bureaucracy, most of the merchants (they dream of becoming nobles, owning serfs). The reforms will be especially opposed by those who were frightened by the “French example: almost all people in adulthood; almost all foreigners. La Harpe warns against involving the people in the transformation. The Russians "possess will, courage, good nature, gaiety," but they were kept in slavery, they are not enlightened. Therefore, although "the people want change ... they will go in the wrong direction." The forces on which the reformer tsar can rely are not great: an educated minority of nobles (especially "young officers"), a certain part of the bourgeoisie, a few writers. Therefore, the Swiss republican does not recommend limiting the autocracy (the traditional authority of the royal name is a huge force) and proposes to act as energetically as possible in the field of education.

Historians and conservative contemporaries, primarily Karamzin (who combined both qualities), reproached Alexander I for being too prone to reforms, for weak-willed following of unkind advisers. Liberal historians have criticized Alexander I for being indecisive about reforms. Karamzin, in his “Note” addressed to the monarch, recalled the “rule of the wise”, who knew that “every news in the state order is evil.” Klyuchevsky spoke about Alexander: “a beautiful flower, but hot-house”, “he was convinced that freedom and prosperity would be established immediately, by themselves, without difficulty and obstacles, by some magical “suddenly”.

In the second half of the 1980s, during the first years of perestroika, which sowed many illusions, Soviet historians turned to the past in search of analogies. Nathan Eidelman most clearly stated the theory of "revolution from above", the only possible (non-bloody) one in Russia. Analyzing the activities of Alexander I, he came to the conclusion that "in Russia" from above is more visible. The underdevelopment of social and political life, the centuries-old practice of autocratic rule led to the fact that “at the very top, among ministers and kings, it is natural for people to appear who know better the interests of their class, estate, and the state as a whole.” Using a chess term, Nathan Eidelman says that those who "know better" can count "two moves ahead," while the feudal lords and most bureaucrats can only count "one move."

The insignificant results of the activities of the Secret Committee, the inability to find an answer to two main questions - political and social: how to limit the autocracy without restricting the autocrat and how to free the peasants without offending their owners - did not mean that society remained immobile. And this movement was undoubtedly due to the initiatives and views of Alexander I at that time.

The grandson of Catherine, who inherited the empire, the expansion of which would continue under him, Alexander I felt very well the imperial character of Russia. This was expressed in his interest in the problem of managing a vast territory. In his youth, Alexander showed an interest in federalism, which is easily explained by the influence of La Harpe. Having ascended the throne, he made attempts to establish relations with Thomas Jefferson, who was elected in 1801 as President of the United States. A reflection of this interest was the reform of provincial administration. The governor reported directly to the sovereign, but the provincial administrations were not subordinate to the Senate, as before, but to the ministries. “Some administrative decentralization became possible, more freedom was left for local initiative and autonomy; this was necessary to lubricate the mechanism and provide greater flexibility to the control.

The feeling of the empire was expressed in the feeling of difference between its separate parts. Continuing the policy of Catherine, Alexander takes care of the rapid colonization of the south of Russia. From 1803 to 1805 more than 5 thousand colonists (Germans, Czechs, South Slavs) settled in Novorossiya. New settlers were given significant benefits. Odessa, whose governor at that time was the French emigrant Duke Richelieu (the monument to Duke still adorns the city), received the statute of free port, i.e. the right of duty-free import and export of goods, and has become a major commercial port. The development of southern fertile lands is proceeding very rapidly, and Novorossiya is becoming an important source of grain exports, primarily wheat.

After 1805 colonization southern steppes develops primarily at the expense of Russian peasants: state peasants from relatively densely populated provinces (Tula, Kursk) are transferred to Novorossia, the mass export of foreigners stops. Taking some steps towards decentralization, St. Petersburg did not want to give up control. An additional example of this policy would be the American epic. In the XVIII century. Russian sailors traded in a relatively limited zone of the Pacific Ocean: off the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk and Kamchatka, reaching the Aleutian Islands and the North American coast. Petersburg did not respond to the requests of merchant sailors to provide them with support. It was only in 1799 that the project of Grigory Shelekhov (1747-1795), the most dynamic of Russian merchant-navigators, was approved by Emperor Paul I 15 years after his death. pacific ocean. The charters given in the 18th century were the model for the statute of the Russian-American Company. Dutch, English and French companies trading with India and other colonies. Alexander I, continuing the work of his father, transferred the board of the Russian-American Company from Irkutsk to St. Petersburg.

The first years of Alexander's reign, a time of dreams and talks about reforms, were a period of religious tolerance, the breadth of which becomes especially evident when compared with the policies of Nicholas I. Among the reasons was the emperor's indifference to religion, in which he saw one of the forms of enlightenment of the people, interest in esotericism and mysticism. All members of the Unspoken Committee were, as contemporaries believed, Freemasons. In Freemasonry, for good reason, they suspected Prince Alexander Golitsin, whom Alexander appointed chief procurator of the Synod, which led the Orthodox Church. In 1803, the young emperor was visited by I.V. Beber, one of the most prominent Freemasons of his time. “What you are telling me about this society,” Alexander allegedly said, convinced by his interlocutor, “is forcing me not only to give him protection, but even to ask for my acceptance into the number of Masons.” According to the existing conflicting versions, Alexander I was admitted to the Masonic order in 1808 in Erfurt, in 1812 in St. Petersburg, in 1813 in Paris, simultaneously with the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III.

Prohibitory measures against the "schismatics" were terminated by Catherine II in 1783-1785. Under Alexander, although with hesitation, the Old Believers began to obtain permits for the construction of churches, chapels, worship services and cemeteries. Historians call the time of Alexander the "golden age" of Russian sectarianism. Arising from the second half of XVII V. numerous sects, reflecting the intense nature of the spiritual quest of the Russian people and the intensity of religious sentiments, were persecuted even more actively than the Old Believers. Alexander I, having ascended the throne, immediately stopped their persecution, all sectarian prisoners were released from prisons, and the exiles returned. Sectarians - whips, eunuchs, Dukhobors, Molokans, etc. - got the opportunity to move from the inner provinces, where they were pursued by local authorities and the enmity of the population, to the outskirts: to the Taurida, Astrakhan, Samara provinces.

The tolerance of the authorities contributed to the awakening of interest in Russian "spiritual Christianity", in sects in the capital's high society. Particular attention was drawn to the mystical sect of the Khlysts and the eunuchs who emerged from them, who taught that female beauty “eats the whole world and does not let go to God, and since no means are valid against women, it remains to deprive men of the opportunity to sin.” After returning from exile in Siberia (1775-1796), the founder of the scopal sect, Kondraty Selivanov, lived in St. Petersburg (died in 1832), where he enjoyed the constant attention of high society and merchants. In 1805, Alexander I, leaving for the army, paid a visit to the founder of the skokstvo. It is said that Kondraty Selivanov predicted the emperor's defeat at Austerlitz.

The view of religion as an instrument of enlightenment determined to a large extent the attitude of the emperor towards Lutheranism and Catholicism. “That is why,” writes the biographer of Alexander I, “Lutheran pastors and Catholic priests, as secularly educated people, enjoyed greater rights to respect in Alexander’s eyes than our Orthodox clergy. Polish priests and Baltic shepherds then easily achieved such privileges that Russian priests did not even dare to dream of.

Plans for the conversion of Russia to Catholicism were revived, seemingly interrupted by the assassination of Paul I. One of the most active propagandists of Catholicism was Joseph de Maistre, who believed that one should start with the conversion of a dozen aristocrats to Catholicism. Significant successes were achieved in this direction: the spiritual daughters of the Jesuits were M. Naryshkina (Chetvertinskaya), the emperor's favorite, noble ladies - Buturlina, Golitsina, Tolstaya, Rostopchin, Shuvalova, Gagarina, Kurakina.

The liberal air of the era prompted dreams. Aleksey Yelensky, the chamberlain of the last Polish king, having settled in St. Petersburg, became a follower of the hodgepodge and sent in 1804 to Novosiltsev a project for the creation of a corps of state prophets. They would be attached to all the most important government figures and appease God with their prayers, and also proclaim the will of the Spirit of God. The place of the main representative of the Holy Spirit under the emperor Yelensky assigned to the “God” of the eunuchs Kondraty Selivanov. The project remained in Novosiltsev's papers, the author was exiled to a monastery. Alexander visited Selivanov a year later.

The expansion of the empire at the expense of the territories that were part of the Commonwealth, finally liquidated after the third partition, led to the inclusion in Russia of the millionth (in late XVIII c.) the Jewish population. The Jewish question arose, which will not cease to occupy the state and politicians, ideologists and publicists and at the end of the 20th century.

Catherine II, having ascended the throne, was forced, as she says in her Notes, to immediately resolve the issue (it was his turn in the Senate) about a project that allowed Jews to enter Russia. Finding out that Elizabeth rejected such a proposal with a resolution: “I do not want benefits from the enemies of Jesus Christ,” the young empress ordered that the matter be postponed “until another time.” As the imperial territory and the Jewish population increased, the question took on a different character. The problem of Jews entering Russia becomes a problem of their life in the empire. In 1791, the Pale of Settlement was introduced - a territory outside of which Jews did not have the right to reside. The Pale of Settlement included Little Russia, Novorossiya, Crimea and the provinces annexed as a result of the partition of Poland. But even in this territory, Jews had the right to live only in cities, but not in rural areas. In 1794, Catherine taxed the Jews twice as much as the Christians.

In 1798, Senator Gavrila Derzhavin was sent to Belarus to "investigate the behavior of the Jews, whether they exhaust the settlers in feeding them with deceptions, and to look for means so that they, without burdening the latter, could feed themselves with their labor" . Derzhavin, as he tells in his memoirs, collected information “from the most prudent inhabitants, from the Jesuit Academy in Plock, all government offices, the nobility and merchants, and the Cossacks themselves, regarding the way of life of the Jews ...”

Senator Derzhavin presented his "opinion on the Jews" to Paul I, but the emperor ignored him. Derzhavin's note "set in motion" under Alexander I. A committee was created. Its composition testified to the importance attached to the issue. The committee members were Count Czartoryzhsky, Count Potocki, Count Valerian Zubov and Gavrila Derzhavin. The committee's first decision was to invite representatives of the Jewish population to hear their opinion on the conclusions drawn by Derzhavin. In 1804, a "regulation on the Jews" was worked out. The Pale of Settlement was preserved, but its territory was expanded to include the Astrakhan and Caucasus provinces. Within the limits of the Pale of Settlement, Jews were to enjoy "the protection of laws on an equal footing with all other Russian subjects." The prohibition to live in rural areas remained and it was strictly forbidden to sell wine. In the first place in the regulation of 1804 are articles encouraging enlightenment. Jewish children were given the right to study in all Russian public schools, gymnasiums and universities. At the same time, the creation of Jewish "special schools" was allowed for those who wished.

The regulation of 1804 was the first act regulating the position of the Jews Russian Empire. Its liberality, tolerance - a sign of the times - become apparent when compared with subsequent legislation, which was continuously tightened.

Striving at first for the implementation of some transformations, Alexander I created on March 30, 1801, the Permanent Council, which lasted until 1810. The Permanent Council consisted of twelve persons appointed by Alexander. It was supposed to be an advisory body to the king. Its task was to select the laws needed to carry out the necessary changes, but in fact the Permanent Council did not deal with these issues.
The issue of "transformations" was discussed in the Private Committee created by Alexander I (1801-1803).
The members of the Unspoken Committee included: Stroganov, Kochubey, Novosiltsev and Czartoryski. This committee was called "unspoken" because it met unofficially with the king himself, "over a cup of tea", under his chairmanship. This was done because of the fear of the king and his associates to speak openly about the transformations.
The secret committee began its activities by studying the situation in the country. At the same time, he had to develop a plan for transformation and a draft constitution. But the matter did not move forward. One of the proposals, designed to limit autocratic power to some extent, was the proposal discussed in the Secret Committee to turn the Senate into an "independent" legislative body that would limit the power of the tsar. In this direction, Platon Zubov (the last favorite of Catherine II), Count Zavadovsky, Vorontsov, Mordvinov and Derzhavin, that is, representatives of the old Catherine's nobility, spoke out. But this proposal met with resistance from the members of the Unspoken Committee and Alexander I himself, who was only playing the role of a liberal.
On the issue of the rights of the Senate, a draft was adopted, developed by the Senate itself, according to which its tasks were limited to administrative and judicial functions. The Senate was recognized as the highest administrative and judicial body. But this was also only recognized formally, and not in fact. Among the administrative functions of the Senate, it was recognized that it had the right to consider the annual reports of ministers and, if abuses were discovered, report them to the tsar. Alexander I saw in this a belittling of his prerogatives, and the Senate later lost this right.
In addition, according to the regulation adopted in the Unspoken Committee, the Senate was allowed to present to the tsar its opinion on decrees and laws, "the implementation of which was fraught with great inconvenience or contradicted previously adopted laws." At the beginning of 1803, the Senate decided to use this right and, at the suggestion of Senator S. Pototsky, began to ask the tsar to "command" the ministers to revise the decree on a 12-year term of service for non-commissioned officer rank nobles as at odds with the rights granted to the nobility by a "letter of commendation". Alexander I was indignant at this behavior of the Senate and "ordered", but not to the ministers, to revise the law, but to the Senate - henceforth not to touch upon the laws issued under him, but to express his opinion only on the laws adopted in previous reigns.
This was not accidental, because according to Czartoryski, a man who knew Alexander I closely, “the emperor loves external forms of freedom, just as one can love a performance. He admired himself appearance liberal government because it flattered his vanity; but, apart from forms and appearance, he did not want anything and was in no way inclined to endure that they turned into reality.
All the talk in the Unspoken Committee about the "plan of transformation" ended in some improvement of the administrative apparatus through the creation of ministries.
Petrovsky colleges by this time were already outdated. A clearer and more centralized control system was required. In this regard, according to the report of Czartoryski on September 8, 1802, eight ministries were created: 1) foreign affairs, 2) military land affairs, 3) naval affairs, 4) justice, 5) internal affairs, 6) finance, 7 ) commerce, 8) public education. In the ministries, in contrast to the Petrine collegiums, unity of command was introduced. Both representatives of Catherine's nobility and members of the Unspoken Committee were appointed ministers or deputy ministers: Kochubey, Minister of the Interior, and Stroganov, Deputy Minister of the Interior; Foreign Minister Vorontsov, and Czartoryski - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Minister of Justice - Derzhavin, and Novosiltsev - Deputy Minister of Justice; Minister of Education - Zavadovsky, etc.
The creation of ministries had nothing to do with constitutional reforms.
A peculiar attempt to develop reforms was the preparation of the so-called "commendation letter to the Russian people", the draft of which was entrusted to Vorontsov to draw up.
The secret committee discussed Vorontsov's project, but did not accept it, since the "charter" was supposed to determine the rights of all classes of the population of Russia, including the peasantry, and the members of the committee did not consider it possible to give any rights to the landlord peasants, because they were afraid to affect the interests of the landowners.

Circumstances for the establishment of the Committee

The history of the creation of the secret committee should begin in 1792. This is still the period of the reign of Catherine II. Her grandson Alexander is only 15 years old, however, while receiving his education, he meets young government officials. One of them was Viktor Kochubey, who at the end of 1792 was appointed ambassador to Istanbul. He was only 24, that is, he was 9 years older than Alexander. While in the service, Kochubey often corresponded with the young Romanov, and in the letters they touched on the topic of reforms in Russia. It was from this acquaintance that the idea of the future organization arose.

When Alexander's father Paul I became emperor, the heir to the throne was already familiar with all the members of the future committee. Since 1796, Alexander himself has been using the title "young friends". The plans of the future emperor were to "lead the state from despotism to a constitution." Therefore, he selected the participants of the future secret committee according to their views and intellect, that is, the choice fell on those people who supported the views of Alexander. And these views were simple - to reform and change radically everything that was done before, and that was done by his father. That is why the young Alexander was very impressed with the democratic views of the "young friends". In 1801, power passed to Alexander. By this time, the Secret Committee was already fully formed.

The main purpose of the secret committee

Creating the Unspoken Committee, the future emperor set the following tasks:

Modernization of the state apparatus, primarily the creation of an effective administrative system.
Expansion of the rights and freedoms of the subjects of the empire.
Limitation of the power of the emperor by the adoption of the Constitution.

Some of the members of the committee were under great influence French Revolution, therefore, its slogan "freedom, equality, fraternity" became for them the main direction for reforms. Alexander I, together with his “young friends”, characterized their own homeland as an empire that lags far behind the leading countries of the world, and for Russia to become a developed empire of the world, it needed reforms.

An interesting fact: each of the members of the Unspoken Committee had a unique right: at any time to go to the emperor's office and share their ideas. By this, the emperor showed the priority of reforms for his policy.

Committee member

The participants held their first meeting as a Private Committee under the Emperor of the Russian Empire on June 24, 1801, three months after Alexander became the new monarch. The emperor himself opened the meeting, but in the future he did not attend the meeting of the committee so often. In total, the Unspoken Committee consisted of four people:

Viktor Pavlovich Kochubey.
Pavel Alexandrovich Stroganov.
Adam Jerzy Czartoryski.
Nikolai Nikolaevich Novosiltsev.

Some historians also call the children's teacher Alexander Laharpe a member of the committee. However, he was not present at the meetings, so if he was a participant, it was only formal.

Kochubey V.P.

Now it is worth dwelling in more detail on the description of the committee members. The first of them was V. Kochubey, already mentioned earlier. In 1798, he returned from Istanbul, gaining experience and knowledge there, and also gained even greater determination in the need for reforms in Russia. In 1798, a circle of "young friends" was formed, so V. Kochubey was invited by Alexander to one of the meetings, where he met all the participants.

Stroganov P.A.

Another participant was P. Stroganov. He was four years older than Alexander, he was trained and trained in France (by the way, he was born in Paris), and the most interesting thing is that he was in Paris just at the beginning of the legendary French Revolution in 1789, he was familiar with the works of the Enlighteners (Rousseau , Voltaire and others). After returning to Russia in 1791, he entered the civil service. In 1795 he met Alexander. The latter was very impressed by Stroganov's erudition, as well as his Political Views. Later, it was P. Stroganov who came up with the idea of creating an advisory secret committee under the emperor. Stroganov was also a prominent opponent of serfdom in the Russian Empire. By the way, Stroganov left memoirs about the Secret Committee, which serve as an invaluable source for historians.

Novosiltsev N.N.

In the same 1795, when Alexander met Stroganov, there was a meeting between the future emperor and Nikolai Novosiltsev, a nobleman in the public service. It was P. Stroganov who introduced them. N. Novoseltsev was a well-known politician in Russia at that time, he even took part in the suppression of the Polish uprising of T. Kosciuszko in 1794-1795. In 1796, Alexander met the last member of the future committee, the Pole Adam Czartoryski. After the divisions of the Commonwealth from 1772 to 1795, Russia got a part of Poland, therefore, the number of Poles in the capital and in the civil service increased. Adam and Konstantin Czartoryski were such citizens of the former Commonwealth. Adam received a European education, was in France, England and Switzerland, after which he developed his own plan for reforms in the Russian Empire.

Performance results

Considering that not all projects of the Private Committee were implemented, therefore, here is a short list of ideas and contributions of the participants:

P. Stroganov developed a plan for the reform of the Senate, and also wrote a draft of the Constitution of Russia.
N.Novosiltsev wrote a draft law prohibiting the individual sale of serfs, proposed to exclude the nobles from the Assembly of Nobility for illiteracy and inhumane attitude towards serfs. In addition, in 1802 he wrote a draft ministerial reform.
A. Czartoryski began his activity as a member of the committee with a detailed analysis of the problems of the Russian Empire. It is noteworthy that many of the problems indicated by Czartoryski were never resolved in the 19th century and became the cause of the revolutions of the early 20th century.
V. Kochubey, together with Novoseltsev, developed a project for the creation of ministries in Russia.

As we can see, the idea of the Private Committee is unprecedented in the history of Russia. This was the first time that an advisory collegiate body was created to prepare draft laws. It was a kind of "laboratory" for the development of reforms. However, the foreign policy situation, and especially the aggravation of relations with France and, as a result, further wars with Napoleon, made adjustments to the work of the “young friends” committee. After Russia's victory in the war, as well as the signing of the decisions of the Congress of Vienna, the work of the Private Committee was limited.

Even during the reign of Paul I, a circle of young people formed around Alexander, who actively discussed European events, spoke about the need to eliminate despotism and lack of rights in Russia. They were strikingly different from the conservative nobles and were not connected with the conspirators who killed Paul I. "Unspoken Committee". It included young educated aristocrats: P.A. Strogonov, N.N. Novosiltsev, V.P. Kochubey and A.A. Czartoryski. All of them adhered to radical sentiments, sincerely believed in the need for change and the irreversibility of the changes that were taking place in Europe.

The meetings of the Unspoken Committee began with the approval of a plan for future activities: first to consider the state of the empire, then to reform the administration, and finally to start creating a constitution. According to the participants in the events, Alexander insisted on starting the reforms precisely with the constitution, but everyone else held him back, referring to the need to "wait for the minds to calm down." The aspirations of Alexander I to the constitutional structure of the state manifested itself long before these events. Under the influence of La Harpe, he adopted the system of "true monarchy", which did not affect absolutism, but at the same time relied on fundamental laws that could not be changed by any power. In Russia, the idea of a "true monarchy" was quite widespread in early XIX V. and perceived as the rule of law over power. It was based on the principles of the separation of powers - legislative, executive and judicial, and also recognized basic civil and political freedoms. The constitutional intentions of Alexander I were collected in a draft written by A.R. Vorontsov, who worked closely with members of the Unspoken Committee, under the title "Letter to the Russian people." The project turned out to be very moderate, but the "young friends" also rejected it as untimely.

Almost simultaneously with the “Letter to the Russian people”, the Unspoken Committee considered a draft on the rights of the peasantry, which provided for the gradual redemption of serfs at a fixed price. Alexander I strongly defended this document, but "young friends" categorically rejected it. As a result, everything was limited to the solemn declaration of Alexander I on the cessation of the distribution of state-owned peasants into private hands. This was an important political decision, which, starting from 1801, was strictly observed, preventing the further expansion of serfdom. In the same year, a decree was issued on the right to purchase land by merchants, philistines and state peasants, which had not so much practical significance as fundamentally destroyed the monopoly of the nobility on landed property.

The secret committee repeatedly addressed the problem of serfdom. Alexander I and his "young friends" clearly understood the economic need to eliminate serfdom and saw it as a constant source of social tension, but they did not dare to make radical changes. The members of the Unspoken Committee adhered to the principle of the gradual emancipation of the peasants, which, in the conditions of Russian reality, postponed its decision for many decades.

The most notable creation of the Private Committee was the establishment ministries. After long discussions, on September 8, 1802, 8 ministries were created: military land forces, naval forces, foreign affairs, justice, internal affairs, finance, commerce and public education. The original idea of the sole power of the ministers in this reform did not pass. The colleges were retained, but were subordinate to the ministers. The collegiate decision-making procedure was preserved: subordinates to the minister sent their submissions, which, after agreement, were recorded as decisions and executed. The sole power of the minister could only be exercised if an urgent decision was needed. In the same decree, a new body was named - Committee of Ministers but its precise functions were uncertain. Thus, initially, the ministerial reform did not seriously affect the highest governing bodies of the empire.

The conservative Catherine's nobles called the Unspoken Committee a "Jacobin gang." In fact, the "young friends" of the emperor turned out to be much more conservative than it could be assumed at the beginning of his activity. Alexander I experienced a restraining influence on their part and gradually began to shun his friends. In May 1802, the meetings of the Private Committee actually ceased, and only at the end of 1803 did it meet several times on certain issues.