Ivan Dolgorukov. Artist D.G. Levitsky, 1782.

02/08/1802 - 1812 - Governor of the Vladimir province .

Prince Dolgorukov played in a noble performance in Korsakov's house. They presented the comedy Les Chateaux en Espagne from Arleville. The passionate actor, of course, was not thinking about the governorship at that time, and was extremely surprised by the applause of the entire orchestra when he uttered the verse: “De quelque emploi brilliant puis me voir charge.” “For a long time,” he says, I could not understand what this meant. There was no play here, no passion in motion; cold, simple speech! Having left the stage, Prince Dolgorukov learned that he had been appointed governor of Vladimir and that the audience accepted the comedy verse he had spoken to him. “Everyone congratulated me,” he said, “everyone greeted me, I turned in all directions, bowed and did not have time to make out whether I was happy or not about this news!”
This is how he received official notification of his determination.
“Being,” he says, “insufficient and without the ability to pay money for everything. What the children needed to learn, I taught them the law of faith myself and walked with them through St. Scripture on Sundays. On one of them, February 18, the birthday of my eldest daughter, I explained it to the circle of my children. That passage from the New Testament where it talks about ten lepers, and I was talking with them about gratitude, when suddenly they brought me written news that on the 8th of February (1802) a decree was issued to make me governor in Vladimir. Closing the book and crying, I gave praise to God, as the author of all the events that befall us, to whom we must thank for everything; for whatever he does, he does for our good.” The next day he received a decree in form, and he was already supposed to prepare for departure.
It was bitter for him to part with Moscow. His wife developed consumption and was quickly approaching her last period. He had to leave her in Moscow and go alone; He also left the children with her. Whether she would be able to come later was unknown to him. He didn’t want to part with the house either. Which I'm used to. Accusing himself of cowardice, he mentions in his notes that he was sorry to part with Moscow amusements, with the theater, with good society; It was bitter to live again in the provinces. With people who are poorly educated - and “go to look for new troubles and new reproaches.”
The lack of wealth in the rank of governor is also a grief, almost an obstacle to well-intentioned successes, which largely depend on the disposition of the inhabitants of the provincial city toward him. In the provinces they love to be amused and amused: this almost determines the dignity of the governor; Under this condition, they rush to take a break to help their beloved boss. All the governors were then given 3 thousand rubles in banknotes for the move, or, as they say technically, for the rise: Prince Dolgoruky was not given even that, “either because the move was not far away, or in order to foretell a bad fate for him in the new state " There was nowhere to borrow; There is nothing to pawn: all the things have been in the pawnshop for a long time. But out of all the relatives, two emerged: Prince Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgorukov loaned him 2 thousand rubles, and his aunt, Princess Shakhovskaya, gave him a thousand rubles. This is the situation in which he went to Vladimir.

Having approached the border of the province, where a stone pillar with a cast-iron coat of arms meant that the Moscow province had ended, Prince Dolgorukov got out of the carriage, bowed to the ground to his homeland and, following the example of his ancestors, took a piece of his native land in his pocket. So he entered his province. “Forgive me this romantic trick. Remember that I am coming from Moscow, from the kingdom of luxury, contentment and freedom! – As is revealed throughout (I will say in passing), his unfeigned character and a man who did not know how to cope with his inclinations and habits! – Sadness about separation from Moscow, as from the homeland; sadness about separation from his wife; a pious fulfillment of the ancient custom of our ancestors, and at the same time a vain tribute to memory - luxury and freedom, if not the amusements of the capital! - These sincere and unaccountable feelings that run through Prince Dolgoruky in everything and which depict both an individual and a public person in all their nakedness, they, I repeat, constitute the dignity of his poems: that dignity in which not many of our poets can compete with him, even if they surpassed him in others!
Having accepted the province, Prince Dolgorukov considered it his duty, first of all, to travel around and inspect it. During this review of the province, in addition to the items that were the direct responsibility of the governor, the inspection of roads and bridges, the number of cases and prisoners, Prince Dolgorukov did not ignore remarkable areas, did not neglect folk legends, did not shy away from poetic impressions, and everything he noticed , did not remain without consequences.
In Suzdal, he became interested in the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery (which at that time was nothing more than a place of imprisonment). Based on Suzdal impressions, the governor wrote an essay on history, which, as the governor said, “didn’t go anywhere and stayed with me.” In 1808, this manuscript, or another compiled from it, entitled: “Memorial of the Suzdal Monastery,” was presented by him to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Prince Kurakin (successor of Count Kochubey). “This manuscript,” he said, “will be found in my prose works. I ask those who get their hands on it to pay attention not to the style, but to the subject and the author’s heartfelt disposition, and then maybe this work will reward me, even if it’s too late, with the gratitude of a philanthropist.” From the author’s words we can conclude that her goal was the desire to improve the lot of the prisoners. This was the direct responsibility of the governor.
About the city of Suzdal itself, located on dry land, Prince Dolgorukov reported in his notes a rumor he heard from old people that its name came from the combination of two words: dry land and dol, “which formed the abbreviated speech Suzdal in an ordinary pronunciation.”
In Pereslavl-Zalessky, Dolgorukov carefully examined Cape Gremyachiy, where, according to legend, the house in which Peter lived during the construction of the boat was built. Cm. .
On the way back through the province, we already see in him the vivid impressionability of a poet. Having completed the review, as a duty, he indulges in all the freedom of dreams and the beauties of nature. Between Gorokhovets and Vyazniki, “one cannot help but be captivated,” as he said, “by this corner of the earth in which nature has scattered so much beauty. , on the steep mountain under which the Klyazma meanders, there is a place of superb beauty. The dull imagination finds the most pleasant food here. Nowhere will the human mind find such a sweet dream that the sight of a natural picture here will give to a sensitive heart, both at sunrise and at sunset. Here I often forgot, in various thoughts, where I came from, and where, and where I am.” These impressions later produced the poem:
“Reflections on the banks of the Klyazma, at the graveyard of Archdeacon Stefan.”
Nature! Here I felt you too.
From the mountain among the graves at the feet of branchy oaks,
In Klyazma I see a current of dark currents, sometimes pure ones;
The natural movement of water is in vain,
I look at large ships at modest tracks,
And I think: this is how fate mows down the days of mortals;
Water carries ships, and time takes life;
Drop after drop of water runs into the seas from the rivers, -
A living example of how we drive the century forward day after day.

In 1803, on the occasion of recruiting, in some cities of his province, in the city of Alexandrov, Prince Dolgorukov met Mrs. Pozharskaya, who had recently become a widow, and with whom he was subsequently destined to unite his fate.

Prince Dolgorukov considered the following to be one of his significant successes. During the reign of Emperor Paul, upon the presentation of the report of the Assignation Bank by the Prosecutor General Prince Kurakin, a decree was issued (December 4, 1796), which ordered that all the estate remaining after the punished makers of counterfeit banknotes be transferred to the treasury, in order to thereby compensate for the losses of the Bank. Prince Dolgorukov, reasoning that by selling the property of criminals of the peasant rank, the losses of the Bank are compensated in the smallest amount, and meanwhile, through this confiscation, the innocent heirs of the criminal are deprived of everything and become a burden to worldly society, made a representation about this to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Count Kochubey, as a result why a personal decree of Emperor Alexander was issued (December 19, 1803), canceling the previous one and establishing the widespread abandonment of peasant estates in favor of their family, if it was acquired in a non-violent manner, and if the members of those families did not themselves participate in the crime.

After the assassination of Paul I as a result of a conspiracy in March 1801, his son and heir Alexander I initially established the “states of the Vladimir province” in the form in which they were under his father. On March 21, 1802, the new tsar actually approved Kovrov’s stay as part of the Vyaznikovsky district. However, the new Vladimir governor, Prince Ivan Mikhailovich Dolgorukov, appointed in the same year, decided that Kovrovsky district needed to be restored, and sent a corresponding report to the Senate. The senators were inspired by the governor’s arguments and, in turn, sent a report to the sovereign.
On May 24, 1803, the cities of Alexandrov, Kovrov, and Sudogda were appointed district towns.
Alexander I restored Kovrov as a district center, and Vyaznikovsky district was left within the former Catherine borders. The official re-opening of Kovrov as a county center took place on February 7, 1804. The governor himself was present at the opening of Kovrov. In Kovrov, on February 7, the governor received a letter from Vladimir, from his wife, notifying him of his appointment as a Privy Councilor. Although in one place in his notes Prince Dolgorukov says: “I will sacrifice a friend, a friend, wealth, fate, life itself; but there is no such connection in our moral habits for which I would neglect the value of my merits in the service,” which seems to show in him an inclination towards ambition: with all that, on the occasion of being awarded this rank, he wrote poems that are remarkable for their a character characteristic only of a person who prefers love and the gifts of nature - love of humanity, so seductive for everyone in the service field. These are the verses:
“Hope - the Emperor has granted me a rank!
Wonderful; but alas! Nature joked:
She scribbled her decree - the blood of ardor caught cold;
Cupid said: sorry! I'm the only one left!

What's in rank? If there is no fire and admiration!
Twenty years ago – oh! How happy I was! -
I would fly around Moscow, turning everyone’s head,
I would enjoy pleasure with my family at feasts!

Now honor remains; and the joy has flown away!
So, people are not chatting in vain,
That although the service of the Tsar does not disappear,
But it’s too late and selfish when the time has passed!

Prince Dolgorukov was disturbed by a dark, unexpected premonition, which he believed either unconsciously or from previous experiences. “I have long harbored the superstitious thought that in my life every strong joy should have been preceded by strong sadness. The constant thought of this troubled my imagination all the time. I had not yet seen the misfortune that was preparing for me, but, as if anticipating it, I was already grieving, and this hidden melancholy shook my strength. While I was thinking and feeling this way while traveling, my wife in Vladimir was suffering from a cold, and when I returned home, I found her already unwell.” The premonition came true. Prince Dolgorukov, amid his calmness and success in his career, was awaited by a blow of fate, which left a mark of grief on his loving heart for the rest of his life.
Princess Eugenia developed consumption. The husband did not yet suspect the extent to which her illness had reached; but the doctors determined the end of her to be so close that, having learned about this in Moscow, from the then famous doctor Frez, Prince Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgorukov hastened to come to Vladimir for the entire first week of fasting in order to strengthen the grieving husband in patience, and in case of decisive misfortune to take care of his family. A trait of participation, which makes it all the more honorable that their relationship was distant; at the same time, it shows how strong and valid family and family relationships were even then. Then the proverb: “one’s own involuntarily friend” was still a practical truth. Life was easier; no one cared about himself yet; society has not yet disintegrated under the weight of worries and some kind of moral oppression; egoism has not yet given rise to general coldness. This was the hopeful beginning of the reign of Alexander the First.
The patient lived for another two months. This is the detailed and sad picture Prince Dolgorukov presented when writing off her illness and death:
“Gloomy weather, prolonged and severe bad weather, fogs, blizzards, made the spring of this year the most unbearable, and the wife became more relaxed hour by hour. All medicines lost their effectiveness. Everywhere seemed stuffy and cramped to her; constantly asked for air; I lost my appetite and lost my memory. Reading alone occupied her: she forced her to read, but listened attentively to the tenth word, because little by little her hearing was changing, and in the end she became weak. That it was impossible to speak to her otherwise than with strained voice. Deprivation of this feeling stopped conversations between us. I couldn’t tell her everything without anyone hearing it except her. This preliminary obstacle to our usual reciprocity in conversation prepared me for the loss of my true and only friend in Eugene. I also saw her, sat with her; but our thoughts were no longer mixed, and in this so necessary, so precious relationship in marriage, Evgenia was no longer in the world for me.”
On May 12, 1804, Princess Evgenia Sergeevna Dolgorukova died at the age of 34.

1st wife Evgenia Sergeevna Dolgorukova from January 31, 1787 (12/24/1770-05/12/1804), graduate of the Smolny Institute, maid of honor.

Evgenia Dolgorukova, née Smirnova, is considered the prototype of the main character of Pushkin’s The Captain’s Daughter. Evgenia's father, captain Sergei Maksimovich Smirnov, was killed in 1774 near Orenburg during the Pugachev uprising.
She grew up in poverty, because the family had four more sons and a daughter. But during Catherine II’s trip to Russia, the mother managed to draw the Empress’s attention to her children. And Evgenia even became a pupil of Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna, the wife of the future Emperor Paul I.
At the age of 17, Evgenia married Prince Ivan Dolgorukov. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, “the marriage was very happy: the princess was a meek, loving creature who pacified the fickle, sometimes too ardent character of her husband, who, in turn, idolized his wife and sang her in his poems.”
In society, Evgenia was called Nina because she played the main role in the amateur play “Nina, or Crazy in Love” (“Nina ou la folle par amour”) with great success. And even her husband called her Nina in poetry.
Her death in Vladimir after 15 years of marriage was a heavy and unexpected blow for her husband and children. It seemed to him that nature itself seemed to participate in her suffering and became enlightened along with the liberation of her pure soul. “By an incomprehensible whim of nature, all spring bad weather ceased on May 12; the minute of my poor wife’s death seemed like a definite minute of the bucket. As soon as her blessed soul departed from us, the most beautiful summer thunderstorm arose on the horizon of the outside world. The sun suddenly rose from the dark clouds that surrounded it and shone with its brilliance on all the windows of our house; but his warmth no longer warmed the insensitive Evgenia.
Her death was the best proof of her religion. Knowing her illness, she knew that she could not live long; However, she was never afraid of her end. She loved life and the pleasures of the world; but as soon as he falls ill, he will immediately retire and, without timidity, prepare for the common fate. She greeted eternity like the best day of spring. Who, besides the Most High, gives us such courage, and who, besides those who have pleased him! And there is no doubt that her faith was pure. Reasonable, perfect!
After receiving the rank, Prince Dolgorukov asked for leave to Moscow; he wanted to see his elderly mother and please her with his promotion. But this vacation served something else. Prince Dolgorukov took advantage of this vacation to accompany his wife’s body to Moscow, where it was buried in the Donskoy Monastery. Ivan Dolgorukov, who outlived her by 19 years, was also buried next to his first wife.
The inconsolable husband Ivan Dolgorukov dedicated a collection of poems, “Twilight of My Life,” to his wife, written in Vladimir and published in 1808.

In addition to grief over the loss of his wife, Prince Dolgorukov had previously had a tendency towards solitude, which was so conducive to daydreaming, despite the fact that he loved distraction, gaiety and the noise of the people. In an ordinary everyday person we would call this inconstancy, but in a poet this comes, perhaps, from the ability of the soul to quickly move from one impression to another, often the opposite, from the lively acceptability of impressions and from the liveliness of fantasy, which requires varied food for the mind and heart. Near Vladimir, on the river Rpeni, on the bank opposite the city, there was a hut in which the poet, on free days from work, loved to indulge in complete solitude for several hours a day; there he read, dreamed and wrote poetry. A poem entitled “The Hut on Rpeni” remains a monument to this poetic tranquility. Here is his day in rural solitude, from morning prayer until the rising of the moon, until that late hour when, as he says, everything falls silent:
The deaf hum among the people is not heard,
All creation rests in nature,
Only evil does not sleep - and man!

The Ministry of Education took care of purchasing houses for provincial gymnasiums. The treasury allocated large sums of money for this item; but construction required a lot of time, and meanwhile the premises of the Vladimir gymnasium were very cramped. The governor's house attracted the attention of the academic authorities, and the director of the gymnasium, on behalf of the university, entered into a relationship with the governor about this, without whose consent this assumption could not be fulfilled. The house (Bolshaya Moskovskaya St., 24), personally for Prince Dolgorukov, was great; besides, everything about him reminded him of the loss of his wife: this hastened his agreement to cede the house. “I didn’t want to live in it,” he said, “but I also didn’t want my successor, having entered it and arranging the rooms at will, to place in them some mistress, some dogs, some other things. In the very peace in which Evgenia lived, and thereby desecrate the place of her last breath. And for this purpose I decided to turn this house into a government house forever. Having given it to the gymnasium, I knew that no private person would dispose of it and dispose of it on a whim. The Temple of Sciences removed from this house every idea of ​​temptation and impurity.” In a letter to the director of the gymnasium, Alexei Alekseevich Tsvetaev, dated October 15, 1806, he writes how pleased he is that the house in which his virtuous wife lived and died, having turned into a public building, will no longer depend on the personal whims of one or the other, and it will serve, so to speak, as a monument to the one who spent her last days in it. Along with this attitude, he forwarded to the director of the gymnasium two letters from Moscow booksellers about the printing of the second edition of his works, allowing the director to enter into terms with him, or with anyone else, about the printing of not only this edition, “but also all those that may henceforth be ”, with additional works that will turn out to be throughout his life, and turn in favor of the gymnasium, “with the extension of the right of the gymnasium to these until such a remote time as human assumptions can go deeper into the space of the future; so that even after his death everything that is tolerable for publication will appear in public in no other way than with the delivery of all the benefits and profits from that to the benefit of the gymnasium. This assumption did not come true.
Further, he expressed a desire that the benefit of the gymnasium from these publications consisted in the acquisition not of money, but of books, so that over time a library would be founded in the Vladimir gymnasium, and that the room in which his wife died would be designated for this purpose; He also asked the director to take over the management of the gymnasium and his own bookcases for storing books.
To this he adds the reason for the donation, which was that the time of the first publication of his works was the era in which he was named the head of the Vladimir province, and that he owes the discovery of his talents to Moscow University. For all this, Prince Dolgorukov made a formal act, like a spiritual testament, which was accepted and approved by the university.
“The university, satisfying my desire, sent a document addressed to me personally expressing gratitude to me for my donation, and an order was sent to the director: leaving the aforementioned peace in its present form, display a bust of me and my wife in it, make an ark to preserve my document and decorate it with a decent inscription with a short biography of the deceased in memory of her rare spiritual virtues.”
“I was extremely pleased by such attention from the university, and especially since it was not only on its own, but with the permission of Comrade Minister of Education M.N. Muravyov has awarded me such a distinctive honor.”

st. Bolshaya Moskovskaya, 24

“After some time, the room took on the appearance intended for it. In it, my kosht made a dome on pillars, under which, on the platform, three steps from the elevated floor, my bust and wife were placed on high columns between them, on a lacquered pedestal, a gilded carved box hid the above act, on the box was an inscription in verses of my composition:
Eugene had an elegance of nature;
For seventeen years I tasted the bliss of heavenly days with her;
The perfection of the world beheld the features of her face;
The image of a deity matured in the features of her soul!
Above it on the wall was hung a board with a brief description of the family, upbringing and life of my late wife. This monument, beautifully crafted and representing the coat of arms of the Dolgoruky family above it, perfectly decorated the room, and in all its integrity, before I left Vladimir, and even after, I heard, it was preserved. All the walls of the room were filled with bookcases; and the monument stood on the very spot where the Princess died. It will be very difficult for me if this monument is ever abolished during my lifetime. I pray to God to bless this work of my hands forever. But do people know how to value anything in a worthy manner! Bronzes fell, marbles were crushed, the faces of the deity were destroyed! And should I dare to hope that he will build against the aphid, who destroys everything in the world, a mausoleum priceless for me, but for the world of a barely known wife!
Prince Dolgorukov took an active part in the successes and well-being of the gymnasium, attending all its public events, also encouraging and assisting in the establishment of literary conversations, which were always his most pleasant pleasure to introduce to the public and animate with his presence. To maintain the gymnasium, he agreed to the nobility to release 100 and 200 rubles a year from each district (or district) for the maintenance of 12 boarders from poor noble children; this institution existed. While he was the head of the province.
The prince arranged the gymnasium theater.
In 1807, the second edition of his works was published so that the money raised from this would be used to annually buy books to compile a library in the Vladimir gymnasium. Ponomarev deceived both the university and the gymnasium. The university decided to defend the rights of the contract, but during the enemy invasion of Moscow in 1812, many of the university’s acts were lost. The process ended in nothing, and the gymnasium received nothing.

1806-08 - peasant uprising in Murom district. The performance was suppressed by a military team.
November 10, 1806 established in Vladimir committee for the management of city duties. On April 30, 1808, the regulations drawn up by him on the structure of city duties, income and expenses were approved, taxation of land was introduced in accordance with the space of courtyard plots, and the release of quitrent articles began at auction.

In 1806, the Klyazma Crystal Factory came into operation in Kovrovsky district. Its founder was the Kasimov merchant Lukyan Prokhorovich Yakunchikov. The plant was located on the land of the landowner Vladykin, by agreement for 25 years. The plant was visited by the Vladimir governor, Prince Ivan Mikhailovich Dolgorukov. He came to visit the sister of his second wife Evdokia Alekseevna Vladykina, née Bezobrazova, in the village of Rusino. In his notes, he wrote: “... On the 11th we spent it somehow in the village near Vladykina, and to dispel thoughts, because we really needed it, I went to look at the work of a new glass factory in the neighborhood, which I was known before. The guts have just started to unwind. The glass was prepared, not processed.”

On November 30, 1806, a manifesto followed on the establishment in Russia of 612 thousand zemstvo troops, called the militia ().
Since 1807, it was allowed to lend not only to nobles on the security of their estates, but also to merchants on the security of factories, shops and stone houses.
He deceived the peasants by resorting to various mocking acts. This sparked anger and protests. The peasants even complained to the king. From St. Petersburg, the Vladimir governor, Prince Dolgorukov, received the following letter: “My dear sir, Prince Ivan Mikhailovich! In the Vladimir province of Sudogodsky district, the patrimony of second-major Maltsov, the peasants brought a complaint against him to the Sovereign Emperor that he had taken away from them the forest and wastelands they had bought and exhausted them with excessive work, brought them into complete ruin, so they barely had daily food. His Imperial Majesty commands that you deign to inform Your Excellency so that you can find out without publicity whether these peasants are really being burdened by their landowner with unnecessary taxes and work.”
But the peasants did not receive any relief as a result of this complaint. Governor Dolgorukov recognized it as unsubstantiated and dropped the case.

He could not remain alone, and the memory of Eugene still remained the same shrine for him; Time did not subsequently destroy the sad feeling about that bliss that is inseparable from first love: it did not at all erase the reverent memory of her virtues; but life requires a living sensation, and the present is always more vivid than the past. He was so easily seduced by his imagination! The fact that she was raised in the Smolny Monastery, together with his first wife, and was released the same year as her, spoke a lot in favor of Pozharskaya. Be that as it may, his heart was kindled again! Passionate by nature, he also loved to pamper the nascent feeling within himself, to give it full free rein, to help it with that dreaminess that, nourished by reading the New Heloise and other fiery and tender novels of that time, was then, so to speak. In the air! It was impossible for him to refuse to fulfill all the laws of tender passion imposed by the then spirit of the times. It was necessary for him to enter into a fiery correspondence with a new object of love, and certainly in French! Pozharskaya herself knew French well, but her answers exceeded all the expectations of Prince Dolgorukov! What style! What a feeling! Le papier brule, as he used to say, in the words of one of the French writers of that time! It was all fuel added to the fire! And Prince Dolgorukov, after three years of widowhood, in 1807 entered into a second marriage with Agrafena Alekseevna, nee Bezobrazova, and by her first husband Pozharskaya, the daughter of the former district leader of the nobility Bezobrazov. He noted this in his notes: “On January 13, I accepted new bonds. Pozharskaya became Princess Dolgorukova.” She brought with her as a dowry a small estate, consisting of 200 souls, in the village of Aleksandrovka, Shuisky district, and a distillery, which she inherited from her first husband. She was a kind, sensible and respectable woman; but not at all fiery, as Prince Ivan Mikhailovich imagined from her letters. Some time after her marriage, she simply and openly admitted to him that, knowing his mastery of the French language (he wrote prose in French better than in Russian), she was ashamed to appear to him not such a master in the epistolary style, and that her letters were written by a Frenchman, the teacher of her sons from her first husband. The prince frowned; then he laughed a lot, and later talked about it himself: this good-natured frankness did not in the least outrage their agreement. Meanwhile, the living sadness of the heart about the irretrievable loss of Evgenia and the undimmed warmth of memories are evidenced by all the poet’s poems written by him during his widowhood, collected in a special book and published in 1808, under the title: “Twilight of my life.” During the wedding itself, the thought of Eugene did not leave him! “I won’t hide,” he said, “that during the wedding ball, in the house where I had previously danced with Evgenia, momentary feelings crept into my heart, such that they embarrassed it and made it beat not only from pure joy.” He loved his second wife and recognized her merits; but when the imagination cooled down, he very correctly mentioned her in his notes: “I will not compare her with Evgenia. She didn’t have a sample of her own! I will not take away due justice from this. She is a sweet, kind, good woman; what more! With her, I had every reason to expect a calm old age, which was most necessary for me, and I thank God every day, who chose her to alleviate the many evils that awaited me in the coming days of my life.”
The feasts of this wedding and all the external rituals were managed by a certain Durov. “Durov loved all sorts of ceremonies. The coffin and the crown were all the same to him, as long as he gave orders, fussed and thought that it was necessary. At the same time that I got married, Mrs. Yazykova, the lady of the first examination in the province and the general’s wife, died in the city. What more? Durov is here too! But what to do? My wife, not entirely indifferent to certain signs, did not want the same person to preside over wedding feasts and funeral ceremonies. Durov wanted to please his wife; but I also wanted to fuss with the Yazykovs. Well? He, quietly from us, gave advice there too, dressed up spiritual people, distributed their pay; and together he roasted an almond trumpet for the wedding and cut a covering for the deceased. Rare indulgence! Who, not knowing him, would not think that he is a true friend of humanity, and out of pure zeal for his neighbor laughs in one place and cries in another! Nothing happened! It’s all about meaning and boasting: if it weren’t for me, it wouldn’t have happened! A rare original of its kind!”
In 1810, the wife of Governor Dolgorukov, Agrafena Sergeevna, donated 8 wind instruments to the men's gymnasium. Subsequently, a small student orchestra was formed at the gymnasium. He gave concerts for the townspeople and thereby “gave the public great pleasure.”

2nd wife Agrafena Alekseevna Dolgorukova (06/16/1766-08/16/1848) from January 13, 1807, daughter of the former Vladimir district marshal of the nobility A.G. Bezobrazova (1736-1803).

A special police force consisting of civilian, rather than elected, people was created in 1806. The exact number of employees in the Vladimir fire brigade in the first years of its existence is not known.
In 1808, a dyeing and calico printing factory was founded in the city of Alexandrov by merchant Dmitry Zubov. In 1919, the company began producing artificial leather, and in 1954 - artificial astrakhan leather. Currently time - JSC “Alexandroviskozh”.
1806-11 - construction in Suzdal according to the project of architect. A. Vershinsky.
On April 30, 1808, in the city of Vladimir, it was formed police staff. were obliged to monitor the city's decorum and improvement, as well as compliance with the rules of public order. The city was divided into 3 police forces. The police team consisted of 3 non-commissioned officers and 22 privates appointed from the internal guard. Initially, 2/3 of the new law enforcement structure was financed by the city, the rest of the funds came in the form of benefits from the treasury. The first and last Minister of Police was A.D. Balashov.

In 1808, Prince Dolgorukov and his family went to St. Petersburg. He did not like to part with his own, but meanwhile he wanted to introduce the children to the beautiful capital and provide them with some entertainment. Driving through Novgorod, he showed them the cemetery where his grandfather, Prince Ivan Alekseevich, beheaded on the scaffold, was buried without any honor, like a disgraced man, like a criminal. “We collectively shed tears of Christian tenderness over him,” he said, “and again entrusted our destinies to God.”
The new minister, Prince Kurakin, wanting to distinguish the governors in the general opinion, sought permission from the Sovereign to represent them separately, in the cabinet, and not along with other persons presenting themselves, as was the case before. By this means, he thought, the Emperor could more easily recognize each governor of the province by talking with him about subjects related to the administration entrusted to him. But in reality, the goal remained unachieved: the special presentations of the governors became only a special honor. Prince Dolgorukov. On July 27, on Kamenny Island, he was presented to the Tsar in his office. On August 9, the Princess and the Prince's eldest daughter, Princess Marya, were presented to Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, who received them with special grace. Then they all went to Pavlovskoye and introduced themselves to the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and the entire royal family; after which they were invited to dinner with the Empress and for the evening. In the very room where they danced at this evening, there were once, under Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, performances in which Prince Dolgorukov was so distinguished by his stage acting! The Empress, approaching him, herself reminded him of this. At that moment, the feelings of the Queen and the subject of course merged into one and were equally touched; which rarely happens! The Empress has a memory of Emperor Paul; the subject has memories of his first rapprochement with Evgenia, of the best days of his young life!
On August 25, he was given the Annen Ribbon, the first and last order he received - he had no others.
On the way back to Moscow, approaching Black Mud, he suddenly saw a carriage galloping towards him, and from it his sons, who had come from foreign lands, rushed to his neck. But at the very time when they all, having got out of the carriages, rushed to hug each other in an open field, the Prince looked for his eldest daughter with his eyes. She stood to the side, pale, half-dead, and blood poured like a fountain from her throat. Consumption had set in!.. While he, distracted from it by his service, was recruiting in Vladimir, a blow to his father’s heart was already being prepared in Moscow. Exhausted by consumption, Princess Marya died on November 20, before reaching the age of twenty. She was buried in the Donskoy Monastery, next to her mother. “The Georgian bishop, a seventy-year-old old man, buried her,” writes the Prince, “and wept over this withered rose, which, having barely blossomed under the rays of the sun, was already hiding forever!”
While recruiting, Prince Dolgorukov noted in his notes the oddity he noticed that although our peasant reluctantly joins the recruits, as soon as he is accepted, he becomes a completely different person and becomes, as it were, in a hostile attitude towards the peasant. Let us remember the past, and we will find a sufficient reason for this. At that time, not only were there no indefinite leaves, which bring the soldier closer to the family he left behind, but simple leaves were also extremely rare. The recruit, preparing for a twenty-five-year separation, was completely lost for the family: for the most part this separation was eternal. I even remember how rarely retired soldiers returned. “A man is afraid of nothing more than a soldier. He is not so much afraid of his bayonet and saber as of his rapacity. Standing there, the soldier steals everything from the peasant from the barn, from the barn and from the table. The owner has nothing of his own while the soldier lives here. This is what worries our villagers very much. And a strange thing! A recruit, taken into service yesterday, already the next day treats his peasant brother as an enemy, and is ready to take everything away from him. There is some kind of prejudice in the nature of our people that makes them think that they are not doing well if they have not beaten, taken away, or robbed anyone. ABOUT! If he had reasoned differently, he would have willingly fought, he doesn’t know why, and God knows with whom! But he doesn’t care whether he’s his own or someone else’s, as long as he fights!”

1809-15 - unrest among peasants. Pavlikovo Sudogodsky district.
In 1809, Prince Dolgorukov, having been in Moscow and returning to Vladimir, toured some of the closest places to his province, the most interesting for him. During his stay in Moscow, his meeting with Metropolitan Platon, whom he visited with his entire family in Bethany, was remarkable. Plato was prejudiced against him for one verse he wrote in his youth, in Penza, in the famous letter “To the Doorman.”
Tell the merchants that I have no need for them;
Let me tell you, I’m the only one who can save myself without them.
It seemed to him that this verse showed disrespect for religion in the author. The prince knew this from the many reviews of the famous hierarch that reached him. But when Plato grew old, became more forgiving, and learned closer about the poet’s true feelings, he himself began to confess to his previous erroneous conclusion, and “as if in reward for the previous censure,” this time he received Prince Dolgorukov with special affection. The visitor, for his part, listened with continuous attention to Plato’s instructive conversation, which this time seemed to him especially witty and sweet-tongued. He retained an unchanging memory of him, which was later captured in verses on the death of Plato, where he depicts him like this:
In school - a father, in conversation - a lover,
In the monastery there is a monk, and in the cell there is a philosopher,
I was looking for the future one in the midst of a temporary city!
In vain there was a wolf on the way, he did not run from the herd!
And God, having confused the enemy, did not allow him
Step on the peaceful ashes of your Levite!
Being on a roundabout road from Moscow, Prince Dolgorukov decided to travel nearby to Kasimov, a city in the Ryazan province. One of his ancestors was married to the daughter of the Kasimov Tsar, a very rich man, from whom the Dolgoruky family received the village of Volynskoye, taken in 1730 from Prince Alexei Grigorievich, during the fall of the Dolgorukys. There is a mosque in Kasimov, and at that time there was a cemetery with a special tent in which the descendants of the royal family were buried. At that time it was already rooted into the ground, and since ancient times no one had been buried in it. Its walls were overgrown with moss, the roof was covered with turf, and a dense grove spread its branches around the dwelling of the dead; but this cemetery was the goal of Prince Dolgorukov’s search. Here he found a stone tomb, with a half-erased inscription, on which, however, he made out the name of the one he was looking for. It was the tombstone of the Muslim woman to whom his ancestor was married; her name was displayed on the stone: "". The descendant bowed to the ground to her ashes. When looking at this monument, a new curiosity was born in Prince Dolgoruky: why was the deceased, the former Princess Dolgorukova, buried in Kasimov, in a Muslim cemetery? Did she really not renounce Mohammedanism when she married a Christian? And how was a man of noble family allowed to marry a Tatar woman who had not been baptized?
In 1809, a decree was issued on examinations for obtaining the ranks of collegiate assessor and state councilor. All old people and elderly people who were found by the new law to have not reached these two ranks should have lost hope of receiving them for the rest of their service; for when should they begin to study in order to pass the exam? “The eternal titular adviser” became a saying... They began to buy certificates of collegiate assessors; they were sold; rich nobles represented them, and received ranks without learning either Roman law or their laws. But a very small number of officials were promoted to state councilors. In the Vladimir province, no one received a rank from this decree, although they had already served two terms as collegiate advisers. As a result, seeing the impossibility of promotion, they decided to replace this benefit with another: they despised their ranks and began to brazenly steal in order to find some personal benefit in the labors of their service.
The universities were filled with young nobles; knowledge spread with incredible speed; and the young people of that time subsequently blessed this decree, which expanded the circle of knowledge and gave them great advantages of enlightenment over the elderly.

On January 1, 1809, a specific office was opened in Vladimir (located in the current houses No. 1, 3 on B. Moskovskaya Street).
Under him, houses were built for the care of illegitimate and sick people; a large building was built for a cloth factory (it began operating in September 1809 at the workers' and strait houses); the ravine was filled in, a road was built and a street was paved, connecting the city with its other side, beyond the Lybid River, where there was no passage; At his request, the lands that had ceded to him were returned to the clergy; The scopal sect was destroyed.
In 1810, reconstruction was carried out, which, due to the increasing number of residents, turned out to be cramped. With them, the governor connected a cloth factory with 8 mills, as an institution that became necessary due to the circumstances of that time.

On June 10, he received leave and went with his family to Odessa, choosing the same route along which in 1787 Catherine traveled to Kyiv and Crimea. On September 8 he returned to his post.

On September 15, 1810, a celebration took place on the occasion of the awarding of the “Imperial Majesty” diploma to the Vladimir nobility for their diligence in creating the “Zemstvo army” - the police. In honor of this event, a solemn prayer service and the blessing of the “certificate of honor” were held in the Assumption Cathedral. Then the festive ceremony moved to the hall, where the letter was placed in a bronze ark. And in the evening there was a ball. The leaders of the province were at the center of the celebration. The celebration began only with the appearance of the governor, vice-governor and members of their families in the Noble Assembly; the main events were led by the leaders of the provincial and district nobility, and the rest of the guests were just spectators.

In 1810, the governor's residence was built. On November 2, 1810, the governor and his family moved into it. “To build it,” he said, “I chose the best place in the city, next to the bishop’s courtyard, above the most beautiful mountain, on the riverside side, where all the reception rooms were facing, as if it had the best city view. Many reproached me for placing the non-residential buildings belonging to the house along the street, and not turning the front façade of the house with columns there; but it seemed to me that it was much better to look from the hall at Klyazma and its majestic surroundings than to watch drunken men jumping along the street past the windows from the market.” When you approach Klyazma on the road from Arzamas, this house, from across the river, presents a beautiful picture.
This house was used by all subsequent governors until 1917.

"Governor's House"
City Vladimir, st. B. Moskovskaya, 62

In 1810, through the zeal of Governor Dolgorukov, the Church of the Placing of the Robes of the Most Holy Theotokos over was restored. A new bell tower was built at the Assumption Cathedral, replacing the ancient tented bell tower damaged in 1806 by a lightning strike.

Since 1811, special failures and troubles in his career began for him, which had an impact on the rest of his life. Prince Dolgorukov, having repeatedly experienced, together with the provincial government, reprimands and fines from the Senate, decided to write a private letter to Balashov on January 1 (Minister of Police), in which, mentioning the reprimands, which he recognized as unfair and offensive, and describing the losses from the fines, asked to give him instructions: whether and how he could complain to the Emperor. But Balashov, having received the letter, instead of an answer and instructions, immediately presented it in the original to the Emperor. The Emperor ordered the collection of information on what specific cases the provincial government was fined for; At their meeting, a personal decree was announced, ordering that all the Senate determinations, which resulted in reprimands and fines, be considered in the general meeting of Moscow deputies, together with a letter from Prince Dolgorukov. This indirect complaint, through a minister of another department, aroused the indignation of the Senate. “Thus,” said Prince Dolgorukov, “my letter became a civil act; and the Senate, in the fire of zeal and annoyance, because I complained about it, began to find fault with my various expressions, interpret them as reproach to themselves and burn with anger at me.”

He ordered the demolition of the rampart on the western and southern edges of the Kremlin. The Grand Boulevard was laid on top of the buried defensive ramparts (see)...
On the Princess's birthday, June 16, the Prince decided to give a holiday. Near the governor's house, on the square facing the river, there was a boulevard with a small front garden and cross roads. At the edge of the high bank there was a built-in platform with several steps, on which up to thirty people could sit, and at the highest point of the mountain, from where there were beautiful views in all directions, there was a rotunda with a dome and pillars, in which he sometimes drank tea, emerging from baths. It was here that he decided to give a big summer holiday. The whole city was invited to the ball, which took place in a tent spread between the cathedral and that gazebo. All evening the young people danced under the tent; At dusk, the entire square was lined with bowls and multi-colored lanterns, and before dinner, a small fireworks display was set off across the river.
On this very day, in Vladimir, every year, after the solemn liturgy in the cathedral and the procession of the cross, the icon of the Mother of God is released back to the Bogolyubsky Monastery, which from May 21 to this date is carried throughout all Vladimir parishes. To escort her back to the monastery, several priests are appointed, among whom this time the young and cheerful Archpriest Alexander took precedence. Returning in the evening from the monastery to Vladimir, and seeing a crowd of people and illumination near the cathedral, he went straight into the tent in which they were dancing and turned first to the governor’s wife with a report that the image had been delivered safely, and then to the governor, with a complaint that the bowls were standing close to the cathedral and could cause a fire. Prince Dolgorukov instructed the police chief to inspect the area with him. During this inspection, noise and quarrel occurred. According to the police chief’s report, the Prince acted extremely imprudently: he ordered the fighter who put out the fires to be put into police custody. After 2 days, a complaint was submitted to the bishop, who corresponded with the governor about this, and the governor ordered an investigation. Meanwhile, rumor added to this and spread throughout Moscow and St. Petersburg many things that did not exist. To complete the importance of the incident, it happened that the priest was, through his wife, a close relative of the person who was then in power, and had strong patronage in him. Things went further.
At the very beginning of the last recruitment, disagreements arose between him and Vice-Governor Dunant regarding the recruitment layout. Despite, however, administrative correspondence with the Treasury Chamber, the layout remained in force. And he sent a denunciation to the Minister of Police, not about the layout, but about the fact that, under the governor’s order, the uniform was expensive, that the cloth was not similar to the samples, and that the police chief, taking advantage of the governor’s relaxation, was taking extra money from donors. Based on this denunciation, at the beginning of 1812, artillery major general Ilyin was sent to carry out an investigation. In contrast to this message, the provincial leader and all the district officials presented Prince Dolgorukov with an approving address, in which it was said that they did not place the recruit’s uniform as a burden on the Vladimir province. However, this paper, which surprised the investigator, was not accepted by him from the governor.
Following the example of Derzhavin’s Conversation of Lovers of the Russian Word, which was open at that time in St. Petersburg, he decided to establish a small likeness of it for the benefit of his children: literary evenings on Tuesdays. There were not many members: Goryainov, Benediktov, Evgenov, the owner himself, his son Prince Alexander, and two sons of the Princess from her first marriage: Alexey and Philip Pozharsky. Benediktov delivered a translation for reading; Evgenov philosophical reasoning; Goryainov's poems; The Prince himself read either poetry or his journey to Odessa. Young people compiled extracts from history, statistical descriptions of various localities and biographies of famous people for reading. Each time, by lot, one of the members was president. The readings took place in a large hall, with outside visitors of both sexes, who sometimes gathered quite a few. The public loved these readings.

Local history literature contains information about the private libraries of the Vladimir governors Ivan Mikhailovich Dolgorukov and Ivan Emmanuilovich Kuruta, as well as the library of the chairman of the Provincial Chamber of Criminal Court Mikhail Stepanovich Benediktov, the uncle of the famous poet.
About the composition of the library of Prince I.M. Little is known about Dolgorukov. Leaving Vladimir, he donated his library to the Vladimir Men's Gymnasium. His books served as the basis of the gymnasium library. And since I.M. Dolgorukov was a poet, theatergoer and traveler, it can be assumed that his library contained works by Russian and foreign classical poets, books on art and theater history, descriptions of various travels, and possibly also geographical maps.
In the “General Geographical and Statistical Dictionary” compiled by Prince S.P. Gagarin and published in Moscow in 1843, lists the sights of Vladimir and among them is called “a gymnasium with a large auditorium and a significant library.” Books from the library of the former men's gymnasium can now be found in the libraries of the State Archives of the Vladimir Region, the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve and in the regional scientific library named after. M. Gorky.

After the investigator left Vladimir, Prince Dolgorukov went with his entire family to St. Petersburg. There, on the very next day of his arrival, he appeared to Balashov. Balashov assured him that he would certainly triumph over his enemies, without hiding, however, that the Emperor did not favor him. He even promised to secure a private audience for him, which was used by all visiting governors. The prince was received by the Sovereign in the office. The conversation continued for a quarter of an hour; The Emperor asked about buildings, about roads, about the state of grain in the province, but not a word about denunciations.
On March 23, 1812, a decree was issued by which Prince Dolgorukov received his resignation. The cases continued long after this, and ended in 1816 with a reprimand, i.e. almost nothing compared to the charges, and his service has ceased since that time.
On the day of the resignation of Prince Dolgorukov, Emperor Alexander I appointed Major General Avdiy Suponev as Vladimir civil governor.

Chapter 5 Prime Minister of Norway Gerhardsen and his wife Verna Of all the political acquaintances during my work abroad, one stands out as the most interesting, significant and memorable: the married couple Einar and Verna Gerhardsen. No one has influenced this much