"" (according to the materials of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation)
Cases from the archiveIII The departments of His Imperial Majesty's own chancellery, stored in the State Archives of the Russian Federation, provide an opportunity to look at the activities of the department headed by the all-powerful Alexander Benckendorff from a very unexpected side.
Swearing near Krasnoe (village). Scene from camp life. Hood. P.A. Fedotov
Political freethinkers and political exiles, as well as all kinds of adventurers and swindlers, censorship of the press, religious sects, thieving and simply stupid officials, peasant riots, peasant complaints against landowners and, in general, conflicts between landowners and serfs, supervision of visiting foreigners, various incidents ... These are a more or less obvious range of functions of the political police, but along with this, the gentlemen of the gendarmerie officers were not engaged in anything.
Cases of administrative expulsion of violent nobles passed through them, including for domestic violence; often they had to reconcile the generals with their wives, if the quarrel of the spouses went so far as to require this kind of trial, or to pass a verdict on the impossibility of their reconciliation; settled gendarmes and other family conflicts, often standing up for offended children. The archives of the III Section contain many such cases, the names of which - "On the oppression done by retired Major General Selifontov to his mother-in-law, Mrs. Volynskaya" or "On a family quarrel between Major General Grabbe and his wife" - speak for themselves. Or even we are talking about some kind of monstrous criminal story that happened among the nobility, such as the case “On the killing and premature burial of the Orenburg landowner Tauzakov by his wife and the husband of his pupil Poltev” or “On the official Kholodnovskaya, who died from cutting it with whips by the priest Dobrotvorenin.
The case "About the peasant boy Ivan Petrov, who has extraordinary power of reason" from the archiveIIIBranches
At the same time, we see documents about the exploits committed during a fire (“On the rescue by a 13-year-old boy Zhavoronkov of his three sisters during a fire”, “On the feat of the Cossack Chernushkina, who saved her mother and son during a fire”, “On the yard boy Frolov who saved a sick peasant girl during a fire" and others). There are bizarre stories like the case "About the peasant boy Ivan Petrov, who has an extraordinary power of reason." Such a unique phenomenon as the ability of the 11-year-old illiterate serf boy Ivan Petrov to count superbly in his mind also attracted the interest of the III Division. It is curious that it was the gendarmes who paid attention to this (perhaps at the suggestion of the landowner), and not the employees of the department of public education. The case ended with the highest order to determine the boy to study. Finally, the ranks of the III Division, who had such broad powers, had to deal with specific swindlers (“About a gang of rogues formed in St. Petersburg, who are called belonging to the secret police”).
Some of this kaleidoscope of cases we bring to the attention of readers.
No. 1. FROM THE CASE "ON THE BENEFICIENT INFLUENCE OF THE HIGHEST COMMANDS, WHERE SENATORS ARE OBLIGED TO GET IN PRESENCE AT 9 o'clock", 1827
Extract from the report of Major General Volkov toIII Branch, October 1827
Major General Volkov reports from Moscow that the highest command, by virtue of which the Lord senators are obliged to appear in their presence by 9 o'clock, produces the most charitable activity; especially cases, according to which the highest decrees were issued, took a course, in the words of employees in the Senate, "flying on wings." This arouses the desire that the same speed of proceedings be introduced in other judicial places to stop complaints about the slowness of justice.
GA RF. F. 109. Op. 2. D. 349. L. 1
No. 2. FROM THE CASE “ON THE SENDING OF LIEUTEN NEDZYALKOVSKY FOR WRONG BEHAVIOR UNDER POLICE SUPERVISION IN M. ATTACK”, 1827
The attitude of the duty general of the General Staff A.N. Potapova A.Kh. Benckendorff, 15 April 1827
A retired lieutenant Nedzyalkovsky, who lives in the Bessarabian region in the town of Ataki, sent a letter to the Emperor, asking him to call him for some important discoveries. As a result of this, Nedzyalkovsky was brought to St. Petersburg and, in the testimony taken from him, announced various denunciations, not supported by any evidence.
From the information taken about him, Nedzyalkovsky, it turned out that he was of very bad behavior. He arrived in Russia in 1804 according to a written form, in which he is called an Austrian native and cook. Three times he was under criminal court - for participating in the theft of horses, for accepting stolen things as a pawn and on suspicion of stealing a casket; according to the first two, he was sentenced to a month's arrest and to corporal punishment, and according to the third, he was declared unconvicted. Having been admitted in 1813 to the Polish Lancers Regiment as a lieutenant, according to the certificate presented by him, in which he was named an emigrant and a lieutenant of the Polish troops, he moved in 1815 to the Yekaterinoslav Cuirassier Regiment, and from this in 1816 to the Tomsk Infantry, from where a year later he was forced to leave resigned through officers who did not tolerate his reprehensible actions. In 1822, having been assigned to the same regiment, in the same year he was excluded from service for bad behavior. Then, for unfounded denunciations, he was kept in the Kamenetz-Podolsk prison castle for two months in custody and, moreover, he was kept under arrest for another year until the end of the case against him.
Illustration by P.M. Boklevsky to the comedy by N.V. Gogol "Inspector"
As a result of this, by order of the Emperor’s Highest Sovereign, Lieutenant Nedzyalkovsky was sent from here back to his place of residence in the Bessarabian region, to the town of Ataki, and in addition, the highest will was communicated to the manager of the Bessarabian region, Privy Councilor Count Palen, so that Nedzialkovsky, as a vicious and bad morals person, was under police supervision.
I consider it necessary to inform Your Excellency about this.
Duty General Potapov
GA RF. F. 109. Op. 2. D. 105. L. 1–2
No. 3. FROM THE CASE “ON RECONCILIATION THROUGH THE LIEUTENANT COLONEL OF THE YAROSLAVL CIVIL GOVERNOR OF THE SHUBINSKY WITH THE THERE PROVINCE LEADER”, 1829
Reporting note fromIII Branches to NicholasI, February 23, 1829
From Yaroslavl, the head of the 2nd department, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel Shubinsky, reports.
On the reconciliation of the governor with the provincial leader.
On this February 19th, Mr. Shubinsky managed to achieve that the Yaroslavl governor and the provincial marshal of the nobility stopped their displeasure among themselves and frankly reconciled; how much use for the province, service and employees! This is proved almost daily by experience itself.
On the memorandum, a resolution by the hand of NikolaiI: "Thanks" .
GA RF. F. 109. Op. 4. D. 118. L. 1
No. 4. FROM THE CASE “ABOUT THE COURT GIRL OF THE LANDWOMAN BELOKRYLTSOVA, WHO DIE FROM BEATINGS CAUSED TO HER BY THE SIGNIFIED LANDWOMAN”, 1833–1834. Help officialIIIBranches, no date
In the statement of incidents in the Kostroma province, among other things, it was shown that in the Makaryevsky district, the courtyard girl of the landowner Belokryltsova Osipova died on June 18 from beatings inflicted on her by the aforementioned landowner. Against this article, placed in the table from August 5 to August 12, 1833, His Majesty deigned to write: "Strictly investigate and convey."
GA RF. F. 109. Op. 173. D. 102. L. 1
The attitude of the Kostroma civil governor A.G. Priklonsky A.Kh. Benckendorff, November 7, 1833
Gracious Sovereign Count Alexander Khristoforovich!
[…] Upon my entry into the correction of the post of civil governor on November 4, having considered the information available on this subject in the office of the governor, and when it was discovered that the criminal Belokryltsova was being held in custody, and the investigation carried out by the Makariev Zemstvo Court on the said incident is being considered in the local county court, why to this latter he ordered, at the same time, that on the state of this case and on the circumstances of it, a detailed information was presented to me with the addition of the content of the decision, if it followed; otherwise, he made it the duty of the county court to pay special attention to the essence of this case and that the crime be revealed in all clarity and the case should immediately receive a proper ending.
Respectfully informing Your Excellency about this, I have the honor to add that, due to the importance of this matter as to the speedy completion of it, as well as to the correctness of the decision, I will not fail to draw my special attention.
GA RF. F. 109. Op. 173. D. 102. L. 3–4
Document from the archiveIIIBranches
The attitude of the Kostroma civil governor A.G. Priklonsky A.Kh. Benckendorff, August 18, 1834
Gracious Sovereign Count Alexander Khristoforovich!
In addition to my attitude of July 28 last July, No. 6451, by which I had the honor to bring to the attention of Your Excellency about the submission to the Governing Senate of the case decided in the Kostroma Criminal Chamber about the yard girl Mrs. Belokryltsova Osipova, who died from fatal wounds inflicted by the landowner, I now have the honor to most honorably convey to Your Excellency the following:
According to the investigation, the defendant Belokryltsova was convicted of the fact that on the 8th hour of June last, 1833, while intoxicated, for some unknown reason, she apparently wanted to cut off the braid of her serf girl, Agafya Osipova, with scissors, but, not finding them, she grabbed a knife and made mortal wounds on her head and neck, which is why she, Osipova, died on the 18th of the same June. In this act, although Belokryltsova justified herself by the insanity of her mind, which had happened to her before, but during the general search, all the people asked, including seven noble persons, did not confirm this, but explained that she, Belokryltsova, was often seen in a drunken state. form, but in insanity of the mind never, and that she committed the aforementioned act not in unconsciousness, but in a perfect mind, being then only drunk. Moreover, it is clear from the circumstances of the case that she threatened Sotsky Nikita Lukoyanov for discovering a crime with the recovery of 25 rubles from him, which she herself confessed to at a confrontation with him. Under what circumstances did the Kostroma Chamber of the Criminal Court sentence her, Belokryltsov, for an inhuman act, depriving her of her noble dignity, to exile her to a settlement in Siberia. With this definition, which in my opinion is correct and in accordance with the laws, I presented the true case about her to the discretion of the Governing Senate.
Quarter and cab driver. Hood. P.A. Fedotov
With the deepest respect and perfect devotion, I have the honor to be, gracious sovereign, your excellency's obedient servant Alexander Priklonsky.
Resolution A.Kh. Benckendorff: "Note to the Sovereign".
GA RF. F. 109. Op. 173. D. 102. L. 7–8
No. 5. FROM THE CASE “ON DISOBEY OF THE PEASANTS OF THE REAL STATE COUNCILOR DENISIEVA”, 1833Report of the head of the 6th district of the gendarme corps, Major General Count Apraksin A.Kh. Benckendorff, October 30, 1833
Saratov province in the Balashov district, the peasants of Major General Denisyeva, among 1,000 souls, since April of this year, not only evade obedience to her and her manager, who has already done many audacity, but also do not recognize her as their landowner because she comes from the yard girls of Count Razumovsky.
The gendarme corps, Major Bykov, due to the importance of this case, went to this estate this October to inquire into the real reasons for disobedience, and what he will inquire and commit - upon submission of a report from him, I will not fail to inform Your Excellency in due time.
Major General Count Apraksin
GA RF. F. 109. Op. 173. D. 123. L. 1–1 rev.
Report of the head of the 6th district of the gendarme corps, Major General Count Apraksin A.Kh. Benckendorff, November 6, 1833
On the 30th of last October, under No. 54, I had the honor to present to Your Excellency that the gendarme corps, Major Bykov, went to the estate of the real state councilor Denisyeva to find out the reasons for the disobedience of her peasants. And now, in a report dated October 24, he informs me that the reason for that disobedience is definitely the only one, as he found out from the peasants themselves, that Mrs. Denisyeva comes from the courtyard people of Count Razumovsky, why, as if she has no right to own them. For this disobedience, they are already on trial, and up to 200 people have been sentenced by the criminal chamber to punishment with whips, and their attorney Petlenkov - with a whip, but the case against them in the Governing Senate has not yet been completed.
The peasants are so deluded in their opinion that they still do not go to the master's work, for all the fact that in their villages, to induce them to do so, there are up to 100 people of the lower ranks of the Saratov garrison battalion with an officer.
Peasant riot. Hood. S.V. Gerasimov
Major Bykov, wishing to contribute to converting them into due obedience, used all measures to convince them; but they resolutely replied that they would not agree to anything until then, until the peasants Grigory Romanov and Mikhail Sobachnin, sent from them in the form of attorneys, returned to St. Petersburg. Consequently, due to their delusion, the whole denouement of their disobedience depends on the suggestion to these attorneys that if and exactly Mrs. Deniseva comes from household people, then by her marriage she acquired a legal right to own these peasants. […]
Major General Count Apraksin
GA RF. F. 109. Op. 173. D. 123. L. 14-15v.
On the 7th of this month, along with the order of Your Excellency dated November 23, No. 5391, attorneys from the peasants of the landowner Denisyeva Grigory Yegorov and Mikhail Vasilyev were delivered to me, with whom I went to the village of Malinovka on the same day, where I found that, as a result of the ensuing highest confirmation in the case of the peasants who disobeyed this patrimony, on the 4th day of this month, an execution was already carried out: the instigator of indignation, the peasant Petlenkov, was punished with a whip with 25 blows with a stamp and a link to hard labor; and 12 peasants, who were found guilty more than others by the court, were driven out by the gauntlets through five hundred people one time, in order to give them to the military service, for which they would be fit, completely incapable of exiling them to Siberia for settlement by punishment; and the other peasants of the village of Malinovka and the village of Bezlesnaya, except for one who is on the run, and 8 men and one woman who showed violence against the military team, over whom the military court that was carried out was submitted for revision to the head of the province, recognized Ms. Denisyeva for their lawful landowner and in the subscription given to the zemstvo court they pledged themselves to her and to whom they will be entrusted with complete obedience from her. But the private rumors that reached me on the way to Malinovka gave in some way to notice that such a signature was not based on a sincere consciousness of their own error, but only out of fear of punishment alone, and that their attorneys, sent to Petersburg to file requests to the Emperor.
On this occasion, guided by the above instructions of Your Excellency, I ordered to gather all the householders, to whom I initially confirmed the monarch's will of unconditional obedience to my landowner, then I calculated in detail all the disasters to which they were subjected due to their frivolity and excessive power of attorney to the troublemaker Petlenkov, and, finally, I announced to them that, by the will of the Sovereign Emperor, their attorneys had been sent to me by courier and would personally confirm to them the error that was common in this case. But to all this they answered with a kind of dubious silence, showing that they expect the opposite from their attorneys. But when the attorneys approached them and fell on their knees, the gathered peasants greeted them at the same moment, and when the oldest of them said: “Venerable old men and all the brethren, sending me to Petersburg, you knelt before me and asked achieve before the king; I fulfilled your request and through this I was convinced that we were all deceived and ruined by the villain Petlenkov; now I beg you, put everything out of your head and obey your landowner; and if there are any of you who will think and speak differently, then I will be the first to announce to Ivan Ivanovich (pointing to the manager of the estate); We must put an end to our ruin." After that, everyone unanimously confirmed the obligation of unconditional obedience to their landowner and her order, and many of them said with tears that they would order their children and grandchildren not to do such acts; then they all fell at the steward’s feet, asking him to forget the past and to assure the lady that by diligence and fidelity they would deserve the grief that they had caused her by their blind obedience to Petlenkov, who had seduced them with freedom from the power of the landowners; they immediately asked the manager to love them as before, saying: “We, father, have always been pleased with you, but we were beaten down by Petlenkov and his accomplices”; to this the steward answered them that, seeing now their true repentance, he would forget all the insults inflicted on him and would continue to be their friend, which they always called him. After this, the peasants began to kiss the old attorney and, as it was noticeable, went home with feelings of complacency, and today almost everyone was at mass and brought sincere thanks to the Almighty for placing perfect silence and tranquility between them. […]
GA RF. F. 109. Op. 173. D. 123. L. 31–33
No. 6. FROM THE CASE "ABOUT THE DARLING KIPPING OF A CHUBUK FROM THE HANDS OF THE OFFICIAL OF THE TURKISH AMBASSADOR'S SUITE AT THE STATION OF THE CITY OF GORODNI", 1833
Report of the lieutenant colonel of the gendarme corps Vepreisky A.Kh. Benckendorff, November 16, 1833
The Turkish embassy was greeted on the 10th of this month in the city of Chernigov with great curiosity, after which different opinions are heard in the public. Some of those who read a foreign newspaper (Frankfurt Journal) believe that the reason for this embassy is to conclude a treaty with Russia of an offensive and defensive alliance against England and France; those who poorly understand political affairs predict war from that; while others find in such an alliance beneficent types of government to provide the state for a long time with peace.
Through the ranks: punishment with gauntlets during the time of Nicholas I
After that, everyone showed the same indignation when they learned about the incident that happened to the Turkish envoy in the local province in the county town of Gorodnya, upon arrival where, during the change of horses at the post station, an official of the Turkish retinue carried a pipe and a chibouk to the room for the envoy. Suddenly, from the crowd surrounding the carriages, according to rumors, some nobleman snatches a chibouk from the hands of an official, throws it over the fence and hides among the people !! Colonel Zolotarev, accompanying the retinue, having learned about this, orders the mayor to find and give the chibouk when passing through the 2nd squad, but it was not found! Others say that the person who did this is a very young man, a clerk, who showed in interrogation to the mayor that he was taught by some nobleman to do such an intolerable act in a well-organized state, insulting everyone who has feelings of national pride. However, the fourth day, as an incident, this is a common subject of conversation here, but there has not yet been any report from the mayor to the civil governor.
Resolution A.Kh. Benckendorff: “It is commanded by the Highest that Lieutenant Colonel Vepreisky conduct a study and certainly discover the culprit” .
GA RF. F. 109. Op. 173. D. 130. L. 1–1 rev.
The publication was prepared by the chief specialist of the Center for the Study and Publication of Documents of the State Assembly of the Russian Federation, Candidate of Historical Sciences
Olga EDELMAN
NOTES
We are talking about one of the measures at the beginning of the reign of Nicholas I, which was designed to speed up the resolution of court cases in the Senate. The Senate was the highest court, but the cases that got there were considered incredibly slowly, dragging on for years and decades.
Later, Nedzyalkovsky again tried to make false denunciations, in 1829 he was exiled to Vyatka, and in 1832 to the Arkhangelsk province, where he died in 1835 "for his restless character and constant readiness for disobedience".
The Emperor's gratitude was conveyed to Lieutenant Colonel Shubinsky by a special letter to A.Kh. Benckendorff. (Ibid. L. 2.)
Incident reports were regularly compiled for the emperor. While reading them, Nicholas I made various administrative notes on the margins. Then the officials of the III Division drew up certificates on the content of the corresponding paragraph ("article") of the report and the order of the emperor. Each of these certificates became the starting point of the investigation, formalized into a case. This document is an example of such a reference.
The difference between the names in this and the previous document is explained by the fact that at that time the peasants did not have stable surnames, patronymics or various family nicknames were used instead.
That is, branded.
Chubuk was soon found and sent to Petersburg. Two minor officials were found guilty (a 17-year-old clerk, the son of a local landowner, and a 30-year-old official), the motives for their act are unclear from the case.
My dear sir, Count Fyodor Vasilyevich!
I have already had the honor of informing Your Excellency of the food shortages that our armies are experiencing. Now, intending, after choosing a place near Mozhaisk, to give a general battle and a decisive one for the salvation of Moscow, I am urged to repeat to you my most convincing words about this most important object of insistence. If the Almighty blesses the success of our weapons, then it will be necessary to pursue the enemy: and in this case, it will also be necessary to provide ourselves with food, so that our persecution cannot be stopped by shortcomings. To this end, I refer this very day to Messrs. to the governors of Kaluga and Tula, so that they carry out everything ordered by Your Excellency according to this order exactly and without the slightest delay. All this I present to your unparalleled activity.
Informed that the inhabitants of Moscow are very alarmed by various rumors about our military incidents, I am enclosing here, to calm them down, a letter addressed to Your Excellency, which you can order to be printed if you deem it necessary.
As soon as I get down to business, I will immediately inform you, my gracious sovereign, of all my assumptions, so that in your movements you can contribute to peace and the salvation of the fatherland.
I have the honor to be with perfect respect and devotion, my gracious sovereign, Your Excellency's humble servant
Prince Mikhail [Golenishchev]-Kutuzov
I am still stepping back to take advantage of the position. Today's number, although quite good, is too large for our army and could weaken one flank. As soon as I choose the best, then with the help of the troops delivered from Your Excellency, and with your personal presence, I will use them, although they are still dissatisfied with learning, to the glory of our fatherland.
It is printed here according to the book: Shishov A.V. Unknown Kutuzov. New reading of the biography. M., 2002
Read here:
Kutuzov Mikhail Illarionovich(biographical material)
Patriotic War of 1812(as well as the events that preceded it and followed from it).
The confusion in the reports is complete! I will take this matter in a hard fist, otherwise the discrepancies are such that the devil will break his leg. Who takes into account the troops sent to the rearguard, who does not. Who indicates non-combatants, who - only combatants. Who gives the average number, who - at the time of compilation.
Somehow he put pressure on the staff to draw up a single statement.
In general, I get the following picture.
According to the report of General Barclay de Tolly, on the 29th of this day, the number of troops in his army was estimated at 72,400 people, including 6,700 Cossacks. In the second army, Prince Peter had 34,800, including 3,000 Cossacks. A total of 97,800 regular troops.
Oh, how little! To be honest, I expected more. In front of Smolensk there were more than 130 thousand, however, with the Cossacks. But now I have 107,200 with the Cossacks. It turns out that in Smolensk, near Lubino, in rearguard battles and as a result of desertion, Barclay lost 23,000! In two weeks!
Meanwhile, our armies took up positions at the Kolotsk Monastery. They retreated in two parallel columns: the 1st Western Army - along the new Smolensk road, the 2nd Western Army - along the old Smolensk road through the villages of Baryshi, Kaluga, Dyakovo, Strogovo, Baranovo and Zolotilovo.
The pressure on the rearguard is getting more and more insistent. Konovnitsyn reported to Prince Bagration the following:
“His Grace, Commander-in-Chief of the Armies, Prince Golenishchev-Kutuzov, ordered me to stay longer with the rearguard and that the army needed four hours of time. As a result, the following order was made from me. Part of the rear guard with infantry and cavalry took up a position, although not quite advantageous, near the village of Polyaninov, but will hold out as long as possible. The other part will withdraw 3 or 4 versts and take up another position there. If I am shot down from the first position, I will move to the second and hold on there to the very extreme. According to this, it was ordered from me and Major General Count Sievers that he, holding the left flank of the rear guard, should with all his strength keep with my rear guard at the same height. Having received the command of Your Excellency, so that Major General Count Sivere, according to your will, holds the position at Kolesniki and I myself will hold on to Polyaninov as well. I will also, if necessary, reinforce Major General Count Sievers.
The detachment of the left flank under the command of Major General Count Sievers 1st could not, however, hold out after the Cossack detachment of Major General Karpov 2nd could not resist, despite the Akhtyrsky Hussars sent to reinforce him. Bagration was dissatisfied with this state of affairs, ordered General Count Sievers 1st to retake Kolesniki; the result of this order was a stubborn battle for the possession of the village.
The rear guard has the Kreutz harrow too. But he kept the village of Zhuravlyovo.
In the 2nd reserve corps, Lieutenant General Ertel, small skirmishes with the enemy near the town of Lafe, Minsk province.
Nothing more significant happened. Unless the quartermasters of Vistitsky and Tolya found a good position, according to them, a little further to the east. near the village of Borodino. I looked at their crocks - indeed, it looks like a good position. I'm going to take a look tomorrow. But in order to divert the attention of the enemy from our plans for a possible battle here, I communicated with Tormasov with the request of the following:
"No. 47 Village Mikhailovka
My dear sir Alexander Petrovich!
Arriving at the armies, I found their retreat near Gzhatsk. The real object of their movement is to strengthen them to such an extent with the forces still in the resource located behind us that it would be desirable that the enemy outnumber us by a little. Yesterday, our forces were multiplied to 15,000 by the brought battalions from the recruiting depots and, as a result, will be strengthened by the troops of the Moscow militia.
Thus, I will expect the enemy for a general battle near Mozhaisk, placing all my hope on the help of the Almighty and the courage of the Russian troops, impatiently awaiting the battle. Your Excellency agree with me, if you please, that in the present critical moments for Russia, while the enemy is already in the heart of Russia, the subject of your actions can no longer be the defense and preservation of our remote Polish provinces, but the combined forces of the 3rd Army and the Danube must turn to distract the enemy forces directed against the 1st and 2nd armies. And therefore, sir, having gathered all the forces of Lieutenant General Ertel at Mozyr and Lieutenant General Saken at Zhytomyr, go with them, together with your army, to act on the right flank of the enemy. For this, Mr. Admiral Chichagov, who already crossed the Dniester near Kamenets with the entire army of this month on the 17th of this month, will assume all the duties that hitherto have been the subject of your operations, and, occupying with his actions the points that you now leave, maintain uninterrupted communication with Your Excellency, I must contribute with all my might to the common goal with my operations, about which I am writing to him with this. With this courier, I will expect your notification, my dear sir, of the measures that you therefore deign to take, as well as the points of your operations and information about the state of your forces.
With perfect respect, I have the honor to be Your Excellency the Gracious Sovereign, my humble servant
Prince G.-Kutuzov»
In the meantime, we were making dispositions for moving towards this point:
"Kolotsky monastery.
The 1st and 2nd armies advance from their current location in three columns to the village of Borodino on the Kolocha River at 2 in the morning in the following order:
The 1st or right column, consisting of the 2nd army of Prince Bagration, goes on the right flank along the country road from the village. Durykina, through vil. Batyushkovo, Baryshevo, Andryushin, Kaluskoye, Dyakovo, Popovka, Zaitsov, Shapkin, Ostrog, Baranov, Zolotilov, the village of Rozhestvo, the village of Borodino.
The 2nd or middle column under the command of General of Infantry Dokhtorov, consisting of the 5th, 3rd and 6th corps, goes on the right flank along the large mail road from the village. Durykina through the village of Drovnino, der. Tverdiki, Grigorovo, Drakhvets, mail to Gridnev, Vlasov, Shokhoeu, Kolotsky Monastery, Akinshin, Valuev to the village of Borodino.
The 3rd or left column, consisting of buildings of the 2nd and 4th, goes on the right flank along the country road from the village. Veryatinyuy through vil. Gagulev, Pridantsov, Shogolev, Zhelezshzhoeu, Lusos, the village of Veshki, der. Samodurovka, Prasolov, Gryshev to the village of Borodino.
The artillery of both armies has been moving along the great postal road since evening.
Quartermasters with vans must report before dawn to Lieutenant Colonel Khomentovsky to take over the camp places.
The main apartment should be in the village of Borodino.
But I’m not doing military affairs anymore, but more commissariat affairs - I’m knocking out biscuits and food from Rostopchin and the local authorities.
"No. 5 Village Mikhailovka
Gracious. my sovereign, Count Fyodor Vasilyevich!
Upon receipt of Your Excellency's most venerable letter dated August 18, regarding difficulties in preparing and delivering bread from Moscow for the army, I hasten to inform you, my dear sir, that the army is now in dire need of bread, why I humbly ask you, turning the flour in Moscow into crackers, to use every possible effort to deliver them to the army to Mozhaisk as soon as possible.
I have the honor to be with perfect respect and devotion, my gracious sovereign, your excellency's humble servant
Prince Mikhail G.-Kutuzov»
After all, just now he wrote me slyly: “In case of emergency, it will be possible to send flour from here up to 10,000 sacks. But now all shipments have become almost impossible for the reason that the supply is necessary in case of departure from Moscow of state things, archives, institutions, an arsenal and a commissariat, approximately up to 16,000. Evenly, the collection of grain from the province cannot be considered possible from the occupation of peasants by deliveries. .
Yes, the "Moscow wall" ...
“Dear sir, Count Fyodor Vasilyevich!
I am approaching Mozhaisk in order to strengthen myself and fight there. Your thoughts on the preservation of Moscow are sound and must be presented. Help for God's sake in food, I found him in a cramped condition.
obedient servant, etc.
Prince Mikhail G.-Kutuzov
In Moscow, my daughter Tolstaya and eight grandchildren, I dare to entrust them to your charity.
Mikhail G.-Kutuzov»
Kaluga civil governor - with the same:
“My dear sir Pavel Nikitich!
Due to the necessary need for armies in flour and oats, I humbly ask Your Excellency to hasten the delivery of these from the available in the province, entrusted to you, the stock to Mozhaisk as much as possible. This departure should be directed by the nearest road to Moscow, and from there to Mozhaisk.
I remain with true respect, my gracious sovereign, your excellency, the humble servant.
Everything, no time to write more. Tomorrow is a difficult day, and your eyes hurt, you need to take care of it.
As soon as the shots stopped over the heights of Novi and silence settled on the bivouacs, the field marshal appeared in a small house set aside for headquarters. Suvorov was covered head to toe in dust.
Fuchs had already prepared everything necessary for writing reports and orders on the table. Seeing him, the commander exclaimed with delight:
The end - and glory to the battle! You be my trumpet.
It was about seven in the evening, but the heat was terrible. It was reported that an officer had arrived from under the besieged Tortona from Rosenberg. It was ordered to ask. The young lieutenant reported that Rosenberg was awaiting orders with the reserve corps.
Well, my friend, - said Suvorov and ordered Fuchs to write an order to Rosenberg the very next day to begin an energetic pursuit of the defeated French army.
With greedy curiosity, the young officer looked at the commander-in-chief, whose name thundered throughout Europe. The field marshal dictated a few more orders to the coming ranks of the headquarters on the offensive through the Apennines of the allied forces. At the same time, General Klenau's corps, which had set off along the seashore, was supposed to approach Genoa from Tuscany and, according to all calculations, was already at Fort Santa Maria.
Suvorov suddenly turned to the lieutenant:
Are mines laid near Tortona?
I don't know, Your Excellency, - broke the officer.
As a stung field marshal rebounded from him:
Unknown! A dangerous person! Grab it! And he ran around the room.
Gradually, Suvorov calmed down, handed over the sealed order to the embarrassed lieutenant, saying:
You must know everything! Be more careful in the future!
Surrounded by Austrian generals, Baron Melas appeared to the commander. Suvorov hugged him, praised the courage of the Austrians and immediately remarked:
Don't linger! Do not fall into unterkunft! Go-go!
Yes, I forgot - you are General Forward, - old Melas joked.
True, Papa Melas! But sometimes I look back! Not to run, but to attack! And now is the time for us to attack.
Now, back and we have no food, no mules to move into the mountains.
Suvorov grew gloomy.
I order Your Excellency to get mules and provisions with the greatest possible haste,” he said firmly. “Otherwise, General Klenau alone will attack the French army.
His Excellency has already received an order from the Hofkriegsrat to return to Tuscany and do nothing until further orders from Vienna, ”Melas replied. - I want to acquaint Your Excellency with other orders of the Court Military Council. General Fröhlich was entrusted with nine thousand soldiers to restore order in Tuscany and disarm the people's militia. His Excellency General Bellegarde is recalled to Vienna, and Count Hohenzollern is going to Florence on a diplomatic mission...
Since the aforesaid supreme command must be carried out without delay, I have already directly informed about it according to my affiliation and made the appropriate orders.
A few hours ago, alive, youthfully cheerful, inspired by the glorious victory, the Russian commander suddenly felt terrible fatigue and weakness. When the Austrians left, he sat Fuchs at the table and dictated a letter to him for the head of the military department and favorite of the emperor Rostopchin:
“My dear sir, Count Fyodor Vasilyevich!
The Almighty gave us another victory. The new commander General Joubert, wishing to win the power of attorney of his troops, set out on the 4th of August from the mountains with an army of over 30,000. Leaving Gavi in the back, the united army attacked him and won a bloody battle.
Everything is not nice to me. The orders sent every minute from Hofkriegsrath weaken my health, and I cannot continue my service here. They want to manage operations for 1,000 miles; they do not know that every minute on the spot makes them change. They make me an executor of some Didrichstein and Tyurpin. Here is the new order of the Vienna Cabinet ... from which you will see if I can no longer be here. I ask Your Excellency to report this to His Imperial Majesty, as well as the fact that after the Genoese operation I will formally ask for a recall and leave here. Weakness does not allow me to write more.
Suvorov was now forced to send only Rosenberg's corps after the French. Early in the morning of August 5, the Russian columns left Novi on the slopes of the mountain, seeing around them a lot of beaten French. According to an eyewitness, there were more of them than sheaves of harvested bread in the most productive field. The grenadiers took off their caps, crossed themselves and made their simple prayer.
Towards evening, about ten o'clock, the corps stopped in the vineyards opposite a large and steep mountain, of a fucking color, occupied by the enemy. General Rosenberg ordered to stand still, and the grenadiers to turn their caps back to front, so that the copper coats of arms would not reflect the splendor when the full moon rose. At dawn, the Russians saw the mountain in all its immensity: it was all dotted with the French, who were leaving in a hurry. Rosenberg hesitated. Only at eight o'clock did the corps move. Soldiers and officers murmured:
How? To be so close to the enemy and let him out of your hands? Oh, yes, this is not Russian, not Suvorov!
The army did not like Rosenberg, attributed to him other people's mistakes, Suvorov himself shared this bias. Now there was an obvious oversight. Moro got a breather. Before noon, the troops reached Serravalle: a small fortress clung to a sheer mountain, and near it, on the outskirts of the cliff, stood a horse-drawn donets with a lance in their hands. This meant that the key to the Genoese mountains was again in the hands of the allies. At about four o'clock the corps passed the fortress of Gavia, on the wall of which a white flag was displayed.
Only on August 6 did the Russians catch up with Moro's retreating rearguard. Several battalions unanimously and ardently attacked with bayonets, knocked the French out of the mountain position and pursued three or four versts. It was not a battle, but a massacre. The 4,000-strong enemy detachment ceased to exist: one hundred and thirty people were captured, many were killed, and most of the soldiers fled. However, the persecution, which had just begun, stopped.
Due to the orders of the Hofkriegsrat, Suvorov was forced to give the order to all the detachments to return to their previous positions. This saved the remnants of the defeated Moro army. Meanwhile, General Klenau nevertheless decided to obey not the Hofkriegsrat, but the former orders of the commander-in-chief, and almost reached Genoa by the coast. However, not supported by the main forces; he retreated, having lost several hundred men.
Alarming information came from Switzerland and the regions bordering France. General Masséna pushed back the brigades of Rogan and Strauch, occupied Simplon and St. Gotthard, and thus opened the way for himself to attack the rear of the Italian army. The French army of Champione approached the fortress of Koni.
Suvorov chose Asti as a camp site for his troops, a point between Turin and Tortona, convenient in case of enemy actions from both Koni and Genoa. He ordered the renewal of the siege of the citadel of Tortona, the last stronghold of resistance in Northern Italy.
On August 11, the parties entered into a mutually beneficial convention. The garrison promised to surrender in twenty days if the French army did not help him out during this time. In return, soldiers and officers received freedom with the right to return to their homeland.
Three weeks spent by Suvorov in the camp near Asti became a continuous triumph of the great commander. Foreigners flocked here to look at the victorious leader. Articles, brochures, portraits, cartoons, medals and tokens in honor of the Russian field marshal appeared in different countries. In Germany, they knocked out a medal with a profile of Suvorov and a Latin inscription on the front side: "Suvorov is the favorite of Italy", on the back: "Thunderstorm of the Gauls." The Russian resident in Braunschweig, Grimm, to whom the field marshal presented his miniature portrait after the war in Poland, reported that he was forced to receive whole processions of those who wanted to see him.
Poems were recited in London theaters in honor of Suvorov. Suvorov pies, Suvorov hairstyle came into fashion ... “I am showered with awards,” Nelson wrote to the Russian commander, “but today I have received the highest award; I was told that I look like you."
English artists endowed the winner of the French with the most fantastic features. On one of the cartoons, Suvorov was depicted “in the form of a fat, drunken condottiere with a pipe in his teeth, leading the bound members of the French Directory complacently to Russia, whose tear-stained faces express deep grief, and folded hands beg for mercy ... Another caricature, also related to to Suvorov's victories, depicts him devouring the French, who are represented as fleeing from him in all directions, while he, trampling them with his feet, captures the fleeing with two huge forks and swallows greedily.
King Charles Emmanuel, who expressed a desire to serve in the army under the command of the Russian commander, called Suvorov "immortal" and made him "the great marshal of the Piedmontese troops and the grandee of the kingdom" with the hereditary title of "prince and cousin of the king."
Suvorov greeted this stream of favors with jokes. When he was informed that the tailor had come to take measurements for the uniform of the Grand Marshal of Piedmont, he immediately asked:
What nation is he? If French, I will speak to him like a needle artist. If a German - then as with a candidate, master or doctor of the Faculty of Mundirology. If an Italian - then as with a maestro or virtuoso on scissors.
Upon learning that the tailor was Italian, Suvorov said:
All the better! I have not yet seen an Italian dressed well. He will sew me a spacious uniform, and I will have expanse in it!
The uniform turned out to be unusually magnificent, in full accordance with the vanity of the rulers of small states: blue, embroidered at all seams with gold.
Even Suvorov's valet Prokhor Dubasov was not forgotten. Karl Emmanuel also awarded him two medals with an inscription in Latin: "For the preservation of Suvorov's health." On the package of the rescript, sealed with a large royal seal, it was written: "To Mr. Proshka, valet of His Excellency Prince Suvorov." Struck by the royal grace, the old servant with a loud howl brought this package to his master. Favors of the Sardinian sovereign Suvorov put low and was delighted with the new opportunity to be kinky. He called Fuchs and shouted to him:
How! His Sardinian Majesty deigned to turn his most merciful attention to my Proshka! Sit down and write the ceremonial for tomorrow's medal-laying!
Fuchs sat down and wrote: “Point one: Proshka will be sober tomorrow…”
What does it mean? Suvorov feigned astonishment. "I never saw him drunk in my life!"
It’s not my fault, Fuchs replied, if I didn’t see him sober.
In another paragraph, it was assumed that after the medals were laid on, Proshka would kiss his master's hand. But Suvorov did not agree and demanded that the valet kiss the hand not of him, but of the Marquis of Gabet, authorized by the Sardinian king.
The next day, the ceremony took place in strict accordance with all the points worked out, with the exception of the first. Suvorov appeared in the gilded attire of the great marshal of the Piedmontese troops, and Proshka, despite the terrible Italian heat, was dressed in a velvet caftan with a large purse hanging on it. He did not serve and stood like a pillar at a distance from Suvorov's chair. At the table they drank some sour Cypriot wine and proclaimed the health of Prokhor Dubasov. Suvorov kept a very serious, solemn expression on his face. When the medals, both on green ribbons, depicting Paul I and Charles Emmanuel, were placed on Proshka's chest, he tried to kiss Gabet's hand, but the Marquis did not give in. Suvorov and Proshka started chasing him around the room, screaming, and all three almost fell. So the field marshal interfered with idleness, and he called this his recreation - entertainment.
In Russia itself, the name of Suvorov finally became legendary. Paul I wrote: "I no longer know what to give you: you have placed yourself above all awards." But the reward was found. It was ordered "to give the Prince of Italy, Count Suvorov-Rymniksky, even in the presence of the sovereign, all military honors, similar to those given to the person of His Imperial Majesty."
