По повелению Екатерины Великой: путешествие Алексея Бобринского по России и Европе в 1782-1788 гг

43 Pages·0.449 MB·Russian

by  Козлов Сергей Александрович.

Under Catherine the Great’s Order:
The Voyage of Alexei Bobrinsky alond Russia
and Europe
in 1782-1788
Lecture / Presentation
of the materials by
SERGEI KOZLOV
Professor of Russian history
St. Petersburg University of Technology
at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies University
College London Centre for Russian Studies Seminars,
5 February 2001
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SERGEI KOZLOV
Under Catherine the Great’s Order: The Voyage of Alexei Bobrinsky
along Russia and Europe 1782—1788
[In English and Russian]
This work was supported by the Research
Support Scheme of the Open Society Institute,
grant No: 546/2000
ISBN 5-89566-023-1 © Sergei Kozlov: text, 2001
© «Istoricheskaia Illustratsiia», 2001
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Contents
Lecture
Under Catherine the Great’s Order: The Voyage of Alexei
Bobrinsky along Russia and Europe 1782—1788 .........................5
Russian version...............................................................................23
Documents
1. Passport issued to academician N.Ia.Ozeretskovsky
for travelling across Russia in 1782—1783...............................20
Russian version...............................................................................38
2. Itinerary of Mr. Bobrinsky’ journey developed by Mr. Betskoy,
February 2, 1784........................................................................21
Russian version...............................................................................39
3. Записка А.Г.Бобринского о карточной игре.............................40
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Under Catherine the Great’s Order:
The Voyage of Alexei Bobrinsky
along Russia and Europe
in 1782–1788*
In the 18th century Russians travelled a lot. It was the first time they
could really discover for themselves the vast lands of Russia and Eu-
rope. The manifesto of February 19, 1762 gave Russian noblemen the
freedom to travel. Since then they were free to travel abroad and be-
come servants of foreign monarchs.
Catherine II initiated The Academy of Sciences for the purpose of
organizing scientific expeditions (led by I.I.Lepekhin, V.F.Zuev,
P.S.Pallas) to study minerals as well as life and the trades of Russia’s
peoples. The expedition results were published and caused enormous
interest among the public.
When travelling in Europe, Russians studied everyday life, customs,
national specifics of the Europeans as well as their social and political
systems very attentively and compared them with Russian traditions. In
the course of travelling, they kept diaries and filled in notebooks with
* There are a comprehensive number of writings about travel and travellers, includ-
ing studies in psychology of adventurous travellers in the Age of Enlightenment,
including Russian adventurers (such as E.Karnovich, S.Roth, A.Stroev,
W.Berelovich). Of special interest were stories connected with the education of
Russian students in European universities (N.Hans, P.Hoffman, N.Penchko,
G.Nekrasov). Scholars tried to trace the fates of Russians who visited Europe in the
18th century (A.Cross, L.Kopelew). Eventually there appeared fundamental works
in which the personality of Catherine II, the birth of independent public opinion,
and Russian culture are regarded as a single whole (I de Madariaga, P. Dukes,
C.Scharf, J. Alexander, A.Kamensky, N.Pavlenko).
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6 Sergey Kozlov: Lecture / Presentation
their observations, which are characterized by frankness, vividness and
open-mindedness. During the Age of Enlightenment, maintaining a di-
ary as a literary genre was at its heyday in Russia. Studying the diaries
allows a better understanding of the mentality of 18th century Russians
and makes the study of historical realia more personalized.
My talk is about Catherine’s grandiose and mysterious project, the
journey of Alexei Bobrinsky around Russia and Europe in 1782 —
1788. Such famous public figures of the Enlightenment age as
I.I.Betskoy, I.M.Ribas, N.Ya. Ozeretskovsky, S.R.Vorontsov, F.M.Grimm
helped to carry out the project. However, the main actor was Alexei
Bobrinsky himself who pre-designated the outcome of the journey which
turned out to be shameful and unexpected for Catherine the Great.
The birth of Alexei Grigorievitch Bobrinsky and his whole life are
shrouded in mystery and secrecy. Much of it still remains insoluble.
The son of Catherine the Great and Grigory Orlov, then an army cap-
tain, was born on April 11, 1762. These were hard times for his mother,
when the country was ruled by Peter the Third who threatened to con-
fine her in a nunnery. The childbirth was kept secret. Many years later,
in 1781, the omnipotent empress will try to explain her actions to her
adult son:
“…Your mother, oppressed by various hostile and powerful enemies, was
forced to conceal your birth in order to save herself and her eldest son in
those troubled times.”1
According to legend, they decided to take advantage of a weakness
of Peter the Third. The Emperor enjoyed watching fires, and, to divert
his attention, Vassily Shkurin, the garderobmeister of Catherine the Great,
set his own house, in the outskirts of St. Petersburg, on fire when she
was giving birth to her child.2 It was also Vassily Shkurin who took the
child to his own family, where Alexei Bobrinsky was brought up together
with his own two sons.
Having ascended to the throne, Catherine the Great granted Vassily
Shkurin a noble rank, more than a thousand serfs, and the estate of
Kaikushi on the Neva bank.
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Under Catherine the Great’s Order: The Voyage of Alexei Bobrinsky 7
At first, the newly born child was given the name of Alexei Grigorievich
Sitsky. It will be much later that he receives the surname Bobrinsky. In his
documents, it was written that his father, an army captain, perished as a hero and
that the chamberlain Vassily Grigorievich Shkurin and his wife Anna Grigo-
rievna were commissioned to raise the infant.3
Alexei Bobrinsky treated his first educator with love and affection.
And, after many years, on receiving the news of Vassily Shkurin’s death
in February 1782, he made the following entry in his diary: “I couldn’t
sleep all night, I’ve imagined the deceased… I cried bitterly for an hour,
but it’s given by God… He had been very kind to me, and I’m beholden
to his family.”4
After a brief period of study at a boarding school in Leipzig, Alexei
Bobrinsky was admitted to the St. Petersburg Land Shlyachta Corps of
Cadet in 1775. His new tutor was the chief of the Corps, Poruchik-
General I. I. Betskoy, who was in favour with Catherine the Great. He
was one of “her people” with whom she spent hours talking or reading
books. It was I.I.Betskoy whom the Empress entrusted with reforming
the whole system of education in Russia; with bringing up “a new breed
of people” free from idleness, luxury, and “ill-disposition”.
However, at first he had to bring up the Empress’ son, of whom he was
guardian until the year 1785. They had much in common; Betskoy was the
child of Field-Marshal-General, Prince I.Yu. Trubetskoy, and also born out
of wedlock. He had experienced a lot and gone through many difficulties in
his life, and sincerely wanted to keep this child safe from “coincidences”.
Here is one example of guidance he gave to Alexei Bobrinsky:
“I know about your sensitivity, you are filled with honesty and intrepidity,
but you are slightly hot-tempered and are not inclined to yield; so you are
like most young men… It is much nicer to yield to a featherbrain than to
argue with him… It happens very often that a quarrel over a trifle that has
taken place at a ball, a performance or a festival… leads to disastrous
consequences”.5
The young cadet; however, did not follow this advice very often.
The opinion firmly established in literature is that drunkenness, debauch-
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8 Sergey Kozlov: Lecture / Presentation
ery and vice flourished in the Corps of Cadet, and Alexei Bobrinsky
was giving examples.6 This is, of course, too exaggerated. In fact, he
was the centre of everyone’s attention, and every step of his was under
control of the Empress’ “well-wishers”.
Thus, for example, in December, 1779, information appeared about
the “secret passion” of A.Bobrinsky, about his infatuation for Yekaterina
Engelhardt, the niece of G. A. Potyomkin, the “rising” favourite of the
Empress. This annoyed Prince G. G. Orlov who even tried to scoff at his
seventeen-year-old son for his “silly things”. But the young Bobrinsky
“defended himself as a lion” and silenced his father. Nevertheless the
conflict was growing…
Catherine the Great wrote to G. A. Potyomkin with anxiety:
“Bobrinsky says that Yekaterina is cleverer than all other women and girls
in the city… The only proof to this was that she wears fewer feathers, uses
less rouge and has less jewellery on than the others do. In the opera house
he even wanted to break the railings of his box since it prevented him
from seeing Yekaterina and from being seen by her. Finally,… he managed
to extend one of the cells between the railings, and that’s that! … I think
that preaching will never produce a great impression on him… I know he
doesn’t like his father’s tones… He (Bobrinsky — S. K.) is filled with
sincerity and naivety”.7
The rumours about Bobrinsky courting Yekaterina Engelhardt were
reflected in the diplomatic correspondence of those times. Koberon, a
French diplomat, assured that the supposed marriage between the young
was upset because the niece of Potyomkin had become pregnant. Later
on the diplomat had to admit that these rumours were false.8 Yekaterina
Engelhardt married Count P.M. Skavronsky in 1781.
Cadet Bobrinsky was, of course, a frequenter of noisy parties, balls,
and opera performances. He was engrossed by the chaos of merriment,
masquerades, and love affairs. However, he remained an honest and
sincere young man who firmly blamed people for their vices and silly
things. The entries made by A.Bobrinsky in his diary show that this was
true. He wrote:
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Under Catherine the Great’s Order: The Voyage of Alexei Bobrinsky 9
“My goodness! Will the time come when people, who are able to help
other people, stop doing silly things and making fools out of themselves?
They were eating and drinking as swines. O people, how debaucherous
you are!”9
And there is another “strange thing” that happened on December
29, 1781 in the Corps of Cadet. A.Bobrinsky noted:
“We… were at the opera. The first singer… sang an aria and the audience
liked it. They started shouting “fora, fora…”. One of the officers considered
it very indecent that people dare shout like that in a public opera house and
in his presence, and started shouting “tacete, asine” (i. e. “shut up, asses”).10
His contemporaries were inclined to explain the unconsidered ac-
tions of Alexei Bobrinsky as an “evil influence” on the part of his im-
mediate educator, I.M. Ribas (Deribas), a native of Naples. He was
married to the adopted daughter of Betskoy — Nastasya Ivanovna
Sokolova, more known under the name of Ribasshi. I.M. Ribas, the
inspector of the Corps, had a strong reputation of being a rascal and a
scoundrel, le mentor-infernal. It was rumoured that he extorted money
from his students and the Corps officers, was constantly losing all his
money playing cards and never paid debts. There is an entry made by
Bobrinsky in his diary about Ribas: “They say he doesn’t let the officers
who are Russian by birth enter the Corps, and he himself plays cards
every day and deals with girls… And that’s true!”11 There were a lot of
legends about “Ribasshi’s” hot temper, about her sharp wits and biting
tongue for which she was disliked in the society.12 Later, in 1783,
I.M. Ribas wrote to his former student with bitterness:
“The whole city believes… in the inventions… that I corrupt young cadets
and make bad people out of them,.. that I steal and rob money from the
Corps… I find consolation only in my innocence”.13
Taking care of his “innocence”, inspector Ribas, however, did a lot
to spoil the reputation of his student. He used to tell everyone that
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10 Sergey Kozlov: Lecture / Presentation
A.Bobrinsky was like a Satir. According to “Ribasshi”, cadet Bobrin-
sky was “an imp, scoundrel, young puppy, snotty thing, stubborn man,
sloven, ignoramus, and all the troubles taken to bring him up were in
vain; he was the most careless and contemptuous man she ever knew.”14
We should not think, however, that Catherine the Great herself with-
drew from bringing her child up, having entrusted guardians and tutors
with his education. The whole activity and the educational process in
the Land Corps of Cadet were under the Empress’ control. As we can
see from the “Notes” of S.N. Glinka, a graduate of the Corps,
“when he (Bobrinsky — S. K.) was a cadet, Catherine the Great visited
the establishment very often, and Count Grigory Grigorievitch Orlov —
even more often. They treated cadets as if they were their own children,
they tasted their food and took some cadets’ bread with them… On winter
Sundays about twenty young cadets were taken to the palace to take part
in various games. Catherine the Great, the tsarina of half the world, did
not attend these games; she was a tender mother who was happy to see her
children were happy.”15
A.Bobrinsky was invited to the Hermitage, the residence of the Rus-
sian emperors, very often where he met his mother — Catherine the Great.
Numerous entries in Bobrinsky’s diary show that the atmosphere of those
“family” meetings was warm and natural. Here are just some of these
entries:
“On January 31, 1782… I stayed with Her Majesty… for a long time; we
talked about different things, about myself and many other people; on
February 23, 1782… we… came to the Hermitage. The Empress was
already there… She played billiards with Lanskoi. She won the game,
then started another one and began to win again. She told me to finish the
game for her, and I won it.”16
Catherine the Great did a lot to ensure financial prosperity for her
son born out of wedlock: she bought him vast estates in the Tula region,
had the houses designed and built by architect I. E. Starov in Bogoroditsk
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Under Catherine the Great’s Order: The Voyage of Alexei Bobrinsky 11
and Bobriki (hence his surname Bobrinsky); she paid 2,500 rubles an-
nually to cover the living costs and his studies in the Corps of Cadet;
she deposited more than 1 mln rubles with the Guardians Council in his
name.
The Empress unofficially governed the estates purchased for her
son. Everything was under her supervision and control. Here are some
of her ordinances: “Peasants of Bobrikovsky region shall be notified
that they should unconditionally pay … their income under the threat of
harsh punishment; all profit collected from the region shall be delivered
annually; Bobriki shall be developed in accordance with the plans tried
by me”. Sometimes she would say with a threat: “Thee who dares to
take everything or a part of substance owned by Alexey, son of Sitsky,
will be cursed together with descendants, and what was taken on the
Judgement Day will be recovered from Thee.” 17
The Empress prevented her son from visiting “dissolute places”,
telling him he was “too young, too childish and might well have done
silly things”. Catherine the Great prohibited her son and other cadets,
for example, from visiting the club of Mrs. Talysina, since orgies took
place there and frivolous women frequented the place.18
In February 1782, the cadets of the Corps had their final examina-
tion. A.Bobrinsky made the following entry in his diary: “We had exams.
I can hardly remember what was going on.” Nevertheless, he was award-
ed a gold medal and became a poruchik of the Guards of a mounted
regiment.
The Empress immediately granted him a leave, and A.Bobrinsky
left on a four-years’ journey. Catherine the Great proceeded from the
supposition that you should first “see your own country, and only then
go and see other lands.” The Empress was frightened, however, that her
son could become one of those travellers who “travel in vain and be-
come even worse as a result.” As we may see from his diary,A. Bobrinsky
himself hoped that he would be “absolutely free”19 after the journey.
Among other participants of the journey were friends of Bobrinsky,
graduates of the Corps of Cadet N.S. Svetchin and A.U. Bolotnikov.
According to I.I. Betskoy, the former was too proud of himself and the
latter had “vulgar manners”. Besides, Bobrinsky was accompanied by
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