The meaning of Cherkasy Alexey Mikhailovich in a brief biographical encyclopedia. Cherkasy. Grand Chancellor and the dowry of the princess Alexei Mikhailovich Cherkassky 1680 1742 years of life

CHERKASSKY ALEXEY MIKHAILOVICH

Cherkassky (Alexey Mikhailovich, prince, 1680 - 1742) - chancellor. In 1702, being a nearby steward, he was appointed as an assistant to his father (Mikhail Yakovlevich), the Tobolsk governor, under whom he served for 10 years, and in 1714 he was summoned to St. Petersburg and appointed a member of the city buildings commission. In 1719, Cherkassky, as an honest and incorruptible man, was sent to Siberia by the governor; in 1726 he was made a senator. During the election of Anna Ioannovna to the Russian throne (1730), Cherkassky, the richest landowner in Russia by number of souls, led a party of nobles who rebelled against the supreme leaders, for which he was later made one of the three cabinet ministers, and in 1740 he was elevated to the rank of Grand Chancellor . According to the historian Shcherbatov, Cherkassky “is a silent, quiet man, whose intelligence never shone in great ranks, and showed caution everywhere.” As a cabinet minister, he signed a trade agreement with England (1734), and as chancellor - two treaties: with the Prussian court (1740) and with the English court (1741). His only daughter from his second marriage with Princess Marya Yuryevna Trubetskoy, Varvara Alekseevna, was a maid of honor at the Supreme Court, was considered the richest bride in Russia, was matched to the famous satirist Prince Antioch Dmitrievich Kantemir, who refused to marry, and was given away with a dowry of 70,000 souls peasants, for Count Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev, thanks to which the latter acquired a huge “Sheremetev fortune”. V. R-v.

Brief biographical encyclopedia. 2012

Biography

A descendant of two major figures in the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich - princes Y. K. Cherkassky and N. I. Odoevsky - Alexei Cherkassky inherited extensive landholdings from them. He spent his childhood and youth until he was twenty-one in Moscow. At the age of 26, he married the cousin of Tsar Peter Alekseevich, for whom he received a huge dowry.

Management of Siberia

In 1719, Prince Cherkassky, who had a reputation as an honest and incorruptible man (which was also favored by his fabulous wealth), was appointed Siberian governor instead of the deposed Prince M.P. Gagarin. “And he is in charge,” the decree said, “all Siberian cities, and Siberia to be divided into three provinces, under the command of vice-governors chosen by the governor and approved by the Senate.”

Such a quick and unexpected rise embarrassed Cherkassky, who hastened to turn to the Tsar with a letter in which he explained, “what a great misfortune he considers excommunication from His Majesty to be, he would never voluntarily agree to this and, no matter how flattering the election of the monarch is for him, he with I am gladly and willingly ready to carry out the most difficult tasks, just so as not to be separated from him.” Peter, however, remained adamant: “I would willingly fulfill your request,” he answered Cherkassky, “if I could soon find a worthy person, but now I don’t know. For this reason, you must do this without insult. For in truth, I am not sending this to you because of any opposition to you, but for two reasons: first, that you were there and know, and second, that soon I could not find another reliable one in such a distant direction. However, you can be sure of this, that when you give orders there and carry out a good anstalt, and write about it, then we will certainly change you according to your desire.”

Cherkassky was little suitable for the vigorous activity that was in full swing around Peter, but with his caution and honesty he was seen as a suitable candidate “until another worthy one is found.” During the five years of ruling Siberia, his activities were limited primarily to taking defensive measures against the Bashkirs and Mongols. In 1723, Major General De Gennin, who was at that time the chief builder and manager of Siberian mining factories, reported to Peter:

I sincerely regret that you have never been here yourself and do not know about the local Siberian conditions. It is true that the governor of Cherkassy is here, a good man, but he did not dare, and especially in judicial and zemstvo matters, which is why his affairs are not controversial, and partly more burdensome for the people, and if you send him here, then for your benefit give him a bag of courage, yes good judges, court people and governors in cities and in settlements, and for military affairs the chief commandant and for the merchants an adviser from the commercial and from the chamber board of the chamberlain, the same secretary, without whom he cannot be; and if he doesn’t exist, then it wouldn’t be bad for such kind people to be like Matyushkin or Ushakov.

Perhaps under the influence of this letter, Peter sent a decree to the Senate on January 15, 1724 “on the existence of a governor in Siberia instead of Cherkasy to Prince Mikhail Vladimirovich Dolgoruky.”

Opposition to the Supreme Leaders

As a reward for his Siberian service, Cherkassky was awarded the rank of state councilor. Arriving in Moscow at the end of 1724, he fell ill, and Peter the Great died during his illness. Cherkassky lived the five-year period of the reign of Catherine I and Peter II peacefully, calmly, keeping aloof from court intrigues and party struggles. On February 8, 1726, he was awarded the rank of full state councilor and ordered to be present in the Senate; the following year, on 12 October, he was promoted to Privy Councillor; At the same time, on March 8, 1727, he was appointed, together with Osterman, a member of the commission on commerce organized by Catherine I and took an active part in the work of this commission. He entered the arena of political activity after the death of Emperor Peter II and did not leave this arena until his death.

During the election of Anna Ioannovna to the Russian throne (1730), Cherkassky joined the party of nobles who rebelled against the rulers, for which he was later made one of the three cabinet ministers. He is often presented as the same zealous champion of autocracy as Feofan Prokopovich was, however, from the surviving documents it follows that at first Cherkassky behaved timidly and indecisively. It was he who handed over to the Supreme Privy Council a draft drawn up by Tatishchev signed by 249 people, mainly from the noble and bureaucratic nobility, entitled “An arbitrary and consonant reasoning of the assembled Russian nobility on state government,” where the monarchy was proclaimed the best form of government for Russia - with the proviso that Since the Empress is “a female person, it is necessary to establish something to help Her Majesty.”

Meanwhile, supporters of the autocracy, seeing that the petition submitted by Cherkassky was not at all the one that Kantemir had drawn up yesterday, and they agreed to sign, raised a fuss and shouted: “We don’t want laws to be prescribed to the Empress: she must be the same autocrat as hers was.” ancestors!" Addressing the meeting, Anna Ioannovna invited him, in view of her expressed consent to accept the petition submitted to her, to immediately, without leaving the palace, and bring his desire to fulfillment, to convene the general meeting of state officials they requested and discuss what particular form of government they considered the best for Russia. The breakdown of standards and the acceptance of Kantemir’s petition took place soon after without the active participation of Cherkassky.

Cabinet Minister

With the proclamation of Anna Ioannovna as an autocratic empress, Prince Cherkassky took a prominent position among the dignitaries of the state. Anna Ioannovna, grateful to him for the fact that at the decisive moment he did not openly side with her opponents, which, given his connections and wealth, could not but influence the course of events, hastened to shower him with signs of favor: on March 4, with the destruction of the Supreme Secret council and the restoration of the Senate, he was appointed one of its twenty-one members, together with all former members of the Supreme Privy Council; on March 23, he received the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, August 30 - awarded the Knight of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, March 18, 1731 - promoted to actual privy councilor, and he was instructed to continue to take part in the work of the Osterman commission on commerce and monitor the correct progress of trade with Khiva and Bukhara.

Seeing the rise of Cherkassky, ambassadors of foreign powers began to fawn on him: for example, the Austrian ambassador Count Vratislav, who was trying to attract Russia to the side of Austria, presented him on July 27, 1730, on behalf of the Holy Roman Emperor, with a portrait of him, showered with diamonds, worth about 20,000 rubles . Proud of such insignia, Prince Cherkassky again tried to act independently in the field, this time of the court party struggle, and, together with Yaguzhinsky and Levenvolde, measure his strength with Osterman, who had seized all the threads of government. At this time, the empress decided to marry Levenvolde to the daughter of Cherkassky, the richest heiress in Russia. The noble prince, however, who was expecting a far different groom for his daughter, was so reluctant to express his consent to this marriage that Count Levenwolde himself arranged for the wedding rings to be returned two months after the engagement, on May 3, 1731. The Empress was very dissatisfied with this ending to her matchmaking, and, as a result, Cherkassky was removed from the court for some time.

Osterman did not seek to humiliate his opponent, but, on the contrary, seeing that Cherkassky was not capable of being an independent political figure, petitioned Anna Ioannovna to appoint the prince as a member of the newly organized “for the better and most decent administration of all state affairs, to the Empress’s own most gracious decision.” Cabinet of Ministers. This body was organized on November 6, 1731, consisting of Osterman, Chancellor Golovkin and Cherkassky. Throughout the existence of the triumvirate, Cherkassky played the passive role of only the “body of the cabinet,” as they ironically spoke of him, calling him “the soul of the cabinet” Osterman.

During the reign of Anna Ioannovna, he repeatedly took part in the discussion of important political issues: for example, he was part of the commission that developed the trade agreement with England in 1734; On September 23, 1732, together with Osterman and his brother Minich, he considered the project of a union of Russia with France; On February 22, 1733, he participated in the general meeting convened by the empress to discuss Polish affairs; the next year, December 21 - in a conference discussing the action plan of Russia, Austria and Poland in the event of war with Turkey; On March 1, 1739, he, along with Osterman, Minich and Volynsky, submitted a report to the Empress on the plan of military operations for the upcoming Turkish campaign.

At court receptions and ceremonies, he was given the most prominent place, Anna Ioannovna constantly showed him her favor and favored him, however, foreign ambassadors wrote about Cherkassky as “a mute person, representing only a nominal value,” as a mannequin appointed to the office only for his sake. loud name and glory of the “true Russian boyar”. “Now they’ll put him in office, the next day they’ll tonsure him - he’s silent about everything and doesn’t say anything,” Volynsky described him. Theoretically, having the opportunity, relying on his wealth and nobility, to influence the course of affairs of the entire state, Cherkassky curried favor with E. Biron, to whom his wife wrote flattering letters, calling herself his “lowest servant.” The awareness of his humiliation was expressed only in grumbling, which he allowed himself, in particular, in the presence of Volynsky. When in August 1740 there was a rumor that Cherkassky was asking to resign, the Marquis Chetardy reported to France:

By the end of Anna Ioannovna’s reign, Cherkassky’s health had deteriorated: he was generally very obese, suffered from shortness of breath, and in April 1738 he suffered his first apoplexy in the presence of the entire court, and from the consequences of this blow he could no longer recover until his death.

The struggle for power in 1740-1741

When Biron's regency was established during Anna Ioannovna's dying illness, Cherkassky and Bestuzhev were the duke's most zealous supporters. During Biron's three-week regency, Cherkassky once again proved his loyalty to him by betraying like-minded Lieutenant Colonel Pustoshkin, who came to Prince Cherkassky and, reminding him of his political role in 1730, asked him to now take over the leadership of the movement against Biron. Cherkassky patiently listened to the messenger, praised his plan of action and, citing lack of time, offered to come for negotiations tomorrow, and he immediately reported everything to the duke. Pustoshkin and others were immediately captured, searches and torture began, and only the subsequent overthrow of Biron saved these people from death, who decided to so trustingly turn to Cherkassky. He learned about Biron’s arrest only three hours later, having arrived at a Cabinet meeting at the Summer Palace.

Personal characteristics

Maria Yurievna, second wife

According to contemporaries, Cherkassky was a straightforward and honest person, but on the other hand, extremely suspicious, shy to the point of timidity and extremely petty. It was said that one night he ordered the president of the Academy of Sciences (Mr. Brevern) to be woken up to ask him whether he should put large or small letters in his signature on a reply letter to the Duke of Mecklenburg. In addition to all this, he was distinguished by great silence, so that Lady Rondo in her “Letters” mockingly writes about him: “ I think that he never spoke to more than one member of the famous assembly, whom you and I know from his printed speech... in all likelihood he will not embarrass the Council with his eloquence» .

In 1736, Lady Rondeau described his appearance as follows: “ Cherkassky's figure is wider than long, his head is too large and leans towards the left shoulder, and his stomach, which is also very wide, leans to the right side; his legs are very short...»

Family and inheritance

In 1706, Prince Cherkassky married Agrafena (Agrippina) Lvovna, daughter of boyar L.K. Naryshkin and cousin of Peter I. Three years later she was gone, and in 1710 Prince Cherkassky found himself a new wife. The princess became his chosen one Maria Yurievna Trubetskaya(03/27/1696 - 08/16/1747), daughter of Senator Yu. Yu. Trubetskoy and sister of Field Marshal N. Yu. Trubetskoy.

According to a contemporary, the second princess of Cherkassy was “ she was unusually beautiful and had many excellent precious stones. In St. Petersburg she lived richer than all the others, she had her own orchestra consisting of 10 fairly good musicians, a German cook preparing German dishes for her table, and the absence of her husband, the governor of Siberia, a rather elderly man, did not upset her very much» .

Cherkasskaya played a fairly significant role in changing the form of government after Anna Ioannovna’s accession to the throne. The party, dissatisfied with the limitation of monarchical rule and the strengthening of the Supreme Privy Council, decided to find out how the empress herself felt about this, and Princess Cherkasskaya, Countess Chernysheva and the wife of General Saltykov took on this responsibility; they successfully completed their task, after which Prince A.M. Cherkassky submitted the above-mentioned petition to change the form of government.

The State Lady of Cherkassk enjoyed great respect at the court of Anna Ioannovna. In order to gain her favor, the Austrian envoy Count Vratislav, according to rumors, wanted to bring her a golden tea set, which at one time was intended for Princess Catherine Dolgorukaya. In December 1741 she was appointed lady of state of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.

The only daughter of the couple, Varvara Alekseevna(09/11/1711 - 10/2/1767), was a maid of honor at the highest court, was considered the richest bride in Russia, was married to the famous satirist Prince Antioch Dmitrievich Kantemir, who refused to marry, and was given on January 28, 1743, with a dowry of 70,000 the souls of the peasants, for Count Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev, thanks to which the latter formed a huge “Sheremetev fortune”.

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Sources

Pavlov-Silvansky N. N.// Russian biographical dictionary: in 25 volumes. - St. Petersburg. -M., 1896-1918.



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Excerpt characterizing Cherkassky, Alexey Mikhailovich

This officer was Petya Rostov.
The whole way Petya was preparing for how he would behave with Denisov, as a big man and an officer should, without hinting at a previous acquaintance. But as soon as Denisov smiled at him, Petya immediately beamed, blushed with joy and, forgetting the prepared formality, began to talk about how he drove past the French, and how glad he was that he had been given such an assignment, and that he was already in battle near Vyazma, and that one hussar distinguished himself there.
“Well, I’m glad to see you,” Denisov interrupted him, and his face again took on a preoccupied expression.
“Mikhail Feoklitich,” he turned to the esaul, “after all, this is again from a German.” He is a member." And Denisov told the esaul that the contents of the paper brought now consisted of a repeated demand from the German general to join in an attack on the transport. "If we don't take him tomorrow, they will sneak out from under our noses." “Here,” he concluded.
While Denisov was talking to the esaul, Petya, embarrassed by Denisov’s cold tone and assuming that the reason for this tone was the position of his trousers, so that no one would notice, straightened his fluffed trousers under his overcoat, trying to look as militant as possible.
- Will there be any order from your honor? - he said to Denisov, putting his hand to his visor and again returning to the game of adjutant and general, for which he had prepared, - or should I remain with your honor?
“Orders?” Denisov said thoughtfully. -Can you stay until tomorrow?
- Oh, please... Can I stay with you? – Petya screamed.
- Yes, exactly what did the geneticist tell you to do - to go veg now? – Denisov asked. Petya blushed.
- Yes, he didn’t order anything. I think it is possible? – he said questioningly.
“Well, okay,” Denisov said. And, turning to his subordinates, he made orders that the party should go to the resting place appointed at the guardhouse in the forest and that an officer on a Kyrgyz horse (this officer served as an adjutant) should go to look for Dolokhov, to find out where he was and whether he would come in the evening . Denisov himself, with the esaul and Petya, intended to drive up to the edge of the forest overlooking Shamshev in order to look at the location of the French, at which tomorrow’s attack was to be directed.
“Well, God,” he turned to the peasant conductor, “take me to Shamshev.”
Denisov, Petya and the esaul, accompanied by several Cossacks and a hussar who was carrying a prisoner, drove to the left through the ravine, to the edge of the forest.

The rain passed, only fog and drops of water fell from tree branches. Denisov, Esaul and Petya silently rode behind a man in a cap, who, lightly and silently stepping with his bast-clad feet on roots and wet leaves, led them to the edge of the forest.
Coming out onto the road, the man paused, looked around and headed towards the thinning wall of trees. At a large oak tree that had not yet shed its leaves, he stopped and mysteriously beckoned to him with his hand.
Denisov and Petya drove up to him. From the place where the man stopped, the French were visible. Now, behind the forest, a spring field ran down a semi-hillock. To the right, across a steep ravine, a small village and a manor house with collapsed roofs could be seen. In this village and in the manor's house, and throughout the hillock, in the garden, at the wells and pond, and along the entire road up the mountain from the bridge to the village, no more than two hundred fathoms away, crowds of people were visible in the fluctuating fog. Their non-Russian screams at the horses in the carts struggling up the mountain and calls to each other were clearly heard.
“Give the prisoner here,” Denisop said quietly, not taking his eyes off the French.
The Cossack got off his horse, took the boy off and walked up to Denisov with him. Denisov, pointing to the French, asked what kind of troops they were. The boy, putting his chilled hands in his pockets and raising his eyebrows, looked at Denisov in fear and, despite the visible desire to say everything he knew, was confused in his answers and only confirmed what Denisov was asking. Denisov, frowning, turned away from him and turned to the esaul, telling him his thoughts.
Petya, turning his head with quick movements, looked back at the drummer, then at Denisov, then at the esaul, then at the French in the village and on the road, trying not to miss anything important.
“Pg” is coming, not “pg” Dolokhov is coming, we must bg”at!.. Eh? - said Denisov, his eyes flashing cheerfully.
“The place is convenient,” said the esaul.
“We’ll send the infantry down through the swamps,” Denisov continued, “they’ll crawl up to the garden; you will come with the Cossacks from there,” Denisov pointed to the forest behind the village, “and I will come from here, with my ganders. And along the road...
“It won’t be a hollow—it’s a quagmire,” said the esaul. - You’ll get stuck in your horses, you need to go around to the left...
While they were talking in a low voice in this way, below, in the ravine from the pond, one shot clicked, smoke turned white, then another, and a friendly, seemingly cheerful cry was heard from hundreds of French voices who were on the half-mountain. In the first minute, both Denisov and the esaul moved back. They were so close that it seemed to them that they were the cause of these shots and screams. But the shots and screams did not apply to them. Below, through the swamps, a man in something red was running. Apparently he was being shot at and shouted at by the French.
“After all, this is our Tikhon,” said the esaul.
- He! they are!
“What a rogue,” Denisov said.
- He will go away! - Esaul said, narrowing his eyes.
The man they called Tikhon, running up to the river, splashed into it so that splashes flew, and, hiding for a moment, all black from the water, he got out on all fours and ran on. The French running after him stopped.
“Well, he’s clever,” said the esaul.
- What a beast! – Denisov said with the same expression of annoyance. - And what has he been doing so far?
- Who is this? – Petya asked.
- This is our plastun. I sent him to take the tongue.
“Oh, yes,” Petya said from Denisov’s first word, nodding his head as if he understood everything, although he absolutely did not understand a single word.
Tikhon Shcherbaty was one of the most necessary people in the party. He was a man from Pokrovskoye near Gzhat. When, at the beginning of his actions, Denisov came to Pokrovskoye and, as always, calling the headman, asked what they knew about the French, the headman answered, as all the headmen answered, as if defending themselves, that they didn’t know anything, to know they don't know. But when Denisov explained to them that his goal was to beat the French, and when he asked if the French had wandered in, the headman said that there were definitely marauders, but that in their village only one Tishka Shcherbaty was involved in these matters. Denisov ordered Tikhon to be called to him and, praising him for his activities, said a few words in front of the headman about the loyalty to the Tsar and the Fatherland and the hatred of the French that the sons of the Fatherland should observe.
“We don’t do anything bad to the French,” said Tikhon, apparently timid at Denisov’s words. “That’s the only way we fooled around with the guys.” They must have beaten about two dozen Miroders, otherwise we didn’t do anything bad... - The next day, when Denisov, completely forgetting about this guy, left Pokrovsky, he was informed that Tikhon had attached himself to the party and asked to be left with it. Denisov ordered to leave him.
Tikhon, who at first corrected the menial work of laying fires, delivering water, skinning horses, etc., soon showed greater willingness and ability for guerrilla warfare. He went out at night to hunt for prey and each time brought with him French clothes and weapons, and when he was ordered, he also brought prisoners. Denisov dismissed Tikhon from work, began to take him with him on travels and enrolled him in the Cossacks.
Tikhon did not like to ride and always walked, never falling behind the cavalry. His weapons were a blunderbuss, which he wore more for fun, a pike and an ax, which he wielded like a wolf wields his teeth, equally easily picking out fleas from his fur and biting through thick bones. Tikhon equally faithfully, with all his might, split logs with an ax and, taking the ax by the butt, used it to cut out thin pegs and cut out spoons. In Denisov's party, Tikhon occupied his special, exclusive place. When it was necessary to do something especially difficult and disgusting - turn a cart over in the mud with your shoulder, pull a horse out of a swamp by the tail, skin it, climb into the very middle of the French, walk fifty miles a day - everyone pointed, laughing, at Tikhon.
“What the hell is he doing, you big gelding,” they said about him.
Once, the Frenchman whom Tikhon was taking shot at him with a pistol and hit him in the flesh of his back. This wound, for which Tikhon was treated only with vodka, internally and externally, was the subject of the funniest jokes in the entire detachment and jokes to which Tikhon willingly succumbed.
- What, brother, won’t you? Is Ali crooked? - the Cossacks laughed at him, and Tikhon, deliberately crouching and making faces, pretending that he was angry, scolded the French with the most ridiculous curses. This incident had only the influence on Tikhon that after his wound he rarely brought prisoners.
Tikhon was the most useful and brave man in the party. No one else discovered cases of attack, no one else took him and beat the French; and as a result of this, he was the jester of all the Cossacks and hussars and he himself willingly succumbed to this rank. Now Tikhon was sent by Denisov, at night, to Shamshevo in order to take the tongue. But, either because he was not satisfied with just the Frenchman, or because he slept through the night, during the day he climbed into the bushes, into the very middle of the French and, as Denisov saw from Mount Denisov, was discovered by them.

After talking a little more time with the esaul about tomorrow's attack, which now, looking at the proximity of the French, Denisov seemed to have finally decided, he turned his horse and rode back.
“Well, damn, now let’s go dry off,” he said to Petya.
Approaching the forest guardhouse, Denisov stopped, peering into the forest. Through the forest, between the trees, a man in a jacket, bast shoes and a Kazan hat, with a gun over his shoulder and an ax in his belt, walked with long, light steps on long legs, with long, dangling arms. Seeing Denisov, this man hastily threw something into the bush and, taking off his wet hat with its drooping brim, approached the boss. It was Tikhon. His face, pitted with smallpox and wrinkles, with small, narrow eyes, shone with self-satisfied gaiety. He raised his head high and, as if holding back laughter, stared at Denisov.
“Well, where did it fall?” Denisov said.
- Where had you been? “I followed the French,” Tikhon answered boldly and hastily in a hoarse but melodious bass.
- Why did you climb during the day? Cattle! Well, didn't you take it?..
“I took it,” said Tikhon.
- Where is he?
“Yes, I took him first at dawn,” Tikhon continued, moving his flat legs turned out wider in his bast shoes, “and took him into the forest.” I see it's not okay. I think, let me go and get another more careful one.
“Look, you scoundrel, that’s how it is,” Denisov said to the esaul. - Why didn’t you do this?
“Why should we lead him,” Tikhon interrupted hastily and angrily, “he’s not fit.” Don't I know which ones you need?
- What a beast!.. Well?..
“I went after someone else,” Tikhon continued, “I crawled into the forest in this manner, and lay down.” – Tikhon suddenly and flexibly lay down on his belly, imagining in their faces how he did it. “One and catch up,” he continued. “I’ll rob him in this manner.” – Tikhon quickly and easily jumped up. “Let’s go, I say, to the colonel.” How loud he will be. And there are four of them here. They rushed at me with skewers. “I hit them with an ax in this manner: why are you, Christ is with you,” Tikhon cried, waving his arms and frowning menacingly, sticking out his chest.
“We saw from the mountain how you asked a line through the puddles,” said the esaul, narrowing his shining eyes.
Petya really wanted to laugh, but he saw that everyone was holding back from laughing. He quickly moved his eyes from Tikhon’s face to the faces of the esaul and Denisov, not understanding what it all meant.
“Don’t even imagine it,” Denisov said, coughing angrily. “Why didn’t he do it?”
Tikhon began to scratch his back with one hand, his head with the other, and suddenly his whole face stretched into a shining, stupid smile, revealing a missing tooth (for which he was nicknamed Shcherbaty). Denisov smiled, and Petya burst into cheerful laughter, which Tikhon himself joined in.
“Yes, it’s completely wrong,” said Tikhon. “The clothes he’s wearing are bad, so where should we take him?” Yes, and a rude man, your honor. Why, he says, I myself am the son of Anaral, I won’t go, he says.
- What a brute! - Denisov said. - I need to ask...
“Yes, I asked him,” said Tikhon. - He says: I don’t know him well. There are many of ours, he says, but all of them are bad; only, he says, one name. “If you’re fine,” he says, “you’ll take everyone,” Tikhon concluded, looking cheerfully and decisively into Denisov’s eyes.
“Here, I’ll pour in a hundred gogs, and you’ll do the same,” Denisov said sternly.
“Why be angry,” said Tikhon, “well, I haven’t seen your French?” Just let it get dark, I’ll bring whatever you want, at least three.
“Well, let’s go,” Denisov said, and he rode all the way to the guardhouse, frowning angrily and silently.
Tikhon came from behind, and Petya heard the Cossacks laughing with him and at him about some boots that he had thrown into a bush.
When the laughter that had taken over him at Tikhon’s words and smile passed, and Petya realized for a moment that this Tikhon had killed a man, he felt embarrassed. He looked back at the captive drummer, and something pierced his heart. But this awkwardness lasted only for a moment. He felt the need to raise his head higher, cheer up and ask the esaul with a significant look about tomorrow's enterprise, so as not to be unworthy of the society in which he was.
The sent officer met Denisov on the road with the news that Dolokhov himself would arrive now and that everything was fine on his part.
Denisov suddenly became cheerful and called Petya over to him.
“Well, tell me about yourself,” he said.

When Petya left Moscow, leaving his relatives, he joined his regiment and soon after that he was taken as an orderly to the general who commanded a large detachment. From the time of his promotion to officer, and especially from his entry into the active army, where he participated in the Battle of Vyazemsky, Petya was in a constantly happily excited state of joy at the fact that he was great, and in a constantly enthusiastic haste not to miss any case of real heroism . He was very happy with what he saw and experienced in the army, but at the same time it seemed to him that where he was not, that was where the most real, heroic things were now happening. And he was in a hurry to get to where he was not.
When on October 21 his general expressed a desire to send someone to Denisov’s detachment, Petya so pitifully asked to send him that the general could not refuse. But, sending him, the general, remembering Petya’s crazy act in the battle of Vyazemsky, where Petya, instead of going along the road to where he was sent, galloped in a chain under the fire of the French and shot there twice from his pistol, - sending him, the general namely, he forbade Petya to participate in any of Denisov’s actions. This made Petya blush and became confused when Denisov asked if he could stay. Before leaving for the edge of the forest, Petya believed that he needed to strictly fulfill his duty and return immediately. But when he saw the French, saw Tikhon, learned that they would certainly attack that night, he, with the speed of transitions of young people from one glance to another, decided with himself that his general, whom he had hitherto greatly respected, was rubbish, the German that Denisov is a hero, and Esaul is a hero, and that Tikhon is a hero, and that he would be ashamed to leave them in difficult times.
It was already getting dark when Denisov, Petya and the esaul drove up to the guardhouse. In the semi-darkness one could see horses in saddles, Cossacks, hussars setting up huts in the clearing and (so that the French would not see the smoke) building a reddening fire in a forest ravine. In the entryway of a small hut, a Cossack, rolling up his sleeves, was chopping lamb. In the hut itself there were three officers from Denisov’s party, who had set up a table out of the door. Petya took off his wet dress, letting it dry, and immediately began helping the officers set up the dinner table.
Ten minutes later the table was ready, covered with a napkin. On the table there was vodka, rum in a flask, white bread and fried lamb with salt.
Sitting with the officers at the table and tearing the fatty, fragrant lamb with his hands, through which lard flowed, Petya was in an enthusiastic childish state of tender love for all people and, as a result, confidence in the same love of other people for himself.
“So what do you think, Vasily Fedorovich,” he turned to Denisov, “is it okay that I stay with you for a day?” - And, without waiting for an answer, he answered himself: - After all, I was ordered to find out, well, I’ll find out... Only you will let me into the very... main one. I don’t need awards... But I want... - Petya clenched his teeth and looked around, jerking his head up and waving his hand.
“To the most important thing...” Denisov repeated, smiling.
“Just please, give me a complete command, so that I can command,” continued Petya, “what do you need?” Oh, would you like a knife? - he turned to the officer who wanted to cut off the lamb. And he handed over his penknife.
The officer praised the knife.
- Please take it for yourself. I have a lot of these...” Petya said, blushing. - Fathers! “I completely forgot,” he suddenly cried out. “I have wonderful raisins, you know, the kind without seeds.” We have a new sutler - and such wonderful things. I bought ten pounds. I'm used to something sweet. Do you want?.. - And Petya ran into the hallway to his Cossack and brought bags containing five pounds of raisins. - Eat, gentlemen, eat.
– Don’t you need a coffee pot? – he turned to Esaul. “I bought it from our sutler, it’s wonderful!” He has wonderful things. And he is very honest. This is the main thing. I will definitely send it to you. Or maybe flints have come out and become abundant - because this happens. I took with me, I have here... - he pointed to the bags, - a hundred flints. I bought it very cheap. Please take as much as you need, or that’s all... - And suddenly, afraid that he had lied, Petya stopped and blushed.
He began to remember if he had done anything else stupid. And, going through the memories of this day, the memory of the French drummer appeared to him. “That’s great for us, but what about him? Where did they take him? Was he fed? Did you offend me?" - he thought. But having noticed that he had lied about the flints, he was now afraid.
“You could ask,” he thought, “and they’ll say: the boy himself felt sorry for the boy. I'll show them tomorrow what a boy I am! Would you be embarrassed if I asked? - thought Petya. “Well, it doesn’t matter!” - and immediately, blushing and looking fearfully at the officers, to see if there would be mockery in their faces, he said:
– Can I call this boy who was captured? give him something to eat... maybe...
“Yes, pathetic boy,” Denisov said, apparently not finding anything shameful in this reminder. - Call him here. His name is Vincent Bosse. Call.
“I’ll call,” said Petya.
- Call, call. “Pitiful boy,” Denisov repeated.
Petya was standing at the door when Denisov said this. Petya crawled between the officers and came close to Denisov.
“Let me kiss you, my dear,” he said. - Oh, how great! how good! - And, having kissed Denisov, he ran into the yard.
- Bosse! Vincent! – Petya shouted, stopping at the door.
- Who do you want, sir? - said a voice from the darkness. Petya answered that the boy was French, who was taken today.
- A! Spring? - said the Cossack.
His name Vincent has already been changed: the Cossacks - into Vesenny, and the men and soldiers - into Visenya. In both adaptations, this reminder of spring coincided with the idea of a young boy.
“He was warming himself by the fire there.” Hey Visenya! Visenya! Spring! – voices and laughter were heard in the darkness.
“And the boy is smart,” said the hussar standing next to Petya. “We fed him just now.” Passion was hungry!
Footsteps were heard in the darkness and, bare feet splashing in the mud, the drummer approached the door.
“Ah, c"est vous!" said Petya. “Voulez vous manger? N"ayez pas peur, on ne vous fera pas de mal,” he added, timidly and affectionately touching his hand. - Entrez, entrez. [Oh, it's you! Are you hungry? Don't be afraid, they won't do anything to you. Enter, enter.]
“Merci, monsieur, [Thank you, sir.],” the drummer answered in a trembling, almost childish voice and began to wipe his dirty feet on the threshold. Petya wanted to say a lot to the drummer, but he didn’t dare. He stood next to him in the hallway, shifting. Then in the darkness I took his hand and shook it.
“Entrez, entrez,” he repeated only in a gentle whisper.
“Oh, what should I do to him!” - Petya said to himself and, opening the door, let the boy pass by.
When the drummer entered the hut, Petya sat away from him, considering it humiliating for himself to pay attention to him. He just felt the money in his pocket and was in doubt whether it would be a shame to give it to the drummer.

From the drummer, who, on Denisov’s orders, was given vodka, mutton and whom Denisov ordered to dress in a Russian caftan, so that, without sending him away with the prisoners, he would be left with the party, Petya’s attention was diverted by the arrival of Dolokhov. Petya in the army heard many stories about the extraordinary courage and cruelty of Dolokhov with the French, and therefore, from the moment Dolokhov entered the hut, Petya, without taking his eyes off, looked at him and became more and more encouraged, twitching his head raised, so as not to be unworthy even of such a society as Dolokhov.
Dolokhov’s appearance strangely struck Petya with its simplicity.
Denisov dressed in a checkmen, wore a beard and on his chest the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and in his manner of speaking, in all his manners, he showed the peculiarity of his position. Dolokhov, on the contrary, previously, in Moscow, who wore a Persian suit, now had the appearance of the most prim Guards officer. His face was clean-shaven, he was dressed in a guards cotton frock coat with George in the buttonhole and a simple cap straight on. He took off his wet cloak in the corner and, going up to Denisov, without greeting anyone, immediately began asking about the matter. Denisov told him about the plans that large detachments had for their transport, and about sending Petya, and about how he responded to both generals. Then Denisov told everything he knew about the position of the French detachment.
“That’s true, but you need to know what and how many troops,” said Dolokhov, “you will need to go.” Without knowing exactly how many there are, you cannot start the business. I like to do things carefully. Now, would any of the gentlemen want to go with me to their camp? I have my uniforms with me.
- I, I... I will go with you! – Petya screamed.
“You don’t need to go at all,” Denisov said, turning to Dolokhov, “and I won’t let him in for anything.”
- That's great! - Petya cried out, - why shouldn’t I go?..
- Yes, because there is no need.
“Well, excuse me, because... because... I’ll go, that’s all.” Will you take me? – he turned to Dolokhov.
“Why…” answered Dolokhov absentmindedly, peering into the face of the French drummer.
- How long have you had this young man? – he asked Denisov.
- Today they took him, but he doesn’t know anything. I left it for myself.
- Well, where are you putting the rest? - said Dolokhov.
- How to where? “I’m sending you under guard!” Denisov suddenly blushed and cried out. “And I’ll boldly say that I don’t have a single person on my conscience. Are you happy to send someone away? than magic, I will tell you, the honor of a soldier.
“It’s decent for a young count of sixteen to say these pleasantries,” Dolokhov said with a cold grin, “but it’s time for you to leave it.”
“Well, I’m not saying anything, I’m just saying that I will definitely go with you,” Petya said timidly.
“And it’s time for you and me, brother, to give up these pleasantries,” Dolokhov continued, as if he found special pleasure in talking about this subject that irritated Denisov. - Well, why did you take this to you? - he said, shaking his head. - Then why do you feel sorry for him? After all, we know these receipts of yours. You send them a hundred people, and thirty will come. They will starve or be beaten. So is it all the same not to take them?
Esaul, narrowing his bright eyes, nodded his head approvingly.
- This is all shit, there’s nothing to argue about. I don’t want to take it on my soul. You talk - help. Well, hog "osho." Just not from me.
Dolokhov laughed.
“Who didn’t tell them to catch me twenty times?” But they will catch me and you, with your chivalry, anyway. – He paused. - However, we have to do something. Send my Cossack with a pack! I have two French uniforms. Well, are you coming with me? – he asked Petya.
- I? Yes, yes, absolutely,” Petya cried, blushing almost to tears, looking at Denisov.
Again, while Dolokhov was arguing with Denisov about what should be done with the prisoners, Petya felt awkward and hasty; but again I did not have time to fully understand what they were talking about. “If big, famous people think so, then it must be so, therefore it’s good,” he thought. “And most importantly, Denisov must not dare to think that I will obey him, that he can command me.” I will definitely go with Dolokhov to the French camp. He can do it and so can I.”
To all of Denisov’s urgings not to travel, Petya replied that he, too, was used to doing everything carefully, and not Lazar’s at random, and that he never thought about danger to himself.
“Because,” you yourself must agree, “if you don’t know correctly how many there are, the lives of maybe hundreds depend on it, but here we are alone, and then I really want this, and I will definitely, definitely go, you won’t stop me.” “, he said, “it will only get worse...

Dressed in French greatcoats and shakos, Petya and Dolokhov drove to the clearing from which Denisov looked at the camp, and, leaving the forest in complete darkness, descended into the ravine. Having driven down, Dolokhov ordered the Cossacks accompanying him to wait here and rode at a fast trot along the road to the bridge. Petya, transfixed with excitement, rode next to him.
“If we get caught, I won’t give up alive, I have a gun,” Petya whispered.
“Don’t speak Russian,” Dolokhov said in a quick whisper, and at that same moment a cry was heard in the darkness: “Qui vive?” [Who's coming?] and the ringing of a gun.
Blood rushed to Petya's face, and he grabbed the pistol.
“Lanciers du sixieme, [Lancers of the sixth regiment.],” said Dolokhov, without shortening or increasing the horse’s stride. The black figure of a sentry stood on the bridge.
– Mot d’ordre? [Review?] – Dolokhov held his horse and rode at a walk.
– Dites donc, le colonel Gerard est ici? [Tell me, is Colonel Gerard here?] - he said.
“Mot d'ordre!” said the sentry without answering, blocking the road.

The pseudonym under which the politician Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov writes. ... In 1907 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the 2nd State Duma in St. Petersburg.

Alyabyev, Alexander Alexandrovich, Russian amateur composer. ... A.'s romances reflected the spirit of the times. As then-Russian literature, they are sentimental, sometimes corny. Most of them are written in a minor key. They are almost no different from Glinka’s first romances, but the latter has stepped far forward, while A. remained in place and is now outdated.

The filthy Idolishche (Odolishche) is an epic hero...

Pedrillo (Pietro-Mira Pedrillo) is a famous jester, a Neapolitan, who at the beginning of the reign of Anna Ioannovna arrived in St. Petersburg to sing the roles of buffa and play the violin in the Italian court opera.

Dahl, Vladimir Ivanovich
His numerous stories suffer from a lack of real artistic creativity, deep feeling and a broad view of the people and life. Dahl did not go further than everyday pictures, anecdotes caught on the fly, told in a unique language, smartly, vividly, with a certain humor, sometimes falling into mannerism and jokeiness.

Varlamov, Alexander Egorovich
Varlamov, apparently, did not work at all on the theory of musical composition and was left with the meager knowledge that he could have learned from the chapel, which in those days did not at all care about the general musical development of its students.

Nekrasov Nikolay Alekseevich
None of our great poets has so many poems that are downright bad from all points of view; He himself bequeathed many poems not to be included in the collected works. Nekrasov is not consistent even in his masterpieces: and suddenly prosaic, listless verse hurts the ear.

Gorky, Maxim
By his origin, Gorky by no means belongs to those dregs of society, of which he appeared as a singer in literature.

Zhikharev Stepan Petrovich
His tragedy “Artaban” did not see either print or stage, since, in the opinion of Prince Shakhovsky and the frank review of the author himself, it was a mixture of nonsense and nonsense.

Sherwood-Verny Ivan Vasilievich
“Sherwood,” writes one contemporary, “in society, even in St. Petersburg, was not called anything other than bad Sherwood... his comrades in military service shunned him and called him by the dog name “Fidelka.”

Obolyaninov Petr Khrisanfovich
...Field Marshal Kamensky publicly called him “a state thief, a bribe-taker, a complete fool.”

Popular biographies

Peter I Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich Catherine II Romanovs Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilievich Alexander III Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich

The Grand Chancellor, Actual Privy Councilor, Senator and Cabinet Minister, was born in Moscow on September 28, 1680, came from a noble family of the Cherkassky princes, descendants of the Kabardian ruler Inal, who was the Sultan in Egypt, and was the son of Prince Mikhail Yakovlevich Cherkassky (see .). Prince Alexei Mikhailovich Cherkassky was married twice: the first marriage to Agrippina Lvovna Naryshkina, daughter of boyar Lev Kirillovich and cousin of Peter the Great, and the second marriage to Princess Maria Yuryevna Trubetskoy, daughter of the actual privy councilor and senator of Prince Yuri Yuryevich Trubetskoy. Belonging, therefore, to an old princely family, being related to the most noble Russian families, Prince Alexei Mikhailovich was also very rich, he had over 70,000 peasant souls, a lot of gold and diamonds - and all this taken together led to that, despite his far from outstanding abilities, despite all the insignificance of him as a person (“This man” - Prince M. M. Shcherbatov spoke about him [“On the corruption of morals”], - is very mediocre in mind, lazy, ignorant of affairs and, in a word, carrying, and not bearing his name and being proud of his sole wealth"), he had to play a rather large role in the political life of that time. On the other hand, there is no doubt that he owed it to these properties of his nature, that in that turbulent time of revolutions, rapid rises and equally rapid falls, until the end of his life he managed to consistently occupy a high position, maintain his wealth and enjoy honor.

Prince Alexei Mikhailovich spent his childhood and youth until he was twenty-one in Moscow, was in court service, and in September 1702, with the rank of steward, he was sent as an assistant to his father, who was at that time the governor in Tobolsk. Under the leadership of his father, he showed himself to be an active and efficient administrator, founded, according to Tereshchenko, the Bronnaya Sloboda in the city of Tobolsk and, in January 1703, together with his father, received written praise from Peter the Great “for the diligent and vigilant execution of state affairs, the increase monetary income and grain reserves, improving the condition of the Siberian inhabitants, impartial and disinterested management, the establishment of iron factories for casting guns, mortars, howitzers, for making fuzes, cutlasses and other weapons in Tobolsk necessary for the defense of not only Siberia, but also Moscow and others states subject to the Great Sovereign, also for finding saltpeter in Siberia and for loyalty and diligence in service in Tobolsk itself." One must, however, believe that most likely this Highest expression of approval, if it concerned Prince Alexei Mikhailovich, was to an insignificant extent, and mainly related to the activities of his father. In October 1712, we again meet Prince Alexei Mikhailovich at court, among the Sovereign’s entourage, with the rank of first steward, and then close steward. In 1714, Peter entrusted him with the management of the city office in St. Petersburg, and on January 24 he entrusted him with a rather difficult task: to recruit 458 artisans in Moscow and other Russian cities needed for the newly established capital, and in addition to deliver 15 young men no older than 20 years old , from the best merchant families whom Peter wanted to send abroad to study commercial sciences. The following year, on January 24, Cherkassky was appointed chief commissar of the capital and was entrusted with the supervision of architectural work in it, and Peter himself gave him “points on the construction of buildings.” By a personal decree on September 14, 1715, he was ordered to ensure that “no one builds anywhere against the decree and without an architect’s drawing.” Cherkassky's activities as chief commissar of the capital continued until 1719. Official documents show that he was zealous in his duties, and Peter usually agreed with his reports. So, on November 4, 1715, he made a report on the construction of shops and huts on the Vyborg side, on the distribution of places in St. Petersburg to merchants and artisans, on November 16 - on buildings on the Admiralty Island and beyond the small river; in November 1717, he submitted a lengthy note on replacing the compulsory expulsion of workers from the province to work on city buildings established in 1714 with a cash tax, and Peter, agreeing with this note, on January 31, 1718, issued a decree on a detachment from nearby places of 8000 people for city work and about collecting taxes of 6 rubles per person from other provinces. According to Tereshchenko, he did a lot for St. Petersburg: he took a direct part in draining the swamps of the capital, was engaged in the decoration and finishing of the palaces: Peterhof, Monplaisir, Ekaterininsky and Shlisselburg, managed the brick factories set up in St. Petersburg, built a hospital and a courtyard for midshipmen on the Vyborg side and Finally, he personally observed the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Bolwerk. Peter the Great, obviously, appreciated his work and treated him well; for example, the news has been preserved that he sometimes easily stopped by to dine with him, but did not particularly elevate him: in the period from 1712 to 1719 he was only granted (August 28, 1716) the rank of lieutenant. In 1719, after the removal of the Siberian governor, Prince. M.P. Gagarin, by decree on May 29, Peter appointed Prince A.M. Cherkassky in his place. “And to tell him,” the decree said, “all Siberian cities, and Siberia to be divided into three provinces, under the command of vice-governors chosen by the governor and approved by the Senate.” Such a sudden mercy from the Tsar, such a quick and unexpected rise, frightened Cherkassky. He realized that the task entrusted to him was beyond his strength, that it was not for him to take upon himself the management of a vast region, the correction of the evil caused to this region by the prince. Gagarin, and besides, he was afraid of the terrible example of the fall of his predecessor, which showed that the tsar, knowing how to have mercy, knew how to punish severely at the same time. Having received a decree on his appointment, Cherkassky turned to Peter with a letter in which he explained, “what a great misfortune he considers excommunication from His Majesty to be, he would never voluntarily agree to this and, no matter how flattering the election of the monarch is for him, he joyfully and I am willingly ready to carry out the most difficult positions, just so as not to be separated from him." Peter, however, remained adamant: "I would willingly fulfill your request," he answered Cherkassky, "if I could soon find a worthy person, but now I don’t know. For this reason, you must do this without insult. For in truth, I am not sending this to you because of any opposition to you, but for two reasons: first, that you were there and know, and second, that soon I could not find another reliable one in such a distant direction. However, you can be sure that when you give orders there and carry out a good operation, and write about it, then we will certainly change you according to your desire." These words of the Great Transformer reflected his ability to unmistakably evaluate a person according to his dignity and find the appropriate one for him. place. Cherkassky was little suitable for the vigorous activity that bubbled up around Peter and was directed by his mighty hand, he had no place among “Peter’s chicks”, a living task that required an energetic performer could not be entrusted to him, but he, precisely, was a man “until another worthy person is found,” one could safely rely on him that maliciously, for selfish or other reasons, he would not harm the work entrusted to him, but would lead it slowly, rather forward than backward, and most likely to keep it in a state “immobility.” For Siberia, a wild country, ruined by the rule of such a governor as Prince Gagarin, Peter, obviously, considered the need for such a ruler as Prince Cherkassky, who would give it the opportunity to rest, recover, and gain strength for further development. For about five years, Cherkassky ruled Siberia, limiting his activities mainly to taking defensive measures against the Bashkirs and Mongols. Finally, his governance became burdensome for Siberia as well; in 1723, Major General De Gennin, who was at that time the chief builder and manager of the Siberian mining factories, reported to Peter: “I sincerely regret that you yourself have not been here and do not know about the local Siberian conditions. It is true that the governor of Cherkassy is here, a man kind, but he didn’t dare, but especially in judicial and zemstvo matters, which is why his cases are not controversial, and partly more burdensome for the people, and if you send him here, then for your benefit give him a bag of courage, and good judges, people in court and in cities governors and in settlements, and for military affairs the chief commandant and for the merchants an adviser from the commercial and from the chamber board of the chamberlain, the same secretary, without whom he cannot be; and if he does not exist, then it would not be bad for such good people be like Matyushkin or Ushakov." The result of this letter, according to Golikov and Tereshchenko, was a decree to the Senate on January 15, 1724 “on Prince Mikhail Vladimirovich Dolgoruky being governor in Siberia instead of Cherkasy.” On May 7, Cherkassky was granted the rank of state councilor as a reward for his service. Arriving in Moscow at the end of 1724, he fell ill, and Peter the Great died during his illness. Cherkassky lived the five-year period of the reign of Catherine I and Peter II peacefully, calmly, keeping aloof from court intrigues and party struggles. On February 8, 1726, he was awarded the rank of full state councilor and ordered to be present in the Senate; the next year, on October 12, he was promoted to Privy Councilor; At the same time, on March 8, 1727, he was appointed, together with Osterman, a member of the commission on commerce organized by Catherine I and took an active part in the work of this commission. He entered the arena of political activity after the death of Emperor Peter II and did not leave this arena until his death.

The period of time from January 19, 1730 to February 25 - the day of the proclamation of Empress Anna Ioannovna as an autocratic Empress - was the period when Cherkassky tried for the first and last time in his life, with the fierce struggle of supporters and opponents of the autocracy in Russia, standing, partly due to internal motivations, partly under the influence of external circumstances, at the head of their party, to say “their” word; but even this “word” was uttered by him so timidly and hesitantly that when he and his party had to join the opinion of the majority, and Anna Ioannovna was proclaimed the autocratic Empress, his behavior was explained even in a sense favorable to him: the desire to “mystify” Supreme Privy Council, to amuse him and gain time to give Anna Ioannovna the opportunity to think over a plan of action (“Notes of the Duke de Liria”, 80). The role he played in the entire matter of “the accession of Empress Anna” not only did not have a negative impact on either his official or social position, but helped him rise. Cherkassky's contemporaries Minikh, Manstein and others, describing the course of events from January 19 to February 25, present Cherkassky as a zealous champion of autocracy (like, for example, Feofan Prokopovich), an unconditional defender of the rights of Anna Ioannovna against the leaders who wanted to limit the autocracy. When considering, however, official documents dating back to that time, the correspondence of ambassadors of foreign powers at the Russian court, which allows us to more or less detail restore the consistent course of events of those memorable days, the true aspirations and intentions of Cherkassky and the people who made up his party, as well as the situation, occupied by Cherkassky among other characters in the political drama of the accession of Anna Ioannovna, are presented in a slightly different light. On February 3, 1730, the day after the members of the Supreme Privy Council received from Empress Anna Ioannovna the famous “points” signed by her, which were supposed to entail restrictions on the autocracy, the leaders called the Senate, the Synod and the generals to a general meeting, read Anna Ioannovna’s letter, the “points” signed by her, and invited those wishing from the meeting, in view of the expressed will of the Empress to change the form of government, to express their opinions on this issue. Then Prince Cherkassky, amid general silence, directly asked the question: “How will this government be in future?” Prince Golitsyn evasively responded to this with a proposal: “seeking the general state benefit and well-being,” to write a project himself and submit it to them. On February 5, Cherkassky actually submitted a draft to the Supreme Privy Council signed by 249 people, mainly from the noble and bureaucratic nobility. This project was compiled by one of the members of the circle grouped around Cherkassky, the intelligent and talented V.N. Tatishchev, and was entitled “An arbitrary and consonant reasoning of the assembled Russian nobility about state government”; it examined in detail not only the current political circumstances, but also the very foundations of state institutions; in general, an attempt was made to draw a parallel between the aristocratic and monarchical mode of government as applied to Russia, and it was pointed out that for Russia in abstracto the best form of government is a monarchy, but, it said, since the Empress is “a female person, it is necessary to establish something to help Her Majesty.” Then there was a listing (in 10 points) of a number of necessary reforms in the system and order of management, such as: the organization of the “Supreme Government” of 21 members, which was assigned all the functions of the Supreme Privy Council, the “Supreme Assembly” of 100 elected people, meeting three once a year and in emergency cases to manage the affairs of internal economy, the “Lower Government” of 30 members to manage affairs during the rest of the year, etc. Following Cherkassky’s project, other projects from people of various ranks began to arrive at the Supreme Privy Council, with a wide variety of signatures. One of these projects - M. Grekov's, which collected the largest number of signatures (610), was also signed by Prince Cherkassy. This project proposed even broader management reforms than Cherkassky’s project.

However, they hesitated in discussing these projects, which, for example, Prince Cherkassky insisted on, and this aroused general displeasure. Prince Alexei Mikhailovich Cherkassky and Major General L.V. Izmailov were appointed deputies from the Senate and generals to greet the Empress upon her entry into the village of Vsesvyatskoye. Thus, Cherkassky had the opportunity to see the very first steps of the Empress upon her entry into government and was immediately convinced that the “points” signed by Anna were not at all were an expression of her true desires and that in fact she did not treat with special favor the supreme leaders who elected her and proposed these “points” to her. For her part, Anna Ioannovna, having met the deputies very well, hastened to show Cherkassky signs of her mercy and trust - she appointed his wife, Princess Maria Yuryevna Cherkasskaya, and her sister Praskova Yuryevna Saltykova to her staff. All this led to the fact that Cherkassky decided to better rely on the mercy of the Empress, to seek from her those reforms that he and his supporters considered necessary for Russia, and openly acted as an opponent of the supreme leaders. His circle became the center of agitation against the Dolgorukys and Golitsyns, and the agitation was carried out mainly among guards officers. This is how things went until February 23, when a rumor spread (according to some news, started by Osterman) that the leaders decided to destroy their opponents with one blow and on February 25 to arrest the most significant of them - Count Golovkin, Osterman, the princes of Cherkassy and Baryatinsky. Then the opponents of the supreme leaders began to act. On February 23, two meetings of two different parties took place. Supporters of the unconditional granting of autocratic power to Anna Ioannovna gathered in the house of Prince Baryatinsky on Mokhovaya and decided to ask Anna Ioannovna to accept autocratic power, to destroy the “conditions” signed by her in Mitau, to abolish the Supreme Privy Council and restore the Senate in the form in which it was under Peter the Great. The party of Prince Alexei Mikhailovich Cherkassky gathered in his house on Nikolskaya Street, and here, after long debates, signed by 87 people, they drew up a petition to the Empress, in which they thanked her on their own behalf and on behalf of their “heirs”, for what she had shown “mercy” to them, having signed the “points” presented to her by the Supreme Privy Council, but they asked for her command to convene a general meeting of elected representatives from all the generals, officers and nobility to discuss the projects submitted to the Supreme Privy Council and jointly develop “by large votes the norms of state government” . While Cherkassky was finishing his discussion of this petition, Tatishchev arrived there, sent from the party of Prince Baryatinsky with the news that they had decided to ask the Empress to accept the autocracy and with a request to join them. Cherkassky's party greeted the messenger with displeasure. Disputes and debates arose. Finally the book. Antiochus Cantemir managed to persuade several to sign the petition he immediately compiled for the acceptance of autocracy. With this petition, he went with Tatishchev to Prince Baryatinsky, where those gathered were eagerly awaiting the result of negotiations with the “Cherkassky party.” The petition brought by Kantemir was immediately signed by all those gathered in the house of Prince Baryatinsky, numbering 74 people, and then, despite the fact that it was already the first hour of the night, the entire meeting, in full force, went to the house of Prince Cherkassky, to persuade his “party” to the agreement. As a result, the agreement took place, and Prince Cherkassky, and after him the others, signed the “petition.” After this, Prince Kantemir and Count Matveev went to the guards and cavalry barracks and collected 94 signatures here. Early in the morning of February 25, the nobility, generals and officers (according to Westphalen, including 150 people, according to Lefort - 800 people, and according to Rondo - 300 people) gathered in the palace and asked for an audience with the Empress. Prince Cherkassky, afraid of being arrested by the leaders, according to some news, arrived at the palace only at 10 o’clock in the morning, when it could already be assumed that his supporters had gathered there; according to other news, Anna Ioannovna herself sent for him at the beginning of the audience, and he he was so frightened that, when leaving, he said goodbye to his wife, as if going to certain death (Diplomatic document relating to the history of Russia in the 18th century, from the Saxon State Archives). Anna Ioannovna, having ordered that the members of the Supreme Privy Council, who were sitting in the palace, be invited to the large hall, immediately went out to the audience. Prince Cherkassky, on behalf of the assembly, greeted her and handed her a petition, but not the one that was drawn up jointly with Baryatinsky’s party, but the one drawn up by his party about convening a general meeting of all ranks of the state to develop the best form of government. This petition, by order of the Empress, was read aloud by Tatishchev and signed by the Empress at the insistence of her sister, Duchess of Mecklenburg Ekaterina Ioannovna. Meanwhile, supporters of the autocracy, seeing that the petition submitted by Cherkassky was not at all the one that Kantemir had drawn up yesterday, and they agreed to sign, raised a fuss and shouted: “We don’t want laws to be prescribed to the Empress: she must be the same autocrat as they were.” her ancestors! Anna Ioannovna noticed that there was a strong disagreement between the petitioners. Turning to the meeting, she invited him, in view of her expressed consent to accept the petition submitted to her, immediately, without leaving the palace, and to carry out her desire, to convene the general meeting of state officials they requested and discuss what particular form of government they consider the best for Russia. Then, having invited the members of the Supreme Privy Council to dine with her while waiting for the meeting of the petitioners to end, and thus honorably arresting them, she retired to the inner chambers of the palace, ordering the guards officers in the hall to obey General Saltykov and him alone, " because she doesn't feel safe here." Part of those gathered - almost exclusively Cherkassky's supporters - left the audience hall for the meeting and decided, according to Lefort, to confine themselves to presenting a thank-you address to the Empress for her gracious acceptance of the petition. This resolution, however, had no results. Saltykov understood the Empress’s clear hint and, without waiting for the end of the meeting of the part of the nobility who had left the audience hall, he was the first to exclaim: “Long live Empress Anna Ioannovna, Autocrat of All Russia!” His cry was immediately taken up by the guards officers, who did not want to take part in the meeting by part of the nobility, and in general there was such a significant majority that the rest of the nobility, who returned to the audience hall after the meeting, considered it best not to contradict and agree to present a new petition about the perception of autocracy, about the destruction of the “points” signed by Anna Ioannovna in Mitau, the abolition of the Supreme Privy Council and the restoration of the Governing Senate, as it was established under Peter the Great. At four o'clock in the afternoon, Anna Ioannovna, accompanied by members of the Supreme Privy Council, again went out into the audience hall and this time Prince Ivan Yuryevich Trubetskoy, on behalf of all those gathered, presented her with a new petition, which was read aloud by Prince Antiochus Cantemir. Then the “points” were torn up by Anna Ioannovna, and the next day, February 26, the “oath of autocracy” was drawn up and approved by the Empress. With the proclamation of Anna Ioannovna as the Autocratic Empress, Prince Cherkassky immediately took a prominent position among the dignitaries of the state. Anna Ioannovna, grateful to him for the fact that at the decisive moment he did not openly take the side of her opponents, which, given his connections and wealth, could not but influence the course of events, hastened to shower him with signs of favor: on March 4, during the destruction Supreme Privy Council and the restoration of the Senate, he was appointed one of its twenty-one members, together with all former members of the Supreme Privy Council, on March 23rd he received the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, August 30 - awarded the Knight of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, March 18, 1731 - promoted to actual privy councilor, and he was entrusted to continue to take part in the work of the Osterman commission on commerce and monitor the correct course of trade with Khiva and Bukhara. Seeing the rise of Cherkassky, ambassadors of foreign powers began to fawn on him: for example, the Austrian ambassador Count Vratislav, who was trying to attract Russia to the side of Austria, presented him on July 27, 1730, on behalf of the emperor, a portrait of him, showered with diamonds, worth about 20,000 rubles, intended , was, first to Osterman and which he refused; The Spanish ambassador Duke de Liria indicates in his letter dated February 1, 1731 that he is trying to win Prince Cherkassky over to his side. Proud of such signs of the Empress’s gracious attitude, attributing them to Anna Ioannovna’s personal disposition towards him, Prince Cherkassky again tried to act independently in the field of the court party struggle, and together with Yaguzhinsky and Levenvolde measure strength with Osterman, who had seized all the threads of government in his hands. . At first, it seemed that the attempt was a success - Anna Ioannovna wavered in her trust in Osterman. At least, the French ambassador Magnan, on August 3, 1730, predicts “the imminent fall of Osterman as a result of the intrigues of Cherkassky and Yaguzhinsky and the replacement of Osterman by Cherkassy,” then on September 28 of the same year he writes that Osterman to some extent managed to deflect the action “ intrigues" of Cherkassky and Yaguzhinsky, but far from destroying them. However, Cherkassky's triumph was short-lived. An event occurred, as often happens during court intrigues, although it did not have any political significance, but which destroyed all of Cherkassky’s plans, depriving him of the Empress’s favor for some time. Anna Ioannovna decided to marry her chief chamberlain, Count Levenwolde, to the daughter of Cherkassy; he, however, who was expecting a far different groom for his daughter, so reluctantly expressed his consent to this marriage that the gr. Levenwolde arranged for the wedding rings to be returned two months after the engagement, on May 3, 1731. The Empress was very dissatisfied with this ending to her matchmaking, and, as a result, Cherkassky was removed from the court for some time. This was enough for Osterman’s credit, which had fallen, to rise again to its previous height and he, as Magnan reported to his court, “again became, together with the Minikh brothers, the complete master of the Russian Empire.” Cherkassky was defeated this time too. He understood undoubtedly that any active role was beyond his strength, that he was not capable of being a political figure - and he resigned himself. Osterman, for his part, did not seek to humiliate his opponent, but, on the contrary, seeing that Cherkassky was no longer dangerous to him, he even petitioned the Empress for the appointment of Cherkassky as a member of the newly organized “for the better and more decent administration of all state affairs, to his own all-merciful subject to the decision of the Empress" Cabinet. Anna Ioannovna agreed and on November 6, 1731, the Cabinet was organized consisting of: Osterman, Chancellor Golovkin and Cherkassky. By asking for the appointment of Prince Cherkassky to the Cabinet, Osterman obviously knew with whom he was dealing and what role Cherkassky would play in his new post. Others knew about this too. “The soul of the newly organized supreme Cabinet, to which the Senate is accountable, is Osterman,” wrote Magnan in November 1731, “Chancellor Golovkin takes little part in the affairs, while Cherkassky, who came into favor, as is believed, only on the condition of an alliance with Osterman, did not will oppose him." This prediction came true: Cherkassky, as a cabinet minister, all the time played the passive role of only “the body of the cabinet,” as they ironically spoke of him, calling him “the soul of the cabinet” - Osterman. During the reign of Anna Ioannovna, he repeatedly took part in the discussion of important political issues: for example, he was part of the commission that developed the trade agreement with England in 1734; On September 23, 1732, together with Osterman and Minich’s brother, he considered the project of an alliance between Russia and France, and, as we see from Magnan’s correspondence (April 27, 1733), Minich himself advised Magnan, who was working on this alliance, to handle French affairs to Cherkassky, “who, although he blindly obeys Osterman, is still a Russian person”; On February 22, 1733, he participated in the general meeting convened by the Empress to discuss Polish affairs; the next year, on December 21 - in a conference discussing the action plan of Russia, Austria and Poland in the event of war with Turkey; On March 1, 1739, he, together with Osterman, Minich and Volynsky, submitted a report to the Empress on the plan of military operations for the upcoming Turkish campaign, and Anna Ioannovna agreed with this opinion. He was also entrusted with responsible assignments: for example, on January 7, 1737, he was appointed a member of the general court of Prince Golitsyn. At court receptions and ceremonies, he was given a prominent place: for example, on December 29, 1739, on behalf of the Empress, he responded to the welcoming speech of the newly appointed French ambassador in St. Petersburg, Chetardy; the next year, on January 25, on the occasion of the conclusion of peace with the Turks, he, having Field Marshal Minich on his right hand and Field Marshal Lassi, two war heroes, on his left, gave a welcoming speech to the Tsarina on behalf of government officials. Anna Ioannovna, for her part, constantly showed him her favor and rewarded him. In 1732, on February 17, he was granted manors in the Koporye district - Voronetskaya and Vysotskaya with villages and peasants; December 19, 1733 - a place for a country house along the Neva River on the Moscow side; On March 5, 1734, he was given a salary of 6 thousand rubles a year; in 1735, on July 22, land was donated on Admiralty Island; in 1737, on November 16th, lands in Ingria and on the Vyborg side (with all the wealth of Cherkassy, this last gift was given to him “at his request”), finally, in 1740, on February 14th, on the occasion of the conclusion of peace with the Turks, he received a diamond ring worth from 5 to 6 thousand rubles. With all this external splendor of his position, he, as mentioned above, actually did not play any role, and was in the hands of “strong people” who needed his name. Having every opportunity, relying on his wealth and nobility, to influence the course of affairs of the entire state, with the hope of success forming an opposition to Biron and thus preventing many of the cruelties of the bloody era of “Bironism,” he curried favor with Biron, his wife wrote flattering letters to Biron , calling himself his “lowest servant,” etc. Being Osterman’s equal comrade in the Cabinet, he never allowed himself to insist on his opinion when he said his “wrong.” The consciousness of his humiliation and impersonality weighed heavily on him; he would have been glad to declare his rights, but he lacked determination and courage for this, and he limited himself to grumbling in secret, pouring out, for example, to the newly appointed cabinet minister in 1736 to replace the deceased Yaguzhinsky. Volynsky in complaints against Osterman - for his ambition, against Biron - for his atrocities, even against the Empress that she seemed to reward him little, but these complaints did not last long: as soon as he noticed that Osterman, and most importantly Biron, was looking sideways at Volynsky, he hastened to move away from Volynsky, as if from a dangerous person. The ambassadors of foreign powers at the Russian court correctly assessed his true significance, and in their reports, we find reviews of him as “a mute person, representing only a nominal value” (Finch and Rondeau - Garrington), as a dummy appointed to the cabinet only for the sake of his name and to please the people (Doc. from Saxony. state archive). Shetardy writes in August 1740 that Cherkassky, according to rumors that were not subsequently confirmed, was dissatisfied with the appointment of a new colleague after Volynsky - Bestuzhev, demanded resignation and received it, and then adds: “this change will not be accompanied by any consequences. Cherkassky is not afraid of anyone, and cannot be like that, but who will replace him, since it is difficult among the Russians to find a subject who, like Prince Cherkassy, would combine the most noble origin, a very large fortune and limitations equal to his obedience, qualities with which he always showed himself to be very gifted ". By the end of Anna Ioannovna’s reign, Cherkassky’s health had deteriorated: he was generally very obese and suffered from shortness of breath; Lady Rondo in her “Letters” back in 1736 described his appearance as follows: “Cherkassky’s figure is wider than long, his head is too large and leans towards the left shoulder, and his stomach, which is also very wide, leans to the right side; his legs very short...” In April 1738, he suffered his first apoplexy in the presence of the entire Court, and he could no longer recover from the consequences of this blow until his death. When Biron's regency was established during Anna Ioannovna's dying illness, Cherkassky and Bestuzhev were the duke's most zealous supporters. Cherkassky was one of the first to speak out for the need for a regency, namely, Biron at a preliminary meeting of nobles; He especially ardently persuaded him to agree to his election when he, seeing that his regency had already been decided by the nobles, began to play a comedy and dissuade himself from the title offered to him. During Biron's three-week regency, Cherkassky once again proved his loyalty to him by betraying Lieutenant Colonel Pustoshkin and his associates. These latter belonged to the party dissatisfied with the appointment of Biron as regent, and not the Prince of Brunswick, and quite openly expressed their dissatisfaction as early as October 6; On October 21, Pustoshkin came to Prince Cherkassky and, reminding him of his participation as the head of the party in 1730, asked on behalf of his like-minded people to now take over the leadership of the movement against Biron. Cherkassky, according to Minich’s son, patiently listened to the messenger, praised his plan of action and, citing lack of time, offered to come for negotiations tomorrow, and he immediately reported everything to the duke. Pustoshkin and others were immediately captured, searches and torture began, and only the subsequent overthrow of Biron saved these people from death, who decided to so trustingly turn to Cherkassky. Cherkassky himself did not have time to reap the fruits of his denunciation: Minikh carried out Pustoshkin’s plan so quickly and decisively that Cherkassky, appearing as if nothing had happened three hours after Biron’s arrest at the Cabinet meeting in the Summer Palace, here for the first time learned about the fall his friend (Finch). However, even the role of Biron’s faithful friend, which would not have been forgiven for anyone else, did not have a bad effect on Cherkassky’s fate: they paid too little attention to his views, to his likes and dislikes. Minikh, who compiled a list of awards and appointments with his son on the morning of November 8, although, as can be seen from his son’s notes, he expressed himself about the Prince of Cherkassy that, due to his behavior towards Biron, he deserved punishment rather than reward, but still granted him the title Grand Chancellor, and in this title he was officially approved by the Supreme Decree on November 10th. Not only that, when distributing affairs to be handled by individual cabinet ministers, he, together with Vice-Chancellor Count Golovkin, was entrusted with all internal affairs by a Personal Decree on January 28, 1741, “to be in charge of everything that concerns internal affairs of the Senate and Synod, and about state fees and other income from the Chamber Collegium, about commerce and justice,” in other words, the competence of the ministers: Justice, Finance, Internal Affairs and the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod. Suppose, subsequently, during the trial of the Biron case, a long accusation of 14 points was brought against Cherkassky, in which he was accused of his participation in the election of Biron as regent and, by the way, his behavior with Pustoshkin, but this accusation did not have any bad consequences. consequences for Cherkassky. On April 24, 1741, the Highest Manifesto was issued declaring forgiveness for all acts of Minikh, Cherkassky, Ushakov, Kurakin and other persons involved in the Biron case. As for Cherkassky’s participation in government affairs during the reign of Anna Leopoldovna, it can be stated that he signed a treaty on an alliance with Prussia, concluded on December 16, 1740, a treaty on a defensive alliance between Russia and England dated April 3, 1741 , a convention of May 30, 1741 between Denmark and Russia on supplying ships sailing from Russia through the Sound with cargo passports and, finally, he, on behalf of Anna Leopoldovna, negotiated with the Turkish ambassador in July 1741. On August 8, 1741, he suffered a second stroke of apoplexy exactly three days after he solemnly participated in the baptism of the newborn Grand Duchess Catherine Antonovna, as a representative of the Duke of Mecklenburg. The accession of Elisaveta Petrovna to the throne was a joyful event for Cherkassky: Elisaveta saw in him a truly Russian man, devoted to her, one of the few surviving servants of her late father, and hastened to show her trust in him. On the morning of November 25, he, together with Brevern and Bestuzhev, was tasked with drawing up a manifesto on Elizabeth’s accession to the throne and a form of oath. Then, on the instructions of Shetardie, he was initially entrusted with the management of all affairs of the state. On December 12, after the destruction of the Cabinet and the restoration of the Senate with the significance that it had under Peter the Great, Cherkassky was again appointed senator, and he, as chancellor, was given control of all foreign affairs, and Bestuzhev-Ryumin, who received the rank of vice, was appointed his assistant. -Chancellor. On January 14, 1742, he was given a stone house in Moscow, which belonged to Princess Ekaterina Ioannovna. Feeling that they trusted him and gave him some independence, Cherkassky wanted to be, even now, in his declining years, a real leader, and with a zeal unusual for him, he began to fulfill the difficult duties assigned to him. The task ahead was not easy: it was necessary to replace Osterman, who was still the head of Russian politics; it was necessary to establish relations with France, which, while outwardly showing affection for Russia, at the same time was conducting intrigues against it in Sweden and Turkey - but for this it was necessary to take into account the personal sympathies of Elizabeth, who was very kind to the French ambassador Chetardy and even more to his physician Lestocq, a friend of France; it was necessary to end the war with Sweden that had begun in the previous reign, to stop Prussia’s aggressive aspirations, and to support Austria and Saxony. Cherkassky correctly understood his task, set about carrying it out with all his energy, being annoyed when Bestuzhev tried to interfere with his actions, and wanting to personally report all matters to the Empress (Pezold); but, it is clear that given his old age, slowness, and most importantly illness, this was almost impossible for him, and we see that almost all foreign ambassadors - Veitch, and Shetardy, and Pezold - complain in their reports about the terrible slowness in business, to the fact that “things are being conducted so stupidly that, without having experienced these procedures on the spot, it is impossible to believe the stories about them”, that “half of the cases are not reported to the Empress at all, and about the other she receives information too late.” Be that as it may, Cherkassky, however, did a lot in less than a year of his management of foreign affairs: he sharply came into opposition to France and ensured that not only was the mediation she offered in Swedish affairs rejected, but also the prestige of Chetardie, who enjoyed the first time after Elizabeth's accession to the throne, as mentioned above, the great favor of the Empress, honor at the Court (Finch wrote that if the first bow was made to the Empress, then the second to Chetardy), was undermined so much that in September 1742 he was recalled by his government, and Dallion was sent in his place. The Swedish war, after unsuccessful negotiations with the Swedish envoy to the Russian Court, Nolken, regarding peace terms, was continued until Russian troops occupied the city of Abo, driving the Swedes out of Finland, and then the Russians could freely dictate the very terms of the world, without needing with no one's assistance. Finally, thanks to Cherkassky, a close rapprochement was achieved with Austria’s ally, England, the defensive treaty with England of April 3, 1741 was revised together with the newly appointed English ambassador to Russia, Veitch, and the final draft of a new treaty was drawn up, which was signed by both parties shortly after Cherkassky's death - December 11, 1742. Lazy, not energetic, Cherkassky showed himself in a new independent post, in his declining days, to be such an honest, incorruptible, and most importantly staunch defender of the interests of Russia that these virtues were recognized in him not only by his friends the British, but also by his political opponents - the French. So Chetardie, leaving Russia on September 11, 1742, advised his deputy Dallion “to stick to Cherkassky, who is an impeccably honest and reasonable old Russian and, moreover, enjoys the great confidence of the Empress.” Dallion, also on September 24, recognizing Cherkassky’s honesty and directness, expresses only regret that “he is not smart and educated enough to follow on his own in the footsteps of his predecessors.” At the end of October, upon his arrival in Moscow for the coronation celebration of Elisaveta Petrovna, Cherkassky fell ill with severe rheumatism and was forced to go to bed. Elisaveta Petrovna mercifully visited the patient herself the next day. Soon the old man began to recover, but then a family trouble occurred, which had a very serious impact on him and undermined his already weak strength. The old man could not bear this trouble: on November 4th he suffered a third apoplexy and died. The news of his death caused, as can be seen from Pezold's reports, great joy among the adherents of France and was greeted with grief by the British. “The Tsarina lost in him a minister in whom she had complete confidence, and we lost a good friend who strived for an alliance between Russia and England,” writes Veitch regarding his death. On November 7, Cherkassky was solemnly buried in the Supreme presence under the Znamenskaya Church of the Moscow Novospassky Monastery. According to contemporaries, Cherkassky was a straightforward and honest person, but on the other hand, extremely lazy, indecisive, shy to the point of timidity and extremely petty behavior, for example. , Tereshchenko says that Cherkassky one night ordered to wake up Privy Councilor Brevern, who served in the Foreign Collegium, to ask him whether he should put large or small letters in his signature on a reply letter to the Duke of Mecklenburg. In addition to all this, he was distinguished by great silence, so that Lady Rondo in her “Letters” mockingly writes about him: “I think that he never spoke more than one member of the famous assembly, whom you and I know from his printed speech... "In all likelihood he will not embarrass the Council with his eloquence." In general, Cherkassky’s life story best characterizes his era - a difficult time of executions, bloody torture and palace coups. A fierce struggle of passions was in full swing around Cherkassky, intrigues were waged, people fell and rose again with fabulous speed, “yesterday’s cabinet-minister,” as Bestuzhev-Ryumin put it, during his arrest after the fall of Biron, “tomorrow became a prisoner,” and Cherkassky still walked steadily up the ladder of honors and awards, was never subjected to disgrace or disgrace, and only because he was a man of little importance, by the general admission of the same people who elevated him, that he had almost no merit behind him except wealth and noble origin, at the same time, he did not prevent others from waging a desperate struggle among themselves, strangling each other for power, honors and money, and calmly floated with the flow, being a submissive instrument in the hands of his other “strongest” people; They, with gratitude, not only did not touch him, but also elevated him. “Now they will appoint him - tomorrow they will tonsure him - he is silent about everything and says nothing,” Volynsky described him, and this quality made his career, saved him from all adversity at that sad time. Fate, too, seemed to favor him - and death cut short his life precisely at that moment when circumstances completely beyond his control could have deprived him of the Empress’s favor and entailed disgrace for him.

"Complete Collection of Laws", vol. V, 169, 180-181, 522, 534, 624, 700; vol. VI, 234, 357; vol. X, 198; vol. XI, 359, 384, 545-546. - Baranov, “Inventory of the Highest Decrees and Commands.... in the Archives of the Right Senate,” vol. I, Nos. 365, 366, 370, 371, 374, 387, 638, 797, 1450; vol. II, nos. 1639, 2090, 2630, 2733, 3729, 3973, 4001, 4051, 4059, 4165, 4190, 4415, 4420, 4799, 4855, 5237, 5572, 5796, 6361; vol. III, nos. 8030, 8663, 8669, 8685, 8730. - "Collection of the Imperial Russian Historical Society", vol. 3, p. 433; vol. 5, pp. 354, 366-377, 382, 384, 387, 391, 394, 408-412, 414, 419; vol. 6, pp. 403, 431, 447, 448, 451, 453; vol. 20, pp. 93-102, 110; vol. 11 (or 21?), pp. 243, 246-247, 298-300, 539; vol. 29, p. 266; v. 55; v. 56; vol. 61, pp. 176, 214; vol. 63, pp. 167, 548, 564, 607, 616; vol. 66, pp. 139, 153, 160; t, 69; vol. 75, pp. 485, 503, 507, 513; vol. 76, pp. 332, 335, 341, 379; v. 79; vol. 80, pp. 161, 286, 289; vol. 81, pp. 78, 86-88, 115, 140, 186, 200, 218, 257-258, 260, 271, 326, 455, 617; v. 84; vol. 85, pp. 297, 321, 351, 367, 442, 483, 516; vol. 86, pp. 98, 144, 203, 231, 497, 502; vol. 91, pp. 40, 46, 48, 214, 285, 326, 344-346, 369, 481, 488, 504-507; vol. 92, pp. 8, 68, 215, 314, 316, 427; v. 94; vol. 96, pp. 197, 251, 311, 421, 535, 647, 657, 681; vol. 99, pp. 76, 82, 84, 86-94, 99, 112, 116-117, 124, 126, 128, 165, 192, 206; vol. 100, pp. 261, 281-283, 337, 363, 373, 376, 378, 383, 391, 393-394, 402, 410-415, 427; t. 101; vol. 104, pp. 6, 24, 27, 32; vol. 105, p. 452; v. 106. - Soloviev, “History of Russia”, v. IV, 1155, 1164-1168, 1171, 1183-1184, 1200, 1234, 1279, 1387-1389, 1423, 1505, 1508, 1617, 1618, 1621, 1625, 1628, 1634-1636; vol. V, 10, 11, 23, 25, 35-36, 125, 143, 168, 175-180, 185, 215. - Golikov, “Acts of Peter the Great”, vol. VI, 282, 546; vol. VII, 116; vol. IX, 488; vol. X, 352. - Bantysh-Kamensky, "Dictionary of memorable people of the Russian land", part V, 254-258, Moscow, 1836 - A. Tereshchenko, "An experience in reviewing the lives of dignitaries who managed foreign affairs in Russia", St. Petersburg, 1837, h . II, "Chancellors", pp. 50-60. - "Russlands Geschichte und Politik dargestellt in der Geschichte der russischen hohen Adels", von Dr. Arthur Kleinschmidt, Cassel, 1877, 114-115. - Hermanns, "Geschichte des Russischen Staats", Hamburg, 1853, V, pp. 13-14. - Kobrinsky, “Noble families included in the general armorial of the Russian Empire”, part I, 538. - “Russian genealogical book”, book. Peter Dolgorukova, part II, St. Petersburg, 1855, p. 36. - “Monuments of Siberian history of the 18th century,” book. I and II. - Ustryalov, “The History of the Reign of Peter the Great”, vol. VI, 535. - Korsakov, “The Accession of Empress Anna Ioannovna”, Kazan, 1880 - Kashpirev, “Monuments of New Russian History”, St. Petersburg, 1871, vol. II, pp. 2, 5, 8-9, 194, 367, 370-371. - “Domestic Notes”, 1872, January, pp. 208-237, February, 485-516: Karpovich, “Intentions of the leaders and petitioners in 1730.” - “Russian Bulletin”, 1859, January, 5-64: P. Shchebalsky, “Accession to the throne of Empress Anna.” - “Morning”, 1859, pp. 359-369: Tatishchev, “Arbitrary and consonant reasoning of the assembled Russian nobility about state government.” - Shubinsky, "Notes of Field Marshal Count Minich", pp. 41-46, 62, 69-70, 76, 80, 175, 308. - "Notes of Count Minich, son of a field marshal", St. Petersburg, 1817, 45, 52 , 159, 164-165, 189, 194, 207-208. - "Letters from Lady Rondo", ed. Shubinsky, St. Petersburg, 1874, pp. 114, 145, 201-203, 230, 243-244, unit. 176. - “Readings at the Imperial Society of Russian History and Antiquities,” 1862, January - March, pp. 28-149: “The Case of Biron.” - "Time", 1861, No. 12, pp. 522-623: "Circumstances that prepared the disgrace of Ernst John Biron, Duke of Courland." - "Domestic Notes", 1858, No. 5, pp. 285-306: Shishkin, "Events in St. Petersburg in 1740-1741"; 1873, book. XI, pp. 94-132: Karnovich, “The significance of the Bironovschina in Russian history.” - Arsenyev, "Collection of the Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Imperial Academy of Sciences", vol. IX, St. Petersburg, 1872, pp. 158-160, 195-197, 201, 232-239, 247, 308, 312-313. - Bartenev, "XVIII Century", Moscow, 1869, book III, pp. 58, 105. - "Archive of Prince Vorontsov", book. I, 104, 119, 188, 192-197, 199, 202, 215, 217-218, 223, 227, 248, 252-253, 257, 280, 329, 355. - Petrov, “History of St. Petersburg”, pp. 132, 143, 169, 273, 331, 402, 448. - "Russian Bulletin", 1861, vol. 33. - "Russian Antiquity", 1870, vol. II, pp. 47-53, 104. - "Russian Archive", 1866, pp. 1-38. - "Russian Biographical Dictionary", vol. II, pp. 773-777 ("Bestuzhev-Ryumin"). - "Collection in favor of Sunday schools", Moscow, 1894: Miliukov, "An attempt at state reform during the accession of Empress Anna Ioannovna", pp. 210-276.

N. N. Pavlov-Silvansky.

(Polovtsov)

Cherkassky, Prince Alexey Mikhailovich

(1680-1742) - chancellor. In 1702, being a nearby steward, he was appointed as an assistant to his father (Mikhail Yakovlevich), the Tobolsk governor, under whom he served for 10 years, and in 1714 he was summoned to St. Petersburg and appointed a member of the city buildings commission. In 1719, Ch., as an honest and incorruptible person, was sent to Siberia by the governor; in 1726 he was made a senator. During the election of Anna Ioannovna to the Russian throne (1730), Ch., the richest landowner in Russia by number of souls, led a party of nobles who rebelled against the supreme leaders, for which he was later made one of the three cabinet ministers, and in 1740 he was elevated to the rank of great Chancellor According to the historian Shcherbatov, Ch. “a silent, quiet man, whose intelligence never shone in great ranks, everywhere he showed caution.” As a cabinet minister, he signed a trade agreement with England (1734), and as chancellor - two treaties: with the Prussian court (1740) and with the English court (1741). His only daughter from his second marriage with Princess Marya Yuryevna Trubetskoy Varvara Alekseevna was a lady-in-waiting of the Imperial Court, was considered the richest bride in Russia, was wooed by the famous satirist Prince Antyukh Dmitrievich Kantemir, who refused to marry, and was given, with a dowry of 70,000 peasant souls, to Count Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev, thanks to which the latter formed a huge “Sheremetev fortune”.

V. R-v.

(Brockhaus)

Cherkassky, Prince Alexey Mikhailovich

d.t.s., senator, under Elizave. Peter. Chancellor, 1st director. Office of Buildings in St. Petersburg. and the Siberian governorate. under Peter I, cabinet minister under Anna; R. 28 Sep. 1680, † November 4, 1742

(Polovtsov)

. 2009 .

The second Russian Tsar from the House of Romanov, the son of Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich from his marriage to Evdokia Lukyanovna Streshneva, b. March 10, 1629, ascended the throne July 13, 1645, d. January 29, 1676 In 1634 he was appointed uncle to the prince... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

Cherkassky (Alexey Mikhailovich, prince, 1680 1742) chancellor. In 1702, being a close steward, he was appointed as an assistant to his father (Mikhail Yakovlevich), the Tobolsk governor, under whom he served for 10 years, and in 1714 he was summoned to St. Petersburg and appointed... ... Biographical Dictionary

- (1680 1742) prince, Russian statesman. In 1730 he led the noble opposition to the leaders, from 1731 he was a cabinet minister, in 1740 41 chancellors, president of the College of Foreign Affairs... Large Encyclopedic Dictionary - Wikipedia has articles about other people with the same surname, see Cherkassky. Alexey Mikhailovich Cherkassky ... Wikipedia

- (1680 1742), prince, statesman. From a family of Kabardian princes. In 1719 24 governor of Siberia. Since 1726 senator. In 1730 he led the noble opposition to the Supreme Privy Council, from 1731 cabinet minister, in 1740 41 chancellor, president of the College... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (prince, 1680 1742) chancellor. In 1702, being a close steward, he was appointed as an assistant to his father (Mikhail Yakovlevich), the Tobolsk governor, under whom he served for 10 years, and in 1714 he was summoned to St. Petersburg and appointed a member of the city commission... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

birth: 1680, Moscow, Russian Empire
title: prince
profession: 1702, Tobolsk, Russian Kingdom, Being a steward, he was appointed as an assistant to his father Mikhail Yakovlevich, the Tobolsk governor, under whom he served for 10 years.
marriage: Agrafena Lvovna Naryshkina (Cherkasskaya), Tobolsk, Russian Kingdom
profession: 1712, St. Petersburg, Russian Kingdom, After the death of his father, he was summoned to the royal court, where at first he served as a nearby steward, and inherited extensive landholdings
marriage: Maria Yuryevna Trubetskaya (Cherkasskaya), St. Petersburg, Russian Kingdom
profession: January 24, 1714, St. Petersburg, Russian Kingdom, Serves in the Office of City Affairs. Peter I ordered to recruit in Moscow and other Russian cities 458 artisans needed for the newly established capital, and to deliver 15 young men no older than 20 years old, from the best merchant families, whom Peter wanted to send abroad to study commercial sciences
profession: January 24, 1715, St. Petersburg, Russian Kingdom, Chief Commissioner
profession: September 14, 1715, St. Petersburg, Russian Kingdom, Peter I, by a personal decree, ordered him to ensure that “no one is built anywhere against the decree and without an architect’s drawing.” Prince Cherkassky did a lot for the new capital: he took a direct part in draining the swamps, was engaged in the decoration and decoration of the Peterhof, Monplaisir, Ekaterininsky and Shlisselburg palaces, managed the brick factories set up in St. Petersburg, built a hospital and a courtyard for midshipmen on the Vyborg side and, finally, personally observed the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Bolwerk
military rank: August 28, 1716, St. Petersburg, Russian Kingdom, lieutenant
profession: from 1719 to January 15, 1724, Tobolsk, Siberian province, governor
profession: 15 January 1724, State Councillor
profession: February 8, 1726, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, actual state councilor
profession: March 8, 1727, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, Appointed together with Osterman as a member of the commission on commerce organized by Catherine I
profession: October 12, 1727, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, privy councilor
profession: February 26, 1730, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, During the election of Anna Ioannovna to the throne, Cherkassky joined the party of nobles who rebelled against the party of supreme leaders led by the princes Dolgoruky and Golitsyn, who created the Supreme Privy Council instead of the Governing Senate to limit the power of the empress. Grateful Anna Ioannovna showered Cherkassky with signs of favor; as a sign of mercy, she immediately took his wife, Princess Maria Yuryevna, and her sister, Praskovya Yuryevna Saltykova, into her staff.
profession: March 4, 1730, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, With the destruction of the Supreme Privy Council and the restoration of the Senate, he was appointed one of its twenty-one members, together with all former members of the Supreme Privy Council
event 1: March 23, 1730, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, Received the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called
event 1: 30 August 1730, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, Awarded Knight of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky
profession: March 18, 1731, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, actual privy councilor
profession: November 6, 1731, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, Appointed one of three cabinet ministers.
event 2: April 1738, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, In the presence of the entire court, the first apoplexy occurred
profession: November 10, 1740, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, grand chancellor
profession: January 28, 1741, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, By personal decree, Cherkassky was entrusted with all internal affairs together with Vice-Chancellor Count M. G. Golovkin
event 3: April 24, 1741, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, The highest manifesto declared forgiveness for all acts of Minikh, Cherkassky, Ushakov, Kurakin and other persons involved in the Biron case
event 2: August 8, 1741, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, A second apoplexy occurred.
profession: December 6, 1741, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, After the coup and accession to the throne, Elizaveta Petrovna retained the post of chancellor for him and initially entrusted him with the management of all state affairs
profession: December 12, 1741, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, After the destruction of the Cabinet of Ministers and the restoration of the Governing Senate, Cherkassky was again appointed senator, and as chancellor he was given control of all foreign affairs, and Bestuzhev-Ryumin, who received the title of vice-chancellor, was appointed his assistant.
property: January 14, 1742, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, He was given a stone house in Moscow, which belonged to Princess Ekaterina Ioannovna. Feeling that they trusted him and gave him some independence, Cherkassky wanted to be, even now, in his declining years, a real leader, and with a zeal unusual for him, he set about fulfilling the difficult duties assigned to him.
place of residence: October 1742, Moscow, Russian Empire, Came to Moscow for the coronation celebration of Elizabeth Petrovna, but fell ill with rheumatism
event 2: November 4, 1742, Moscow, Russian Empire, The third apoplexy occurred
death: December 5, 1742, Moscow, Russian Empire, Buried in the highest presence under the Church of the Sign of the Moscow Novospassky Monastery