175 years ago, on July 27, the great Russian poet Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was shot dead. This is the unpunished murder of Russian culture... Once again. And yet talent is from God, and not vice versa. Talent comes from Pushkin, not Dantes, from Mozart, not Salieri. From Lermontov, not Martynov. Undoubtedly, General Grabbe was right: “The unfortunate fate of us Russians. As soon as a person with talent appears among us, ten vulgars will pursue him to death."
In July 1841, at seven o'clock in the evening, in a small clearing near the road leading from Pyatigorsk to the Nikolaev colony along the northwestern slope of Mount Mashuk, two Russian officers, two former comrades, fought a duel. The sky turned black. It was about to rain. One of the officers defiantly raised his hand and discharged his pistol into the air. He made it clear that he was not going to kill. The second one did not hesitate and shot at his friend - point-blank, in the chest. The bullet went right through. Death came instantly... Rain poured down, as if wanting to quickly wash away the spilled blood. And thunder roared. And the harsh mountains were angrily silent... So the great Russian poet, prose writer, playwright, artist, author of the first Russian psychological novel “Hero of Our Time” Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was vilely shot. Thus, Russian culture was shot once again.
The most amazing thing is not that Lermontov was a genius - Russia is generous with geniuses. The most amazing thing is how much genius he has done in less than 27 years. And how much more could I do!
His whole such short long life is a protest and rebellion. “Farewell, unwashed Russia! / Country of slaves, country of masters..." No one has shouted like that in poetry... Of course, with his frankness, Lermontov could not help but sign his own death sentence. In exactly the same way, a few years ago, the brilliant Pushkin signed his own death sentence.
What similar fates! Coincidence? History has little faith in coincidences... Lermontov “on the second day” took Pushkin’s place. As they say, by the command of God. And according to a similar scenario, he was killed. At the behest of a godless group of people...
Although, against the backdrop of Pushkin’s duel with Dantes, Lermontov’s duel with Martynov looked much uglier, dishonest, and dishonest. In the first duel, at least the external rules of decency were observed. The second is just a game without rules. Without a crew, without a doctor, without a contract - who is first. Four to six steps away. Point blank. When execution is inevitable. Moreover, in the first story, the Russian poet was killed by a foreigner. And here is our classmate, comrade...
Even the day before, Lermontov, with his characteristic cockiness and black humor, declared: “I will shoot such a fool.” He didn't shoot at his comrades. On the eve of the duel, he was cheerful and even drank a bottle of champagne.
However, he always behaved defiantly. While still a student at the Noble Boarding School at Moscow University, he took an active part in clashes with the reactionary professors, for which he was forced to leave his studies and enter the St. Petersburg School of Guards Ensigns and Cavalry Junkers. There he met Martynov. There Martynov became his friend, if not his friend. If only Lermontov had known that his comrade would become his killer! As Napoleon loved to repeat: “Lord, deliver me from my friends, and I will deal with my enemies myself!”
By the way, Martynov also dabbled in poems; there is even a poem left in which the imitation of Lermontov is clearly visible. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Martynov was generally an unpleasant, limited guy with great ambitions but little ability. And also with enormous base envy. Such people, as a rule, stick to great personalities, feed on their minds, hating them more and more, and then often kill... Although, of course, the reasons for the murder were much deeper... They are, rather, easy to use, easy to kill with their hands.
In the meantime, the great poet is “looking for storms.” Voluntarily. Pushkin's death shocked him. It was an idol. And Lermontov will honestly write: “The poet, a slave of honor, perished, / Fell, slandered by rumor...” And he will blame the authorities for this. And the authorities will not forgive him for this. Lermontov, like Pushkin, will become the personal enemy of Tsar Nicholas I...
A year before his death, Mikhail Yuryevich would write “Hero of Our Time.” This is absolutely right on time. In endless time, where there is injustice, and from this there is painful melancholy and the meaninglessness of a painful life. Lermontov was a martyr by nature. Perhaps history has not yet produced such thinker-martyrs. Or she gave birth much later. “A hero of our time” is a hero and at the same time not a hero of a lost generation... It was the Germans who thought that their Remarque was the first to describe the “lost generation”. It was the Americans who believed that their Hemingway was the first to regret the “lost generation.” And everything happened much earlier. And the Russian poet was the first to write about the “lost generation”. In prose. True, they were called “extra people.” Lost and superfluous. Perhaps they are not synonyms in the lexicon. But in philosophy very much so.
The superfluous person is spiritual from birth, but spirituality is covered with soullessness. Morality - cynicism. Education and intelligence are laziness. Feelings are indifference. He is necessarily political, but hides behind his contempt for politics. He is capable of great love, but is content with little. He is full of hope, but lives only in disappointment. He is eloquent and charming, but lonely. He hates society just as society hates him. And society believes that he is going against it. But that's not true. He goes against his own life, his own destiny. And, of course, against yourself. He's been wearing a mask his whole life. And this makes him suffocate. In fact, he could have had a prosperous life, but he abandoned it. He chose to be away from life, and from himself. And observe life and yourself from the outside. Otherwise he wouldn't be him. And the classics of different centuries and different countries would not have written about him...
...And the death of Mikhail Yuryevich looked more than disgusting. Lermontov died in a few minutes without regaining consciousness. The rain continued to pour down. Vasilchikov and Martynov galloped into the city to fetch the doctor, the rest of the seconds remained with the corpse. Including his second Glebov, who later told what painful hours he spent sitting in the pouring rain with the head of the dead man on his knees, with continuous thunder and lightning... Vasilchikov returned with nothing. Nobody wanted to go in the rain. The dead poet lay until 11 o'clock. Finally, a kind man of the kind Martynov brought his body to his apartment.
But it was not possible to obtain permission for a decent funeral. The clergy were afraid! Without permission from the authorities! After all, someone who died in a duel is like a suicide. Ashes for the earth? No, Lermontov is not worthy! But much later, without any delay, his killer will be worthy of burial according to church canons. Everything is fair in Tsarist Russia. The whole of Pyatigorsk came to the funeral; poets were still known then! And they were truly honored! But the funeral service was still not allowed. And the coffin was not allowed into the church. ..That same evening, Martynov and his second Glebov were arrested... Arrested, and by higher law, if such a thing exists, they were threatened with severe punishment. But there was no higher right. The highest right was on the side of completely different people.
In general, the premise was funny. Even for that time. And even indecent for a man. But Martynov decided to be better a bad man than a good prisoner. Martynov and his allies claimed that Lermontov had offended his comrade. He said something caustic, something angry. And when everyone is dancing, for some reason Lermontov always sits with a sad look and says nasty things all the time, and the young ladies run away in tears. A good reason for murder!.. And yet, at first, Martynov was at least sentenced to “deprivation of ranks and rights of fortune.” The same sentence was given to the seconds. Then they decided to deprive Martynov of “his rank, order and sign him up as a soldier until he completes his service without depriving him of his noble dignity,” But no! Too cruel for the killers of the great poet! Therefore, the “good Tsar” Nicholas I made a good decision: “Major Martynov should be put in a guardhouse in the Kyiv fortress for three months and brought to church repentance. Forgive the titular adviser to Prince Vasilchikov and the cornet Glebov, the first in consideration of his father’s merits, and the second out of respect for the serious wound he received”... This is such an unpunished murder of Russian culture...
Lermontov's work is a call to struggle and heroism. Maybe that’s why (according to Prince Vasilchikov) in St. Petersburg, in the highest “noble” society, the poet’s death was greeted with the comment: “That’s where he belongs”... And the “good” Tsar Nicholas I was generally categorical, cynically declaring: “A dog’s death is a dog’s death.” “... Nicholas I hated Lermontov so much that it was strictly forbidden to mention the death of the disgraced poet in the press. Even thirty years after the duel, there was barely enough to fill a small book about Lermontov. And when in the early sixties, already in the era of the “liberator” tsar, the poet became “in law,” it was no coincidence that out of the five participants in the duel, only two remained alive: Martynov and one of the seconds, Prince A. Vasilchikov.
And what was Vasilchikov? And what about Martynov? They were even enemies to each other! And yet Vasilchikov finally, thirty years later, managed to find the courage to admit the guilt of both Martynov and himself. And prove the actual murder... And Martynov?
Years have passed... Over the years, everything is more and more understood, over the years, everything is more comprehended and truly recognized. Lermontov was already idolized. And the more unbearable Martynov’s life became. “Public anger fell with all its might on Martynov,” wrote his contemporary I. Zabello, “and transferred the hatred of Dantes to him; no excuses, no time could soften it. It was continuously communicated from generation to generation... In the eyes of the majority, Martynov was some kind of leper.”
And yet the killer survived the death of his victim by 34 years! And he lived a very prosperous life. In his old age, he divided his time between his house on Leontyevsky Lane and a large card game at the English Club. He even became a mystic, practiced evoking spirits in his office and, as Prince V. Golitsyn, who studied with his sons, recalled, “he best justified the nickname “Statue of the Commander.” There was a feeling of coldness and immobility about him. But every year on the day of the duel he went to one of the surrounding monasteries near Moscow to atone for his mortal sin, sat there alone and prayed “for the murdered servant of God Michael.” Shall we believe it? It's strange, but I can't believe it. Especially when the murderers immediately seek refuge with God. The easiest way. Publicly, before the Russian people, before Russian history, he never dared to confess! Yes, Martynov repented. True, again according to eyewitnesses, every year, no - day by day, he became more and more evil and disgusting. Undoubtedly, General Grabbe was right: “The unfortunate fate of us Russians. As soon as a person with talent appears among us, ten vulgars will pursue him to death.”
Lermontov's genius never gave Martynov peace until the end of his life. He wants to become a writer again and even has a cynical message to write about his former comrade. But it doesn't work. And it couldn't work out. Still, talent comes from God, and not vice versa. Talent comes from Pushkin, not Dantes, from Mozart, not Salieri. From Lermontov, not Martynov.
Having survived the duel, Martynov lost his life. He, unable to squeeze anything out of himself, died at the age of 60, 34 years after the duel.
“Life is eternity, death is only a moment,” Mikhail Yuryevich once wrote. But, alas, his life turned around in an instant. But death is eternity. And he stayed there somewhere. "Where the lonely sail whitens." Where there are “crystal cities.” And “the boundless swaying of forests.” Where there is no “shame of petty grievances.” And where poets are not killed. He's out there somewhere. “Punished with both eternity and title”...
Elena Sazanovich
Roshchin "Slave of Honor"
Again and again: Black River, snow, pistols, sleighs, Dantes, Natalie, Nikita carrying Pushkin up the stairs, in his arms, twilight, candles, and in the morning no one knew anything, in the morning he didn’t even have a second (he couldn’t find). How fast, secret, and now he is already “in danger of his life,” as the police report will say. And - all of life, the end, then - only immortality... These moments replay in our minds again and again...
“The poet has died! - a slave of honor,” young Lermontov will exclaim and immediately hit the nail on the head: a slave of honor! It seems that everything has been said about Pushkin, but for some reason this “slave of honor” touches us the most.
Young Lermontov stood up for Pushkin on the day of his death. We repeat these lines almost automatically, we are used to them, and they perhaps mark the most important thing. The most important thing in Pushkin’s life and in the mystery of his death. These verses are an answer, a rebuke. Unfortunately, over the past decades, the concept of honor has greatly withered in our society. Pushkin gives us the opportunity to remember what honor is and what its price is.
“Slave of honor” are Pushkin’s words, not Lermontov’s. In “Prisoner of the Caucasus” we read: “A slave of merciless honor,... he saw his end close...” Do you remember the epigraph to “The Captain’s Daughter”: “Take care of honor from a young age”?
The six-hundred-year-old Pushkin family originates from Radsha, mentioned in the chronicle, and Pushkin always liked that the chronicler called this Radsha “an honest husband.” Self-love, perhaps, was one of the main features of Pushkin’s nature. Honor is a deep and capacious concept. Honor presupposes, first of all, self-awareness, a person’s concept of himself as a one and only person, valuable and significant. Honor and dignity presuppose the presence of their own ethics. Gradually, more and more aware of himself as a Poet, Philosopher, Historian, Pushkin began to judge honor differently. It was no longer a matter of birth, but of Pushkin himself, the man and the creator...
While Pushkin was improving, society was completely going wild. Most of the genuine men of honor were expelled from this society after December 14, 1825. During the ten years of his reign, Nicholas 1 was quite successful in creating a police and pharisaical state. The king never loved literature and never patronized it. To be a writer and a suspicious person was unambiguous in his eyes. The Tsar always played with Pushkin, pretending to understand something (he was only three years older than Pushkin). Society was corrupted by flattery, embezzlement, opportunism, and officialdom. Gogol, by the way, already wrote “The Inspector General,” and Griboedov wrote “Woe from Wit.” The king was allowed everything; his subjects had to stand on their hind legs in front of him. Among them should have been the chamber cadet Pushkin.
Let us also remember that the handsome Dantes, a Frenchman, a cavalry guard, a favorite of salons, was 24 years old at that time, Natalie Pushkina was also 24, the whole “world” oohed and ahhed ambiguously, as soon as they approached each other, what a couple!
This is considered the norm; it is generally better for husbands not to notice such things! From Lermontov: “Laughing, he boldly despised the foreign language and customs of the land.” Yes, we forget that Dantes did not know the Russian language! I've never read a single book! All the vulgarity, ignorance, external brilliance - everything that Pushkin hated, everything, as if on purpose, came together in his opponent.
Pushkin, a son of his time, was forced to live according to its laws - how could it be otherwise? And he lived and served, wrote, walked, suffered, and was sarcastic, and made enemies. But this is still not the main thing in the development of a brilliant writer. The main thing is to follow yourself, constancy in the implementation of your Idea. One must think that Pushkin's main idea was Freedom. He himself was Freedom. He was born this way, grew up this way, and lived his entire life this way. "Freedom, genius and glory are the executioners." All his life he was oppressed, oppressed, and all his life he fought back. This is what irritated me: look what he allows himself! But the main thing, of course, is that every line of it speaks about Freedom. Everything he wrote was poured out of a free soul. And maybe this is the secret of Pushkin’s immortal charm...
In the 19th century, epigrams were written on everyone: on each other, on kings, ballerinas and archimandrites. But by some irony of fate, Pushkin’s biting quatrain - Alexander Sergeevich himself was subsequently not happy that he wrote it - played a cruel joke on the person who was least worthy of it.
In the spring of 1801, the Russian ambassador to England, Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov, sent his son Mikhail to his homeland, which he did not remember at all. He was a little over a year old when his father, a diplomat, having received a new appointment, took his family away from St. Petersburg.
Nineteen years ago, on May 19, 1782, the count took his first-born son in his arms. A year later, the Vorontsovs’ daughter Ekaterina was born, and a few months later the count was widowed; his young wife Ekaterina Alekseevna died of transient consumption. And Vorontsov arrived in London with two small children. Count Semyon Romanovich never married again, devoting his entire life to Misha and Katya.
From a young age, Semyon Romanovich instilled in his son: every person belongs first of all to the Fatherland, his first duty is to love the land of his ancestors and serve it valiantly. And this is possible only with a firm concept of faith, honor and with a thorough education
Count Vorontsov was no stranger to pedagogy before: at one time he even compiled programs for Russian youth in military and diplomatic education. What prompted him to do this was the conviction that the dominance of ignoramuses and foreigners in high positions was very harmful to the state. Vorontsov’s ideas, however, did not receive support, but in his son he could fully realize them
Semyon Romanovich himself selected teachers for him, he himself compiled programs in various subjects, he taught him himself. This well-thought-out education system, coupled with Mikhail’s brilliant abilities, allowed him to acquire the wealth of knowledge with which he would subsequently amaze his contemporaries throughout his life.
Vorontsov set himself the goal of raising his son to be a Russian and nothing else. Having lived half his life abroad and possessing all the outward signs of an Anglomaniac, Vorontsov loved to repeat: “I am Russian and only Russian.” This position determined everything for his son. In addition to Russian history and literature, which, according to his father, should have helped his son in the main thing - to become Russian in spirit, Mikhail knew French and English perfectly, and mastered Latin and Greek. His daily schedule included mathematics, natural sciences, drawing, architecture, music, and military affairs.
The father considered it necessary to give his son a craft. The axe, saw and plane became not only familiar objects for Mikhail: the future His Serene Highness became so addicted to carpentry that he devoted all his free hours to it for the rest of his life. This is how one of the richest nobles of Russia raised his children.
And now Mikhail is nineteen. Accompanying him to serve in Russia, his father gives him complete freedom: let him choose a job to his liking. The son of the Russian ambassador arrived from London to St. Petersburg completely alone: without servants or companions, which incredibly surprised Vorontsov’s relatives. Moreover, Michael refused the privilege that was due to having the title of chamberlain, awarded to him while he was living in London. This privilege gave the right to a young man who decided to devote himself to the army to immediately have the rank of major general. Vorontsov asked to be given the opportunity to begin his service from the lower ranks and was enlisted as a lieutenant of the Life Guards in the Preobrazhensky Regiment. And since the life of the capital did not satisfy the young Vorontsov, in 1803 he went as a volunteer to where the war was going on, in Transcaucasia. They endured the harsh conditions stoically.
Thus began Vorontsov’s fifteen-year, almost continuous military epic. All promotions and awards were given to him in the powder smoke of battle. Mikhail met the Patriotic War of 1812 with the rank of major general, commander of the combined grenadier division.
General Jacobin
In the Battle of Borodino on August 26, Vorontsov and his grenadiers took the first and most powerful attack of the enemy on the Semenov flushes. It was here that Napoleon planned to break through the defenses of the Russian army. Against 8 thousand Russians with 50 guns, 43 thousand selected French troops were thrown, whose continuous attacks were supported by the fire of two hundred cannons. All participants in the Borodino battle unanimously admitted: Semenov’s flushes were hell. The fiercest battle lasted three hours; the grenadiers did not retreat, although they suffered huge losses. When someone subsequently mentioned that Vorontsov’s division “disappeared from the field,” Mikhail Semenovich, who was present, sadly corrected: “It disappeared on the field.”
Vorontsov himself was seriously wounded. He was bandaged right on the field and taken out from under bullets and cannonballs in a cart, one wheel of which was knocked down by a cannonball. When the count was brought home to Moscow, all the vacant buildings were filled with the wounded, often deprived of any help. The lord's goods were loaded onto carts from the Vorontsov estate for transport to distant villages: paintings, bronze, boxes of porcelain and books, furniture. Vorontsov ordered everything to be returned to the house, and the convoy to be used to transport the wounded to Andreevskoye, his estate near Vladimir. The wounded were picked up along the entire Vladimir road. A hospital was set up in Andreevsky, where up to 50 officers and more than 300 privates were treated until recovery, with the count’s full support.
After recovery, each private was provided with linen, a sheepskin coat and 10 rubles. Then in groups they were transported by Vorontsov to the army. He himself arrived there, still limping, walking with a cane. Meanwhile, the Russian army was moving inexorably to the West. In the battle of Craon, already near Paris, Lieutenant General Vorontsov acted independently against troops led personally by Napoleon. He used all the elements of Russian combat tactics, developed and approved by A.V. Suvorov: a rapid bayonet attack of infantry deep into enemy columns with the support of artillery, skillful deployment of reserves and, most importantly, the admissibility of private initiative in battle, based on the requirements of the moment. The French, who fought bravely against this, even with a double numerical superiority, were powerless.
“Such exploits in the sight of everyone, covering our infantry with glory and eliminating the enemy, certify that nothing is impossible for us,” Vorontsov wrote in an order after the battle, noting the merits of everyone: privates and generals. But both of them witnessed firsthand the enormous personal courage of their commander: despite the unhealed wound, Vorontsov was constantly in battle, taking command of units whose commanders had fallen. It is not for nothing that the military historian M. Bogdanovsky, in his study dedicated to this one of the last bloody battles with Napoleon, especially noted Mikhail Semenovich: “The military field of Count Vorontsov was illuminated on the day of the Battle of Kraon with a blaze of glory, sublime modesty, the usual companion of true dignity.”
In March 1814, Russian troops entered Paris. For four long years, very difficult for the regiments that fought through Europe, Vorontsov became the commander of the Russian occupation corps. A bunch of problems fell upon him. The most pressing ones are how to maintain the combat effectiveness of a mortally tired army and ensure conflict-free coexistence of the victorious troops and civilians. The most mundane and everyday ones: how to ensure a tolerable material existence for those soldiers who fell victim to charming Parisian women, some had wives, and besides, an addition to the family was expected. So now Vorontsov was no longer required to have combat experience, but rather tolerance, attention to people, diplomacy and administrative skills. But no matter how many worries there were, they all expected Vorontsov.
A certain set of rules was introduced into the corps, compiled by its commander. They were based on a strict requirement for officers of all ranks to exclude from soldiers actions that degrade human dignity, in other words, for the first time in the Russian army, Vorontsov voluntarily banned corporal punishment. Any conflicts and violations of statutory discipline had to be dealt with and punished only according to the law, without the “vile custom” of using sticks and assault.
Progressive-minded officers welcomed the innovations introduced by Vorontsov in the corps, considering them a prototype for reforming the entire army, while others predicted possible complications with the St. Petersburg authorities. But Vorontsov stubbornly stood his ground.
Among other things, in all divisions of the corps, by order of the commander, schools were organized for soldiers and junior officers. Senior officers and priests became teachers. Vorontsov personally compiled training programs depending on the situations: some of his subordinates learned the alphabet, others mastered the rules of writing and counting.
Vorontsov also adjusted the regularity of sending correspondence from Russia to the troops, wanting people who were separated from their homeland for years to not lose touch with their Motherland.
It so happened that the government allocated money to the Russian occupation corps for two years of service. The heroes remembered love, women and other joys of life. One person, Vorontsov, knew for certain what this resulted in. Before sending the corps to Russia, he ordered to collect information about all the debts incurred by corps officers during this time. The total was one and a half million in banknotes.
Believing that the winners should leave Paris in a dignified manner, Vorontsov paid this debt by selling the Krugloye estate, which he inherited from his aunt, the notorious Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova.
The corps set out to the east, and in St. Petersburg rumors were already in full swing that Vorontsov’s liberalism indulged the Jacobin spirit, and the discipline and military training of the soldiers left much to be desired. Having reviewed the Russian troops in Germany, Alexander I expressed dissatisfaction with their pace, which in his opinion was not fast enough. Vorontsov’s answer was passed on from mouth to mouth and became known to everyone: “Your Majesty, with this step we came to Paris.” Returning to Russia and feeling obvious hostility towards himself, Vorontsov submitted his resignation. Alexander I refused to accept it. Whatever you say, it was impossible to do without the Vorontsovs
Governor of the South
In February 1819, the 37-year-old general went to his father in London to ask permission to marry. His bride, Countess Elizaveta Ksaverievna Branitskaya, was already 27 years old when, during her trip abroad, she met Mikhail Vorontsov, who immediately proposed to her. Eliza, as Branitskaya was called in society, Polish on her father’s side, Russian on her mother’s side, related to Potemkin, had an enormous fortune and that incredibly charming charm that made everyone see her as a beauty.
The Vorontsov couple returned to St. Petersburg, but not for long. Mikhail Semenovich did not stay in any of the Russian capitals; he served wherever the tsar sent him. He was very pleased with his assignment to the south of Russia, which happened in 1823. The region, which the center still couldn’t reach, was the focus of all possible problems: national, economic, cultural, military, and so on. But for an enterprising man, this huge, half-asleep space with rare inclusions of civilization was a real find, especially since the king had given him unlimited powers.
The newly arrived Governor-General began with off-road conditions, an ineradicable Russian scourge. A little over 10 years later, having traveled from Simferopol to Sevastopol, A.V. Zhukovsky wrote in his diary: “Wonderful road monument to Vorontsov.” This was followed by the first Black Sea commercial Russian shipping company in the south of Russia.
Today it seems that vineyards on the spurs of the Crimean mountains have reached us almost since antiquity. Meanwhile, it was Count Vorontsov, appreciating all the advantages of the local climate, who contributed to the emergence and development of Crimean viticulture. He ordered seedlings of all grape varieties from France, Germany, Spain and, inviting foreign specialists, set them the task of identifying those that would take root better and be able to produce the necessary yields. Painstaking selection work was carried out for more than a year or two; winemakers knew firsthand how rocky the local soil is and how it suffers from lack of water. But Vorontsov continued with his plans with unwavering tenacity. First of all, he planted vineyards on his own plots of land, which he acquired in Crimea. The mere fact that the famous palace complex in Alupka was largely built with money raised by Vorontsov from the sale of his own wine speaks volumes about Mikhail Semenovich’s remarkable commercial acumen.
In addition to winemaking, Vorontsov, carefully looking at those activities that had already been mastered by the local population, tried with all his might to develop and improve existing local traditions. Elite breeds of sheep were imported from Spain and Saxony and small wool processing enterprises were established. This, in addition to providing employment to the population, provided money to both the people and the region. Without relying on subsidies from the center, Vorontsov set out to make life in the region based on the principles of self-sufficiency. Hence Vorontsov’s transformative activities, unprecedented in scale: tobacco plantations, nurseries, the establishment of the Odessa Agricultural Society for the exchange of experience, the purchase abroad of new agricultural implements at that time, experimental farms, a botanical garden, exhibitions of livestock and fruit and vegetable crops.
All this, in addition to the revitalization of life in Novorossiya itself, changed the attitude towards it as a wild and almost burdensome region for the state treasury. Suffice it to say that the result of the first years of Vorontsov’s management was an increase in the price of land from thirty kopecks per tithe to ten rubles or more.
The population of Novorossiya grew from year to year. Vorontsov did a lot for enlightenment and scientific and cultural development in these places. Five years after his arrival, a school of oriental languages was opened, and in 1834 a merchant shipping school opened in Kherson to train skippers, navigators and shipbuilders. Before Vorontsov, there were only 4 gymnasiums in the region. With the foresight of a smart politician, the Russian governor-general opens a whole network of schools in the Bessarabian lands recently annexed to Russia: Chisinau, Izmail, Kilia, Bendery, Balti. A Tatar department began operating at the Simferopol gymnasium, and a Jewish school in Odessa. For the upbringing and education of children of poor nobles and high merchants, in 1833 the Highest permission was received to open an institute for girls in Kerch.
His wife also made her contribution to the count’s endeavors. Under the patronage of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna, a home for orphans and a school for deaf-mute girls were created in Odessa.
All of Vorontsov’s practical activities, his concern for the future of the region, were combined in him with a personal interest in its historical past. After all, the legendary Taurida absorbed almost the entire history of mankind. The Governor-General regularly organizes expeditions to study New Russia, describe surviving ancient monuments, and excavations.
In 1839, Vorontsov founded the Society of History and Antiquities in Odessa, which was located in his house. The Count’s personal contribution to the Society’s repository of antiquities, which had begun to expand, was a collection of vases and vessels from Pompeii.
As a result of Vorontsov’s passionate interest, according to experts, “the entire Novorossiysk region, Crimea and partly Bessarabia in a quarter of a century, and the inaccessible Caucasus in nine years, were explored, described, and illustrated much more accurately and in more detail than many of the internal components of vast Russia.”
Everything related to research activities was done fundamentally: many books related to travel, descriptions of flora and fauna, with archaeological and ethnographic finds were published, as people who knew Vorontsov well testified, “with the unfailing assistance of the enlightened ruler.”
The secret of Vorontsov’s unusually productive activity lay not only in his state mentality and extraordinary education. He had an impeccable command of what we now call the ability to “put together a team.” Connoisseurs, enthusiasts, and craftsmen, eager to attract the attention of a high-ranking person to their ideas, did not come to the count’s doorstep. “He looked for them himself,” recalled one witness of the “Novorossiysk boom,” “he got to know them, brought them closer to him and, if possible, invited them to joint service for the Fatherland.” One hundred and fifty years ago this word had a specific, soul-elevating meaning that moved people to great lengths
In his declining years, Vorontsov, who dictated his notes in French, would classify his family union as a happy one. Apparently, he was right, not wanting to go into details of the far from cloudless, especially at first, marriage of 36 years. Lisa, as Vorontsov called his wife, tested her husband’s patience more than once. “With innate Polish frivolity and coquetry, she wanted to please,” wrote F.F. Vigel, and no one did it better than her.” Now let’s take a brief excursion into the distant year 1823.
The initiative to transfer Pushkin from Chisinau to Odessa to the newly appointed Governor-General of the Novorossiysk Territory belonged to Alexander Sergeevich’s friends Vyazemsky and Turgenev. They knew what they were seeking for the disgraced poet, being confident that he would not be neglected with care and attention.
At first it was like that. At the first meeting with the poet at the end of July, Vorontsov received the poet “very kindly.” But at the beginning of September, his wife returned from Bila Tserkva. Elizaveta Ksaverevna was in the last months of pregnancy. Not the best moment for meeting her, of course, but even that first meeting with her did not pass without a trace for Pushkin. Under the stroke of the poet’s pen, her image, albeit episodically, appears in the margins of manuscripts. True, then it somehow disappears, because then the beautiful Amalia Riznich reigned in the poet’s heart.
Let us note that Vorontsov opened the doors of his house to Pushkin with complete benevolence. The poet comes here every day and has lunch, and uses the books of the count library. Undoubtedly, Vorontsov realized that in front of him was not a petty clerk, and even in bad standing with the government, but a great poet rising to fame.
But month after month passes. In the theater, at balls, and masquerades, Pushkin sees Vorontsova, who recently gave birth, lively and elegant. He is captivated. He's in love.
Elizaveta Ksaveryevna’s true attitude towards Pushkin will apparently remain a mystery forever. But there is no doubt about one thing: she, as noted, was “nice to have a famous poet at her feet.”
Well, what about the all-powerful governor? Even though he was accustomed to the fact that his wife was always surrounded by admirers, the poet’s ardor apparently crossed certain boundaries. And, as witnesses wrote, “it was impossible for the count not to notice his feelings.” Vorontsov's irritation was intensified by the fact that Pushkin did not seem to care what the governor himself thought about them. Let us turn to the testimony of an eyewitness to those events, F.F. Wigel: “Pushkin settled in his wife’s living room and always greeted him with dry bows, to which, however, he never responded.”
Did Vorontsov have the right, as a man, a family man, to be irritated and look for ways to stop the red tape of an overly emboldened admirer?
“He did not stoop to jealousy, but it seemed to him that the exiled office official dared to raise his eyes to the one who bears his name,” wrote F.F. Vigel. And yet, apparently, it was jealousy that forced Vorontsov to send Pushkin along with other minor officials on the expedition to exterminate locusts that so offended the poet. We again know first-hand how hard Vorontsov experienced his wife’s infidelity. When Wigel, like Pushkin, who served under the governor-general, tried to intercede for the poet, he answered him: “Dear F.F., if you want us to remain on friendly terms, never mention this scoundrel to me.” More than harshly said!
Returning “from the locusts,” the irritated poet wrote a letter of resignation, hoping that, having received it, he would continue to live next to the woman he loved. His romance is in full swing.
Although no one refused Pushkin the house and he still dined with the Vorontsovs, the poet’s annoyance with the governor-general because of the ill-fated locusts did not subside. It was then that the famous epigram appeared: “Half my lord, half merchant...”
She, of course, became known to the spouses. Elizaveta Ksaveryevna we must give her credit was unpleasantly struck by both her anger and injustice. And from that moment on, her feelings for Pushkin, caused by his unbridled passion, began to fade. Meanwhile, the request for resignation did not bring at all the results that Pushkin had hoped for. He was ordered to leave Odessa and go to live in the Pskov province.
The affair with Vorontsova inspired Pushkin to create a number of poetic masterpieces. They brought continued interest to Elizaveta Ksaveryevna for several generations of people, who saw in her the Muse of genius, almost a deity. And for Vorontsov himself, who apparently acquired the dubious reputation of persecuting the greatest Russian poet for a long time, in April 1825 the charming Eliza gave birth to a girl, whose real father was Pushkin.
“This is a hypothesis,” wrote one of the most influential researchers of Pushkin’s work, Tatyana Tsyavlovskaya, “but the hypothesis grows stronger when it is supported by facts of a different category.”
These facts, in particular, include the testimony of Pushkin’s great-granddaughter Natalya Sergeevna Shepeleva, who claimed that the news that Alexander Sergeevich had a child with Vorontsova comes from Natalya Nikolaevna, to whom the poet himself admitted this.
The youngest daughter of the Vorontsovs was very different in appearance from the rest of the family. “Among blonde parents and other children, she was the only one with dark hair,” we read from Tsyavlovskaya. Evidence of this can be the portrait of the young countess, which has safely survived to this day. An unknown artist captured Sonechka at a time of captivatingly blossoming femininity, full of purity and ignorance. Indirect confirmation that the chubby girl with full lips is the poet’s daughter was also found in the fact that in the “Memoirs of Prince. M.S. Vorontsov for 1819 1833” Mikhail Semenovich mentioned all his children except Sophia. In the future, however, there was not a hint to be found of the count’s lack of paternal feeling for his youngest daughter.
Last appointment
“Dear Alexey Petrovich! You were probably surprised when you learned about my appointment to the Caucasus. I was also surprised when this assignment was offered to me, and not without fear I accepted it: for I am already 63 years old.” This is what Vorontsov wrote to his military friend, General Ermolov, before heading to his new destination. There was no peace in sight. Roads and roads: military, mountain, steppe they became his life geography. But there was some special meaning in the fact that now, completely gray-haired, with the recently awarded title of His Serene Highness, he was again heading to those lands where he rushed under bullets as a twenty-year-old lieutenant.
Nicholas I appointed him governor of the Caucasus and commander-in-chief of the Caucasian troops, leaving behind him the Novorossiysk governor-general.
For the next nine years of his life, almost until his death, Vorontsov was in military campaigns and in work to strengthen Russian fortresses and the combat readiness of the army, and at the same time in unsuccessful attempts to build a peaceful life for peaceful people. The style of his ascetic activity is immediately recognizable - he had just arrived, his residence in Tiflis is extremely simple and unpretentious, but here the beginning of the city's numismatic collection has already been laid, and in 1850 the Transcaucasian Society of Agriculture was formed. The first ascent of Ararat was also organized by Vorontsov. And of course, again the efforts to open schools in Tiflis, Kutaisi, Yerevan, Stavropol with their subsequent unification into the system of a separate Caucasian educational district. According to Vorontsov, the Russian presence in the Caucasus not only should not suppress the identity of the peoples inhabiting it, it simply must take into account and adapt to the historically established traditions of the region, the needs, and the character of the inhabitants. That is why, in the very first years of his stay in the Caucasus, Vorontsov gave the green light to the establishment of a Muslim school. He saw the path to peace in the Caucasus primarily in religious tolerance and wrote to Nicholas I: “The way Muslims think and treat us depends on our attitude towards their faith” He did not believe in “pacifying” the region with the help of military force alone .
It was in the military policy of the Russian government in the Caucasus that Vorontsov saw considerable miscalculations. According to his correspondence with Ermolov, who pacified the militant highlanders for so many years, it is clear that the fighting friends agree on one thing: the government, carried away by European affairs, paid little attention to the Caucasus. Hence the long-standing problems generated by inflexible policies, and, moreover, disregard for the opinions of people who knew this region and its laws well.
Elizaveta Ksaverevna was constantly with her husband at all places of duty, and sometimes even accompanied him on inspection trips. With noticeable pleasure, Vorontsov reported to Ermolov in the summer of 1849: “In Dagestan she had the pleasure of going two or three times with the infantry under martial law, but, to her great regret, the enemy did not show up. We were with her on the glorious Gilerinsky descent, from where almost all of Dagestan is visible and where, according to the common legend here, you spat on this terrible and damned region and said that it was not worth the blood of one soldier; It’s a pity that after you, some bosses had completely opposite opinions.” From this letter it is clear that over the years the couple became closer. Young passions subsided and became a memory. Perhaps this rapprochement also occurred because of their sad parental fate: of the six Vorontsov children, four died very early. But even those two, having become adults, gave their father and mother food for not very joyful thoughts.
Daughter Sophia, having gotten married, did not find family happiness; the couple, having no children, lived separately. Son Semyon, about whom they said that “he was not distinguished by any talents and did not resemble his parent in any way,” was also childless. And subsequently, with his death, the Vorontsov family died out.
On the eve of his 70th birthday, Mikhail Semenovich asked for resignation. His request was granted. He felt very bad, although he hid it carefully. He lived “idle” for less than a year. Behind him are five decades of service to Russia, not out of fear, but out of conscience. In the highest military rank of Russia, field marshal, Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov died on November 6, 1856.
P.S. For services to the Fatherland, His Serene Highness Prince M.S. Two monuments to Vorontsov were erected in Tiflis and Odessa, where Germans, Bulgarians, representatives of the Tatar population, and clergy of Christian and non-Christian denominations arrived for the opening ceremony in 1856.
Vorontsov’s portrait is located in the front row of the famous “War Gallery” of the Winter Palace, dedicated to the heroes of the War of 1812. The bronze figure of the field marshal can be seen among the prominent figures placed on the “Millennium of Russia” monument in Novgorod. His name appears on the marble plaques of the St. George Hall of the Moscow Kremlin in the sacred list of faithful sons of the Fatherland. But the grave of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov was blown up along with the Odessa Cathedral in the first years of Soviet power
Lyudmila Tretyakova
Vengeance, sir, vengeance!
I will fall at your feet:
Be fair and punish the murderer
So that his execution in later centuries
Your rightful judgment was announced to posterity,
So that the villains can see her as an example.
The poet is dead! - slave of honor -
Fell, slandered by rumor,
With lead in my chest and a thirst for revenge,
Hanging his proud head!..
The poet's soul could not bear it
The shame of petty grievances,
He rebelled against the opinions of the world
Alone as before... And killed!
Killed!.. Why sobs now,
Empty praise unnecessary chorus
And the pathetic babble of excuses?
Fate has reached its conclusion!
Weren't you the one who persecuted me so viciously at first?
His free, bold gift
And they inflated it for fun
A slightly hidden fire?
Well? Have fun... - he is tormented
I couldn’t stand the last ones:
The wondrous genius has faded away like a torch,
The ceremonial wreath has faded.
His killer in cold blood
Strike... There is no escape.
An empty heart beats evenly,
The pistol did not waver in his hand.
And what a miracle?.. From afar,
Like hundreds of fugitives,
To catch happiness and ranks
Thrown to us by the will of fate;
Laughing, he boldly despised
The land has a foreign language and customs;
He could not spare our glory;
I couldn’t understand at this bloody moment,
Why did he raise his hand!..
And he is killed - and taken by the grave,
Like that singer, unknown but sweet,
The prey of deaf jealousy,
Sung by him with such wonderful power,
Struck down, like him, by a merciless hand.
Why from peaceful bliss and simple-minded friendship
He entered this envious and stuffy world
For a free heart and fiery passions?
Why did he give his hand to insignificant slanderers,
Why did he believe false words and caresses,
He, who has comprehended people from a young age?..
And having taken off the former crown, they are a crown of thorns,
Entwined with laurels, they put on him:
But the secret needles are harsh
They wounded the glorious brow;
His last moments were poisoned
The insidious whispers of mocking ignoramuses,
And he died - with a vain thirst for vengeance,
With annoyance and the secret of disappointed hopes.
The sounds of wonderful songs have fallen silent,
Do not give them away again:
The singer's shelter is gloomy and cramped,
And his seal is on his lips.
*
And you, arrogant descendants
The famous meanness of the illustrious fathers,
The fifth slave trampled the wreckage
The game of happiness of offended births!
You, standing in a greedy crowd at the throne,
Executioners of Freedom, Genius and Glory!
You are hiding under the shadow of the law,
The trial and the truth are before you - keep quiet!..
But there is also God’s judgment, the confidants of depravity!
There is a terrible judgment: it awaits;
It is not accessible to the ringing of gold,
He knows thoughts and deeds in advance.
Then in vain you will resort to slander:
It won't help you again
And you won't wash away with all your black blood
Poet's righteous blood!
The autograph of the full text of the poem has not survived. There are draft and white autographs of its first part up to the words “And you, arrogant descendants.”
The poem had a wide public response. The duel and death of Pushkin, slander and intrigue against the poet in the circles of the court aristocracy caused deep indignation among the leading part of Russian society. Lermontov expressed these sentiments in courageous poems full of poetic power, which were distributed in many lists among his contemporaries.
The name of Lermontov, as a worthy heir to Pushkin, received nationwide recognition. At the same time, the political urgency of the poem caused alarm in government circles.
According to contemporaries, one of the lists with the inscription “Appeal to the Revolution” was delivered to Nicholas I. Lermontov and his friend S. A. Raevsky, who participated in the distribution of poems, were arrested and brought to justice. On February 25, 1837, by order of the highest order, a sentence was passed: “The Life Guards of the Hussar Regiment of Cornet Lermantov... be transferred with the same rank to the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment; and the provincial secretary Raevsky... be kept under arrest for one month, and then sent to the Olonets province for use in the service, at the discretion of the local civil governor.”
In March, Lermontov left St. Petersburg, heading to the active army in the Caucasus, where the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment was located at that time.
In the verses “His Killer in Cold Blood” and the following we talk about Dantes, Pushkin’s killer.
Georges Charles Dantes (1812–1895) - a French monarchist who fled to Russia in 1833 after the Vendee rebellion, was the adopted son of the Dutch envoy in St. Petersburg, Baron Heeckeren.
Having access to the salons of the Russian court aristocracy, he took part in the persecution of the poet, which ended in a fatal duel on January 27, 1837. After Pushkin’s death, he was exiled to France.
In the poems “Like that singer, unknown, but dear” and the following, Lermontov recalls Vladimir Lensky from Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”.
“And you, arrogant descendants” and the next 15 verses, according to the testimony of S. A. Raevsky, were written later than the previous text.
This is Lermontov’s response to the attempt of government circles and cosmopolitan-minded nobility to denigrate the memory of Pushkin and justify Dantes. The immediate reason for the creation of the last 16 poems, according to Raevsky, was Lermontov’s quarrel with his relative, chamber cadet N.A. Stolypin, who, having visited the sick poet, began to express to him the “unfavorable” opinion of courtiers about Pushkin and tried to defend Dantes.
A similar story is contained in a letter from A. M. Merinsky to P. A. Efremov, the publisher of Lermontov’s works. There is a list of the poem, where an unknown contemporary of Lermontov named a number of surnames, allowing you to imagine who is being talked about in the lines “And you, arrogant descendants of the famous meanness of the illustrious fathers.”
These are the counts Orlovs, Bobrinskys, Vorontsovs, Zavadovskys, princes Baryatinsky and Vasilchikov, barons Engelhardt and Fredericks, whose fathers and grandfathers achieved positions at court only through search, intrigue, and love affairs.
Gvozdev wrote a response to Lermontov on February 22, 1837, containing lines confirming the correctness of the original reading of the controversial verse:
Wasn’t it you who said: “There is a terrible judgment!”
And this judgment is the judgment of posterity...
Vengeance, sir, vengeance!
I will fall at your feet:
Be fair and punish the murderer
So that his execution in later centuries
Your rightful judgment was announced to posterity,
So that the villains can see an example in her.
The poet died! - a slave of honor -
Fell, slandered by rumor,
With lead in my chest and a thirst for revenge,
Hanging his proud head!..
The poet's soul could not bear it
The shame of petty grievances,
He rebelled against the opinions of the world
Alone, as before... and killed!
Killed!.. Why sobs now,
Empty praise unnecessary chorus
And the pathetic babble of excuses?
Fate has reached its conclusion!
Weren't you the one who persecuted me so viciously at first?
His free, bold gift
And they inflated it for fun
A slightly hidden fire?
Well? have fun... He's tormenting
I couldn’t stand the last ones:
The wondrous genius has faded away like a torch,
The ceremonial wreath has faded.
His killer in cold blood
Strike... there is no escape:
An empty heart beats evenly,
The pistol did not waver in his hand.
And what a miracle?... from afar,
Like hundreds of fugitives,
To catch happiness and ranks
Thrown to us by the will of fate;
Laughing, he boldly despised
The land has a foreign language and customs;
He could not spare our glory;
I couldn’t understand at this bloody moment,
Why did he raise his hand!..
And he is killed - and taken by the grave,
Like that singer, unknown but sweet,
The prey of deaf jealousy,
Sung by him with such wonderful power,
Struck down, like him, by a merciless hand.
Why from peaceful bliss and simple-minded friendship
He entered this envious and stuffy world
For a free heart and fiery passions?
Why did he give his hand to insignificant slanderers,
Why did he believe false words and caresses,
He, who has comprehended people from a young age?..
And having taken off the former crown, they are a crown of thorns,
Entwined with laurels, they put on him:
But the secret needles are harsh
They wounded the glorious brow;
His last moments were poisoned
The insidious whispers of mocking ignoramuses,
And he died - with a vain thirst for vengeance,
With annoyance and the secret of disappointed hopes.
The sounds of wonderful songs have fallen silent,
Do not give them away again:
The singer's shelter is gloomy and cramped,
And his seal is on his lips.
_____________________
And you, arrogant descendants
The famous meanness of the illustrious fathers,
The fifth slave trampled the wreckage
The game of happiness of offended births!
You, standing in a greedy crowd at the throne,
Executioners of Freedom, Genius and Glory!
You are hiding under the shadow of the law,
Judgment and truth are before you - keep quiet!..
But there is also God’s judgment, the confidants of depravity!
There is a terrible judgment: it awaits;
It is not accessible to the ringing of gold,
He knows both thoughts and deeds in advance.
Then in vain you will resort to slander:
It won't help you again
And you won't wash away with all your black blood
Poet's righteous blood!
Analysis of the poem “Death of a Poet” by Lermontov
The poem “The Death of a Poet” was written by Lermontov a few hours after the first news of his fatal wound in a duel. It spread very quickly in society. In creative circles, the work caused a storm of sympathetic responses, and in high society - furious indignation. In response, Lermontov writes the second part (“And you, arrogant descendants ...”), addressing directly those whom he considers guilty of the poet’s death. This sequel was an incredibly daring and bold move. It was regarded by the emperor as a direct appeal to the revolution. Lermontov's exile to the Caucasus immediately followed.
The poem “The Death of a Poet” became a turning point in Lermontov’s work. He was shocked by the absurd and tragic death of the man whom he considered his teacher and mentor. There are secret reasons behind killing in a duel. Lermontov develops the theme of confrontation between the poet and the crowd. Only this time in the image of the crowd he sees not the ordinary mob, but high society. It is known with what disdain the emperor himself and his entourage treated Pushkin’s great talent. The poet was constantly subjected to ridicule and humiliation. A man whose importance for Russian literature can hardly be overestimated was deliberately involved in dirty gossip.
Lermontov describes with contempt Pushkin’s murderer, who could not imagine “what he raised his hand to!...”. At least Dantes was a foreigner. He really didn't care about the Russian genius. Lermontov considers him a blind tool in the hands of real killers. He unleashes all his rage and indignation on them.
The admiration for Pushkin is especially noticeable at the end of the first part of the verse. Lermontov draws a direct analogy between the poet and Christ, who accepted a painful and unjust death (“a crown of thorns... they put on him”).
The second part is much more emotional than the first. Lermontov is literally bursting with an excess of feelings. He proceeds to directly address those responsible for Pushkin’s death and calls them by their proper names (“You, a greedy crowd standing at the throne”). Lermontov also lists other crimes of the “confidants of debauchery”: deception to achieve wealth and high position, suppression of all manifestations of freedom and truth, use of power for personal interests.
The poet again resorts to religious symbolism. He believes that nothing will go unpunished in the face of the “formidable Judge.” Criminals will sooner or later get what they deserve.
The ending of the work is very effective, based on a sharp contrast: the “black blood” of criminals - the “righteous blood” of a genius and a martyr.
