A Herzen Reader

It is terrible to think how hackneyed and empty our grand dukes' exis­tence has become. A man lived and died in our midst; he may have been endowed by nature with a good heart, but his entire life was spent in un­necessary busyness and aimless bustle. What distinction did Mikhail Pav- lovich⁹ add to a life spent close to the throne? That he was head of artillery in the Russian army?

Mikhail Pavlovich did not know Russia, did not even know Petersburg; he knew the guards regiments, the artillery, cadets. and he died, having returned from a military exercise and having given Paskevich an imperial honor. [. . .]

Your Majesty, save your children from this kind of future!

I know very well that my words, if they reach you, will surprise you with their impertinence: the sharp words of a free man sound odd in the halls of the Winter Palace. But overcome your distaste and think about what my sad words express; maybe you will find in them the great sorrow that eats at my heart, and see my honest desire for the well-being of Russia more than any insult or impertinence.

You stand too high to take offense, and I am too independent to be impertinent.

In olden times, tsars sometimes took off their robes and, dressed like mere mortals, they walked around the markets and squares, listening to popular talk and gaining practical wisdom in the crowds. This practice has lapsed, and it really is not necessary—free speech has itself penetrated the cavalry guards at court. Do not push it aside—think about it, and, if it makes you happier, forget who wrote it, although he sincerely wishes you well.

November 1, 1858

Notes

Source: "Pis'mo k Imperatritse Marii Aleksandrovne," Kolokol, l. 27, November 1, 1858; 13:353-60, 586-87.

Herzen is referring to the court decree of June 24, 1718, concerning the conspiracy which formed around Alexey Petrovich and was directed against Peter's transformation of the country. Alexey was condemned to death and Peter approved the sentence.

"I am only the result of a stroke of luck."

Herzen employs the term "Black Cabinet" to designate the most reactionary mem­bers of the Main Committee discussing the serf question: the police chief and head of the Third Department (V. A. Dolgorukov), the minister of government property (M. N. Muravyov), the chairman of the State Council (A. F. Orlov), the minister of justice (V. N. Panin), and an aide-de-camp (Ya. I. Rostovtsev). Herzen published an essay called "The

Black Cabinet" in the August 1, 1858, issue of The Bell. (See Gertsen, Sobranie sochinenii, 13:300-305, nn. 570-72.)

Frederic-Cesar de La Harpe (1754-1838), a Swiss government official who became tutor to Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, later Alexander I. Herzen refers ironically to the widespread opinion that La Harpe had a liberal influence on his pupil.

The person forced out was Moscow University law professor Konstantin D. Kavelin (1818-1885), who began tutoring Nicholas Alexandrovich in 1857, but had to step down the following year after his article on emancipation appeared in the April 1858 issue of The Contemporary. Grimm, tutor to the children of Nicholas I, succeeded him. The poet Fyodor Tyutchev, who served on the Foreign Censorship Committee, complained of another absurdity: while Grimm was being entrusted with the instruction of the heir, there was a proposal to ban his books from entering Russia (Choldin, Fence Around the Empire, 57-61).

Published in Berlin in 1858.

Nikolay V. Zinoviev (1801-1882), an aide-de-camp who from 1849 to i860 taught the grand dukes Nikolay, Alexander, and Vladimir Alexandrovich.

Yakov I. Rostovtsev (1803-1860) directed the military academies, and served on the Secret and Main Committees for the serf question; Vladimir P. Butkov (1820-1881) was a state secretary from 1854 to 1865.

Mikhail Pavlovich (1798-1849) was the younger brother of Nicholas I.

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