Speech etiquette in the Russian Empire. From letters to

Your Majesty was pleased, in a speech addressed to the representatives of the people, to declare your determination to protect unshakably the institutions by which the people are called upon to exercise legislative power in unity with their Monarch. The State Duma sees in this solemn promise of the Monarch given to the people a strong guarantee of strengthening and further development of the legislative order that corresponds strictly to constitutional principles. The State Duma, for its part, will make efforts to improve the principles of popular representation and will submit for Your Majesty’s approval a law on popular representation, based, in accordance with the unanimous will of the people, on the principles of universal suffrage.

Call Your Imperial Majesty to unite in work for the benefit of the homeland finds a lively response in the hearts of all members of the State Duma, the State Duma, having in its composition representatives of all classes and all nationalities inhabiting Russia, is united by a common ardent desire to renew Russia and create in it public order, based on the peaceful coexistence of all classes and nationalities and on the strong foundations of civil freedom.

But the State Duma accepts the duty to point out that the conditions in which the country lives make truly fruitful work aimed at revival impossible best forces countries.

The country realized that the main plague of our entire state life is the autocracy of officials who separate the Tsar from the people. And, seized by a unanimous impulse, the country loudly declared that renewal of life is possible only on the basis of freedom, initiative and participation of the people themselves in the exercise of legislative power and control over executive power. Your Imperial Majesty was pleased in the Manifesto of October 17, 1905 to proclaim from the height of the Throne a firm determination to put these very principles as the basis for the further arrangement of the destinies of the Russian land. And all the people greeted this news with a unanimous cry of delight.

However, already the first days of freedom were overshadowed by difficult trials into which the country was plunged by those who, still blocking the people’s path to the Tsar and trampling all the foundations of the Supreme Manifesto of October 17, covered the country with the shame of extrajudicial executions, pogroms, executions and imprisonments.

And the traces of these administration actions are behind recent months settled so deeply in the soul of the people that no pacification of the country is possible until it becomes clear to the people that from now on the authorities will not be allowed to create violence, hiding behind the Name of Your Imperial Majesty, until all ministers are responsible to the people's Representation and, in accordance with this, the administration at all levels civil service.

Sovereign, only transferring responsibility to the people to the ministry can ingrain in the minds the idea of ​​the complete irresponsibility of the Monarch; only a ministry that enjoys the trust of the majority of the Duma can strengthen confidence in the government, and only with such trust is the calm and correct work of the State Duma possible. But first of all, it is necessary to free Russia from the effect of those emergency laws - enhanced and emergency security and martial law - under the cover of which the autocracy of irresponsible officials especially developed and continues to manifest itself.

Along with the establishment of the beginning of the responsibility of the administration to the elected representatives of the people, for the fruitful activity of the State Duma, a certain implementation of the basic principle of true popular representation is necessary, which consists in the fact that only the unity of the Monarch with the people is the source of legislative power. Therefore, all mediastinums between the Supreme Power and the people must be eliminated. There can also be no area of ​​legislation that would be forever closed to the free revision of popular representation in unity with the Monarch. The State Duma considers it a duty of conscience to declare to Your Imperial Majesty on behalf of the people that only then will the entire people, with true strength and inspiration, with true faith in the imminent success of their homeland, carry out the creative work of renewing life, when the State Council, composed of from appointed dignitaries and elected officials from the upper classes of the population, when the establishment and collection of taxes and duties will be subordinated to the will of the people's representation and when no special legislation will limit the legislative competence of the people's representation. The State Duma also considers it incompatible with the vital interests of the people for any bill imposing monetary burdens on the population, once it has been adopted by the Duma, to be subject to change by an institution that does not represent the masses of tax payers.

In the area of ​​upcoming legislative activity, the State Duma, fulfilling the duty definitely entrusted to it by the people, considers it urgently necessary to provide the country with a precise law on personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech and press, freedom of unions, meetings and strikes, - convinced that without precise establishment and strict implementation of these principles laid down already in the Manifesto of October 17, no reform public relations not feasible. The Duma also considers it necessary to ensure that citizens have the right to petition the people's government. The State Duma further proceeds from the unshakable conviction that neither freedom nor order based on law can be firmly strengthened without establishing common beginning equality of all citizens without exception before the law. And therefore the State Duma will develop a law on complete equation in the rights of all citizens with the abolition of all restrictions and privileges based on class, nationality, religion or gender. Striving to liberate the country from the shackles of administrative tutelage that bind it and leaving restrictions on the freedom of citizens solely to the independent judiciary, the State Duma, however, considers it unacceptable to use even a judicial sentence of death. The death penalty can never be imposed under any circumstances. The State Duma considers itself right to declare that it will represent the unanimous aspiration of the entire population on the day when it enacts a law abolishing the death penalty forever. In anticipation of this law, the country awaits the suspension now by your authority, Sovereign, of the execution of all death sentences.

Finding out the needs of the rural population and taking appropriate legislative measures will be the immediate task of the State Duma. The most numerous part of the country's population - the working peasantry - is looking forward to satisfying its urgent land needs, and the first Russian State Duma would not have fulfilled its duty if it had not developed a law to satisfy this urgent need by turning over state, appanage, and cabinet lands for this subject , monastic, church and forced alienation of privately owned lands.

The State Duma also considers it necessary to develop laws that affirm the equal rights of peasants and remove the oppression of arbitrariness and tutelage from them. The State Duma recognizes as equally urgent the satisfaction of the needs of the working class through legislative measures aimed at protecting wage labor. The first step on this path should be to provide wage workers in all branches of labor with freedom of organization and initiative to improve their material and spiritual well-being.

The State Duma will also consider it its duty to make every effort to improve public education, and, above all, to concern itself with the development of a law on universal free education.

Along with these measures, the Duma will pay special attention to the fair distribution of the tax burden, now incorrectly assigned to the poorer classes of the population, and to the expedient use of public funds. No less significant legislative work will be a radical transformation of local government and self-government, involving the entire population in equal participation in the latter on the basis of universal suffrage.

Mindful of the heavy burden that the people bear in Your Majesty’s army and navy, the State Duma will take care of strengthening the principles of justice and law in the army and navy.

The State Duma finally considers it necessary to include among its urgent tasks the resolution of the issue of satisfying the long-standing demands of individual nationalities. Russia is a state inhabited by diverse tribes and nationalities. The spiritual unification of all these tribes and nationalities is possible only by satisfying the need of each of them to preserve and develop originality in certain aspects of life. The State Duma will take care to broadly satisfy these just needs.

Your Imperial Majesty! On the eve of all our work there is one question that worries the soul of the entire people, worries us, the elected representatives of the people, depriving us of the opportunity to calmly begin the first steps of our legislative activity. The first word heard within the walls of the State Duma, greeted by cries of sympathy from the entire Duma, was the word amnesty. The country longs for an amnesty extended to all acts provided for by criminal law, arising from religious or political motives, as well as to all agrarian offences. There are demands of the people's conscience that cannot be denied, and the fulfillment of which must not be delayed. Sovereign, the Duma expects from you a complete political amnesty as the first guarantee of mutual understanding and mutual agreement between the Tsar and the people.

(continuation)

Your Imperial Majesty.

I have anxiety. I myself do not dare to come to you, so as not to disturb you, for you have risen to great heights. I don’t know anything - who you see, who you talk to, who you listen to, and what solution is on your mind. Oh, how I would calm down if I knew that your decision has been made, and your Majesty’s will has been determined.

And I decide to write again, because the hour is terrible, and time is pressing. Either now - save Russia and yourself - or never.

If they sing you the old siren songs about calming down, we must continue in the liberal direction, we must give in to the so-called public opinion, - oh, for God’s sake, don’t believe it, Your Majesty, don’t listen. This will be death, the death of Russia and yours: it is clear to me as day. Your safety will not be protected by this, but will be further reduced. The crazy villains who killed your parent will not be satisfied with any concession and will only become furious. They can be appeased, the evil burden can be pulled out only by fighting them to the stomach and to death, with iron and blood. At least die in the fight, just to win. It is not difficult to win: until now everyone wanted to avoid the fight and deceived the late sovereign, you, themselves, everyone and everything in the world; because they were not people of reason, strength and heart, but flabby eunuchs and magicians.

No, Your Majesty: there is only one true, straight path, to stand on your feet and begin, without falling asleep for a minute, the most holy struggle that has ever happened in Russia. The whole people is waiting for your sovereign decision on this, and as soon as they sense the sovereign will, they will rise, everything will come to life, and the air will become fresher.

The people are excited and embittered; and if the uncertainty continues, riots and bloody massacres can be expected. Latest story with the undermining infuriates the popular feeling even more. They didn’t see it, they didn’t open it; We went to look and found nothing. The people see only one thing here - treason - there is no other word. And they will never understand that it is now possible to leave the old people in place.

And you can’t leave them, Your Majesty. Forgive me my truth. Don't leave Count Loris-Melikov. I don't believe him. He is a magician and can also play doubles. If you give yourself into his hands, he will lead you and Russia to destruction. He only knew how to carry out liberal projects and played a game of internal intrigue. But in the state sense, he himself does not know what he wants - which I myself have expressed to him more than once. And he is not a Russian patriot. Be careful, for God's sake, Your Majesty, that he does not take over your will, and do not waste time.

And if not him, then who! Your Majesty - I see them all and know what pennies they are worth. Of all the names I can tell you, only Gr. Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatiev. He still has healthy instincts and a Russian soul, and his name enjoys good fame among the healthy part of the Russian population - among ordinary people. Take him for the first time, but you need to take someone faithful immediately.

Petersburg should have been declared under martial law from the very first day: in Berlin, after the assassination attempt, they immediately did this and knew how to give orders immediately.

This is a damn place. Your Majesty should leave here immediately after the burial - to a clean place, at least to Moscow, and even better, but abandon this place for now, while it is still decisively cleansed. Let your new government remain here, which also needs to be cleaned from top to bottom. Here in St. Petersburg there will be people, maybe. Baranov will come here tomorrow: I dare to say again that this man can provide Your Majesty with great service, and I have moral power over him.

The new policy must be announced immediately and decisively. It is necessary to end at once, right now, all talk about freedom of the press, about the willfulness of meetings, about a representative assembly. All this is the lie of empty and flabby people, and it must be discarded for the sake of the people's truth and the good of the people.

Saburov cannot be tolerated any longer: he is a completely stupid person, and his stupidity has caused a lot of trouble, and is doing more every day. There would not be so many difficulties in finding a successor for him. Of the named candidates, Baron Nikolai is the most serious; but in anticipation of a lasting appointment, there is an opportunity to immediately entrust management to Delyanov, whom the entire department knows very closely and is a man of sound spirit.

Your Majesty. Forgive me for speaking frankly. But I cannot remain silent - my duty tells you, if I’m not mistaken. You have never felt uncomfortable listening to me. You, of course, felt - despite all my shortcomings - that in your presence I was not looking for anything for myself, and every word I said was sincere. God placed me in such a way that I could speak to you closely, but believe me, I would be happy if I never left Moscow and my small house in a narrow alley.

Fear takes over me when I think that you are alone, that you have no one to rely on. For God's sake, if you would like to talk more closely about what I write, order me to appear - I am at your service every hour and every minute. Of my own accord, I now have no right to come to you. Call the old man, Mr. Stroganov: he is a man of truth, an old servant of your ancestors, a witness and figure of the great historical events. He is on the edge of the grave, but his head is fresh, and his heart is Russian. There is no other person in Russia with whom it would be more favorable for you to have advice at this terrible moment. Today he came to me, excited, upset, filled with anxious concern for you and for Russia.

God! God! Save us

But we are God's people and we must act. The fate of Russia on earth is in the hands of Your Majesty. God bless you to speak the word of truth and freedom, and a regiment of true Russians will gather around you healthy people- to fight for life and death for the good, for the entire future of Russia.

Your Imperial Majesty's loyal subject, Konstantin Pobedonostsev

: I propose: speech etiquette in the Russian Empire of the early twentieth century in everyday life and in the army. From janitor to emperor.We read books, watch movies and TV series, go to theaters... We encounter “your excellency” and “your excellency.” However, clear canons regulating the norms of circulation in detail are difficult to find, and those works that exist are fragmentary and of little use. How's the dark?

The word "etiquette" was coined by the French king. Louis XIV in the 17th century. At one of the magnificent receptions of this monarch, the invitees were given cards with rules of behavior that guests must observe. From French name cards - “labels” - and the concept of “etiquette” came about - good manners, good manners, ability to behave in society. At the courts of European monarchs, court etiquette was strictly observed, the implementation of which required both the august persons and those around them to comply with strictly regulated rules and norms of behavior, sometimes reaching the point of absurdity. For example, the Spanish king Philip III preferred to burn in front of his fireplace (his lace caught fire) than to put out the fire himself (the person responsible for the court fire ceremony was absent).

Speech etiquette– “nationally specific rules of speech behavior, implemented in a system of stable formulas and expressions in situations of “polite” contact with an interlocutor accepted and prescribed by society. Such situations are: addressing the interlocutor and attracting his attention, greeting, introduction, farewell, apology, gratitude, etc.” (Russian language. Encyclopedia).

Thus, speech etiquette represents the norms of people’s social adaptation to each other; it is designed to help organize effective interaction, restrain aggression (both one’s own and that of others), and serve as a means of creating an image of “one’s own” in a given culture, in a given situation.

Speech etiquette in the narrow sense of understanding this term is used in etiquette communication situations when performing certain etiquette actions. These actions can have the meaning of motivation (request, advice, proposal, command, order, demand), reaction (reactive speech acts: agreement, disagreement, objection, refusal, permission), social contact in the conditions of establishing contact (apology, gratitude, congratulations) , its continuation and completion.

Accordingly, the main etiquette genres are: greeting, farewell, apology, gratitude, congratulations, request, consolation, refusal, objection... Speech etiquette extends to oral and written communication.

Moreover, for each speech genre speech etiquette characterized by a wealth of synonymous formulas, the choice of which is determined by the sphere of communication, the characteristics of the communicative situation and the nature of the relationship between the communicators. For example, in a greeting situation: Hello! Good morning! Good afternoon Good evening! (Very) glad to welcome (see) you! Let me welcome you! Welcome! My regards! Hello! What a meeting! What a meeting! Who do I see! and etc.

Thus, greeting helps not only to perform the appropriate etiquette speech action when meeting, but also to set a certain frame of communication, to signal official ( Let me welcome you!) or unofficial ( Hello! What a meeting!) relationships, set a certain tone, for example, humorous, if the young man answers the greeting: My regards! etc. The rest of the label formulas are similarly distributed according to their scope of use.

Addressing (orally or in writing) to persons with ranks was strictly regulated and was called a title. All slaves should have known these sweet words as “OUR FATHER.” OTHERWISE THERE COULD BE BIG TROUBLES!!!

Subjects of the Russian sovereign were certainly punished for registering the royal title. And also the punishment depended on the seriousness of the offense. Punishment on this issue was the prerogative of the highest authority. The measure of punishment was fixed either in the royal decree or in the royal decree with a boyar sentence. The most common punishments were whipping or whipping, and short term imprisonment. Not only the fact of distorting the title of the Russian sovereign, but also the application of one or more of its formulas to a person who did not have royal dignity was subject to inevitable punishment. Even in an allegorical sense, subjects of the Moscow sovereign were forbidden to use the words “tsar”, “majesty”, etc. in relation to each other. If such a fact occurred, it served as a reason for starting a search operation and was placed under the control of the highest authority. An indicative example is the “Tsar’s personal decree “On cutting the tongue of Pronka Kozulin, if the search turns out that he called Demka Prokofiev the king of Ivashka Tatariinov.” It can be said that during the period under review, an attack on the royal title was actually equated with an attack on the sovereign.

Noble etiquette.

The following title formulas were used: respectful and official address was “Dear sir, dear madam.” This is how they addressed strangers, or with a sudden cooling or aggravation of relations. In addition, all official documents began with such appeals.

Then the first syllable was dropped and the words appeared "sir, madam". This is how they began to address wealthy and educated people, usually strangers.

In the official environment (civilian and military), the following rules of address existed: the junior in rank and title was required to address the senior in title - from “Your Honor” to “Your Excellency”; to persons royal family– “Your Highness” and “Your Majesty”; the emperor and his wife were addressed as “Your Imperial Majesty”; Grand Dukes (close relatives of the Emperor and his wife) were titled “Imperial Highness.”

Often the adjective “imperial” was omitted, and when communicating, only the words “Majesty” and “Highness” were used (“To His Majesty with an errand ...”).

Princes who did not belong to the reigning house, and counts with their wives and unmarried daughters, were titled “Your Excellency”, the most serene princes - “Your Grace”.

Higher-ranking officials addressed their subordinates with the word “Mr.,” with the addition of their surname or rank (position). People equal in title addressed each other without a title formula (for example, “Listen, Count...”).

Common people, who did not know ranks and insignia, used such addresses as master, mistress, father, mother, sir, madam, and for girls - young lady. And the most respectful form of addressing a master, regardless of his rank, was “Your Honor.”

Military etiquette. The system of appeals corresponded to the system of military ranks. Full generals are supposed to say Your Excellency, lieutenant generals and major generals - Your Excellency. Officers, sub-ensigns and candidates for a class position are called superiors and senior staff and chief officers by rank, adding the word Mr., for example, Mr. Captain, Mr. Colonel, other lower ranks title staff officers and captains - Your Highness, other chief officers - Your Honor (those with a count or princely title - Your Excellency).

Departmental etiquette used largely the same system of addresses as the military one.

In the Russian state in the XVI - XVII centuries there was a practice of maintaining “ranks” - rank books in which records were annually made of the appointments of service people to the highest military and government positions and about royal commissions to individual officials.

The first discharge book was compiled in 1556 under Ivan the Terrible and covered all appointments for 80 years from 1475 (starting from the reign of Ivan III). The book was kept in the Discharge Order. In the order Grand Palace In parallel, a book of “palace ranks” was kept, in which “everyday entries” were entered about appointments and assignments in the court services of serving people. Rank books were abolished under Peter I, who introduced a unified system of ranks, enshrined in the Table of Ranks of 1722.

“Table of ranks of all military, civil and court ranks”- law on the procedure for civil service in the Russian Empire (ratio of ranks by seniority, sequence of ranks). Approved on January 24 (February 4), 1722 by Emperor Peter I, it existed with numerous changes until the 1917 revolution.

Quote: “Table of ranks of all ranks, military, civil and courtiers, who are in which rank; and who are in the same class"- Peter I January 24, 1722

The Table of Ranks established the ranks of 14 classes, each of which corresponded to a specific position in the military, naval, civil or court service.

In russian language term "rank" means degree of distinction, rank, rank, rank, category, class. By decree of the Soviet government of December 16, 1917, all ranks, class ranks and titles were abolished. Nowadays, the term "rank" is preserved in Navy Russia (captain of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd rank), in the hierarchy of diplomats and employees of a number of other departments.

When addressing persons who had certain ranks of the “Table of Ranks,” persons of equal or lower rank were required to use the following titles (depending on the class):

“YOUR EXCELLENCY” - to persons in the ranks of 1st and 2nd classes;

“YOUR EXCELLENCY” - to persons in the ranks of 3 and 4 classes;

“YOUR HIGHNESS” - to persons in the ranks of 5th class;

“YOUR HONOR” - to persons in the ranks of grades 6–8;

“YOUR NOBILITY” - to persons in the ranks of grades 9–14.

In addition, in Russia there were titles used when addressing members of the Imperial House of Romanov and persons of noble origin:

"YOUR IMPERIAL MAJESTY" - to the Emperor, Empress and Empress Dowager;

“YOUR IMPERIAL HIGHNESS” - to the grand dukes (the children and grandchildren of the emperor, and in 1797–1886, the great-grandsons and great-great-grandchildren of the emperor);

"YOUR HIGHness" - to the princes of the imperial blood;

“YOUR LORDSHIP” - to the younger children of the great-grandsons of the emperor and their male descendants, as well as to the most serene princes by grant;

“YOUR LORD” - to princes, counts, dukes and barons;

“YOUR NOBILITY” - to all other nobles.

When addressing clergy in Russia, the following titles were used:

“YOUR EMPLOYMENT” - to metropolitans and archbishops;

“YOUR Eminence” - to the bishops;

“YOUR REVERENCE” - to archimandrites and abbots of monasteries, archpriests and priests;

“YOUR REVERENCE” - to archdeacons and deacons.

If an official was appointed to a position of a class that was higher than his rank, he used the general title of the position (for example, the provincial leader of the nobility used the title of III-IV classes - “your excellency”, even if by rank or origin he had the title “your nobility"). When written by official When lower officials addressed higher officials, both titles were called, and the private one was used both by position and by rank and followed the general title (for example, “His Excellency Comrade Minister of Finance Privy Councilor”). From ser. 19th century the private title by rank and surname began to be omitted. When addressing a lower official in a similar manner, only the private title of the position was retained (the surname was not indicated). Equal officials addressed each other either as inferiors, or by name and patronymic, indicating the common title and surname in the margins of the document. Honorary titles (except for the title of member of the State Council) were usually also included in the title, and in this case the private title by rank was usually omitted. Persons who did not have a rank used a general title in accordance with the classes to which the title belonging to them was equated (for example, chamber cadets and manufactory advisers received the right to the general title “your honor”). When speaking orally to higher ranks, a general title was used; to equal and inferior citizens. ranks were addressed by first and patronymic or last name; to the military ranks - by rank with or without the addition of a surname. Lower ranks had to address sub-ensigns and non-commissioned officers by rank with the addition of the word “Mr.” (for example, “Mr. Sergeant Major”). There were also titles by origin (by “dignity”).

A special system of private and general titles existed for the clergy. The monastic (black) clergy was divided into 5 ranks: the metropolitan and archbishop were titled “your eminence”, the bishop – “your eminence”, the archimandrite and abbot – “your eminence”. The three highest ranks were also called bishops, and they could be addressed with the general title "sovereign". The white clergy had 4 ranks: archpriest and priest (priest) were titled - “your reverence”, protodeacon and deacon - “your reverence”.
All persons who had ranks (military, civil, courtiers) wore uniforms, according to their type of service and rank class. The ranks of the I-IV classes had a red lining in their overcoats. Special uniforms were reserved for persons who held honorary titles (secretary of state, chamberlain, etc.). The ranks of the imperial retinue wore shoulder straps and epaulets with the imperial monogram and aiguillettes.

The conferment of ranks and honorary titles, as well as the appointment to positions, the awarding of orders, etc., was formalized by the orders of the tsar in military and civil matters. and court departments and was noted in the official (service) lists. The latter were introduced back in 1771, but received their final form and began to be carried out systematically in 1798 as a mandatory document for each of the persons who were in the state. service. These lists are an important historical source when studying the official biography of these individuals. Since 1773, lists of citizens began to be published annually. ranks (including courtiers) of classes I-VIII; after 1858, the publication of lists of ranks I-III and separately IV classes continued. Similar lists of generals, colonels, lieutenant colonels and army captains were also published, as well as “List of persons who were in the naval department and fleet admirals, staff and chief officers...”.

After the February Revolution of 1917, the title system was simplified. Ranks, ranks and titles were abolished by the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of November 10. 1917 “On the destruction of estates and civil ranks.”

In everyday business settings (business, work situations), speech etiquette formulas are also used. For example, when summing up the results of work, when determining the results of selling goods or participating in exhibitions, when organizing various events, meetings, the need arises to thank someone or, conversely, to reprimand or make a remark. At any job, in any organization, someone may have the need to give advice, make a proposal, make a request, express consent, allow, prohibit, or refuse someone.

Here are the speech cliches that are used in these situations.

Expression of gratitude:

Let me (let me) express my (great, great) gratitude to Nikolai Petrovich Bystrov for the excellent (excellent) organized exhibition.

The company (directorate, administration) expresses gratitude to all employees (teaching staff) for…

I must express my gratitude to the head of the supply department for...

Let me (let me) express my great (huge) gratitude...

For the provision of any service, for help, an important message, or a gift, it is customary to thank with the following words:

I am grateful to you for...

-(Big, huge) thank you (you) for...

-(I am) very (so) grateful to you!

The emotionality and expressiveness of expressing gratitude is enhanced if you say:

There are no words to express (my) gratitude to you!

I am so grateful to you that it is difficult for me to find words!

You can't imagine how grateful I am to you!

– My gratitude has no (knows) no boundaries!

Note, warning:

The company (directorate, board, editorial office) is forced to issue a (serious) warning (remark)…

To (great) regret (chagrin), I must (force) make a remark (condemn) ...

Often people, especially those in power, consider it necessary to express their suggestions, advice in categorical form:

All (you) must (must)…

You should definitely do this...

Advice and suggestions expressed in this form are similar to orders or instructions and do not always give rise to a desire to follow them, especially if the conversation takes place between colleagues of the same rank. Inducement to action by advice or suggestion can be expressed in a delicate, polite or neutral form:

Let me (let me) give you advice (advise you)…

Let me offer you...

-(I) want (I would like, I would like) to advise (offer) you...

I would advise (suggest) you...

I advise (suggest) you...

Appeal with the request should be delicate, extremely polite, but without excessive ingratiation:

Do me a favor and fulfill (my) request...

If it’s not difficult for you (it won’t be difficult for you)…

Don’t consider it a labor, please take it...

-(Can) I ask you...

- (Please), (I beg you) allow me...

The request can be expressed with some categoricalness:

I urgently (convincingly, very) ask you (you) ...

Agreement, The resolution is formulated as follows:

-(Now, immediately) will be done (completed).

Please (I allow, I don’t object).

I agree to let you go.

I agree, do (do) as you think.

In case of failure expressions used:

-(I) cannot (unable, unable) to help (allow, assist).

-(I) cannot (unable, unable) to fulfill your request.

It is currently not possible to do this.

Understand that now is not the time to ask (make such a request).

Sorry, but we (I) cannot (can) fulfill your request.

– I am forced to prohibit (refuse, not allow).

Among business people of any rank, it is customary to resolve issues that are especially important to them in a semi-official setting. For this purpose, hunting, fishing, outings are organized, followed by an invitation to a dacha, a restaurant, a sauna. Speech etiquette also changes in accordance with the situation; it becomes less formal and acquires a relaxed, emotionally expressive character. But even in such an environment, subordination is observed, a familiar tone of expression, or speech “looseness” is not allowed.

An important component of speech etiquette is compliment. Said tactfully and at the right time, it lifts the mood of the recipient and sets him up for a positive attitude towards his opponent. A compliment is said at the beginning of a conversation, during a meeting, acquaintance, or during a conversation, when parting. A compliment is always nice. Only an insincere compliment, a compliment for the sake of a compliment, an overly enthusiastic compliment are dangerous.

The compliment refers to appearance, indicates the recipient’s excellent professional abilities, his high morality, and gives an overall positive assessment:

You look good (excellent, wonderful, excellent, magnificent, young).

You do not change (have not changed, do not grow old).

Time spares you (does not take you).

You are (so, very) charming (smart, quick-witted, resourceful, reasonable, practical).

You are a good (excellent, excellent, excellent) specialist (economist, manager, entrepreneur, partner).

You run (your) business (business, trade, construction) well (excellent, excellent, excellent).

You know how to lead (manage) people well (excellently) and organize them.

It’s a pleasure (good, excellent) to do business (work, cooperate) with you.

Communication presupposes the presence of one more term, one more component, which manifests itself throughout the entire communication, is its integral part, and serves as a bridge from one replica to another. And at the same time, the norm of use and the form of the term itself have not been finally established, cause disagreement, and are a sore point of Russian speech etiquette.

This is eloquently stated in a letter published in Komsomolskaya Pravda (24.01.91) for signed by Andrey. They posted a letter entitled “ Extra people" Let's give it without abbreviations:

We are probably the only country in the world where people do not address each other. We don't know how to contact a person! Man, woman, girl, granny, comrade, citizen - ugh! Or maybe a female person, a male person! And easier - hey! We are nobody! Neither for the state, nor for each other!

The author of the letter, in an emotional form, quite sharply, using language data, raises the question of the position of man in our state. Thus, the syntactic unit is appeal– becomes a socially significant category.

To understand this, it is necessary to understand what is unique about address in the Russian language and what its history is.

From time immemorial, circulation has performed several functions. The main one is to attract the attention of the interlocutor. This - vocative function.

Since they are used as proper names as addresses (Anna Sergeevna, Igor, Sasha), and names of people according to degree of relationship (father, uncle, grandfather), by position in society, by profession, position (president, general, minister, director, accountant), by age and gender (old man, boy, girl), address other than vocative function indicates the corresponding sign.

Finally, appeals can be expressive and emotionally charged, contain an assessment: Lyubochka, Marinusya, Lyubka, a blockhead, a dunce, a klutz, a rogue, a smart girl, a beauty. The peculiarity of such addresses is that they characterize both the addressee and the addressee himself, the degree of his education, attitude towards the interlocutor, and emotional state.

The given address words are used in an informal situation, only some of them, for example, proper names (in their basic form), names of professions, positions, serve as addresses in official speech.

A distinctive feature of officially accepted appeals in Rus' was the reflection of the social stratification of society, such a characteristic feature as veneration of rank.

Isn’t that why the root in Russian is rank proved to be prolific, giving life

In words: official, bureaucracy, dean, deanery, love of rank, veneration of rank, bureaucrat, officialdom, disorderly, disorderly, destroyer of rank, destroyer of rank, admirer of rank, stealer of rank, decorum, decency, submit, subordination,

Word combinations: not by rank, distribute by rank, rank by rank, large rank, without sorting ranks, without rank, rank by rank;

Proverbs: Honor the rank of the rank, and sit on the edge of the youngest; The bullet does not distinguish the officials; For a fool of great rank, there is room everywhere; There are two whole ranks: a fool and a fool; And he would be in rank, but it’s a pity, his pockets are empty.

Also indicative are the formulas of dedications, addresses and signatures of the author himself, which were cultivated in the 18th century. For example, the work of M.V. Lomonosov's “Russian Grammar” (1755) begins with the dedication:

To the Most Serene Sovereign, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, Duke of Holstein-Schleswig, Storman and Ditmar, Count of Oldenburg and Dolmangor, and so on, to the Most Gracious Sovereign...

Then comes the appeal:

Most Serene Sovereign, Grand Duke, Most Gracious Sovereign!

And signature:

Your Imperial Majesty's most humble slave, Mikhail Lomonosov.

The social stratification of society, the inequality that existed in Russia for several centuries, was reflected in the system of official appeals.

Firstly, there was the document “Table of Ranks”, published in 1717–1721, which was then republished in a slightly modified form. It listed military (army and naval), civil and court ranks. Each category of ranks was divided into 14 classes. So, they belonged to the 3rd class lieutenant general, lieutenant general; Vice Admiral; Privy Councillor; marshal, master of horse, jägermeister, chamberlain, chief master of ceremonies; to 6th grade – colonel; captain 1st rank; collegiate advisor; camera fourier; by 12th grade – cornet, cornet; midshipman; provincial secretary.

In addition to the named ranks, which determined the system of appeals, there were Your Excellency, Your Excellency, Your Excellency, Your Highness, Your Majesty, Most Gracious (Merciful) Sovereign, Sovereign and etc.

Secondly, the monarchical system in Russia until the 20th century maintained the division of people into classes. A class-organized society was characterized by a hierarchy of rights and responsibilities, class inequality and privileges. Classes were distinguished: nobles, clergy, commoners, merchants, townspeople, peasants. Hence the appeals sir, madam towards people of privilege social groups; sir, madam - for the middle class or master, lady for both, and the lack of a uniform appeal to representatives of the lower class. Here is what Lev Uspensky writes about this:

My father was a major official and engineer. His views were very radical, and by origin he was “from the third estate” - a commoner. But even if the fantasy had even occurred to him to say on the street: “Hey, sir, on Vyborgskaya!” or: “Mr. Cabby, are you free?” he wouldn't be happy. The driver, most likely, would have taken him for a drunken guy, or he would have simply gotten angry: “It’s a sin, master, to break down with a simple person! Well, what kind of “master” am I to you? You should be ashamed!” (Koms. pr. 11/18/77).

In the languages ​​of other civilized countries, unlike Russian, there were addresses that were used both in relation to a person occupying a high position in society and to an ordinary citizen: Mr, Mrs, Miss(England, USA), senor, senora, senorita(Spain), signor, signora, signorina(Italy), sir, lady(Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia).

“In France,” writes L. Uspensky, “even the concierge at the entrance to the house calls the landlady “Madame”; but the hostess, albeit without any respect, will address her employee in the same way: “Bonjour, Madame I see!” A millionaire who accidentally gets into a taxi will call the driver “Monsieur,” and the taxi driver will tell him, opening the door: “Sil vou plait, Monsieur!” - “Please, sir!” There, too, this is the norm” (ibid.).

After October revolution All old ranks and titles are abolished by a special decree. Universal equality is proclaimed. Appeals sir - madam, master - lady, sir - madam, dear sir (empress) gradually disappear. Only diplomatic language preserves the formulas of international politeness. Thus, the heads of monarchical states are addressed: Your Majesty, Your Excellency; foreign diplomats continue to be called Mr. - Mrs.

Instead of all the appeals that existed in Russia, starting from 1917–1918, the appeals are becoming widespread citizen And comrade. The history of these words is remarkable and instructive.

Word citizen recorded in monuments of the 11th century. It came into the Old Russian language from the Old Church Slavonic language and served as a phonetic version of the word city ​​dweller Both meant “resident of the city (city).” In this meaning citizen also found in texts dating back to the 19th century. So A.S. Pushkin has these lines:

Not a demon - not even a gypsy,
But just a citizen of the capital.

In the 18th century, this word acquired the meaning of “a full member of society, the state.”

The most boring title, of course, was the emperor.

Who was usually called “sovereign”?

Word sovereign in Russia in the old days they used it indifferently, instead of lord, master, landowner, nobleman. In the 19th century, the tsar was addressed as the Most Gracious Sovereign, the great princes were addressed as the Most Gracious Sovereign, all private individuals were addressed as the Most Gracious Sovereign (when addressing a superior), my gracious Sovereign (to an equal), my Sovereign (to an inferior). The words sudar (also with emphasis on the second syllable), sudarik (friendly) were used mainly in oral speech.

When addressing men and women at the same time, they often say “Ladies and gentlemen!” This is an unsuccessful tracing with in English(Ladies and Gentlemen). In Russian the word gentlemen equally correlated with forms singular sir And madam, and “madam” is included in the number of “gentlemen”.

After the October Revolution, “sir”, “madam”, “mister”, “madam” were replaced by the word "comrade". It removed differences in gender (both men and women were addressed this way) and social status (since it was impossible to address a person with a low status as “sir” or “madam”). The word comrade with a surname before the revolution indicated membership in the revolutionary political party, including communists.

Words "citizen"/"citizen" were intended for those who were not yet seen as “comrades”, and are still associated today with courtroom reporting rather than with the French Revolution, which introduced them into the practice of speech. Well, after perestroika, some “comrades” became “masters”, and circulation remained only in the communist environment.

Letter from Ataman Krasnov to Kaiser Wilhelm with a request for help and recognition of the separation of part of the territory of the Great Don Army from Russia.

Letter from Ataman Krasnov to Emperor Wilhelm II of the German Empire.

“Your Imperial and Royal Majesty! The bearer of this letter, Ataman of the Zimovaya Stanitsa (envoy) of the All-Great Don Army at the Court of Your Imperial Majesty and his comrades, are authorized by me, the Don Ataman, to greet Your Imperial Majesty, the powerful monarch of great Germany and to convey the following:

Two months of valiant struggle Don Cossacks, which they are leading for the freedom of their homeland with such courage with which the Boers, kindred to the German people, recently fought against the British against the British, were crowned with complete victory on all fronts of our state, and now the land of the Great Don Army is nine-tenths freed from wild Red Guard bands.

State order within the country was strengthened, and complete legality was established. Thanks to the friendly assistance of Your Imperial Majesty's troops, silence was created in the south of the army, and I prepared a corps of Cossacks to maintain order within the country and prevent the onslaught of enemies from without. It is difficult for a young state organism, which is currently the Don Army, to exist alone and therefore it entered into a close alliance with the heads of the Astrakhan and Kuban troops, Colonel Prince Tundutov and Colonel Filimonov, so that after clearing the land of the Astrakhan army and the Kuban region from the Bolsheviks, make a strong public education on the basis of a federation from the Great Don Army, the Astrakhan army with the Kalmyks of the Stavropol province, the Kuban army, and subsequently, as the liberation proceeded, the Terek army, as well as peoples North Caucasus. There is agreement among all these powers.

And the newly formed state, in full agreement with the All-Great Don Army, decided not to allow its lands to become the scene of bloody clashes and pledged to maintain complete neutrality.
The Ataman of our Zimovaya village at the court of Your Imperial Majesty is authorized by me to ask Your Imperial Majesty to recognize the rights of the All-Great Don Army to independent existence, and as the last Kuban, Astrakhan and Terek troops and the North Caucasus are liberated, the right to independent existence of the entire federation under the name Dono- Caucasian Union.
To ask Your Imperial Majesty to recognize the borders of the All-Great Don Army in its former geographical and ethnographic dimensions, to help resolve the dispute between Ukraine and the Don Army over Taganrog and its district in favor of the Don Army, which has owned the Taganrog District for more than five hundred years and for which the Taganrog District is part of Tmutarakan, from which the Don Army became.

To ask Your Majesty to facilitate the annexation of the cities of Kamyshin and Tsaritsyn in the Saratov province and the cities of Voronezh and the stations of Liski and Povorino to the Army for strategic reasons and to draw the border of the Don Army^, as indicated on the map available in the Zimovaya village.
ask Your Majesty to put pressure on Soviet authorities Moscow and force them with their order to clear the borders of the All-Great Don Army and other powers that have access to the Don-Caucasian Union from the robber detachments of the Red Guard and make it possible to restore normal, peaceful relations between Moscow and the Don Army. All losses to the population of the Don Army, trade and industry resulting from the Bolshevik invasion must be compensated Soviet Russia. To ask Your Imperial Majesty to help our young state with guns, rifles, ammunition and engineering equipment, and if you find this beneficial, to establish gun, rifle, shell and cartridge factories within the Don Army.

The All-Great Don Army and other states of the Don-Caucasian Union will not forget the friendly service of the German people, with whom the Cossacks fought shoulder to shoulder during the Thirty Years' War, when the Don regiments were in the ranks of Wallenstein's army, and in 1807 and 1813 the Don Cossacks with their Ataman Count Platov fought for the freedom of Germany. And now, almost 31/* years of bloody war on the fields of Prussia, Galicia, Bukovina and Poland, the Cossacks and Germans have mutually learned to respect the courage and steadfastness of their troops and now, holding out their hands to each other, like two noble fighters, they are fighting together for the freedom of their native Don.

The All-Great Don Army undertakes, for the service of Your Imperial Majesty, to maintain complete neutrality during the world struggle of peoples and not to allow armed forces hostile to the German people into its territory, to which the Ataman of the Astrakhan Army, Prince, gave his consent. Tundutov and the Kuban government, and upon accession the rest of the Don-Caucasian Union.

The All-Great Don Army grants the German Empire the right of preferential export of surpluses to meet local needs of bread, grain and flour, leather goods and raw materials, wool, fish products, vegetable and animal fats and oils and products made from them, tobacco goods and products, livestock and horses, grape wine and other horticultural and agricultural products, in return for which the German Empire will deliver agricultural machinery, chemical products and tanning extracts, equipment for an expedition for the procurement of government papers with an appropriate supply of materials, equipment for cloth, cotton, leather, chemical, sugar and other factories and electrical engineering accessories.

In addition, the government of the All-Great Don Army will provide German industry with special benefits for investing capital in Don industrial and commercial enterprises, in particular for the construction and operation of new waterways and other routes. A close agreement promises mutual benefits, and friendship, welded by blood spilled on common battlefields warlike peoples Germans and Cossacks, will become a powerful force to fight all our enemies.

This letter is addressed to Your Imperial Majesty not by a diplomat and a subtle expert in international law, but by a soldier accustomed to respecting the strength of German weapons in a fair battle, and therefore I ask you to forgive the directness of my tone, which is alien to any tricks, and I ask you to believe in the sincerity of my feelings.

Respecting you, Donskoy Ataman, Major General Krasnov.”

The edition of the manifesto sent from Your Imperial Majesty did not seem satisfactory to me. It was copied (as you can see from the attached book) from a similar manifesto dated April 17, 1856, and this is quite inconvenient. It seems to me that for the sake of decency the editorial staff should be diversified. Moreover, the current edition, with some changes, seems to me weaker than the previous one. I preferred to draw up a new one, which I present to Your Majesty’s discretion.

At that time one could point to the Peace of Paris as a clear sign that “the former calm has been returned to Russia,” that is, a peaceful state has returned after a disastrous war. Now it is impossible to point out such a sign, and therefore I really don’t like the phrase: “Now, when all-good providence returns Russia to its former calm” (as if it were in internal state in the last years of the last reign).

I think that it is much more decent not to mention this at all, but to go straight to the idea that the time has come, etc. And before that it was said in general about calming the indignant feelings of the people. In the same way, I found it necessary to change the formula of prayer. At the beginning I put the phrase: “during times of unrest.” If this word turmoil seemed too harsh, it could be released, leaving only the words “in a moment of terrible shock.”

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

One more note. At the end I put: concern for the welfare of the people, and not the peoples, as it was said in the previous and in the printed edition. And in 1856 this word: peoples - seemed strange. They noticed that the Austrian emperor can talk about his people, but we have one people and one power.

With heartfelt gratitude I return to Your Majesty the letters of V. A. Zhukovsky. Truly it was a simple, pure and clear soul - and all of it is reflected in the letter dated August 30, 1843.

When you read this letter, your thoughts involuntarily turn to the era when it was written - 40 years ago. This was the clearest and most brilliant time of the reign of Emperor Nicholas. Much around the poet was simple and clear; The tasks of life, which have since become unimaginably complicated and confused, also seemed simple and clear. There are times when the road ahead is wide and you can see where to go. There are other times when there is fog ahead, around the swamp. That time and now - what a difference - it’s as if the world around us has changed. The thought involuntarily comes to mind: this simple soul, this clear thought - how would Zhukovsky have expressed it if he had written not in 1843, but at least twenty years later?

And God did not want him to live to see the time when his sovereign pupil became Emperor and entered into business. It seems that for the late Sovereign and for all of Russia, the presence - only the presence - of a person with such a soul, with a direct and clear view of a Russian person on affairs and people, would be an invaluable blessing. With Zhukovsky - and maybe only with him - the late Sovereign would have been able to speak directly, without the slightest shadow, and would have accepted his word with complete confidence. Zhukovsky, with his clear instinct, would have understood everything that was false in many of the measures that were presented to the Sovereign during the era of reforms, and would have pointed directly to the danger that threatened those fundamental principles of government, which he so simply and clearly set out in his letter. And when you remember what kind of people at that time - in the mid-60s - decided the fate of these reforms, you will regret, with human reasoning, that Zhukovsky did not exist. But apparently it was God’s will that there should be neither him nor others like him.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

Once again I dare to appear as a petitioner to Your Imperial Majesty - to beg for help for a good cause.

You will please remember how several years ago I reported to you about Sergei Rachinsky, a respectable man who, having left his professorship at Moscow University, went to live on his estate, in the most remote forest wilderness of the Belsky district of the Smolensk province, and has been living there forever now for more than 14 years, working from morning to night for the benefit of the people. He breathed completely new life into a whole generation of peasants who were sitting in pitch darkness, became truly a benefactor of an entire area, founded and runs, with the help of 4 priests, 5 public schools, which now represent a model for the whole earth. This is a wonderful person. He gives everything he has and all the resources of his estate to this cause, limiting his needs to the last degree. Meanwhile, the business is growing under his hands, and he is already forced to reduce it due to lack of funds.

In addition to schools, he set up a special hospital for syphilis, which, as you know, in other areas is an ulcer of the population in villages, transmitted hereditarily from one generation to another. This hospital is extremely helpful; but, unfortunately, it too must close.

“Alas!” Rachinsky wrote to me in December last year, “this undertaking is too expensive for me to hope to receive funds from anywhere for its further support. Her annual budget is 600 rubles (paramedic - 300, sick care - 200, servants, medicines, lighting - about 100 rubles. Heating is provided by her brother). But not only that, the temporary premises are worthless; we need a building that will cost 1,500 rubles. There are 4 permanently occupied beds in the hospital; 21 people were treated for 9 months; at home - about 90. It is undoubtedly useful - syphilis, except in exceptional cases, is probably curable (the paramedic is excellent, the doctor comes six times a year). But I cannot continue this business except on debt. This is madness that I decided on - and now I don’t know what to do.”

And the other day he writes: “It’s a difficult but necessary task to put my budget in order... The closure of the hospital will follow in May (in winter the hand does not rise - there are so many patients).”

Forgive me, Your Majesty, for bothering you with reading all of the above. My thought is this: while a person who knows how to conduct such a good work for the people and puts his soul into it is still alive, it is worth supporting him. You allowed me to ask, and this time I make up my mind. Would you be kind enough to donate 2,000 rubles to support this hospital, of which 1,500 will go towards the building and 500 towards maintenance for a year? This gift from Your Majesty will encourage and enliven with joy all those who labor in this work.

I consider it my duty to add that Rachinsky himself has no idea of ​​asking, expecting or hoping for anything from Your Majesty’s generosity.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

Forgive me, Your Imperial Majesty, that I dare to bother you again with a letter on the same matter. And now, like that time, I have only one goal in mind - the good of Your Imperial Majesty and the dignity of power in difficult times. I continue to consider this matter a matter of great importance, precisely in view of the coronation and the existing popular mood.

Just now I saw Count Tolstoy, to whom you deigned to send my letter. I learned that on the theater case, Count Vorontsov presented a report to Your Majesty, which received approval.

I would not hesitate to say to Count Vorontsov that he should not have done this without consulting in such an important matter with other persons other than the ranks of the theater management. It turns out that, wanting to secure the consent of another ministry, he had an explanation with Count three months ago on the same subject. Tolstoy and received from gr. Tolstoy’s answer is that Russian opera performances cannot be allowed during Lent, since this is contrary to the already announced Imperial command of 1881.

Regardless of that, gr. Vorontsov decided to come in with a report to Your Majesty directly.

The meaning of the Highest Command is clear, and the present resolution amounts to a revocation of it. This is how it will be accepted by the people. You can explain as much as you like that opera is a combination of living pictures and music. This may be understandable to St. Petersburg society, but in Russia they will not understand it, but they remember very well that in the past, before the Highest command requested by Count. Adlerberg, no operas were allowed to be presented. Based on the same logic, nothing prevents ballet from being allowed: there is not even a conversation here, and dancing is not directly mentioned in the text of the law.

It occurred to Count Tolstoy whether it should now be placed in the “Government. Vestnik” a note explaining that opera is supposedly not a dramatic performance, but a combination of a living picture with music. But I rejected this idea: such an announcement on behalf of the government would not reassure anyone, but would only strengthen the grave impression.

Your Majesty! This is the last [time] I’m bothering you with these lines regarding the present case. But the duty of my rank and my heartfelt concern tells me to say again: the impression will be grave. It would have been less severe if permission had followed later, a year later or several years later. But now... now people will refuse to believe at first. Moreover, the coronation is being prepared in Moscow, and the main petition came from Moscow to close theaters during Lent, and in Moscow the permission for performances resonated most sensitively. It is necessary to preserve the people's feeling in its religious element precisely now, when it is so inclined before the coronation. This is how the groom protects the bride’s shy feeling before marriage...

There will be many people who will say that these are empty whims on the part of the synod, that this is priestly fanaticism, etc. The Synod knows nothing about the present case, and the point is not in it, but in the people’s feeling, which will never understand how there can be performances in those days when every day in church it is read: “Lord, the Lord of my life.” Ordinary people will also not understand how the royal word, greeted by all the people with such joy in the days of mourning and weeping, could suddenly change.

I dare to assure Your Majesty that my pride is not at all involved in this matter. Although the Highest command of 1881 was not asked for by me, and gr. Vorontsov, who did not listen to the advice of the Minister of Internal Affairs, did not want to consult with me - this does not offend me personally at all. I will intervene in this matter because I deeply feel the importance of the present moment for the whole reign, all the difficulty of the present era and all the burden of the burden placed on you by God's providence. It hurts me that others don’t feel this, but I can’t shy away and say: it’s none of my business.

The order to allow opera performances is internal, at home, at the Imperial Theatres. It was not announced anywhere. Apparently, it would not be difficult to cancel it while there is still time. Even if this resulted in a loss for the theater box office, it would not be worth the embarrassment that would arise from putting the order into effect. All this depends solely on the will of Your Imperial Majesty. Your heart is in the will of God, and may God send you the right decision.

Your Imperial Majesty
loyal subject
Konstantin Pobedonostsev

The other day I saw old Dobryansky, who came here for several days from Germany, secretly, so that agents of the Austrian government would not find out about his trip to Russia. He tells a lot of terrible and instructive things.

The monstrous trial on charges of high treason, brought against Dobryansky, Naumovich and other, the best and most valiant people of the Russian people, amazed sensible people throughout Europe. On behalf of the government, without the slightest reason, an accusation was raised of a crime entailing death penalty, at the Russian people, only because they wanted to remain Russian and keep their church to themselves! These people were locked up in prison for 7 months, tortured and subjected to shame and insults at trial. The court did not find them criminally guilty. Everyone asked in surprise: how crazy must a government be that allows such lawless persecution, needlessly irritating an entire nation with it?

But here’s what’s very instructive, especially for us Russians. The Austrian government itself was saddened by this process and understood all its lawlessness, but was powerless to prevent it and saw itself in the need to submit to the party that initiated this process. A role unworthy of government; but the Austrian government forced itself into this lie because it is based on the constitution.

In the diverse composition of the state, the Austrian government is forced to reckon with the representatives of the party that currently has power in parliament. Ministers, depending not on the single will of the monarch, but on the play of parties in parliament, in order to maintain their position and stay in their places, enter into a deal with the ruling parties and are forced to carry out their will, contrary to the true interests of the state. And so it turns out that these parties rule the state; in their spirit and according to their instructions, local administrators are appointed, with whose assistance a false game of elections is carried out, which are nothing more than a lie, and so the false parliamentary majority and the false direction of the whole government are supported by false representatives of the people.

It is impossible to imagine how much lies and lawlessness stems from this, and how much theft and bribery spreads. Members of parliament, having ministers at their disposal, trade in both places and government transactions and contracts. This phenomenon is common, more or less everywhere where parliamentary government is established. Recently in the Revue de deux Mondes (I Feb.) there was a beautifully written article: La Republique en 1883, which depicts the extent to which this parliamentary corruption and this electoral lie have reached in France. Dobryansky, who knows both the people and the parties there, told me about Austria:

“In Russia now and again you hear about embezzlement and theft. But all these phenomena of yours, no matter how depraved they may be, pale in comparison to what is happening here in Austria, and which has already turned into a system, thanks to parliamentary rule.”

Now all parliamentary power is in the hands of the Magyars and Poles. The Magyars are complete masters of their country and crush without mercy and without conscience any other nationality, and the election system is so cunningly arranged by them and the Poles that no other Slavic nationality can have in the House strong voice. The Poles have arranged it in such a way that in the Polish provinces, even where, like in Galicia, the people are all purely Russian, the entire administration and all power are in the hands of the Poles.

When the court is separated from the state (to our grief, they managed to do this in Russia as well), and the court becomes an instrument of the dominant party or well-known political tendencies. The Poles, in an inextricable alliance with the Catholic Church, with priests and Jesuits, undertook to crush and Polish and Catholicize the Russian tribe. Having power in parliament, they conceived a whole series of laws to suppress the Russian people: changing the calendar, replacing the Russian alphabet with the Latin one, expelling the Russian language from the Russian school, replacing the Russian clergy with Latin ones, transferring Russian monasteries and theological schools to the Jesuits; it has gotten to the point where the police are removing Russian six-pointed crosses from churches and replacing them with Latin ones. In recent years, a fierce struggle has ensued between the Russian people and clergy - against the Latin-Polish authorities and propaganda. A people without leaders is lost, and so the Poles decided to crush the main leaders - Dobryansky and Naumovich - with the process. The Poles have in their hands both the prosecutor's office - a terrible weapon of a political tendency - and the court. They brought charges, threw the accused in prison - the government from Vienna was forced to look at all this lawlessness with folded hands. The investigation revealed nothing other than the most ordinary and insignificant facts that the indictment constructed as evidence of high treason. Suffice it to say that one of the proofs of treason was my imaginary (it never happened) petition to admit Dobryansky’s daughter to be raised at a St. Petersburg institute and my subscription to the most innocent Galician newspaper through the mediation of one of the accused. Any thought about the possibility of a guilty verdict seemed ridiculous; but the Poles decided, and when the case came to trial, the prosecutor - the Pole took away all the Russian jurors - there were only Poles left with a mixture of Jews. The accusation was undeniable.

And this is what a court means in a constitutional state! A few days before the verdict, Dobryansky’s wife came to tell him that there was no other means of acquittal than bribing the jury. But Dobryansky no longer had any funds. His significant estate in Hungary was completely ruined and barren, because the Hungarian authorities forbade anyone from entering into transactions and business operations on his estate. With difficulty, his wife managed to borrow 20,000 guilders, and 6 jurors were bribed with this money. This is the only reason why the acquittal took place!

These are the fruits of constitutional government! Nowadays it has already been discredited everywhere, but this lie has taken root everywhere, and the peoples are unable to free themselves from it and are moving towards their fatal fate. Especially for the young Slavic states, this is the first and most terrible ulcer, corroding the entire composition of society with lies and discord, creating discord and mutual misunderstanding and alienation between the people and the government. The evidence is obvious - in Romania, in Serbia, in unfortunate Bulgaria, to which, to our shame, we instilled this ulcer with our own hands - both a constitution and a court separated from state power!

How crazy, how blinded were those quasi-state Russian people who planned to supposedly renew Russia and lead the government out of turmoil and sedition by discussing who knows what, the representatives of the peoples and foreigners of the empire he painted, embracing the universe, filled with deserts, an empire in which another parish of the Yakut region (1100 versts long) or a Siberian district can accommodate the space of the whole of France. Who would benefit from this would be the Poles, who undoubtedly stand, hidden, at the center of every so-called constitutional movement in Russia. Here there would be for them a free field of activity, free play - and the death of Russia.

Forgive me, Your Majesty, for bothering you with reading this long scripture. This is the most terrible danger that I foresee, for my fatherland and for Your Majesty personally. As long as I live, I will not leave this faith, I will not stop repeating the same things and warning about danger. My soul hurts when I see and hear that people who have power, but apparently do not have a Russian mind and a Russian heart, are still whispering about the constitution. Let them sometimes look at me suspiciously, as if I were a known opponent of this fatal fantasy. I am still alive and do not shut my mouth; but when I have to die, I will die with consolation, if I die with the confidence that Your Majesty stands firmly guarding the truth and will not lower that banner of unified power, which is the only guarantee of truth for Russia. This is where the truth is, and there is a lie, an alien, fatal lie for the fate of Russia.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

In the Volkovysk district of the Grodno province there is a town called Svisloch, which has long been known as one of the centers of Polish culture, which was once for the entire Polesie what Vilna is for Lithuania. Formerly Russian, this place was completely Polished in the 18th century by Count Tyshkevich, its owner. That is why even now the inhabitants there, although for the most part Orthodox, are significantly Polished and the literacy among them is Polish.

In 1881, the efficient priest Yanushkevich was appointed there, who diligently set about returning the local population to Russian churchliness and literacy. The main means of this he chose to establish a school for girls, since culture is mainly spread through women, and now almost no woman there reads Russian.

After much hassle, he managed to agree to come to the opening of the school and receive a monetary allowance from the educational department. In January 1882, the school was opened and up to 40 girls attended. The priest set to work very wisely, and we need to support him, which is what we try to do whenever possible.

A powerful means for raising this school and attracting people to it would be to show the highest attention to it.

Therefore, I dare to ask Your Imperial Majesty if it would be good for you, as a sign of your attention and approval, to bestow on you personally an icon of the Mother of God to the Svisloch school. This gift would produce the most beneficial effect on the spot and would excite other zealous people to imitate it.

And if, moreover, Your Majesty deigned to donate 200 rubles of money for the purchase of good Russian books for the school and parish library, this would serve doubly to revive the good undertaking.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

I never tire of asking Your Imperial Majesty.

At the present moment, with St. The synod is working on the issue of organizing parochial schools, a matter of paramount importance for the state. Our people are disappearing, schism and sects are maintained due to ignorance: people grow up without receiving the first, most basic concepts about God, about the church, about the commandments. This ignorance will not be helped by a teaching that is crookedly structured and not adapted to life; it can further corrupt the common man, separating him from life and reality.

For the good of the people, it is necessary that everywhere, close to them and precisely near the parish church, there should be a primary school of literacy, in inextricable connection with the teaching of the Law of God and church singing, which ennobles every simple soul. Orthodox Russian people dream of a time when all of Russia will be covered in parishes with a network of such schools, when each parish will consider such a school to be its own and take care of it through parish trusteeship, and church singing choirs will be formed everywhere in churches.

Nowadays, all reasonable people realize that it is precisely this kind of school, and not another, that should be the main and universal means of elementary public education in Russia. In this sense, our commission receives statements from everywhere, from the most efficient representatives of the zemstvo, and from the clergy, who perked up noticeably when they heard that they were not leaving him in oblivion, but were relying on his activities. It is impossible to do without a village priest and, apart from him, there is no one to take on this great task in the middle of the deserted spaces in which our parishes are located. We hope that soon a diocesan movement in this sense will manifest itself everywhere. Meanwhile, the first experiment was made in the Mogilev diocese by the new bishop Vitaly, who arrived there, who had the opportunity to familiarize himself with our assumptions here in St. Petersburg before leaving there.

Turning to the clergy of his diocese, he established in Mogilev (or, more correctly, restored the ancient, existing since 1602) Epiphany Brotherhood precisely with the goal of establishing, if possible, public schools in all parishes and taking care of maintaining them.

This first undertaking must be encouraged; I think it is worthy and righteous to encourage him with the highest attention, which will undoubtedly cause imitation in other places.

Would it please Your Imperial Majesty to allow me to express your attention to this institution with some kind of monetary gift, for example, 1,000 rubles?

When this becomes known, many will be consoled by this, and there will no doubt be other benefactors.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

I rejoice with all my heart that the long-awaited day has finally arrived and Your Majesty’s entry into the Kremlin was successfully accomplished. The Russian people watched with tears and prayed fervently for you. Now may God bless you to pass the remaining days before the sacred coronation in silence and solitude, in sight of Moscow, in the greenery of the blooming Neskuchny Garden!

Yesterday's letter was sent by me to Prince. Meshchersky immediately. I was delighted by Your Majesty’s note, for I myself wanted to ask permission to appear before you even before the coronation. I will await instructions of the day and hour from Your Majesty.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

At the same time returning the most humble request of Mrs. Zhadovskaya, I dare to report that, in my opinion, her request to Your Majesty cannot in any way be satisfied.

She writes that she was married, but divorced, and she took the blame (probably adultery) upon herself; she was accused and condemned to celibacy by a church court. Therefore, now, if she wanted to get married, her new marriage cannot be solemnized.

Now, according to her, she entered into a relationship, gave birth to a child and asks to lift the ban imposed by the decision of the synod and allow her to marry.

Many such requests are received in the name of Your Majesty, and for all these requests it is announced, in accordance with the Highest command given under the late Sovereign, that they cannot be satisfied.

And indeed, if the supreme power took upon itself to lift the prohibitions imposed by the church court according to church law, extreme difficulties and considerable temptation would arise from this. Marriage for us is a sacrament, and is performed only in church form. The priest, by virtue of his rank, submits exclusively to ecclesiastical authority in matters of church discipline and ritual. So, if church authority prohibits him from performing a marriage as illegal, and civil authority orders him to perform this marriage, that is, to perform a sacrament where it is not permitted by church authority, the priest’s conscience is placed in an impossible position. That is why in our country the supreme power has never interfered in matters of this kind. Under the late Emperor, there were abuses of his name; Once in Yalta, police officer Zefiropulo, taking advantage of his position, ordered a priest in the name of the Sovereign to perform an illegal marriage, but the late Sovereign, when I reported to him about this matter, deigned to tell me that he never gave such orders. Especially with the current ease of marriage and separation of spouses, such Highest commands could serve to increase promiscuity. Nowadays people, having married frivolously, soon, at the slightest disagreement, think about divorce and arrange it in such a way that one of the parties takes upon itself the guilt of adultery, in the hope that later it will be possible to ask for the ban on entering into a new marriage to be lifted. There are cases that after a new marriage, spouses soon decide new divorce. So, if people could have hope for the lifting of the church ban through royal mercy, the strictness and strength of the marriage union would suffer even more from this.

That is why the supreme power has always avoided direct permission for marriage. But in some cases, the late Emperor accepted requests to terminate cases of illegality of a marriage that had already been completed. There is no direct interference with ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The marriage was performed by a priest, although contrary to church prohibition; The spouses live together and have children. A case begins about the illegality of marriage, mostly based on denunciation. In such cases, the Supreme Command is sometimes announced: to suspend proceedings in the consistory on the illegality of marriage. Thus, the marriage remains in fact as it was originally recorded, that is, in the form of a legal one.

Such Highest commands were announced repeatedly and on behalf of Your Majesty, according to my report. This is the only possible remedy similar cases. Let Mrs. Zhadovskaya look, as she pleases, in addition to the participation of the supreme power, for a way to get married; then the question of the illegality of this marriage may not arise at all, and if it does arise, then she can already turn to royal mercy.

I consider it my duty to add that matters of this kind, that is, marriages, as well as matters of legitimizing illegitimate children, always require special caution, for here not everything depends on the consciousness of the innocence of spouses or children and on compassion for the unfortunate and innocent. Issues of this kind are often related to the legal rights of third parties - relatives, other children of the same person, finally, the honor of another, legitimate family, and often the inviolability of inheritance rights.

If Your Majesty were pleased to agree with the above considerations in this case, then would you please order that it be announced to the petitioner, as is announced to many others, that her petition for permission to marry contrary to the prohibition imposed by St. synod, is not subject to satisfaction.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

I consider it my duty to report to Your Imperial Majesty about the following:

1. I know that here, in the Historical Museum, founded under your patronage, they are eagerly waiting to see if you would like to visit it. Count Uvarov arranged for viewing ancient objects, very interesting and put in order by him. Everyone knows to what extent Your Imperial Majesty's time is occupied: but the people who devoted their work to this subject would be upset if you did not have the opportunity to come for at least half an hour to see what they have done and give them encouragement for the future.

2. Today I heard that Your Majesty will deign to move to the Petrovsky Palace this evening and will not return to Moscow, but will go straight to Nikolaevskaya road, and not on the 29th, as was announced in the schedule, but tomorrow, that is, on the evening of the 28th.

The people, to whom this change has not been announced, will be very embarrassed and upset when they learn on the morning of the 29th that the Tsar is no longer in Moscow.

If my position included taking care of this subject, it would seem to me that the easiest and best thing would be for Your Majesty, after all the festivities, to rest for a day or two in complete peace, in sight of Moscow, in Neskuchny, and then straight from there along Kaluzhskaya Street, through Kremlin and Myasnitskaya go to the Nikolaevskaya road station. It would be a joyful and calm farewell to Moscow and the people.

But I do not dare insist on this subject, because the persons to whom it directly concerns may see special reasons for acting in one way and not another.

In any case, however, I dare to report that if it pleases Your Majesty to leave Moscow completely today, then on the way to the Petrovsky Palace, would you please stop at the Iverskaya Chapel and go there. This may also serve as a sign of farewell to Moscow for the people.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

I dare to draw the attention of Your Imperial Majesty to the attached letter from Rachinsky. This is one of the countless cries now heard everywhere, from all over Russia. During the coronation, this nationwide call to the government was especially heard for the healing of this terrible ulcer that is corroding the people - for liberation from the tavern, before the omnipotent power of which the people are powerless, and the individual efforts of those entering the fight against the tavern and tavern keepers are also fruitless.

Rachinsky, who lives constantly in the village, among the people, knows better than anyone about all this evil. He managed to do a lot at home, attracting children, fathers of peasants, and local clergy to the union of sobriety: but all these efforts are broken by the power of the tavern.

The tavern is our main source of crime and all sorts of mental and moral depravity - and its effect is unimaginably terrible in the dark peasant and working class environment, where nothing can be opposed to its influence, where life is empty and only the material interests of daily bread dominate. The tavern sucks all the healthy juices out of the people and spreads bare beggary and disease everywhere. Vast Russia consists of deserts, but there is no such desert, no remote corner where taverns do not appear in abundance and do not play a leading role in people's life. And the further it goes, the worse it gets.

The destruction of the tavern is absolutely the first need, it is a necessary measure to save Russia. The fight against nihilism by external measures will not be successful as long as the tavern remains in current power, and Rachinsky says quite rightly that the taverns are the main conductor of nihilistic theories among the people, that is, the gradual corruption of that only healthy environment in which building instincts and creative principles are stored national and state life.

This is the first need. Along with her is another. In order to save and raise the people, it is necessary to give them a school that would enlighten and educate them in the true spirit, in simplicity of thought, without separating them from the environment where their life and activities take place. I never stop thinking about this great matter, in agreement with I.D. Delyanov. At this moment the drafting of regulations on parochial schools has already been completed. But when it begins to be put into action, it will be necessary to turn to the government for help. to the Treasury. God knows whether this petition will be successful, but the money invested here, of course, will be much more fruitful than the millions that are assigned to many scientific institutions.

The enormous importance of this subject cannot be sufficiently appreciated, and it is worthy of Your Majesty's intense attention. Here, one might say, are the very keys to Russia’s future well-being. That is why I turn to Your Majesty with my most earnest request. I know how valuable your time is, but if the idea of ​​your trip to Denmark comes true, please take with you the attached book (which, if I’m not mistaken, was already presented by me once) and read it. I am sure that once you start reading, you will not tear yourself away from it until the end - it is so vividly written, it breathes so much real truth and concerns such an important subject for Russia. I ordered it to be printed in large quantities and spread it everywhere to excite people to good activities.

These are the first, main people's needs of the present moment. And along with them there are others, equally significant and who also do not wait. In connection with the tavern, the local peasant government or self-government is so upset that the truth is drying up everywhere. There is no government that acts intelligently, the weak do not find protection from the strong, and power has been seized into the hands of local capitalists, that is, village kulaks-peasants and merchants, innkeepers and village officials, that is, ignorant and depraved volost clerks. It is necessary to establish order here, but I am afraid that the projects drawn up in the Kakhanov Commission are unlikely to be established.

Finally, the court is such a great and terrible thing - the court, the first instrument of state power, falsely set up by institutions, falsely directed - the court is in disorder and powerlessness. Instead of simplifying, it has become more complicated and will soon become inaccessible to anyone except the rich and skilled in casuistic formalism.

But it's time for me to finish. I apologize for bothering Your Majesty, but the matter is so important that I could not resist writing a few words about Rachinsky’s letter, which again aroused my thought and concern.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

To prevent false rumors that could reach Your Imperial Majesty, I hasten to report on what happened today at the meeting of the Committee of Ministers.

Reported in the presence of the Grand Duke. Mikhail Nikolaevich the case, which he initially initiated, about the establishment in Tiflis by the government and at the expense of the “state treasury” of a closed school for Muslim women. This case was submitted to the committee by the Highest command, due to a disagreement between I. D. Delyanov and Prince Dondukov and the Great prince

I was forced in conscience, in agreement with Delyanov, to object to the proposed establishment. Its very task, in my opinion, was formulated incorrectly, and the government would put itself in a false position by this institution, obliging itself at public expense to educate Muslim women in the spirit of the Muslim religion and monitor their performance of Muslim rituals. They assured that some of the noble Muslims in Tiflis wish to give their daughters a European education; and if they themselves had drawn up a plan and wanted to set up an establishment at their own expense, with supervision only from the government, one could only rejoice. But when the Russian government itself takes upon itself this matter and the role of, so to speak, guardian of education in strictly Muslim law, the situation becomes false. The Russian boss, according to the instructions of the Sheikh-ul-Islam and the Mufti sitting on the board of trustees, must ensure that the girls are taught the dogmas of polygamy and the Mohammedan paradise. This situation is impossible. This is what I tried to prove, and then, in agreement with the Minister of Finance, I argued that it was strange to spend 40 thousand rubles from the treasury on such a thing, when the treasury should refuse to satisfy the most essential and urgent needs of the indigenous Russian population for lack of funds, when In 17 dioceses the clergy are begging and are left without salaries when there is no money for literacy schools for the peasants. Then I pointed out that in the Caucasus itself there are glaring needs for which there is no money. The Georgians are ignorant, the clergy lives in ignorance and beggary, and there is nothing to train them for. I indicated that in Ozurgeti in religious school 700 Georgian children live like animals in saklyas without windows, walk half naked in winter and prepare lessons by the light of fires, by which they warm themselves: there is no money to arrange a room for them. I mentioned that previously the Society for the Propagation of Orthodoxy Beyond the Caucasus spent 63,000 rubles. for clergy benefits; but now it has fallen into insolvency and gives nothing.

Here the Grand Duke interrupted me: it did not occur to me that this society, which during its administration had upset its affairs, constituted a sensitive chord in it. He stood up and announced to Reitern that he could not stay, since what I said constituted criticism of his administration.

Reitern began to calm him down, and he sat down again, and I expressed my surprise, in which His Highness was pleased to see criticism of his administration, which I did not touch in a single word, but only wanted to show what needs there are in the Caucasus, incomparably more serious and more fundamental than the establishment of a Muslim women's school at state expense.

The matter ended well. Almost everyone present on the committee expressed the opinion that the establishment of such an institution at the expense of the treasury is undesirable; and if some Tiflis Muslims desire such an institution, then, just as happens when establishing gymnasiums, the society itself can raise funds for this; subsequently, the government may, for its part, provide assistance to such an institution.

Thus, the matter ended happily and without disagreement; but I consider it my duty to report the above episode to Your Imperial Majesty, since it concerns me and may come to your attention in an inaccurate form.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

Please accept, Your Imperial Majesty, my heartfelt congratulations on the threshold of the new year 1884. May God's blessing and God's mercy be upon you and your entire household in the coming year!

This is the third time during your reign that you have to enter a new year and carry over the threshold the heavy burden of power over the whole world entrusted to your rule in the most difficult era for your reign. The people feel in their hearts how difficult it is for you, and they pray for you fervently everywhere. The Providence of God, having placed this burden on you, also showed you a fate that is entirely in the hands of God, inextricably linked with the destinies of the people, who have held on for centuries only by faith in God and hope in the Sovereign. If anything can encourage and strengthen you, it is faith in God’s providence and in people’s prayer.