General Governor Vorontsov. Count Vorontsov

“Lead your life in such a way that everyone will mourn your death.” This was his father’s commandment for coming of age, and this commandment the future His Serene Highness Prince, Field Marshal General, Adjutant General, and then simply Michel Vorontsov, followed throughout his life.

Young Mikhail belonged to a family that owed its rise to Mikhail Illarionovich, who contributed to the accession to the throne of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Appreciating Vorontsov’s devotion and honesty, the Empress gave him her cousin, Countess Anna Karlovna Skavronskaya, daughter of Karl Samuilovich Skavronsky, brother of Empress Catherine I, for him, and elevated Vorontsov to the rank of lieutenant general at the age of 28. Also, the merits of the old, but at first unnoticed family, which had been in Russia for almost a thousand years and rose in the 16th century, were also appreciated by the German Emperor Charles VII, who on March 27, 1744 elevated Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov and his brothers, who held the post of vice-chancellor, to the title of count. In 1744, he, Mikhail Vorontsov, was granted the rank of actual privy councilor, made vice-chancellor, and in 1758 - chancellor, and until the accession to the throne of Emperor Peter III, he enjoyed his high position. The motto on the Vorontsov family coat of arms was: “Eternally unshakable loyalty.”

The genus itself was such that, in fact, every fourth representative of it in the male line was worthy of being included in the encyclopedia. One person of the opposite sex also rightfully got there.

Mikhail Semenovich’s father, Count Semyon Romanovich, general-in-chief of the infantry, served in the army under Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, and subsequently was the Russian ambassador to the English court for more than forty years. Uncle, Count Alexander Romanovich, is known as a wonderful statesman. Under Catherine II, he was an active privy councilor, senator and president of the commercial college, and under Emperor Alexander Pavlovich he served as state chancellor and minister of foreign affairs. The younger sister of Semyon Romanovich and Alexander Romanovich, Ekaterina Romanovna, was married to Prince Dashkov and, having been widowed, was the president of two (!) academies (of science and the Russian one), and was distinguished by her intelligence and erudition.

The future His Serene Highness Prince was born on May 18, 1782. At the age of four he was enrolled in the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment as a corporal, and in 1801 he entered the regiment as a second lieutenant. At the end of 1803, he was a volunteer in the Caucasus and fought with the highlanders and Iranian troops. This is where the countdown of his brilliant military record begins.
For distinction during the capture of Erivan on August 28, 1804, he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree. In 1805 he took part in the campaign to Hanover, in 1806-1807 he fought with the French in Poland and East Prussia, and for his distinction at Pułtusk he was promoted to colonel on January 10, 1807.

In 1807, the young officer was appointed commander of the 1st battalion of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, and in 1809 he left for the Danube Army, where he participated in hostilities with the Turks, being the commander of the Narva Musketeer Regiment. On September 29, 1809, from the colonels of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment, he was appointed chief of the Narva Musketeer Regiment, and for courage during the assault on Bazardzhik he was promoted to major general. For the capture of Viddin he was awarded the Order of St. George, 3rd degree. In 1812, during Napoleon's campaign, he commanded the 2nd Consolidated Grenadier Division in the army of Peter Bagration and fought near Saltanovka, Smolensk and Borodino, where he was wounded by a bullet in the leg. Having risen to his feet after being wounded and returning to duty, Mikhail commanded the vanguard of the 3rd Army and on February 8, 1813 he was already (!) promoted to lieutenant general, and from August of the same year he was in the Northern Army near Gross-Beeren, Dennewitz, Leipzig and Kassel. In 1814 he distinguished himself at Craon and was awarded the Order of St. George, 2nd class. After the war, he commanded the 12th Infantry Division, then, with the rank of adjutant general, from 1815 to 1818 he headed the Russian occupation corps in France. After returning to Russia, he commanded the 12th Infantry Division, and on February 19, 1820, he was appointed commander of the 3rd Infantry Corps.

The next place of service of the brilliant officer, on whose award list there are 24 high awards, including the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called with diamonds, St. Alexander Nevsky with diamonds, St. George 2nd class, St. Vladimir 1st class, St. Anna 1st class with diamonds, as well as twelve foreign awards - the French Order of St. Louis, 1st class, the English Order of the Bath, 1st class, the Austrian orders of St. Stephen and the Military Maria Theresa, 3rd class, the Swedish orders of the Seraphim and the Military Sword, 1st class, Prussian Order of the Black Eagle and Red Eagle 1st class, Hanoverian Order of the Guelphs 1st class, Hesse-Kasel Military Order of Merit 1st class, Sardinian Order of Mauritius and Lazarus 1st class, Greek Order of the Savior 1st class, Turkish Order Glory with diamonds, a cross for Bazardzhik, as well as the right to wear a golden sword with diamonds “for the capture of Varna” and an insignia “for XXX years of blameless service”, Odessa became.

In May 1823, the outstanding military leader was appointed Governor-General of Novorossiysk and Bessarabia. An officer who dreamed of devoting himself to peaceful work. I received a wide field for vigorous activity and had a lot of experience for this. At the factories he owned, for the first time in Russia, “English” steam machines, imported from England, were introduced, and the first “Dutch” cheeses in Russia were produced on his estates. By the way, reputed to be a liberal, although he was a brilliant courtier and a monarchist in terms of civic consciousness, he was familiar with the pre-Decembrist movements and, for the first time in the Russian army, published a manual for teaching literacy to lower ranks, as well as a collection of poems and fables by Russian poets for soldier reading. By the way, there is a known case when Vorontsov, during the Caucasian campaign, ordered his property to be thrown out of the carts in order to load them onto them for wounded soldiers, and later, in France, in order to pay off the champagne and gambling debts of his officers, he paid all their debts personally, practically going bankrupt , however, preserving the honor not only of his own as a commander, but also of Russia and its army.

Actually, Odessa was lucky to have the first people of the city, extraordinary people who were in love with their brainchild. However, not everyone was happy that the city and the region were ruled by foreigners, and when Count Vorontsov took the post of Novorossiysk Governor-General, some breathed a sigh of relief, they say, “a Russian bridle will be put on Odessa, thoroughly saturated with foreignness.” In particular, the famous memoirist Franz Wiegel wrote about this: “They finally wanted New Russia to become Russified, and in 1823 they sent a Russian gentleman and a Russian warrior to rule it.”

Undoubtedly, Mikhail Semenovich was both a Russian gentleman and a Russian warrior, but his origin completely indicated his rejection of something that did not have Slavic roots. He received a European upbringing and such patriotism was alien to him. In addition, the count was not only an educated, but also an intelligent man, which we have to admit, despite the unflattering reviews of Alexander Pushkin about him.

"Half my lord, half merchant,

half sage, half ignorant,

half-scoundrel, but there is hope,

that it will be complete at last.”

Undoubtedly, the brilliant star of Russian poetry had the right to his own opinion, and, in fact, for various reasons, he and Vorontsov did not like each other. However, while claiming objectivity, we should pay tribute to this outstanding statesman, whose reign is rightly called the “golden age of Odessa.” And Pushkin himself recognized Vorontsov’s talents, “getting confused in his testimony.” After all, the words “everything there breathes Odessa” are worth a lot.

Actually, in the position of governor, Mikhail Vorontsov did not live up to the hopes of the defenders of the national idea, pursuing the same policy as his foreign predecessors and considering the true expression “What is lacking at home, it is immediately borrowed from foreign countries.” By the way, in a speech over the coffin of His Serene Highness at his burial, Archbishop Innocent of Kherson noted that “For many new enterprises, there are not enough native workers - the deceased does not hesitate to call them from everywhere, using even his own means for this; and among those called for a time, many, being kindly treated, reassured and tied to the new country by their very successes, remain with us forever.”

Having become the Governor-General of Novorossiya, Mikhail Vorontsov raised the economy of the region to unattainable heights, giving industry and agriculture a powerful impetus for development. The governor also paid close attention to the development of science, education and culture, founding one of the first newspapers in the South of the Russian Empire - Odessa Vestnik, which, by the way, is still published today. It was under him that the second City Public Library in Russia after St. Petersburg was opened in Odessa, and book publishing was established, including in the Ukrainian language.

Separately, it is worth noting the prince’s social views and his concern for “non-believers”: Tatars, Jews, Karaites. His position cannot but admire. An example of Vorontsov’s activities in the field of interethnic relations is his attitude towards Jews. Dorothea Atlas in the book “Old Odessa. Her friends and enemies” writes: “Wanting to revive the trade of the region, the prince took the Jews under his protection. He drew attention to raising the mental and moral level of Odessa Jews. Jewish public schools for children of both sexes, a main synagogue, houses of worship and a hospital were opened.”

The governor took “measures to raise funds,” “out of high aesthetic taste, he drew a plan for the synagogue” (by the way!), “he took special care of the hospital.” Trying to raise the importance of the Jewish population in the eyes of Russian society, he secured a visit to the synagogue by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and later, at his own suggestion, Emperor Nicholas and the heir to the throne “examined in detail” Jewish schools and a hospital.

As a result, Vorontsov’s plans were a success and the Austrian Jewish intelligentsia and large merchants with substantial capital began to move to Odessa. They acquired real estate and opened trading houses. In the 1850s, there were Jewish companies in Odessa that made millions in turnover.

A separate page in the history of Odessa and an equally significant episode in the biography of the prince, which clearly characterizes him, was 1843, when a project was created to divide all Jews living in Russia into two classes: useful and useless. Merchants of the third guild, guild artisans, farmers and those townspeople who owned real estate that brought in a certain amount of annual income were supposed to be called useful, and all other Jews were to be recognized as useless and subject to repression in order to induce them to choose the “subsistence” industry in order to be recognized their "usefulness". It was also planned to evict Jews from shtetls to big cities without the right to leave and impose a triple conscription duty on them. In a word, another manifestation of the “fierce love” of the Russian mentality for Jews. However, the clever opposition of Mikhail Semenovich, who wrote that “the most general name of “useless” for several hundred thousand people, who, by the will of the Almighty, have been living in the Empire since ancient times, is both cool and unfair; but if we accept this name for a certain number of Jews, then, it seems to me, the division should be different.” In his opinion, which the count did not hesitate to voice in the report, it was noted that in the ministry’s project “the numerous class of rabbis and other spiritual teachers and those who received an academic degree, who undoubtedly were considered useful by the government itself, remains useless.”

Also, “reasoning impartially, one cannot help but be surprised that all these numerous merchants are considered useless and, therefore, harmful, while with their small trades, without any doubt, they help, on the one hand, rural industry, and on the other, commercial, and then in the Polish provinces, where there has never been a national small merchant and is not now,” the governor wrote, politely pointing out the “tactfulness” of the word useless in relation to an entire people and carefully emphasizing the stupidity of the project.

“I dare to think,” the general governor of the Novorossiysk region summarizes, “that bad consequences will be inevitable if this measure is taken in all severity; I dare to think that this measure, even in its state form, is harmful and cruel. On the one hand, hundreds of thousands of hands will be washed away, helping the small trade industry in the provinces, where there is no opportunity to replace them and will not be possible for a long time; on the other hand, the cries and cries of such a huge number of unfortunates who will suffer the sad effects of this measure will serve as censure both here and outside Russia.”

As for Odessa itself, under Mikhail Semenovich it became the third city of the Russian Empire after St. Petersburg and Moscow. In 1840, the population of young Odessa was almost a third larger than the population of ancient Kyiv, and the income to the city budget was approximately equal to the total income of all other then cities in Ukraine of that era.

The year 1844 came and Vorontsov, by decree of Nicholas I, was appointed governor of the Caucasus and commander-in-chief of the Russian Caucasian troops, retaining the Novorossiysk Governor-General. “Having proven himself to be a skilled diplomat, Vorontsov achieved the voluntary annexation of a significant part of the then wild and feudal Caucasus to the Russian Empire,” historians write.

In 1845-1852, appointed commander-in-chief of all troops in the Caucasus and governor of the Caucasus, he, fulfilling the will of the sovereign, took the capital of the rebellious Shamil, aul Dargo, and forced the rebels to go on the defensive. Then he receives the title of prince, and then His Serene Highness.

At the age of 70, Prince Vorontsov asked for his resignation, which was accepted. In the highest military rank of Russia - field marshal, as well as in the status of a member of the State Council for the last 30 years, Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov died on November 6, 1856. After his death, on April 27, 1867, the 3rd Narvsky Infantry Regiment, and on July 19, 1903, the 79th Kurinsky Infantry Regiment, in honor of the merits of the deceased, was given his name, since Vorontsov was the chief of the Narvsky Jaeger Regiment from March 29, 1836, and the chief of the Kurinsky Jaeger Regiment - from July 8, 1845.

“His activities for the benefit of Odessa are so great that the pages of the novel are not enough. Establishes the newspaper “Odessa Bulletin”, which is still published in the city, the first city public library in Odessa, to which he donates hundreds of books. Opened the Institute of Noble Maidens. He created the City Museum and the “Society for the Development of Agriculture of Southern Russia”, opened a school for the deaf and dumb in Odessa, a school of oriental languages, and in Kherson - a school for merchant shipping. Under Vorontsov, street lighting and running water appeared in Odessa, streets were paved with stone, steamships were built, viticulture and agriculture developed, hospitals and shelters for the poor were built. This is a small part of what Vorontsov did for the city, which he loved very much,” his bibliographies and local historians speak of the great genius of Mikhail Semenovich. And he was paid in return. The life credo of Count Mikhail Vorontsov is convincingly demonstrated by the words he said, which he followed throughout his life: “People with power and wealth should live in such a way that others forgive them this power and wealth.”

Above Vorontsov’s tombstone there was an image of an angel who appeared to the myrrh-bearing women at the tomb of Jesus Christ with the words “He is not here: he has risen!” This symbol was installed over his grave by Princess Elizaveta Ksaverevna. She outlived her husband for a long time and, having lived 88 years, died in 1889.
During the years of governing Novorossiya, this fragile woman helped her husband in his affairs and herself made a feasible contribution to the development of the city and its social sphere. Under her patronage, the House of Contempt and a school for deaf-mute girls were created in Odessa, and the Odessa Imperial Society of History and Antiquities was located in the Vorontsov house itself. Unfortunately, the direct line of the Vorontsov family practically died out after the prince, since the parental fate of the Vorontsov spouses was not very happy. Four of their six children died at an early age, their son Semyon was childless, and only the son of Sophia’s daughter, Pavel, by special permission, was destined to continue the Vorontsov surname.

In general, speaking about the role of the prince in the formation of Odessa, it is impossible not to mention more extensively about this wife. Princess Elizaveta Ksaverevna, nee Voronova, devoted the best years of her life, worked hard, long and fruitfully for the benefit of Odessa.

She was born in the family of the Polish crown hetman, infantry general, Count Xavier Branicki. Elizabeth's mother, née Countess Engelhardt, the beloved niece of Grigory Potemkin, enjoyed the special attention of Empress Catherine II. As a child, Elizabeth, living with a strict mother in the village, received an excellent education and upbringing, and for fifteen years, thanks to the family's proximity to the court, she was awarded the title maids of honor. During her first trip abroad, she met military general Count Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov, and on April 20, 1819, their wedding took place in Paris in an Orthodox church. She was then twenty-seven years old, he was thirty-seven.

By the way, Catherine II, having expressed her consent to the marriage, wrote to Mikhail Semenovich’s father: “The young countess combines all the qualities of an outstanding character, to which will be added all the charms of beauty and intelligence: she was created to make happy a respected person who unites his destiny with her.” .

At the beginning of 1820, Elizaveta Ksaverevna gave birth to a daughter, who died a few days later. In an effort to somehow soften the bitterness of loss, the young couple often changes their place of residence: Moscow, the Vorontsov estate in the village of Andreevskoye, visited the Branitsky estate in Bila Tserkva several times, visited Italy, Paris, England, and then headed to St. Petersburg.

On May 7, 1823, Mikhail Semenovich was appointed governor-general of Novorossiysk and plenipotentiary governor of the Bessarabia region. A new, long Odessa period began in the life of Elizaveta Ksaverevna. And all these long years she was at the center of Odessa society, and not only in connection with her husband’s official position, but also in her personal qualities. Elizaveta Ksaverevna left an indelible mark among her contemporaries. “Countess Vorontsova is full of lively and unconditional charm. She is very sweet...” writes Princess Smirnova and Raevsky echoes her: “She is very pleasant, she has a sharp, although not very broad, mind, and her character is the most charming I know.”

Small in stature, with somewhat large and irregular features, Countess Elizaveta Ksaverevna Vorontsova was, nevertheless, one of the most attractive women of her time. And she had enough fans. By the way. Here is the answer to where Pushkin’s “demi-lord” came from.

More than half a century of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna’s life in Odessa is a huge number of good deeds, well known in the city and forever remaining in its history. First of all, her charitable activities, in which she united the most worthy women of the city with the idea of ​​​​helping the suffering. The first results of this activity were appreciated by Emperor Nicholas I in the Highest Certificate addressed to the residents of Odessa for the care they provided in supplying the army with everything necessary, during the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829, for the construction of hospitals for wounded and sick soldiers .

The capital of the Society of Charity and Mercy that she created was constantly replenished both through commercial activities and private donations, primarily from Elizaveta Ksaveryevna herself, who, by the way, over the years in Odessa donated an astronomical amount for charity at that time - more than 3 million royal rubles . The Women's Charitable Society was “a hotbed of charitable institutions in Odessa.” So, after the Crimean War, when many were ruined and the city was in dire need, the “Committee for the Care of the Poor”, which existed for more than 28 years, was organized, caring for more than 3 thousand people in the winter of 1856-1857, including 1,200 Christians and 260 Jews. families.
“You are human - that’s enough. You are poor - more than enough. You are a child of my God” - this is the truth that she professed all her life.

After the death of her husband in November 1856, Elizaveta Ksaverevna moved away from social life, devoting time to the family archive. By the way. contemporaries claim that she destroyed part of the archive. She devoted herself entirely to charity, providing help and support to those who needed it most.
“She had only one ministry - service to God, one duty - the duty of the heart and obeyed one voice - the voice of mercy. And wherever the poor man sighed, she appeared. Where the patient moaned, she helped. Wherever the widow’s complaints were heard, she was a comforter. Where the orphan cried, she dried her tears. Where shy poverty shyly hid from human eyes, there a heavenly angel called Elizaveta Vorontsova looked for her and came to her aid,” this is how the Odessa city rabbi Dr. Schwabacher described the charitable activities of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna in a speech in memory of the deceased.

Elizaveta Ksaveryevna’s multifaceted social activities were crowned with the highest award of the Russian Empire, the Order of St. Catherine or Liberation, 1st degree. His motto “For Love and the Fatherland” was written on the insignia of the order in silver letters on a red ribbon with a silver border and gold letters on a silver eight-pointed star.

Old age and illness forced Elizaveta Ksaveryevna to resign as chairman of the women's charitable society, to which she devoted 43 years of most useful and fruitful activity. Your Serene Highness Princess Elizaveta Ksaverevna Vorontsova died on April 15, 1880.

On Friday, April 18, the mayor Grigory Marazli received a telegram addressed to the son of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna, His Serene Highness Prince Semyon Vorontsov from the Minister of the Court of His Majesty Count Adlerberg, which reported the subsequent permission to bury the ashes of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna Vorontsova in the Odessa Cathedral, where he had previously been her husband is buried.

Elizaveta Ksaveryevna was awarded this honor not by chance and not only because she was a distinguished person. This rare case of a woman’s burial in a cathedral convincingly confirms the fact that Elizaveta Ksaverevna Vorontsova is an exalted Christian.

The ceremony of transferring the body of the deceased from the palace to the cathedral was attended by relatives and friends of the princesses, senior military and civil leaders, members of the city government and public councils headed by the city mayor, all the city clergy, pupils of the Mikhailo-Semyonovsky orphanage, and numerous residents of Odessa.

A number of sources, including those dedicated to the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa, preserve descriptions of the burial of Elizaveta Ksaverevna there. It was located next to the grave of her husband, at the same altar wall inside the Refectory Church. The monument was a modest marble slab with the inscription: “Princess Elizaveta Ksaverevna Vorontsova. Born on September 8, 1792, ended on April 15, 1880” and words taken from the Gospel: “Blessed are the mercy, for they will have mercy.”

In the first five years after the death of Count Field Marshal Vorontsov, a monument to him was erected next to the temple. The emperor and the entire august family, the military, naval and spiritual departments, 56 provinces from the western to the eastern borders of the state donated to it. Whoever could, from thousands of rubles to kopecks, but from the heart. On the base of the monument were placed the words “To His Serene Highness Prince Vorontsov from grateful residents.”

Alas, in Soviet times, the majority of people judged Mikhail Vorontsov only by Pushkin’s epigram, and in popular historical literature he was presented as a tsarist satrap, a reactionary, a strangler of freedom. However, it is worth noting one interesting thing, in my opinion. The “Stalinist” Great Soviet Encyclopedia of 1951 states:

“Vorontsov. Mikhail Semyonovich, prince, (1782 - 1856) - Russian military and statesman, field marshal general; a monarchist who recognized the need for concessions to bourgeois development. In 1806 - 14 he participated and distinguished himself in the wars with Napoleonic France (his portrait is located in the first row of the famous gallery of the Winter Palace, dedicated to the heroes of the War of 1812 - V.L.). In 1815 - 18 he commanded the Russian occupation corps in France. In 1823 - 44 he was governor-general of New Russia and governor of the Bessarabia region. He carried out a number of bourgeois measures that contributed to the development of agricultural and industrial activities in the south of Russia (increasing grain crops, improving winemaking, breeding fine-wool sheep, improving transport, creating the Society of Agriculture of Southern Russia, etc.) ... ". Isn’t it true, there is no air of contempt at all. More like recognition.

But that was later. And 30 years before that, there were four years of civil war in Odessa, victims, terror. The Cathedral, in which the ashes of the Vorontsov spouses rested, was not robbed either under the Reds or under the Whites, and only under established Soviet power. The Cathedral began to arouse the hatred of the new owners, and Trotsky’s infamous decree on the confiscation of church valuables marked the beginning of its looting.

The Vorontsov burials were also looted, and the remains were thrown out of the temple to Slobodka near the cemetery wall, which stretched towards Krivoy Balka. According to one version, the old women buried everything that was left of the Vorontsovs. After the Great Patriotic War, some crane driver and truck driver, on their own initiative, brought there a slab that was preserved on the territory of the Vorontsov Palace, later the Youth Palace named after the pioneer hero Yasha Gordienko. According to another version, the Vorontsovs were reburied by the driver Nikifor Yarovoy, for which he was shot and thrown into a common grave at the Second Christian Cemetery. According to the third version, the remains of the Vorontsovs were buried by an associate professor at the Institute named after. Stalin Dmitriev and he also placed crosses and fences on the graves.

And on the site of the cathedral they erected a monument to the “father of nations.” However, the monument to Generalissimo Stalin on Cathedral Square was demolished in 1961, and 40 years later the walls of the cathedral rose there again, in the lower church of which the couple, who had done so much for Odessa, again rested.
In 2005, the Black Sea Orthodox Foundation, which is leading the revival of the temple, decided to return the ashes of the Vorontsov couple to the restored cathedral for reburial.
At the session of the City Council, deputies unanimously and standing supported their colleague, Chairman of the Board of the Black Sea Orthodox Foundation Vasily Ieremia. On October 20, 2005, the graves of the Vorontsovs were exhumed, and their ashes were sent for examination. Fragments of expensive coffins with gilding and elements of the coat of arms, fragments of a field marshal's uniform, metal parts of epaulettes, fragments of expensive clothes and shoes in which the princess was buried were found. The prince's ashes were placed in a lead capsule. The remains of a rich burial in the poorest cemetery in Odessa gave reason to believe that the exhumed remains belong to the Vorontsovs. This was confirmed by an examination conducted under the leadership of the head of the Odessa Regional Bureau of Forensic Medicine, Doctor of Medical Sciences Grigory Krivda. Anthropometric measurements coincided with Vorontsov’s descriptions during his lifetime, and bone tissue analysis made it possible to determine the age of the deceased. An identification examination was carried out using the lifetime portrait of Prince Vorontsov, and DNA was extracted from the hip bones and ribs of Mikhail Vorontsov for comparative analyzes with DNA that can be isolated from the remains of his son Semyon, who was at one time the mayor of Odessa and was buried in St. Petersburg.

All the data coincided and now we know who is buried again and rightfully takes a place in the Odessa shrine.

By the way. One incident happened at the reburial ceremony. According to the unspoken decision of the municipality, there should not have been a single flag in the procession. However, one of the delegations from Crimea, in the development of which His Serene Highness Prince Mikhail Vorontsov also played a serious role, without being notified of this, brought with them the St. Andrew’s flag - the symbol and pride of the Russian fleet. And try to guess how the representative of the city authorities motivated the presence of this banner in the procession? According to him, the flag was appropriate and he was finally allowed into the procession due to the fact that... His Serene Highness was a holder of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called with Diamonds. However…

Count Vorontsov. His contribution to the development of Crimea

Count Vorontsov. His contribution to the development of Crimea

Count, later His Serene Highness Prince Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov, is a very significant figure in Russian history, especially for the newly acquired southern provinces of the Russian Empire. Novorossiya and Crimea owe the beginnings of European civilization to him.

In the personality of M.S. Vorontsov organically combined European education and a certain liberality of views with truly Russian lordship and sybaritism. In the world the count was known as an Anglomaniac. He owes this to his youth spent in Great Britain. The parent of the future governor-general, Vorontsov Sr. served as Russian envoy to the English court for many years during the reign of Mother Empress Catherine II. In England, M.S. Vorontsov received an education and, being less than 20 years old, arrived in Russia in 1801 to enter military service.

Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov

His military and administrative service continued almost until his death in 1856. Vorontsov received general epaulettes in 1811, after the successful assault on the Ottoman fortress of Bazardzhik. During the Patriotic War of 1812, he commanded a grenadier division, fought near Borodino, and was wounded. Then he fought against Bonaparte on the fields of Europe. For his valor and leadership talents, Vorontsov was awarded the Order of St. George. In 1814, the count successfully commanded the Russian garrison in Paris. By the way, Vorontsov paid the debts of the Russian gentlemen officers who borrowed several hundred thousand rubles in Paris from his own pocket.

In 1819, he was appointed governor of the Novorossiysk and Bessarabian provinces and remained in the south forever.

Many generations of compatriots associate the image of Count Vorontsov with the caustic and ignoble epigram of A.S. Pushkin. Having found himself in exile in the south and, thanks to the patronage provided, finding himself surrounded by M.S. Vorontsov, as a minor official in the governor’s office, Alexander Sergeevich, not burdened with special responsibilities, led as cheerful a life as possible. The subject of the young poet’s next hobby was the wife of the Governor-General Elizaveta Ksaverevna Vorontsova (nee Branitskaya). Reaction of M.S. Vorontsova was more than restrained about this. Despite this, the poet “bitten” him with an epigram. We will omit its well-known text. The Governor-General did not take revenge on Alexander Sergeevich.

Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov and his wife Elizaveta Ksaverevna

Long-term activity of M.S. Vorontsova brought the completely disorganized affairs of the southern provinces to a state, if not brilliant, then quite acceptable. Territories were expanded, land routes and ports were built. Thanks to a wisely designed tax system, trade and entrepreneurship flourished. Industrial enterprises were built, agriculture and crafts developed. Steamship service was established on the Black Sea.

The result of a competent migration policy was the settlement of vast, once almost deserted, spaces of Tavria. The region became attractive for settlement not only by Little and Great Russians, but also by immigrants from Southern and Central Europe. Odessa became the third largest city in the empire, a kind of multilingual Babylon. Crimea also came to life. Subsequently M.S. Vorontsov received control of another “promising” region - the Caucasus - as governor and commander of troops. He left this position only a couple of years before his death.

Let us note that all the successes were achieved in the “front line”. The southern provinces directly bordered the theaters of Russian-Turkish military conflicts and the ongoing Caucasian war. Vorontsov periodically had to break away from administration and return to military activities. The crowning achievement of M.S.’s military career. Vorontsov was the capture of the Ottoman fortress of Varna in 1828. True, there was a disastrous moment in his military leadership - 1848, a campaign against the fortified village of Dargo, one of Shamil’s residences, which ended in heavy losses and did not give the desired result. But by this time M.S. Vorontsov was already decrepit for years; he had not been involved in mountain warfare before and had not delved into its features.

M.S. ended his days. Vorontsov in Odessa in 1856. He was buried in the Transfiguration Cathedral, and Odessa residents soon erected a monument to him. In Crimea, ungrateful descendants have not celebrated Vorontsov’s merits with a monument to this day. Here he himself, through his activities, erected monuments to himself: the Vorontsov Palace, the park, the Vorontsov Highway along the southern coast of Crimea. So in relation to M.S. Vorontsova not A.S. Pushkin, and history set the accents.

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Ivanov A.V. Alupka: guide. – Sevastopol: Biblex, 2008.

Biography
In the spring of 1801, the Russian ambassador to England, Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov, sent his son Mikhail to his homeland, which he did not remember at all. He was a little over a year old when his father, a diplomat, having received a new appointment, took his family away from St. Petersburg. ... Nineteen years ago, on May 19, 1782, the count took his first-born son in his arms. A year later, the Vorontsovs had a daughter, Ekaterina, and a few months later, the count was widowed - his young wife Ekaterina Alekseevna died of transient consumption. And Vorontsov arrived in London with two small children. Count Semyon Romanovich never married again, devoting his entire life to Misha and Katya.
From a young age, Semyon Romanovich instilled in his son: every person belongs first of all to the Fatherland, his first duty is to love the land of his ancestors and serve it valiantly. And this is possible only with a firm concept of faith, honor and with a solid education... Count Vorontsov was no stranger to pedagogy before: at one time he even compiled programs for Russian youth in military and diplomatic education. What prompted him to do this was the conviction that the dominance of ignoramuses and foreigners in high positions was very harmful to the state. Vorontsov’s ideas, however, did not receive support, but he could fully implement them in his son... Semyon Romanovich himself selected teachers for him, he himself compiled programs in various subjects, he taught him himself. This well-thought-out education system, coupled with Mikhail’s brilliant abilities, allowed him to acquire the wealth of knowledge with which he would subsequently amaze his contemporaries throughout his life. Vorontsov set himself the goal of raising his son to be a Russian and nothing else. Having lived half his life abroad and possessing all the outward signs of an Anglomaniac, Vorontsov loved to repeat: “I am Russian and only Russian.” This position determined everything for his son. In addition to Russian history and literature, which, according to his father, should have helped his son in the main thing - to become Russian in spirit, Mikhail knew French and English perfectly, and mastered Latin and Greek. His daily schedule included mathematics, natural sciences, drawing, architecture, music, and military affairs. The father considered it necessary to give his son a craft. The axe, saw and plane became not only familiar objects for Mikhail: the future His Serene Highness became so addicted to carpentry that he devoted all his free hours to it for the rest of his life. This is how one of the richest nobles of Russia raised his children. And now Mikhail is nineteen. Accompanying him to serve in Russia, his father gives him complete freedom: let him choose a job to his liking. The son of the Russian ambassador arrived from London to St. Petersburg completely alone: ​​without servants or companions, which incredibly surprised Vorontsov’s relatives. Moreover, Michael refused the privilege that was due to having the title of chamberlain, awarded to him while he was living in London. This privilege gave the right to a young man who decided to devote himself to the army to immediately have the rank of major general. Vorontsov asked to be given the opportunity to begin his service from the lower ranks and was enlisted as a lieutenant of the Life Guards in the Preobrazhensky Regiment. And since the life of the capital did not satisfy young Vorontsov, in 1803 he went as a volunteer to where the war was going on - to Transcaucasia. They endured the harsh conditions stoically. Thus began Vorontsov’s fifteen-year, almost continuous military epic. All promotions and awards were given to him in the powder smoke of battle. Mikhail met the Patriotic War of 1812 with the rank of major general, commander of the combined grenadier division.
Talented commander
In the Battle of Borodino on August 26, Vorontsov and his grenadiers took the first and most powerful attack of the enemy on the Semenov flushes. It was here that Napoleon planned to break through the defenses of the Russian army. Against 8 thousand Russians with 50 guns, 43 thousand selected French troops were thrown, whose continuous attacks were supported by the fire of two hundred cannons. All participants in the Borodino battle unanimously admitted: Semenov’s flushes were hell. The fierce battle lasted three hours - the grenadiers did not retreat, although they suffered huge losses. When someone subsequently mentioned that Vorontsov’s division “disappeared from the field,” Mikhail Semenovich, who was present, sadly corrected: “It disappeared on the field.”
Vorontsov himself was seriously wounded. He was bandaged right on the field and taken out from under bullets and cannonballs in a cart, one wheel of which was knocked down by a cannonball. When the count was brought home to Moscow, all the vacant buildings were filled with the wounded, often deprived of any help. The lord's goods were loaded onto carts from the Vorontsov estate for transport to distant villages: paintings, bronze, boxes of porcelain and books, furniture. “Vorontsov ordered everything to be returned to the house, and the convoy to be used to transport the wounded to Andreevskoye, his estate near Vladimir. The wounded were picked up along the entire Vladimir road. A hospital was set up in Andreevskoye, where up to 50 officer ranks and more than 300 ordinary man.
After recovery, each private was provided with linen, a sheepskin coat and 10 rubles. Then in groups they were transported by Vorontsov to the army. He himself arrived there, still limping, walking with a cane. Meanwhile, the Russian army was moving inexorably to the West. In the Battle of Krasnoye, already near Paris, Lieutenant General Vorontsov acted independently against troops led personally by Napoleon. He used all the elements of Russian combat tactics, developed and approved by A.V. Suvorov: a rapid bayonet attack of infantry deep into enemy columns with the support of artillery, skillful deployment of reserves and, most importantly, the admissibility of private initiative in battle, based on the requirements of the moment. The French, who fought bravely against this, even with a double numerical superiority, were powerless.
“Such exploits in the sight of everyone, covering our infantry with glory and eliminating the enemy, certify that nothing is impossible for us,” Vorontsov wrote in an order after the battle, noting the merits of everyone: privates and generals. But both of them witnessed firsthand the enormous personal courage of their commander: despite the unhealed wound, Vorontsov was constantly in battle, taking command of units whose commanders had fallen. It is not for nothing that the military historian M. Bogdanovsky, in his study dedicated to this one of the last bloody battles with Napoleon, especially noted Mikhail Semenovich: “The military field of Count Vorontsov was illuminated on the day of the Battle of Kraon with a blaze of glory, sublime modesty, the usual companion of true dignity.”
In March 1814, Russian troops entered Paris. For four long years, very difficult for the regiments that fought through Europe, Vorontsov became the commander of the Russian occupation corps. A bunch of problems fell upon him. The most pressing ones are how to maintain the combat effectiveness of a mortally tired army and ensure conflict-free coexistence between the victorious troops and the civilian population. The most mundane and everyday ones: how to ensure a tolerable material existence for those soldiers who fell victims to charming Parisian women - some had wives, and besides, an addition to the family was expected. So now Vorontsov was no longer required to have combat experience, but rather tolerance, attention to people, diplomacy and administrative skills. But no matter how many worries there were, they all expected Vorontsov.
A certain set of rules was introduced into the corps, compiled by its commander. They were based on a strict requirement for officers of all ranks to exclude from soldiers actions that degrade human dignity, in other words, for the first time in the Russian army, Vorontsov voluntarily banned corporal punishment. Any conflicts and violations of statutory discipline had to be dealt with and punished only according to the law, without the “vile custom” of using sticks and assault.
Progressive-minded officers welcomed the innovations introduced by Vorontsov in the corps, considering them a prototype for reforming the entire army, while others predicted possible complications with the St. Petersburg authorities. But Vorontsov stubbornly stood his ground.
Among other things, in all divisions of the corps, by order of the commander, schools were organized for soldiers and junior officers. Senior officers and priests became teachers. Vorontsov personally compiled training programs depending on the situation: some of his subordinates learned the alphabet, others mastered the rules of writing and counting.
Vorontsov also adjusted the regularity of sending correspondence from Russia to the troops, wanting people. separated from their home for years, they did not lose touch with their homeland.
It so happened that the government allocated money to the Russian occupation corps for two years of service. The heroes remembered love, women and other joys of life. One person knew for certain what this resulted in - Vorontsov. Before sending the corps to Russia, he ordered to collect information about all the debts incurred by corps officers during this time. The total was one and a half million in banknotes.
Believing that the winners should leave Paris in a dignified manner, Vorontsov paid this debt by selling the Krugloye estate, which he inherited from his aunt, the notorious Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova.
The corps set out to the east, and in St. Petersburg rumors were already in full swing that Vorontsov’s liberalism indulged the Jacobin spirit, and the discipline and military training of the soldiers left much to be desired. Having reviewed the Russian troops in Germany, Alexander I expressed dissatisfaction with their pace, which in his opinion was not fast enough. Vorontsov’s answer was passed from mouth to mouth and became known to everyone: “Your Majesty, with this step we came to Paris.” Returning to Russia and feeling obvious hostility towards himself, Vorontsov submitted his resignation. Alexander I refused to accept it. Whatever you say, it was impossible to do without the Vorontsovs...
Governor of the South
...In February 1819, the 37-year-old general went to his father in London to ask permission to marry. His bride, Countess Elizaveta Ksaverievna Branitskaya, was already 27 years old when, during her trip abroad, she met Mikhail Vorontsov, who immediately proposed to her. Eliza, as Branitskaya was called in the world, Polish on her father’s side, Russian on her mother’s side, related to Potemkin, had an enormous fortune and that incredibly charming charm that made everyone see her as a beauty.
The Vorontsov couple returned to St. Petersburg, but very briefly. Mikhail Semenovich did not stay in any of the Russian capitals - he served wherever the tsar sent him. He was very pleased with his appointment to the south of Russia, which happened in 1823. The region, which the center still couldn’t reach, was the focus of all possible problems: national, economic, cultural, military, and so on. But for an enterprising person, this huge half-asleep space with rare inclusions of civilization was a real find, especially since the king had given him unlimited powers.
The newly arrived Governor-General began5 with the impassability, the ineradicable Russian scourge. A little over 10 years later, having traveled from Simferopol to Sevastopol, A.V. Zhukovsky wrote in his diary: “A wonderful road - a monument to Vorontsov.” This was followed by the first Black Sea commercial Russian shipping company in the south of Russia.
Today it seems that vineyards on the spurs of the Crimean mountains have reached us almost since antiquity. Meanwhile, it was Count Vorontsov, appreciating all the advantages of the local climate, who contributed to the emergence and development of Crimean viticulture. He ordered seedlings of all grape varieties from France, Germany, Spain and, inviting foreign specialists, set them the task of identifying those that would take root better and be able to produce the necessary yields. The painstaking selection work was carried out for more than a year or two - the winemakers knew firsthand how rocky the local soil is and how it suffers from lack of water. But Vorontsov continued with his plans with unwavering tenacity. First of all, he planted vineyards on his own plots of land, which he acquired in Crimea. The mere fact that the famous palace complex in Alupka was built to a large extent with money raised by Vorontsov from the sale of his own wine speaks volumes about the remarkable commercial acumen of Mikhail Semenovich.
In addition to winemaking, Vorontsov, carefully looking at those activities that had already been mastered by the local population, tried with all his might to develop and improve existing local traditions. Elite breeds of sheep were imported from Spain and Saxony and small wool processing enterprises were established. This, in addition to providing employment to the population, provided money to both the people and the region. Without relying on subsidies from the center, Vorontsov set out to make life in the region based on the principles of self-sufficiency. Hence Vorontsov’s transformative activities, unprecedented in scale: tobacco plantations, nurseries, the establishment of the Odessa Agricultural Society for the exchange of experience, the purchase abroad of new agricultural implements at that time, experimental farms, a botanical garden, exhibitions of livestock and fruit and vegetable crops.
All this, in addition to the revitalization of life in Novorossiya itself, changed the attitude towards it as a wild and almost burdensome region for the state treasury. Suffice it to say that the result of the first years of Vorontsov’s management was an increase in the price of land from thirty kopecks per tithe to ten rubles or more.
The population of Novorossiya grew from year to year. Vorontsov did a lot for enlightenment and scientific and cultural development in these places. Five years after his arrival, a school of oriental languages ​​was opened, and in 1834 a merchant shipping school opened in Kherson to train skippers, navigators and shipbuilders. Before Vorontsov, there were only 4 gymnasiums in the region. With the foresight of a smart politician, the Russian governor-general opens a whole network of schools in the Bessarabian lands recently annexed to Russia: Chisinau, Izmail, Kilia, Bendery, Balti. A Tatar department began operating at the Simferopol gymnasium, and a Jewish school began operating in Odessa. For the upbringing and education of children of poor nobles and high merchants, in 1833 the Highest permission was received to open an institute for girls in Kerch.
His wife also made her contribution to the count’s endeavors. Under the patronage of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna, a home for orphans and a school for deaf-mute girls were created in Odessa.
All of Vorontsov’s practical activities, his concern for the future of the region, were combined in him with a personal interest in its historical past. After all, the legendary Taurida absorbed almost the entire history of mankind. The Governor-General regularly organizes expeditions to study Novorossiya, describe surviving ancient monuments, and excavations.
In 1839, Vorontsov founded the Society of History and Antiquities in Odessa, which was located in his house. The Count’s personal contribution to the Society’s repository of antiquities, which had begun to expand, was a collection of vases and vessels from Pompeii.
As a result of Vorontsov’s passionate interest, according to experts, “the entire Novorossiysk region, Crimea and partly Bessarabia in a quarter of a century, and the inaccessible Caucasus in nine years were explored, described, illustrated much more accurately and in more detail than many of the internal components of vast Russia.”
Everything related to research activities was done fundamentally: many books related to travel, descriptions of flora and fauna, with archaeological and ethnographic finds were published, as people who knew Vorontsov well testified, “with the unfailing assistance of the enlightened ruler.”
The secret of Vorontsov’s unusually productive activity lay not only in his state mentality and extraordinary education. He had an impeccable command of what we now call the ability to “put together a team.” Connoisseurs, enthusiasts, and craftsmen, eager to attract the attention of a high-ranking person to their ideas, did not come to the count’s doorstep. “He looked for them himself,” recalled one witness of the “Novorossiysk boom,” “he got to know them, brought them closer to him, and, if possible, invited them to joint service for the Fatherland.” One hundred and fifty years ago this word had a specific, soul-elevating meaning that moved people to great lengths...
Last assignment: St. Petersburg, January 24, 1845. “Dear Alexey Petrovich! You were probably surprised when you learned about my appointment to the Caucasus. I was also surprised when this assignment was offered to me, and not without fear I accepted it: for I am already 63 years old...” This is what Vorontsov wrote to his military friend, General Ermolov, before setting off to a new destination. There was no peace in sight. Roads and roads: military, mountain, steppe - they became his life geography. But there was some special meaning in the fact that now, completely gray-haired, with the recently awarded title of His Serene Highness, he was again heading to those lands where he rushed under bullets as a twenty-year-old lieutenant. Nicholas I appointed him governor of the Caucasus and commander-in-chief of the Caucasian troops, leaving behind him the Novorossiysk governor-general.
For the next nine years of his life, almost until his death, Vorontsov was in military campaigns and in work to strengthen Russian fortresses and the combat readiness of the army, and at the same time in unsuccessful attempts to build a peaceful life for peaceful people. The style of his ascetic activity is immediately recognizable - he has just arrived, his residence in Tiflis is extremely simple and unpretentious, but here the beginning of the city's numismatic collection has already been laid, and in 1850 the Transcaucasian Society of Agriculture was formed. The first ascent of Ararat was also organized by Vorontsov. And of course, again the efforts to open schools - in Tiflis, Kutaisi, Yerevan, Stavropol with their subsequent unification into the system of a separate Caucasian educational district. According to Vorontsov, the Russian presence in the Caucasus not only should not suppress the identity of the peoples inhabiting it, it simply must take into account and adapt to the historically established traditions of the region, the needs, and the character of the inhabitants. That is why, in the very first years of his stay in the Caucasus, Vorontsov gave the green light to the establishment of a Muslim school. He saw the path to peace in the Caucasus primarily in religious tolerance and wrote to Nicholas I: “The way Muslims think and treat us will depend on our attitude towards their faith...” In “pacifying” the region with the help of military force alone, he I didn't believe it. It was in the military policy of the Russian government in the Caucasus that Vorontsov saw considerable miscalculations. According to his correspondence with Ermolov, who pacified the militant highlanders for so many years, it is clear that the fighting friends agree on one thing: the government, carried away by European affairs, paid little attention to the Caucasus. Hence the long-standing problems generated by inflexible policies, and, moreover, disregard for the opinions of people who knew this region and its laws well. Elizaveta Ksaveryevna was constantly with her husband at all places of service, and sometimes even accompanied him on inspection trips. With noticeable pleasure, Vorontsov reported to Ermolov in the summer of 1849: “In Dagestan, she had the pleasure of going two or three times with the infantry under martial law, but, to her great regret, the enemy did not show up. We were with her on the glorious Gilerinsky descent, from where almost all of Dagestan is visible and where, according to the common legend here, you spat on this terrible and damned region and said that it was not worth the blood of one soldier; It’s a pity that after you, some bosses had completely opposite opinions.” From this letter it is clear that over the years the couple became closer. Young passions subsided and became a memory. Perhaps this rapprochement also occurred because of their sad parental fate: of the six Vorontsov children, four died very early. But even those two, having become adults, gave their father and mother food for not very joyful thoughts.
Daughter Sophia, having gotten married, did not find family happiness - the couple, having no children, lived separately. Son Semyon, about whom they said that “he was not distinguished by any talents and did not resemble his parent in any way,” was also childless. And subsequently, with his death, the Vorontsov family died out.
On the eve of his 70th birthday, Mikhail Semenovich asked for resignation. His request was granted. He felt very bad, although he hid it carefully. He lived “idle” for less than a year. Behind him are five decades of service to Russia, not out of fear, but out of conscience. In the highest military rank of Russia - field marshal - Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov died on November 6, 1856.
P.S. For services to the Fatherland, His Serene Highness Prince M.S. Two monuments were erected to Vorontsov - in Tiflis and in Odessa, where Germans, Bulgarians, representatives of the Tatar population, clergy of Christian and non-Christian denominations arrived for the opening ceremony in 1856.
Vorontsov’s portrait is located in the front row of the famous “War Gallery” of the Winter Palace, dedicated to the heroes of the War of 1812. The bronze figure of the field marshal can be seen among the prominent figures placed on the “Millennium of Russia” monument in Novgorod. His name appears on the marble plaques of the St. George Hall of the Moscow Kremlin in the sacred list of faithful sons of the Fatherland. But the grave of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov was blown up along with the Odessa Cathedral in the first years of Soviet power...

In Odessa

Biography

Early years

Count Mikhail Vorontsov was born on May 19 (30) in St. Petersburg, spent his childhood and youth with his father, Semyon Romanovich, in London, where he received an excellent education. Enrolled as a bombardier-corporal in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment as an infant, he was already promoted to warrant officer at 4 years of age.

In 1803 he was assigned to the Caucasian troops, led by Prince Tsitsianov. He was attached to the commander-in-chief. On January 3, 1804, he took part in the assault on Ganja. On January 15 of the same year, he almost died during Gulyakov’s unsuccessful expedition to the Zagatala Gorge.

In September 1805, as a brigade major, he was sent to Swedish Pomerania with the landing forces of Lieutenant General Tolstoy and was at the blockade of the Hamelin fortress.

During the campaign of 1806 he was in the battle of Pułtusk.

During the campaign of 1807, commanding the 1st battalion of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, he took part in the Battle of Friedland.

In 1809, Vorontsov, appointed commander of the Narva Infantry Regiment, went to Turkey, where he participated in the assault on Bazardzhik.

In 1810 he took part in the battle of Shumla, then was sent with a special detachment to the Balkans, where he occupied the cities of Plevna, Lovech and Selvi.

During the campaign of 1811, Vorontsov took part in the battle near Rushchuk, in 4 cases near Kalafat and in a successful case near Vidin.

Patriotic War and foreign campaign

Going for treatment to his Andreevskoye estate in Pokrovsky district of Vladimir province, Vorontsov refused to evacuate property from his house on Nemetskaya Street in Moscow, ordering the wounded to be taken out on carts. About 50 wounded generals and officers and more than 300 lower ranks were stationed in Andreevsky. The count took upon himself the costs of the wounded, which reached 800 rubles daily. After recovery, each soldier, before being sent to the active army, was supplied with clothes and 10 rubles.

Having barely recovered, Vorontsov returned to duty and was assigned to Chichagov’s army, and he was entrusted with a separate flying detachment. During the truce (summer of 1813) he was transferred to the Northern Army; upon the resumption of hostilities, he was in action near Dennewitz and in the battle of Leipzig.

During the campaign of 1814, Vorontsov brilliantly withstood the battle against Napoleon himself near the city of Craon. Awarded on February 23, 1814, the Order of St. George, 2nd class No. 64

Command of the occupation corps in France

In 1815-1818, Vorontsov commanded the occupation corps in France.

A certain set of rules, compiled by Vorontsov personally, was introduced in the corps, limiting the use of corporal punishment for soldiers. Notable is his opinion on the limitation of corporal punishment:

Since a soldier who has never been punished with sticks is much more capable of feelings of ambition worthy of a real warrior and son of the Fatherland, and one can more likely expect good service and an example from him to others...

In all divisions of the corps, by order of Vorontsov, Lancaster schools for soldiers and junior officers were organized. Also, the count adjusted the regularity of sending correspondence from Russia to the corps.

Before the withdrawal of the occupation corps, Vorontsov collected information about the debts of officers and soldiers to local residents and paid all the debts, the amount of which was about 1.5 million rubles, from his own funds. In order to pay off French creditors, he was forced to sell the Krugloye estate, inherited from his aunt, Princess Ekaterina Dashkova.

International connections

In 1818 he represented Russia at the Aachen Congress.

Governor-General of Novorossiya

Returning to Russia, Vorontsov commanded the 3rd Infantry Corps, and on May 19, 1823, he was appointed Novorossiysk Governor-General and Plenipotentiary Governor of the Bessarabia Region. The half-virgin Novorossiysk region was waiting only for a skillful hand to develop agricultural and industrial activities in it. Vorontsov owes: Odessa - a hitherto unprecedented expansion of its trade importance and increase in prosperity; Crimea - the development and improvement of winemaking, the construction of a magnificent palace in Alupka and an excellent highway bordering the southern coast of the peninsula, the breeding and multiplication of different types of grain and other useful plants, as well as the first experiments in forestry. At his initiative, the Society for Agriculture of Southern Russia was established in Odessa, in whose work Vorontsov himself took an active part. One of the most important branches of Novorossiysk industry, the breeding of fine-wool sheep, also owes a lot to him. Under him, in 1828, shipping on the Black Sea began. On December 29, 1826, Vorontsov was elected an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.

On May 24, 1826 he was appointed a member of the State Council. In the same year, he was a member of the Supreme Criminal Court in the case of the Decembrists.

In 1828, he took over the leadership of the troops besieging the fortress of Varna, instead of the wounded Prince Menshikov. On August 17, Vorontsov arrived at his destination, and on September 28, the fortress surrendered. During the campaign of 1829, thanks to the assistance of Vorontsov, the troops operating in Turkey continuously received the necessary supplies. The plague, brought from Turkey, did not penetrate deep into the Russian Empire, largely thanks to the energetic measures of Vorontsov.

During the governorship of Count Vorontsov in Chisinau, and then before his eyes in Odessa, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was in exile (1820-1824). His relationship with Vorontsov did not work out right away; the governor viewed the exiled poet primarily as an official, gave him instructions that seemed insulting to him, and most importantly, his wife Elizaveta Ksaveryevna, née Countess Branitskaya, began a superficial affair with Pushkin to cover up her real love relationship, which greatly spoiled Pushkin’s life, since the count became the object of numerous caustic, although not entirely fair, epigrams from Pushkin: “They once told the Tsar that finally...”, “The singer David is small in stature...”, “I don’t know where, but not here...”; Pushkin ridicules their pride, servility (from his point of view) and Anglomania of the governor.

Other writers of that time - A. S. Griboyedov, G. F. Olizar, P. P. Svinin, etc. - during trips around the Crimea, visited Vorontsov’s hospitable house in Gurzuf, which the count, who constantly lived in Odessa and visited the peninsula only visits, owned until 1834. The Count cordially welcomed creative guests in his home in St. Petersburg on Malaya Morskaya; one of whom is G.V. Gerakov, who characterized Vorontsov as “ rare friend"died right there on June 2, 1838.

Vorontsov patronized the architects F. C. Boffo and G. I. Toricelli, attracted them to large government orders, expanding public construction throughout the province. They built such masterpieces as the Potemkin Staircase (1837-1841) and the merchant exchange on Primorsky Boulevard in Odessa, the Stone Staircase in Taganrog, the Temple of St. John Chrysostom in Yalta (1837), the Temple in the Name of All Crimeans The Saints and the Holy Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates in Alushta ( 1842) and many other public buildings.

As a private individual, he orders palaces in Odessa and the Alupka estate. Having invited the gardener K. A. Kebakh to Alupka for 25 years and promoting the work of the botanist H. H. Steven in the Nikitsky Botanical Garden, he laid the foundations of landscape gardening on the southern coast of Crimea.

Caucasus

In 1844, Vorontsov was appointed commander-in-chief of the troops in the Caucasus and governor of the Caucasus, with unlimited powers and retention in his previous positions. Arriving in Tiflis on March 25, 1845, he soon went to the left flank of the Caucasian line, to take command of the troops preparing for the campaign against Shamil. After occupying Andi, which involved the greatest difficulties, the troops, under the personal leadership of Vorontsov, moved to Shamil’s temporary residence - the aul of Dargo. The capture of this point and, in particular, further movement through impenetrable forests was accompanied by great dangers and huge losses. The “Dargin” expedition, in fact, did not achieve its goal, since Shamil safely left the village, and the village itself was burned before the Russian troops arrived. The convoy convoy, which was on its way to join Vorontsov’s detachment, was attacked by the highlanders and was partially captured (“Sukharnaya” expedition). The retreat from Dargo was also accompanied by losses. Here is how eyewitness writer Arnold Lvovich Zisserman responded to those events:

Anyone can imagine what impression the outcome of the entire large expedition of 1845 made on our troops, on the Christian population of Transcaucasia devoted to us and on the hostile Muslim population. There is nothing to say about the triumph of Shamil and the mountaineers. Thus, I repeat, if it were not for Count Vorontsov, who enjoyed great trust and respect from Sovereign Nikolai Pavlovich and stood above the influence of the intrigues of even the powerful Chernyshev, his Caucasian career would probably have ended with the end of the expedition...

However, despite the failure, for the campaign to Dargo, by a personal Highest decree of August 6, 1845, the Caucasian governor, adjutant general, Count Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov was elevated, with his descendants, to the princely dignity of the Russian Empire.

In 1848, two strongholds of Dagestan, the auls of Gergebil and Salty, were taken. In the bloody Battle of Salta, Vorontsov blocked and defeated a large detachment of highlanders from Naib Idris. In the same year, through the efforts of Vorontsov and on his initiative:

By a personal Highest decree of March 30, 1852, the Caucasian governor, adjutant general, infantry general, Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov was awarded, with descendants, the title of lordship.

Vorontsov - bibliophile

His father, Semyon Romanovich, and his father’s brother, Alexander Romanovich, began collecting books. Compiling book collections required a certain culture, freedom of funds, and the ability to travel around the country and abroad. The Vorontsovs had all this in abundance: their fortune was one of the largest in Russia, Semyon Romanovich lived permanently in England, Alexander Romanovich also served in the diplomatic line. Their book collections were typical of those of the 18th century, when the spiritual life of Europe was strongly influenced by the ideas of the French Enlightenment. The basis of the libraries were the works of Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu; Attention was also paid to antiquities and manuscripts. Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov inherited a significant part of the collections of his relatives, including his aunt, Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova. Mikhail Semyonovich himself had been collecting books since his youth and did not give up this activity in the 1810s, when he was in Paris at the head of an expeditionary force.

M. S. Vorontsov had several book collections - both in Russia and abroad. The fate of the Tiflis library has not been fully clarified, the Odessa collection, at the will of the heirs, was transferred to the local university, the St. Petersburg collection passed to his son, Semyon Mikhailovich, after whose death it was sold through the store of V.I. Klochkov, and only the Alupka library was preserved, partially, in the palace’s own interior - museum.

Last years

At the beginning of 1853, Vorontsov, feeling the approach of blindness and extreme loss of strength, asked the sovereign to dismiss him from his post, and on March 25 he left Tiflis. Monuments were erected to him in Tiflis (with funds collected from voluntary donations from the city population), Odessa and Berdyansk.

On the day of the coronation of Emperor Alexander II on August 26, 1856, Vorontsov was awarded the rank of Field Marshal.

Vorontsov died on November 6, 1856 in Odessa. For many years, stories about the simplicity and accessibility of the Supreme Governor were preserved among soldiers in the Russian troops in the Caucasus. After the death of the prince, a saying arose there: “God is high, the Tsar is far away, but Vorontsov died.”

He was buried in Odessa in the lower church of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral.

Memory

In 1849, in honor of M. S. Vorontsov, the Eastern Embankment in Taganrog (the name “Vorontsovskaya Embankment” existed until 1924, now Pushkinskaya) and Azovsky Descent (renamed in 1920, now Komsomolsky) were named in honor of M. S. Vorontsov.

• In 1863, a monument to M. S. Vorontsov was built in Odessa.
• In 1867, a monument to M. S. Vorontsov was unveiled in Tiflis. Demolished in 1922.
• In L. N. Tolstoy’s story “Hadji Murad”, Count Vorontsov is depicted as a crafty, highly experienced courtier.
• In August 1998, a bronze bust of M. S. Vorontsov was unveiled in Yeisk on the station square.
• On August 16, 2008, a bronze monument to M. S. Vorontsov was unveiled in Yeisk near the city stadium.

Military ranks

• Enlisted as Bombardier-Corporal of the Guards (1786)
• Ensign of the Guard (1786)
• Lieutenant of the Guard (10.1801)
• Captain of the Guard (1804)
• Colonel (01/10/1807)
• Major General (04/14/1810)
• Lieutenant General (02/08/1813)
• Adjutant General (08/30/1815)
• General of the Infantry (05/29/1825)
• Field Marshal General (08/26/1856)

Achievement list

Awards

Russian:

Foreign:

Vorontsov's grave

Vorontsov and his wife, Elizaveta Ksaverevna Vorontsova, who died on April 15 (27), 1880, in recognition of their services to Odessa, in view of their pious lifestyle and numerous acts of mercy, were buried with honors in

On May 20, 1819, Liza Branitskaya left the Parisian Orthodox Church as Countess Elizaveta Vorontsova. Elizaveta Ksaveryevna and Count Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov lived together for almost 40 years, until the death of Mikhail Semyonovich.

Her father is Count Ksaviry Petrovich Branitsky, a Pole, the Great Crown Hetman - the owner of the large estate of Belaya Tserkov in the Kyiv province. Mother, Alexandra Vasilievna, née Engelhardt, Russian, was Potemkin’s niece and was known as an incredibly rich beauty. Lisa was brought up in strictness and lived in the village until she was twenty-seven years old. Only in 1819 did she go on her first trip abroad, here in Paris and met Count Vorontsov.

Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, wife of Alexander I, knew and adored Liza Branitskaya well. Therefore, apparently fearing that Mikhail Semyonovich’s father, Count Vorontsov Semyon Romanovich, who served as the Russian ambassador in London for many years, would be against his son’s marriage to a Polish woman, she wrote to him: “The young countess combines all the qualities of an outstanding character, to which are added all the charms beauty and intelligence: she was created to make happy a respected person who will unite his destiny with her.”

However, Lisa and her mother also had concerns about the impossibility of marriage. After all, Lisa’s father decided that only noble gentlemen from a noble family would be the husbands of his daughters. Her older sisters Ekaterina and Sophia had already married Polish gentlemen from the Potocki family.

Lisa, waiting for their marriage, as the youngest, spent too much time in the maidens (she was born on September 8 (19), 1792), and of course dreamed of marriage. And then Natasha Kochubey, her distant relative, told her with enviable joy that her engagement to Lieutenant General Count Vorontsov was about to be announced. How did it all happen? After all, the count came to meet his future, and suddenly Lisa... Indeed, both the count and Natasha were not at all against the upcoming marriage, but most likely only because he, at 37 years old, finally decided to start a family, and she, like any girl, wanted this. And what an enviable groom.

In addition to wealth, nobility of the family, intelligence and courageous appearance, he had something to be proud of. His bravery on the battlefields of the War of 1812 has been widely reported. In the Battle of Borodino, he himself led soldiers in a bayonet attack and was wounded. And when he learned that carts had come from his family estate of Andreevsky to take property from their Moscow palace, he ordered to leave the things and take the wounded on the carts. Thus, hundreds of wounded were taken out from Moscow, which Napoleon was advancing on, and the manor house in Andreevsky turned into a hospital.

As everyone knows, the war with Napoleon ended with the complete defeat of his army (Napoleon was the first to flee Russia, leaving his army in the Russian snows), and Russian troops entered Paris. Before returning home to the corps commanded by Count Vorontsov, he paid all financial debts to the local population from his subordinates from his own funds.

It’s good that they didn’t have time to announce the engagement of the Count and Natasha Kochubey. And soon, to the surprise of friends and acquaintances, Mikhail Semyonovich asks Lisa’s hand in marriage from her mother Alexandra Vasilyevna Branitskaya. Taking advantage of the absence of the father, who referred to being busy, mother and daughter agreed to the marriage. Lisa and her mother's trip to Europe ended with a wedding.

At this time, a portrait of Lisa was painted on porcelain, which was sent to London to the count's father. Semyon Romanovich noted the attractiveness of the girl and added that the colors on the porcelain do not darken over time. Indeed, the portrait of Mikhail Semyonovich’s bride still looks beautiful today, because beauty is eternal.

In 1823, Count Vorontsov was appointed governor-general of the Novorossiysk region and governor of Bessarabia. A.S. was in exile in these same places. Pushkin, and of course the poet’s fate was intertwined with the fate of the Vorontsovs. The poet admired the countess, her grace, intelligence and beauty. But nowhere and never in the rest of his life does he mention her, only numerous profiles of a beautiful female head could be seen on all the papers of the poet from the Odessa period of his life.

Many tried to find a secret in their relationship, but... if there was this secret, let it remain in eternity. E.K. Until the end of her days, Vorontsova retained the warmest memories of Pushkin and read his works almost every day.

In 1844, Nicholas I invited the count to become governor of the vast territory of the Caucasus. Mikhail Semyonovich doubted whether he could justify this trust; he felt that his health had deteriorated, but still accepted the tsar’s offer. And from that moment on, the south of Russia - Crimea, the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia came under his control. He had to solve the most complex issues of the Caucasus, torn apart by acute contradictions. And he, with the constant participation of his wife Elizaveta Ksaveryevna, successfully solved them.

From the memoirs of Count Vorontsov’s colleagues, it is known that Elizaveta Ksaveryevna was always close to her husband. She was his life-giving force, “...the whole region was illuminated by her smile, benevolence, and ardent participation in useful and charitable deeds.” Always calm, friendly, everyone saw her kind look and heard her kind word. She was next to Mikhail Semyonovich in all his affairs, helping to draw up documents.

In addition to the affairs and concerns assigned to them by duty, Elizaveta Ksaveryevna passionately loved gardening. She knew botany well. In Alupka, where the Vorontsov palace was built, there were two gardens - upper and lower, which were planted with rare imported plants.

Under her personal leadership, tree and shrub species and her favorite flowers, roses, were planted. The best gardeners of their time worked on Count Vorontsov's park. But the countess herself was in charge of arranging the rose garden and selecting varieties of roses. The luxurious collection was constantly maintained and replenished.

In Odessa, with the assistance of Elizaveta Ksaveryevna, a women's charitable society was founded, which established a home for orphans, a shelter for the elderly and crippled women. And in Tiflis, through her care, the educational institution of St. Nina Equal to the Apostles was founded for the children of employees of the Caucasian governorship. The same establishments were opened in Kutaisi, Erivan, Stavropol, Shemakha.

Her services were highly appreciated at court. Already in 1838 she was granted a lady of state, and in 1850 she was awarded the Order of St. Catherine of the Grand Cross - a scarlet ribbon and a star, decorated. After the death of her beloved husband, she completely withdrew from social life, and in Odessa she maintained homes for orphans, boys and girls, as well as shelters for the elderly and sisters of mercy.

She dedicated the Mikhailovo-Semyonovsky orphanage to her husband’s memory. Over the years, dedicated only to charity, Vorontsova has given away more than 2 million rubles. So many of the best Russian people imagined the best use of wealth on earth. Elizaveta Ksaverevna, died at the age of 87 on April 15 (27), 1880 in Odessa and was buried in the Odessa Cathedral next to her husband.