Head of the secret office under Catherine II. secret office

Russian Imperial House Peter I Alekseevich Great Father Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1629–1676) Mother Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina (1651–1694) Birth of Moscow, May 30, 1672 and the beginning of the reign of the king on April 27, 1682, together with the brother of John V. The sole ruler from January 29

Shishkovsky Stepan Ivanovich- Privy Councilor, head of the Privy Chancellery.

Biography

Shishkovsky, Stepan Ivanovich was born in St. Petersburg on November 20.

His father served in the office of the Senate. The boy was taught to read early. A decree was issued in the city “ officers, nobles and, against any rank, serving and clerk children from seven and eight years old will appear in St. Petersburg and enroll minors in school and teach them to read and write and other sciences».

Stepan Shishkovsky was sent to the College of Economy. He worked in the Moscow office of secret search affairs.

He was transferred to the Secret Chancellery in the city. Frequent coups d'état interfere with the work of the Secret Chancellery. Ushakov was replaced by A. Shuvalov, a man without initiative. He managed to like Shishkovsky, he began to quickly advance in the service. Palace coup in June overthrew Peter III. Catherine II became the empress, who confirmed the decree on the liquidation of the Chancellery, but immediately arose without any decree Secret expedition. Shuvalov resigned. Shishkovsky S.I. began to lead the expedition in the year. In the same year, Pugachev was caught. He is put in an iron cage and taken to Moscow via Arzamas. Catherine II sends Shishkovsky to Moscow. The Empress demanded to interrogate Pugachev. Together with the priest, Shishkovsky led Pugachev to the place of execution. Perhaps it was precisely for the conduct of the Pugachev case that he received the village of B. Bakaldy as a gift. Shishkovsky received Order of Saint Vladimir, pension - 2 thousand rubles a year. Catherine II awarded the investigator with a rank State Councilor.

Shishkovsky is known for creating a whole system of interrogation, about which horrors spoke. For gossip, he whipped even high society ladies. During the torture of his victims, Shishkovsky read akathists. The hatred of the whole people for him was boundless. At the cost of human blood, he acquired a huge fortune.

The landowner of the village of B. Bakaldy in St. Petersburg died on May 12, and was buried in the cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Wife - Alena Petrovna died on August 7 of the year. The only daughter of Shishkovsky, Mapia Stepanovna, was married to a privy councilor, a senator Petr Mitusov, who inherited the village of Bolshiye Bakaldy.

For Shishkovsky, see Russk. Antiquity” of the year, vol. II, note by P. A. Efremov, pp. 637-639.

The successors of Peter I declared that there were no more important and large-scale political affairs in the state. By decree of May 28, 1726, Empress Catherine I liquidated the Secret Chancellery and ordered all its affairs and servants to be transferred to Prince I.F. There the search was carried out. The order became known as the Transfiguration Office. Of the political affairs of that time, one can name the trials of Tolstoy, Devier and Menshikov himself. But Peter II in 1729 stopped the activity of this body as well, dismissed Prince Romodanovsky. From the office, the most important cases were transferred to the Supreme Privy Council, the less important ones were sent to the Senate.

The activities of special bodies resumed only under Anna Ioannovna.

On March 24, 1731, the Office of Secret Investigations was established at the Preobrazhensky General Court. The new intelligence service was functionally designed to detect and investigate political crimes. The Office of Secret Investigation Affairs received the right to investigate political crimes throughout Russia, which was expressed in the order to send to the office persons who declared "the sovereign's word and deed." All central and local authorities had to unquestioningly follow the orders of the head of the office, Ushakov, and for a "malfunction" he could fine any official.

When organizing the Office of Secret Investigation, undoubtedly, the experience of its predecessors, and first of all the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, was taken into account. The Office of Secret Investigation was a new, higher stage in the organization of the system of political investigation. She was free from many of the shortcomings inherent in the Preobrazhensky order, and above all from multifunctionality. The Chancellery arose as a sectoral institution, the staff of which was entirely focused on investigative and judicial activities in the fight against political crimes.

Like its historical predecessors, the Office of Secret Investigations had a small staff - 2 secretaries and a little more than 20 clerks. The department's budget was 3,360 rubles a year, with the total budget of the Russian Empire being 6-8 million rubles.

A.I. was appointed head of the Office of Secret Investigative Affairs. Ushakov, who had experience in the Preobrazhensky Prikaz and the Secret Chancellery. He was able to get such a high post thanks to the demonstration of exceptional devotion to Empress Anna Ioannovna.

The new institution reliably guarded the interests of the authorities. The means and methods of investigation remained the same - denunciations and torture. Ushakov did not try to play a political role, remembering the sad fate of his former associates Tolstoy, Buturlin, Skornyakov-Pisarev, and remained only a zealous executor of the royal will.

Under Elizaveta Petrovna, the Secret Investigative Office remained the highest body of the political investigation of the empire. It was headed by the same Ushakov. In 1746, he was replaced by the real chamberlain P. I. Shuvalov. He led the secret service, "bringing terror and fear to the whole of Russia" (according to Catherine II). Torture, even under Elizaveta Petrovna, remained the main method of interrogation. They even drew up a special instruction “What rite is the accused trying to do”. She demanded, “having recorded torture speeches, to fix it to the judges without leaving the dungeon,” which regulated the design of the inquiry.

All political affairs were still carried out in the capital, but their echoes reached the provinces. In 1742, the former ruler of the country, Duke Biron, and his family were exiled to Yaroslavl. This favorite of Anna Ioannovna actually ruled the country for ten years. The established regime was called the Bironovshchina. The Duke's opponents were persecuted by servants of the Secret Chancellery (an example is the case of the Cabinet Secretary A.P. Volynsky and his supporters). After the death of the Empress, Biron became regent for the infant king, but was overthrown in a palace coup.

For fifteen years, the head of the Secret Chancellery was Count Alexander Ivanovich Shuvalov, cousin of Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov, the favorite of the Empress. Alexander Shuvalov, one of the closest friends of Princess Elizabeth's youth, has long enjoyed her special trust. When Elizaveta Petrovna ascended the throne, Shuvalov was entrusted with detective affairs. At first he worked under Ushakov, and in 1746 he replaced the ill chief at his post.

In the detective department under Shuvalov, everything remained the same: the machine adjusted by Ushakov continued to work properly. True, the new head of the Secret Chancellery did not possess the gallantry inherent in Ushakov, and even instilled fear in those around him with a strange twitching of the muscles of his face. As Catherine II wrote in her notes, “Alexander Shuvalov, not by himself, but by the position he held, was a thunderstorm for the entire court, city and entire empire, he was the head of the inquisition court, which was then called the Secret Chancellery. His occupation caused, as they said, in him a kind of convulsive movement, which was made on the entire right side of his face from the eye to the chin whenever he was excited by joy, anger, fear or fear.

Shuvalov was not such a fanatic of detective work as Ushakov, he did not spend the night at work, but became interested in commerce and entrepreneurship. Court affairs also took away a lot of time from him - from 1754 he became the chamberlain of the court of Grand Duke Pyotr Fedorovich. And although Shuvalov behaved with caution and caution with the heir to the throne, the very fact that the chief of the secret police became his chamberlain unnerved Peter and his wife. Catherine wrote in her notes that she met Shuvalov every time "with a feeling of involuntary disgust." This feeling, shared by Pyotr Fedorovich, could not but affect Shuvalov's career after the death of Elizabeth Petrovna: having become emperor, Peter III immediately dismissed Shuvalov from his post.

The reign of Peter III (December 1761 - June 1762) was an important stage in the history of political investigation. It was then that “Word and Deed!” was banned. - an expression that was used to declare a state crime, and the Secret Chancellery, which had been working since 1731, was liquidated.

The decisions of Emperor Peter III, who came to power on December 25, 1761, were prepared by the entire previous history of Russia. By this time, changes in the psychology of people, their worldview became noticeable. Many ideas of the Enlightenment became generally accepted norms of behavior and politics, they were reflected in ethics and law. They began to look at tortures, painful executions, inhuman treatment of prisoners as a manifestation of the "ignorance" of the previous era, the "roughness of morals" of the fathers. The twenty-year reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, who actually abolished the death penalty, also contributed.

Published on February 22, 1762, the famous manifesto on the prohibition of "Words and Deeds" and the closure of the Secret Office was, undoubtedly, a step towards public opinion by the authorities. The decree frankly admitted that the formula "Word and deed" does not serve the good of people, but their harm. Such a formulation of the question itself was new, although at the same time no one was going to abolish the institution of denunciation and prosecution for "obscene words."

Much of the manifesto is devoted to explaining how intent to commit a state crime should now be reported and how the authorities should act in the new environment. This suggests that we are not talking about fundamental changes, but only about modernization, improvement of political investigation. It follows from the manifesto that all previous investigation cases are sealed state seals, are consigned to oblivion and surrendered to the archives of the Senate. Only from the last section of the manifesto can one guess that the Senate is becoming not only a place for storing old detective papers, but an institution where new political affairs will be conducted. However, the manifesto still speaks very obscurely about how the political investigation will now be organized.

Everything becomes clear if we turn to the decree of Peter III of February 16, 1762, which, instead of the Secret Chancellery, established a special expedition under the Senate, where all employees of the Secret Chancellery, headed by S. I. Sheshkovsky, were transferred. And six days later, a manifesto appeared about the destruction of the Secret Chancellery.

The secret expedition during the reign of Catherine II (1762–1796) immediately occupied an important place in the system of power. It was headed by S. I. Sheshkovsky, who became one of the chief secretaries of the Senate. Catherine II perfectly understood the importance of political investigation and secret police. The entire previous history of Russia, as well as her own history of accession to the throne, spoke about this to the Empress. In the spring and summer of 1762, when the department was being reorganized, the investigation was weakened. Catherine's supporters almost openly prepared a coup in her favor, and Peter III did not have accurate information about the impending danger and therefore only dismissed rumors and warnings in this regard. If the Secret Chancellery had worked, then one of the conspirators, Peter Passek, who was arrested on June 26, 1762 on a denunciation and taken into custody in a guardhouse, would have been taken to the Peter and Paul Fortress. Since Passek was an insignificant person, prone to drunkenness and revelry, questions with predilection would quickly loosen his tongue and the Orlovs' conspiracy would be revealed. In a word, Catherine II did not want to repeat the mistakes of her husband.

Political investigation under Catherine II inherited a lot from the old system, but at the same time, there were also differences. All attributes of the detective were preserved, but in relation to the nobles, their effect was softened. From now on, a nobleman could be punished only if he was "convicted before the court." He was also freed from “any kind of bodily torture”, and the estate of a criminal nobleman was not taken to the treasury, but transferred to his relatives. However, the law has always allowed depriving a suspect of nobility, title and rank, and then torturing and executing.

In general, the concept of state security in the times of Catherine II was based on maintaining "peace and silence" - the basis for the well-being of the state and citizens. The secret expedition had the same tasks as the detective agencies that preceded it: to collect information about state crimes, to take criminals into custody and to conduct an investigation. However, Catherine's detective not only suppressed the enemies of the regime, "approximately" punishing them, but also sought to "study" public opinion with the help of secret agents.

Observation of public sentiment began to pay special attention. This was caused not only by the personal interest of Catherine II, who wanted to know what people think about her and her reign, but also by new ideas that public opinion should be taken into account in politics and, moreover, it should be controlled, processed and directed to the right power channel. In those days, as later, political detectives collected rumors and then summarized them in their reports. However, even then a feature characteristic of the secret services appeared: under a certain kind of objectivity, “upstairs” was supplied with soothing lies. The higher the information that “one woman said at the market” rose, the more officials corrected it.

At the end of 1773, when the Pugachev uprising stirred up Russian society and caused a wave of rumors, "reliable people" were sent to eavesdrop on conversations "in public gatherings, such as in rows, baths and taverns." The Commander-in-Chief of Moscow, Prince Volkonsky, like every boss, strove to make the picture of public opinion in the city entrusted to his care look as sympathetic as possible to the supreme power, and sent the empress quite soothing reports on the state of minds in the old capital, sticking out the patriotic, loyal moods of Muscovites. The tradition of such processing of undercover information was, as is known, continued in the 19th century. I think that the Empress did not particularly trust Volkonsky's peppy reports. In the depths of her soul, the empress clearly had no illusions about the love of the people for her, whom she called "ungrateful."

The influence of the authorities on public opinion consisted in concealing from it (however, futile) facts and events and in "spreading favorable rumors." It was also necessary to catch and roughly punish talkers. Catherine did not miss the opportunity to find out and punish those who spread rumors and libels about her. “Try through the chief police chief,” she writes on November 1, 1777, about some kind of libel, “to find out the factory and the manufacturers of such audacity, so that retribution can be done according to the extent of the crime.” Sheshkovsky dealt with Petersburg “liar”, and in Moscow the Empress entrusted this matter to Volkonsky.

Ekaterina read reports and other documents of the political investigation among the most important state papers. In one of the letters in 1774 she wrote: "Twelve years Secret expedition under my eyes." And then for more than two decades, the investigation remained "under the eyes" of the empress.

Catherine II considered political investigation to be her first state "work", while showing enthusiasm and passion, which harmed the objectivity she declared. In comparison with her, Empress Elizabeth seems like a pitiful amateur who listened to General Ushakov's brief reports during the dressing room between the ball and the walk. Catherine, on the other hand, knew a lot about detective work, she delved into all the subtleties of “what concerns the Secret.” She herself initiated detective cases, was in charge of the entire course of the investigation of the most important of them, personally interrogated suspects and witnesses, approved sentences or passed them herself. The empress also received some undercover information, for which she regularly paid.

Under the constant control of Catherine II, the investigation of the case of Vasily Mirovich (1764), the impostor of "Princess Tarakanova" (1775), was going on. The role of the empress in the investigation of the Pugachev case in 1774-1775 was enormous, and she strenuously imposed her version of the rebellion on the investigation and demanded proof of it. The most famous political case, which was initiated by Catherine II, was the case of the book by A. N. Radishchev "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" (1790). The Empress ordered that the author be found and arrested after reading only thirty pages of the work. She was still working on her comments on the text of the book, which became the basis for an interrogation, and the author himself was already "entrusted to Sheshkovsky." The empress directed the entire course of the investigation and trial. Two years later, Catherine led the organization of the publisher N. I. Novikov. She gave instructions about arrests, searches, she herself composed a lengthy "Note" about what to ask the criminal. Finally, she herself sentenced Novikov to 15 years in a fortress.

Catherine, an educated, intelligent and kindly woman, usually followed the motto “We will live and let others live” and was very tolerant of the tricks of her subjects. But sometimes she suddenly exploded and behaved like the goddess Hera - the stern guardian of morality. This also manifested the tradition, according to which the autocrat acted as the Father (or Mother) of the Fatherland, a caring but strict educator of unreasonable children-subjects, and simply hypocrisy, whim, Bad mood empresses. Letters from the Empress different people, whom she, in her own words, “washed her hair” and whom she warned with serious anger that for such deeds or conversations she could send a disobedient and “liar” where Makar did not drive the calves.

For all her dislike of violence, Catherine sometimes crossed the line of those moral standards that she considered exemplary for herself. And with it, many cruel and “unenlightened” methods of investigation and repression, which the authorities have always resorted to, from shamelessly reading other people's letters to immuring the criminal alive in a fortress casemate by decree of the empress-philosopher (more on this below) turned out to be possible and acceptable. This is natural - the nature of autocracy, in essence, has not changed. When Catherine II died and her son Paul I came to the throne, the autocracy lost the fine features of the “empress-mother”, and everyone saw that no privileges and principles of the Enlightenment that had taken root in the mind could save the autocrat from autocracy and even tyranny.

In addition to the formation of the police department, the XVIII century. It was also marked by the flourishing of a secret investigation, associated primarily with state or "political" crimes. Peter I in 1713 declares: “To say in the whole state (so that ignorance does not dissuade them) that all criminals and damagers of the interests of the state ... such without any mercy to be executed by death ... "

Bust of Peter I. B.K. Shot. 1724 State Hermitage, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Protection of state interests since 1718. the Secret Chancellery is engaged, for some time acting simultaneously with the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, formed at the end of the 17th century. In 1726 the baton of the secret investigation was taken over by the Supreme Privy Council, and in 1731. Office of Secret Investigative Affairs, subordinate to the Senate. Catherine II by decree of 1762. returns to the Office of Secret Investigation Affairs the former powers lost during the short period of the reign of Peter III. Catherine II also reorganizes the detective department, obliging him to obey only the Prosecutor General, which contributed to the formation of a secret investigation even more secret.

In the photo: Moscow, Myasnitskaya st., 3. At the end of the XVIII century. This building housed the Secret Office of Investigative Secret Affairs

First of all, cases related to official crimes of officials, high treason, attempt on the life of the sovereign fell into the sphere of competence of the investigators of the Secret Chancellery. In the conditions of Russia, only awakening from a medieval mystical sleep, the punishment for making a deal with the devil and through this causing harm, and even more so for causing harm to the sovereign in this way, was still preserved.

Illustration from the book by I. Kurukin, E. Nikulina "Everyday life of the Secret Office"

However, mere mortals, who did not conclude deals with the devil and did not think about high treason, had to keep their eyes open. The use of "obscene" words, especially as a wish for the death of the sovereign, was equated to a state crime. The mention of the words "sovereign", "king", "emperor" along with other names threatened to be accused of imposture. The mention of the sovereign as the hero of a fairy tale or an anecdote was also severely punished. It was forbidden to retell even real evidence related to the autocrat.
Given that most of the information came to the Secret Chancellery through denunciations, and investigative measures were carried out with the help of torture, falling into the clutches of a secret investigation was an unenviable fate for the layman.

"Peter I interrogates Tsarevich Alexei in Peterhof" Ge N. 1872 State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

"If only I were a queen..."

Peasant Boris Petrov in 1705 for the words “Whoever started shaving his beard, he would cut off his head” was put on the rack.

Anton Lyubuchennikov was tortured and whipped in 1728. for the words "Our sovereign is stupid, if I were a sovereign, I would hang all the temporary workers." By order of the Preobrazhensky order, he was exiled to Siberia.

Master Semyon Sorokin in 1731. in an official document, he made a typo "Perth the First", for which he was flogged with whips "for that of his guilt, in fear of others."

In 1732, the carpenter Nikifor Muraviev, being at the College of Commerce and dissatisfied with the fact that his case was being considered for a very long time, declared, using the name of the empress without a title, that he would go “to Anna Ivanovna with a petition, she will judge”, for which he was beaten with whips.

Court jester of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in 1744. was arrested by the Privy Office for a bad joke. He brought her a hedgehog in a hat "for laughter", thereby frightening her. The buffoonery was regarded as an attempt on the health of the empress.

"Interrogation in the Secret Office" Illustration from the book by I. Kurukin, E. Nikulina "Everyday life of the Secret Office"

They were also judged for “unworthy words such that according to which the sovereign is alive, and if he dies, then be different ...”: “But the sovereign will not live long!”, “God knows how long he will live, now times are shaky”, etc.

Not just a crime, but an insult to honor was considered a refusal to drink to the health of the sovereign or loyal royal subjects. Chancellor Alexei Petrovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin denounced the nobleman Grigory Nikolaevich Teplov. He accused Teplov of showing disrespect to Empress Elizabeth Ioannovna, pouring "only one and a half spoons", instead of "it is full to drink for the health of such a person who Her Imperial Majesty faithful and in Her highest grace is.”

"Portrait of Count A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin" Louis Tokke 1757, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Catherine II, who tried to reform Russia no less than the famous Peter, softened significantly in relation to her people, who practically did not mention the name of the empress in vain. Gavrila Derzhavin dedicated this significant change to the line:
“There you can whisper in conversations
And, without fear of execution, at dinners
Do not drink for the health of kings.
There with the name of Felitsa you can
Scrape the typo in the line
Or a portrait carelessly
Drop it on the ground…”

"Portrait of the poet Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin" V. Borovikovsky, 1795, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

The Three Pillars of Secret Investigation

The first head of the Secret Chancellery was Prince Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy, who, being a good administrator, was not a fan of operational work. The “gray eminence” of the Secret Chancellery and a real master of detective work was his deputy Andrei Ivanovich Ushakov, a native of the village, at a review of undergrowth for his heroic appearance recorded in Preobrazhensky Regiment, serving in which he won the favor of Peter I.

"Portrait of Count Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy", I. G. Tannauer 1710s, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

After a period of disgrace from 1727-1731. Ushakov was returned to the court by Anna Ioanovna, who gained power, and was appointed head of the Secret Chancellery. In his practice, it was common to torture the person under investigation, and then the informer against the person under investigation. Ushakov wrote about his work: “here again there are no important cases, but there are mediocre ones, according to which, as before, I reported that we were whipping rogues and setting them free.” However, the princes Dolgoruky, Artemy Volynsky, Biron, Minikh ... passed through the hands of Ushakov, and Ushakov himself, embodying the power of the Russian political detective system, successfully remained at court and at work. Russian monarchs had a weakness for investigating "state" crimes, often they themselves decided the court, and the royal ritual every morning, in addition to breakfast and toilet, was listening to the report of the Secret Chancellery.

"Empress Anna Ioannovna" L. Caravak, 1730 State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Ushakov was replaced in such an honorary position in 1746. Alexander Ivanovich Shuvalov. Catherine II mentions in the Notes: “Alexander Shuvalov, not by himself, but by the position he held, was a thunderstorm for the entire court, city and entire empire, he was the head of the inquisition court, which was then called the Secret Chancellery. His occupation caused, as they said, in him a kind of convulsive movement, which was made on the entire right side of his face from the eye to the chin whenever he was excited by joy, anger, fear or fear. His authority as head of the Secret Chancellery was more deserved by his repulsive and intimidating appearance. With the ascension to the throne of Peter III, Shuvalov was dismissed from this position.

Shuvalov Alexander Ivanovich Portrait by P. Rotary. 1761

The third pillar of political investigation in Russia in the XVIII century. became Stepan Ivanovich Sheshkovsky. He led the Secret Expedition from 1762-1794. For 32 years labor activity Sheshkovsky, his personality has acquired a huge number of legends. Sheshkovsky, in the minds of the people, was known as a sophisticated executioner, guarding the law and moral values. In noble circles, he had the nickname "confessor", for Catherine II herself, zealously watching the moral character of her subjects, asked Sheshkovsky to "talk" with the guilty persons for edifying purposes. "Talk" often meant "light corporal punishment", such as whipping or whipping.

Sheshkovsky Stepan Ivanovich. Illustration from the book “Russian antiquity. Guide to the XVIII century.

It was very popular at the end of the 18th century. a story about a mechanical chair that stood at the Sheshkovsky house in the office. Allegedly, when the invitee sat in it, the armrests of the chair snapped into place, and the chair itself fell into a hatch in the floor, so that one head remained sticking out. Further, invisible assistants took off the chair, freed the guest from clothes and flogged, not knowing who. In the description of the son of Alexander Nikolayevich Radishchev, Afanasy Sheshkovsky appears to be a sadistic maniac: “He acted with disgusting autocracy and severity, without the slightest condescension and compassion. Sheshkovsky himself boasted that he knew the means of forcing confessions, namely, he began by grabbing the interrogated person with a stick under the very chin, so that the teeth would crackle, and sometimes even pop out. Not a single accused under such an interrogation dared to defend himself under fear of the death penalty. The most remarkable thing is that Sheshkovsky treated in this way only with noble persons, for the common people were handed over to his subordinates for reprisal. Thus, Sheshkovsky was forced to confess. He executed the punishments of noble persons with his own hands. With rods and whips, he often seceded. With a whip, he whipped with extraordinary dexterity, acquired by frequent exercise.

Whip punishment. From a drawing by H. G. Geisler. 1805

However, it is known that Catherine II stated that torture was not used during interrogations, and Sheshkovsky himself, most likely, was an excellent psychologist, which allowed him to achieve what he wanted from the interrogated with one escalation of the atmosphere and light cuffs. Be that as it may, Sheshkovsky elevated political investigation to the rank of art, supplementing Ushakov's methodicalness and Shuvalov's expressiveness with a creative and non-standard approach to business.