Vorontsov Mikhail Illarionovich: biography, achievements and interesting facts

Earl Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov is a Russian diplomat, who owes his elevation to the Vorontsov family. He was one of the closest associates of Peter the Third and Elizabeth Petrovna. In 1741 he became a participant in the palace coup. He worked as chancellor and vice-chancellor of the Russian Empire. Today we will get acquainted with such an outstanding personality as Vorontsov Mikhail Illarionovich. Biography, facts from life, working methods and assessments of contemporaries will help us in this.

Childhood and youth

Vorontsov Mikhail Illarionovich was born July 12, 1714 in a family of small landlords who owned two hundred peasants. At the youthful age, he received a good home education, which helped him to become a page at the age of fourteen. Two years later, Vorontsov became a chamber-page. And in 1735 he was appointed chamber-junker at the court of Elizabeth Petrovna. Soon Vorontsov became her secretary. The last appointment turned out to be a fateful event for Mikhail Illarionovich.

Confidence

Throughout the whole service, Vorontsov enjoyed the complete confidence of Elizaveta Petrovna. He was even initiated into the subtlety of the conspiracy against Anna Leopoldovna. Five days after the palace coup was successfully held, Mikhail Illarionovich was granted real chamberlains, and also appropriated to him the rank of Major-General.

Career

The influence of Mikhail Vorontsov on foreign policy was decisive, therefore he attracted the attention of representatives of foreign households. Frederick II awarded Vorontsov with the Order of the Black Eagle, August the Third - the Order of the White Eagle, and in 1744 he was elevated to the Count's dignity of the Roman Empire. Approximately at the same time, Mikhail Illarionovich got the same title in his homeland. In addition, in the same year 1744 Count Vorontsov was appointed vice-chancellor and was given the rank of State Councilor. At the same time, as many of his contemporaries claimed, he did not have outstanding talents.

In 1746, on the pretext of "improving his health," the count went on an enforced journey to European countries: Germany, France, Italy and Holland for two years. Returning from the voyage, he began the work of the vice-chancellor. In 1751 Vorontsov "for diligence in favor of the Fatherland" was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, which was considered the highest Russian award. In just a few years Vorontsov managed to slander in the eyes of Elizabeth Petrovna his worst enemy and rival - Count Bestuzhev-Ryumin, who served as chancellor. When the latter retired, Vorontsov's cherished dream came true - he became chancellor.

Change of power

During the short reign of Peter III, Vorontsov Mikhail Illarionovich enjoyed a special imperial favor. But with the advent of Catherine II, even the fact that the Count held onto the Chancellor's office for some time was surprising. The fact is that Catherine II was very disliked by the Vorontsovs. The reason for this was their devotion to Peter the Third.

As chancellor under Elizaveta Petrovna and Peter III, Vorontsov maintained allied relations with Austria against Turkey, worked on the rapprochement of Russia with Frederick II and was known as the Prussophile. Also, Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov was a participant in the procedure for concluding a treatise on the renewal of the defense alliance between Russia and Sweden. In 1760, not without his participation, Russia joined the French-Austrian treatise, and two years later signed with Prussia a treatise on eternal peace.

Before swearing to the new empress, the chancellor asked her for merciful dismissal from the office of the Chancellor and release from all cases. An experienced courtier perfectly understood that someone who did not swear an oath to the Empress did not have the right to any state service. Catherine II refused to release Vorontsov from the case, but not for long.

Continuation of service

When Catherine II went to the coronation in Moscow, Vorontsov accompanied her along with other nobles. Returning to St. Petersburg, he began to actively engage in European affairs and became interested in Russia's relations with the East, in particular with Turkey. Turkey has long attracted the attention of the count. As early as 1744, when Vorontsov learned that the Ottoman rulers were openly opposed to the admission of Russian diplomats to Tauris, he instructed the resident of Istanbul, Neplyuev, to somehow achieve for Russia the right to consulate in the Crimea, for even France, located much farther from the peninsula, already had such right. However, the Turks, without thinking twice, rejected this proposal. According to the upset Neplyuyev, the ministerial conference in Istanbul did not go further than simple sentences.

Crimean situation

The situation on the peninsula for a long time was of concern to the St. Petersburg court. In one of the service notes submitted to Catherine II at the dawn of her reign, the Chancellor stressed that Turkey, among other things, could harm Russia through the Crimean khans. "The integrity of the Ottoman Porte depends on its military works and exploits that strengthen its political body, from prolonged rest it comes to exhaustion, which can lead to complete destruction," Mikhail Vorontsov stressed. The Grand Chancellor was right about the Crimea and the intentions of the Turkish rulers, but everyone will understand this only after two decades. The Earl was the first who was able to substantiate in detail the need for Russia to join the Crimea to the empire.

The second treatment

A year after the reign of Catherine II Vorontsov, Mikhail Illarionovich realized that the imperial court began to treat him with undisguised indifference. In the current situation, he decided to do the same as in 1746 - to go on a trip to improve health. On August 4, 1763, the Senate received a decree, which read roughly the following: "The Chancellor Vorontsov informs Us that due to the weakness of his health he is not able to bear the labor of his rank unless he uses the air or curative waters, and for this he asks Us to dismiss him At least for two years in foreign lands ". As a result, Catherine II granted the count leave with the retention of his post.

It was necessary to leave St. Petersburg, as the Collegium of Foreign Affairs immediately arrived Count Panin - an experienced diplomat, who was ordered to become one of the most close associates of the Empress. On October 7, Catherine II signed a decree appointing Panin to the post of the first-present Foreign Affairs Collegium. In the decree it was said that in connection with the existing "unassailable" circumstances, the empress considered for the benefit in the absence of Chancellor Vorontsov to entrust Panin with the production of foreign affairs of the College.

Upon learning of the appointment of Panin, the count decided to urgently return to the northern capital. The Empress in reply to this gave him through Prince Golitsyn an order according to which the chancellor should hand over his affairs to Mr. Panin. In fact, this meant that it was time for the resignation of the Chancellor. July 29, 1765 Mikhail Illarionov Vorontsov received as compensation 50 thousand rubles.

Activity results

Since then Vorontsov Mikhail Illarionovich did not return to diplomacy. As Ekaterina Dashkova, the observant niece of the Count, later noted, was done in the Russian capital by the will of Catherine the Second and was digested by Mr. Panin. The count himself, summing up his activities as chancellor, said that, being in a poor financial situation, he saw the difference between an honest, unselfish chancellery and a rich stay in the same office.

Meanwhile, the Empress strongly doubted the "disinterestedness" and "virtue" of Vorontsov. Despite personal antipathy, she was generous to him: gave him the villages and factories. Nevertheless, Vorontsov constantly exposed his need for money. He asked the government for subsidies, means for paying debts and enjoyed all the privileges that his office only allowed.

To cover the costs of building palaces, he was engaged in very risky entrepreneurship, including speculating in bread and foreign investment. In 1757, Vorontsov, together with Prosecutor General Glebov and Count Shuvalov, procured a privilege to leave flaxseed from Arkhangelsk and Onega ports. However, in this enterprise the graph failed. In the end, he was forced to sell to the treasury an unfinished palace located on Sadovaya Street, and to surrender Marienburg to the landowner Fitingof.

Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov was interested in science. Abroad, he wrote many books that served as the beginning of the legendary Vorontsov library. Among the publications collected by the Count, many works had donative inscriptions. For example, Count Brühl - the Saxon minister, who worked at the court of the Northern Capital, presented Mikhail Illarionovich with a luxurious edition of the engravings of his own art gallery. Thanks to Vorontsov, many important documents were preserved, later included in his famous archive, which was published by Bartenev in the form of forty books.

One of the most interesting facts from Vorontsov's biography is his friendship with Mikhail Lomonosov. The scientist repeatedly asked the count for "an important intercession and betrayal." Mikhail Illarionovich, in turn, showed a genuine interest in the scientific research of the scientist and sponsored it. In March 1753, in a letter to Vorontsov, Lomonosov said that he remembered the count as "a son about his true father." Later, for the Count's money, a marble monument was erected at the grave of the scientist.

Family life

In 1722 Vorontsov Mikhail Illarionovich married Anna Karlovna Skavronskaya - cousin of Elizabeth Petrovna. The couple gave birth to four children, three of whom had not lived a year. The chancellor did not have direct male heirs, but thanks to his brothers the history of the family did not end there. Mikhail Illarionovich had two brothers: Roman and Ivan.

Characteristics of personality

As a successful statesman, Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov received very contradictory estimates in the historical literature. According to K. Valishevsky, however paradoxical it may sound, he was "corrupt, but in a sense still an honest man." Manstein considered the graph poorly educated and incapable. Empress Catherine II, who did not pay the Count, spoke very categorically to him. According to her, there was no foreign court in which he would not have been on a salary.

Care and restraint Vorontsov was not to occupy. Foreign envoys for years waited for him to take decisive answers, but, as a rule, in vain. He was reassuring, but he never revealed his true intentions. According to many foreign observers, Vorontsov played the role of a screen that shields the Shuvalov brothers. He, being more affectionate and educated than the Shuvalovs, was ideally suited to "exchange courtesies with ambassadors."

Last years

Since Vorontsov Mikhail Illarionovich, whose biography became the topic of our review, was fired from the civil service, he settled in Moscow. There, on February 15, 1767, the count died. He was buried next to his relatives in the monastery on Vozdvizhenka. In 1934 the monastery was demolished. Vorontsov's daughter survived it only for two years. Since she did not have children, the legacy of the Count was divided between his brothers. This is the interesting and unusual biography of the famous chancellor - Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov. Years of the life of the graph: 1714-1767.