Tyutchev's diplomatic service. A talented Russian diplomat ... F.I.

Isn't it too early to start teaching children the poetry of Fyodor Tyutchev? And is it possible to teach it? And what remains in our memory after this vaccination in elementary school, except for:
"I love the storm in early May,
When the first spring thunder…”,
and not every one of us returns after it to his poetry.
But I do not want to talk about poetry today, but about diplomacy, history, philosophy - phenomena so interconnected that it seems impossible to determine the exact boundaries separating one from the other.
Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev was a Russian diplomat. Since 1822, he began his service in Munich "over the staff", six years later he became the junior secretary of the diplomatic mission, and served under the command of Count I.A. Potemkin, who appreciated his outstanding abilities. They discussed issues of Russian and European politics, and this was of primary interest to the young Tyutchev in his diplomatic activities. A friendly affection arose between the boss and the subordinate, and when the ambassador was transferred from Bavaria, Tyutchev said, apparently with a bitter joke: “It is a sin for the Vice-Chancellor to separate two hearts, as if they were made for each other.”
In the spring of 1836, Tyutchev and his family returned to Russia. The title of chamber junker and belonging to the diplomatic corps, aristocratic connections, and most importantly - the mind attracted high society to him.
Tyutchev treats his poetic work carelessly - he often loses what he has written, probably underestimating it. Politics interests him more. Enriched with world historical experience, he makes his assessment of events in Russia against the backdrop of world history.
Since 1844 Tyutchev serves in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and lives in St. Petersburg, since 1858. he is chairman of the Foreign Censorship Committee. In society, his favorite topic of conversation (or it is connected with interest in his opinion) is foreign policy. Tyutchev clearly influences the minds of high Russian society. He brings his opinions to Alexander II, writes the political and philosophical treatise "Russia and the West", which, unfortunately, remains unfinished.
Speaking for the Christian humility of his people, at the same time he wrote about his readiness for offensive activity. His political ideas testify to his anxiety about the fate of his homeland. However, he was spiritually connected with European culture and contemporary philosophy. The subject of European thought was also his subject. He saw Europe as freer than Russia.
Shortly before his death, he wrote about the "deification" of the individual:
“All this is the human will, elevated into something absolute and dominant, into a higher and unconditional law. This is how it manifests itself in political parties, for which their personal interest and the successful fulfillment of their plans are above all other considerations. Thus, it begins to manifest itself in the policy of the government, in this policy of extremes, which, in pursuing its goals, does not stop at any obstacles, does not spare anyone and does not neglect any means to achieve its goals ... Only when they are fully convinced of the presence of this element, it will be possible to more precisely determine the consequences ... These consequences can be incalculable for the whole world ... It can lead Europe to a state of barbarism unprecedented in world history, allowing all other enslavement.

Reviews

A strange thing - life! .. Turgenev, Fet, Dostoevsky considered Tyutchev one of the greatest peaks of Russian poetry, Leo Tolstoy put him even higher than Pushkin, and in my whole life I met only one person who appreciated him; and he, or rather, she, taught me to appreciate the poet! .. And they “know” Tyutchev something like this: somehow the fans of our famous “bards”, who part-time strummed on guitars, somehow defeated me, I blurted out to get rid of: "Actually, my favorite poet is Tyutchev! .." Eyes popped out at me, looked at each other and asked: "And in which group does he sing !?" That's how he is known in Great Russia ...
I was glad to meet the SECOND person who appreciates Fedor Ivanovich, I wish him all the best and success in life!
Best regards - Nicola

1822 - entry into the service of the State Collegium of Foreign Affairs. 1822-1841 - diplomatic service in Germany and Turin.
1841 - resignation.
1845

- return to service.
1846 - official for special assignments under the State Chancellor.
1848 - senior censor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1857 - real state councilor, chairman of the Foreign Censorship Committee, closest adviser to Chancellor Gorchakov.

By the mid 1860s. Fedor Ivanovich Tyutchev took a very significant place in the foreign policy life of Russia. His role in this field was extremely important. And the point here, of course, is not the fact that on August 30, 1865 he was promoted to Privy Councilor, that is, he reached the third, and in fact even the second step in the state hierarchy (he belonged to the first official class, and even then only from 1867 g., only one person - Chancellor Gorchakov). The main activity of Tyutchev unfolded on unofficial paths, was, as it were, hidden from prying eyes, obscured. We can say that it was a diplomat of the invisible front. Having become the closest and indispensable associate of Gorchakov, he largely controlled his activities, submitted the necessary ideas, projects related to the current and future fate of Russia, while remaining in the shadows. In this regard, he really was a secret adviser not only to the State Chancellor, but also to Emperor Alexander II himself. However, at the beginning of his diplomatic path, nothing foreshadowed him an easy and fast career...
Tyutchev was born on November 23, 1803 in the village of Ovstug, near Bryansk. In his well-born family, both Orthodox life and French manners were valued. On the mother's side, Tyutchev belonged to the side line of the Tolstoy Counts, one of whom was the governor under Ivan the Terrible, and the other was a prominent diplomat and associate of Peter I. In addition, the Tyutchevs were connected by family ties with another statesman of the past Russia - A. I. Osterman . Apparently, Fedor Ivanovich himself was destined to serve the Fatherland. But in what field? He, as expected, received an excellent education at home. Then he graduated from Moscow University with a Ph.D. in verbal sciences. It should be noted that already from a young age he wrote poetry, which ultimately glorified him as an outstanding poet of Russia. Zhukovsky in those years predicted a great future for him in the literary field. Young Tyutchev was friends with Chaadaev and Griboedov, the brothers Muraviev and Bestuzhev, with Odoevsky, Venevitinov, Pushkin, Kireevsky, Glinka - in a word, he was on friendly terms with all the "golden youth" of that time, with people who thought progressively, boldly, each of whom was a phenomenon in the socio-political or literary life of the country.
However, at the family council, it was decided that Fedor would follow the diplomatic path, continuing the traditions of his ancestors. In 1822, he was enrolled in the State Collegium of Foreign Affairs with the rank of provincial secretary (in the table of ranks, this was the 12th class, corresponding to the rank of lieutenant). Count Osterman-Tolstoy took custody of him - he himself is a living legend, a participant in the assault on Izmail and the Battle of Borodino. He also recommended him for the position of a freelancer at the Russian consulate in Bavaria. In the same year, Tyutchev went to Germany, where he spent a total of about two decades.

Actually, Germany as a single, whole country did not exist then. There was only the German Union, founded in 1815, which included many dozens of small state entities, and the largest of them were Prussia and Bavaria. Only at the end of Tyutchev's life did Bismarck succeed in creating a single state. But there is no doubt that the long stay of Fyodor Ivanovich in German cities and principalities was reflected in his spiritual and creative development. Here he married Eleanor Peterson, met Schelling and Heine, developed as a diplomat and poet.
In 1825, Tyutchev was promoted to chamber junker, and three years later he was appointed second secretary at the embassy in Munich. All the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at that time were determined by Nesselrode, and it was difficult to show any independence. Nevertheless, Fedor Ivanovich tried in 1829 P. Ya. Chaadaev to implement an initiative project related to Greek independence.
He intended to nominate the king from Bavaria, Prince Otto, to the Greek throne, and even sent a message to Nicholas I, urging him to actively support Greek statehood. But Otto was opposed by the first president of Greece, Kapodistrias, who himself was once in the Russian service and even headed the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Tyutchev's first independent diplomatic experience ended in failure. However, Greece will always occupy one of the first places in the political and philosophical worldview of Tyutchev.
Perhaps, due to this very circumstance, Fedor Ivanovich's promotion in the service was difficult. By 1833, he was only in the rank of collegiate assessor, experiencing considerable financial difficulties. The reason for this lies in Nesselrod. Special mention should be made of him, since he occupies the most mysterious place in the history of Russian diplomacy, being a figure outstanding in his own way, but with a minus sign.

Karl Nesselrode was born in 1780 and died in 1862, managing Russia's foreign policy for almost forty years. Dying, Karl Nesselrode, among other things, said: "I die with gratitude for the life that I loved so much, because I enjoyed it so much." He also enjoyed his numerous intrigues against nationally oriented Russian statesmen, writers, and military men. It was he who was involved in the Heckeren-Dantès conspiracy against Pushkin. Dantes, by the way, became a senator in France under Napoleon III and built diplomatic intrigues against Russia, the fruit of which was the Crimean War, to which Nesselrode also had a hand.
Since 1822, having become the undivided master of Russia's foreign policy, Nesselrode began to systematically weed out everything that could in any way influence the reasonable course of state affairs. Undoubtedly, he was helped primarily by his huge international connections. In addition, he was a supernaturally dexterous courtier. They said about him that he was Vice-Chancellor because his immediate superior, Chancellor Metternich, was in Vienna. To put it bluntly, Nesselrode's role in Russia's foreign affairs was ominous... In 1850, Tyutchev himself wrote a pamphlet about him in verse, beginning with the words: "No, my dwarf! An unparalleled coward!.."
Naturally, Nesselrode also interfered in every possible way in the promotion of Fedor Ivanovich in his service. And not only to him, but also to such a major diplomat as Gorchakov, who as far back as 1820 took part in international congresses and was honored by Alexander I. In Troppau, for example, Gorchakov amazed everyone by compiling 1200 diplomatic reports in three months of the congress, and he was only twenty-two. But with the coming to power in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nesselrode Gorchakov was "pushed" as chargé d'affaires in the provincial Italian duchy of Lucca, then he was generally dismissed from his post, and after returning to service for thirteen years he was sent to the kingdom of Württemberg. Tyutchev languished for twenty years in Germany, instead of showing his diplomatic talents in more important posts. Indeed, in the documents and papers that have come down to us, Tyutchev is struck by his depth and accuracy of analysis of the international situation, they combine the scale and firmness of political will. It is difficult to doubt that Tyutchev and Gorchakov, if they had been given such an opportunity, would have made the most significant and fruitful contribution to Russian foreign policy already in the 30s and 40s. They would not have allowed the Crimean War and the moral humiliation of Russia. appointed Gorchakov to the important post of ambassador to Vienna, Nesselrode tried to object, pointing out ... Gorchakov's incompetence, then The emperor answered firmly: "I appoint him because he is Russian." Less than two years later, the evil genius of Russia, Nesselrode, was dismissed, and his post was taken by none other than Prince Gorchakov, who then made every effort for twenty-five years to correct what the "dwarf" had done. Tyutchev became Gorchakov's closest adviser.

Since 1838, Tyutchev served as charge d'affaires in Turin. From here, he sends a report to St. Petersburg, in which he calls for the fact that Russian foreign policy in one way or another opposed the claims of the Roman church to rule the world. Nesselrode puts the report under the cloth. Fedor Ivanovich makes another important conclusion based on the penetration of the United States fleet into the Mediterranean Sea. He writes that this "cannot, in the present state of affairs, be of considerable interest to Russia." He keenly discerned the secret intrigues of the then young state of the United States and prophetically determined the basic principles of its world policy. The American educator Thomas Jefferson wrote at the time to President John Adams. "... European barbarians are going to exterminate each other again. The extermination of madmen in one part of the world contributes to the growth of prosperity in other parts of it. Let this be our concern, and let's milk the cow while the Russians hold her by the horns, and the Turks by the tail." To compare the immutability of American principles, one can cite the words of another US president, Harry Truman, who said a hundred years later, during World War II: "If we see that Hitler is winning, we need to help Russia, and if Russia wins, we should help Hitler, and thus let them kill as many of each other as possible."
However, Nesselrode did not want to understand and evaluate Tyutchev's activities, although on the basis of these reports alone it was possible to conclude that Fyodor Ivanovich was highly significant as a diplomat and provide him with a real and wide opportunity to act. Moreover, Tyutchev was generally removed from diplomacy. He was dismissed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and deprived of the title of chamberlain in 1841. It is characteristic that shortly before this, Gorchakov was also dismissed - after twenty years of impeccable service.
Tyutchev was allegedly removed from business because he lost the diplomatic ciphers of the embassy ... However, this act was not reflected in any official document of that time.
In 1845, thanks to the intercession of Benckendorff, Nicholas I, by his personal decree, reinstated Tyutchev in the service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and returned the title of chamberlain. A year later, he was appointed an official for special assignments under the state chancellor. At this time, he often travels on diplomatic missions to Germany and Switzerland. Chancellor Nesselrode (he nevertheless received this highest rank in 1845) provides Tyutchev with business trips abroad, but in every possible way removes him from serious political affairs. Fearing Benckendorff, Nesselrode, as it were, maintains a formal neutrality with respect to Tyutchev. And yet it was at this time that Fyodor Ivanovich took a very serious part in foreign policy affairs. This does not happen directly, but indirectly: Tyutchev publishes abroad a series of deeply meaningful and sharp political articles that evoke an extremely strong response in Europe. The controversy surrounding these articles continued for about three decades, even after Tyutchev's death. In them, for the first time, Europe directly heard the voice of Russia.
Tyutchev, according to the influential French politician F. Buloz, "appeared in Western Europe as a conductor of ideas and moods that inspire his country."

F. I. Tyutchev

It is also very important to take into account the fact that Tyutchev in these articles prophetically foresaw the war of the West against Russia, which broke out ten years later. He was always ahead of his time in his forecasts, he was a real diplomat-thinker, a deep analyst who sees much further and deeper than his colleagues. So, back in 1849, he spoke with complete conviction about the inevitable disappearance of the Austrian Empire, which was then the largest state in Europe, and this really happened 70 years later. Another truly prophetic foresight of Tyutchev was his reflections on Germany. He wrote: "The whole question of the unity of Germany now comes down to finding out whether Germany will want to reconcile and become Prussia." At that time, no one thought about the pan-European and, moreover, worldwide consequences of the changes taking place in Germany. He predicted the Prussian-Austrian and Franco-Prussian wars, as well as the Crimean and Russian-Turkish. The prophetic power of his words is amazing - and it is in the sphere of diplomacy and politics, and not only in the well-known verses. Here is what he said: “What strikes me in the current state of minds in Europe is the lack of a reasonable assessment of some of the most important phenomena of the modern era - for example, what is happening now in Germany ... This is the further fulfillment of the same thing, the deification of man by man .. All this, in his words, can "lead Europe to a state of barbarism, which has nothing like it in the history of the world and in which all other oppressions will find justification."
Tyutchev here, with amazing penetration, managed to see the sprouts of what became a world reality a hundred years later - in the 30s and 40s. 20th century Isn't this the brilliant revelation of a diplomat and a poet? Perhaps the time will come, and another prediction of Fyodor Ivanovich will come true - that the ancient Tsargrad will again someday become the capital of Orthodoxy, one of the centers of the "Great Greco-Russian Eastern Power." He even stated in the outlines for his treatise "Russia and the West" that the Turks occupied the Orthodox East "in order to hide it from the Western peoples," and in this sense the Turks are not so much conquerors as guardians, fulfilling the wise design of History. But only time can answer these questions.
“The only natural policy of Russia towards the Western powers is not an alliance with one or another of these powers, but separation, separation of them. For only when they are separated from each other, they cease to be hostile to us - due to impotence ... This harsh truth , perhaps, will warp sensitive souls, but in the end, after all, this is the law of our being.
F. I. Tyutchev

After the Crimean War, the "era of Gorchakov" began in Russian diplomacy. But even before it began, Tyutchev wrote: “In essence, the year 1812 begins again for Russia, the general attack on it is no less terrible than the first time ... And our weakness in this position is the incomprehensible complacency of official Russia (Nesselrode still ruled in foreign policy), which had lost the meaning and feeling of its historical tradition to such an extent that it not only did not see the West as its natural and necessary adversary, but tried only to serve it. Fyodor Ivanovich, perhaps, was the first one and a half years before the invasion of Russia to determine the nature of the Crimean War - the aggression of the West. During this time, he served as censor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the following years, he undertook various efforts aimed at ensuring that, one way or another, Russia's return to the right path took place. He had no doubts about the greatness of the fate of the Motherland.
Under Gorchakov, Tyutchev became a full state councilor, editor-in-chief of a foreign policy magazine and chairman of the Foreign Censorship Committee, and in fact - the second person in his department. He gained the opportunity to really influence the foreign policy of the country. Tyutchev wrote about Gorchakov: "We became great friends, and quite sincerely. He is a positively outstanding person with great virtues ..." Fyodor Ivanovich brought together Gorchakov and Katkov, a prominent journalist who had a special influence on the emperor and controlled his political views. And what is surprising, he achieved (the move of a true diplomat!) that these state celestials began to inspire each other with nothing more than Tyutchev's ideas. Being almost the only direct intermediary between them, Tyutchev presented his ideas to Katkov as Gorchakov's, and to Gorchakov as Katkov's.
From the end of the 50s. and until the end of his life, Tyutchev's political activity was outwardly invisible, but extremely wide and intense. He stood, as it were, behind the scenes of the diplomatic puppet theater and controlled all the threads. Tyutchev not only did not strive to gain recognition and fame, but, on the contrary, made every effort to hide his fundamental role, thinking only about the success of the cause in which he believed. Tyutchev involved in his activities for the benefit of Russia many dozens of very different people - from newspaper employees and historians to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Tsar himself. And the real embodiment of his ideas was the slow revival of Russia, its new assertion in the international arena.
For seventeen years, he met weekly in an informal setting with Gorchakov, formulated the main foreign policy principles, convinced, proved. Assessing the successful diplomatic actions of the minister, he saw in them the embodiment of his own political program. Tyutchev's attention extended to all parts of the world: Europe, Turkey, Persia, the USA. He considered his literary activity (which immortalized him - that's a paradox!) a matter of secondary importance, diplomacy was and remained the main thing for him in life.

More than anyone else in Russia, he saw the hostility of the West and was clearly aware of the historical mission of his country in the world. But he was not a supporter of some kind of exclusive isolation of Russia. In his ideas he rose above concrete politics, became a philosopher-thinker, a prophet. For Tyutchev, the struggle was expressed not in the confrontation between Russia and the West, but in the fight against evil on a global scale. And the highest goal for him was for the sake of victory in this struggle "to enter into peaceful spiritual communion with the West."
In January 1873, Fedor Ivanovich fell seriously ill. Ivan Aksakov visits Tyutchev these days. Bedridden, with aching and boring pain in his brain, unable to either rise or roll over without help, he truly amazed doctors and visitors with the brilliance of his wit. When Emperor Alexander II wished to visit him, Tyutchev remarked with crushing humor: "This will lead me to great embarrassment. Since it will be extremely indelicate if I die the very next day after the royal visit." And at the same time, Tyutchev continued to dictate letters to Gorchakov, and when he came, he had long conversations with him about the tasks of foreign policy.
Just before his death, his confessor came to him, and Tyutchev, anticipating his farewell to death, asked: "What are the details about the capture of Khiva?" And his last words were: "I am disappearing, disappearing! .." Once he wrote such poetic lines: "We cannot predict how our word will respond ..." poet and diplomat Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev. How does his word resonate in our hearts? Everyone should ask themselves this.

Tyutchev: poet, diplomat, philosopher

The next volume of the Russian Way series is dedicated to the outstanding Russian poet, philosopher, diplomat, and patriot of Russia F.I. Tyutchev. The main value of this publication is that here, for the first time, an attempt was made to systematize all critical literature about the poet

The next volume published in the series "Russian Way", dedicated to the outstanding Russian poet, political philosopher, diplomat, citizen and patriot of Russia F.I. Tyutchev (1803-1873), in many ways completes the panorama of numerous publications dedicated to the 200th anniversary of his birth, among which one can single out a complete academic collection of works in 6 volumes, as well as "Poems" ("Progress-Pleyada, 2004) , published on the eve of the 200th anniversary of F.I. Tyutchev. This edition allows us to better understand the significance of this Russian poet for both domestic and world culture.

The main value of this publication lies in the fact that for the first time an attempt was made to systematize all critical literature about the poet, to present Tyutchev's ideas in the most complete way: as a romantic poet, philosopher, publicist, diplomat, public figure. Most of the works presented in the publication are devoted to this topic. Some texts, such as the article by I.S. Aksakov “F.I. Tyutchev and his article "The Roman Question and the Papacy" and some others, previously inaccessible to researchers, are presented for the first time. In the works of I.S. Aksakov “F.I. Tyutchev and his article "The Roman Question and the Papacy", L.I. Lvova, G.V. Florovsky, D.I. Chizhevsky, L.P. Grossman, V.V. Weidle, B.K. Zaitseva, B.A. Filippova, M. Roslavleva, B.N. Tarasov reveals the image of Tyutchev, not only as a poet, but also as an original philosopher, diplomat, publicist and public figure.

The collection contains the most complete bibliography, which allows the researcher F.I. Tyutchev to fully study his legacy and more fully present it in the cultural and social life of Russia in the 19th century.

In the introductory article, much attention is paid to the topic "Tyutchev, romanticism, politics, the aesthetics of history." The author of the introductory article K.G. Isupov rightly notes: “Romanticism creates a tragic philosophy and aesthetics of history in terms of its main parameters. It is based on three postulates: 1) history is part of nature (...); 2) history - a completely empirical, but providential spectacle, the Divine Mystery ("history is the mystery of the Divine Kingdom that has become apparent"); 3) history is art (“historical is ... some kind of symbolic” (thoughts of the German romantic philosopher F.W. Schelling, F.I. Tyutchev was a follower, especially in his youth).

The personality in Tyutchev's world is called upon to fully embody the idea of ​​the metaphysical unity of space and history. History, for the Russian poet, is the self-knowledge of nature, bringing eventfulness and teleology into the life of the cosmos. In the world of history and in space, Tyutchev found common features: both are subject to catastrophes, both are spectacular, here and there evil reigns in all the splendor of necrotic aggression.

Tyutchev's mythology of "history as a theater of symbols" is deeper than Schelling's. In history itself, the Russian poet rightly believes, there has not yet been a situation when the idea of ​​a world performance would have found an adequate performer. Applicants for this role - the emperors of Rome, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Nicholas I - cannot withstand Tyutchev's criticism. The reason for this is the discrepancy between the directing and the execution of the ontological order: lies reign in the world. "Lies, evil lies have corrupted all minds, \ And the whole world has become an incarnation of lies." In Fyodor Ivanovich, the antitheses of truth and falsehood, wisdom and cunning are connected with Russia on the left side, and with the West on the right side. From his point of view, the Western world chooses adventurism as a type of behavior and develops false (“cunning”) forms of statehood: “You don’t know what is more flattering for human cunning: \ Or the Babylonian pillar of German unity, \ Or French excesses \ The Republican cunning system.”

On the whole, Tyutchev's political ideas are in many ways unique to Russian thought in the 19th century. It is far from the soil catastrophism of P.Ya. Chaadaev, and from the open Russophilia of the brothers Aksakov and Kireevsky and M.P. Pogodin. In Tyutchev's philosophy of history, as the author of the introductory article rightly believes, two ideas that are difficult to combine with each other are combined: 1) the past of the West is burdened with historical mistakes, and the past of Russia is burdened with historical guilt; 2) the upheavals that Tyutchev's modernity is experiencing create a situation of historical catharsis in which Russia and the West, at new heights of self-knowledge, are able to enter into a consistent unity.

Here it is necessary to clarify that many of Tyutchev's works are saturated with contrasting contexts of such concepts as Russia, Europe, West, East, North, South, etc. The geopolitical content of these words, as well as the semantics of the names of world cities, have at least two sides for Tyutchev: Petersburg can be thought of by him as “East” in relation to Western Europe, but as “Europe” in relation to Constantinople; Rome in the literal and figurative sense will be the "East" for Paris (just like N.V. Gogol in the essay "Rome" (1842)), but the "West" for Moscow; the semantic orbit of "Moscow" will also include the names of the Slavic capitals; Russia and Poland turned out to be closer to "Kyiv and Constantinople" than to Moscow and St. Petersburg.

From this point of view, Tyutchev, not without irony, treated the fierce dispute between the supporters of St. Petersburg and Muscovites and did not contrast the two Russian capitals as sharply as did the Slavophiles, N.M. languages.

On the one hand, he was a tireless propagandist of Slavic unity, the author of popular “at the court of two emperors” monarchist projects for solving the Eastern question, on the other hand, a man of Western culture who had two wives of German aristocratic families. On the one hand, he defended his father-in-law and Slavophile I.S. from censorship persecution. Aksakov, and on the other: "Where is your doubtful to me, Holy Russia, worldly progress." On the one hand, he is a deeply Orthodox publicist, and on the other hand, he writes the following lines: “I love worship as Lutherans.” On the one hand - a Western European in spirit and time, on the other - an accuser of the papacy.

In addition, equally loving Moscow, Munich, St. Petersburg, Venice, he also loved Kyiv, considering this city the “spring of history”, where he believes that the “arena” of the predetermined Russia of the “great future” is located (which is fully confirmed by the US policy to create hostile outpost (Ukraine) directed against Russia). In essence, a rather strange aberration is taking place: Tyutchev is trying to see Russia in the West and vice versa.

Thus, the plan of history, for all its providential opacity, is based in Fyodor Ivanovich on the Good. But, being transubstantiated in the actions of people, it fatally turns into evil for them. In one place, he writes the following: “In the history of human societies there is a fatal law ... Great crises, great punishments usually do not come when lawlessness is brought to the limit, when it reigns, rules in the full armor of evil and shamelessness. No, the explosion breaks out for the most part at the first attempt to return to goodness, at the first sincere ... encroachment towards the necessary correction. It was then that Louis the sixteenth paid for the Louis fifteenth and the fourteenth Louis” (if we turn to Russian history, then Nicholas II answered for the “Europeanization” of Peter I).

Tyutchev understands the whole world history in the romantic categories of Fate, revenge, damnation, sin, guilt, redemption and salvation, i.e. characteristic of the Christian worldview. Particularly interesting in this regard is Tyutchev's attitude to the papacy and specifically to the Pope. Tyutchev brought down all the energy of the publicist on the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope, proclaimed by the Vatican Council on July 18, 1870. In Tyutchev's poetry and prose, the Roman theme is painted in the tone of reproof. From Rome, sleeping in historical self-forgetfulness, the capital of Italy turns into a source of pan-European sinfulness, into a “foolish Rome”, triumphing over its wrongful independence in “sinful infallibility”. From Tyutchev, who loves unexpected comparisons, the “New God-Man” acquires a barbaric Asian nickname: “Vatican Dalai Lama”. Thus, in the light of Italian history as "the eternal struggle of the Italian against the barbarian," Pope Pius IX turns out to be "east" of the "East" itself.

Tyutchev is constantly waiting for a "political performance." So, bored in Turin in 1837, he will say that his existence "is devoid of any entertainment and seems to me a bad performance." “Providence,” he says elsewhere, “acting like a great artist, tells us here one of the most amazing theatrical effects.”

Strictly speaking, the attitude to the world as a game is not a new thing and is characteristic not only of Tyutchev (it has a long philosophical tradition starting with Heraclitus and Plato). Tyutchev, on the basis of the philosophy of German romantics, transforms it into an image of total hypocrisy. Here, for him, the very philosophy of history becomes the philosophy of a sacrificial choice between a lesser evil and a greater evil. In this context, Tyutchev comprehended the fate of Russia and the prospect of the Slavs.

According to Tyutchev, Europe is making its way from Christ to Antichrist. His results: Pope, Bismarck, the Paris Commune. But when Tyutchev calls the Pope "innocent", Bismarck - the embodiment of the spirit of the nation, and in February 1854 writes the following: "Red will save us", he seems to cross out all the catastrophic contexts of his philosophy of history and turns it into the author's "dialectics of history". Such poems as "December 14, 1825" are built on the dialectical opposition of the historical process. (1826) and "Two Voices" (1850). They seem to assert the right to historical initiative in spite of the fatal irreversibility of the course of history.

Tyutchev believes that Russian history and forms of national statehood are in tragic contradiction with the forms of national-historical self-knowledge. “The first condition for any progress,” he said to P.A. Vyazemsky - there is self-knowledge. Hence the consequences of the gap between the post-Petrine past and the present. This is how, for example, the Sevastopol catastrophe is explained: the emperor's mistake "was only a fatal consequence of a completely false direction given long before him to the fate of Russia." False ideology is generated by false power and mystifies life as such. In a letter to A.D. Bludova, he wrote the following: “... Power in Russia is such as it was formed by its own past with its complete break with the country and its historical past - (...) this power does not recognize and does not allow any other right than its own (...) Power in Russia in fact godless (…)”.

Further, in thinking about Russia as a “civilization” (its bearer is the pro-European “public”, i.e. not a genuine people, but a fake for it), it is not “culture” that is opposed, but real (i.e. folk history): “The kind of civilization that was instilled in this unfortunate country, fatally led to two consequences: the perversion of instincts and the dulling or destruction of reason. This applies only to the scum of Russian society, which imagines itself a civilization, to the public, for the life of the people, the life of history, has not yet woken up among the masses of the population. What an educated society considers culture in Russia is in fact its entropic werewolf - civilization, moreover, secondary-imitative (as in K. Leontiev). They were directly told about this in a letter to P.A. Vyazemsky: “... We are forced to call Europe something that should never have a name other than its own: Civilization is what distorts our concepts. I am becoming more and more convinced that everything that could do and could give a worldwide imitation of Europe is all we have already received. True, this is very little. It didn't break the ice, it just covered it with a layer of moss, which mimics vegetation pretty well."

You better not say. We are still in the position that Tyutchev so brilliantly described (even worse, because every year we degenerate and collapse).

This edition is an important moment in the process of collecting all the material about Tyutchev. Unfortunately, only the first collection was released. I would like the compilers to wish to publish another volume with additional materials about Tyutchev and his role in Russian culture. We hope that this publication will give the necessary impetus to further work to recreate a more complete scientific apparatus about such a wonderful person and citizen of Russia as F.I. Tyutchev.

Who among us has quoted: “Russia cannot be understood with the mind / It cannot be measured with a common yardstick, / It has become special, / One can only believe in Russia.” Who doesn’t remember from elementary school: “I love a thunderstorm in early May, / When the first thunder of spring, / As if frolicking and playing, / Rumbles in the blue sky ...” or “Winter is angry for a reason, / Its time has passed - / Spring through the window knocking / And driving from the yard ... ". Yes, this is Tyutchev Fedor Ivanovich, we all know. But how many people know that the above poems were written in Germany, where he spent about 20 years. It is about this period of his life that I want to tell.

Fedor Ivanovich Tyutchev was born on December 5, 1803 in a wealthy noble family on a family estate located in the village of Ovstug, Oryol province, Bryansk district. Now it is the Bryansk region. The boy grew up as a favorite and darling of the family, which left an imprint on his character. “The mind is strong and firm - with weak-heartedness and impotence of will,” I. Aksakov described him in this way. Apparently, these features affected both the formation of his career and personal relationships.

In the diplomatic field in Germany

At the age of 16, Fyodor Tyutchev entered the verbal department of Moscow University, and three years later he graduated from it and was enrolled in the State Collegium of Foreign Affairs. In 1922, under the patronage of his uncle, Count Osterman-Tolstoy, a 19-year-old young man received a position as a freelance attache at the Russian diplomatic mission in Munich. The position was very modest. As the name implies, "freelance" means "out of staff", that is, having no specific duties or salary. Nevertheless, for a young university graduate, the place was considered successful, as it promised a diplomatic career in the future.

True, in the early 1820s, Bavaria did not play a significant role in international political life, so the Munich Mission had almost no real diplomatic tasks. Its activity was reduced to informational functions. They were easily handled by a small staff: the Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, his first and second secretaries. As for the two freelance attachés (one of them is Tyutchev), they did not have any specific duties and only occasionally carried out the ambassador's instructions.

After three years of service, an increase was supposed, which happened: Fedor Ivanovich was granted the rank of chamber junker. This court title gave him a certain status in secular society and opened access to the royal court. However, it did not matter for career growth. Promotion - appointment to the post of second secretary of the mission - Tyutchev received in 1828.

Shortly before this, a new ambassador arrived in Munich - Count I. A. Potemkin. Five years of Potemkin's tenure at the head of the Munich Mission became for Tyutchev the best and most significant period of his service in Bavaria. Immediately upon arrival, Potemkin involved the young employee in work and already in the first months appreciated his outstanding abilities. Service under Potemkin was pleasant and easy. Writing a dozen or two dispatches a year, with all the seriousness of their content, took only a small part of the time of a diplomatic official and, given his interest in political problems, did not present any difficulties. The attractiveness of his service for Tyutchev was not in the preparation of reports, and in the eyes of the ambassador this was not the main advantage of the second secretary. Potemkin, above all, appreciated the opportunity to discuss with him questions of Russian and European politics and the tasks that faced the Russian representation in Bavaria. This side of official activity was also of the main interest for Tyutchev at that time. A friendly, trusting relationship developed between them, about which later, when the Bavarian ambassador was transferred to another place, Tyutchev jokingly said: “It is a sin for the Vice-Chancellor to separate two hearts, as if they were made for each other.” You don’t often hear such a review about a boss from the lips of a subordinate!

But Potemkin’s assessment when applying to the Collegium of Foreign Affairs with a petition for Tyutchev’s promotion to the following rank: “Chamber Junker Tyutchev ... with his impeccable behavior and excellent zeal in the performance of his duties, he justly deserves the favorable attention of his superiors, why I take the liberty present this official to the rank of titular adviser.

Thus passed the first stage of Tyutchev's stay in Munich. The result of six years was: the first step in the diplomatic hierarchy - the post of second secretary of the mission with a salary of 800 rubles. per year and the court rank of chamber junker. In addition, over the years, an important event took place in the poet's personal life. His first biographer I. Aksakov says: “In 1826, at the age of 23, he married in Munich a sweet, graceful, intelligent, somewhat older widow of our former minister at one of the minor German courts, Peterson. Born Countess Bothmer, she was descended from her mother's family of Hanstein. Thus, Tyutchev became related at once with two old aristocratic families of Bavaria and fell into a host of German relatives.

However, the service career left much to be desired. The position of the second secretary was rather modest, and the salary was low. The next production due to him in the next rank was endlessly delayed due to bureaucratic delays, and only in June 1833 did he receive the rank of collegiate assessor. This situation was common in the diplomatic world of Russia: embassy staffing was limited and places were rarely vacated. Nevertheless, Tyutchev, knowing his own worth, dreamed of a real diplomatic career.

As the futility of his position was revealed over the years, his irritation grew. Added to this was a constant lack of money. Tyutchev was depressed and confused. This condition was aggravated by the change of leadership in the embassy: I.A. Potemkin was transferred to The Hague, and Prince G.I. was appointed in his place. Gagarin.

If under Potemkin an atmosphere of benevolence, simplicity and ease reigned, then it disappeared without a trace under his successor, closed and stiff. A business trip to Greece did not dispel Tyutchev's mental attitude. He returned to Munich tired and upset, dissatisfied with his trip, which did not give the desired results.

Gagarin showed even greater discontent. The report on the trip, written in a non-standard form, the ambassador found "not serious enough" and refused to accept. Dry Gagarin was alien to the nervous and changeable character of Tyutchev, his inability to obey discipline, his lively, ironic mind. As a result, in the next two years, Fedor Ivanovich was practically removed from business.

The most difficult time in his Munich life came. The heavy state of mind did not leave. It was aggravated by a personal drama - a passionate love for Baroness Ernestine Dernberg. For some time, the connection was kept secret. But everything secret once becomes clear, especially in a secular society. At the end of April 1836, his wife Eleanor, in a fit of despair, tried to commit suicide, and at the same time surprisingly defiantly: she struck herself several times with a masquerade dagger and, running out into the street, fell unconscious, shedding blood.

A scandal erupted in the city. A diplomat involved in such a scandal is undesirable for the embassy. Gagarin sent a letter to St. Petersburg asking for the transfer of Tyutchev from Munich. And in May 1836, Fedor Ivanovich and his family left for Russia. So sadly ended this period of the poet's life. He was only 33 years old. There is much ahead, but the diplomatic service in Bavaria has ceased forever. A brilliant career did not work out. Fedor Ivanovich sensibly and ironically assesses the reasons: "Since I have never taken the service seriously, it is fair that the service also laugh at me."

Later, Tyutchev spent another five years in Munich (1839-1844) with his second wife Ernestina, but having already retired. In 1844, the Tyutchevs finally returned to Russia.

At the center of cultural life

Belonging to the diplomatic corps, the title of chamber junker, as well as the aristocratic connections of his wife, Tyutchev opened access to the court circles and secular salons of Munich. “In this world,” recalled I.S. Gagarin, - Tyutchev was quite in place and met with a warm welcome, he brought into the living rooms his ardent mind, the mind hiding under a careless appearance, which seemed to break through against his will with dazzling witticisms: they found him original, witty, entertaining.

In Munich, Fedor Ivanovich found himself in the center of cultural life. Studied romantic poetry and German philosophy. The Russian diplomat was “very briefly acquainted” with the legendary F. Schelling, whose philosophical doctrine he knew well.

P.V. Kireevsky recorded Schelling's review of Tyutchev: "He is an excellent person, a very educated person, with whom you are always willing to talk." At the same time, Heinrich Heine was in Munich, with whom a close friendship arose. The German poet in one of his letters called Tyutchev's house in Munich "a beautiful oasis in the great desert of life." Fyodor Ivanovich was the first to introduce compatriots to Heine, making many translations of his poetic creations, as well as other German poets, including Goethe and Schiller.

The secular life of Munich fascinated him: balls, aristocratic salons; he quickly became a master of witty and elegant conversation. Count Sollogub wrote in his memoirs: “... He needed, like air, every evening the bright light of chandeliers and lamps, the cheerful rustling of expensive women's dresses, the conversation and laughter of pretty women. Meanwhile, his appearance greatly did not correspond to his tastes; he was bad-looking, casually dressed, clumsy and distracted; but all this disappeared when he began to speak, to tell; everyone was instantly silent, and in the whole room only Tyutchev's voice was heard ... "

Poet philosopher

As biographers note, Tyutchev was woven from contradictions. A frequenter of brilliant salons writes the program poem "Silentum" (Silence) in 1830:

"Be quiet, hide and conceal
Feelings and dreams...
How can the heart express itself?
How can someone else understand you?
Will he understand how you live?
Thought spoken is a lie ... ".

In addition to “Silentum”, other masterpieces of philosophical lyrics were written during these years, including “Not what you think, nature ...” (1836), “What are you howling about, night wind?” (1836). In poems about nature, the main feature of Tyutchev's creativity is visible: the philosophical and symbolic meaning of the landscape, its spirituality:

“Not what you think, nature:
Not a cast, not a soulless face -
It has a soul, it has freedom,
It has love, it has a language…”.

The poet was careless about his work, often writing down poems on a piece of paper that came to hand, and then lost it. Although writing, but without much zeal to publish, he began at the age of 15, the first selection of 24 poems was published only in 1836 (the poet was already 33 years old!) With the initials F.T. and under the title "Poems sent from Germany". As you can see, he was not looking for fame. But the importance of his poetry is already evidenced by the fact that the selection appeared in Pushkin's Sovremennik and on the recommendation of P. Vyazemsky and V. Zhukovsky. Tyutchev gained true literary fame only at the age of 50, when the first collection of his works appeared.

To be continued.

Today, many perceive him as a poet who wrote poems about nature, beautiful and light.

"I love the storm in early May,
when the first spring thunder,
As if frolicking and playing,
Rumbles in the blue sky."

But the contemporaries of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev knew him mainly as talented diplomat, publicist and witty man, whose witty aphorisms were passed from mouth to mouth.

For example: "Any attempts at political speeches in Russia are tantamount to efforts to carve fire from a bar of soap."

In February 1822, eighteen-year-old Fyodor Tyutchev was enrolled in the State Collegium of Foreign Affairs with the rank of provincial secretary. After taking a closer look at him, Alexander Ivanovich Osterman-Tolstoy recommended him for the position of a supernumerary official of the Russian embassy in Bavaria and, since he was going abroad, he decided to take Fyodor to Munich in his carriage.

Fyodor Tyutchev arrived in Germany at the end of June 1822 and lived here for a total of about two decades. In Bavaria, he met many figures of German culture of that time, primarily Friedrich Schiller and Heinrich Heine.

In 1838, as part of the Russian diplomatic mission, Fedor Ivanovich leaves for Turin.

Later, in a letter to Vyazemsky, Tyutchev notes: “A very great inconvenience of our position lies in the fact that we are forced to call Europe something that should never have any other name than its own: Civilization. This is where lies for us the source of endless delusions and inevitable misunderstandings. That is what distorts our concepts ... However, I am more and more convinced that everything that could do and could give us a peaceful imitation of Europe - we have already received all this. True, this is very little. "

By 1829, Tyutchev had matured as a diplomat and tried to carry out his own diplomatic project. In that year, Greece received autonomy, which led to an intensification of the struggle between Russia and England for influence over it. Tyutchev later wrote:

For a long time on European soil,
Where lies so luxuriantly grew
Long ago the science of the Pharisees
A double truth has been created.

Since in the newly emerging Greek state there were constant clashes of various forces, it was decided to invite the king from a "neutral" country. Otton, the very young son of the Bavarian king, was chosen for this role.

One of the ideologists of this way of restoring Greek statehood was the rector of the University of Munich, Friedrich Thiersch. Tyutchev and Thiersch jointly developed a plan according to which the new kingdom was to be under the auspices of Russia, which did much more than anyone else to liberate Greece.

However, the policy pursued by Foreign Minister Nesselrode led to the fact that Otto became, in fact, an English puppet. In May 1850 Tyutchev wrote:

No, my dwarf! coward unparalleled!
You, no matter how tight, no matter how cowardly,
With your unbelieving soul
Don't tempt Holy Russia...

And ten years later, Fyodor Ivanovich bitterly remarks: “Look with what reckless haste we are trying to reconcile the powers that can come to an agreement only in order to turn against us. And why such an oversight? Because we still have not learned to distinguish our "I" from our "not me".

No matter how you bend before her, gentlemen,
You will not win recognition from Europe:
In her eyes you will always be
Not servants of enlightenment, but serfs.

For a long time, Tyutchev's diplomatic career was not entirely successful. On June 30, 1841, under the pretext of a long "non-arrival from vacation", he was dismissed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and deprived of the rank of chamberlain. The pretext was purely formal, but the real reason was Tyutchev's divergence in views on European politics with the leadership of the ministry, says Victoria Khevrolina, Doctor of Historical Sciences.

Fedor Ivanovich will write about this later: “Great crises, great punishments usually do not occur when lawlessness is brought to the limit, when it reigns and governs fully armed with strength and shamelessness. No, the explosion breaks out for the most part at the first timid attempt to return to good, at the first sincere, perhaps, but hesitant and timid encroachment towards the necessary correction.

After his dismissal from the post of senior secretary of the Russian mission in Turin, Tyutchev continued to remain in Munich for several more years.

At the end of September 1844, having lived abroad for about 22 years, Tyutchev with his wife and two children from his second marriage moved from Munich to St. Petersburg, and six months later he was again enrolled in the department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; at the same time, the title of chamberlain was returned to the poet, recalls Victoria Khevrolina.

He managed to become the closest associate and chief adviser to Russian Foreign Minister Gorchakov. From the very beginning of Gorchakov's entry into this position in 1856, he invited Tyutchev to his place. Many historians believe that the main diplomatic decisions that Gorchakov made were prompted to one degree or another by Tyutchev.

Including the famous diplomatic victory after the defeat of Russia in the Crimean War in 1856. Then, according to the Paris Peace Treaty, Russia was severely curtailed in the rights in the Crimea, and Gorchakov managed to restore the status quo, and with this he went down in history, says Doctor of Historical Sciences Victoria Khevrolina.

Tyutchev, who had lived in Western Europe for many years, of course, could not help thinking about the fate of Russia and its relations with the West. Wrote several articles about this, worked on the treatise "Russia and the West". He highly appreciated the successes of Western civilization, but did not believe that Russia could follow this path. Putting forward the idea of ​​the moral meaning of history, the morality of power, he criticized Western individualism. The Soviet poet Yakov Helemsky writes about Tyutchev:

And in life there were Munich and Paris,
Venerable Schelling, unforgettable Heine.
But everything attracted to Umyslichi and Vshchizh,
Desna always imagined on the Rhine.

A colleague in the diplomatic service, Prince Ivan Gagarin, wrote: "Wealth, honors and glory had little attraction for him. The biggest, deepest pleasure for him was to be present at the spectacle that is unfolding in the world, with unflagging curiosity to follow all its changes."

Tyutchev himself, in a letter to Vyazemsky, noted: “There are, I know, among us people who say that there is nothing in us that would be worth knowing, but in this case the only thing that should be done is to cease to exist, and meanwhile I don't think anyone is of that opinion..."

From the book of V.V. Pokhlebkin Foreign policy of Russia, Russia and the USSR for 1000 years in names, dates, facts. Issue 1”.