Shishkovsky secret office. secret office

In the 18th century, political crimes included "uprisings and conspiracies against the government, treason and espionage, imposture, criticism of government policies and actions of the king, members of the royal family or representatives of the royal administration, as well as acts that damage the prestige of royal power."
In previous years, the Order of Secret Affairs, the Preobrazhensky Order and the infamous Secret Office, closed by Peter III in February 1762, were alternately engaged in this work. However, this step by no means put an end to the development of the domestic political police, since a new one was formed on the site of the former institution - the Special Expedition under the ruling Senate. It should be noted that the idea to include political investigation in the structure of the Senate belonged to Peter I, but by coincidence, it was implemented only 37 years after his death. However, this step did not save Peter III - in June 1762 he was deposed from the throne by his wife. So Catherine II ascended the throne.
The Empress did not have much love for either the political police or her husband's reforms in this area, but, having come to power, she quickly realized the benefits and necessity of the Special Expedition. This body not only was not liquidated, but also became the main center of political investigation of the Russian Empire for many years to come. The expedition staff (forwarders) conducted an investigation into the high-profile cases of E. Pugachev, A. N. Radishchev, N. I. Novikov and Princess E. Tarakanova. They also investigated the attempt of Lieutenant V. Ya. Mirovich to release the deposed Peter III from custody, the conspiracy of the chamber junker F. Khitrovo to kill Count G. Orlov, the espionage activities of court adviser Valva, etc.
There were plenty of political crimes during the 34 years of the reign of Catherine II. Most of them were successfully discovered by freight forwarders. According to contemporaries, they knew "everything that happens in the capital: not only criminal plans or actions, but even free and careless conversations."
Only 2,000 rubles a year were officially allocated for the maintenance of this department, but this money was spent only on paying salaries to a few employees. The real amounts of the expedition were kept in the strictest confidence, like everything that was connected with it. Catherine tried her best to bring the political investigation service out of public view, so the main residence of the expedition even became the Peter and Paul Fortress. In addition, the Empress decided to make several changes to the organization of the detective department.
The first step on this path was the change of name - from October 1762, the Special Expedition was renamed the Secret. The goals of the renewed body were to collect information "on all crimes against the government", arrest malefactors and conduct investigations. The official head of the Secret Expedition was at first Prosecutor General of the Senate A. I. Glebov, and then Prince A. A. Vyazemsky, who replaced him. However, the actual head of the political police was Stepan Ivanovich Sheshkovsky, who acted under the direct control of Catherine II.
According to the historian A. Korsakov, "a sharp, striking dissonance" was heard in comparing these names. If the Empress was considered an ardent supporter of the Enlightenment and humanism, then Sheshkovsky was called the "executioner" and "Grand Inquisitor of Russia", and his name inspired panic in his contemporaries. For example, when A. N. Radishchev was informed that it was Stepan Ivanovich who was entrusted with his case, the author of Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow fainted.
Why did the head of the Secret Expedition cause such fear? In appearance, Sheshkovsky seemed to be a good-natured and modest man of short stature, and few people could find something frightening in his appearance. Despite a rather mediocre education, Stepan Ivanovich was distinguished by incredible diligence and hard work. He did not stay long in the capital, often traveling to investigate crimes in other regions. He was distinguished by honesty, and in his resume it was said: "He is able to write and does not get drunk - to be fit in business." However, contrary to this characterization, it was Sheshkovsky that most residents of St. Petersburg and Moscow called the most dangerous person from Catherine's entourage.
The main reason for this attitude was the methods of interrogation allegedly used by him. The capital was full of rumors about the facts of the systematic beating of suspects: “Sheshkovsky did not stand on ceremony with anyone. For him, that a peasant, that a nobleman - everything is one. The interrogation began with the fact that he beat the accused in the teeth with a stick. In fairness, it is worth saying that these rumors had almost no real basis.
Forwarders, of course, had the right to torture state criminals, but their boss considered such measures unnecessary. According to Catherine II, "for twelve years, the Secret Expedition under my eyes did not flog a single person during interrogations." Despite the fact that, according to rumors, during his time at the head of the political investigation, Sheshkovsky personally flogged more than 2,000 people, reliable information about this has not yet been found. Neither the writer Radishchev, nor the journalist Novikov, nor even the rebel Pugachev were subjected to any torture in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Moreover, the secret instructions of the Empress directly forbade the physical impact on many of the defendants.
As for gossip and gossip, they appeared for several reasons.
First, the Secret Chancellery was still fresh in people's memory, where torture was the main means of obtaining information - the townsfolk simply did not understand or refused to understand the difference between the two bodies of political police.
Secondly, for many, the figure of Sheshkovsky in such a responsible post was unacceptable, which was explained by his humble origin. Being a descendant of the Polish philistines, he reached heights unprecedented even for the Russian aristocracy - over the long years of leading the expedition, Stepan Ivanovich rose to the rank of Privy Councilor and became a knight of the Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd degree. In the circles of the Russian nobility, such “upstarts” were not very respected (suffice it to recall the sad fate of A. D. Menshikov), and the need to obey the orders of Sheshkovsky and his closeness to the Empress was perceived as an insult to representatives of more ancient families.
Thirdly, the closeness and secrecy of the expedition played a role. No one fully knew what exactly was going on in the dungeons of the Peter and Paul Fortress, so the imagination of people painted monstrous scenes of torture of the suspects. In addition, world practice shows that it is natural for people to attribute various atrocities against prisoners to employees of the special services in general, and political investigation in particular. At the same time, the spread of such gossip was strongly encouraged by Sheshkovsky's subordinates and by himself. The reason for this is easily explained if we take into account the true principles of the work of the Secret Expedition, which consisted, first of all, in psychological pressure on suspects. Stepan Ivanovich was one of the few investigators in the Russian Empire who did not need to resort to "whip and rack" during interrogations. He achieved the desired result by intimidating the arrested and only threatening them with cruel torture. This was facilitated by the gloomy atmosphere of the Peter and Paul Fortress, and Sheshkovsky's rude manner of communicating with criminals, and, of course, the bad reputation of a political detective.
Another characteristic feature of the work of forwarders was the involvement of clergy in the conduct of the investigation. Before interrogation, the accused was offered to confess to the priest of the Peter and Paul Fortress, giving him a chance to repent of his deed. The prisoners at this point were intimidated to such an extent that they agreed to sign any confession, so as not to meet the "Grand Inquisitor of Russia." This method of interrogation was especially popular in the Secret Expedition, since its head was a deeply religious person and believed in the power of persuasion more than in torture.
To the surprise of many modern researchers, the described methods were very effective. Few of the Russian nobles, not to mention representatives of other classes, could withstand such psychological pressure. However, in the work of the Secret Expedition there were incidents.
For example, the case of the student Nevzorov is very indicative. Here is how it is described in a memorandum addressed to Catherine II: “Student Nevzorov did not want to answer anything to Privy Councilor Sheshkovsky, saying that according to the rules of the university, without the presence of a university member or commander Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov, he should not answer to any court , and although he, Nevzorov, was repeatedly told that he was asked by the highest permission of Her Imperial Majesty, he said to this: I do not believe this. Finally, it was said to him, Nevzorov, that if he did not answer, then he, as a disobedient to the authorities, would be flogged at the command of Her Imperial Majesty, to which he enthusiastically said: I am in your hands, do what you want, bring me to the scaffold and cut off my head.” In such cases, even Sheshkovsky was powerless.
The well-known journalist and writer N. I. Novikov, who was accused of forbidden relations with the Duke of Brunswick and the Prussian Minister Welner, found himself in a similar situation. The leader of the Martinists so skillfully reflected all the accusations against him that the investigators failed to prove his treason. So Novikov was taken into custody in the Shlisselburg fortress only on the personal order of Catherine II.
As can be seen from the above facts, the Secret Expedition under the ruling Senate did not correspond much to ordinary ideas about it. In the same way, Stepan Sheshkovsky was not “the meek Catherine’s house executioner”, about whom there were so many rumors, gossip and anecdotes.
At the same time, it is absurd to say that the head of the expedition was absolutely sinless - he took huge bribes. True, it should be borne in mind that in Catherine's time almost all members of the state apparatus suffered from bribery, and there was nothing unusual in such actions. The benefits brought by Sheshkovsky overcame any sins. As a result, by the end of his life he owned estates in 4 provinces, hundreds of serfs and received an annual pension of 2,000 rubles.
Being a seventy-year old man, Stepan Ivanovich began to retire, entrusting the leadership of the political investigation to his closest assistants: A. M. Cheredin and A. S. Makarov. However, none of them possessed either Sheshkovsky's interrogation talents or his capacity for work. The affairs of the Secret Expedition began to gradually decline. The death of Sheshkovsky in May 1794 further weakened the detective department. Forwarders, accustomed to trust and rely on their boss in everything, were somewhat confused after his death. And two years later, the founder of the secret service, Catherine the Great, also died. Nevertheless, the end of one era in the history of the Russian political police was the beginning of another - the accession to the throne of Emperor Paul I breathed new life into the Secret Expedition.

Literature.

1. Anisimov E. V. Russian torture. Political investigation in Russia of the 18th century. - St. Petersburg, 2004.
2. Gernet M. N. The history of the royal prison. T. 1. - M., 1960.
3. The life and suffering of the father and monk Abel. // Russian Antiquity. 1875. No. 2.
4. History of Russian special services. - M., 2004.
5. Purse P. A. History of punishments in Russia. - M., 1995.
6. Novikov N. I. Selected works. - M.; L., 1951.
7. Radishchev A. N. Complete Works. T. 3. - M.; L., 1954.
8. Samoilov V. The Emergence of the Secret Expedition under the Senate // Questions of History. 1946. No. 1.
9. Sizikov M.I. Formation of the central and capital apparatus of the regular police of Russia in the first quarter of the 18th century. - M., 2000.

Imperial "whip fighter" Stepan Sheshkovsky

The coup that brought Catherine to the throne showed that the “mercy for all good and faithful subjects” declared by the late Peter III in the manifesto on February 21 was somewhat premature, since “intentions against our imperial health, person and honor” turned out to be by no means “vain and always to their own death converting villains."

The guards soldiers and officers, whose hands the coup was carried out, in those days sincerely saw themselves as "king-makers" and looked forward to rewards. Gingerbread, as usual, was not enough for everyone. And then the brave guardsman, who squandered the received handful of rubles, could look with understandable disapproval at the chosen lucky ones. Envy and discontent, together with the apparent ease of making a "revolution", gave rise to a desire to "correct" the situation. This tendency was expressed by one of the persons closest to Catherine, Nikita Ivanovich Panin: “For more than thirty years we have been turning in revolutions on the throne, and the more their power spreads among vile people, the bolder, safer and more possible they have become.” In practice, this meant that in the 1760s, Catherine constantly had to deal with attempts - albeit not very dangerous - a new conspiracy. In addition, at this time, the struggle of the court "parties" for control over the foreign policy of the empire and for influence on the empress intensified.

At first, Catherine entrusted the supreme supervision of the political investigation to Prosecutor General A. I. Glebov, a dishonest businessman appointed to this post by Peter III and successfully cheating on his benefactor. The empress first placed Glebov under the control of N.I. Panin, and then fired him. In February 1764, Prince Alexander Alekseevich Vyazemsky, who was appointed in his place, was ordered by a secret decree in February 1764 to manage secret affairs together with Panin. He remained in this post until his death in 1792; after which these cases were in charge of the new prosecutor general and relative of Potemkin, A.N.

In two years, the staff of the Secret Expedition was finally formed. On December 10, 1763, by personal decree, the Senate Secretary Sheshkovsky was appointed to be “on some cases entrusted from us under our Senator, Privy Councilor Panin, Prosecutor General Glebov” with an annual salary of 800 rubles.

From that time on, Stepan Ivanovich Sheshkovsky (1727–1794) became for 30 years the actual head of the Secret Expedition under several successive aristocratic bosses. Now the leadership of the political investigation of imperial Russia, in a certain sense, "forked", as the very "spirit of the times" has changed.

In the Petrine and post-Petrine era, not only a general or a senator, but also an aristocrat-Rurikovich considered it not only possible, but also a worthy deed to perform the functions of an investigator in a dungeon; only torturing or executing oneself was not accepted - but, perhaps, not for moral reasons, but simply considered “inappropriate”: there were serfs for dirty work. Although Peter's associates, led by the tsar, personally chopped off the heads of archers ...

After one or two generations, Peter's enlightenment bore fruit: such behavior was no longer acceptable for a noble nobleman. The disappearance of “slavish fear” noted by contemporaries indicates that during the calm 1740-1750s, representatives of the noble society grew up, more enlightened and independent than their fathers during the “Bironovshchina” were: studies even allow us to speak of a special “cultural-psychological type » of the Elizabethan era. They were replaced by peers and younger contemporaries of Catherine II: generals, administrators, diplomats and a whole layer of nobles who knew how to express their patriotic feelings without getting drunk to the point of unconsciousness in the palace and without assuring their inability to read books. Class honor and dignity now no longer allowed their personal participation in interrogations with prejudice and torture procedures.

From now on, the head of the secret police was still a "noble person" who enjoyed the personal trust of the sovereign - for example, A. Kh. Benkendorf under Nicholas I or P. A. Shuvalov under Alexander II. But she did not stoop to routine interrogations and police tricks - except on special occasions and with equals. The "dirty" work was performed not by aristocrats, but by plebeians of the detective - experts in their field, not included in the secular and court circles.

The department itself at this time not only changes its name. The secret expedition "is removed" from the person of the sovereign, ceases to be a continuation of his personal office; it becomes part of the state apparatus - an institution that protects the "honor and health" of any Russian monarch.

In this sense, Panin and Vyazemsky played the role of bosses - as they said in the 18th century, they took the Secret Expedition under their "direction". Sheshkovsky, on the other hand, was very suitable for the role of a trusted and responsible executor, although the attitude towards him was different. The names of the later figures of political investigation are known, at best, to specialists, while Stepan Sheshkovsky already during his lifetime became a legendary, sinister figure; “jokes” were made about him, the authenticity of which is now difficult to verify.

His father, Ivan Sheshkovsky, a descendant of one of the Polish-Lithuanian captives during the wars of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, was a petty court servant, and then, with the beginning of the Petrine reforms, “he became involved in business in different places” as a clerk. In this capacity, he replaced a dozen offices and offices, but for 40 years of impeccable service he received only the lowest, 14th rank of a collegiate registrar and ended his life as a Kolomna police chief. His eldest son Timothy also served there: “he was in different parcels from the office to fix roads and bridges and gates and milestones on them along the large high-roads, and to detect and eradicate thieves and robbers and unspecified wine huts and taverns in the Kolomensky district.”

The younger offspring continued the family tradition, but he was more fortunate: the eleven-year-old "clerk's son" Stepan Sheshkovsky began his service in 1738 in the Siberian order, and two years later, for some reason, he was temporarily seconded "on business" to the Secret Chancellery. The young copyist liked the new place so much that in 1743 he arbitrarily left for St. Petersburg, and the orderly authorities demanded that the fugitive clerk be returned. Sheshkovsky returned to Moscow - but already as an official, who "by decree of the Senate was taken to the office of secret search cases." In the department of secret investigation, he remained until the end of his life. Perhaps acquaintance with the head of the institution played a role here - in St. Petersburg, the Sheshkovsky family lived "in the house of his Count Excellency Alexander Ivanovich Shuvalov, near the Blue Bridge."

In 1748, he still served as a sub-clerk in Moscow, but soon a capable official was transferred to St. Petersburg. His Moscow boss, an old businessman of Peter's training, Vasily Kazarinov, flattered his subordinate: "he is able to write, and does not get drunk, and be good at business." In February 1754, Shuvalov reported to the Senate that “there is an archivist Stepan Sheshkovsky in the Office of Secret Investigation Cases, who is impeccable and in good condition and acts honestly and zealously in correcting important cases, which is why he, Sheshkovsky, is worthy of being a recorder.” Three years later, Shuvalov reported to the Empress herself about Sheshkovsky’s diligent service, and she “graciously welcomed Stepan Sheshkovsky to the Secret Office of the recorder for his respectable deeds in important matters and exemplary work in the Secret Office as a secretary.”

In 1761, he became a collegiate assessor, that is, he got out of the raznochintsy into hereditary nobles. Secretary Sheshkovsky successfully survived both the temporary liquidation of political investigation under Peter III, and another palace coup that brought Catherine II to the throne. In the 1760s, her position was precarious, and Sheshkovsky's service turned out to be more in demand than ever. He, one way or another, participated in the investigation of the most important cases: Archbishop Arseny Matseevich of Rostov (1763), who protested against the secularization of church lands; lieutenant Vasily Mirovich, who planned to enthrone the imprisoned Emperor John Antonovich (1764), and disgruntled guardsmen. His abilities did not go unnoticed: in 1767 Sheshkovsky became a collegiate adviser and chief secretary - in fact, he led the daily activities of the Secret Expedition.

By that time, he was already well known to Catherine, and in 1774 she considered it possible to involve him in the interrogations of the main political criminals - Emelyan Pugachev and his associates, who were transported to Moscow, as she was sure that he had a special gift - he knew how to talk with simple people. people "and always very successfully dismantled and brought the most difficult trials to accuracy." Sheshkovsky immediately left Petersburg for Moscow. On November 5, 1774, he was already interrogating Pugachev at the Mint "from the beginning of his vile birth with all the circumstances until the hour he was tied up." The interrogations lasted 10 days, and the Moscow commander-in-chief, Prince M.N. Volkonsky, in a report to the empress, paid tribute to the efforts of the investigator: “Sheshkovsky, the most merciful sovereign, writes a story of villains day and night, but he could not finish yet.” Catherine expressed concern - she wished "that this matter should be brought to an end as soon as possible"; but the researchers should be grateful to Sheshkovsky - thanks to his efforts (he personally kept the protocol, carefully recording the testimony), we can now get acquainted with the detailed narrative of the leader of the uprising about his life and adventures.

After the end of the investigation, the court sentenced Pugachev to a painful execution; Sheshkovsky, Vyazemsky and Volkonsky announced their verdict on January 9, 1775. The next day, the rebel leader was executed, but the chief investigator continued interrogating other Pugachevites for several more months. At the end of the year, a well-deserved award awaited him - the rank of State Councilor.

Subsequently, he just as zealously fulfilled his duties and enjoyed the confidence of the empress - in 1781 he received the "general" rank of real state councilor; the Prosecutor General A. A. Vyazemsky himself, in a special letter, allowed him in 1783 to get acquainted with all the papers received “in my name” and to make personal reports to the empress on “necessary and dependent on the highest consideration” cases. Sheshkovsky interrogated Radishchev in 1790, in 1791 - the spy and official of the Collegium of Foreign Affairs I. Waltz, in 1792 - the famous publisher and freemason N. I. Novikov. Stepan Ivanovich ended his career as a privy councilor, owner of estates and holder of the Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd degree. In 1794 he retired with a pension of 2,000 rubles.

Already during his lifetime, he became an ominous landmark of St. Petersburg, about which numerous stories were told: as if Sheshkovsky had a special room in the Winter Palace for “work” on the instructions of the Empress herself. It seems that he personally whipped the defendants, and the interrogation of the stubborn prisoner began with a blow to his very chin with such force that he knocked out his teeth. It was said that the room where the massacre was carried out was completely filled with icons, and Sheshkovsky himself, during the execution, read with tenderness an akathist to Jesus or the Mother of God; at the entrance to the room, attention was drawn to a large portrait of Empress Catherine in a gilded frame with the inscription: "This portrait of Majesty is the contribution of her faithful dog Stepan Sheshkovsky."

Many believed that the chief secretary was an omniscient person; that his spies were present everywhere, listening to popular rumor, recording careless speeches. There were rumors that in Sheshkovsky's office there was a chair with a mechanism that locked the person who sat down so that he could not free himself. At a sign from Sheshkovsky, the hatch with the armchair lowered under the floor, and only the head and shoulders of the visitor remained at the top. The performers, who were in the basement, removed the chair, exposed the body and flogged, and could not see who exactly they were punishing. During the execution, Sheshkovsky instilled in the visitor the rules of behavior in society. Then he was put in order and raised with a chair. Everything ended without noise and publicity.

In the same way, several overly talkative ladies from the highest circle allegedly visited Sheshkovsky, including the wife of Major General Kozhina Marya Dmitrievna. According to one of the collectors of "jokes" about the time of Catherine, envying the "case" of one of the favorites of the Empress A. D. Lanskoy, whose family she knew, the general's wife "indiscreetly opened up in the city rumor that Pyotr Yakovlevich Mordvinov would end up at court in strength. Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, Major Fyodor Matveyevich Tolstoy (Ekaterina's favorite reader during her vacation, and whom his wife received rich diamond earrings as a gift), out of envy for Prince Potemkin, who recommended Lansky, who paid him ingratitude, really sought, with the help of others, to nominate Mordvinov. The Lanskys pass it on to their brother, and he to the Empress. They teach guard officers Alexander Alexandrovich Arsenyev and Alexander Petrovich Yermolov to complain about Tolstoy in his bad behavior; although Catherine knew this, she always favored him, and then she changed from a disposition towards Lansky. Tolstoy falls into disfavor. Mordvinov is dismissed from the guard, and Kozhina is exposed to anger. Catherine ordered Sheshkovsky to punish Kozhin for intemperance: “She goes to a public masquerade every Sunday, go yourself, take her from there to the Secret Expedition, punish her lightly and bring her back there with all decency.” A more optimistic version of this story said that a young man who once experienced the procedure of sitting in an armchair with Sheshkovsky, being invited again, not only did not want to sit in the armchair, but taking advantage of the fact that the meeting with the hospitable host took place face to face, seated him in the unit and forced him to go underground, he himself hastily disappeared.

In official documents, such stories, even if they corresponded to the truth, of course, were not reflected. Perhaps much in these stories is exaggerated, something based on rumors and fears; but it is characteristic that such stories did not develop about any of the chiefs of the secret police. All of them paint the appearance of a real professional detective and investigation, who served not for fear, but for conscience, which, apparently, was Stepan Ivanovich Sheshkovsky, who became a legendary person during his lifetime.

The real Sheshkovsky, of course, was a trusted person, but he was directly removed from the figure of an enlightened monarchine-legislator. On cases of particular interest to the empress (for example, during the investigation of N. I. Novikov and the Moscow “Martinists”), he was sometimes invited to the palace for a personal report, like his predecessors. But usually the reports of the Secret Expedition came through the Prosecutor General or the Secretaries of State, who transmitted Catherine's instructions and resolutions to Sheshkovsky. Catherine did not appoint him to the senators. And even more so, he did not appear either at court receptions and festivities, and even more so at the “Hermitage” evenings of the Empress. But, apparently, he did not strive for this, being well aware of his place in the system of Catherine's "legitimate monarchy". The mocking Potemkin, as they said at court, asked the chief secretary at a meeting: “How are you whipping, Stepan Ivanovich?” “Little by little, Your Grace,” answered Sheshkovsky, bowing.

The legendary head of the Secret Expedition died in 1794 and was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra; the inscription on the grave monument read: “Privy Councilor and St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir of the 2nd degree Cavalier Stepan Ivanovich Sheshkovsky was buried under this stone. His life was 74 years, 4 months and 22 days. Served the Fatherland for 56 years. Two months after Sheshkovsky's death, Prosecutor General Samoilov informed his widow that "Her Imperial Majesty, remembering the zealous service of her late husband, deigned to extend her highest mercy and most mercifully ordered to give her and her children ten thousand rubles for the rest of his family."

With the death of Empress Catherine, great changes took place. The retired Samoilov was replaced as Prosecutor General by Prince Alexei Borisovich Kurakin. After the departure of the Sheshkovsky case of the Secret Expedition, those who found themselves in “disorder” were put in order by his successor, collegiate adviser Alexei Semenovich Makarov (1750–1810). He entered the service in 1759, was a secretary under the Riga Governor-General Yu. Yu. Brown, then served in St. Petersburg under the Prosecutor General Samoilov. Under Paul I, he remained the manager of the Secret Expedition, and in 1800 he became a senator; the established procedures for conducting investigations and punishments did not change under him. Makarov, like his predecessor, rose to the rank of secret adviser, but he was not a fanatic of the investigation and did not leave a terrible memory of himself even in the harsh times of Pavlov's reign.

The future governor of the Caucasus, and in those years a young artillery officer Alexei Yermolov, who was arrested in the case of several officers of the Smolensk garrison accused of conspiracy, was graciously forgiven, and then demanded with a courier to the capital: “In St. Petersburg they brought me directly to the house of the Governor-General Peter Vasilyevich Lopukhin. After being interrogated for a long time in his office, the courier received an order to take me to the head of the Secret Expedition. From there they escorted me to the St. Petersburg fortress and put me in a casemate in the Alekseevsky ravelin. During my two-month stay there, I was once demanded by the Prosecutor General: explanations were taken from me by the head of the Secret Expedition, in which I unexpectedly met Mr. Makarov, a noble and generous man who, serving under Count Samoilov, knew me in my youth and finally his adjutant. He knew about the forgiveness granted to me, but about the capture of me another time, he only found out that, by order of the sovereign, a courier on duty in the palace was sent, and the reason for his absence was shrouded in mystery. I set out my explanations on paper; they were corrected by Makarov, of course not seduced by my style, who was not softened by a sense of rightness, unjust persecution. Yermolov, and many years later, remembered the "unfair persecution", but still considered the investigator a noble and generous person. It fell to Makarov to liquidate the Secret Expedition. In April 1801, he prepared for deposit the archive of his department "in perfect order" - with cases sorted into bundles by year with inventories and "an alphabet about people who were in touch." He took care not only of papers, but also of his subordinates: he noted their “zeal for service”, which they carried “in uninterrupted non-stopness at all times”, and asked to be awarded ranks and assigned to the desired by each of the officials a new place of work.

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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 Elizabeth Petrovna, the Secret Investigative Office remained the highest body of 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.

Secret office. 18th century

In addition to the formation of the police department, the 18th century was also marked by the flourishing of a secret investigation, primarily associated 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. is engaged secret office, for some time acting simultaneously with Preobrazhensky order formed at the end of the 17th century.

So, the first Secret Chancellery was founded by Peter the Great at the very beginning of his reign and was called Preobrazhensky Prikaz after the village of Preobrazhensky.

The first guardians of the detective case filed a lawsuit against the scoundrels who acted "against the first two points." The first point is atrocities against the person of the sovereign, the second - against the state itself, that is, they staged a riot.

“Word and deed” is a cry invented by guardsmen. Any person could shout out "word and deed", pointing a finger at the criminal - true or invented. The investigative machine immediately went into action. At one time, such concepts as “enemy of the people” rumbled, and given that Stalin’s investigators never made mistakes, the Preobrazhensky order was fair in its own way. If the guilt of the person taken on the denunciation was not proven, then the denunciator himself was subjected to “interrogation with passion”, that is, torture.

Secret Chancellery - the first special service of Russia

Overcrowded prisons, executions and torture are the reverse and unpleasant side of the reign of Peter I, whose unprecedented transformations in all spheres of Russian life were accompanied by repressions of opponents and dissenters. An important milestone in the fight against state crimes was April 2, 1718. On this day, Peter's secret office was created.

Great Leap Forward Costs

The decision of Peter I to create a fundamentally new special service was influenced by a variety of circumstances in his life. It all started with a childhood fear of the turmoil that took place before the eyes of the prince.

The childhood of the first Russian emperor, overshadowed by rebellion, is somewhat similar to the childhood of the first Russian tsar, Ivan the Terrible. At an early age, he also lived in the days of boyar self-will, murders and conspiracies of the nobility.

When Peter I began to carry out tough reforms in the country, a variety of his subjects opposed the changes. Supporters of the church, the former Moscow elite, long-bearded adherents of the "Russian antiquity" - who just was not dissatisfied with the impulsive autocrat. All this had a painful effect on Peter's moods. His suspiciousness intensified even more when the flight of the heir Alexei took place. At the same time, the conspiracy of the first head of the St. Petersburg Admiralty, Alexander Vasilyevich Kikin, was uncovered.

The case of the prince and his supporters turned out to be the last straw - after the executions and reprisals against traitors, Peter set about creating a centralized secret police on the Franco-Dutch model.

King and Consequence

In 1718, when the search for Tsarevich Alexei was still ongoing, the Office of Secret Investigations was formed in St. Petersburg. The department is located in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The main role in her work began to play Petr Andreevich Tolstoy. The secret office began to conduct all political affairs in the country.

The tsar himself often attended the "hearings". He was brought "extracts" - reports of the investigation materials, on the basis of which he determined the sentence. Sometimes Peter changed the decisions of the office. “Having beaten with a whip and cut out the nostrils, sent to hard labor in eternal work” in response to the proposal only to beat with a whip and send to hard labor - this is just one characteristic resolution of the monarch. Other decisions (like the death penalty for fiscal Sanin) were approved without amendments.

"Excesses" with the church

Peter (and hence his secret police) had a special dislike for church leaders. Once he learned that Archimandrite Tikhvinsky had brought a miraculous icon to the capital and began to serve secret prayers before it. First, the Royal Majesty sent midshipmen to him, and then he personally came to the archimandrite, took the icon and ordered him to be sent "for guard".

"Peter I in a foreign outfit in front of his mother, Tsarina Natalia, Patriarch Andrian and teacher Zotov." Nikolai Nevrev, 1903

If the matter concerned the Old Believers, Peter could demonstrate flexibility: “His Majesty deigned to reason that with the schismatics, who, in their opposition, were very cold, it was necessary to act cautiously, by civil court.” Many decisions of the Secret Chancellery were postponed indefinitely, since the tsar, even in the last years of his life, was distinguished by restlessness. His resolutions came to the Peter and Paul Fortress from all over the country. As a rule, the orders of the ruler were transmitted by the cabinet-secretary Makarov. Some of those who were guilty before the throne, in anticipation of the final decision, had to languish in prison for a long time: "... if the execution of the Vologotsk priest is not inflicted, then wait for it until you see me." In other words, the Secret Chancellery worked not only under the control of the tsar, but also with his active participation.

In 1711, Alexei Petrovich married Sophia Charlotte of Blankenburg- the sister of the wife of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Archduke Charles VI of Austria, becoming the first representative of the reigning house in Russia after Ivan III to marry a princess from the family of a European monarch.

After the wedding, Alexei Petrovich took part in the Finnish campaign: he oversaw the construction of ships in Ladoga and carried out other orders of the tsar.

In 1714, Charlotte had a daughter, Natalia, and in 1715, a son, the future Russian Emperor Peter II, a few days after whose birth Charlotte died. On the day of the death of the crown princess, Peter, who had received information about Alexei's drunkenness and his connection with the former serf Euphrosyne, demanded in writing from the prince that he either reform or become a monk.

At the end of 1716, together with Efrosinya, whom the prince wanted to marry, Alexei Petrovich fled to Vienna, hoping for the support of Emperor Charles VI.

In January 1718, after much trouble, threats and promises, Peter managed to summon his son to Russia. Alexei Petrovich renounced his rights to the throne in favor of his brother, Tsarevich Peter (son of Catherine I), betrayed a number of like-minded people and waited for him to be allowed to retire for private life. Efrosinya, imprisoned in the fortress, betrayed everything that the prince concealed in her confessions - dreams of becoming king when her father dies, threats to her stepmother (Catherine), hopes of rebellion and the violent death of her father. After such testimony, confirmed by Alexei Petrovich, the prince was taken into custody and tortured. Peter convened a special trial over his son from the generals, the senate and the synod. On July 5 (June 24, old style), 1718, the prince was sentenced to death. On July 7 (June 26, old style), 1718, the prince died under unclear circumstances.

The body of Alexei Petrovich from the Peter and Paul Fortress was transferred to the Church of the Holy Trinity. On the evening of July 11 (June 30, old style), in the presence of Peter I and Catherine, it was interred in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

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

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 a spoon and a half,” instead of “it is full to drink for the health of such a person who is faithful to Her Imperial Majesty and is in Her highest mercy.”

Further fate

Peter's Secret Chancellery outlived its creator by only one year. The first Russian emperor died in 1725, and the department merged with the Preobrazhensky Prikaz already in 1726. This happened because of the unwillingness of Count Tolstoy to burden himself with long-standing duties. Under Catherine I, his influence at court increased significantly, which made it possible to carry out the necessary transformations.

However, the very need for power in the secret police has not gone away. That is why for the rest of the 18th century (the century of palace coups) this organ was reborn several times in different reincarnations. Under Peter II, the functions of the detective were transferred to the Senate and the Supreme Privy Council. In 1731, Anna Ioannovna established the Office of Secret and Investigative Affairs, headed by Count Andrei Ivanovich Ushakov. The department was again abolished by Peter III and restored by Catherine II as a Secret Expedition under the Senate (among its most high-profile cases were the persecution of Radishchev and the trial of Pugachev). The history of regular domestic special services began in 1826, when Nicholas I, after the Decembrist uprising, created The third branch of the office of his imperial majesty.

The Preobrazhensky order was abolished by Peter II in 1729, honor and praise to the boy-king! But strong power came in the person of Anna Ioannovna, and the detective office started working again, like a well-oiled mechanism. This happened in 1731; she was now called "Office of Secret Investigations". An inconspicuous one-story mansion, eight windows along the facade; casemates and office premises were also in charge of the office. Andrey Ivanovich Ushakov, well-known throughout St. Petersburg, was in charge of this farm.

In 1726 takes over the baton of secret investigation Supreme Privy Council, and in 1731. Secret Investigation Office l, 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 "Daily 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.
Considering that most of the information came to the Secret Office 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 ..

"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 reared up 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 have hanged 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."
- The carpenter Nikifor Muravyov in 1732, 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. The chancellor denounced the nobleman Grigory Nikolaevich Teplov Alexey Petrovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin. He accused Teplov of showing disrespect to Empress Elizabeth Ioannovna, pouring “only a spoon and a half,” instead of “it is full to drink for the health of such a person who is faithful to Her Imperial Majesty and is in Her highest mercy.”

"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 Romanovich Derzhavin devoted to this essential change of 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 Petr Andreevich Tolstoy, who, being a good administrator, was not a fan of operational work. The “gray eminence” of the Secret Office and the real master of detective work was his deputy Andrey Ivanovich Ushakov, a native of the village, at a review of undergrowth for his heroic appearance, he was recorded in the Preobrazhensky Regiment, serving in which he won the favor of Peter I.

After a period of disgrace from 1727-1731. Ushakov returned to the court who gained power Anna Ioannovna and appointed head of the Privy 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 ascension to the throne Peter III Shuvalov was dismissed from this post.

Peter III visits Ioan Antonovich in his Shlisselburg cell. Illustration from a German historical magazine from the early 20th century.

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 of Sheshkovsky's labor activity, 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.

At the end of the 18th century, the story of a mechanical chair that stood in the office near the Sheshkovsky house was very popular. 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.

torture

If during the interrogation it seemed to the investigators that the suspect was “locked up”, then the conversation was followed by torture. This effective method was resorted to in St. Petersburg no less than in the cellars of the European Inquisition.

The office had a rule - "confessing to torture three times." This implied the need for a triple confession of guilt by the accused.

In order for the testimony to be recognized as reliable, they had to be repeated at different times at least three times without changes. Prior to Elizabeth's decree of 1742, torture began without the presence of an investigator, that is, even before the start of questioning in the torture chamber. The executioner had time to “find” a common language with the victim. His actions, of course, no one is controlled.

Elizaveta Petrovna, like her father, constantly kept the affairs of the Secret Chancellery under full control. Thanks to a report given to her in 1755, we learn that the favorite methods of torture were: rack, vice, squeezing the head and pouring cold water (the most severe of the tortures).

Inquisition "in Russian"

The secret office was reminiscent of the Catholic Inquisition. Catherine II in her memoirs even compared these two bodies of "justice":

“Alexander Shuvalov, not by himself, but by the position he occupied, 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.”

These were not just nice words. Back in 1711, Peter I created a state corporation of informers - the institute of fiscals (one or two people in each city). Church authorities were controlled by spiritual fiscals, who were called "inquisitors". Subsequently, this undertaking formed the basis of the Secret Chancellery. It did not turn into a witch hunt, but religious crimes are mentioned in the cases.

In the conditions of Russia, just awakening from a medieval sleep, there were punishments for making a deal with the devil, especially with the aim of harming the sovereign. Among the latest cases of the Secret Chancellery is the trial of a merchant who declared the already deceased Peter the Great to be the Antichrist, and threatened Elizaveta Petrovna with a fire. The impudent foul-mouthed was from among the Old Believers. He got off lightly - he was flogged with a whip.

Grey Cardinal

General Andrei Ivanovich Ushakov became a real "gray eminence" of the Secret Chancellery. “He managed the Secret Chancellery under five monarchs,” notes the historian Yevgeny Anisimov, “and he knew how to negotiate with everyone! First he tortured Volynsky, and then Biron. Ushakov was a professional, he didn't care who he tortured." He came from among the impoverished Novgorod nobles and knew what "struggle for a piece of bread" means.

He led the case of Tsarevich Alexei, tipped the cup in favor of Catherine I, when after the death of Peter the issue of inheritance was decided, opposed Elizabeth Petrovna, and then quickly entered the favor of the ruler.

When the passions of palace coups rumbled in the country, he was as unsinkable as the "shadow" of the French revolution - Joseph Fouche, who, during the bloody events in France, managed to be on the side of the monarch, the revolutionaries and Napoleon, who came to replace them.

Significantly, both "gray cardinals" met their death not on the scaffold, like most of their victims, but at home, in bed.

Hysteria of denunciations

Peter urged his subjects to report all disorder and crime. In October 1713, the tsar wrote ominous words "about the obedient to the decrees and those laid down by law and the robber of the people", for the denunciation of which the subjects "without any fear would come and announce it to us ourselves." The following year, Peter pointedly publicly invited the unknown author of an anonymous letter “about the great benefit to His Majesty and the whole state” to come to him for an award of 300 rubles - a huge amount at that time. The process that led to a real hysteria of denunciations was launched. Anna Ioannovna, following the example of her uncle, promised "mercy and reward" for a just accusation. Elizaveta Petrovna gave freedom to the serfs for the “right” denunciation of the landowners who were hiding their peasants from revision. The decree of 1739 set as an example the wife who reported on her husband, for which she got 100 souls from the confiscated estate.
Under these conditions, they denounced everything and everyone, without resorting to any evidence, based only on rumors. It became the main instrument of the work of the main office. One careless phrase at a feast, and the fate of the unfortunate was sealed. True, something cooled the ardor of adventurers. Igor Kurukin, a researcher on the issue of the "secret office," wrote: "In the event of the defendant's denial and refusal to testify, the unfortunate scammer himself could get on his hind legs or spend in captivity from several months to several years."

In the era of palace coups, when thoughts of overthrowing the government arose not only among officers, but also among persons of a "vile rank", hysteria reached its climax. People started denouncing themselves!

The “Russian Antiquity”, which published the affairs of the Secret Chancellery, describes the case of the soldier Vasily Treskin, who himself came with a confession to the Secret Chancellery, accusing himself of seditious thoughts: “it’s not a big deal to hurt the empress; and if he, Treskin, finds time to see the gracious empress, he could stab her with a sword.

Spy games

After Peter's successful policy, the Russian Empire was integrated into the system of international relations, and at the same time, the interest of foreign diplomats in the activities of the St. Petersburg court increased. Secret agents of European states began to visit the Russian Empire. Cases of espionage also fell under the jurisdiction of the Privy Office, but they did not succeed in this field. For example, under Shuvalov, the Secret Chancellery knew only about those "exiles" who were exposed on the fronts of the Seven Years' War. The most famous among them was Major General of the Russian army Count Gottlieb Kurt Heinrich Totleben, who was caught for corresponding with the enemy and giving him copies of the "secret orders" of the Russian command.

But against this background, such well-known "spies" as the French Gilbert Romm, who in 1779 handed over to his government a detailed state of the Russian army and secret maps, successfully turned their affairs in the country; or Ivan Valets, a court politician who sent information about Catherine's foreign policy to Paris.

The last pillar of Peter III

Upon accession to the throne, Peter III wanted to reform the Secret Chancellery. Unlike all his predecessors, he did not interfere in the affairs of the body. Obviously, his dislike of the institution in connection with the affairs of the Prussian informers during the Seven Years' War, with whom he sympathized, played a role. The result of its reform was the abolition of the Secret Chancellery by the manifesto of March 6, 1762, due to "uncorrected morals among the people."

In other words, the body was accused of failure to fulfill the tasks assigned to it.

The abolition of the Secret Chancellery is often considered one of the positive outcomes of the reign of Peter III. However, this only led the emperor to his inglorious death. The temporary disorganization of the punitive department did not allow the participants in the conspiracy to be identified in advance and contributed to the spread of rumors that discredited the emperor, which now had no one to stop. As a result, on June 28, 1762, a palace coup was successfully carried out, as a result of which the emperor lost his throne, and then his life.

For thirty-two years (1762-1794) the secret expedition was led by Stepan Ivanovich Sheshkovsky, who, thanks to this, became a very famous person in Russian history. Even during his lifetime, his name was surrounded by many legends in which he appears as a skillful, cruel and insightful investigator-psychologist.

Stepan Sheshkovsky was born in 1727 in the family of a clerk. In 1738, the father attached an 11-year-old boy to the Siberian order. This institution, located in Moscow, was considered real "silver mines" for skilled chisel-makers. Two years later, the youth was taken for a while to the "cases of the Secret Chancellery", and then returned back to the Siberian Order. And it was then that Sheshkovsky made an act unexpected for a normal careerist-clerk: in February 1743, without the knowledge of his superiors, he left for St. Petersburg and soon returned with a Senate decree to transfer him to the Moscow office of the Secret Chancellery. It is not known how he managed to achieve this, but without the knowledge of A.I. Ushakov, the appointment of a 16-year-old boy to this place seems impossible. Ushakov's successor, A.I. Shuvalov, also liked him, he gave him the following description: "He is able to write, and does not get drunk, and be good at business." In 1754, Sheshkovsky took the key post of secretary of the Secret Chancellery, to whom the entire staff of the detective department was subordinate. By the time the detective was reorganized at the beginning of 1762, before reaching the age of 35, he already had vast experience in detective work.

The head of the Secret Expedition undoubtedly enjoyed the trust of Catherine II, his authority with the Empress was high. For interrogations of Pugachev, who was caught in the autumn of 1774, she sent Sheshkovsky, whom she instructed to find out the truth about the origins of Pugachev's imposture and his possible high patrons. Sheshkovsky interrogated Pugachev for many hours in a row, and for this he even settled near his cell in the Old Mint. Sheshkovsky was considered the greatest specialist in extracting information from "difficult", stubborn prisoners. He knew how to convince them, persuade them, intimidate them.

Apparently, Sheshkovsky knew how to present himself favorably to the empress, keeping her away from many secrets of his department. In the above-cited letter dated March 15, 1774, to General A.I. Bibikov, the head of one of the commissions of inquiry, Ekaterina cited Sheshkovsky’s activities as an example, objecting to questions “with prejudice”: “When questioning, what is the need to flog? For twelve years, the Secret Expedition under my eyes did not flog a single person during interrogations, and every case was completely sorted out and always came out more than we wanted to know.

And here we return to the legends about Sheshkovsky. It is not clear from them: were the criminals tortured in the Secret Expedition or not? Catherine II, as we see, wrote that torture was not allowed there. The son of A. N. Radishchev, also not the most impartial person in this matter, reported that Sheshkovsky “performed his position with terrible accuracy and severity. 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.

Radishchev's son never saw Sheshkovsky, and the head of the Secret Expedition seemed to him a sadist, a mighty whip-fighter, which he really was not. On the contrary, “as I remember now,” said one veteran of Catherine’s times, “his small brainy figure, dressed in a gray frock coat, modestly buttoned up and with his hands in his pockets.” I think that Sheshkovsky was terrible in the same way that all the heads of the secret investigation were terrible to the people of the 18th century: Romodanovsky, Tolstoy, Ushakov, Shuvalov. It is known for sure that neither the whip nor the whip touched the author of the Journey, but, according to the stories of his son, he fainted as soon as he learned that a man from Sheshkovsky had come for him. When you read Radishchev's confessions, his penitential messages to Sheshkovsky, and finally, the testament written in the fortress to the children, you believe this: Radishchev in the Peter and Paul Fortress was overcome by fear, sometimes hysterical panic. Probably, he passed on his feelings from meetings with Sheshkovsky to his son.

It is quite possible that Radishchev was not a coward and a hysteric. "Exhorting" the prisoner, Sheshkovsky was rude, threatened, and possibly gave light cuffs or really poked his chin with a cane, as Radishchev's son described it. For the unbeaten people (and Radishchev had already grown up under the protection of noble privileges and studied abroad), such an appeal was enough to frighten them, make them repent and, saying goodbye to life, write a will to small children. Radishchev was no exception. The playwright Yakov Knyazhnin, a most intelligent and weak man, after being interrogated by Sheshkovsky at the end of 1790, "fell into a cruel illness" and died two weeks later.

I think that Sheshkovsky, who went from clerk to privy councilor and received such powerful power, not without pleasure mocked the timid pillar nobles, liberals, "naughty" secular rake, writers, from whom, as always considered in political investigation, "one harm and debauchery." These gentle, spoiled people never sniffed the air of the casemates of the Peter and Paul Fortress, and after a week of sitting there, they appeared before Sheshkovsky with a grown beard and with trousers falling without a belt (as they were received in the fortress, it will be said below), and the “brainy” head of the Secret Expedition seemed to them a fiend of hell, a symbol of that terrible power of the state, which could do anything with any person.

Sheshkovsky “had been everywhere, he was often met where he was not expected. Having, moreover, secret scouts, he knew everything that happened in the capital: not only criminal plans or actions, but even free and careless conversations. There is no exaggeration in these words, information through voluntary and secret agents always came to the political investigation. Sheshkovsky shared the information he received with the empress, so she was well aware of the personal affairs of many courtiers, knew well what they were saying in the capital, among the people, in high society. Of course, she received this information from court gossips, her secretaries, servants, but also from Sheshkovsky. He, like all heads of political investigation, liked to delve into dirty linen. The power of Sheshkovsky was based on the sinister secret that surrounded his department, the goodwill of the empress. To this must be added the exorbitant ambitions of a native from the bottom.

Legends also attribute to Sheshkovsky the role of a hypocrite-Jesuit, a moralizing executioner, who interrogated the person under investigation in the ward with images and lamps, spoke oilily, sweetly, but at the same time ominously: “He usually invited those who were guilty to him: no one dared not to appear on demand". The fact that Sheshkovsky invited people to his home, for suggestions, was a common thing at that time, many dignitaries "did things" at home. Documents also confirm information about Sheshkovsky's sanctimonious moralizing, which earned him the nickname "confessor" among Petersburgers.

One of the legends tells that Catherine II, outraged by the “intemperance” of the general’s wife M. D. Kozhina, ordered Sheshkovsky to flog the prankster: “She goes to a public masquerade every Sunday, go yourself, taking her from there to the Secret Expedition, lightly punish her physically and bring it back there, with all decency." We cannot know for sure whether such an incident took place at one of the St. Petersburg balls. But it is known that Sheshkovsky, on the instructions of the empress, conducted with the ladies of high society, as they would say in a later era, "preventive conversations." Under Catherine, the morality of the inhabitants of both capitals was diligently monitored, both from high society and from the lower classes. To do this, the Secret Expedition and the police collected a variety of information. It follows from the case of Grigory Vinsky that when a banking scam was clarified in 1779, young people were taken to the Peter and Paul Fortress (as suspects) all over St. Petersburg, who littered with money and led a “distracted life”. The first thing Vinsky thought about when he got into the casemate and saw that they were beginning to undress him was the fear that they wanted to flog him.

Vinsky's fears were not unfounded. The legend says: “There was a chair of a special device in Sheshkovsky's office. He asked the invitee to sit in this chair, and as soon as he sat down, one side, where the handle, at the touch of the host, suddenly moved apart, connected to the other side of the chair and closed the guest so that he could neither free himself nor assume what was being prepared for him. Then, at a sign from Sheshkovsky, the hatch with the chair lowered under the floor. Only the head and shoulders of the guilty person remained above, and the rest of the body hung under the floor. There they took away the chair, exposed the punished parts and flogged. The performers did not see who was being punished. Then the guest was brought back to the previous order and rose from under the floor with an armchair. Everything ended without noise and publicity. But, despite this secret, the rumor spread the name of Sheshkovsky and further increased his actions with false additions.

The very technical idea of a chair that descends under the floor has been known for a long time - lifting tables were used for late dinners without servants. So Sheshkovsky could well have such a mechanical chair; remember that Kulibin came up with more complicated mechanisms. But the notes of those whom Sheshkovsky “educated” in this way have not been preserved. True, in the memoirs of A. N. Sokovnin there is a hint that allows one to suspect that the memoirist went through such a procedure: “This Sheshkovsky was a terrible person, he used to come up so politely, so affectionately ask to come to his place to explain himself ... yes, he will explain himself!”

When Sheshkovsky died in 1794, the new head of the Secret Expedition, A. Makarov, put the frustrated affairs of the decrepit veteran of political detective work in order, and especially unfolded under Paul I - the new emperor immediately asked the detective a lot of work.

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