Valuev, Pyotr Alexandrovich

Born in Tsaritsyno, Moscow Region, in 1815 ^[1] in the family of chamberlain Alexander Petrovich Valuev, one of the sons of Pyotr Stepanovich Valuev , who was involved in the demolition of historic buildings in the Moscow Kremlin that "obscured other magnificent buildings with their unseemly appearance."

Received home education. In his youth, he held oppositional views, as evidenced by his participation in the Lermontov circle of university youth . Having passed the exam at Moscow University , he received the corresponding certificate on March 17, 1832. He began his civil service in the office of the Governor General of Moscow on April 17, 1831, at the age of sixteen. The first rank, a college registrar , received February 12, 1833. In 1834 he was granted the title of chamber junker and transferred to the service in I, then in the II department of His Imperial Majesty’s Chancellery , where he was at the disposal of MM Speransky .

In 1845, he was appointed official of special assignments under the Riga military governor-general Golovin . Thanks to his connections, by the way, through his wife, hard work, knowledge of foreign languages, the ability to speak and write official papers, but most of all thanks to his skillful maneuvering between opposing movements, he made a brilliant career. In 1853, he was appointed Governor of Courland .

In 1855, Valuev wrote a note: “The Russian Duma” (published in 1891 in “ Russian Antiquity ”, No. 5) and sent it in manuscripts to Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich and other high-ranking officials who were considered supporters of the reforms. In this note, he argued that we have “shine on top, rot on the bottom; there is no room for truth in the creations of our official verbosity; the law itself is branded with insincerity ... Everywhere neglect and dislike of thought, moving without a special order; everywhere custody of minors; everywhere the opposition of the government to the publicly private people, instead of commemorating their natural and inextricable ties. “Neglect of each of us in particular, and the human person in general, has been established in the laws ...” All of our departments “reveal boundless indifference to everything that Russia thinks, feels or knows ...”. “Management has been brought, for each individual part, to the highest degree of centralization; but the reciprocal ties of these parts are scarce and shaky. The mass of cases, now going back to the main authorities, exceeds their strength. They need to provide a significant part of these cases to the mercy of their offices. Thus, the fate of representations of provincial chiefs and governor-generals quite often depends not on the ministers, but on the captains of a ministry. ” The note attracted attention; Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich recommended this “very remarkable note” by an official order for the Ministry of the Sea, and, citing several large excerpts from it, ordered “to communicate these truthful words to those persons and places of the maritime department, from whom we expect reports for the current year early next year” year".

In 1858, Valuev was appointed director of the 2nd department of the Ministry of State Property . Without losing the sympathies of the liberal party, he managed to please his boss M.N. Muravyov as well . Muravyov often entrusted Valuev with drafting objections to projects developed by editorial commissions; Valuev, in his own words, was the “pen of the opposition” —that is, the opposition to the cause of the liberation of the peasants. While serving in the Ministry of State Property, Valuev, besides various other awards, received the title of Secretary of State of His Majesty .

On January 7, 1861, Valuev was appointed manager of the committee of ministers, and on April 23 of the same year he was appointed head of the Ministry of the Interior instead of Lansky . In 1863, Valuev wrote and handed Alexander II a note in which, in order to prevent fermentation within Russia and to prevent the possible interference of European powers in defending Poland, he recommended that reform be carried out in the highest state administration, but one that would leave the prerogatives of the supreme authority unaffected. He recommended that representatives of the population elected by Zemstvo assemblies of 2–4 per province, as well as city councils of larger cities, be invited to the Council of State, but not constantly, but when discussing certain specific cases. It was a project of combining a bureaucratic constitution with autocracy. The note had no consequences. In July 1863, Valuev published a circular, called the Valuev Circular , which limited the publication of books in the Ukrainian language.

When Valuev was the Minister of the Interior, two important reforms were carried out: Zemsky 1864 and censored 1865. Both reforms were half-hearted, but nevertheless immediately after their implementation, Valuev himself began to struggle both with the zemstvo, upholding the prerogatives of the administration, and with seal. Already in 1866, novels to the censorship charter began to appear, with which the press was shy more and more; new magazines and newspapers were resolved by Valuev with extreme difficulty, and of the previously existing even the bodies of Katkov and Aksakov, not to mention the liberal ones, were subject to warnings and prohibitions. In combination of freedom with order, as Valuev understood it, the former should constantly yield to the latter.

From the post of Minister of the Interior, Valuev was dismissed on March 9, 1868. The closest reason for this was the failure to take action to combat hunger. Remaining the state secretary and member of the state council, Valuev took the place of chairman of the board of an accounting loan bank and a mutual land loan company. Remaining in sight, Valuev was appointed Minister of State Property on April 16, 1872 by the Highest Decree. In this position, Valuev raised the question of the situation of agriculture in Russia and became the head of the so-called Valuev Commission, which had the aim of studying it. The Commission issued five volumes of works, but had no practical results. During the management of Valuev, the ministry distributed on a large scale for free or at an insignificant price state (Bashkir) lands in the Orenburg and Ufa provinces . Nevertheless, the Commission established later to investigate abuses in the distribution of Orenburg and Ufa lands established that P. A. Valuev himself was not involved in these abuses ^[2] . Among the main achievements of the ministry under Valuev is the drainage of Polesye, that is, the Pripyat river basin in the triangle Brest - Mogilev - Kiev. The post of assistant minister at Valuev was held by A. A. Lieven .

On December 25, 1879, Valuev was appointed Chairman of the Committee of Ministers and at the same time the Chief Executive of the Office of His Majesty for the adoption of petitions. In the same year, 1879, Valuev again submitted to Alexander II his constitutional draft of 1863, but this time without positive results. February 19, 1880 Valuev was granted the Count's dignity. Until then, Valuev, as chairman of the committee of ministers, had considerable influence, but the rise of Count Loris-Melikov, his determined opponent, put an end to this influence. In addition, an audit of Senator M. E. Kovalevsky revealed abuses in the distribution of the Bashkir lands of the Ufa province; Valuev himself was not suspected for personal gain, but as a minister he was responsible for the actions of his subordinates. On October 4, 1881, Valuev received his resignation from the post of chairman of the committee of ministers, but retained the title of member of the State Council. This ended the state activity of Valuev.

Having received unexpected leisure, Valuev took up literary activity, which was not a stranger before. In 1858, he printed in the official office of the Russian government “Nord”: “Lettres sur l'affranchissement des paysans dans les provinces Baltiques” (these letters were translated in the Russian Bulletin, 1858, No. 1 and 2). In 1876 (when he was Minister of State Property), Valuev published in Berlin, with the signature "Russian", a pamphlet entitled "Russian Foreign Publicists", devoted to a sharp controversy with Samarin, Dmitriev, Prince Vasilchikov and Koshelev. In 1882, Valuev’s novel from high life, Lorin, appeared. In 1887, in the "Herald of Europe" published his story "The Black Thief", in 1891 in the "Russian Herald" - "Princess Tatiana." Valuev’s artistic talent is extremely insignificant, but he has some power of observation and some satirical streak; his stories are interesting because of their extremely negative attitude towards the high-society environment in which Valuev has been spinning all his life. In addition, Valuev placed the article "Religious unrest and persecution from the 5th to the 17th century." In Vestnik Evropy (1888, No. 3). He also owns the “Collection of short reverent readings for all days of the year”. Some of his religious works were banned by spiritual censorship as being close to Protestantism.

The most important of Valuev's literary works is his diary, which he kept from a very early time almost until his death. The part of the diary dating from 1847-1860 was printed in Russian Antiquities of 1891, in the Bulletin of Europe of 1907 by 1880, and in the collection On the Past 1908, from 1881-1884. The diary is very valuable as historical material. Valuev here discovers a critical mind, strictly condemns the activities of the government for very, very much, and moreover, precisely for what he himself was guilty of in a very strong degree - for constraint of thought, red tape, excessive centralization, etc. In 1879 that is, when he himself was the chairman of the committee of ministers, Valuev wrote in his diary: “I do not see government consciousness, although I see government. It seems to me that, nevertheless, in parts everything collapses and collapses, and I am powerless to put down barriers to collapse and collapse. All the same feeling: I see what others seem to not see. " In 1881 he wrote:

"Pitfalls are our state Pharisees , even the most intelligent, like Abaza and Solsky ." “It feels that the soil is shaken, the building is in danger of falling, but the townsfolk do not seem to notice it, and the owners vaguely smell the evil, but hide the inner alarm”

Was married twice:

1. wife from May 22, 1836, Princess Maria Petrovna Vyazemskaya (1813-1849), daughter of the poet Pyotr Andreyevich Vyazemsky and Vera Fedorovna , nee Princess Gagarina. According to Prince A. M. Meshchersky, she “married Valuev for love. She was remarkably pretty, fresh, slender and mentally developed, she was spoiled only by the snub nose, which she inherited from her father. Due to this flaw, in the light where she was considered among the lionesses, she was called a pretty little ugly girl. I was no less than her other fans under the influence of her original beauty and bewitching blue eyes ” ^[3] . Died in February 1849 from cholera, having been ill for only three days, she barely had time to profess and take communion. In marriage, had a daughter and two sons:
   • Elizaveta Petrovna (1839-1916), since 1859 the wife of Prince Alexander Vasilyevich Golitsyn (1828-1869), son of V. S. Golitsyn . Grandfather, Prince P. A. Vyazemsky , dedicated the poem Esmeralda (Memoirs of Venice) to her .
   • Pyotr Petrovich (1839-1886).
   • Alexander Petrovich (1841-24.09.1864), a lieutenant, died of consumption in Baden.
2. wife Anna Ivanovna Vakulskaya (1830–1883), daughter of Ivan Petrovich Vakulsky (1794–1837), Riga police chief and colonel, from his marriage to Louise Dieren. In marriage, had a son:
   • Nikolai Petrovich (1856-1893)

1. Order of St. Andrew .
2. Order of St. Vladimir 1st degree.
3. Order of St. Alexander Nevsky with diamonds.
4. Order of the White Eagle .
5. Order of St. Anne and St. Stanislav 1st degree.

• Valuev, Pyotr Aleksandrovich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Getmansky Alexander Eduardovich . Political Views and State Activities of P. A. Valuev, 70-80s XIX century : dissertation ... candidate of historical sciences: 07.00.02.- Saratov, 2001.- 226 pp., ill. RSL OD, 61 01-7 / 683-1
• Diary of Count P.A. Valuev 1861-1865 - M .: “Canon +”, ROOI “Rehabilitation”, 2014. - 520 p., 1000 copies, ISBN 978-5-88373-349-8

• Valuev, Peter Alexandrovich at the Rodovod . Tree of ancestors and descendants