Vronchenko, Fedor Pavlovich

Childhood and Youth

The son of a priest, from a family of impoverished Ukrainian gentry, who moved to the Belarusian lands. Born in 1780 in the town of Kopys on the banks of the Dnieper . Father - Protodeacon Pavel Kuzmich Vronchenko (1760-1849), information about the mother was not preserved. He had a younger brother Michael , with whom he had been friends all his life.

In 1797 he entered Moscow University , completing a full course of study (1801). He was distinguished by diligence, good manners and well-intentionedness, respect for superiors and reigning persons. He learned to hone goose feathers well, acquired a beautiful handwriting and the ability to elegantly express himself both in writing and in oral speech. Particular attention was paid to the study of legal courses, as well as history, economics and foreign languages; dreamed of a military career, so he worked diligently in the amusing battalion of Moscow University ^{[2] [3]} , in which he was a junior commander.

In public service

10/12/1801 was assigned to the service in the office of Nikolai Novosiltsev , in which he served until 1805. With the opening in 1805 of military operations against the French army of Napoleon I, he was appointed to the retinue of the Emperor Alexander I to send written cases . It was mainly "used for the editorship of military relations ." The service under one of the members of the " triumvirate " nominated Vronchenko. In 1809 he was appointed as the clerk under the Council and the Board of the Law Commission, and the following year he was appointed Head of the Department in the Ministry of Finance. He did not stay for long and was soon appointed to the Ministry of the Interior, led by Viktor Kochubey . In 1820 he again transferred to the Ministry of Finance and was appointed Head of the Third Division, which was soon transformed in 1824 into the Special Chancellery for the credit part. Later he became a fellow of the Minister of Finance Egor Kankrin . During the long service in the ministry under Count Yegor Kankrin, Vronchenko did not show any special talents, except for the ordinary diligence of a tidy official with courteous manners, pleasant speech and appearance, and beautiful handwriting ^[4] .

On the occasion of Count Kankrin’s illness and his dismissal from the post of Minister of Finance, Vronchenko, unexpectedly for himself, was appointed Emperor Nicholas I to the post of Manager of the Ministry of Finance on May 1, 1844. In this post, Vronchenko proved himself to be a routine, a successor to the system of his predecessor, Yegor Kankrin, who wrote him a special Guide, indicating the leading principles in the financial sphere of the Russian Empire. The real financial management of the Empire was taken personally by the Russian emperor Nikolai Romanov.

In 1849, "for diligence and immaculate service for the benefit of the Russian Empire," Fedor Vronchenko was granted the hereditary nobility and he was elevated to count dignity with the right to own a personal coat of arms.

His younger brother Mikhail Pavlovich Vronchenko is an outstanding traveler and scientist-researcher, military geodesist , geographer and scout, founding member of the Russian Geographical Society , a talented prose writer and poet-translator. The Vronchenka brothers were friendly, corresponded, met in St. Petersburg during the rare raids of Mikhail in the capital of the Russian Empire .

Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire

After the resignation of the sick and disabled Minister Yegor Kankrin, everyone expected that a skilled and experienced financier, the second person in the Ministry of Finance, Alexander Knyazhevich, would be appointed in his place ^[5] . For nearly thirty years, he was both a friend and student of Kankrin, in addition, had a reputation for business and initiative. However, the intrigues of the court circles, accompanied by slander and scandalous rumors about bribes in the ministry, ultimately led to the appointment of Vronchenko ^[6] .

Vronchenko did not take any measures to improve the state of the financial and trading system of the country. Attention was not paid to agriculture under Fyodor Vronchenko: factory production exclusively used it. Meanwhile, much indicated the unsatisfactory situation of agriculture . It would seem that serious crop failures of 1844, 1845 and 1847, which covered various regions of Russia and led to the impoverishment of the mass of the population and an increase in the number of arrears, which had increased to 125 million rubles by the end of the management of the Ministry of Finance, should draw special attention to the situation of agriculture . However, this did not happen. In the same way, no attention was paid to improving and accelerating the ways of moving people and goods by more energetic construction of other railways , except Tsarskoye Selo and Nikolaev . October 12, 1851 was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called ^[7] .

Vronchenko did not take special measures to establish and improve credit institutions either: private ones did not arise, and bureaucrats, in addition to unsatisfactory organization and activities, served as a source to cover deficits . The list of income and expenses for the period of management of the Ministry of Finance Vronchenko is as follows:

It follows from the table that expenses significantly exceeded revenues. Consequently, each year it was necessary to cover deficits with loans or introduce new taxes . It was necessary to conclude loans abroad, or to take part of the necessary amounts from state-owned credit institutions (which was the reason for their collapse in 1857-59) and, finally, in the absence of these resources, turn to the issue of state treasury tickets (series). Sometimes, in order to conceal or reduce deficits, they resorted to crediting uncovered expenses against future income. Permanent deficits, caused mainly by increased expenditures for the maintenance of troops due to the Caucasian War , the Krakow Uprising and the Hungarian War , prompted the government to take measures to reduce costs ( 1847 ), but since participation in the development of these measures was limited only to ministerial chancery, without resorting to public opinion , then, despite the strong desire to limit the costs, measures taken to achieve this goal did not lead to the desired results.

Under such conditions, in order to cover increasing costs, in addition to concluding loans, I had to turn to an increase in the size of existing taxes. So, in 1846, the auxiliary zemstvo tax was doubled from peasants, bourgeois and merchants , and since the taxable forces of the peasants were already quite tense, it remained only to introduce new or increase old indirect taxes . Particular attention was paid to drinking income. In 1847, the excise system was introduced instead of the one which was purchased; subsequently, this measure was extended to privileged provinces , in which in 1851 a drinking charter was introduced. Further, in 1847, the abolition of benefits followed by 13 provinces and regions regarding the sale of lower grades of tobacco followed; Together with this, the parcel collection for tobacco was increased. Finally, in the same year an excise tax was introduced from sugar beet production. Of the other measures taken by Vronchenko, one should point to the new tariff of 1850, in which, under the influence of ideas that began to prevail in the field of customs policy, some reduction of tariff rates was made.

In addition, at the same time, the border line that existed between Russia and Poland was destroyed. Of the other measures carried out by Vronchenko, one can point to the final destruction of bank notes in 1847–49. However, the last measure was purely formal in nature and was predetermined by the predecessor of Vronchenko, Yegor Kankrin. The same significant issues as the improvement of the staff of the Ministry of Finance, as well as the introduction of improvements in the tax technique, were not paid attention. Amount of debts from 299 million rubles. (in 1844) increased to 400 million rubles. (by 1852), not counting in this amount issued tickets of the state treasury (series) and borrowings from treasury credit institutions.

Privacy

In private life, Vronchenko was a simple and accessible person, but among his contemporaries he had a reputation for cynicism . Fedor Vronchenko was in close friendship with his younger brother Mikhail . When the Russian Geographical Society (RGO) was established in St. Petersburg in 1845, with the permission of Emperor Nicholas I, he allocated 10 thousand rubles to the Society for silver for current expenses, and also donated several of his books to the emerging library of the Russian Geographical Society . He was an honorary member of the Russian Geographical Society.

Over time, the count became a true Petersburger, who was readily accepted for his condescending character and pleasant, courteous manners at the Imperial Court and numerous metropolitan salons. The story has preserved and conveyed to the descendants several anecdotes - entertaining semi-legendary stories - about Vronchenko's habits and inclinations. So according to one version, Vronchenko was very partial to young women of the opposite sex, although he was not married. All his fortune bequeathed to his brother Michael on death.

At the Okhta Shipyard, a wheeled coal steamer Graf Vronchenko was built and launched in 1850 , named after Fedor Mikhailovich Vronchenko. "Count Vronchenko" became part of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea. The ship took part in the hostilities during the Eastern or Crimean War of 1853-1856 .

Prince Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov (1787–1869), a well-known prankster and caustic interlocutor at the Court of Emperor Nicholas I Romanov and in St. Petersburg society, once saw the ship “Count Vronchenko” moving very slowly along the Gulf of Finland , desperately blowing black smoke and spanking from a chimney wheels on the water. “You can’t get far on Count Vronchenko!” Remarked the Serene Prince.

• List of Finance Ministers of the Russian Empire and the Provisional Government

• Alekseev M.Yu., Pachkalov A.V. Ministers of Finance: From the Russian Empire to the present. - M .: Albina Publisher, 2019 .-- 554 p. - ISBN 978-5-9614-2182-8
• Sudeikin V. Vronchenko, Fedor Pavlovich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Imperial Moscow University: 1755-1917: Encyclopedic Dictionary / A. Yu. Andreev, D. A. Tsygankov. - M .: Russian Political Encyclopedia (ROSSPEN), 2010 .-- S. 139. - 894 p. - 2,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-8243-1429-8 .

• Foundation of Moscow University. Lomonosov (neopr.) . History of the Russian Empire . Date of treatment August 29, 2017.