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BEZBORODKO, ALEKSANDER ANDREEVICH, PR...

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 840 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BEZBORODKO, ALEKSANDER ANDREEVICH, See also:PRINCE (1747-1799) , See also:grand See also:chancellor of See also:Russia, was See also:born at Gluchova on the 14th of See also:March 1747, and educated at See also:home and in the clerical See also:academy at See also:Kiev. He entered the public service as a clerk in the See also:office of See also:Count P. A. Rumyantsev, then See also:governor-See also:general of Little Russia, whom he accompanied to the See also:Turkish See also:War in 1768. He was See also:present at the engagements of Larga and See also:Kaluga, and at the storming of See also:Silistria. On the conclusion of the See also:peace of Kuchuk-Kainarji (1774) the See also:field See also:marshal recommended him to Catharine II., and she appointed him in 1775 her See also:petition-secretary. He thus had the opportunity of impressing the empress with his brilliant gifts, the most remarkable of which were exquisite See also:manners, a marvellous memory and a clear and pregnant See also:style. At the same See also:time he set to See also:work to acquire the See also:principal See also:European See also:languages, especially See also:French, of which he became a See also:master. It was at this time that he wrote his See also:historical sketches of the Tatar See also:wars and of Little Russia. His activity was prodigious, and Catharine called him her factotum. In 178o he accompanied her on her See also:journey through See also:White Russia, See also:meeting the See also:emperor See also:Joseph, who urged him to study See also:diplomacy. On his return from a delicate See also:mission to See also:Copenhagen, he presented to the empress " a memorial on See also:political affairs " which comprised the first See also:plan of a See also:partition of See also:Turkey between Russia and See also:Austria.

This document was transmitted almost word for word to See also:

Vienna as the See also:Russian proposals. He followed this up by Epitomised Historical See also:Information concerning See also:Moldavia. For these two See also:state papers he was rewarded with the posts of " plenipotentiary for all negotiations " in the See also:foreign office and postmaster-general. From 'this time he was inseparably associated with Catharine in all important See also:diplomatic affairs, though officially he was the subordinate of the See also:vice-chancellor, Count See also:Alexander See also:Osterman. He wrote all the most important'despatches to the Russian ministers abroad, concluded and subscribed all See also:treaties, and performed all the functions of a secretary of state. He identified himself entirely with Catharine's political ideas, even with that of re-establishing the See also:Greek See also:empire under her See also:grandson See also:Constantine. The empress, as usual, richly rewarded her comes with See also:pensions and principalities. In 1786 he was promoted to the See also:senate, and it was through him that the empress communicated her will to that See also:august state-decoration. In 1787 he accompanied Catharine on her triumphal progress through See also:South Russia in the capacity of See also:minister of foreign affairs. At Kaniev he conducted the negotiations with the See also:Polish See also:king, See also:Stanislaus II., and at Novuiya Kaidaniya he was in the empress's See also:carriage when she received Joseph II. The second Turkish War (1787–92) and the war with Gustavus III. (1788–90) heaped fresh burdens on his already heavily laden shoulders, and he suffered from the intrigues of his numerous jealous rivals, including the empress's latest favourite, A.

M. Mamonov. All his efforts were directed towards the conclusion of the two oppressive wars by an See also:

honourable peace. The pause of Verela with Gustavus III. (14th of August 1790)was on the terms dictated by him. On the sudden See also:death of See also:Potemkin he was despatched to See also:Jassy to prevent the peace See also:congress there from breaking up, and succeeded, in the See also:face of all but insuperable difficulties, in concluding a treaty exceedingly advantageous to Russia (9th of See also:January 1792). For this service he received the thanks of the empress, the ribbon of St See also:Andrew and 5o,000 roubles. On his return from Jassy, however, he found his confidential See also:post of secretary of petitions occupied by the empress's last favourite, P. A. Zubov. He complained of this " diminution of his dignity " to the empress in a private memorial in the course of 1793. The empress reassured him by fresh honours and distinctions on the occasion of the See also:solemn celebration of the peace of Jassy (2nd of See also:September 1793), when she publicly presented him with a See also:golden See also:olive-See also:branch encrusted with brilliants.

Subsequently Catharine reconciled him with Zubov, and he resumed the conduct of foreign affairs. He contributed more than any other See also:

man to bring about the downfall and the third partition of See also:Poland, for which he was magnificently recompensed. But diplomacy by no means exhaustedBezborodko's capacity for work. He had a large See also:share in the See also:internal See also:administration also. He reformed the post-office, improved the banking See also:system of Russia, regulated the finances, constructed roads, and See also:united the Uniate and Orthodox churches. On the death of Catharine, the emperor See also:Paul entrusted Bezborodko with the examination of the See also:late empress's private papers, and shortly afterwards made him a prince of the Russian empire, with a correspondingly splendid apanage. On the retirement of Osterman he received the highest dignity in the Russian empire—that of imperial chancellor. Bezborodko was the only Russian minister who retained the favour of Paul to the last. During the last two years of his See also:life the See also:control of Russia's diplomacy was entirely in his hands. His See also:programme at this See also:period was peace with all the European See also:powers, revolutionary See also:France included. But the emperor's growing aversion from this pacific policy induced the astute old minister to See also:attempt to " seek safety in moral and See also:physical repose." Paul, however, refused to accept his resignation and would have sent him abroad for the benefit of his See also:health, had not a sudden stroke of See also:paralysis prevented Bezborodko from taking See also:advantage of his master's kindness. He died at St See also:Petersburg on the 6th of See also:April 1799.

In private life Bezborodko was a typical Catharinian, corrupt, licentious, conscienceless and self-seeking. But he was infinitely generous and affectionate, and spent his enormous See also:

fortune liberally. His banquets were magnificent, his collections of pictures and statues unique in See also:Europe. He was the best friend of his innumerable poor relatives, and the See also:Maecenas of all the struggling authors of his See also:day. Sycophantic he might have been, but he was neither ungrateful nor vindictive. His patriotism is as indisputable as his See also:genius. See Sbornik (Collections) of the Imperial Russian Historical Society (Fr. and Russ.), vols. 6o-See also:loo (St Petersburg, 1870–1904) ; Nikolai Ivanovich Grigorovich, The Chancellor A. A. Bezborodko in Connexion with the Events of His Time (Rus., St Petersburg, 1879-1881). (R. N.

End of Article: BEZBORODKO, ALEKSANDER ANDREEVICH, PRINCE (1747-1799)

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