Great, formidable, bloody and even cursed - as soon as they called the person who solely ruled Russia. We propose to discard stereotypes and take a fresh look at the rulers of the empire: historical anecdotes and curious situations.
For Nicholas the First, the glory of a despot and a soldier who turned the whole of Russia into a large barracks was firmly entrenched. However, the memoirs of contemporaries testify that at times Nikolai Pavlovich's sense of humor was not at all barracks.
Nicholas I Pavlovich (June 25 [July 6] 1796, Tsarskoe Selo - February 18 [March 2] 1855, St. Petersburg) - Emperor of All Russia from December 14 [December 26] 1825 to February 18 [March 2] 1855, the king of Poland and the great Prince of Finland. The third son of Emperor Paul I and Maria Feodorovna, brother of Emperor Alexander I, father of Emperor Alexander II.
1. Once the pages played out in the huge Great Throne Room of the Winter Palace. Most of them jumped and played the fool, and one of the pages ran into the velvet pulpit under the canopy and sat down on the imperial throne. There he began to grimace and give orders, when suddenly he felt that someone was taking him by the ear and driving him down the steps. The page measured. Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich himself was silently and menacingly escorting him. When everything was in order, the emperor suddenly smiled and said:
“Trust me, it’s not as fun to sit here as you think.
On another occasion, Nikolai Pavlovich reduced to a joke even the decision in the case of the most important anti-state crime, which was considered an insult to the emperor. His circumstances were as follows.
Once in a tavern, having walked almost to the position of the vest, one of the smaller brothers, Ivan Petrov, swore so hard that the kissing man, who was used to everything, could not stand it. Wanting to calm the dispersed brawler, he pointed to the royal bust:
- Stop using foul language, if only for the sake of the face of the sovereign.
But the crazed Petrov replied:
- And what is your face to me, I spit on it! - and then fell down and snored. And I woke up already in the jail of the Christmas unit. Chief Police Officer Kokoshkin, during the morning report to the sovereign, submitted a note about this, explaining immediately the punishment for such guilt determined by law. Nikolai Pavlovich imposed the following resolution: "Announce to Ivan Petrov that I spit on him too - and let him go." When the verdict was announced to the attacker and released from arrest, he was homesick, almost insane, drank, and so he disappeared.
2. Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich called the nobility his main support and was strictly, but in a fatherly way, affectionate towards the noble ignoramuses.
Walking one day along Nevsky Prospekt, he somehow met a student dressed out of uniform: an overcoat was draped over his shoulders, his hat was tilted at the back of his head. sloppiness was noticeable in himself.
The Emperor stopped him and asked sternly:
- Who do you look like?
The student was embarrassed, sobbed and timidly said:
- To mamma …
And he was released by the laughing sovereign.
Another time Nikolai Pavlovich came to the Noble Regiment, where young noblemen were being trained for officer service. On the flank stood a cadet head and shoulders above the tall sovereign. Nikolai Pavlovich drew attention to him.
- What is your last name?
“Romanov, your majesty,” he replied.
- Are you a relative of me? - the emperor joked.
“Exactly so, your majesty,” the cadet suddenly replied.
- And to what extent? - asked the sovereign, angry with the impudent answer.
“Your Majesty is the father of Russia, and I am her son,” the cadet answered without batting an eye.
And the sovereign deigned to kindly kiss the resourceful "grandson".
3. Nikolai Pavlovich, in addition to wearing a wig that covered his bald head, adored the theater and attended performances whenever possible. In 1836, at the performance of the opera A Life for the Tsar, the emperor especially liked the performance of the famous singer Petrov, and when he came to the stage, he confessed to that:
- You so well, so ardently expressed your love for the fatherland, that a patch on my head lifted!
The tsar's theatrical predilection was repeatedly used by the retinue, especially when replacing horses and carriages. Because when Nikolai Pavlovich was given, for example, a new horse, he usually exclaimed: "Rubbish, weak!"
And then he made such ends on it around the city that the horse really returned home tired and covered in soap.
“I said that I was weak,” the emperor remarked, getting out of the sleigh.
The new crew, in the same way, always seemed to the sovereign with shortcomings:
- Short! Nowhere to stretch your legs!
Or:
- Shaking and narrow, it's just impossible to drive!
Therefore, they tried to give a new horse or carriage to the Emperor for the first time when he went to the theater. And when the next day he asked:
- What kind of horse is this? What kind of crew?
They answered him:
- Yesterday you were pleased to go to the theater, your majesty!
After such an explanation, the sovereign no longer made any comments.
4. Once, while visiting the prison, Nikolai Pavlovich went to the convict section. Here he asked everyone why he was exiled to hard labor.
- On suspicion of robbery, your majesty! - said some.
- On suspicion of murder! - answered others.
“On suspicion of arson,” others reported.
In short, no one admitted guilt: everyone spoke of suspicions.
The sovereign approached the last prisoner. He was an old man with a thick beard, a tanned face, and calloused hands.
- And what are you for? - asked the sovereign.
- Get down to business, father-king! Get down to business! I was drunk and killed my friend in a fight, I grabbed him in the temple …
- And what now? Are you sorry, as you can see?
- How not to regret, sir-father! How not to regret! A glorious man was, Lord, rest his soul! I have orphaned his family! Do not forgive me this sin forever!
- Is there anyone left in your homeland? - asked the sovereign.
- Why, - answered the old man, - an old woman's wife, a sick son, but little grandchildren, orphans. And I ruined them from the accursed blame. I will not forgive my sin forever!
Then the emperor ordered in a loud voice:
- Since there are all honest people and only one guilty old man, so that he does not spoil these "suspected" people, remove him from prison and send him home to his relatives.
5. Nikolai Pavlovich loved pleasant surprises, including financial ones. In those days, imperials and semi-imperials were minted at the gold strip mint. At the same time, the so-called cuts remained, which were not recorded in any accounting books. As a result, there were so many cuts that it was enough for fifteen thousand semi-imperials. The Minister of Finance, Count Kankrin, came up with the idea of presenting them to the Emperor at Easter. For this, according to his instructions, a huge egg was made from alder at the Institute of Technology, which was opened in two with the help of a special mechanism.
On the first day of Easter, the egg was brought to the palace by officials of the Ministry of Finance, and several chamber-lackeys brought it into the emperor's rooms behind Count Kankrin.
- What's this? - asked the sovereign.
- Excuse me, your majesty, - said the minister, - first to take Christ! - The Emperor kissed him.
“Now, your majesty,” Kankrin continued, “I dare to imagine a red egg from your own riches, and ask you to touch this spring. The emperor touched, the egg opened, and half-imperials became visible.
- What is it, what is it, how much is there? - the emperor was surprised.
Count Kankrin explained that there were fifteen thousand semi-imperials, and clarified that they were made from cuts that had not been reported anywhere. The sovereign could not hide his pleasure and unexpectedly offered:
- Cuts - savings? Well, in half.
To which the minister replied modestly but firmly:
- No, your majesty, this is yours, from yours and belongs only to you.
6. In 1837 Nicholas the First wished to visit the Caucasus for the first time.
From Kerch, he went on a steamer to Redut-Kale, a fortress north of Poti, although in autumn there are violent storms in the Black Sea. However, the sovereign did not cancel the trip, fearing misinterpretation in Europe, where his health and affairs were closely monitored.
When the elements played out in earnest, the alarmed Nikolai Pavlovich began to sing prayers, forcing the composer Lvov, the author of the music to the hymn "God Save the Tsar!", To sing along. The emperor favored Lvov and often took him with him on trips.
“I have no voice,” Lvov, terrified by the storm, said.
- It can't be, - answered the emperor, amused at the sight of the trembling musician, - you say, and therefore, the voice has not disappeared anywhere.
7. In the 1840s, the first city public stagecoaches appeared in St. Petersburg. The appearance of these omnibuses was an event, they were liked by the public and everyone considered it his duty to ride in them in order to be able to talk with friends about the impressions experienced during the trip.
The success of this venture, the cheapness and convenience of travel became known to the emperor. And he wished to see for himself personally. Once walking along the Nevsky and meeting a stagecoach, he signaled to stop and climbed into it. Although it was cramped, a place was found, and the emperor drove to Admiralty Square.
Here he wanted to get out, but the conductor stopped him:
- May I get a dime for the ride?
Nikolai Pavlovich found himself in a difficult situation: he never carried money with him, and none of his companions dared or thought to offer him money. The conductor had no choice but to accept the word of honor of the emperor.
And the next day the chamber-footman delivered ten kopecks to the stagecoach office with twenty-five rubles for tea to the conductor.
8. Nicholas I loved to ride fast and always on an excellent trotter. Once, while the emperor was passing along Nevsky Prospect, a man, despite the coachman's calls, almost fell under the emperor's carriage, who even got up in the droshky and grabbed the coachman by the shoulders.
At the same time, the sovereign shook his finger at the violator and motioned him to him. But he waved his hand negatively and ran on. When the disobedient was found, taken to the palace and brought to the emperor, he asked him:
- Did you so carelessly put yourself under my horse? You know me?
- I know, your imperial majesty!
- How dare you disobey your king?
- I'm sorry, your imperial majesty … there was no time … my wife suffered in difficult childbirth … and I ran to the midwife.
- A! This is a good reason! - said the sovereign. - Follow me!
And he took him to the inner chambers of the empress.
“I recommend you an exemplary husband,” he said to her, “who, in order to provide medical assistance to his wife as soon as possible, disobeyed the call of his sovereign. An exemplary husband!
The bungler turned out to be a poor official. This incident was the beginning of the happiness of his entire family.
9. Nikolai Pavlovich was capable of unexpected favors. Once on Isakievskaya Square, from the side of Gorokhovaya Street, two funeral nags dragged a mourning cart with a poor coffin. On the coffin lay a bureaucratic sword and a state cocked hat, followed by one poorly dressed old woman. The Drogi were already approaching the monument to Peter I. At that moment, the Emperor's carriage appeared from the direction of the Senate.
The emperor, seeing the procession, was outraged that none of his colleagues had come to pay the deceased official his last duty. He stopped the carriage, got out and on foot followed the coffin of the official, towards the bridge. Immediately people began to follow the sovereign. Everyone wanted to share the honor together with the emperor to accompany the deceased to the grave. When the coffin drove onto the bridge, there were many people of every rank, mostly from the upper class. Nikolai Pavlovich looked around and said to those who were seeing him off:
- Gentlemen, I have no time, I have to leave. Hope you walk him to his grave.
And with that he departed.
10. In 1848, during the Hungarian uprising, Nikolai Pavlovich had to decide whether to save the monarchy of the Habsburgs, who had repeatedly defiled Russia, or to allow the Austrian army to be defeated by the rebellious Hungarians. Since the rebels were commanded by Polish generals who had fought against the Russians more than once, the emperor considered it a lesser evil to send Russian troops to help the Austrians.
And in the course of the campaign, two allied officers entered one Hungarian shop: a Russian and an Austrian. The Russian paid for the purchases in gold, and the Austrian offered the banknote in payment. The merchant refused to accept the piece of paper and, pointing to the Russian officer, said:
- That's how the gentlemen pay!
“It's good to pay them in gold,” the Austrian officer objected, “when they were hired to fight for us.
The Russian officer was offended by such a statement, challenged the Austrian to a duel and killed him. A scandal erupted, and Nikolai Pavlovich was informed about the officer's act.
However, the emperor decided this: to give him a severe reprimand for the fact that he endangered his life in wartime; he had to kill the Austrian right there, on the spot.
