An excerpt from the story "The Cavalier Princess" by Yu. G. Shatrakov.
State councilor Ivan Stepanovich Desnitsky was appointed to head the district court in the district town of Lutsk, which stands on the banks of the Styr River, two hundred and sixty versts from Zhitomir, four hundred versts from Kiev and one hundred and sixty versts from Lvov. The family of Ivan Stepanovich was large, a year after the death of his wife, he married a second time. From his first marriage, Ivan Stepanovich left six children. But the estate was equipped, so there was enough space for everyone, and the family lived in abundance. The second wife, Maria Mikhailovna, was a widow; she was left without a husband with four children. Ivan Stepanovich met her at his brother's in Kiev. The district judge fell in love with this charming woman and proposed to her. Only he asked her and her children to leave for Lutsk and live on the estate of her father, who died in the Balkan War. The wedding of Ivan Stepanovich and Maria Mikhailovna was in the church of Father Seraphim, who was in Osaka Castle, where the 35th Infantry Battalion was stationed. Ivan Stepanovich knew the new legislation of the Russian Empire thoroughly. He was specially taught this in Kiev before his appointment as a district judge. District courts in Russia were charged with all criminal cases removed from the departments of magistrates' courts, and also the courts of this instance were obliged to provide assistance and assistance to military courts. Cases of crimes, for which the law established punishments related to deprivation of the right to wealth and rank, were also supposed to be considered by the district courts in the presence of a jury. These were serious cases, and they were increasing in the Russian Empire. To conduct preliminary investigations, Ivan Stepanovich had special investigators on staff who, according to the new legislation, must work with the police department, and in special cases with officials of the military courts.
Lutsk is a picturesque town with a population of about 15 thousand people. The tributary of the Styr Sapalaevka River divided the city into northern and southern parts. The Styr River itself was navigable; there were berths for barges and steam ships on the embankment. The population, as in all of Western Ukraine, which became part of the Russian Empire after the third partition of Poland, was mixed. Half were Ukrainians, followed by Jews, Germans, Poles, Russians and Czechs. Russians constituted an insignificant part of the population of the district.
The mixing of blood in the western part of Ukraine of the Russian Empire was reflected in the beauty of women, who for the most part were slender, had blonde hair, and a charming face. The eyes of these ladies were, for some unknown reason, brown, blue, or green. In other words, the young ladies were charming. In the city for such a population there were seven synagogues, one church, one Lutheran and two Christian churches. Among the educational institutions, there were three primary schools, four parochial schools and three literacy schools. Children were taught only in Russian; for several years, teaching in Polish was not carried out, and it was prohibited. In Lutsk, as in other cities, the district judges had to implement a clear and tough policy to eradicate terrorism. The Russification of the population in the new regions of Russia has already brought certain successes. The opposition, as the government believed, had been defeated, and the majority of the Polish population realized that gaining independence in the near future was impossible. Therefore, the problems of education and economic development came to the fore. However, soon the Polish radicals changed their minds and began to publish pamphlets and all kinds of appeals to persuade the governments of Russia and other countries to agree to the restoration of the autonomy of the Polish lands. They dug up and raised on the shield the phrase of Count M. N. Muravyov, who was well aware of the problem of this region: "What the Russian bayonet has not completed, the Russian school will complete." The count clearly imagined the path of development of this region of Russia, the elimination of the consequences of the age-old Polish-Catholic occupation and the need to direct the life of the population along the Russian road.
After all, he was also a participant in the Battle of Borodino. The count forbade even accepting Catholics for civil service, in Russia they did not forget what delight in England, Austria, Holland, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, the Ottoman Empire caused the actions of gangs of Polish rebels. The Russian people remembered what disgust the statements of A. I. Herzen in his "Bell" that it is necessary to kill "nasty Russian soldiers" who are pursuing the Polish rebels. While Ivan Stepanovich was studying in Kiev, part of the classes were conducted by teachers invited from Moscow University - associates of Professor M. N. Katkov, who at one time rebuked the statements of A. I. Herzen, and explained to the society of Russia what the uprising in Poland was trying to achieve, why it happened. The uprising was not organized to win the freedom of the Polish people, it pursued the goal of seizing power by the Polish nobility. The Russian society was shown the role of foreign states in this process. As always, the European powers adopted double standards in relation to Russia. The network of training militants abroad was also disclosed for the possibility of organizing riots, provocations, riots on the territory of Russia. Scientists from Moscow University could not criticize the reigning family on the policy pursued in this territory of the Russian state and only the troops under the leadership of M. N. Muravyov-Vilensky was scattered by these gangs. The most active members of the gangs were exiled to Siberia, and about a hundred leaders were hanged by court order.
The state can be called a system of suppression, but there is no other way for human society to exist as through the state. All cries of freedom and self-determination end in war and dictatorship. Russia had no right not to defend itself, had no right to allow the killing of a Russian soldier. The Russian state took possession of the territories of Poland and Lithuania by the right of victories over Napoleon, there was nothing to get involved in a war against Russia on his side. If Russia had demonstrated a weak will, the Polish gentry would have ruled Moscow and St. Petersburg with impunity. But God marks the rogue, after 1814 Emperor Alexander I could expand the Empire far to the West, but he stopped. So the teachers of Moscow University discussed the political situation, preparing Ivan Stepanovich for a new job, the politicians of Russia advised the Emperor to create several weak states around Poland controlled by St. Petersburg. Then it would be possible to squeeze the gentry in the grip of an internal struggle. These politicians remembered with what delight the Polish troops, as part of the 500 thousandth army of Napoleon, crossed the Niemen in June 1812 in order to enslave Russia. But Kutuzov put everything in its place.
Fifty years later, a new intelligentsia was formed in Russia, and the state power was resting on the laurels of the victory of 1814, but after the fall of Sevastopol, this intelligentsia fell into a panic. There were already few patriots who were inspired by the memory of Borodin and the capture of Paris. London was hysterically afraid of the strengthening of Russia and in Europe, forgetting about their salvation, they began to create an image of the Russian Empire as a barbaric country. It was now impossible to squeeze Russia in Poland, as they did in the Crimea. Twenty years later, in order to fight against Russification in the western regions of Russia, certain circles of the Polish intelligentsia again began to create secret educational institutions in which the teaching of the Polish language, history and culture was carried out with the money of those countries that once tried to influence Petersburg in order to separate it from Russia. western regions. The influence of secret groups and organizations, especially youth organizations, began to increase, which, in addition to educational work, were again engaged in preparing the uprising and individual militants. To this continued to increase in Russia and the revolutionary situation. According to the information received from the Governor-General, in recent years alone, more than 150 peasant uprisings have been recorded in the country, of which more than 10 had to be pacified with the help of troops. Both during this period of time, so during the unrest under the leadership of Pugachev, the investigation found foreign sources of funding for these unrest. As a result of the liberal reforms of the Russian government again and the rivalry between the bodies of political investigation, accustomed to acting uncontrollably, and the judiciary, jealously defending their departmental rights, lawsuits became practically uncontrollable. The slightest deviation from the law by investigators led to an automatic acquittal in court of even malicious terrorists. Ivan Stepanovich was well aware of this, and the Governor-General asked him to pay special attention to this aspect of the work of the district judge. There was someone to carry out inflammatory work among the population, the Volyn province was not the last in Russia in terms of the level of unrest. The population of the province exceeded 3 million people, and the Lutsk district was more than 200 thousand. Members of the revolutionary organization "Narodnaya Volya", funded by other states, were on the territory of the province, but the police agents had not yet been able to track them down personally.
The ideological weakness in the highest government circles of Russia was felt in the contradictory dialogue with the European powers. The idea of the Russian people - enlightenment and victory - was forgotten. Gentlemen have appeared, whom you cannot feed with bread, but let Russia be scolded. Immediately there were statements such: "How sweet it is to hate the homeland."
