“The disasters that befell the Belarusian region could not be averted”

200 years ago, in 1823, Emperor Alexander I approved the methods developed by a special committee to help the Belarusian provinces, which suffered most from the crop failures of 1819-1822, which then hit the regions in various parts of the Russian Empire – from the northern ones, always poor in bread, to the grain-growing black earth and steppe southern; and when government measures did not achieve a result, the autocrat ordered the use of a method of “hunger aversion” of a higher order.

From the work of the archivist of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property of the Russian Empire, collegiate adviser P. A. Shafranov “Crop failures in Russia and the food of the population in the 20s of this century”, 1898.

… The Belarusian provinces – Vitebsk and Mogilev – one of the most infertile provinces of Russia, along with others, suffered from a crop failure in 1821, and the peasants of all denominations were in dire need of food, as can be seen from the reports of the governors. To verify the fairness of the reports and determine the size of the need, as well as to distribute the loan of grain, which was appointed by the Committee of Ministers in the spring of 1822, Senator Baranov was sent to Belarus at the highest command …

It was extremely difficult for the senator to determine who really needed the allowance: the zemstvo police, who served by election from the nobility, were in the hands of the landowners and showed whatever they liked to the marshals (i.e., the leaders of the nobility); I had to be guided by the views of the provincial food committee, but even that was filled with people, some of whom were guided by their own interests, connections, predilection, while others were not involved in business at all …

The senator, therefore, had to act in distributing loans “for good luck” and found it necessary to dwell on further demands for sums of money from the government …

The issue of food in the Belarusian provinces became the subject of special attention of the government and was resolved under somewhat different conditions and conditions than in other provinces, thanks to the following circumstance.

Emperor Alexander I, returning in 1822 from abroad to St. Petersburg, was personally convinced that “the inhabitants of the provinces of Mogilev, Vitebsk and Pskov really suffer from a lack of their grain allowance; that the fields of many of them are badly sown for lack of grain at the time of sowing; that many of them eat bad food for lack of bread; that most of the inhabitants do not have the cattle needed to fertilize the fields, and that everywhere at the stations in these provinces there are a great many beggars asking for food.

Therefore, the Sovereign Emperor ordered the establishment of a special committee: from the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Count Kochubey, the Minister of Finance, Count Guryev, the General of Artillery, Count Arakcheev, and the Chief of the Main Staff, Prince Volkonsky, so that “this committee should urgently deal not only with the aversion of the lack of food for the inhabitants of the three mentioned provinces with bread, but also with the delivery of funds to them to establish the necessary number of livestock and to sow winter and spring fields “…

The Committee, having considered in several meetings (February 15, 17 and 26, March 5 and 21, 1823) all the information delivered to it about the state of the Belarusian peasants and the ways of their food (as in the text.— “Story”) and raising well-being, presented in the form of the highest decrees, made his conclusions on all subjects …

The Committee … refused to lend money or bread to the landowners …

Concerns about the food of the state peasants were assigned to the Minister of Finance, and the food of the peasants taken into state guardianship (if the landowner could not feed them.— “Story”), was assigned to the food commission. For allowances to both peasants, 100 thousand rubles were released (for comparison: the price of a recruit at that moment was 250 rubles— “Story”)…

The committee divided the rest of its decisions into two groups: A) measures to alleviate the inhabitants (as in the text.— “Story”) Belarus in the current situation of this region and B) measures to improve the state of the Belarusian provinces for the future …

The conclusions of the committee on food in the form of an extract from the journals of its meetings were submitted through the Minister of the Interior, with his note, to the Committee of Ministers. In general, the committee of ministers agreed with the measures proposed by the special committee, but with regard to some measures it proposed amendments and changes …

The Committee of Ministers in an emergency meeting on April 4, having finally considered all the proposed opinions, decided on the final conclusions and submitted them for the highest approval.

At a meeting on April 14, it was announced to the Committee of Ministers that the Sovereign Emperor approved all the conclusions of the committee, however, making additions on his own …

Only after this supreme resolution, the Committee of Ministers instructed the Minister of Finance to immediately send the allocated money to the lean provinces, borrowing it from the cash amounts of the state treasury and leaving it to the Ministers of Finance and the Interior to decide the rules on which seed grain should be distributed …

The last position of the committee of ministers took place, as we see, on April 14, 1823, that is, at a time when spring sowing had already begun; and while instructions were sent from the ministries of internal affairs and finance, the time for sowing had already passed …

From the decree of the Holy Governing Synod, adopted as a result of the nominal decree of Emperor Alexander I, May 31, 1823.

The Holy Governing Synod listened to the suggestion of the Minister of Spiritual Affairs and Public Education that the disasters that befell the Belarusian region from crop failures could not be averted by the measures taken by the Government hitherto. Many of the inhabitants there are still suffering from famine. The Sovereign Emperor, condoling on their fate, most graciously appointed new significant benefits and benefits for them. But as famine is God’s punishment, His Imperial Majesty is pleased that the Most Holy Synod instruct the Mogilev Archbishop in all the churches of his department to establish daily kneeling prayers during Divine services for the aversion of hunger and for grain production, and when appointing the Governor-General to the Belarusian Provinces, His Highness deigned to command, establish, under his chairmanship, a Charitable Committee of Clergy and Laity to collect allowances for the purchase of bread …

And so that in other Dioceses, during visits of God by public calamities, the prescribed prayers would be sent without fail and the circumstances of such hardships would be reported to the Holy Synod, then to prescribe this by printed decrees to all His Grace Diocesan Bishops.

Publication by Evgeny Zhirnov