Hello ladies and gentlemen. Today we have Saturday October 6, 2018, on Channel One there is a TV game "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?". The players and host Dmitry Dibrov are in the studio.

In the article we will consider one of the interesting and complex issues of today's game. Also, a general article with a review of the game for 10/06/2018 will be released a little later.

What at the end of the 17th century served as banknotes in the territory of modern Canada?

• playing cards
• whiskey labels
• Postcards
• bible pages

At the end of the 17th century, in the territory of modern Canada (then called New France), there were periodic difficulties with the availability of money. Sometimes they did not have time to deliver ships on time. And the soldiers had to be paid. This is how they got out of the situation several times: they cut playing cards, put seals on them. And then, when the problem was solved with the availability of coins, the cards were exchanged for real money of that time.

In 1685 in New France there was interesting story. A ship from France was supposed to come to the colony with money that had to be paid for the work of the military, employees and merchants. However, it was not possible to bring the money, then the quartermaster Demeulle decided to settle accounts with the merchants with playing cards, with which he decided to replace the money for a while. He collected all the cards in the colony, assigned them various nominations, stamped and signed them, and began to issue them as payment for work. According to the charter, cards became legal tender and merchants had to accept them.

The correct answer to the question of the game is playing cards.

A number of decrees regulated the time of stay of officials in the service. In 1658, a 12-hour working day was established in the orders, in 1680 its duration was reduced to 10 hours.

Civil service in Russia began with taking the oath. Already in the 17th century, it was prescribed without an oath "to clerks in orders not to sit and do nothing." Kissing the cross, the clerk took upon himself the obligation to “do all sorts of things and really judge”, “to protect the state treasuries of all sorts and not to profit from anything of the state”, “promises and commemorations (i.e. bribes) from no one and from nothing ” and “do not tell anyone about the secret affairs of the sovereign.” Judging by the content of the “cross record” of 1630, the basic requirements for an official in the first half of the 17th century have not lost their significance to this day. It is also obvious that, by demanding honest and disinterested service from an official, the state had to provide the necessary conditions for its performance. To what extent both parties complied with their obligations can be judged by considering the conditions of service and the sources of existence of officials in the 17th - first half of the 19th century.

Terms of service

Premises and office life

Under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, most of the orders were placed in the Kremlin (between the Archangel Cathedral and the Spassky Gates) in a two-story stone building built under Boris Godunov. In 1680, a new building was erected in its place, more than twice the size of the old one, where, until the end of its existence, seven orders were located: Ambassadorial, Discharge, Great Treasury, Novgorod, Local, Kazan Palace and Streltsy. At the end of the 17th century, the conditions of service in orders were relatively comfortable, and the interiors were "multi-colored". The walls of orders, external doors, tables, even chests and drawers for papers were upholstered with red or green cloth, and the benches and benches on which all employees, including the boyars, sat, were covered with felt or leather mattresses with wool, dyed in bright colors. Furnace tiles also served as decoration of the rooms, replacing clay plastering in the middle of the century. In the 1660s, cabinets for storing papers appeared in the orders, and in 1671, the first glass windows appeared in the Little Russian order. Information on expenditures for the purchase of towels, soap, copper washstands and jugs for washing, mirrors, combs and brushes for hair indicate quite high level hygienic culture of ordered people, and the acquisition by institutions of tableware (frying pans, baking sheets, spoons, etc.) allows us to conclude that due to the long working day, employees cooked food in orders.

Under Peter I, this building in the Kremlin was occupied by the offices of collegiums - the central institutions that came to replace the orders. In St. Petersburg, employees of the collegiums were in worse conditions than in Moscow, since the construction of a special building of the Twelve Colleges ended in the 1740s.

In the provinces, the construction of administrative buildings, capable of raising the authority of the authorities by their very appearance, began only in the last quarter of the 18th century. Prior to this, local institutions huddled in cramped and poorly adapted premises, often occupying one or two rooms, where there were officials, a secretary with clerks, and petitioners. By the end of the reign of Emperor Alexander I, all provincial and district institutions moved to new buildings, many of which were built according to the designs of famous architects and looked like palaces. Suffice it to recall the building of the Moscow offices (Senate) by M.F. Kazakov or the administrative complexes in the county towns of the Penza province, built in 1809-1817 according to the standard project of A.D. Zakharov.

However, the external appearance of new buildings did not always correspond to the situation that prevailed in local institutions of the 19th century. The unsettledness of the official life of government places can be judged by a completely realistic description of the "presences" that the heroes visited in the 1840s " dead souls”: walls that had “... a darkish look - from below from the backs of clerical officials, from above from cobwebs, from dust. Papers without boxes; in bundles one on top of the other, like firewood.<...>Instead of inkwells, sometimes the bottom of a broken bottle stuck out.

The fact that such a situation was not a fiction of the writer is evidenced by the description of the premises of the metropolitan institution, referring to an earlier period. A. A. Zakrevsky, who was appointed head of the Inspectorate Department of the Military Ministry in 1815, was struck by the picture he saw: clerks on broken chairs and benches tied with ropes, where magazine books were used instead of pillows. Under the table and everywhere on the floor were piles of papers in dust and disorder, and between them firewood with water. In such conditions, Russian officials worked for 10-12 hours.

Working hours

A number of decrees regulated the time of stay of officials in the service. In 1658, a 12-hour working day was established in the orders, in 1680 its duration was reduced to 10 hours. "The initial people and clerks and clerks," the decree said, "to sit at 5 o'clock in the day and 5 o'clock in the evening." According to the modern account of time in winter, the work of institutions ended after 22 hours; it is no coincidence that foreigners believed that the boyars gathered in the Duma at night. According to the Code of 1649, orders were closed on Christmas, Epiphany and other major holidays, on Maslenitsa, the first week of Great Lent, Holy and Easter weeks, as well as royal days. In addition, there were two part-time work days per week: on Saturday they worked until lunch, and on Sunday - only after lunch. The exception was the most important orders: Discharge, Ambassadorial and Grand Palace, where work did not stop even in holidays and, if necessary, continued through the night.

In the XVIII century, the working day lasted for 12 hours: from five in the morning to two in the afternoon and from five to ten in the evening, and if necessary, employees stayed later. In the 1720s, triangular pyramids appeared on the tables of officials - the famous "mirrors" with decrees of Peter I, instructing officials to observe discipline and order. Their execution was supervised by prosecutors, who in special journals recorded the hours of arrival and departure of each official, not excluding members of collegiums and senators. Long working hours compensated a large number non-attendance days. For example, in 1797 there were only 220 working days, which averaged 18 days per month.

In the 19th century, the working day became shorter. In the 1820s, in provincial institutions, it lasted from nine in the morning to six, sometimes until seven in the evening, and twice a week, when there was no mail, it ended at one in the afternoon. In the 1840s, officials used to gather for service at nine or ten in the morning and sat until three or four in the afternoon; many came in the evening for two or three hours, and the census takers still took work home. The mode of work of ministerial employees was freer: they came to work at ten in the morning and worked until four, and once a week (on the days of reports to the minister) they left later.

Employee punishments

In the 18th century, a common occurrence in the life of institutions, especially provincial and district ones, was the punishment of clerical servants who did not have class ranks. For laziness, drunkenness, omissions from work and other violations of discipline, they were kept under arrest on bread and water, put in stocks on a chain, beaten with rods, sticks and whips, and in extreme cases they were handed over to the soldiers. The rank of collegiate registrar (XIV, the lowest level of the Table of Ranks), which gave its owner a personal nobility, exempted from such punishments. According to the memoirs of the privy councilor of the jurist P.V. Khavsky, having become an official of the XIV class in 1802, he was glad not only to receive the nobility, but also to the fact that he “cannot be punished according to the old order with sticks, taken by the hair and dragged around the office and regaled slaps. Although the old custom was disappearing, the author admits, there were no shackles and a chair with a chain in the office of the Zemsky Court. In 1804, even a special decree was adopted prohibiting officials from punishing clerical servants, which indicates the prevalence of this phenomenon.

Officials were also punished for omissions in the service. Especially often resorted to them in the first quarter of the XVIII century. Guards officers and soldiers endowed with emergency powers were sent to the provinces that did not submit reports or the information necessary for the center on time. The tasks of the guards included "constantly bothering" the governors and "forcing" them to comply with the instructions of the Senate and collegiums, for which it was even allowed to put provincial officials on a chain ("forge by the legs and put chains around their necks"). In 1720, by order of the guard non-commissioned officer Pustoshkin, the entire administration of the Moscow province, including the vice-governor, brigadier I. L. Voeikov, was under arrest. In the second half of the 18th century, such harsh measures were no longer practiced. Careless officials were delayed in paying their salaries or, having placed guards, they were locked up “without a way out” in the institution until the end of work. In this way, for example, the chairman of the Penza Treasury Chamber, Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov (better known as a writer under the pseudonym N. Shchedrin), increased the efficiency of his subordinates in the 60s of the 19th century. Having not received a report from the county treasury by the deadline, he ordered that the accountant and his assistant be “arrested” and “keep them locked up in the treasury office” until the work was completed.

The atmosphere of local institutions was complemented by the rude shouting of the boss and the invariable “you” in addressing subordinates, although by the end of the 1840s the appeal to “you” had already been adopted in ministerial departments. In the conditions of a rigid class structure of the society of serf Russia, differences in the class and property status of senior and junior officials determined the nature of their service relations. The power of the chief extended far beyond the boundaries of government offices, covering all aspects of the life of employees.

So, in the 18th - the first half of the 19th century, the conditions of service of officials can hardly be called comfortable. The disorder of official life affected the nature of management, inflicted damage on the authority of the authorities. To an even greater extent, the quality of government depended on the material security of officials.

Financial support of civil servants

In the 17th century, the majority of clerks received a cash salary, which was supplemented by bread, salt, and sometimes local salaries. By the end of the century, the salary of a Duma clerk averaged 370 rubles, an clerk's clerk - 88 rubles, and a Moscow clerk - about 10 rubles, although for experienced clerks it reached 50 rubles a year. Worse was the situation of local clerks, of whom almost half served without pay and "fed from work." In addition to salaries, additional cash payments were also practiced: holiday, transport, for "hut construction", weddings, treatment, purchase of clothes, boots, and so on. According to foreigners, Moscow officials received "generous salaries." Such an assessment of the financial situation of clerks will become clear if we consider that a finished log house of a large house (70 square meters) then cost eight to ten rubles, a cart with a harness and a horse - three to six rubles, and for three kopecks (one-day earnings of a day laborer) you can was to buy five or six dozen eggs or 1.7 kilograms of pork or one and a half kilograms of sturgeon. According to L. V. Milov, in the second half of the 17th century, the subsistence minimum (food only) was two to two and a half rubles a year per person.

Under Peter I, the salary was assigned to all categories of employees, including clerks, its value was fixed by law and no longer depended on the will of the boss. Compared with the end of the 17th century, salaries increased markedly. In provincial institutions, the secretary (former clerk) received 120 rubles, and clerical servants (former clerks) from 15 to 60 rubles a year; in the capital, salaries were twice as high. The amount of collegiate salaries depended not only on the position, but also on the citizenship of the employee. Foreigners invited to serve by Peter I received two to three times more for their work than Russian officials.

However, despite the positive changes in the system of remuneration of civil servants, in the first quarter of the 18th century, the financial situation of most of them worsened. This was explained, first of all, by the depreciation of the ruble, which fell in price during the years of the reign of Peter I almost twice. The depreciation of money was the result of a monetary operation (re-minting of old silver coins, reducing their weight, issuing copper money, etc.), which brought considerable profit to the treasury, but contributed to rising prices. In the 1720s, a daily wage of five kopecks (18 rubles a year) barely provided a living wage for one person. “And what to feed his wife and children,” asks a contemporary of Peter I, “only to walk around the world, they will inevitably learn to steal and in their skill to do lies.” For the maintenance of one soldier, the treasury allocated about eight kopecks a day, or 28.5 rubles a year. Thus, the salaries of the lowest level of the bureaucracy did not reach the living wage.

Another reason for the deterioration of the position of officials was the systematic non-payment of salaries. In conditions of a chronic budget deficit, the government considered the salaries of civil servants as not the most obligatory item of expenditure, and, if necessary, used the funds earmarked for this for other purposes. In 1723, a special decree ordered, in case of need for money and the impossibility of finding other ways to obtain it, “spread this amount among all the ranks of the entire state who receive a salary.” And in the same year, the fourth part of the annual monetary salary was deducted from the employees and the entire grain salary was withheld. Due to the lack of money in the treasury, provincial officials were not paid salaries for years or they were given them in kind: Siberian furs and other state-owned goods. But even when receiving money from the treasury, officials could not always spend it, as they were forced to give subscriptions that in case of state need they would return this money on demand. In such conditions, in order to keep clerks who sought to escape or enroll in rural and township communities, they were often kept in offices "without release." At the end of 1724, in order to save public funds, the salaries of civil servants were noticeably cut: in colleges they accounted for half of the salary received in the army, and in local offices - “against this in half,” that is, only a quarter of army salaries and rations. This obvious discrimination against the labor of officials continued for almost 40 years, until the introduction of the states in 1763. Thus, the government signed its own impotence to solve the problem of material support for civil servants. Public administration was financed on a residual basis, since the lion's share of the meager budget was absorbed by spending on the army and navy.

In 1727, the successors of Peter I abolished the payment of state salaries to petty officials and clerks, allowing them to feed themselves at the expense of accidents, that is, fees from petitioners (actually bribes). Only in 1763 did their work again become paid. According to the states approved by Catherine II, the minimum salaries received by copyists (paper copyists) in county institutions were 30 rubles, in provincial institutions - 60, and in central and higher institutions- from 100 to 150 rubles per year. At low prices for food, and above all for bread (ten to fifteen kopecks per pood), such a salary was not beggarly.

WITH early XIX century due to depreciation paper money, which paid salaries and pensions, the financial situation of officials began to deteriorate. In 1768–1786, the banknote ruble was practically equal to the silver one, in 1795–1807 it fluctuated between 65–80 kopecks, and in 1811 it did not even reach 26 kopecks in silver. As a result, officials received only a quarter of the amount provided by the states in 1763. An annual salary of 120 rubles was barely enough for clothes and shoes; the uniform for most civil servants was a luxury. In order to survive, many of them were forced to serve as lackeys, coachmen, watchmen, porters, receiving more for this work than in the public service. The salary of a porter was 203 rubles, a coachman - 401, a life footman - 463 rubles, while the salary of a ministry clerk did not exceed 200 rubles a year. By the middle of the 19th century, the salaries of officials increased markedly, but their increase was relative. So, if in 1806 a salary of 600 rubles in banknotes was equal to 438 silver rubles, then in 1829, increased to 1,200 rubles, it corresponded to only 320 silver rubles, and in 1847 - 343 silver rubles.

The depreciation of paper money led to a sharp rise in the cost of living, especially in St. Petersburg. In the first half of the 19th century, a wretched room with furniture, heating, a samovar and servants cost five rubles a month in the capital, and dinner cost fifteen to twenty kopecks. Obviously, for the bulk of officials it was difficult to live on one salary, and it was almost impossible to support a family. “You ask how to live with 3,500 rubles of annual income? - wrote in 1824 one St. Petersburg official to his friend. - It is difficult for a married man in St. Petersburg to live with this money. But if you have such a smart serf like Petrushka and don’t have horses, then he will teach you ... with vigilant savings a way not to die of hunger ... ”It was possible to decently support a family only with incomes of at least 6,000 rubles a year (at the end of the 18th century 3,000 rubles were enough for this). This standard of living corresponded to the salary of an official who held a position no lower than the director of a ministry department. Financial insecurity pushed officials to the path of malfeasance, the main of which was bribery. The connection between low salaries of officials and malfeasance was recognized in government circles. “The position of the majority of those who devote themselves to the civil service, close to poverty,” was noted in the “Note” of the Committee for the consideration of laws on extortion, “often the most benevolent and best moral official involuntarily turns into an enemy of the government.” The miserable existence of most of the employees government controlled served as an excuse for unscrupulous officials not only in the eyes of Russian society, but even foreigners. “Take three parts of their salary from our German officials ... without giving them any kind of remuneration, and you will see what they will do,” wrote one of the German officials who lived in St. Petersburg for a long time. In his opinion, the result will be the same as in Russia.

However, the insecurity of state salaries was not the only reason for the violation of the oath. Official positions were often used by those who had estates, were provided with state salaries and were at the very top of the official ladder.

Causes of bribery and embezzlement

The historical tradition of "feedings"

In Russia, the roots of bribery go back to the origins of statehood and early stage its developments merge with another phenomenon, no less characteristic of Russian life, - the “feeding” of the administration at the expense of the townsman and district population. “Mundane expenses for the governor and clerks,” notes S. M. Solovyov, “were an ordinary matter, they did not arouse grumbling and complaints.” The exceptions were individual cases when "another voivode wanted to feed already too satisfying." In such conditions, the line between legitimate demands and abuses of the administration was elusive and very unsteady.

In Moscow orders, despite the payment of state salaries to most of the employees, "feeding from work" was an important and completely legal source of income, three or more times higher than cash salaries. In the view of the people of the 17th century, there was a clear division of income "from deeds" into legal and illegal, although from the standpoint of the legal norms of a later time, the differences between the so-called "honors", "commemoration" and "promises" were barely distinguishable. Of the “mercenary” incomes, the government recognized legal monetary and in-kind offerings to officials before the start of the case (“honours”) and offerings after the end of the case (“commemoration”), but pursued “promises” (actual bribes), which were regarded as extortion and “nasty profits". The promises directly related to the violation of the law were larger than honors and commemorations and reached 100 or more rubles, so their receipt was severely prosecuted by the government and punished with a whip, regardless of the social status of the bribe-taker.

Nevertheless, this most important source of the material well-being of the bureaucracy retained its significance both in the 18th and in the first half of the 19th century. In all judicial institutions, from the Zemstvo Court to the Senate, the petitioner never came empty-handed. According to the concepts of that time, voluntary offerings were quite legal, and to refuse them "would mean offending the petitioners and showing empty pedantry." In the late 1830s, a favorable decision in the Senate cost up to 50 thousand rubles. In addition to such one-time "dachas", there were also constant "feeding" of the administration by tax-farmers, miners, salt producers, landowners and other persons who were especially interested in the goodwill of the administration. According to contemporaries, it was from this source that the provincial officials "drew such amounts that were necessary to meet the needs of a decent well-known rank and state of life." For example, in the late 1830s, the tax farmer annually paid the governor of the Simbirsk province 10 thousand rubles in banknotes, the vice-governor 20 thousand, the prosecutor, "as a weak and voiceless person", only three thousand rubles, each adviser two thousand rubles. The documentary confirmation of the existence of such relations with the local administration is the annual (for 1804-1852) “statements” that I found in the Department of Written Sources of the State Historical Museum about the issuance of money, bread, etc. to officials. "to gain favor on business" of the Perm estates of Prince. S. M. Golitsyna. The title and content of these documents give reason to call them consolidated annual reports on the bribery of the administration of the Perm province. In some years, the "allowances" of Prince. Golitsyn to Permian officials two to four and even six times the state salary. For example, a county judge, with a salary of 300 rubles, received from the “Main Board of Perm Factories, Crafts and Estates of Prince. Golitsyn's cash and in-kind payments totaling 600-1600 rubles a year, the annual salary of the zemstvo police officer of 250 rubles significantly supplemented the 1000-1800 rubles coming from the same source. The fact that the system of “feeding” the administration was widespread is evidenced by the fact that it was practiced, albeit for other reasons, even by the very rich and impeccably honest Kiev governor (in 1839-1852) I. I. Fundukley. He believed that if wealthy landowners did not allocate funds for the maintenance of police officials, "then they would receive these funds from thieves." This circumstance played by no means the last role in the widespread abuse, caused disrespect for the law, contributed to the formation of legal nihilism and, ultimately, had a corrupting effect on society.

The radical nature of the reforms

There is a certain regularity in Russian history, which was noticed long ago by contemporaries who lived in the era of transformation: the implementation of reforms in Russia is inextricably linked with increased corruption. Such periods of history include the years of the reign of Peter I, when all spheres of the life of the Russian state were reformed, and embezzlement and bribery reached unprecedented proportions, hitting all levels of government. The abuses of clerical officials, who often had no other means of subsistence, were insignificant compared to those allowed by the closest associates of the reformer tsar. “The governors only care about their pockets: the Kiev governor sends money to his Moscow house not in sacks, but already in carts ... - an unknown Russian informer from Holland wrote to Peter I. - Foreign merchants send silver and gold from Russia, which is prohibited in foreign lands. Nobles put money in foreign banks, Menshikov, Kurakin, Prince Lvov. Indeed, only the book. A. D. Menshikov, after his exile to Siberia in 1727, nine million rubles were found in bank notes of the London and Amsterdam banks, not counting four million rubles in cash, jewelry worth over a million rubles and 105 pounds of gold in ingots and vessels.

Impunity

Their official position was successfully used not only by Russian officials, but also by their European colleagues to obtain additional income. However, unlike in Russia, in European countries, bribery was punishable by law, regardless of the official position of the official. So, in 1847, the Minister of Public Works of France, J.-B. Test was sentenced to 10 years in prison for taking a bribe. The inability to provide officials with a decent salary forced the Russian government to tolerate such abuses. The government, failing to comply with its obligations in relation to the employees of the state apparatus, could not demand the disinterested performance of their duties by employees. For example, in 1847, eight percent of all officials of the IX-XIV classes (4,131 out of 50,877) were tried for malfeasance, but about half of these employees returned to civil service. In the same 1847, among officials of the IX-XIV classes, the number of those on trial was about 3.5 percent (1,754 out of 50,877 people), and officials of the first eight classes - 3.7 percent (400 out of 10,771 people). It should be noted that in the case of unproven guilt of an official, the court left him “in suspicion”; with such a wording, being on trial did not affect the official's career. For example, in the 1830s, the post of chairman of the 1st department of the Moscow Chamber of the Criminal Court was occupied by an official who had been on trial twice.

So, the conditions of service of a Russian official doomed him to breaking his oath and created fertile ground for widespread bribery and embezzlement. To a large extent, this was facilitated by historical traditions, and the further bureaucratization of management, and the uneven, spasmodic nature of the development of Russian statehood.

Complete collection of laws of the Russian Empire. Edition 1 (hereinafter PSZ-1). Vol. 1. No. 406. April 10, 1667; Ogloblin N. N. The origin of provincial clerks in the 17th century. // Journal of the Ministry of Public Education. 1894. No. 9. S. 139.

Baklanova N. A. The situation of Moscow orders in the 17th century. // Proceedings of the State Historical Museum. Issue. 3. Discharge general historical. M., 1926. S. 53–100.

Gogol N.V. Additions to the first volume of "Dead Souls" // Full. coll. op. / Ed. "Tov-va M. O. Wolf". St. Petersburg; M., b. Mr. S. 578.

Collection of the Imperial Russian Historical Society (hereinafter: Sat. RIO). T. 78. St. Petersburg, 1892. S. 331–332.

PSZ-1. Vol. 1. No. 237. October 20, 1658; No. 839. October 26, 1680; Klyuchevsky V. O. Boyar Duma Ancient Rus'. Pb., 1919. S. 404, 406.

Memoirs of Privy Councilor P.V. Khavsky about the beginning of the service // River of Times. Book. 1. M., 1995. S. 175.

Milyukov P. N. The state economy of Russia in the first quarter of the 18th century. and the reform of Peter the Great. SPb., 1905. S. 445.

Makashin S. A. Saltykov-Shchedrin. Midway: 1860s–1870s: A Biography. M., 1984. S. 205–206.

Demidova N.F. Service bureaucracy in Russia in the 17th century. and its role in the formation of absolutism. M., 1987. S. 120–141; Rogozhin N. M. Ambassadorial Order: The Cradle of Russian Diplomacy. Moscow, 2003, pp. 145–150.

Meyerberg G. Journey to Muscovy // Readings in the Society of Russian History and Antiquities. 1874. Vol. 1. Sec. 4. S. 174–175.

Milov L.V. Great Russian plowman and features of the Russian historical process. M., 2001. S. 487.

There. S. 488.

Pososhkov I. T. A book about poverty and wealth. M., 1937. S. 221.

Department of Manuscripts of the Russian National Library (OR RNL). F. 569 (F. L. Pereverzev). D. 405. L. 27.

OPI GIM. F. 60. Op. 3. D. 2653. L. 15.

Solovyov S. M. Works. Book. VII. M., 1991. S. 89.

Demidova N.F. Service bureaucracy in Russia in the 17th century. and its role in the formation of absolutism. pp. 142–145.

OR RNB. F. IV (M. P. Veselovsky). D. 861. L. 86v.

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Dmitriev M. A. Chapters from the memories of my life. M., 1998. S. 377.

For details, see my article: On the history of bribes in Russia (based on the materials of the “secret office” of Prince Golitsyn in the first half of the 19th century) // National history. 2002. No. 5. S. 33–49.

Luchinsky F. Ya. Provincial customs over the past half century (memoirs) // Russian antiquity. 1897. No. 9. S. 647.

Solovyov S. M. Works. Book. VIII. M., 1991. S. 575.

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Internet source:

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Lyubov Pisarkova

In 1685, an interesting story happened in New France. A ship from France was supposed to come to the colony with money that had to be paid for the work of the military, employees and merchants. However, it was not possible to bring the money, then the quartermaster Demeulle decided to settle accounts with the merchants with playing cards, with which he decided to replace the money for a while. He collected all the cards in the colony, assigned them various nominations, stamped and signed them, and began to issue them as payment for work. According to the charter, cards became legal tender and merchants had to accept them.

Playing cards-money of Canada of the 17th century.

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That is, ordinary playing cards became money in New France, they could buy food, drink and various things. Such a system existed in New France from 1685 to 1686, and also from 1689 to 1719. In 1714 in New France playing cards(money) was in circulation for 2 million livres, some cards cost about 100 livres.

What did such playing cards look like, which temporarily became money? These cards were classic French cards. It was these cards that became the prototypes of modern playing cards, which are currently popular all over the world. Unlike modern playing cards, these cards were full-figure for a long time, that is, kings, queens, jacks were depicted in full growth. Only in 1830 did symmetrical images appear on classical French maps.

And in 2008, the Canadian Mint launched a new "Money Playing Cards" series of silver rectangular coins, which uses the shape and design of real 18th century playing cards. In 2008, the coins "Jack of Hearts" and " Queen of Spades”, and in 2009 - “Peak Ten” and “King of Hearts”.
Each coin is made of 925 sterling silver weighing 31.56 g, the minting quality is proof. Circulation - 25 thousand pieces. The face value of one coin is 15 Canadian dollars. Edge and edge of the coin are gilded. Each coin has a numbered certificate.

The world's first paper money appeared in 812 in China. In Europe - only in the XVII century. They were issued by the Stockholm Bank to replace gold, silver and copper coins. A century later, their own paper money was put into circulation in Russia. At first they were intended only for large settlements: it was planned to issue banknotes in 25, 50, 75 and 100 rubles.

The world's first paper money appeared in 812 in China. Three centuries later, the Celestial Empire already had the usual system of paper banknotes, issued by the state and guaranteed by precious metals and goods. At the same time, the Chinese learned for themselves what in the future will be known under the term "inflation". To the territory modern Russia Chinese paper money first came along with the Tatar-Mongol conquerors. In 1357, Florentine merchants from the Bardi trading house went to China subject to the Mongols for silk. Merchants sailed by sea to the Crimea, which was then part of the Golden Horde, and then the land route led caravans through all of Asia. In the Crimean Cafe (now Feodosia), at the request of the Mongolian authorities, the Italians had to exchange their silver coin for "yellow pieces of paper" they did not understand. The Italians carried out this financial operation not without doubts and anxiety, but for the 256 days of the caravan route from the Crimea to China, paper cargo turned out to be more convenient than metal cargo, and in distant Beijing they easily bought coveted silk for “papers”. This is how Europeans first encountered paper money. The first native paper money in Europe appeared in 1661. They were issued by the Stockholm Bank to replace gold, silver and copper coins in circulation. Two years later, the Novgorod merchant Semyon Gavrilov, who traded with the Swedes, told the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich about unusual money. The archives have preserved the lines from this merchant's "petition" to the Moscow monarch: "Yes, they now have papers instead of money ... and we buy goods from them with those papers." For the interested king, a Russian translation was specially made from the first paper banknote in Europe. The Swedes called her " credit card” and into the Russian language of the 17th century this term was translated as “believing card”. The Russian archives have preserved this work of the tsar's interpreters, who used banknote No. 11584 with a face value of 25 copper thalers, issued on July 23, 1663 and signed by four commissioners of the Stockholm Bank.

A century later, their own paper money appeared in Russia. They were put into circulation by the decree of Empress Catherine II of December 29, 1768. The Russian economy, which was growing rapidly in the 18th century, experienced a shortage of settlement funds - there were not enough silver and gold coins, and copper was extremely inconvenient for large settlements. For example, 100 rubles in copper nickels (the then most popular coin) weighed exactly 100 kilograms. Therefore, the first paper rubles in Russian history were intended specifically for large settlements - the decree of Empress Catherine provided for the issuance of banknotes only in large denominations of 25, 50, 75 and 100 rubles. The first banknotes were not colored, did not carry printed images, but had only text printed in black ink on white paper. For example, a banknote of 25 rubles, issued in St. Petersburg, carried the inscription: “The St. Petersburg Bank pays the bearer of this state banknote twenty-five rubles in current coin.” Next came the signatures of bank officials, handwritten in ink. However, these rubles were not simple receipts. To protect them from counterfeiting, watermarks were used, and for the first time in the world, banknotes had inscriptions made in raised relief embossing. Watermarks formed a frame around the printed text and also contained inscriptions: at the top - "Love for the Fatherland", below - "Acts in favor of onago", on the left and right - "State Treasury". In the corners of the frame, the coats of arms of the four "kingdoms" of the Russian Empire were forced out: Astrakhan, Moscow, Kazan and Siberia. These rubles could be freely exchanged for gold, silver and copper coins. But for the first 18 years of their circulation, such an exchange could only be carried out in two "Assignation Banks", located in Moscow and St. Petersburg. And only in 1786, the royal decree allowed to change paper rubles for a metal coin in all banks and cities of Russia. A year later, the banknote of 75 rubles was canceled, but new, smaller banknotes were put into circulation - 5 and 10 rubles. For their mass production, a special Tsarskoye Selo banknote factory was built near St. Petersburg. So Russia acquired a full-fledged paper ruble.

Civil service in Russia began with taking the oath. Already in the 17th century
it was prescribed without an oath "to clerks in orders not to sit and do nothing."
Kissing the cross, the orderly person took upon himself the obligation to “do all sorts of things
and to judge really”, “to save all sorts of state treasuries and not to profit from anything of the state”, “promises and commemorations (i.e. bribes) from no one and from nothing” and “deeds
do not tell anyone the sovereign's secret secrets. Judging by the content of the “crucifixion record” of 1630, the main requirements for an official
the first half of the 17th century, have not lost their significance until now. It is also obvious that, by demanding honest and disinterested service from an official, the state must
was to provide the necessary conditions for its implementation. The extent to which both parties complied with their obligations can be judged by considering the conditions of service.
and sources of existence of officials in the XVII - the first half of the XIX century.

Terms of service
Premises and office life

Under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, most of the orders were placed in the Kremlin (between the Archangel Cathedral and the Spassky Gates) in a two-story stone building,
built under Boris Godunov. In 1680, a new building was erected in its place,
more than twice the old one, where until the end of its existence seven orders were placed: Posolsky, Razryad, Big Treasury, Novgorod, Local, Kazan Palace and Streltsy. At the end of the 17th century, the conditions of service in orders were relatively comfortable, and the interiors were "multi-colored". Walls
orders, outer doors, tables, even chests and drawers for papers were upholstered with red or green cloth, and the benches and benches on which all employees sat were
including the boyars, are covered with felt or leather mattresses with wool, dyed in bright colors. Furnace tiles also served as decoration of the rooms, replacing clay plastering in the middle of the century. In the 1660s, cabinets for storing papers appeared in the orders, and in 1671, the first glass windows appeared in the Little Russian order.
Information about expenses for the purchase of towels, soap, copper washstands and jugs
for washing, mirrors, combs and brushes for hair indicate a fairly high
the level of hygienic culture of ordered people, and the acquisition by institutions
tableware (pans, baking sheets, spoons, etc.) allows us to conclude that
in connection with a long working day, employees cooked food in orders.

Under Peter I, this building in the Kremlin was occupied by the offices of the colleges - central
institutions that came to replace the orders. Petersburg employees of colleges
were in worse conditions than in Moscow, since the construction of a special building of the Twelve Colleges ended in the 1740s.

In the province, the construction of administrative buildings capable of one
to raise the authority of the authorities with their appearance, began only in the last quarter of the 18th century. Prior to this, local institutions huddled in cramped and poorly adapted premises, often occupying one or two rooms where they were
and officials, and a secretary with clerks, and petitioners. By the end of the reign of Emperor Alexander I, all provincial and district institutions moved to new
buildings, many of which were built according to the designs of famous architects
and looked like palaces. Suffice it to recall the building of the Moscow offices (Senate) by M.F.
project of A. D. Zakharov.

However, the external appearance of new buildings did not always correspond to the situation that prevailed in local institutions of the 19th century. The unsettledness of the official life of government offices can be judged by a completely realistic description of the "presences" that the heroes of "Dead Souls" visited in the 1840s:
walls that had “... a darkish appearance - from below from the backs of clerical officials, from above from cobwebs, from dust. Papers without boxes; in bundles, one on top of the other,
like firewood.<...>Instead of inkwells, the bottom of a broken bottle sometimes stuck out.

The fact that such a situation was not a fiction of the writer, says the description
premises of the metropolitan institution, relating to an earlier period.
A. A. Zakrevsky, who was appointed head of the Inspectorate Department of the Military Ministry in 1815, was struck by the picture he saw:
“In rooms with dirty floors and cobweb-covered walls, untidy clothes sat near tables broken, cut and stained with ink,
and some officials and clerks in rags on broken ones, tied with ropes
chairs and benches, where magazine books were used instead of pillows.
<…>Under the table and everywhere on the floor lay piles of papers in dust and disorder,
and between them firewood with water. In such conditions, Russian officials worked for 10-12 hours.

Working hours

A number of decrees regulated the time of stay of officials in the service.
In 1658, a 12-hour working day was established in orders, in 1680 it
duration was reduced to 10 hours. "The initial people and clerks and clerks," the decree said, "to sit at 5 o'clock in the day and 5 o'clock in the evening." According to the modern account of time in winter, the work of institutions ended after 22 hours;
it is no coincidence that foreigners believed that the boyars gathered in the Duma at night.
According to the Code of 1649, orders were closed on Christmas, Epiphany and other major holidays, on Maslenitsa, the first week of Great Lent, Holy and Easter weeks, as well as royal days. In addition, there were two incomplete
working days a week: on Saturday they worked until lunch, and on Sunday - only after lunch. The exceptions were the most important orders: the Discharge, the Ambassadorial and the Grand Palace, where work did not stop even on holidays,
and, if necessary, continued at night.

In the XVIII century, the working day lasted for 12 hours: from five in the morning to two in the afternoon
and from five to ten o'clock in the evening, and if necessary, the servants remained
and later. In the 1720s, triangular pyramids appeared on the tables of officials - the famous "mirrors" with decrees of Peter I, instructing officials to observe discipline and order. Their execution was supervised by prosecutors, who recorded the hours of arrival and departure in special journals.
every official, not excluding members of collegiums and senators. The long working day was compensated by a large number of non-attendance days.
For example, in 1797 there were only 220 working days, which averaged 18 days per month.

In the 19th century, the working day became shorter. In the 1820s, in provincial institutions, it lasted from nine in the morning to six, sometimes until seven in the evening,
and twice a week, when there was no mail, ended at one in the afternoon. In the 1840s
officials gathered for service at nine or ten in the morning and sat until three or four in the afternoon; many came in the evening for two or three hours, and the scribes
They also took work home. The mode of work of ministerial employees was freer: they came to work at ten in the morning and worked until four o'clock,
and once a week (on the days of reports to the minister) they left later.

Employee punishments

In the XVIII century, a common occurrence in the life of institutions, especially provincial
and district, there were punishments for clerical servants who did not have class ranks. For laziness, drunkenness, omissions from work and other violations of discipline
they were kept under arrest on bread and water, put in stocks on a chain, beaten with rods,
with sticks and whips, and in extreme cases they were handed over to the soldiers. The rank of collegiate registrar (XIV, the lowest level of the Table of
about ranks), which gave its owner a personal nobility. According to the memoirs of the privy councilor of the jurist P.V.
to punish according to the old order with sticks, to take them by the hair and drag them around the office and treat them with slaps in the face. Although the old custom was disappearing, the author admits, there were no shackles and a chair with a chain in the institution of the Zemsky Court. In 1804, even a special decree was adopted prohibiting officials from punishing
clerical servants, which indicates the prevalence of this phenomenon.

Officials were also punished for omissions in the service. Especially often resorted to them in the first quarter of the XVIII century. In the provinces that did not submit
on time, reports or information necessary for the center were sent by guards officers and soldiers, endowed with emergency powers. In the tasks of the guards
included "constantly pestering" the governors and "forcing" them to comply
the instructions of the Senate and collegiums, for which it was even allowed to put provincial officials on a chain (“forge by the legs and put chains around their necks”). In 1720, by order of the guard non-commissioned officer Pustoshkin, the entire administration of the Moscow province, including the vice-governor, brigadier I. L. Voeikov, was under arrest.
In the second half of the 18th century, such harsh measures were no longer practiced. Careless officials were delayed in paying their salaries or, having placed guards, they were locked up “without a way out” in the institution until the end of work. In this way, for example, he increased the efficiency of his subordinates in the 60s of the XIX century
Chairman of the Penza Treasury Chamber Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov (more
known as a writer under the pseudonym N. Shchedrin). Not receiving a report by the deadline
county treasury, he ordered the "arrest" of the accountant and his assistant and
“Keep them locked in the Treasury Room” until the job is done.

The atmosphere of local institutions was complemented by the rude shouting of the boss and the invariable “you” in addressing subordinates, although by the end of the 1840s the appeal to “you” had already been adopted in ministerial departments. In the conditions of a rigid class structure of the society of serf Russia, differences in class
and the property status of senior and junior officials determined the nature of their service relations. The power of the chief extended far
beyond government offices, covering all aspects of the life of employees.

So, in the 18th - the first half of the 19th century, the conditions of service of officials can hardly be called comfortable. The disorder of official life affected the nature of management, inflicted damage on the authority of the authorities. To an even greater extent, the quality of government depended on the material security of officials.

Financial support of civil servants

In the 17th century, the majority of clerks received a cash salary, which was supplemented by bread, salt, and sometimes local salaries. By the end of the century, the salary of a Duma clerk averaged 370 rubles;
a clerk - 88 rubles, and a Moscow clerk - about 10 rubles, although experienced
clerks, he reached 50 rubles a year. Worse was the situation of local clerks, from
of which almost half served without pay and "fed from work." Apart from
salaries were practiced and additional cash distributions: festive,
transport, for "hut construction", wedding, treatment, purchase of clothes, boots and so on. According to foreigners, Moscow officials received
"generous salary". Such an assessment of the financial situation of ordered people
becomes clear if we take into account that the finished frame of a large house (70 square meters) then cost eight to ten rubles, a cart with a harness and a horse - three to six
rubles, and for three kopecks (one-day earnings of a day laborer) one could buy five or six dozen eggs or 1.7 kilograms of pork or one and a half kilograms of sturgeon. According to L. V. Milov, in the second half of the 17th century, the subsistence minimum (food only) was two to two and a half rubles a year
for one person .

Under Peter I, the salary was assigned to all categories of employees, including clerks, its value was fixed by law and no longer depended on the will
chief. Compared with the end of the 17th century, salaries increased markedly. In provincial institutions, the secretary (former clerk) received 120 rubles, and clerical servants (former clerks) from 15 to 60 rubles a year; in the capital, salaries were twice as high. The amount of collegiate salaries depended not only
from the position, but also from the citizenship of the employee. foreigners invited
to the service of Peter I, they received two to three times more for their work than Russian officials.

However, despite the positive changes in the system of remuneration of civil servants, in the first quarter of the 18th century, the financial situation of most of them worsened. This was explained, first of all, by the depreciation of the ruble, which fell in price during the years of the reign of Peter I almost twice. Depreciation
money was the result of a monetary operation (re-minting old silver coins, reducing their weight, issuing copper money, etc.), which brought considerable profit to the treasury, but contributed to a rise in prices. In the 1720s, a daily wage of five kopecks (18 rubles a year) barely provided a living wage.
one man. “And what to feed his wife and children,” asks a contemporary of Peter I, “only to walk around the world, they will inevitably learn to steal and in their skill to do lies.” For the maintenance of one soldier, the treasury allocated
about eight kopecks a day, or 28.5 rubles a year. Thus, the salaries of the lowest level of the bureaucracy did not reach the living wage.

Another reason for the deterioration of the position of officials was the systematic non-payment of salaries. In a chronic budget deficit
the government considered the salaries of civil servants as not the most
mandatory item of expenditure, and, if necessary, used the funds earmarked for this for other purposes. In 1723, by special decree
was prescribed in case of need for money and the inability to find other
ways to get them "to decompose this amount into all the ranks of the entire state who receive a salary." And in the same year, employees were deducted
a quarter of the annual cash salary and the entire grain salary was withheld.
Due to the lack of money in the treasury, provincial officials were not paid salaries for years or they were given them in kind: Siberian furs and other state-owned goods. But even when receiving money from the treasury, officials could not always
to spend, as they were forced to give subscriptions that in case of state need they would return this money on demand. In such conditions that
to save clerks who sought to escape or enroll in rural and township communities, they were often kept in offices “without release”. At the end of 1724
to save public funds, the salaries of civil servants were noticeably
cut down: in colleges, they accounted for half of the salary received
in the army, and in local offices - "against this," i.e., only a quarter
army salaries and rations. This clear discrimination against the work of officials
lasted almost 40 years, until the introduction of the states in 1763. Thus, the government signed its own impotence to solve the problem of material support for civil servants. Public administration
financed on a residual basis, since the lion's share of the meager
budget absorbed the cost of the army and navy.

In 1727, the successors of Peter I abolished the payment of state salaries to petty officials and clerks, allowing them to feed themselves at the expense of accidents, that is, fees from petitioners (actually bribes). Only in 1763 their work
became paid again. According to the states approved by Catherine II, the minimum salaries received by copyists (paper copyists) in county institutions were 30 rubles, in provincial institutions - 60, and in central and higher institutions - from 100 to 150 rubles a year. With low food prices,
and above all for bread (ten to fifteen kopecks per pood), such a salary is not
was beggarly.

Since the beginning of the 19th century, due to the depreciation of paper money, which was used to pay salaries and pensions, the financial situation of officials became
get worse. In 1768–1786, the banknote ruble was practically equal to the silver one, in 1795–1807 it fluctuated between 65–80 kopecks, and in 1811 it did not even reach 26 kopecks in silver. As a result, officials received only
one-fourth of the sum provided by the States of 1763. An annual salary of 120 rubles was barely enough for clothes and shoes; the uniform for most civil servants was a luxury. In order to survive, many of them were forced to serve as lackeys, coachmen, watchmen, porters, receiving for this work
more than in the public service. The salary of a porter was 203 rubles, a coachman - 401, a life footman - 463 rubles, while the salary of a ministry clerk did not exceed 200 rubles a year. By the middle of the 19th century, the salaries of officials increased markedly, but their increase was relative.
So, if in 1806 a salary of 600 rubles in banknotes was equal to 438 silver
rubles, then in 1829, increased to 1,200 rubles, it corresponded to only 320 silver rubles, and in 1847 - 343 silver rubles.

The depreciation of paper money led to a sharp rise in the cost of living, especially in St. Petersburg. In the first half of the 19th century, a wretched room with furniture, heating, a samovar and servants cost five rubles a month in the capital, and dinner cost fifteen to twenty kopecks. Obviously, for the bulk
It was difficult for officials to live on one salary, and it was almost impossible to support a family. “You ask how to live with 3,500 rubles of annual income? -
In 1824, a St. Petersburg official wrote to his friend. - Married
in St. Petersburg it is difficult to live with this money. But if you have such a smart
serf, like Petrushka, and not have horses, then he will give you ... vigilant economy
teach a way not to starve to death ... "It was possible to decently support a family only with incomes of at least 6,000 rubles a year (at the end of the 18th century, for this
3,000 rubles was enough). This standard of living corresponded to a salary
an official who held a position not lower than the director of a department of the ministry. Financial insecurity pushed officials to the path of official
crimes, the main of which was bribery. Communication between low
salaries of officials and malfeasance was recognized in government circles. “The near-poor situation of most of the initiators
himself to the civil service, - noted in the "Note" of the Committee for consideration
laws on extortion, - often the most benevolent and best moral official involuntarily turns into an enemy of the government. The miserable existence of the majority of public administration employees
served as an excuse for unscrupulous officials, not only in the eyes of the Russian
society, but even foreigners. “Take away from our German officials three parts of their salary ... without giving them any kind of remuneration, and you will see that
they will do,” wrote one of the German officials, who lived in St. Petersburg for a long time. In his opinion, the result will be the same as in Russia.

However, the insecurity of state salaries was not the only reason for the violation of the oath. Official positions were often used by those
who had estates, was provided with state salaries and was on the very
at the top of the official ladder.

Causes of bribery and embezzlement
The historical tradition of "feedings"

In Russia, the roots of bribery go back to the origins of statehood and at an early stage.
the stages of its development merge with another phenomenon no less characteristic of Russian life - the “feeding” of the administration at the expense of the townsman and district population. “Worldly expenses for the governor and clerks,” notes S. M. Solovyov, “
were an ordinary matter, did not arouse murmurings and complaints. An exception was provided by individual cases when “another governor wanted to feed himself too much
satisfying." In such conditions, the line between legitimate demands and abuses of the administration was elusive and very unsteady.

In the Moscow orders, despite the payment of state salaries of greater
part of the employees, "feeding from work" was an important and completely legal source of income, three or more times higher than cash salaries. In the view of the people of the 17th century, there was a clear division of income "from deeds" into legal and illegal, although from the standpoint of the legal norms of a later time, the differences between the so-called "honors", "commemoration" and "promises" were barely distinguishable. Of the "mercenary" income, the government recognized the legal monetary
and natural offerings to officials before the start of the case ("honours")
and offerings after the end of the case (“commemoration”), but pursued by “promises”
(actual bribes), which were regarded as extortion and "bad
profits". Promises directly related to breaking the law were
larger than honors and commemorations and reached 100 or more rubles, so their receipt was severely pursued by the government and punished with a whip, regardless of the social status of the bribe-taker.

Nevertheless, this most important source of the material well-being of the bureaucracy retained its significance both in the 18th and in the first half of the 19th century.
In all judicial institutions, from the Zemstvo Court to the Senate, the petitioner never
came empty-handed. According to the concepts of that time, voluntary offerings were quite legal, and to refuse them "would mean offending the petitioners and showing empty pedantry" . In the late 1830s, a favorable decision in the Senate cost up to 50 thousand rubles. In addition to such one-time "dachas",
practiced and constant "feeding" the administration of tax-farmers, miners, salt producers, landowners and other persons, especially
interested in the goodwill of the administration. According to contemporaries, it was from this source that provincial officials “drew such
amounts that were necessary to meet the needs of a decent
known rank and state of life. For example, at the end of the 1830s, the tax farmer annually paid the governor of the Simbirsk province 10 thousand rubles in banknotes, the vice-governor 20 thousand, the prosecutor, “as a weak and dumb person”, only three thousand rubles, each adviser two thousand
rubles". Documentary evidence of the existence of such a relationship
with the local administration are found by me in the Department of Written
sources of the State Historical Museum annual (for 1804-1852) "statements" on the issuance of money, bread, etc. to officials. "to gain favor on business" of the Perm estates of Prince. S. M. Golitsyna. The title and content of these documents give grounds to call them consolidated annual
reports on bribery of the administration of the Perm province. In some years, the "allowances" of Prince. Golitsyn to Permian officials two to four and even six times the state salary. For example, a county judge with a salary of 300 rubles
received from the "Main board of Perm factories, crafts and estates of the book. Golitsyn's cash and in-kind payments totaling 600-1600 rubles a year, the annual salary of the zemstvo police officer of 250 rubles significantly supplemented the 1000-1800 rubles coming from the same source. About wide
distribution of the system of "feeding" of the administration is evidenced by the fact that its
practiced, albeit for other reasons, even the very rich and impeccably honest Kiev governor (in 1839-1852) I. I. Fundukley. He
believed that if wealthy landowners did not allocate funds for the maintenance
police officials, "then they will receive these funds from thieves." This circumstance played by no means the last role in the widespread abuse, caused disrespect for the law, contributed to the formation
legal nihilism and, ultimately, had a corrupting influence
on society.

The radical nature of the reforms