(^256) Gentlemen to Officers
Yakushkin to the effect that 'a year in Germany, followed by several months
in Paris, could not but change the views of any thinking Russian youth'. in 5tâ˘('h
a tremendous environment each of us matured a bit'.^36 This was written in
1854.
Some Russian officers stayed on in the small occupation force 't~at was
stationed in France from 1815 to 1818. These troops were kept it\ is~lation
from the French public, to minimize the risk of intellectual contagion, but the
experiences which its officers gained may have been more important in shaping
opinion. The commander, Lieutenant-General M. S. Vorontsov, was in prac-
tice allowed considerable autonomy. He set up schools at which soldiers were
taught to read and write by the then fashionable 'Lancastrian method' (mutual
instruction on a voluntary basis). He also ordered officers under his command
to abstain from inflicting corporal punishment.37 This humanitarian move was
not solely due to Vorontsov's own relatively enlightened views: public flogg-
ings, it was realized, would impair Russia's standing in Western eyes. However,
the experiment worked well, and when these men and their officers returned
home they suffered a rude shock.
It was generally expected that with the coming of peace the tsar would once
again take up the cause of reform, so consolidating the national unity that had
led Russia to victory. These hopes were quickly shattered. Instead Alexander I,
now in a mystical mood and obsessed with the threat of revolution, opted for
reactionary policies at home and abroad. The educated public became disen-
chanted. So long as the war was in progress the emp~ror's domestic critics had
suppressed their doubts about the quality of his leadership, but now thefronde
reappeared with new vigour. The army's prestige had never stood higher, and
discontented civilians began to eye it as a potential agency for change. Sugges-
tions in this vein were well received by many thoughtful officers, who could
resume contact with civilian relatives or acquaintances and had ample oppor-
tunity to form their own opinion of the country's plight. Few of them as yet
envisaged political action, but they were readier than before to discuss their
grievances, and from this it was but a step to the setting up oJ informal
organizations.
The officers' approach to broader issues was heavily coloured by their pro-
fessional discontents. To men who had proved in action their mastery of the
military art it was humiliating that they should now be required to adhere
pedantically to every detail of army regulations. The authorities placed more
emphasis than ever on turnout and drill, almost as if they hoped to quash dis-
sent by busying the troops with parade-ground exercises. As before, those who
failed to meet these exacting standards were subjected to harsh and arbitrary
disciplinary measures. All these excesses were attributed, rightly or wrongly, to
J6 Yakushkin, Zapiski, p, 8; cL Fon-Vizin in Semevsky et al., ObshchestvennlyodYIVieniya, L
182-3, wriuen in the 1830s.
37 Zavalishin, Zapiski, p. 109. Vorontsov's regulations were first published in VS 5 (1859), 2,
pp. 495-502, 5, pp. 75-8, On Lanca~trian schools see J.C. Zacek in SEER 45 (1967), pp. 343-68.
wang
(Wang)
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