Birth of the Military Intelligentsia 247
This move from passive to active opposition may be said to mark the begin-
ning of Russian Praetorianism as a social phenomenon. (The term 'Praetorians'
was sometimes used, especially by foreign writers, m regard to the guards
detachments involved in earlier palace coups, but incorrectly since these
military interventions had next to no social resonance.) In 1797 several dozen
officers, all of intermediate rank (captain to colonel), came together in an
informal circle in which the central figure was A. M. Kakhovsky, a colonel
who had been dismissed from a senior post and was living on his estate in
Smolensk province.^86 The local gentry had long been exposed to Polish-Lith-
uanian cultural influences and had a certain tradition of autonomous action;
they were also closely connected by kinship and service ties. Many officers in
this circle belonged to the St. Petersburg Dragoon regiment, which was
stationed in the area. Its chief, Major-General D. Tarakhanov, and his suc-
cessor gave them what protection they could. Kakhovsky was also related to
Yermolov, who already demonstrated the wilfulness and independence of
spirit for which he would later, as a successful general, be renowned. Members
of the group discussed the writings of the philosophes and ventilated freely
their disgust at Paul's tyrannical regime. Some even spoke of regicide. The
authorities learned of the circle's existence and in January 1799, after a lengthy
investigation, at least 17 men were sentenced to terms of prison or exile. The
sentences would have been stiffer but for the covert support which the con-
spirators obtained from highly-placed sympathizers, among them an official
of the Secret Expedition. At this time patronage relationships were very impor-
tant to all those threatened by persons in authority. S. I. Mayevsky, a junior
officer discharged on political grounds, was aided by a General Essen, who
appointed him to his_staff.^87 M. T. Kachenovsky, later a noted scholar, but at
thlhtage in his career~ m~re·subaltern, was arrested for some minor fault but
freed by the intercession of Lieutenant-General A. Z. Durasov.^88
The dissidents naturally sought to give their movement an ideological
colouring. They did not have to look far. Foreigners, especially of German
stock, were prominent at court and in the army's upper ranks. It is by no
means certain that Paul was more generously disposed towards them than
Catherine had been, but this was irrelevant. So was the fact that native Russian
officials shared the responsibility for some of the emperor's most disagreeable
acts: Rostopchin, for instance, helped to edit the 'Prussian' military statute of
November 1796. The aliens were an easy target for anyone wishing to discredit
the ruling group.
This patriotic spirit found expression in a veritable cult of Suvorov. He
came to be seen as embodying a 'national school' of martial arts diametrically
opposed to that of the current military establishment. There was some
16 Snytko. 'Novye materialy'; Dzhedzhula, Rossiya, pp. 184-S.
87 Mayevsky, 'Moy vek', p. 132.
118 Glinka, Zapiski, p. 173; RBS viii. S77; cf. the experiences of Mosolov, who lacked such a
patron, recounted in his 'Zapiski', pp. 149-S4.