Письмо к А. И. Кошелеву 235

In your last letter, dear friend Koshelev, you announce to me that you are leaving abroad, and yet you did not attach your address to me there, although you write that you are expecting a letter from me in the genvar. Now I have just learned that you have already returned 236, and I hasten to answer your letter with a question: what new impression did Germany make on you? Every lively remark of yours would be precious news for me, buried in the Belevsky snows 237 and listening only to the whistle of the Belevsky blizzard, to the music of which the priest discusses the moral qualities of his sexton and deacon. It seems to me, however, that in the West there must be some signs of a new, beginning era: new needs of minds, a new way of looking at things, new expectations - in a word, a change in beliefs of a kind that had not happened the year before. Thank God that you consider the present time unfavorable for worrying about your favorite question 238. God forbid, God forbid, that it remains undisturbed until the direction of our minds changes, until the Western spirit ceases to dominate in our concepts and in our lives, so that what stands still remains Russian, and everything that moves moves toward something unmechanical. While we are walking and being led along this road, God grant that we make as few changes as possible, especially significant changes. I say this from the full conviction of my mind, with a living love for Russia, with the hope of such greatness and prosperity that Western peoples have never dreamed of, but at the same time with a painful fear that some premature and self-indulgent re-formation will spoil the cause of spontaneous development. What do you hope to accomplish with your cries? Do you really think that any important thing can be done well when it is done in the Western spirit? Of course, by shouting and pushing you can bring about a deed, but not the one you want, but the one that will make the Russian people, you, and the government itself cry. If the government is deceived to the point that it takes your cries as an expression of general opinion, then it will make a change, but not the one and not the way you want. If you want the emancipation of the peasants, they will give you equipment, and the matter will be ruined forever. An unprecedented antagonism between classes will be born, and then it’s scary to think how it will end. When the controversial principle lies at the base of the building, the crack will not stop until the entire building collapses. God forbid from this! All the more ardently do I say: “God forbid!” because I think, or, to put it frankly, am fully convinced, that within ten or many fifteen years the direction of our minds must change completely. I'm talking about lower and higher minds. Instead of the German rational, transformative spirit, the Orthodox-Russian spirit will permeate all our beliefs and actions. And the government will then be more confident in its strength, and the people will move more directly and calmly in their development - and then God’s blessing will be on every matter of improvement. Meanwhile, now every attempt at improvement produces only new chaos. Therefore, now, for now, my desire is one: that we be left in the situation in which we find ourselves - whether it is good or bad - as long as we are not disturbed by changes and, what is even more important, we are not disturbed by threats of changes that produce a moral disorder worse than an actual disorder. And that the way of thinking of our entire educated class must change in a very short time and turn from the German rational spirit to the Russian Orthodox spirit, this truth can be clearly proven to anyone who has delved into the development of Western enlightenment and Russian history. Of course, this cannot be stated within the confines of a letter. I've already said a lot, and it seems like too much. I hug you and wait for your answer. My wife bows to you. Inform us about the health of your wife 239 and your children. At this time we are somewhat worried about Vasya, from whom we have not received letters for a long time. P.S. Protasyev 240 still hasn’t sent any interest money. If you have relations with him, then remind him. Kudryavtsev's dissertation 241, when you read it yourself, then please come. I will be very curious to see it and will return it soon. Perv. publ.: Russian archive. 1909. Book. 2. Issue. 5. pp. 100–101. Publ. by: Kireevsky I.V. Complete. collection cit.: In 2 vols. M., 1911. T. 2. P. 252–253. The Koshelev family had been traveling around Europe since 1849. A.I. Koshelev himself went to Germany (to Baden-Baden) on December 30, 1850, to return to Moscow with his wife and children on February 13, 1851. The estate of I.V. Kireevsky Dolbino was located several miles from the district town of Belev, Tula province (but was listed in the Likhvinsky district of the Kaluga province). In 1850, A.I. Koshelev submitted a “Project for Improving the Life of Peasants” to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Its essence boiled down to the redemption of peasants with land, but first it was proposed to carry out a cadastre - a description and assessment of the land that was in use by the landowners. In addition, the draft proposed the introduction of a land tax instead of a poll tax; Measures to combat bribery were also proposed: increasing salaries for officials, eliminating clerical secrets and establishing a Society for the eradication of extortion and larceny (along with the already existing societies for monitoring prisons), etc. Probably, this “Project.” and caused criticism from I.V. Kireevsky. Olga Fedorovna Kosheleva (nee Petrovo-Solovovo) (1816–1893) - wife of A. I. Kosheleva. Ivan Aleksandrovich Protasyev (1802–1875) - a friend of A. I. Koshelev, from 1851 to 1857 represented the estate of I. V. Kireevsky Dolbino as collateral for drinking farms. In the beginning Each year the owner of the mortgaged estate received a certain percentage. Pyotr Nikolaevich Kudryavtsev (1816–1858) – historian, student of T. N. Granovsky, his successor in the department. Kudryavtsev’s dissertation “The fate of Italy from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to its restoration by Charlemagne. Review of the Ostrogotholangobard period of Italian history" was published in 1850. The report on the defense of the dissertation was published in the journal “Moskvityanin” (1851. No. 1, department “Moskovskie Izvestia”, pp. 58–59). You might be interested in: