Institute of Governor/Police Chief in Governance System of Russian Empire of the Late 18th Century – 60s of the 19th Century (on Materials of Volyn Hubernia)
Abstract
The purpose of the research paper is to highlight the functioning of the governor (horodnychyi)/police chief (politsmeister) institute from the end of the 18th century till the reform of the local police in 1862.
The scientific novelty. Conclusions are made about an individual approach to the appointment of governors/police chiefs in the settlements where rapid economic development, population size, etc. were the determining factors. The powers of those officials and their specific tasks in Volyn hubernia are analyzed. An analysis of staffing issues is made as well; period of service and career growth opportunities are determined.
Conclusions. During the first half of the 19th century, the supreme power was seeking effective mechanisms for managing cities and towns given their growing role in the economic life of the empire. That resulted in the adoption of a whole series of laws that regulated the functions of the governor/police chief and approaches to their appointment. They had wide-ranging powers in the areas of urban construction, food supply, and the fight against epidemics, but police functions were always predominant. Eventually, a decision was made to reorganize the local police, in which there was no place for the governor, unlike the police chief, whose necessity was justified by the unequal development of cities and towns.
In the internal hubernias, such (police chief) appointments were extraordinary, in contrast to Volyn hubernia, where the management of towns required special supervision by the authorities, taking into account the proprietary nature of the povit centers, the regulation of the Jewish ethnic group residence, the remnants of Magdeburg law, and the large military presence, which required additional control by the authorities.
It was in the context of integration intentions that those officials were assigned a key role – the widest powers in the town, closest to the population, especially where there was neither a magistrate nor town duma. That was reflected in the staffing of the corps of governors/police chiefs. Preference was given to former military personnel, for whom that position could become a kind of career boost: from a collegiate assessor to a court councillor. The period of service in different periods ranged from 3.3 to 4.6 years. To prevent officials from ‘staying too long in one place’ and not to ‘get acquaintances’, the authorities performed frequent staff reshuffles. According to the results of the audit by Senator Emanuel von Sievers, all officials were replaced, which indicated a flexible policy in managing the captured region.
References
Barmak, M. (2007). Formuvannia vladnykh instytutsii Rosiiskoi imperii na Pravoberezhnii Ukraini (kin. ХVIII – per. pol. ХІХ st.) [Formation of the power institutions of the Russian Empire in the Right-Bank Ukraine (end of the 18th – first half of the 19th century]. Ternopil: «Aston» [in Ukrainian].
Biliavska, O. (2016). Reformy pravookhoronnykh orhaniv Kyeva v umovakh narostannia revoliutsiinoho ta natsionalnoho rukhiv u poreformenyi period druhoi polovyny XIX – pochatku XX st. [The Reform of Law-Enforcement Agencies in Kyiv in Terms of Growth and National Revolutionary Movement in the Post-Reform Period of Second Half 19th – Early 20th Ct.]. Storinky istorii, 41, 53-66 [in Ukrainian].
Biriukova, A. (2020). Gorodnichie i politsmeistery Samary (1780-e – nachalo 1860-kh godov) [Governors and chiefs of police of Samara (1780s – early1860s)]. Sovremennaia nauchaia mysl’, 6, 25-38. DOI: 10.24412/2308-264X-2020-6-25-38 [in Russian].
Biriukova, A. (2019). Gorodnichie kak professional’naya gruppa: ot literaturnyh obrazov k realiyam provincial’noj povsednevnosti v doreformennoj Rossii [Governors as a professional group: from literary images to realia of provincial everyday life in pre-reform Russia]. Manuskript, 12 (1), 27-32. DOI: 10.30853/manuscript.2019.1.5 [in Russian].
Danilewiczowa, M. (1931). Życie literackie Krzemieńca w latach 1813-1816 [The literary life of Krzemieniec in the years 1813-1816]. Rocznik Wołyński, 2, 128-142 [in Polish].
Dolgorukii, I. (1870). Dnevnik puteshestviia v Kiev 1817 g. [Diary of a trip to Kyiv]. Moskva [in Russian].
Emelin, S. & Khakimov, S. (2018). Istoriko-pravovye aspekty stanovleniya i deiatelnosti instituta gorodnichikh v Rossiiskoi imperii v kontse ХVІІІ – v pervoi polovine ХІХ vv. [Historical and legal aspects of the formation and activities of the institute of governors in the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th – in the first half of the 19th centuries]. Uridicheskaia nauka istoriia i sovremennost, 5, 66-76 [in Russian].
Evtekhov, R. (2017). Organizatsiia i rol gorodskoi politsii v sisteme upravlencheskikh institutov Zabaikalskoi oblasti ХVIII – nachalo ХХ vv. [The organization and role of city police in system of administrative institutes of the Transbaikal region XVIII – the beginnings of the 20th centuries]. Sibirskaia ssylka, 8 (20), 143-159 [in Russian].
Hal, B. (2013). Komplektatsiia kadriv horodnychykh Malorosiiskoi hubernii [The staffing of gorodnichies of Marorussian hubernia]. Sivershchyna v istorii Ukrainy, 6, 308-316 [in Ukrainian].
Hal, B. (2013). Nizhynski politseiski sluzhbovtsi kintsia XVIII – pershoi polovyny XIX st. [Nizhyn police officers of the end of 18th – the first half of 19th century]. Nizhynska starovyna, 15 (18), 29-46 [in Ukrainian].
Hlyz, Yu. (2019). Kyivska miska duma: rozbudova modernoho mista [Kyiv City Duma: building a modern city]. Kyiv: Instytut istorii Ukrainy [in Ukrainian].
Karlina, O. (2007). Konflikt mizh tradytsiiamy miskoho samovriaduvannia i systemoiu miskoho upravlinnia na Volyni naprykintsi XVIII – pershykh desiatylittiakh ХІХ st. [The conflict between the traditions of city self-government and the system of city management in Volyn at the 18 – the first decades of the 19th century]. Sotsium. Almanakh sotsialnoi istorii, 7, 280-289 [in Ukrainian].
Karlina, O. (2013). Sotsialna struktura naselennia mist i mistechok Volynskoi hubernii naprykintsi XVIII stolittia [Social structure of the Volhynian gubernia towns and burghs at the end of 18th century]. Sotsium. Almanakh sotsialnoi istorii, 10, 97-114 [in Ukrainian].
Konovalov, I. (2017). Sibirskaia politseiskaia biurokratiia v gosudarstvennom apparate absoliutizma v pervoi polovine XIX v. [Siberian police bureaucracy in the state apparatus of Absolutism in the first half of the 19th century]. Vestnik RUDN Seriia Istoriia Rossii, 16 (3), 400-413. DOI: 10.22363/2312-8674-2017-16-3-400-413 [in Russian].
Mamaev, N. (1901). Zapiski [Notes]. Istoricheskii vestnik, 86, pp. 46-72, 428-470, 864-883 [in Russian].
Markevych, O. (2016). Politseiske upravlinnia v Berdychevi u pershii polovyni ХІХ st. [The police department in Berdychev in the first half of the 19th сentury]. Naukovyi zbirnyk Velyka Volyn, 54, 189-195 [in Ukrainian].
Markevych, O. (2016). Derzhavna sluzhba u Volynskii hubernii u spohadakh ta otsintsi suchasnykiv (kinets ХVIII – persha polovyna ХIХ stolittia) [Civil Service in Volyn Province in Memories and Assessments of Contemporaries (Late 18th – First Half of the 19th Century)]. Eminak, 2 (30), 45-55. DOI: 10.33782/eminak2020.2(30).405 [in Ukrainian].
Lesnycha, P. (2019). Povsiakdenne zhyttia miskykh poselen Volynskoi hubernii druhoi polovyny ХІХ – pochatku ХХ st. [The everyday life of urban settlements of Volyn province during the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries]. Lutsk [in Ukrainian].
Petrovsky-Shtern, Y. (2019). Shtetl: zolota doba yevreiskoho mistechka [Shtetl: the golden age of the Jewish town]. Kyiv: Krytyka [in Ukrainian].
Pravikov, F. (1806). Pamjatnik iz zakonov, rukovodstvujushhij k poznaniju dolzhnostej, vozlozhennye na mesta i na obretajushhih v nih sobrannyj trudam [Extracts from the laws, leading to the knowledge of the positions assigned to the places and to those who find in them the collected works]. Moskva: Senatskaja tipografija u S. Selivanovskago [in Russian].
Pryshchepa, O. (2010). Mista Volyni u druhii polovyni ХІХ – na pochatku ХХ st. [The cities of Volhyn in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries]. Rivne: PP DM [in Ukrainian].
Shandra, V. (2016). Mishchanski orhany stanovoho samovriaduvannia v Ukraini (kinets XVIII – pochatok XX st.) [Burgher government authorities of social classes municipality in Ukraine (the end of 18th – the beginning of 20th centuries)]. Kyiv: Instytut istorii Ukrainy [in Ukrainian].
Shevchuk, A. & Markevych, О. (2022). Spravnyk u systemi upravlinnia Volynskoiu huberniieiu (kinets ХVIII – 1860-ti rr.) [Spravnyk in Volyn Province Administrative System (end of the 18th century – 1860s)]. Eminak, 3 (39), 9-25. DOI: 10.33782/eminak2022.3(39).588 [in Ukrainian].
Shevchuk, A. (2021). Povitovi ta holovni sudy Pravoberezhnoi Ukrainy (1797-1831 rr.): ulashtuvannia, kadrovyi sklad, diialnist [District and main courts in Right-Bank Ukraine (1797-1831): arrangement, staffing and activities]. Ukrainskyi istorychnyi zhurnal, 4, 50-64. DOI: 10.15407/uhj2021.04.050 [in Ukrainian].
Shevchuk, A. (2023). Povetovye marshaly Volynskoi gubernii (1797-1831): organizatsiia, kadrovyi sostav, deiatelnost [District (Povitovi) Marshals of Volyn Governorate (1797-1831): Arrangement, Staffing and Activities]. Bylye Gody, 18 (1), 100-114. DOI: 10.13187/bg.2023.1.100 [in Russian].
Skrypnyk, A. (2017). Vplyv rosiiskoi viiskovoi prysutnosti u Pravoberezhnii Ukraini na inkorporatsiiu rehionu naprykintsi ХVIII – seredyny 60-kh rr. ХІХ st. [The impact of Russian military presence in Right-bank Ukraine on the incorporation of the region in the late 18th cent. – middle of the 1860s]. Kamianets-Podilskyi [in Ukrainian].
Smolii, V. & Reient, O. (Eds.) (2019). Vid muriv do bulvariv: tvorennia modernoho mista v Ukraini (kinets XVIII – pochatok XX st.) [From walls to boulevards: the creation of a modern city in Ukraine (late 18th – early 20th century)]. Kyiv: Instytut istorii Ukrainy [in Ukrainian].
Snapkoŭski, Ju. (2013). Politsmeistery i gorodnichie Vitebskoi gubernii veterany antinapoleonovskikh voin nachala ХІХ veka [Police chiefs and mayors of the Vitebsk province are veterans of the anti-Napoleonic wars of the early 19th сentury]. Viciebskija staražytnaści: Materyjały navukovych kanfierencyj. Minsk, 179-183 [in Russian].
Szwed, R. (2010). Kultura i toźsamośc wschodniego pogranicza Polski [Culture and identity of the eastern borderland of Poland]. Sprawy Narodowościowe. Seria Nova, 36, 51-76 [in Polish].
Vermenych, Ya. (2003). Berdychiv [Berdychiv]. In Smolii, V. (Ed.). Entsyklopediia istorii Ukrainy (Vol. 1, p. 222). Kyiv: Naukova dumka [in Ukrainian].
Vermenych, Ya. (2011). Istorychna urbanistyka v Ukraini: teoriia mistoznavstva i metodyka litochyslennia [Historical Urban Studies in Ukraine: Urban Theory and Methods of Calculus]. Kyiv: Instytut istorii Ukrainy [in Ukrainian].
Zhukovich, P. (1914). Upravlenie i sud v Zapadnoi Rossii v tsarstvovanie Ekateriny II [Management and court in Western Russia in the reign of Catherine II]. Zhurnal Ministerstva narodnogo prosveshcheniia, 51, 29 [in Russian].
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
