The first general was the chief of police. Chief of Police Anton Devier and his campaign with a girl in a bathhouse

On June 7 (May 27 - according to the old style), 1718, Tsar Peter I established the Main Police in St. Petersburg. Anton DEVIER was the first to be appointed to the post of Chief of Police in the capital city on the banks of the Neva.

He was born in Amsterdam in 1682 into a poor family, and the real name of this statesman is Antonio Manuel de Viera. And already in Russia he was called a consonant name, that is, Anton Manuilovich Devier.

When the father of the future chief police officer of our northern capital died, Anton Devier went as a cabin boy to the Dutch fleet. In 1697, during the naval maneuvers in Holland, the young man met with Tsar Peter I, at whose personal invitation he entered the Russian service.

According to his contemporaries, his remarkable abilities, rare resourcefulness and accuracy in carrying out the tasks he received drew the attention of Alexander Danilovich Menshikov (Peter I's closest associate) to Devier, who took him from the officers of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment as adjutant. In July 1708, Anton Manuilovich became a captain, in the fall of the same year he was promoted to major, and later to lieutenant colonel of the grenadier regiment.

After three years, in July 1711, Anton Manuilovich Devier, together with Pavel Ivanovich Yaguzhinsky, received the rank of adjutant general. It must be explained that this rank was established especially for them.

Thanks to his qualities as a capable, executive and honest person, Devier managed to win the favor of Peter I and his family, becoming the Tsar's personal orderly. Being from the already mentioned time - July 1711 - Adjutant General of Peter I, Devier from 1716 was the captain of the Guard. A little earlier, on November 12, 1715, the king sent, one might say, his close associate Devier to Revel to supervise the construction of the seaport.

At the post of St. Petersburg Chief of Police General, a high-ranking official was in charge of all issues of the city economy. By the way, in the summer of 1718, Devier turned to the Senate with a request to send him normative acts that the police should be guided by, as well as to promulgate the "tsarist will" that obliged the residents of the capital to fulfill the requirements of the Chief of Police.

At the same time, his wish to provide the police with the "required number of people" was not properly fulfilled. That is why, by the end of 1718, the staff of the Police Chief Chancellery consisted, not counting the Chief of Police himself, only 41 people: 1 major, 2 captains, 2 ensigns, 2 sergeants, 2 sergeants, 4 captain army, 4 corporals, 22 privates and 2 clerks-clerks.

On January 6, 1725, Devier was promoted to major general. After the death of Peter I, he actively advocated the transfer of power to Catherine I, who ascended the imperial throne on January 28, 1725.

Anton Devier soon, on May 21, was awarded the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, on October 24, 1726 he was elevated to the rank of count. And two months later, on December 27, Devier was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. His further fate will be described in the next article.

Prepared by Alexander Tarasov,

photo from open sources

Quite a lot of books and articles have been written about the police in pre-revolutionary Russia. But most of them describe the Russian police in the 19th - early 20th centuries, with the policemen, police officers and bailiffs that are familiar to us from classical Russian literature. Meanwhile, the formation of the Russian police began much earlier and its structure, governing bodies and the nature of service in an earlier period are also very interesting.

The creation of a new type of Russian police was initiated by Peter I as part of the modernization of the country's governing bodies. At the same time, during the reign of Peter, the police meant not only the protection of public order and the fight against crime, but also any management activity in the field of security, fire protection, supervision over the behavior of subjects and their observance of religious rites. On May 27, 1718, Peter I introduced the post of Chief of Police of St. Petersburg. With his own hand, Peter also participated in the drafting of the "Items given to the St. Petersburg General-Chief of Police", which prescribed his duties. In particular, Peter I included in the competence of the Chief of Police not only overseeing the maintenance of order in St. Petersburg, but also general management of the construction and arrangement of the new capital. The Chief of Police, created three years earlier, was transferred to the subordination of the Chief of Police. To directly support the orders of the Chief of Police, an army infantry regiment was assigned to him. Officers and lower ranks of the regiment became employees of the St. Petersburg police. In addition, the police services of large cities of the country were also subordinate to the Chief of Police of the capital. The post of Chief of Police corresponded to the 5th class of the Table of Ranks, i.e. the rank of state councilor or the rank of brigadier in the army.

Peter appointed Anton Devier, a man of interesting destiny, one of his closest favorites and comrades-in-arms, as the first Chief of Police of St. Petersburg. Anton Manuilovich Devier ended up in the Russian Empire, one might say, quite by accident. He was born in 1682 in Amsterdam to a poor Jewish family who moved to Holland from Portugal during the persecution of the Sephardic Pyrenean Jews. When Anton's father Manuil Devier passed away, the young man entered a cabin boy on a Dutch ship. It is quite possible that he would have sailed all his life as a sailor, maybe he would have died in some kind of naval battle, or he would have settled down "retired" in one of the overseas Dutch colonies. But a chance meeting completely changed the entire fate of the young Sephardi. When Peter I was in Holland, where he was learning the sea craft, he met a young cabin boy. In 1697, 15-year-old Devier came to Russia with Peter. For a long time he was the personal orderly of Peter I. Extremely benevolent to foreigners, especially to the Dutch, Peter provided his favorite with a dizzying career in Russia, which a native of a poor Jewish family in his native Holland could not even dream of. In July 1708, Devier received the rank of captain, in the same year he became a major, and then a lieutenant colonel of the grenadier regiment. On August 3, 1711, 29-year-old Anton Devier received the rank of Adjutant General. By the way, this rank was established especially for Anton Devier and another favorite of Peter - Pavel Yaguzhinsky.

Anton Devier, even before being appointed Chief of Police of the new capital, carried out various important assignments of Peter, for example, in 1715, he led the construction of the seaport in Reval. Since Peter trusted Devier very much and even supported him, when Anton Manuilovich wooed Menshikov's sister, there was nothing surprising in appointing a former Dutch cabin boy and then a Russian officer as Chief of Police of St. Petersburg. Moreover, Devier had an idea of \u200b\u200blife in European cities, and Peter I wanted the public order and governance in the new capital to correspond to the European standards of that time.

The Chief of Police of St. Petersburg was formally subordinate to the Governor-General of St. Petersburg Menshikov. But in fact, Devier was in fact directly subordinate to Emperor Peter I. The St. Petersburg police established the posts of deputy chief of police, 4 officers and 36 lower ranks. In the early days of its existence, the police of the new Russian capital were so small. The clerk and 10 clerks were responsible for the conduct of affairs in the Main Police Chief Chancellery of St. Petersburg. The competence of the police chief's office included the protection of public order, fire protection, city improvement, drainage of swampy areas (a very urgent task for St. Petersburg at that time), garbage collection on city streets. The police had the power to impose sentences in criminal cases, i.e. also performed the functions of the court. It is possible that if it were not for the death of Peter I, the development of the Russian police would have proceeded at a more rapid pace, since the emperor sought to organize a police service in the country comparable to the European police of that time. It should be noted that Anton Devier, who held the post of Chief of Police of St. Petersburg, really did a lot to develop the system of policing and ensuring public safety in the Russian capital. In particular, it was at the suggestion of Devier that a professional fire brigade was organized in the capital, also subordinate to the Chief of Police.

Devier remained at the post of Chief of Police of St. Petersburg for nine years - until 1727. He participated in the investigation of the case of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich and signed his death warrant. In 1725, Devier received the rank of major general, and in 1726 - lieutenant general and count's title. The honor of the work in the Counts Devier was awarded due to the fact that after the death of Peter, he supported the transfer of power in the country to Catherine I. However, already in 1727, Devier fell into disgrace. The role was played by Menshikov's long-standing dislike of the Chief of Police. As you know, at one time Menshikov and Devier had a conflict over Devier's matchmaking to the sister of the all-powerful Peter's favorite. The emperor then interceded for Devier and ordered Menshikov to marry his sister to him. After the death of Peter, Devier lost his patron, and Menshikov, who retained a serious influence, continued intrigues against him. Finally, on April 24, 1727, Devier was arrested. On May 27, 1727, he was accused of intending to remove Peter II from the succession to the throne, deprived of the nobility and count's title, the rank of lieutenant general, whipped and exiled to Siberia.

Peter II appointed General-in-Chief Count Burchard Christoph von Munnich (Minich) as the new Chief of Police of St. Petersburg. Although in the philistine idea Minich is a typical soldier, a representative of the era of military coups, in reality he was a talented and educated person, a professional military engineer. For a long time, he had nothing to do with managerial or police functions at all, but was exclusively engaged in military engineering. A native of Oldenburg, Minich received a good engineering education, after which he served for twenty years in various European armies as a military engineer. Munnich served as an engineering officer in the armies of France, Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Kassel and Poland, and participated in the War of the Spanish Succession.

The rank of Colonel Minich received the rank of colonel in the German armies, and the rank of major general in the Polish-Saxon army. In 1721, Minich was invited to Russia as a specialist in engineering. He was entrusted with the planning of the fortifications of the Kronstadt fortress. Then Minikh, who was well versed in hydraulic structures, was involved in the organization of navigation on the Neva River, supervised the construction of the Baltic port and the Ladoga canal bypass. For the successes achieved, Minich was promoted to lieutenant general. In 1726 he received the rank of General-in-Chief, and in 1727 he was entrusted with the post of Chief of Police of St. Petersburg. Actually, this was the first assignment of Minich, not directly related to engineering.

Further strengthening of the police of the Russian Empire took place in the 1730s and was associated with the creation of new police services and the spread of police activities not only to St. Petersburg and Moscow, but also to other cities of the country. In provincial cities, the police were led by an officer with the rank of captain or lieutenant, to whom a non-commissioned officer, a corporal, ten privates and two clerical officers were subordinate. This was the usual composition of the city police department at that time. Since the police at that time were still small and weak, army units were involved in the performance of police functions. In 1733, a decree "On the establishment of police in cities" was issued, which launched the creation of police institutions throughout the Russian Empire and served as the starting point for the formation of the country's regular police. By the way, in 1741 Anton Devier was returned from exile, and in 1744 he took over the post of the St. Petersburg general-police chief. But the years of exile in Siberia did their job - Devier was seriously ill and in 1745 he retired due to illness. In the same year, the founder of the St. Petersburg police died at the age of 63.

In 1741, the prototype of the current divisions for combating offenses in the field of the consumer market and administrative law (BPPRiAZ) was created. It was the Trade Police, established by the Senate on the basis of a report by the Chief of Police General Saltykov. He, in particular, concluded that it was necessary to create a special body to monitor the trade in food supplies. The trade police were supposed to establish a tax on food and building materials, monitor the pricing of food and other goods, monitor the quality of products sold, be responsible for order and cleanliness in markets, suppress illegal trade and fight innuendo, supervise the observance of deanery in trade institutions.

At the same time, in 1741, the status of Chief of Police was raised from the 5th to the 3rd class of the Table of Ranks. Now the post of Chief of Police was the military rank of Lieutenant General, the rank of Guards colonel and the civil rank of Privy Councilor. The Chief of Police was appointed to the Senate together with the Presidents of the Military, Admiralty and Foreign Affairs Collegia. However, despite the increased status of the Chief of Police, during the reign of Elizaveta Petrovna, many shortcomings and shortcomings in the organization of the country's police service remained.

Further modernization of the police system of the Russian Empire took place under Catherine II. The empress paid significant attention to the issues of maintaining order in the empire, ordering the creation of a zemstvo police in addition to the city police. In the districts, lower zemstvo courts were created, in charge of the protection of public order. In 1782 it was decided to create Deanery Administrations as the main city police bodies. The Deanery Council consisted of the head - the mayor, two bailiffs for criminal and civil cases, two elective inspectors - ratmans, elected by the townspeople for six months to exercise supervision over the activities of the police authorities.

Paul I, who replaced Catherine II at the head of state, carried out a further reform of the police. He liquidated deaneries in Russian cities and entrusted the police with the functions of monitoring the activities of officials. In order to improve the work of the police, Paul I made the chiefs of police and commandants financially responsible for the undisclosed embezzlement of public funds. In St. Petersburg and Moscow, under Paul, the post of chief of police was introduced, who led the police. The chief police chief was subordinate to the private inspectors who led the parts of the city, and to them, in turn, were subordinate to the quarter non-commissioned inspectors with two quarter commissars.

The creation of a professional police has also raised the issue of training personnel for "officer" positions in police departments. There was no special school for training police personnel in Russia in the 18th century. Nevertheless, police officers were recruited from graduates of the Land Gentry Cadet Corps, opened in 1732. But most of the cadets saw themselves in the future as guards or army officers, at least as civilian officials. The police service remained of little prestige, which inevitably affected the quality of personnel. The police often recruited officers who, for some reason, were forced to leave the guard, army, and even civilian administrative institutions. On the other hand, the police also became a haven for the "disabled", as the then honored veterans of military service were called, who, due to age or illness, were incapable of further service in army or guards units. This state of affairs was widespread and did not at all contribute to the improvement of the functioning of the organs of public order. The weakness of the police of that time is also shown by the large number of popular uprisings, the Russian police were not able to suppress the causes of which and fight against which without the help of army units.

In the 1990s, the Russian public was rocked by two sex scandals. First, in 1997, a video made in 1995 was released, in which a man, surprisingly similar to the Minister of Justice V. Kovalev, was having fun with the girls in the bathhouse, and then, in 1999, a video appeared on which he was filmed from girls are a person who is very similar to the Prosecutor General Yu. Skuratov. Both the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General were dismissed.

However, the first "bath scandal" in the history of Russia took place back in 1727, and its hero, as you might guess, was the highest rank of law enforcement agencies - Chief of Police of St. Petersburg Anton Devier. Only he could not get rid of the resignation.

As Alexander Galich once wrote, "And from the audience they shout to me:" Give me the details! ", so let's move on to the details: both to the details of the biography of Anton Devier, and to the details of the first "bathing scandal" in Russian history.

Anton Manuilovich Devier (in historical documents there are also other variants of the Russian spelling of his surname - Divier, Devier, Divier, Devier) was born in Holland, in the city of Amsterdam, on February 22, 1682.

From birth his name was Antonio de Vieira - the name and surname for a Dutchman is very strange, it would be more suitable for a Portuguese.

Indeed, the de Vieira family moved to Holland from Portugal in 1673. Only the de Vieira were not Portuguese (in the sense of ethnic origin), but Sephardic Jews.

Sephardic Jews settled on the territory of present-day Portugal in the 1st century BC, that is, when there was not even Portugal, but even the Portuguese as a people had not yet appeared, and semi-wild tribes of Lusitanians lived in the mountains, only recently conquered by the Romans.

The conquerors were constantly changing - first the Romans, then the Visigoths, then the Arabs, then the Christians, and the Kingdom of Portugal appeared only in the XII century, when the Jews had lived on this land for over a thousand years.

At the same time, Jews lived in Portugal quite well - they had their own communal self-government, their own court, they obeyed only the king, and no one, except the king, could order the Jews, or judge them. Among the Jews were finance ministers, royal advisers, and court doctors.

However, in 1497, most of the Jews were expelled from Portugal, and at the insistence of neighboring Spain.

In 1492, Spain ended the war with the Muslim Emirate of Granada. The war ended with a Spanish victory, but the victors were ruined - all the money went to the war, and the royal treasury was empty.

Then the Spanish king Ferdinand (who died due to the fact that he was eaten to death by lice) and his wife, Queen Isabella (who was proud to have washed only twice in her life), decided to replenish the treasury at the expense of Spanish Jews.

"Their Catholic Majesties" issued a decree, according to which the Jews had to either be baptized, or leave the country, leaving the state all their property and money.

Some people who know Jews solely from anecdotes mistakenly believe that money is above all for Jews, but Ferdinand and Isabella knew Jews not from jokes, but from real life, and they calculated everything correctly - almost all Spanish Jews chose to leave the country as beggars, but do not give up your faith. Only a very few were baptized.

The king and queen received a fairly large amount of money on this operation with the expulsion of the Jews, but it was a one-time gain - the money was quickly spent, and the country lost many talented entrepreneurs, who, having emigrated to other countries, were able to "spin up" there from scratch, and became benefit the enemies of Spain.

Turkish Sultan Bayezid II, who granted political asylum to Spanish Jews, spoke about Ferdinand's decision in the following words:

“To this day, I considered the Catholic King Ferdinand a smart sovereign and a good politician. But is this a politician? He devastated his country and enriched my possessions! "

Indeed, thanks to the Jews, the Turkish (Ottoman) Empire became the strongest state in the Mediterranean, and even the discovery of America and American gold did not help Spain cope with the Turks.

And where is Portugal? The fact is that not all Spanish Jews emigrated to Turkey - a lot of them settled in Portugal. This greatly disturbed Ferdinand and Isabella, and they, fearing the future strengthening of Portugal, began to demand that the Portuguese king Manuel I expel the Jews, promising his daughter to marry him for this.

There were no male heirs in Spain, and King Manuel of Portugal, hoping to become king of Spain in the future, in 1497, in exchange for marrying a Spanish princess, duplicated the Spanish decree of 1492 on the expulsion of the Jews in his country.

However, Manuel did not succeed in becoming the Spanish king. In the words of the Turkish Sultan, he also "devastated his country" and enriched the Ottoman Empire, which became the main country of residence for Sephardic Jews.

The vast majority of Jews in Portugal chose to leave the country as beggars, but not to be baptized, and only a very few agreed to convert to Christianity. Among these few were the de Vieira family.

However, de Vieira were baptized only to stay, and continued to secretly practice Judaism, and this secret religion was passed down in the family from generation to generation, for almost two centuries.

The secret Jews were watched by the Inquisition, and when de Vieira felt threatened with exposure, they emigrated to Holland in 1673.

The head of the family, Manuel de Vieira, was a gunsmith, but his son Antonio, who was already born in Holland (in 1682), did not have time to learn his father's craft, as his father died too early, and the teenager had to go as a cabin boy to the Dutch navy.

In August 1697, the Russian "Great Embassy" arrived in Holland, which included a certain "sergeant Peter Mikhailov" - under this pseudonym Tsar Peter the First was hiding. Moreover, absolutely everyone knew about it, and the “sergeant” was greeted precisely as a tsar.

The distinguished guest was shown a training battle of Dutch warships, and 25-year-old Peter was so carried away that he swam to one of the frigates, climbed aboard, and began to command the battle in Dutch, which he managed to learn a little.

During the battle, the Russian tsar drew attention to the cabin boy, who very deftly, "like a monkey," climbed the shrouds and fastened the sails, and after the end of the training battle he called him to him.

This cabin boy was Antonio de Vieira.

Jung introduced himself, at the same time immediately told the king that he was of a "Jewish family", but Peter did not suffer from national and religious prejudices, and invited the 15-year-old boy to join him. Antonio agreed.

He served the tsar as a page - first the four and a half months that Peter spent in Holland, and then, leaving Holland forever, Antonio de Vieira went on a further long trip with the "Grand Embassy" to Europe.

At the end of August 1698, the "Great Embassy" returned to Russia, and with it the tsar's page, who had already turned 16, first came to the country that became his new homeland.

In Russian documents, Antonio, the son of Manuel, was recorded as Anton Manuilovich, and the surname "de Vieira" was recorded as Devier, while in many documents, as already mentioned, there are spelling variations Divier, Devier, Devier and Divier.

At first, Anton Devier continued to serve as a royal page, then he became the royal orderly, and accompanied the sovereign on military campaigns. In 1708, 26-year-old Anton Devier became Adjutant General.

And two years later, Anton Devier clashed with another royal confidant, His Serene Highness Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov. The conflict took place on the basis of love.

In 1710, 28-year-old Anton Devier decided to marry the younger sister of the Most Serene Prince, Anna Danilovna Menshikova. The bride in the past was the mistress of Peter the Great, but the adjutant is such a position in which squeamish people do not serve, and even among the noblest nobles of Europe it was not considered shameful to marry a former sovereign mistress (a very illustrative example is the history of Deer Park).

Former mistress Peter was tired, and, in addition, she herself really liked Anton Devier, and she agreed to marry him, and the tsar did not mind this. The only thing left was to get consent from her older brother.

But suddenly problems arose. When Adjutant General Anton Devier came to the house of Alexander Menshikov to ask for the hand of his sister, His Serene Highness was so indignant, in his opinion, with the vile proposal that he rushed at Devier with his fists, and they began to fight.

At the noise, ten servants of Alexander Danilovich ran into the room. Taking advantage of the numerical superiority, Menshikov's servants tied up Devier. After that, His Serene Highness ordered the servants to flog the groom, which was done, after which he was thrown out into the street.

Why Menshikov was so outraged by Devier's intention to marry his younger sister has not yet been clarified by historians. However, there is information that at the time of the matchmaking, the groom had already "knocked" the bride, and this circumstance, presumably, just caused the anger of her older brother.

Although the Tsar, who had long "spoiled" Anna Danilovna, was for some reason not angry with the Highness Prince.

The whipped adjutant general Anton Devier complained about Menshikov to the tsar. To this Peter answered "He refused you, but he will not dare to refuse me", and together with Devier went to the house of the Most Serene Prince, where he asked Menshikov for the hand of Anna Danilovna for his Adjutant General.

As Peter predicted, Menshikov did not have the courage to refuse the tsar, and in July 1710 Anton Manuilovich Devier finally married Anna Danilovna Menshikova.

Anton Devier continued to serve as the tsar's adjutant general, and was considered one of the people closest to the tsar - he had the right to enter Peter without a preliminary report at any time of the day, and he was entrusted with leading the upbringing of the tsar's daughters.

In 1718, great changes took place in Anton Devier's service career - Peter the Great established a police force in Russia, and it was Devier who became the first head of the Russian police on May 27, 1718.

At the same time, it is necessary to clarify that initially the police existed only on the territory of St. Petersburg, but in other cities it appeared much later, and the post of Anton Devier was called "Chief of Police of St. Petersburg."

Anton Devier ensured order in the city, significantly reduced the number of crimes, and even for the first time in history began to fight against environmental pollution - the police caught those people who dumped garbage into the Neva and beat them with a whip.

In Western Europe at that time, no one fought against river pollution, and, for example, the waters of the Thames River flowing through London were so stinking that in the British Parliament, even in extreme heat, they were afraid to open windows, because the river was so "amber" that the deputies could not stand it. His Devier was not found in England.

In addition, Chief of Police General Anton Devier took up the fight against delinquency in the consumer market - for the sale of low-quality goods and for an unjustified increase in prices (trade markup over 10%), merchants were whipped and even sent to hard labor.

The governor of St. Petersburg was at that time Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, and now he and Devier began to conflict not only on the basis of personal hostile relations, but also on official matters - all those dissatisfied with Devier fled to complain to Menshikov, but the tsar in these disputes was always on the side Deviera.

At the same time, when Peter found deficiencies in Devier's work, he himself punished him, not with a whip, but with a club.

There is a real historical case when Peter the First and Anton Devier were traveling together in a two-wheeled carriage and inspected the city, and when they passed the bridge across the canal near New Holland, it turned out that several boards had been torn off the bridge and stolen. Then Peter personally beat the Chief of Police with a truncheon for insufficient fight against the theft of state property, after which the emperor and the beaten head of police drove on.

By the way, it is possible that the boards from the bridge were torn off by order of Menshikov, who knew in advance where the tsar and Devier would go, and wanted to "substitute" his foe in this way.

However, apart from being beaten with a truncheon, the incident on the bridge had no other consequences for Anton Devier, and he remained in the post of St. Petersburg Chief of Police.

In 1721, Anton Devier ordered the installation of the first lanterns and benches for rest in St. Petersburg.

However, other initiatives of Devier are quite controversial and dubious.

So, it was forbidden to live in the city without registration, all townspeople had to report to the police about all arriving and leaving, then entry and exit to the city and from the city was allowed only with passports issued by the police, and at all entrances to the city there were outposts and no one was admitted or let out without a passport.

Then Devier tightened control over movements in St. Petersburg, and established something like a curfew: in the evening all the streets were blocked by barriers, guards were set up, and only military men, priests and midwives could walk around the city, and all other Petersburgers who wanted to walk the city streets on white nights, caught and beat with a whip. The barriers were removed only in the morning.

Peter the First was delighted with the activities of the Devierov police, and even wrote that “The police advance in rights and justice, give rise to good order and morality, give everyone safety from robbers, thieves, rapists and deceivers and the like, drive away dishonest and indecent life, and force everyone to work and honest trade, ... prevents high prices and brings contentment in everything necessary for human life, warns of all diseases that happen, produces purity through the streets; ... educates young people in chaste purity and honest sciences; in short, over all these, the police are the soul of citizenship and all good order and the fundamental support of human security and convenience ".

In 1725, Peter the First died, and his widow, Catherine the First, ascended the throne, who treated Devier well, left him in the post of Chief of Police, and in 1726 gave him the title of count.

However, in April 1727, when the empress fell seriously ill and was dying, a "bath scandal" took place, which fatally affected the further fate of Anton Devier (details can be found in the books by N.I. Pavlenko "The Chicks of Petrov's Nest" and "Peter II ", Which contains excerpts from archival documents).

On April 24, 1727, His Serene Highness Prince Menshikov appeared to the seriously ill empress, and said that “When Her Imperial Majesty deigns to rise up from sleep, then Anton Devier will take the girls and ask about everything that he should not have done, and once I found him in the bath with a certain girl, and with whom, he himself would say, and told him , why does he lock himself in the bathhouse with a girl and what he does with that girl, he asked me not to inform Her Imperial Majesty, and told me that he asked everything that Her Imperial Majesty did without him ".

The Empress was so outraged that she ordered Devier to be arrested!

On the same day, Anton Devier was arrested in the imperial palace by a guard, and during the arrest he tried to stab Menshikov with a sword, who directly handed over to the captain of the guard the order to arrest Devier.

What so outraged the empress, and why was the chief of police arrested only because he "He locks himself into the bathhouse with a girl and what does he do with that girl"?

The fact is that those "girls" with whom Devier communicated so closely were the maids of honor of the Empress, and asking them about "What is done without him at Her Imperial Majesty", was perceived as an invasion of the empress's private life.

What else did Devier do with the girl in the bath, besides conversations, the empress and Menshikov were of little interest.

An investigation was launched against Anton Devier, during which he was tortured three times. In addition, many people were questioned, including high-ranking leaders of the army and state.

The same was also identified and interrogated. "Some girl", with whom Devier went to the bathhouse; in the materials of the criminal case against Devier her name is not mentioned, she is indicated there as "The maid of the court Katerina".

Most likely, Katerina's surname was not indicated due to the fact that she was a relative of some person who was very close to the empress, and they did not want to compromise this person by mentioning her surname in a criminal case, and Menshikov, if you remember, also kept silent about her surnames, hinting that let Devier himself say who she is ( "And with which, he himself will say").

This lady of the court explained to the investigation that "His lordship got her with Devier in the bathhouse, and she talked to him in particular words of her own, and he did not ask her about the way around court, and she did not tell him.".

Anton Devier admitted that he repeatedly with the girls in the bath "Sat and talked", however, denied that he had asked the girls about the Empress.

During the investigation, it also turned out that Devier did not show sadness about the Empress's illness, and even tried to persuade others not to be sad, for example, he said at the table to her daughter Anna Petrovna: "Enough, lady, sorrowful"and then some "He turned the crying Sofya Karlusovna instead of dancing and told her -" there is no need to cry ".

The chief of police himself explained that he simply consoled the crying ladies, but Menshikov and the empress considered it "Prejudicial actions".

We also note that neither Devier nor Katerina's girlfriend did the investigators find out whether they had sex in the bathhouse, or, as they called it, "fornication" - the investigation was not interested in the sexual side of the issue, they only wanted to know what they were talking about in the bathhouse ...

All these gatherings with the girls in the bathhouse and the consolation of the crying could be considered, even with a very strong desire to dig into something, maximum insolence and disrespect for the empress, but Menshikov really wanted to present Devier as a conspirator.

General-in-chief Ivan Buturlin, member of the Governing Senate and the Supreme Privy Council Pyotr Tolstoy and Chief Prosecutor of the Governing Senate Grigory Skornyakov-Pisarev were brought up to the case.

It turned out that in conversations with them, Devier spoke out that it would be better if the empress appointed her heir (which was rumored, but there was no decree yet) not the grandson of Peter the Great from the betrayed death of Tsarevich Alexei, Peter Alekseevich Jr., but one of his daughters - Elizaveta Petrovna or Anna Petrovna (as we remember, Devier was their educator).

And, most importantly, Devier was not the initiator of the conversation! Skornyakov-Pisarev, Tolstoy and Buturlin themselves began such conversations with Devier, and he only agreed with the interlocutors.

There was no further talk, and the nobles could not even decide which of them would go to the empress with a proposal for the candidacy of the heir to the throne (or heir to the throne), and everything remained at the level of conversations.

Now it is difficult for us to understand what is so seditious in conversations about who will become the next head of state - for a democratic society, the discussion of candidates is completely normal, but in the conditions of the Russian absolute monarchy, when the heir to the throne was determined not by the will of the people and not even by law, but exclusively By decree of the current emperor, conversations about the identity of a possible heir were considered resistance to the will of the sovereign, and even treason.

However, pay attention, this is very important - at that time the heir to the throne had not yet been appointed, that is, no one was going to resist the will of the empress - for the reason that the empress had not yet expressed this will in any way, and the so-called "conspirators" were engaged in fortune-telling about a possible future heir, like a chamomile - "Peter - Elizabeth - Anna", and they did not know anything concrete and did not plan.

Menshikov, as you might guess, was opposed to Elizaveta Petrovna or Anna Petrovna becoming heirs, and supported the candidacy of Peter Alekseevich-grandson, as he intended to marry his daughter Maria to him, and thereby become related to the reigning family.

Meanwhile, the empress's health was deteriorating, she became very ill, and early in the morning on May 6, 1727, Alexander Menshikov came to her and slipped two documents for signature. Having signed them, Catherine the First fell into unconsciousness, and died a few hours later.

One of the two decrees signed before his death, Peter Alekseevich was declared the heir to the throne, and another decree announced the verdict in the case of Anton Devier and his "accomplices" - Buturlin, Tolstoy, Skornyakov-Pisarev, as well as Prince Ivan Dolgoruky, who also appeared in one of the conversations.

The verdict said they tried "To reason and interpret, since it is even more daring to determine the heir to the monarchy by one's own will, who pleases whom, and not by the high will of Her Imperial Majesty", and it was decreed by Devier and Tolstoy "As if the criminals who are worsening in this should be executed by death" (with deprivation of ranks and orders); Buturlin, having deprived of his ranks, sent into exile in distant villages; Dolgoruky "To excommunicate", demote, and send to serve in a distant garrison; Skornyakov-Pisarev should be sent to Siberia.

On the same day, Tsarevna Elizabeth, on behalf of her mother (that is, forging the signature of the already deceased Empress), signed a second decree, according to which the death penalty was replaced by exile for Tolstoy and Devier: the first - to the Solovetsky Monastery, and the second - to Siberia, and this decree as imperial was handed over for execution.

She could not do more for her educator, since Menshikov had strength, and she could pay dearly for forging the signature of the late empress.

By the way, taking into account the fact that the decree on the heir to the throne was signed simultaneously with the verdict, and at the time of Devier's conversations with Tolstoy, Buturlin and others, the heir had not yet been appointed, even from the point of view of the laws of that time, Devier did not commit any crime, and did not oppose " the high will of Her Imperial Majesty. "

Thus, Menshikov actually misled the empress, a woman who was not very literate, and, taking advantage of her serious illness and inability to correctly perceive the environment, slipped a deliberately unjust verdict on her to sign in order to get rid of her longtime foe.

And how did Anton Devier's wife, Anna Danilovna, react to her husband's gatherings in the bathhouse with the court girl Katerina?

She was not offended by her husband for this, especially since only the fact that Devier and Katerina were together in the bathhouse and their conversation was proved from the case materials and all available documents, and it is unknown whether they had sex there or not.

Anna Danilovna even tried to intercede before her brother for her husband, but the Highness Prince refused to talk to his sister, and she was forced to turn to him in writing, and even called him “father and“ sovereign ”:

"The Most Serene Prince, gracious father and sovereign, I accept the courage from my immeasurable grief to trouble you, gracious father and sovereign, about my husband, about intercession and gracious representation to Her Imperial Majesty, our all-merciful Empress, in order to turn your anger mercifully."

Menshikov did not even reply to this humiliated letter from his sister. Moreover, he ordered to send his sister and children from St. Petersburg to the village!

And Anton Devier himself was sent to serve his exile in the Zhiganskoe winter hut 800 versts from Yakutsk. For political reasons, Menshikov could not openly convict Elizabeth of forging an imperial decree abolishing the death penalty, and the exile of the enemy to the permafrost region was also fine with him - he hoped that Devier would die there soon.

However, His Serene Highness Prince Menshikov did not triumph for long: the young Tsar Peter II changed his mind about marrying his daughter, and already on September 6, 1727, he stripped Menshikov of all titles, positions and titles, and sent him into exile in Berezov (the current territory of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug), where the former "lordship" passed away two years later.

Evil was punished, but good did not triumph: Devier was never returned from exile.

Only in 1739, from the category of ordinary exiles, he was transferred to the chief - from the Zhigansky winter quarters he was convoyed to Okhotsk, and was appointed chief of the Okhotsk port, where, among other Anton Devier's affairs, the equipment of the expedition of Vitus Bering can be distinguished.

In 1741, the daughter of Peter the Great, Elizaveta Petrovna, who, as we remember, was a pupil of Anton Devier, ascended the Russian throne, and forged a decree replacing the death penalty with exile.

On December 1, 1741, Elizabeth already issued her own imperial decree to drop all charges against Anton Devier and his return from exile.

Due to the fact that the road from St. Petersburg to Okhotsk then took about six months, until the courier got there with the decree, while Devier got to the capital, it was already 1743.

Anton Manuilovich's wife had died by this time, and what happened to the court girl Katerina, with whom he went to the bathhouse, is unknown.

The orders and title of count were returned to Anton Devier, in July 1744 he received the military rank of general-in-chief, and in December 1744 A.M. Devier was re-appointed Chief of Police of St. Petersburg, but his health was already weakened, and the hero of the first "bathing scandal" in the history of Russia died on June 24, 1745, at the age of 63.

made a Jew the first police chief

Anton Manuilovich Devier (1682 - 1745) - a prominent statesman and military leader, associate of Peter I, the first chief of police of St. Petersburg (1718-1727 and 1744-1745), count (1726), general-in-chief (1744).

From the ship to the ball

1697 year. In honor of the arrival in Amsterdam of the Great Embassy from Russia, led by the young Tsar Peter, the Dutch are organizing demonstration maneuvers. Several dozen sailing ships line up in the Ei Bay and a naval battle begins. Peter, who has already learned a little Dutch, takes command of the Dutch flotilla. The most agile and understanding cabin boy on the ship turns out to be the young Antoine de Villera. “And you, like a monkey, flew up the shrouds, fastening and loosening the sails,” the Russian tsar admires. Antoine gratefully accepts a golden thaler from Peter and introduces himself: “My name is Anton Divier. I am from Portugal. Jewish family. "

The Jewish origin of the yungi does not in the least bother Peter, who valued skill and intelligence in people and did not attach much importance to their nationality. Antoine enters the service of the sovereign. Page. Thus began the path of the Jewish boy Antoine de Villera to the title of the first policeman of a huge country.

De Vieira was from the Portuguese Marranos. The ancestors of the creator of the Russian police were forced to be baptized, but secretly professed the Jewish faith. However, De Vieira's parents were forced to move to Holland when the fires of the Inquisition flared up in Portugal with renewed vigor. De Villera never concealed his Jewish origin, but Peter loved intelligent foreigners. And in Russia, the young page was greeted kindly, especially by the ladies - sixteen-year-old De Vieira was very handsome. The career of the young man is rapidly going uphill: from pages to Peter's orderly, from orderlies to general-adjutants. However, the boyars did not share the love of the Russian tsar. Having learned about the relationship between his sister Anna and a young Jew, Peter's favorite, Alexander Menshikov, in a rage attacks De Vieira with fists, and then orders the servants to whip the seducer.

Generalissimo Alexander Danilovich Menshikov

They say that Anna by that time was already pregnant by her lover. Peter goes berserk upon learning of Menshikov's trick. The tsar gives the order - and the Jew, De Vieira, marries Anna Menshikova, whose brother will since then turn into his merciless enemy.

Divier Crimes and Punishments

The newlyweds are moving to St. Petersburg under construction, which is still not well suited for life. Wolves roam the streets, the people, brought by force to the beloved brainchild of Peter, rob and drink tirelessly. From time to time, wooden buildings flare up - and the fire quickly devours the fruits of the king's labors and aspirations. How to cope with all this chaos, Peter does not know. All major conflicts have always been suppressed by the military, but soldiers are trained only to fight or, in extreme cases, suppress riots. Getting them to keep order in the city is not easy. Peter instructs Antoine to deal with the chaos reigning in the city, who by that time had already sufficiently Russified and is called Anton Divier.

Peter the First

“Lord Senate! - Peter issues a decree on May 27, 1718. - For the best order in this city, we have identified the Chief of Police, who appointed Adjutant General Divier; and gave points on how to manage the assigned case. "

Divier, with his usual responsibility and quickness, was in his place. Gradually, order in the city began to be restored. For crimes (even robbery) they were punished severely - most often with death. In his department there were 10 officers, 20 non-commissioned officers and 160 "good soldiers." It was easy to recognize them on the street: they wore green camisoles with red cuffs and purple caps. The Chief of Police himself personally traveled around the city every day and kept order. But he was busy not only with drunken fights.

Peter, who adored St. Petersburg, was forced to distract himself from the construction of the city, doing state affairs. So he instructed the reliable Divier to develop a new capital. And Divier got down to business resolutely. To begin with, he created a fire department, set up a fire tower in the city and issued an order according to which all residents, having heard the bell, must run to put out the fire. Ahead of other Petersburgers, the tsar himself always fled to the flaming houses. Petersburg ceased to burn out to the ground and began to grow, at last. Further more. All the main streets, buried in mud, are paved with stones on the orders of Divier, and the fishermen appear in the city, who collect and take out sewage outside the capital. At the end of each street barriers are set up, through which only military men, noble gentlemen, midwives and priests are allowed to walk through them at night. Everyone who wanted to walk around Petersburg at night, but did not have the right to do so, was caught and beaten with a whip. Divier introduces strict rules for population registration, which allow you to accurately determine the number of residents and visitors. Those guilty of non-observance of order are punished with all cruelty. The hardest hit goes to the beggars, who, on the orders of Divier, were beaten with batogs and expelled from the city.

In general, you cannot call the Divier a soft ruler. To restore order in the city, he resorts to draconian measures: for gambling, drunkenness, non-compliance with passport regulations, even for singing songs on the street, violators were punished with considerable fines. And if, having paid off, the ugly did not learn to observe the laws, he went to Siberia or to the chopping block. Those who dumped garbage into the Neva were beaten with batogami - Divier was careful not to turn the river into a drainage channel.

The king is delighted and proud of his invention. “The police advance in rights and justice, give rise to good order and morality, give everyone safety from robbers, thieves, rapists and deceivers and the like,” he writes, “an dishonest and indecent life drives away, and forces everyone to work and to honest business ... prevents the high cost of living and brings contentment in everything necessary for human life, warns against all diseases that happen, produces purity in the streets ... educates young people in chaste purity and honest sciences; in short, over all these, the police are the soul of citizenship and all good order and the fundamental support of human security and convenience. "

Peter promotes Divier to major general and gives him more and more powers. Over time, Divier becomes more than a guardian of order. He oversees the construction of bridges and buildings. And he succeeds in this: accustomed to the European architectural tradition, Divier brings a European spirit to the city's development plan. The buildings that are being built with his participation delight Peter with their sophistication. But the tsar punishes them cruelly and humiliatingly for misdeeds.

Once Divyera had to experience such an outburst of the sovereign's anger even in public. Once Peter and the Chief of Police were driving around the city in one-wheeled car. However, in front of the bridge in New Holland, they had to stop: the coachman noticed in time that several boards were missing from the masonry of the bridge. Either they forgot to put it, according to a well-known Russian habit, or, also out of habit, they stole it. Peter orders the coachman to fix the bridge immediately. Divyera invites him to get out of the carriage and walks over the back with a staff, saying "This will better add to your memory of the care and maintenance of bridges in order." He cooled down, however, just as quickly as he flared up - he immediately put his hand on Divyer's shoulder with the words “Do not demand. Sit down, brother, ”and continued the interrupted conversation. They say, by the way, that the same vengeful Menshikov, who at that time was the governor of St. Petersburg and now and then complained to Peter about the police chief, was involved in this incident. The king, however, always remained on the side of Divier.

The fall

After the death of Peter, the life of the influential chief of police changed little. Catherine I, who ascended the throne, gladly invited the courteous Divier to her place, he entertained her with conversations and his education. The empress showered the loyal police chief with favors: Divyer was elevated to the rank of count, received the rank of senator and lieutenant general and even received the highest award in the Russian Empire - the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky. And Anna Danilovna - Divier's wife - was numbered among the empress's retinue and became a goffreilin.

However, Menshikov did not give up the hope of taking revenge on his unwanted relative. When the empress fell ill with an alcohol fever (Catherine was weak before drinking), he convinced her that Divier was "not sad enough" by her illness. And he demanded an order to arrest the chief of police. Divier was tortured and even hanged on a rack. Menshikov was delighted: without enduring suffering, Divyer confessed to the conspiracy and betrayed his "accomplices" - all of Menshikov's enemies. They were deprived of all titles and property and were exiled to the forgotten Yakutia in Gd, 9000 versts from Petersburg. Anton Manuilovich will have to wait for many years to get rid of suffering. Peter II will replace Catherine I on the throne, after him the empire will pass into the hands of Anna Ioannovna. The new empress will suddenly remember Divyera, languishing in exile, but will not return to Petersburg, but will make him the commander of the Okhotsk port. Taking up the job with renewed vigor, Antoine Manuilovich brings the port into proper condition and even creates a nautical school there, which will later turn into a navigational school for the Siberian flotilla.

Surprisingly enough, Divier will still return to Petersburg - when the daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth, who has loved the police chief since childhood, ascends the throne. She will return all titles and property to Divier and put him in charge of the police again. However, after fifteen years of exile, Anton Manuilovich's health was undermined, he often falls ill, no one is afraid of him in the city, and in six months he will quietly retire in his house. On his gravestone the inscription was engraved: "General-in-chief, Count Anton Manuilovich Div'er ..."

This was the end of the journey of the Jew Antoine de Villera, who created a police service in Russia, cleared St. Petersburg of impurities and brought order to the capital. But this whole story is of little interest to the current police chiefs, although it would be very instructive for them.

Material prepared by Alina Rebel

http://www.jewish.ru/history/facts/2013/11/news994321769.php

Of the year .

Peter I personally participated in the writing of the "Items given to the St. Petersburg General-Chief of Police". They included supervision of order in the broadest sense and control over the construction of the new capital of the Russian Empire. To solve problems, the Chief of Police was transferred to the Chief of Police, created in 1715 (after the death of Peter I, the Chief Chief of Police) and an army regiment. All the ranks of this regiment became police officers. In addition, the General-Chief of Police carried out the all-Russian leadership of the police departments of large cities.

The post of Chief of Police from 1722 corresponded to the 5th class of the table of ranks. He obeyed the Governing Senate under the control of the emperor. Count Devier became the first Chief of Police.

The post of Chief of Police of Moscow existed in 1731-32 with its subordination to the Governing Senate.

In 1734 the Chief of Police was subordinated to the Cabinet of Ministers. In 1746, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, by her decree, reassigned the Chief of Police General directly to the Emperor. Complaints against the Chief of Police General could only be directed to the Emperor (Empress). The position began to correspond to the 3rd class (the first general-police chief of the 3rd class was A.D. Tatishchev, whose appointment to this position was marked by such an increase in her rank).

The Chief of Police continued to direct the local police through the Chief of Police Office. From 1762 he was named Chief Director of all the police. In 1764, due to the transfer of the leadership of the local police to the governors, this position was abolished.

The name, however, survived in St. Petersburg until 1782 as the designation of the chief of the local police.

The post of the all-Russian police chief was renewed by the manifesto on the establishment of the Ministry of Police of June 25, 1810. It said: "the title of Chief of Police is restored under the name of the Minister of Police."

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Notes

Literature

• Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, encyclopedia. Ed. editorship of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, "Olma-press", 2002. ISBN 5-224-03722-0

An excerpt characterizing the Chief of Police

- The power is yours! - said Dron sadly.
- Hey, Dron, leave it! - repeated Alpatych, taking his hand out of his bosom and pointing it with a solemn gesture to the floor under Dron's feet. “I’m not that right through you, I can see through and through everything three yards under you,” he said, peering at the floor under Dron’s feet.
The drone was embarrassed, glanced quickly at Alpatych and dropped his eyes again.
“Leave nonsense and tell the people to get ready to go to Moscow from their homes and prepare carts tomorrow morning for the princess’s wagon train, but don’t go to the gathering yourself.” Do you hear?
The drone suddenly fell at his feet.
- Yakov Alpatych, fire! Take the keys from me, save me for Christ's sake.
- Leave it! - said Alpatych sternly. `` Under you, I can see right through for three yards, '' he repeated, knowing that his skill in following the bees, the knowledge of when to sow oats, and the fact that he had been able to please the old prince for twenty years, had long since acquired his fame as a sorcerer and that the ability to see three yards under a person is attributed to sorcerers.
The drone got up and wanted to say something, but Alpatych interrupted him:
- What are you thinking? Huh? .. What do you think? AND?
- What should I do with the people? - said Dron. - Drilled at all. I tell them even that ...
- That's what I say, - said Alpatych. - Do they drink? He asked shortly.
- All drilled, Yakov Alpatych: another barrel was brought.
- So you listen. I’ll go to the police chief, and you’ll lead the people, so that they abandon it, and so that there are carts.
- Yes, - answered Dron.
More Yakov Alpatych did not insist. He ruled over the people for a long time and knew that the main means for people to obey is not to show them doubts that they can disobey. Having obtained from Dron the obedient "I listen with", Yakov Alpatych was satisfied with this, although he not only doubted, but was almost sure that the carts would not be delivered without the help of the military command.
Indeed, by evening the carts were not collected. In the village at the tavern there was again a gathering, and at the gathering it was supposed to drive the horses into the forest and not give out carts. Without saying anything about this princess, Alpatych ordered to lay down his own luggage from those who came from the Bald Mountains and prepare these horses for the princess's carriages, while he himself went to the authorities.

X
After her father's funeral, Princess Marya locked herself in her room and did not let anyone in. A girl came to the door to say that Alpatych had come to ask for an order to leave. (This was even before Alpatych's conversation with the Drone.) Princess Marya got up from the sofa on which she was lying, and through the closed door said that she would never go anywhere and asked to be left alone.
The windows of the room in which Princess Marya lay were to the west. She was lying on the sofa facing the wall and, fingering the buttons on the leather pillow, she saw only this pillow, and her vague thoughts were focused on one thing: she was thinking about the irreversibility of death and about her spiritual abomination, which she did not know until now and which showed up during her father's illness. She wanted, but did not dare to pray, did not dare, in the state of mind in which she was, turn to God. She lay in this position for a long time.
The sun went down on the other side of the house and oblique evening rays through the open windows illuminated the room and part of the morocco pillow, at which Princess Marya was looking. Her train of thought suddenly stopped. She unconsciously got up, straightened her hair, got up and went to the window, involuntarily breathing in the coolness of a clear but windy evening.