Alexander Bezborodko

Prince Alexander Andreyevich Bezborodko (Russian: Александр Андреевич Безбородко; 25 March [O.S. 14 March] 1747 – 6 April 1799) was the chancellor of the Russian Empire from 1797 to 1799, and the chief architect of Catherine the Great's foreign policy after the death of Nikita Panin.

Аleksander Bezborodko was born in Glukhov, Cossack Hetmanate, Russian Empire (now Hlukhiv, Ukraine) on 25 March [O.S. 14 March] 1747 into a family of Zaporozhian Cossack noble descent. His father, Andrey Bezborodko, was a general scribe (chancellor), while his mother, Eudokia, was a daughter of the general judge Mikhail Zabila.

He was educated at home and at Kiev-Mohyla Academy. Upon finishing his education, he entered the public service as a clerk in the office of Peter Rumyantsev, then the governor-general of Little Russia, whom he accompanied to the Turkish War in 1768. He was present at the engagements of Larga and Kagul, and at the storming of Silistria. In 1774 Bezborodko was appointed colonel of Kyiv Regiment.

On the conclusion of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774, the field marshal recommended him to Catherine II, and she appointed him in 1775 her petition-secretary. He thus had the opportunity of impressing the empress with his brilliant gifts, the most remarkable of which were exquisite manners, a marvellous memory and a clear and pregnant style. At the same time he set to work to acquire the principal European languages, especially French, of which he became a master. It was at this time that he wrote his historical sketches of the Tatar wars and of Ukraine.

His activity was prodigious, and Catherine called him her factotum. In 1780, he accompanied her on her journey through Novorossiya, meeting the emperor Joseph II, who urged him to study diplomacy. On his return from a delicate mission to Copenhagen, he presented to the empress "a memorial on political affairs" which comprised the first plan of a partition of Turkey between Russia and Austria. This document was transmitted almost word for word to Vienna as the Russian proposals. He followed this up by Epitomised Historical Information concerning Moldavia. For these two state papers he was rewarded with the posts of "plenipotentiary for all negotiations " in the foreign office and postmaster-general.

From this time he was inseparably associated with Catherine in all important diplomatic affairs, though officially he was the subordinate of the vice-chancellor, Count Ivan Osterman. He wrote all the most important despatches to the Russian ministers abroad, concluded and subscribed all treaties, and performed all the functions of a secretary of state. He identified himself entirely with Catherine's political ideas, even with that of re-establishing the Greek empire under her grandson Constantine. The empress, as usual, richly rewarded her comes with pensions and principalities. In 1786, he was promoted to the Governing Senate, and it was through him that the empress communicated her will to that august state-decoration. In 1787 he accompanied Catherine on her triumphal progress through South Russia in the capacity of minister of foreign affairs. At Kanev, he conducted the negotiations with the Polish king, Stanislaus II, and at Novaya Kaidaniya he was in the empress's carriage when she received Joseph II.

The second Turkish War (1787–1792) and the Swedish war with Gustavus III (1788–1790) heaped fresh burdens on his already heavily laden shoulders, and he suffered from the intrigues of his numerous jealous rivals, including the empress's latest favorite, A. M. Mamonov. All his efforts were directed towards the conclusion of the two oppressive wars by an honorable peace. The pause of Verela with Gustavus III (14 August 1790) was on the terms dictated by him. On the sudden death of Potemkin, he was despatched to Jassy to prevent the peace congress there from breaking up, and succeeded, in the face of all but insuperable difficulties, in concluding a treaty exceedingly advantageous to Russia (9 January 1792). For this service he received the thanks of the empress, the ribbon of St. Andrew, and 50,000 rubles.

On his return from Jassy, however, he found his confidential post of secretary of petitions occupied by the empress's last favorite, Platon Zubov. He complained of this "diminution of his dignity" to the empress in a private memorial in the course of 1793. The empress reassured him by fresh honors and distinctions on the occasion of the solemn celebration of the peace of Jassy (2 September 1793), when she publicly presented him with a golden olive-branch encrusted with brilliants. Subsequently, Catherine reconciled him with Zubov, and he resumed the conduct of foreign affairs. He contributed more than any other man to bring about the downfall and the third partition of Poland, for which he was magnificently recompensed.