His Majesty's Own Chancery
HIS MAJESTY'S OWN CHANCERY
His Majesty's Own Chancery was formally founded by Paul I (r. 1796–1801) in 1796. Centralizing power further, Nicholas I (r. 1825–1855) greatly expanded the Chancery's power and role in government, placing it above the regular bureaucracy and under his direct control. As the Russian bureaucracy grew during the nineteenth century, the emperors struggled to maintain personal control over it and to have it carry out the imperial will. The Chancery was one solution to this problem. It provided a mechanism for greater monarchical control over government and society, and it gave the emperor the opportunity to bypass bureaucratic inertia.
In 1826 two departments were added to the Chancery. The First Section prepared documents and papers for the emperor's review and supervised the bureaucracy's personnel. The Second Section worked on the codification of the empire's laws, resulting in the publication in 1832 of The Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire. After the death of Empress Maria Fedorovna in 1828, a Fourth Section was established to handle her sizeable charitable endowments. In 1836, a Fifth Section studied the conditions under which the state peasants lived, and implemented reforms designed to improve them. In contrast to serfs, who were owned by the nobility, state peasants belonged to the emperor, which gave the government greater flexibility in regard to reform. More importantly, its research became the basis for the emancipation of the serfs legislation that was passed by Alexander II in 1861. In 1842, a Sixth Section was charged with the establishment of Russian administrative control in the Caucasus. These last two sections had a relatively short existence, and were closed when the tasks assigned to them were completed.
The Third Section, founded in 1826, became the most famous—or infamous—part of the Chancery, because of its police and supervisory functions that were equivalent to an internal intelligence service. It was a relatively effective state organ for the collection and analysis of information and for the implementation of the emperor's will. Five subsections handled wide ranging duties. The first of these was the most secret, and probably the most important from the government's point of view. It conducted investigations into political crimes, and maintained surveillance of society, and it kept watch on groups and individuals that were deemed politically unreliable. After the revolutions of 1848 in several European countries, its activities intensified, reflecting the government's, and Nicholas's, growing fear of penetration of radical revolutionary ideas into Russia. A second subsection handled corruption and crime within the state apparatus. The third kept an eye on foreigners living in Russia. The fourth managed and controlled relations between peasants and landowners. Censorship and control over printed matter was assigned to the fifth subsection.
The Third Section also had an executive body known as the Gendarme Corps, who were personal representatives of the emperor. Members of the corps were assigned to individual governorships and large cities, where they played the role of arbiter between society and local governments while supervising both. The corps provided the emperor with reliable information on the condition of his empire. Nicholas could not completely control the bureaucratic machine that was his Chancery, however. For example, the Third Section maintained surveillance on the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, illegally and without his or the emperor's knowledge.
In the 1880s, the Chancery underwent serious reorganization. Many of its functions were transferred to the ministries and the central bureaucracy. The Ministry of the Interior took over many of the responsibilities of the Third Section. The Gendarme Corps remained in existence until 1917 as an elite police force, but its central position did not survive after the death of Nicholas I. By the reign of Nicholas II, His Majesty's Own Chancery handled only questions related to promotions and pensions of bureaucrats.
See also: nicholas i
bibliography
Lincoln, W. Bruce. (1978). Nicholas I: Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias. London: Indiana University Press.
Saunders, David. (1992). Russia in the Age of Reaction and Reform. London: Routledge.
Seton-Watson, Hugh. (1991). The Russian Empire 1801–1917. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Yaney, George. (1973). The Systemization of Russian Government. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Zhand P. Shakibi