Prince Michael Vorontsov: Viceroy to the Tsar

Hans B. Neumann is a history lecturer at Scarborough College, University
of Toronto.

What can one say about a book that John Keep, one of the most eminent
names in modern Russian and Soviet history, praises on the dust jack as
“one of the finest studies in modern Russian history to have been
produced in recent years”? Even the most hard-nose critic would find
it difficult to disagree. This accomplishment looms all the larger given
Rhinelander’s own reservations (stated in the preface) about biography
as a vehicle for historical scholarship.

Rhinelander, a history professor, has chosen a remarkable man as his
book’s subject. Vorontsov, scion of one of the wealthiest aristocratic
families of Old Russia, was raised in England. He served with
distinction in the Russian army during the Napoleonic wars, and was
appointed governor-general of “New Russia” in 1823 and viceroy of
Caucasia in 1844. While in the latter two positions, he was one of the
tsar’s ablest administrators, and he is credited with more securely
tying these newly acquired territories to the Russian throne. As an
“enlightened conservative,” he is also credited by Rhinelander with
successfully fostering programs of educational, health, and cultural
improvements; economic development (coal and railroads in New Russia);
and a subtle and sophisticated russification, if not westernization, of
the territories.

Although largely based on Russian primary sources, along with the
panoply of academic scholarship, the subject matter is presented in a
lucid style unencumbered by excessive Russian terms and anomalies. The
book is therefore accessible to the general reader. Chapters and
sections are clearly organized.

Of particular interest to the general reader is the brief and unhappy
encounter Vorontsov had in the early 1820s with Russia’s greatest
poet, Alexander Pushkin. To scholars, the brief historiographical
discussion of Vorontsov will probably be especially interesting.
Rhinelander’s assessment of Vorontsov’s status in Russian history
closely echoes the more generalized opinion of another eminent student
of Russian history, Marc Raeff. Rhinelander sums up Vorontsov in this
manner: “He typified the influential imperial official who did not
want to see a strong, professionalized bureaucracy develop. . . . It was
this autocratic principle that prevented the full and modern
systematization of the law and bureaucracy through the empire.”
Ultimately, despite the undeniable talents and contributions by members
of Vorontsov’s social class, their refusal to move aside had dire
consequences for the vast dominions of Old Russia.