The Bumpy Road to St. Petersburg, or the Difficult Beginnings of the Delegation of the Grodno Nobility of 1810

Abstract

The example of the nobility of the guberniya of Vilnius, who in 1810 dared to submit a series of economic demands to the Russian government, prompted a similar action amongst the nobility of the Grodno guberniya. In August 1810 a delegation was appointed that was to travel to the capital. At its head in November 1810 was Duke Xavier Drucki-Lubecki, who moved toward the Neva at the end of the same year. The delayed departure of the noble envoys was due to difficulties with the formation of the delegation and the unstable position of the governor and the guberniya’s marshal of the nobility, the lack of funds, personal animosities, and disbelief in part of the nobility in the sense of the project and its success.