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Birthday anniversary of Dmitry V. Dashkov, Russian statesman and literary figure
“…he followed all branches of science and literature, he read incessantly, and penetrated deeply into the history of nations and the political scene of his time. He knew Russian literature in all the details and none of the works was left unattended, even when he occupied important positions”.
M. A. Dmitriyev
25 December 1788 (5 January 1789) in Moscow was born Dmitry V. Dashkov, Russian statesman and literary figure.
Dmitry Dashkov received a good education at home and then attended the Noble Boarding School at the Moscow University, graduating in 1801. In 1801-1810 he served in the Moscow archives of the Foreign Affairs Board. From 1810 he worked in St. Petersburg, at the Ministry of Justice under the I. I. Dmitriev.
Dashkov’s literary fame was associated with his active participation in the dispute "about the old and the new style" in which he played the enemy of Admiral A. S. Shishkov and his supporters. In the early 1810s Dashkov actively participated in the literary life of the capital: he was elected to the St. Petersburg Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts, was the founder and one of the members of the literary society "Arzamas". Maintained close ties with N. M. Karamzin, A. P. Vyazemsky, was close with A. S. Pushkin.
After a short service in the Office of the Secretary of State P. S. Molchanov, from 1816 Dmitry Vasilyevich served at the Foreign Affairs Board. In 1817 with the rank of state councilor was attached to the Russian Mission to Constantinople, from July 1818 - was appointed second counselor of the Embassy under the Count Kapodistrias.
In the spring of 1821 during the Greek-Turkish clashes, Dashkov’s intervention saved from death dozens of Greek families. After the rupture of diplomatic relations with Turkey in 1822, Dmitry Vasilyevich managed the Constantinople mission. Upon his return to St. Petersburg he remained in service of the Department of Foreign Affairs, in 1823 he was appointed a member of the Commission to formulate laws. In 1826 and 1835 worked in commissions on the peasant question. On the initiative of Dashkov was improved the membership of the Senate office, clerical work in the Senate was subject to certain rules, the order of making definitions in the Senate was developed.
During the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829, Dmitry Dashkov was in the retinue of the Emperor Nicholas I in the main headquarters of the regular army. Dashkov was one of the compilers of "Organic Regulations" of Wallachia and Moldavia, the first constitutional document in the Danubian Principalities; he took an active part in the development of terms of a peace treaty with Turkey. In 1829, he was a temporary acting chief superintendent of spiritual affairs of foreign religions.
From February 1832 to February 1839 Dmitry Vasilyevich was the Minister of Justice. He was an advocate of separation of the executive power and judicial process, transparency of legal procedure, administration of the legal profession, but as a minister was forced to confine himself to partial changes in the legal proceedings. During his ministerial work was completed the compilation of the first "Code of laws of the Russian Empire," opened the Imperial Law School, established commercial courts and the statutes of trade justice. Dashkov did a lot for the development of archives in Russia: there was created the State Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1834), improved the work of the Moscow archives of the Senate.
In February 1839 Dashkov was appointed a member of the State Council, Chairman of the Department of the laws of the State Council and the chief superintendent of the 2nd Department of His Majesty's Office which was in charge of the codification of laws. From December 1831 he had been an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He was honored with a number of senior Russian orders: of St. Anne, 1st class (1828), of the White Eagle (1832), of St. Alexander Nevsky (1832).
Dmitry V. Dashkov died November 26 (December 8), 1839 in St. Petersburg, and was buried in the crypt Lazarevskaya, the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
Lit.: Дмитриев М. Мелочи из запаса моей памяти. М., 1854. С. 147—155; Иванов П. Опыт биографий генерал-прокуроров и министров юстиции. СПб., 1863. С. 152—164; Из записок барона Корфа // Русская старина. 1899. Т. 99. С. 26—28; Т. 100. С. 532—540; Краткий очерк деятельности Второго Отделения Собств. Е. И. В. Канцелярии. СПб., 1876; Министерство юстиции за сто лет 1802-1902. Исторический очерк. СПб., 1902; Обозрение службы Д. В. Дашкова // Русский архив. 1891. № 2. С. 331—333; Письма Жуковского к Дашкову // Русский архив. 1868. С. 837—843; Руммель В., Голубцов В. Родословный сборник русских дворянских фамилий. Т. 1. СПб., 1886; Сушков Н. В. Московский университетский благородный пансион. М., 1858. С. 89; Тихомиров Н. С. Д. В. Дашков и гр. Д. И. Хвостов // Русская старина. 1884. Т. 11—13. С. 105—113.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials: