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The Supreme Privy Council established
On February 8 (19), 1726 under the decree of Catherine I was established the Supreme Privy Council – formally the supreme state institution of Russia in charge of the most important domestic and foreign affairs in Russia.
After the death of Emperor Peter I in 1725, his wife Catherine ascended the throne. She created the Supreme Privy Council from among the companions of the late Emperor, which was to advise the Sovereign what is to be done in public decision-making. Council was in charge of the boards, while the role the Senate declined, which had manifested itself in particular in renaming of the "Governing Senate" to "High Senate."
At first the Privy Council numbered seven members: A. D. Menshikov, F. M. Apraksin, G. I. Golovkin, P. A. Tolstoy, A. N. Osterman, D. M. Golitsyn, representing the interest of the highborn nobility, and Catherine’s I son-in-law duke Carl Golshtinsky.
The members of the Supreme Privy Council elaborated for Catherine I “the opinion on the established Privy Council” where they determined the rights and functions of this body. It was supposed that all the most important decisions must be made only by the Supreme Privy Council and any emperor’s decree must end by the words ‘issued at the Privy Council’. The Privy Council was in charge of the foreign policy, army and navy, appointment of the highest officials (including senators), control over the collegiums, financial management and supervisory authorities.
Financial issues, which were in the center of the council activities, its members tried to solve in two ways: by streamlining the accounting and control over public revenue and expenditure, and by savings. Collecting the poll tax and recruits was no longer the duty of the Army but of civilian authorities; military units were withdrawn from rural to urban areas, and some officers of the nobles sent on long leave without receiving their salaries. To save money, the Council members resolved to eliminate a number of local establishments (outdoor courts, offices of Zemstvo commissioners) and reduction of the number of employees locally. Part of the petty officials, who had no class rank, has been stripped of their salaries.
Supreme Privy Council removed restrictions on trade of certain goods, abolished many restrictive tariffs and created favorable conditions for foreign merchants, in particular, previously illegal trade via the port of Arkhangelsk was now authorized. In 1726 was signed a treaty of alliance with Austria, which defined the character of Russian policy in the international arena for a few decades.
If under Catherine I the Council was a deliberative body with the wide-ranged authorities, under Peter II it concentrated the entire power in its hands. At first it was Menshikov who was in command, but in September of 1727 he was arrested and deposed. On the initiative of aristocrats who had strengthen their position, first of all Golitsyn and Dolgorukiy, in January of 1730 after the death of Peter II the Supreme Privy Council rejected all the candidates of the Catherine I will and invited to the throne Anna Ioanovna, widow duchesse of Kurland.
At the same time on the initiative of Golitsyn was decided to reform the political system of Russia by the elimination of the autocracy and the introduction of a limited monarchy. To this end, Council members suggested that the future Empress sign a special arrangement - "Conditions" under which she was deprived of autonomy to make policy decisions: to make peace and declare war, appoint to public offices, to change the tax system.
Lack of unity among the supporters of the Supreme Privy Council, who tried to limit the power of the Empress, led to the fact that Anna Ioanovna, having arrived to Moscow, tore the “Conditions” to pieces in public, supported by gentry and guards.
Under the manifesto of March 4 (15), 1730 the Supreme Privy Council was abolished and the majority of its members were exiled.
Lit.: Анисимов Е. В. Россия без Петра: 1725-1740. СПб., 1994; Вяземский Б. Л. Верховный тайный совет. СПб., 1909; Островский В. Власть в тайне. Как Россия осталась без палаты лордов // Петербургский дневник. 2006. 31 июля (№ 29 (88)); То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://www.spbdnevnik.ru/?show=article&id=418; Протоколы Верховного тайного совета, 1726-1730 гг. М., 1858; Филиппов А. Н. История Сената в правление Верховного тайного совета и Кабинета. Юрьев, 1895; Филиппов А. Н. Кабинет министров и его сравнение с Верховным тайным советом: Речь, произнесённая в торжественном собрании Императорского Юрьевского университета, 12 декабря 1897 г. Юрьев, 1898.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Полное собрание законов Российской Империи. Собрание 1-е. СПб., 1723-1727. СПб., 1830. Т. 8. № 5510;