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Birthday anniversary of Count Dmitry N. Bludov, Russian statesman
5 (16) April 1785 in the village of Romanovo, Shuisky District, Vladimir Province, in an ancient noble family was born Russian statesman, diplomat, writer, Count Dmitry Nikolaevich Bludov.
Dmitry Bludov received an excellent education at home. In 1800, he moved to Moscow and joined the Moscow Archive of the College of Foreign Affairs. During his service from 1800 to 1802 D. N. Bludov had participated in editing and translating of collections of diplomatic articles. There he met with D. V. Dashkov, subsequently - with the V. A. Zhukovsky, P. A. Vyazemsky.
After the enthronement of Emperor Alexander I, D. N. Bludov entered the service in St Petersburg, College of Foreign Affairs. He became interested in liberal ideas of the young emperor and welcomed the proposed reforms. In 1807 Bludov received his first diplomatic assignment and was sent to Holland. From 1810 Dmitry had been the Chief of diplomatic office of commander in chief of the Danube army in the Turkish War, General H. M. Kamensky. From 1812 he had been an adviser, and in 1813-1814 - Charge d'Affaires of the Russian mission in Stockholm, a supporter of rapprochement between Russia and Sweden. Bludov enjoyed the patronage of I. A. Capodistria, on behalf of which he had introduced foreign press with the current situation in Russia and through British newspapers defended the policy of the Russian state from attacks of the foreign press. In 1820, illness forced Dmitry Nikolayevich to return home; having arrived from London, he had come to grips with the publication of diplomatic acts.
Back in 1812-1815, Bludov plunged into the struggle of literary parties, having adhered to the school of N. M. Karamzin and the circle of V. A. Zhukovsky. In contrast to literary evenings by A. S. Shishkov (“Talks of amateurs of Russian literature"), D.N. Bludov joined by V. A. Zhukovsky, S. S. Uvarov, and D. V. Dashkov, had created their own society "Arzamas ", which had been meeting in Bludov’s apartment. Almost all the major literary works of that era had been read in the house of Dmitrii Nikolaevich in hand-written versions.
In 1826 Nicholas I appointed D. N. Bludov the office secretary of the supreme commission of inquiry in the case of the uprising of 14 (26) December 1825. At the end of the case of the Decembrists Bludov was appointed State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Education. In 1828 he was appointed chief steward of foreign denominations, had been engaged in arrangement of the Greek Uniate church.
In 1830 Bludov ran the Ministry of Justice replacing the Minister Dashkov. In late 1820s - early 1830s he conducted considerable work selecting and compiling the most important archival documents in the State Archives. In the years 1832-1839 he had been Minister of the Interior. Bludov guided the work on improvement of activity of the Ministry and its subordinate institutions: under the guidance of Bludov were organized territorial police units in districts, it was decided to publish "Gubernskie vedomosti” in all provinces; Bludov participated in the development of "Mandate to the civil governors of the Russian Empire" (1837). From 1837, for two years, Bludov had been at the headed the Department of Justice, in 1839 he was appointed Chief Manager of II Department of His Majesty's Office, a member of the State Council and chairman of the department of laws. Under his editorship the II Department had issued two editions of the Code of Laws (1842 and 1857). In 1845 was issued “The Penal Code” composed by the II Department.
In 1855 Bludov was elected president of the Academy of Sciences, Chairman of the Board of Jewish asylum and orphanages. From 1857, he had been a member of the committee for review the rulings of serfdom. In early 1860s Bludov was appointed chairman of the State Council. Under his chairmanship had been approved statutes on Zemstvo institutions and legal statutes.
February 19 (March 2), 1864 Dmitry Bludov died and was buried at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.
Lit.: Блудов Д. Н. Мысли и замечания графа Дмитрия Николаевича Блудова. СПб., 1866; Блудов Д. Н. Общая объяснительная записка к проекту Нового уложения о наказаниях уголовных и исправительных. СПб., 1844; Блудов Д. Н. Общая объяснительная записка к Проекту нового гражданского уложения Царства Польского. СПб., 1853; Блудов Д. Н. Памяти графа Дмитрия Николаевича Блудова: Чтения в заседании Имп. Рус. археол. о-ва 3 марта 1864 г. СПб., 1864; Блудов Д. Н. Речь президента Академии наук в заседании 23 декабря 1855 года. СПб., 1856; Ковалевский Е. П. Граф Блудов и его время. СПб., 1866; Мавлиханова Е. А. Дмитрий Николаевич Блудов – «продолжатель истории Карамзина» // Рождественский сборник. Ковров, 2010. Вып. 17; Никитенко А. В. Воспоминание о бывшем президенте Академии наук графе Д. Н. Блудове. СПб., 1864; Осьмое января 1851 года: [Описание празднования юбилея пятидесятилетней службы гр. Дмитрия Николаевича Блудова]. СПб., 1851; Попов А. Н. Несколько слов, произнесенных 3-го марта 1864 года в чрезвычайном собрании Русского археологического общества, в память покойного графа Д. Н. Блудова, А. Поповым. СПб., 1864.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Блудов Д. Н. Завещание и последние дни жизни императора Николая Первого. М., 1856;
Блудов Д. Н. Последние часы жизни императора Николая Первого. СПб., 1855;
Лонгинов М. Н. Покойный граф Дмитрий Николаевич Блудов. [М., 1864];