Contenu du sommaire : Autour du XVIII e siècle

John P. Le Donne, The territorial reform of the Russian empire, 1775-1796. I: Central Russia, 1775-1784. This article traces the changes brought about by the reforms of the 1780's in the administrative map of central Russia. Steps taken at the very beginning of the reign of Catherine to create a uniform system of local administration exposed the obsoleteness of the territorial division created in 1727. Much preparatory work was done in the 1760's and the reform began soon after the first Turkish war. It eliminated the province as the intermediate level between the guberniia and the uezd, raised most of the provincial capitals to the status of guberniia capitals and considerably increased the number of uezdy. In addition to considerations of administrative efficiency stimulated by the rationalist current dominating the intellectual world of the reign, the territorial reform pursued political ends in the form of a redistribution of functions between the central government and the provinces, and it established a solid infrastructure dominated by provincial landowners to defend the foundations of the social order.

André Monnier, A Russian Utopia at the time of Catherine the Great. This article analyzes the little known work of Prince Shcherbatov: Journey to Ophiria. It is a Utopia reverting to the past, in which easily detectable criticism of the present merges with nostalgia for a patriarchal Russia where nobility's power was untramelled by autocracy. The author proceeds to examine the various aspects of Shcherbatov's ideal: a society founded on hierarchic precedences, pure morals safeguarded by police as well as by religion, political order based on limitations of the sovereign's prerogatives by the aristocracy.

Giliane Besset, Commercial relations between Bordeaux and Russia in the 18th century. In the 18th century, Bordeaux was renowned throughout the world for its wines; but it was also a port in full expansion which, on the one hand, maintained its activity as a warehouse and functioned as a redistributor of goods throughout the whole of northern Europe, and, on the other hand, developed new links with countries that until then were not included in the usual commercial circuits, in particular, with Russia. It is Peter I who took the initiative of establishing closer contacts between Bordeaux and Russia. This policy was inspired in the first place by the desire to compete with the Dutch fleet and, if possible, to supplant it in the domain of wine transport. But it was too early as yet and in spite of the presence of the Russian consul in Bordeaux, the experience ended in a total failure. As a matter of fact, it is during the reign of Catherine II that really solid connections were to be developed between Russia and Bordeaux, marked in 1767 by the nomination of a Russian consul in that city, whose mission it was to encourage Russian navigation directed towards this port. Later on, the increased demand of Russia for colonial products and wines, the growing interest of Bordeaux tradesmen for commercial exchange with Russia and the constant arrival of Russian boats contributed to maintain relations between Russia and Bordeaux, in spite of the protectionist policy of the government and the predominance of the Hanseatic League and of Holland in the international commercial circuit. The lasting character of these relations is demonstrated by the fact that the Russian government maintained a consul in Bordeaux until 1914.

R. P. Bartlett, Diderot and the foreign colonies of Catherine II. During his visit to St. Petersburg in 1773-74, Diderot presented to Catherine II an anonymous memorandum on the foreign colonies recently established on the river Volga. The article introduces and prints the text of this paper, which was omitted from P. Vernière's Mémoires pour Catherine II (Paris, 1966). The memorandum analyses the poor state of the colonies and presents a project for their economic and social development. While the analysis of the colonists' difficulties is persuasive, the project is excessively optimistic and would have further oppressed the colonies it was designed to help. Its general approach fitted well with government views after 1774, but there is no evidence that it influenced Catherine II. It is suggested that the author was François Pierre Pictet, at one time Catherine's French-language secretary, and closely involved in the colonies in their early years. Diderot must have been attracted by proposals which seemed to combine personal and property rights for the colonists with economic growth and the development of a third estate.

Inès Muller De Morogues, N. S. Leskov. First controversies. January 1860-May 1862. This article is devoted to Leskov' s first polemical works between January 1860 and mid-May 1862. The first in date is "A few words about police doctors in Russia", in which Leskov denounced the corruption of police doctors. The article was noticed by the ministry of the Interior, in consequence of which Leskov engaged in a controversy with V. I. Askochenskii and Domashniaia beseda. In his article "Literary men with blue blood", Leskov participated in a controversy which opposed the press of Petersburg to that of Moscow, in particular to the conservative section of the latter. Finally, in a series of editorials of Severnaia pchela, Leskov launches regular attacks against the radicals. These diversified and violent polemics throw a light on the isolation in which Leskov found himself after the scandal of Nowhere to go.