May 30: Ivan Pestel, Governor-General of Siberia and father of the Decembrist Pavel Pestel, died
On May 30, 1843, Ivan Pestel, a high-ranking official during the reigns of Paul I and Alexander I, Governor-General of Siberia, and anti-corruption activist, died in Smolensk at the age of 79. He is also remembered as the father of Pavel Pestel, one of the main participants in the Decembrist Uprising.
Career under Paul I
Ivan Pestel was born in February 1765. He began his career at the Moscow post office, which was headed by his father, and at the age of 24 he took over his father's position.
In 1796, he caught the attention of the newly ascended Paul I, who commissioned the 31-year-old official to rebuild the house where the coronation was planned. In 1798, the emperor, dissatisfied with the speed of mail delivery, appointed Pestel head of the St. Petersburg post office, and then president of the General Postal Board. He was also assigned responsibility for the secret dispatch service and censorship of foreign newspapers.
He held this position for only a year. Count Rostopchin, displeased with his friendship with Paul, staged a provocation and planted a letter about an alleged conspiracy, which concluded with the words:
Don't be surprised that I'm writing to you by mail; our postal director Pestel is with us.
The letter, of course, was intercepted and landed on the emperor’s desk.
The Senate and strict audits
In 1801, Alexander I, who had ascended to the throne, sent Pestel to the Senate. There, he distinguished himself with his independent opinions and conducted several rigorous audits in the Vyatka and Kazan provinces.
Governor-General of Siberia
In 1806, Ivan Pestel was appointed Governor-General of Siberia, overseeing territories from the Ural Mountains to Kamchatka. He refused the position until the very end: all previous Governor-Generals were brought to trial after their careers due to widespread corruption and arbitrary rule.
I had to expect the same fate, because the reasons for it did not disappear.
Upon arriving in Siberia, Pestel uncovered numerous instances of embezzlement by local officials. He also punished the Tobolsk governor, who had awarded a merchant a 200-ruble road repair contract, but just a few days later ordered the peasants to repair the roads themselves.
By establishing order in the region, he suppressed street crime, reduced the price of flour by a third and meat by a fifth.
The most high-profile case was that of the merchant Peredovshchikov, who held a license to sell vodka in many regions of Russia. By diluting it with water and copper sulfate, he stole 600 rubles from the state. Pestel was able to prove his guilt, despite the fact that most senators supported the merchant.
This example brought upon me the persecution of general hatred, I was an obstacle for many in their impure selfish intentions.
Losing income, merchants and the officials who covered for them wrote denunciations against Pestel.
All my ideas related to the good of Siberia were distorted, refuted, or remained unanswered. The ministers were dissatisfied.
Pestel was accused of bribery and arbitrary rule. This seemed plausible, as the governor-general was known for his lust for power, bitterness, vindictiveness, and indulgence of his favorites.
Pestel launched an open, systematic plundering of the entire region, cut off from Russia by his spies. Not a single letter crossed the border unopened. And woe to the man who dared write anything about Pestel's methods of governance. (Alexander Herzen)
Remote control and resignation
From 1809, Pestel lived in St. Petersburg to be closer to the court and counter denunciations. For nearly ten years, he governed Siberia from a distance, relying on reports from his protégés, and enjoyed the emperor's unwavering trust.
I demand that you have no dealings with anyone regarding your governance in Siberia except with me, without any mediation (Alexander I)
Meanwhile, Pestel's absence from Siberia gave local authorities ample scope for harassment and embezzlement. Ultimately, in 1819, he was dismissed.
He settled on a small estate near Smolensk. Despite rumors of bribery, he lived in extremely straitened circumstances and spent the rest of his life paying off debts incurred during his service.
My conscience is clear, and I wish that others could say the same about themselves.
The last meeting with my son
In June 1826, Pestel returned to St. Petersburg. He met with his arrested son, Pavel Pestel, at the Peter and Paul Fortress. He turned out to be one of the main participants in the Decembrist Uprising. Upon returning to the village, he learned that his son had already been hanged.
