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Ferdinand Wrangel: "A good republic, where its head is the biggest thief, the most shameless braggart, a completely ignorant person"

Ferdinand Wrangel is not only a famous navigator and diplomat, but also a writer. Last year I wrote an article for a publication about his "Diary of a Journey from Sith to St. Petersburg via Mexico." But as a writer, Wrangel became famous not for this, but for another diary.

The manuscript describing the journey of Ferdinand Wrangel to Siberia and the shores of the Arctic Ocean in 1820-1824, lost in the Russian archives, was unexpectedly translated into German in 1839, and it aroused great interest in the West. At the same time, the book was translated into English. Soon an additional edition was required, after which the book of Baron Wrangel was finally published in Russia.

But the diary of Wrangel's journey through California and Mexico was waiting for publication for a century and a half. It was published only in 1971 by the Nauka publishing house.

A diary of a journey from Sitka (Alaska) to St. Petersburg through Mexico was kept for six months - from October 13, 1835 to May 22, 1836.

Baron Wrangel kept a diary in four languages at once - combining Russian, German, French and Spanish.

In addition to travel impressions, Ferdinand Wrangel also placed several diplomatic letters in his diary (they were written in Spanish).

Baron Wrangel, taking advantage of the fact that he was passing through Mexico, as an authorized representative of the Russian-American company, tried to establish Russian-Mexican relations. He was especially interested in the intentions of the acting president of Mexico regarding the development of trade relations.

He signed his letters to the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico: Baron F. Wrangel, former governor of Russian possessions in America, captain 1st rank of the Russian Imperial Navy, holder of the orders of St. Anna and St. Vladimir.

Apparently, although Wrangel was a statesman, he reserved diplomatic tact only for official letters. In the diaries, he allowed himself caustic remarks about foreign orders. Much sounds like it was written yesterday. Not today.

“The government is weak, unscrupulous, and whatever it takes, everything goes out of hand very badly,” Wrangel wrote in his diary. - A good republic, where its head is the biggest thief, the most shameless braggart, a completely ignorant person; the members of the government are creatures of this man; there is no opposition in the Chamber of Deputies, nor in the press!!”

Wrangel also talked about the excessive centralization of power, in particular, about the refusal to elect governors. He was very interested in the mood of foreign interlocutors. He wrote: "There are people who predict an imminent coup and a new revolution."

Wrangel's diary is not just a traveler's notes. It is also an analytical document in which the diplomat discussed the causes of possible political upheavals.

“Nothing is being done for public education; - he wrote, - for order and security - also nothing, things are conducted indifferently, in any case incomprehensibly sluggishly, and this is the only result of representative government; the slowness of office work is not rewarded by the development of freedom and prudence of self-government; no, everything is based on personal interests, which everyone, whether high-ranking or the lowest, thinks first of all.

This, of course, was not about Russia, but about Mexico. And Wrangel made the following conclusion:

“If it were in Russia, then completely different things would happen in the cities than in Mexico.”

Wrangel compared Russian and Mexican inhabitants. And the comparison was not in favor of the Mexicans. According to Ferdinand Wrangel, the Russian inhabitants, in particular the peasants, are more energetic and less complacent than the Mexicans. Moreover, the author tried to understand the origins of disasters.

Some pages "from Mexican life", written by Wrangel, could later form the basis of the script for some Mexican TV series:

“The influence of the priesthood on the people is great; but this influence is used more for the establishment of gross superstition than for the establishment of morality, which is not to be found here either in the female or in the male sex. Deception and theft in die Tages-ordnung (It's in the order of things (German)). The murder and arson of a Swiss consul is one striking example of many: Vice-President Baragam's aide-de-camp, an army colonel, is convicted of this offense; he had under his secret protection whole gangs of thieves, and some of the monks were also involved in this. When the judge caught the thief-adjutant, then suddenly the judge was poisoned with poison (they say his wife did this) and the investigation, protocols, etc. were taken away. Sister Santana patronizes this slacker…”

Wrangel's diary says:

“The rural people of Mexico are a good people, they are distinguished by good nature, meekness of disposition, politeness, they are easy to manage. Everything that is bad in them is instilled in them by the priests. A priesthood with a huge number of monks represents a real disaster for the country; superstition, immorality, intolerance are nurtured and cherished by this parasitic class.”

However, Wrangel did not like everything in Russia either. He later opposed the transfer of Alaska to the United States. But, as practice shows, in Russia the slowness of office work is also not rewarded by the development of freedom and the prudence of self-government.

Alexey SEMYONOV