On the Perception of Alexander I among the Decembrists: The Emperor in Newly Found Memoirs and Letters of S. P. Trubetskoy

The article analyzes the information shedding light on the attitude of representatives of the young generation of liberal-minded nobles to the personality of Alexander I, his internal and foreign policies, rumors and reports about his intentions and views. These data are drawn from sources of personal origin recently discovered and published with comments for general public access – previously unknown memoirs and letters of the Decembrist S. P. Trubetskoy, addressed to his comrade, later Senator I. N. Tolstoy. The noble liberal opposition that arose after the end of the Napoleonic wars, as new sources confirm, had a contradictory attitude towards Alexander I. On the one hand, the “liberalists” defended the need for major changes, including the abolition of serfdom and the constitution building, on the other hand, they were dissatisfied with the fact that, in their opinion, interests of nobility (first and foremost economic ones) were ignored by the authorities when designing reforms. Authentic materials of the epoch, such as the newly found letters of S. P. Trubetskoy, allow us to come to the conclusion about the ambivalent attitude of the Decembrists to the reform projects of Alexander I and the great expectations placed on the Tsar by the “liberalists”. However, at the same time the sources demostrate the growing skepticism about internal politics, fear of ill-conceived and inconsistent with the needs of the nobility transformations, such as the forced abolition of serfdom without taking into account the economic interests of nobility.