Vorontsov and Pushkin, Affairs and Rebellion

Vorontsov had reached Odessa when it was in an identity crisis, and he was no much the better.  The city was overrun with peoples of every nationality-- armenian, turkish, german, french, moldovan, bulgarian, cossack, italian, russian, tatar, albanian, greek, and jewish (which becomes extremely important soon)-- who made no effort to assimilate.

"Through beautiful squares planted with trees and crossed with footpaths circulate the Turk, the Greek, the Russian, the Englishman, the Jew, the Armenian, the Frenchman, the Moldovan, the Pole, the Italian, and the German, most of them wearing the costume appropriate to each and speaking different tongues"

-(Comte de Lagarde, Voyage de Moscou a Vienne, found in the source listed under the entry)

Vorontsov himself had been educated and brought up in Cambridge, England, and had an affinity for all things British.  So who better to suit this cultural conglomeration than a man who was cross-cultural himself?  He was appointed governor-general, the new name given to the city administrator, and reigned fairly, but had a few problems in the system... most notably Alexander Pushkin, who Vorontsov himself had reason to keep watch over.  

Alexander Pushkin was given to romance and theatrics and thus loved Odessa, where Romanticism and theatrics were practically breathed through the air.   He waltzed in and out of the circles of elite, eventually having a too-public affair with Vorontsov's wife, Lise.  She was a renowned thrower of parties, no doubt he met her there and she was smitten with his charm.  Although the affair was known and understood by Vorontsov (who had affairs himself), it was intended to remain quiet, though Pushkin wouldn't have it that way.  The poet began taking shots at the governor, calling him "Half milord, half shopkeeper" and "Half hero, half ignoramus".  

Pushkin's profession at that time was a reporter for Civil Service, although he had never once penned a document for the government.  Vorontsov, angered by his comments, made an arrangement to send him on his first official job, out in the Caucasus writing a survey on the locust infestation.  To remove Pushkin, Vorontsov originally needed express permission from the tsar-- "Deliver me from Pushkin", he once wrote to the empire's premier in a letter.  The locust infestation was a godsend for him.  

The poet pleaded with Vorontsov, writing that he was a famous poet, too famous for locusts, that he knew and Vorontsov knew that he would do a terrible job.  That he had an aneurism that was threatening to pop.  

He was sent anyway.  

Hovever, there are more reasons as to why Pushkin was sent into the countryside for locust eggs.  He was a Decembrists, a revolutionary in his own right, and Vorontsov had reason to suspect he was involved in a revolution of a different kind: The Balkan revolutions of the early 1800s.  

Movements were growing in the Balkans to wrest control over Christian lands from the Muslim Ottoman Empire.  Odessa was the hub of activity, where Balkan rebels could gather to speak and share often disorganized ideas without fear of being caught.  in 1814, the Greek group Philike Hetairia (the Society of Friends) began making plans in Odessa that would lead to a decade of uprisings in the Balkans that would call many romantics to the cause-- and eventually, as in the case of Lord Byron, have them killed.  Odessa was the origin of the Greek Revolution, which had benefitted the Russian Empire, as long as the Ottomans were occupied. However, the Russian government was quick to squash any hints of any other kind of revolution, and forced Pushkin out of government service and into exile again for his so-called radical ideas.  

Vorontsov died while traveling through Odessa in 1856, stressed by the Crimean War, which was between his two homes, England and Russia.  At his funeral, the Archbishop commented that Vorontsov cherished Odessa "like a child, she grew up above all other cities... she became truly the southern capital of Russia" (Innokentii, Slovo pri pogrebenii, 22. Found in Source listed under the entry.)

Mikhael Semyonovich Vorontsov, Governor-General of Odessa and builder of the famous Odessa Steps.

Odessa Steps with a statue of Richelieu at the top, later known as the Potemkin Stairs thanks to Eisenstein's movie.  Scorned as "monstrous" when first built, they were designed so that looking from the top, all that is seen is flat plains dropping into the ocean, and from the bottom all that is seen are the steps, as if one is looking on to Mount Olympus.  

Statue of the poet Pushkin outside the Pushkin Museum in Odessa.

Pictures from Wikipedia.

King, Charles. Odessa: Genius And Death In A City Of Dreams. New York: W.W.
     Norton & Company, Inc., 2011. N. pag. Amazon Kindle. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.