Shcherbatov M. M.

Shcherbatov M. M. «On the Corruption of Morals in Russia.» — St. Petersburg: Publication of V. Vrublevsky, 1906. — 84 p.

A publicistic treatise by Prince M. M. Shcherbatov, written in the second half of the 1780s and first published by A. I. Herzen in London only in 1858. In Russia the work was banned by the censorship and saw the light only after 1905. The content is a critical survey of the morals of Russian society in the 18th century; the author paints a picture of the decline of noble morality, linking it to the era of Peter the Great's reforms and the subsequent development of favouritism at court. The treatise combines features of memoirs and political polemics. This edition was published in St. Petersburg by V. Vrublevsky in 1906.

Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Shcherbatov (1733–1790) was a Russian historian, publicist and statesman, descended from the ancient Rurik dynasty. From 1778 he held the post of president of the Chamber Collegium, and from 1779 he was a senator. He was the author of the fundamental "History of Russia from the Earliest Times," brought down to the beginning of the 17th century. He held conservative aristocratic views, criticized the policies of Catherine II, and idealized pre-Petrine order.