“No Fundament – No Building”: The Russian Ambassador in Vienna Count Heinrich Keyserling about the “Gentlemen of the Embassy”

Abstract

This is a publication of a source from the funds of the Archives of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire – a private letter in German from 1754 written by the Russian Ambassador at Vienna, Count Heinrich Carl Keyserling, to Vice-Chancellor Count Mikhail Vorontsov and its translation into Russian from the Collegium of Foreign Affairs. The letter contains not only precious pieces of information on how the Russian mission in Vienna functioned, but also the ambassador’s reflections on the shortcomings of the preparation of young Russian nobles, sent abroad to acquire practical knowledge and skills, for state service. Gentlemen were recruited both from the offspring of the most prominent families, and from lesser nobles living on their salaries. For the former, their stay abroad was a form of grand tour, a journey with educational goals which implied attending foreign courts and socialisation in a court milieu before appointment as ambassador or envoy to one European country or another; for the latter, on the other hand, serving abroad was a career leap, an entrance-ticket to the administrative elite of the Russian Empire. Keyserling properly defines the core problem – non-systematic education and a lack of basic knowledge indispensable for building up a successful career – and suggests measures which the government should introduce in order to improve the qualification of the future diplomats. In his response, the Vice-Chancellor suggested using all educational methods, including attending the Vienna mission archives, and thus apparently recognised that the Russian educational system was not ready to prepare skilled diplomats from the higher and middling echelons of society.