Everyday Political Life in the Cities of the Kingdom of Poland and the Northwestern Provinces in the Early 1860s: The Perspective of Officers and Officials

Starikova Elena Vital'evna Assistant Professor; Department of History; National Research Nuclear University MEPhI Candidate; Faculty of History; Lomonosov Moscow State University 119192 Moscow, Lomonosovsky Prospekt, 27, building 4 e.starikova1403@list.ru Other publications by this author

Shevyrev Alexander Pavlovich ORCID: 0000-0001-5454-2719 PhD in History Associate Professor; Faculty of History; Lomonosov Moscow State University 119192 Moscow, Lomonosovsky Prospekt, 27, building 4 london7579@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

In the early 1860s, there were many Russian military and officials on duty in the Kingdom of Poland and the Northwestern Region, where the political situation was tense at that time. The desire to show their view of the events that took place at that difficult time, to tell about what they witnessed, led to the appearance of a large number of memoirs. The authors primarily recalled political events and their attitude towards them. Although it was not the purpose of the authors to describe the cities, the social and cultural environment in which they lived, but when they found themselves in new places for them, they included in their notes brief mentions of everything unusual and remarkable that they encountered. The Russian military and officials gave vivid descriptions of local life, noting those features that seemed interesting, incomprehensible, and sometimes alien to them.

There is a significant number of works in historiography that examined the political events that took place in the Kingdom of Poland and the Northwestern Region in the early 1860s. The growth of protest activity in the western regions in the 1860s is discussed in detail in the collective works "Between two Uprisings. The Kingdom of Poland and Russia in the 30-50s of the XIX century" ^[1] and "The Western outskirts of the Russian Empire" ^[2], as well as in the works of A. A. Komzolova ^[3], O. R. Ayrapetov ^[4], L. G. Zakharova ^[5] and many others. The authors conducted an in-depth analysis of the causes of the events taking place in the Kingdom of Poland and the Western Region, and also showed how they influenced the future policy of the government in these regions.

In a broader chronological segment, Russian authors have devoted a number of scientific studies to the perception of the cities of the Kingdom of Poland and the Northwestern Territory. In the article "Warsaw through the eyes of Russians. The end of the XVII — beginning of the XX century." I. I. Svirida, based on numerous sources of personal origin, shows that the perception of the city depended in many respects not only on the personality of the authors, but also on the political situation ^[6]. The article by M. D. Dolbilov "The city is hardly its own, but not completely alien: Vilna in the imperial and nationalist imagination of Russians (1860s - early twentieth century)" ^[7] is devoted to the peculiarities of perception of Vilna. Based on sources of personal origin, the work examines the changes in perceptions of the city from the 1860s to the early twentieth century and their relationship to the processes of Russian national self-identification. The problem of perception of Warsaw and its inhabitants is discussed in V. A. Khorev's article "On the persistence of stereotypes" ^[8]. Using the example of the notes of writers who visited Poland in the 19th and 20th centuries, the author shows how they reproduced and at the same time transformed the negative stereotype of the Pole and Poland in their own way.

The purpose of this study is to identify the perception of Russian military and officials about everyday life in "Polish" cities in the period leading up to the uprising of 1863-1864, as well as to analyze what influenced the formation of such an idea. By "Polish" cities, we will mean the cities of the Kingdom of Poland and the Northwestern Region, which were characterized by the predominance of Polish culture. We will refer to those authors as "Russian" officers and officials who came from provinces outside the region under study and stayed in Polish cities for official business.

This period was a time of activation of the Polish national liberation movement, and therefore the paper will examine what manifestations of political activism the authors encountered and how they reacted to them. The article will also draw attention to such factors that influenced the formation of the authors' ideas about cities as urban architecture, the peculiarities of economic life and, importantly, leisure opportunities. Another important aspect that influenced the authors' perception of cities was their relationship with local residents.

The work will explore the view of Russian authors on political events and daily life in the cities of two large regions located in the west of the empire: the Kingdom of Poland and the North-Western Region. This is due to the fact that similar processes took place in them during the designated period, and there are many common features in the memories that unite these two regions. The memoirs contain descriptions of such cities of the Kingdom of Poland as Warsaw, Janow, Ostrolenka, Kalisz, Plotsk, Lodz and the Northwestern region: Vilna, Kovno, Lida, Grodno, Brest-Litovsk, Bialystok. In addition to the listed cities, there are others in the sources, but without detailed characteristics.

The chronological framework of the study covers the years 1860-1862. The timing of the period under study is related to political events that had a strong impact on urban life: the first urban demonstrations began in 1860, and 1862 was chosen as the upper limit, when the demonstration period ends, followed by an open uprising. Most of the authors whose memories were examined in the work arrived in the Kingdom of Poland and the North-Western Region during the designated period. One of them was I. A. Arsenyev, a journalist who was summoned to Warsaw in May 1861 by the governor of the Kingdom of Poland, M. D. Gorchakov, to compile articles in Russian and foreign newspapers about Poland. When I. A. Arsenyev arrived in Warsaw, he no longer found M. D. Gorchakov alive, and N. O. Sukhozanet was correcting the post of governor. The notes reviewed in the study are excerpts from the author's memoir, published in 1886 ^[9]. Another figure who arrived in the Kingdom of Poland in 1861 was N. D. Goremykin. He was assigned to the Warsaw Police and assigned the written task of transforming it. He also subsequently participated "in the commission for the analysis of persons arrested in churches" ^[10]. N. D. Goremykin's article was found in the author's papers by his widow after his death and submitted to the journal ^{[10, p. 440]}.

There were many military men among the authors who left memories of this period, among them: L. L. Drake, an officer of the 6th Libava Infantry Regiment ^[11], M. P. Mezhetsky— a regimental adjutant of the Narva Infantry Regiment ^[12], P. P. Kartsov— an officer of the St. Petersburg Grenadier Regiment ^[13], V. Shcherbovich -Vechora is an officer of the 23rd Nizovsky Infantry Regiment ^[14], regimental doctor I. V. Lyubarsky ^[15], V. A. Potto is an officer of the 3rd Novorossiysk Dragoon Regiment ^[16], A. K. Gaines is an officer of the General Staff ^[17].

The work also examines materials created by people who had lived long enough in the Kingdom of Poland and the Northwestern Region to see how much the cities had changed in the early 1860s. Among them, the memoirs of Major General V. A. were studied. Dokudovsky ^[18], who lived in Warsaw for a long time, and the memoirs of I. A. Nikotin ^[19], who served in the North-Western Region since 1851.

Urban life in the perception of Russian officers and officials.

The life of Russian officers and officials in the cities of the Kingdom of Poland and the Western Region had its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include the presence of a public sphere, even in small towns. The disadvantages were that Russians felt isolated from this rather lively social life.

The centers of the public sphere mentioned by Russian service people were theaters, coffee shops, and zucchini (pastry shops). In Vilna, M. P. Mezhetsky wrote, the officers of his regiment visited all these places, but at the same time noted that in the theater "the Polish troupe gave, of course, plays in Polish, mostly from old Polish life, in old Polish costumes dear to patriots" ^{[12, p. 828]}. Russian Russian and Polish performances were performed at the local theater, but he noted that "the main play in 2-3 acts was always played in Polish and only vaudeville in Russian." "Family dance evenings and masquerades were held in the noble club," but, according to him, "Polish costumes (kuntushi and confederates) prevailed at them" ^{[11, No. 6, pp. 560-561]}.

In Warsaw, leisure opportunities were even more extensive. Russian Russian club existed here, which was located in one of the small rooms on Krakovskoe Suburb Street, where officials, officers and ordinary Russian inhabitants of the main city of the Kingdom of Poland gathered ^{[13, pp. 196, 202]}. Another center of Russian life in the capital of the viceroyalty was the Saxon Hotel, where, as L. L. Drake wrote, officers who were sent here preferred to stay "with low incomes." This was due to its location in a busy part of the city, the "comparative cheapness of the rooms," as well as the fact that "you could have a hearty and very cheap lunch there." A more expensive place was Francois's "Guards" restaurant, "where" a fair amount of money was spent on cash and credit during it." L. L. Drake points out that army officers rarely visited this restaurant ^{[11, No. 9, p. 545]}.

In small towns, "social life, according to the established custom of Polish cities, was concentrated in Zuckern." I. V. Lyubarsky says that the tsukernya in Lida completely replaced the club for officers. He recalls that there you could "not only drink tea or coffee, but also refresh yourself with vodka and snacks," and in the next room, you could have "household dinners." In addition, as entertainment, "there were two billiard tables, several chess boards, and even cards in the side room" ^{[15, No. 3, pp. 819-820]}. Officers often visited zukerni to meet with friends, have tea, learn all the latest news, and also get acquainted with the moods of local residents. M. P. Mezhetsky writes that during the regiment's stay in the same Lida, the military lived quite isolated, but in Zukern they met with local "panes" who came there together with the Polish officers. The author writes that Polish landowners were initially very restrained in dealing with Russians, "but when wine loosened tongues, they began to fervently assure of the need for a rapprochement between the two kindred peoples, praised the old Polish order, condemned the "Moscow", as they called it, and complained about the oppression of Poland" ^{[12, p. 826]}. But in general, M. P. Mezhetsky calls Lida a "backwater" and writes that the military were glad when they were transferred to Vilna in the spring of 1862 ^{[12, p. 827]}. In zukerny, the military could also feel the attitude of the locals. L. L. Drake writes that there was a Malchikovsky pastry shop in Plotsk, where, from his point of view, "all kinds of quibbles were made by the military who went there." As an example, he cites the fact that it was almost impossible to achieve a game of billiards, slow service, and also that they often served not what the military ordered ^{[11, No. 6, p. 564]}.

During the camps in the cities, it was difficult for the military to get closer to the "Polish society." They were mostly forced to communicate with their regimental comrades and the Russians who lived in these cities. L. L. Drake says that in Plock, "family evenings with dancing were organized in the city's club —resort," but because of the "hostile mood of the public," the officers did not really want to attend it, "in short, the military were condemned to almost complete alienation and willy-nilly lived their own circle, or rather, in circles" ^{[11, No. 6, p. 564]}. V. Shcherbovich-Vechora notes that in Seradze "the local society behaved with restraint but coldly towards officers", and during the year-long stay of his battalion in the city "not a single officer was familiar with this society" ^{[14, No. 5, p . 488]}.

The feeling that Russians have found themselves in a place that is not their own is often evident in their memories. In the early 1860s, Vilna was perceived as a Polish city. M. P. Mezhetsky writes that in this city "the Polish language prevailed, even on the signs" ^{[12, p. 828]}. L. L. Drake also noted that "Polish speech was mainly heard on the streets and in shops" ^{[11, No. 6, p. 561]}. Russian Russian Russian Russian authors also drew attention to the composition of officials in cities, among which there were few Russians. I. V. Lyubarsky wrote that Russian people in the administration of the cities of the North-Western Territory were rare, and mostly in provincial cities, and in county towns — "the Russian man was an exceptional phenomenon" ^{[15, No. 3, p. 817]}. The author notes that in government offices and offices, everyone communicated in Polish ^{[15, No. 3, p. 818]}.

In their memoirs, the authors often noticed unusual features of urban economic life. L. L. Drake pointed out an interesting feature of urban life in Bialystok. There was not enough change in the city, and in this regard, local residents and businesses used their own "banknotes". The surrounding factories issued homemade money from pieces of drape indicating the name of the factory and the face value, small pieces of paper were used, with the name of the service, for example, "for cutting a goose 50 K.", postage stamps were also used as money ^{[11, No. 8, p. 338]}.

In Stopnitsa, according to V. A. Potto, trade was extremely poorly developed: "Good goods are rare in shops, and if there are (especially canvas and cigars), they are smuggled here from the hands of other Jews who trade illegally along the borders of Austria and Prussia" ^{[16, 1867, No. 8, pp. 296-297]}.

When visiting new cities, the military and officials also paid attention to their appearance. In their memoirs, the authors described the structure of cities, their degree of cleanliness, and notable architectural structures. P. P. Kartsov, appointed head of the 1st military department of Warsaw, describes this part of the city in rather gloomy tones. He says that the department entrusted to him consisted of "the most populated, cramped and dirty area, starting from Senatorskaya Street to the citadel — to the east, and from Nalivok to Vistula — to the north. The old place (the market), surrounded by tall, gloomy houses, narrow streets that barely let in light, with a mass of even narrower alleys leading to the Vistula — all this represented a dirty maze teeming with all kinds of people, filled with small shops and the lowest kind of entertainment houses" ^{[13, p. 194]}.

Finding themselves in the Northwestern Region, the authors drew attention to the difference in the position of the Catholic and Orthodox churches, which was also noticeable in the appearance of religious buildings. M. P. Mezhetsky writes that in Lida "there was one Polish church and an Orthodox church, housed in a low, wooden, nondescript house" ^{[12, p. 826]}. I. V. Lyubarsky noted with regret that "in Lida, which at that time numbered a little over two thousand inhabitants, there were three huge stone churches of beautiful architecture, which raised their intricate spires high and proudly to the sky. One of them stood empty, as it was unnecessary, since there were not enough parishioners for all the churches" ^{[15, No. 3, p. 823]}. The Orthodox church "in Lida was built in a nondescript wooden house with a low ceiling and generally poor furnishings" ^{[15, No. 3, p. 824]}. It is worth noting that Lyubarsky's memory obviously failed him, and he somewhat exaggerated the dominance of Catholicism in the city. In Lida, there was only the Holy Cross Church, which also did not have a tall spire, and another church, St. Peter the Great. St. Joseph's burned down in 1842 and after that it was rebuilt into an Orthodox church until 1863. In the Commemorative books of the Vilna province from 1850 until 1863, in Lida, one parish of each is listed in the ecclesiastical department of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic confessions.

Even if the cities made a pleasant impression on the authors, the political situation left its mark on the perception of the authors. L. L. Drake writes in his memoirs that the view of Plotsk "with cleanly maintained streets and squares paved with cobblestones and several beautiful churches was quite welcoming." Talking about the beautiful chestnut boulevard in the city center, the author recalls that on its fence "on the day of the arrival of the first echelon of the regiment, notices were found with the following inscription: "w ten ogródek wolno chodzić tylko psom i ofizerom" (that is: "only dogs and officers are allowed to go to this garden")" ^{[11, No. 6, pp. 563-564]}.

Cities as centers of political struggle.

In the early 1860s, cities were most often mentioned in connection with political events. It was a time when the Polish national liberation movement was actively developing in the Kingdom of Poland and the Western Region. The beginning of the demonstration period was the funeral of the widow of Jozef Sowinski, the hero of the Polish uprising of 1830-1831 ^{[1, p. 355]}. V. A. Dokudovsky recalls that on the day of the funeral, a large number of people accompanied the coffin, among whom there were especially many students. Grave graves After the funeral, the "youth" went to the Orthodox cemetery and "walked and ran over the graves, abused some of the "lying around," insulted the priest who persuaded them to leave "God's field," plucked an armful of flowers from the graves with which the latter were decorated, returned to the evangelical cemetery, laid these flowers on Sovinskaya's grave and She entered Warsaw with noise and uproar." According to V. A. Dokudovsky, the governor gave instructions to conduct an investigation, but it ended in nothing, as this event was perceived as a "student prank" ^{[18, p. 227]}.

On February 13 (25) and 15 (27), 1861, two mass demonstrations were organized in Warsaw. During the second one, protesters clashed with troops, resulting in the deaths of five people. This event caused great indignation among Poles throughout the empire and marked the beginning of the intensification of the protest movement in the Kingdom of Poland and the Western Region.

Over time, demonstrations began to be held more frequently in other cities of the Kingdom of Poland and the North-Western Region. The most massive political actions that made a strong impression on the newly arrived Russians were marches. I. A. Arsenyev witnessed a similar action in Ostrolenka. In his notes, the author writes about how a crowd of several thousand people walked towards the monument erected by the authorities in memory of the events of 1830. The procession was led by a priest and had religious attributes: people carried images, crosses and banners. As they marched, the marchers sang the national anthem for the liberation of Poland. As the author notes, the crowd was dominated by women, which, in his opinion, was due to the fact that men were at work at that time. When people approached the monument, the priest climbed onto a box made of planks, and after reading a prayer addressed the people with a speech, the meaning of which was to describe the distressed situation of Poland "under the yoke of foreigners", about the persecution to which the Catholic Church is subjected and about the need to overthrow the "yoke of barbarians" ^{[9, pp. 515-516]}.

In his memoirs, V. A. Potto says that the city of Yanov was remembered by the officers of his regiment for the first street demonstration they saw in the Kingdom of Poland. So many people gathered for the procession that there weren't even enough living quarters in the city to accommodate everyone, so some people had to spend the night in barns and on the streets. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the procession from the church began, and, as V. A. Potto recalls, the military saw "a slowly moving mass, in front of which they carried images, crosses, and clergy in mourning vestments. Both the images and crosses were decorated with fresh flowers, surrounded by banners and banners intertwined with crepe. At first, the whole mass moved in silence; but suddenly, as if by magic, a hymn burst out: Z dymem pożarów, z kurzem krwi bratniej" ^{[16, 1867, No. 8, p. 292]}. The Russian military watched this procession from the windows. V. A. Potto writes that the officers of the Arkhangelsk regiment, already accustomed to their position, advised the newly arrived military to move away from the windows so as not to irritate the Poles. The author recalls: "We replied that we didn't care about Poles and that everyone was free to do what they wanted in their own home. It seemed strange to us that such indulgence was given to the people..." ^{[16, 1867, № 8, p. 293]}.

In the spring of 1861, any mass gatherings on the streets were banned in the Kingdom of Poland. But this ban was only partially enforced, as local residents continued to organize processions to coincide with funerals. L. L. Drake describes how funeral processions turned into demonstrations. He says that at first everything looks like a funeral procession, but gradually, the number of citizens accompanying the coffin increases to a crowd of thousands due to people from neighboring alleys and streets. People carried out "banners, banners and badges in red and black, with inscriptions of a revolutionary nature," and sang revolutionary hymns interspersed with funeral prayers. At first, the authorities reacted rather weakly to such actions, which, according to L. L. Drake, gave rise to repetitions of such demonstrations ^{[11, No. 7, p. 108]}.

The Russian authors were extremely outraged that the authorities were making concessions to the townspeople. One of them was an agreement between Vicar K. K. Lambert and the commission that organized the burial of the Catholic Archbishop Fialkovsky, according to which "Polish delegates" were to monitor the order in the city during the funeral, and the police and troops were not to be present on the streets during the funeral procession ^{[10, p. 445]}. As V. A. recalls. Dokudovsky, the commission made a promise to the governor that "there would be no illegal signs and emblems in the procession" ^{[18, p. 260]}. However, as contemporaries recalled, this procession was accompanied by the singing of revolutionary anthems and numerous national symbols: a banner depicting the coats of arms of Poland and Lithuania — a white eagle and a galloping horseman ^{[18, p. 261]}, velvet cushions with the Polish and Lithuanian crown ^{[9, p. 535]}, banners with the inscription "Wolność, Rwność, Niepodległość" ^{[10, p. 445]}. N. D. Goremykin wrote about this day: "In short, Warsaw was then a completely foreign city, alien to us." Russian Russians were considered by the author to be a Russian city, so he perceived what was happening on the streets at that time as a "supreme mockery", an insulting mockery of everything Russian, including the government ^{[10, p. 445]}. Therefore, when the news appeared in June 1861 about the transfer of the 6th division of the Nizovsky regiment from Warsaw to Kalisz, the military was pleased with this change ^{[14, No. 4, p. 201]}. "The prospect of a vacation in the provinces tempted officers and soldiers to such an extent that they left Warsaw with undisguised joy, where recently the service of the troops had become extremely painful, and sometimes simply unbearable...", recalled V. Shcherbovich-Vechora ^{[14, No. 5, p. 478]}.

However, with the introduction of martial law in October 1861, the situation changed significantly. L. L. Drake noted that citizens were no longer allowed to stand on the sidewalks even in small groups, and those responsible for disturbing the peace were sent to the police station. The Saxon Garden was always almost empty, and tent camps of several battalions were set up on Saxonskaya and Krasinskaya Squares ^{[11, No. 6, p. 569]}. P. P. Kartsov wrote that "Warsaw, from the outside, seemed completely peaceful," since it was difficult for the Poles to do anything because of the martial law. But at the same time, the troops were still in constant tension ^{[13, p. 200]}.

Martial law has left a noticeable imprint on the appearance of the capital of the Kingdom of Poland. A. K. arrived in Warsaw in November 1861. Gaines described the impression that the sight of one of the city's squares made on him: "campfires were burning in the castle square; pikes and guns were stacked in trestles; soldiers were warming themselves by the fire and the light with the darkness made their faces look strange, just like in Rembrandt's "the watch"..." ^{[17, p. 9V. Shcherbovich-Vechora also noted that the appearance of Warsaw had changed beyond recognition during the time his regiment was quartered in the province. The city took on a gloomy appearance: "The public gardens and town squares were occupied by troops, and camp tents were everywhere, and horse-drawn patrols and foot patrols were constantly scurrying through the streets. The theaters were closed, and infantry units were stationed in the theater halls. All gatherings on the streets were strictly prohibited, and in the evenings, no one except the military had the right to go outside without a lighted lantern" [14, No. 5, p. 494]}.

During these years, churches were also the centers of political life in the cities. During their sermons, clergymen often called for a struggle against the official authorities, donations were collected for the needs of the national movement, and patriotic hymns were also sung during the services. All these phenomena are reflected in the memoirs of Russian authors. Officials and the military talked about mass gatherings of local residents near and inside churches. "In Kovno, waiting for a carriage on the street, I was amazed by the gathering of people, or rather the masses of women who fled to the church of the Bernardine Monastery...", — I. A. Arsenyev wrote in his memoirs ^{[9, p. 514]}. L. L. Drake said that statues of the Mother of God were installed at each church in Plotsk. In front of them, mostly in the evenings, urban residents gathered "blouses, intelligent people, sometimes elegantly dressed ladies, high school students, etc." and, kneeling, sang revolutionary anthems ^{[11, No. 7, pp. 105-106]}.

Some authors have left evidence of what they saw inside religious buildings. In his notes, I. A. Arsenyev described the situation in the church: a crowd of people on their knees, singing the anthem "on the liberation of Poland", as well as the composition of the participants in this action. He also mentioned that during a visit to the church, an official approached him and advised him to leave the building due to the fact that I. A. Arsenyev could be mistaken for a spy and "nailed" ^{[9, pp. 514-515]}. I. V. Lyubarsky, in turn, described visiting the church in Lida and hearing a "political" sermon. about the imminent liberation of Poland. Then the author saw with his own eyes how much influence a religious figure had over believers. The monk who preached called on the Poles to sacrifice everything and "stand up for the liberation of the motherland." He threatened apostates with death without repentance and eternal hell after death. The preacher ended his speech with a call to prayer. After that, as the author recalls, "everyone immediately fell to the floor, making the air resound with moans and crying." I. V. Lyubarsky and a police officer continued to stand in the entire church. When the monk saw this, he demanded that the Gentiles join in prayer, "otherwise they will immediately suffer the punishment of God." I. V. Lyubarsky realized that if they did not obey, the crowd could tear them apart at a sign from the preacher. The author managed to leave the building quickly, but after the horror he experienced that day, he vowed to himself not to enter churches again ^{[15, No. 3, pp. 824-827]}.

Another manifestation of protest that Russian authors saw in cities was the wearing of mourning. I.V. Lyubarsky says that in Brest-Litovsk, women wore only black clothes, and "especially ardent patriots put chains on their hands and large black crosses and anchors around their necks." Men also wore all black, and as the author notes: "this ubiquitous blackness in the eyes caused involuntary despondency" ^{[15, No. 3, p. 837]}. In Warsaw, as V. Shcherbovich-Vechora notes, all residents wore mourning, and government measures against it were extremely weak and concerned mainly men ^{[14, No. 4, p. 193]}. Russian authors also perceived the wearing of national clothes and revolutionary symbols as an act of protest: old Polish costumes, confederates with a single-headed Polish eagle attached to them ^{[11, No. 7, p. 107]}.

Russians who found themselves in the Kingdom of Poland and the Northwestern Region during the revolutionary unrest had to obey the rules established in the cities in order not to provoke the local population. N. D. Goremykin says that when he first arrived in Warsaw, he was advised to leave "a top hat and a uniform cap and buy a pat-kapelusz, without which he would not show himself on the street," otherwise he might give himself away and risk getting into trouble ^{[10, p. 441]}. After Fialkovsky's death, a "complaint", a symbol of mourning, was put on N. D. Goremykin's hat in a Polish house. The author tried to protest, stating that he was not a Catholic and was not related to the deceased, but he was advised not to appear on the street "without this sign of expressing the sorrow of the "Polish people"." N. D. Goremykin had to put up with this and wear a symbol of mourning before the introduction of martial law in Warsaw ^{[10, p. 442]}. People who did not observe the "Polish fashion" felt a special dislike from the Poles. I. A. Nikotin writes that in Vilna, the townspeople were forced to dress in black, since "the damage to the dress was sensitive to everyone" ^{[19, 1902, No. 6, p. 531]}. Most of all, Russian ladies suffered for non-observance of mourning. I. A. Nikotin recalls that women "wearing colored dresses were accompanied by insulting cries from students and high school students" ^{[19, 1902, No. 6, p. 524]}. Once, according to an official, even V. I. Nazimov's daughter "was spat at by a high school student in broad daylight for not wearing mourning" ^{[19, 1902, No. 6, p. 531]}.

Russian contemporaries saw not only the growth of revolutionary sentiments, but also constantly faced with manifestations of neglect or hatred from local residents in the cities. I. V. Lyubarsky tells about the conflict between officers and innkeepers in Grodno. The innkeeper's daughter did not want to serve an ensign who addressed her in Russian. When the officer was surprised if the girl did not understand Russian, she replied that she did not want to understand "this dog (psy) language." The author writes that it was with great difficulty that other officers managed to calm down the young man who was about to go to the governor with a complaint ^{[15, No. 3, pp. 831-832]}.

In Plotsk in 1862, according to L. L. Drake, local residents tried in every possible way to show their disdain for the military: officers were allegedly accidentally pushed, bricks were thrown at the patrol, slop was poured out of windows onto sidewalks next to officers or soldiers passing by. But more often than not, such actions went unpunished and the military had to endure all this ^{[11, No. 7, p. 106]}. When M. P. Mezhetsky lived in Vilna, he often walked next to the church near the Acute Brama and saw a lot of people kneeling next to it and singing the hymn "Bože, coś Polskę". He recalls: "... sometimes you would make your way carefully, so as not to push or touch someone, and you would see hostile stares all around..." ^{[12, p. 827]}.

Another manifestation of hostility that Russians faced was the so-called "kotsia music." It consisted of the following action: the crowd approached the windows of an objectionable person and began "all at once to clamor, whistle and roar with the accompaniment of a wide variety of instruments capable of driving a person to despair even with petrified nerves" ^{[16, 1867, No. 8, p. 293]}. V. Shcherbovich-Vechora says that once during After the dinner of the officers in the Poznan hotel in Kalisz, a "cat concert" began in the corridor. The battalion commander asked the hostess of the hotel to remove the "veterans" from the corridor, but she refused, arguing that they were "naughty boys" and she could not expel them ^{[14, No. 5, p. 483]}.

I. A. Nikotin wrote that the Russian people in Vilna "were condemned to uncomplaining patience." They were ordered not to enter into any conflicts with the Poles. The author notes that this order was prudent, but it was extremely difficult to carry it out, "when different insolences were presented to us at every step" ^{[19, 1902, No. 7, p. 66]}. He wrote the following about his feelings: "To see the daily abuse of dear Russia, not only to endure them in silence, but not even to see the possibility of putting an end to them, was for me a constant torment, a real moral torture" ^{[19, 1902, No. 7, p. 67]}.

The situation in cities where the population was quite diverse was more favorable for Russian officers. I. V. Lyubarsky writes that in Brest-Litovsk the urban population mainly consisted of Jews, and there were few Poles ^{[15, No. 3, p. 832]}. L. L. Drake recalls that a small number lived in Bialystok Russians (i.e. Orthodox Christians), Catholics, and a significant number of Jews and Germans who worked in cloth factories. It was the composition of the population that the author explained the fact that the city was quite calm: there were no demonstrations and singing of hymns ^{[11, No. 8, p. 337]}. V. Shcherbovich-Vechora also recalled that in factory centers inhabited by Germans, such as the city of Lodz, "there were no signs of a revolutionary movement, and even Mourning was a very rare phenomenon" ^{[14, No. 5, p. 478]}.

Thus, the military and officials who served in the cities of the Kingdom of Poland and the Northwestern Region found themselves in a hostile world, living according to their own rules. They were constantly insulted, felt powerless, and resented what they considered weak measures to stop the unrest. V. A. Potto's statement about this time looks extremely vivid and shows the general mood: "The life of the country seemed to be concentrated and resulted in one endless street demonstration, against which all political combinations were powerless. “Politics, politics! You need to cut down!"we often said, remembering the chubby Zaporozhtzi, and it seemed to us that the issue could not be resolved except by force of arms" ^{[16, 1867, No. 8, p. 295]}.

Conclusion

In the life of the Kingdom of Poland and the North-Western Region, the first half of the 1860s was a period of growing political activity associated with the desire of a significant part of Polish society to expand freedoms, and subsequently to national independence. The unstable political situation has led to an increase in the number of Russian military and officials in these regions. For many of them, the cities where the main political events took place before the outbreak of the immediate uprising became the place of service. In their memoirs, Russian authors recorded everything that seemed interesting and important to them: from political demonstrations to the specifics of urban economic life. Everything the authors saw, heard, and experienced formed the basis for their general perception of cities at that time.

Many authors note in one way or another the features of the daily life of Polish cities, often unlike what they were used to during their service in other parts of the empire. In their memoirs, they noticed the peculiarities of local architecture, described places where they could spend their free time. Some of the authors focused on the disadvantages of cities, while others, on the contrary, admired them. But what is similar for many authors is the feeling that they are in a foreign land for them.

The cities of the Kingdom of Poland and the Northwestern Region were perceived as centers of revolutionary struggle, places of confrontation between legitimate authorities and "rebellious" local residents. Russian authors who found themselves in these two regions before the immediate uprising saw different forms of protest actions against the official government. The most widespread of them were street marches. Although funerals were often the reason for them, the authors for the most part rightfully considered them to be manifestations of the revolutionary movement, since funeral processions were accompanied by Polish and Lithuanian national symbols, singing revolutionary hymns, as well as sermons by Catholic clergy about the need to "overthrow the yoke of the barbarians." A striking manifestation of disagreement with the actions of the authorities on the part of city residents was the wearing of mourning. Many cities are remembered by memoirists for their ubiquitous black color. The authors were often outraged by the fact that general mourning was imposed on Russian people who lived in cities.

The Russian authors realized that although they were in the Russian Empire, they were in a foreign, hostile land that lived according to its own rules. They did not understand and were outraged by what was happening, and saw it as an insult to state principles. The measures taken by the authorities to stabilize the situation and restore order seemed completely insufficient to many. In their daily lives in cities, Russians were constantly confronted with expressions of hostility and even hatred from the local population. It was expressed both in insults, all kinds of mockery, and in the unwillingness of the local society to let them into their circle. All this gave rise to a reciprocal feeling of hatred among Russians and a desire to get even with the offenders. These circumstances significantly reduced the positive effect that the opportunity to use the centers of public life typical of Polish cities could have on Russian officers and officials.

The article is published in the version approved by the reviewers (after receiving a positive review recommending the manuscript for publication) with corrections made by the author (after receiving the editor’s comments, if any).
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