Prince Volkonsky spent the first years of his life in Mitava (now Yelgava in Latvia), where his mother (maiden name Bestuzheva-Ryumina) was a member of the court of Grand Princess Anna loannovna. After his mother had been imprisoned in a convent, he was brought up by his uncle, M.P Bestuzhev, and went with him into exile. In 1732 he was given a commission in the cadet corps, and distinguished himself on the battlefields of the Russo-Turkish war of 1736 and the Seven Years' War. For many years he served as plenipotentiary ambassador to Poland. In 1766 he took part in the work of the commission set up to compile a new lawcode.
In her instructions to Prince Volkonsky dated 5 November 1771, Catherine II wrote: "We are now sending you to Moscow, to take up the post of our dismissed fieldrnarshal, Count Saltykov.... We leave to your and Count Orlov's discretion the decision as to when you will accept from him, and he give to you, the administration of the city". Prince Volkonsky began his new duties on 21 November 1771. He then had to deal with the aftermath of the plague and put an end to rebellion in the city.
The peasant movement, which first appeared in 1773 led by Pugachev, also infected the "plebeian population" in Moscow. The situation was further aggravated by a shortage of bread. The governor-general ensured an uninterrupted supply of grain from the Voronezh and Byelgorod gubernias, and the price of bread did not rise. The city authorities took urgent precautionary measures. Cannon were placed near the residence of the commander-in-chief. Despite the seeming calm in the city, Volkonsky requested that the Empress send additional troops "as quickly as possible". The arrival of three regiments, and also the news of the capture of Pugachev in the middle of September 1774, calmed the fears of the Moscow nobility to some extent. On 10 January 1775, the "miscreant" was executed at Boloto.
In 1774, Volkonsky drew up a project On Better Establishing Places of Judicial Proceedings and on the Division of the Empire into Gubernias. The first bank to change banknotes—paper money, which were only just beginning to circulate alongside coins—opened on Myasnitskaya. The two Pushkin brothers, Sergei and Mikhail, did not fail to take advantage of this opportunity, and in a short period of time produced large amounts of counterfeit money. They were caught very quickly.
Construction work and improvements in the city were under the governor-general's constant control. In a note on the activities of the Building Office "in relation to building work in Moscow for the assistance and convenience of its residents", Volkonsky expressed his regret that the number of brick factories had been reduced from seventy-two in 1753 to thirty-seven in 1760, and proposed that state-owned brick factories be opened with an output of up to thirty million bricks a year, and also that "private brick factories and stone, rubble and lime quarries be left in private hands and that money be loaned from the treasury at a profit". To this note was appended a detailed list of materials necessary for construction work in Moscow, including roofing, which was of particular importance as regards fire prevention. On I June 1778, the foundation stone of the Commissariat Building (the Senate house) was laid in the Kremlin, an event marked by splendid church and secular ceremonies.
In 1774, the Empress came again to Moscow, this time for celebrations to mark victory in the war against Turkey and the signing of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi peace treaty so advantageous to Russia. Accompanied by a magnificent cortege, Catherine II entered the city through the gilded Triumphal Gates erected for this occasion on money donated by the Moscow nobility and merchant class. Popular festivities were held on Khodynskoye Field.
Prince Volkonsky was buried in the family vault at the St Pafnuty Monastery in the town of Borovsk.
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