count Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky

Count Mikhail Nikolayevich Muraviov (Михаи́л Никола́евич Муравьёв; 1796-1866) (The Hangman) was a Russian imperial statesman of the 19th century, mostly known for his putting down of Polish uprisings and subsequent cultural and social depolonization of Northwestern Krai (today's Belarus and Lithuania). He should not be confused with his grandson, Count Mikhail Nikolayevich Muraviov, who served as Russian Foreign Minister between 1897 and 1900.

During his years at the University of Moscow, Muraviov set up the Mathematical Society, of which he would later become president. He volunteered during the Patriotic War of 1812 and was wounded at Borodino. In 1816 he became a co-founder of the first Decembrist societies and, although he didn't actively participate in the movement after 1820, he was briefly apprehended by the police after their failed uprising in December, 1825.

Upon the intercession of his high-placed relatives, Muraviov was appointed Vice-Governor of Vitebsk (1826) and Governor of Mogilyov (1828). At these posts, he became known for his harsh policy of Russification. He instituted a complete ban on the Latin alphabet and the Lithuanian language printed matter. The ban was lifted only in 1904.

Muraviov's experiences during the November Uprising in 1830 persuaded him that the two principal agents responsible for the spread of the Polish nationalism were the Roman Catholic priests and the Polish students. As a consequence, he made it his priority to close the Vilnius University and to expel Catholic priests from other educational facilities. He was reported as saying that "what Russian rifles did not succeed in doing, will be finished-off by Russian schools".

In 1831 Muraviov governed Grodno, only to be moved to Minsk the following year. In 1850, he was made a member of the State Council of the Russian Empire. In the 1850s he served as Vice-President of the Russian Geographical Society. Alexander II appointed him Minister of State Properties, a position which Muraviov used to lead the reactionary party opposed to the emancipation of the serfs. His administration of state-owned peasant households proved catastrophic and effectively reduced many of them to bankruptcy.

During the Polish-Lithuanian January Uprising of 1863, Muraviov was appointed Governor General of Northwestern Krai (former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, now Lithuania and part of Belarus). He managed to promptly subdue the rebellion. About 9,000 insurgents were resettled to Siberia, 127 were demonstratively hanged, earning him the nickname of The Hangman. Konstanty Kalinowski, Zygmunt Sierakowski and Antanas Mackevičius were amongst the rebel leaders executed on his orders. Those settlements where the rebels were reported had to pay enormous contributions. As a consequence, for Poles and liberal Russian circles Muraviov became known as the "hangman of Vilnius", even in modern Polish historiography he is sometimes referred to by his contemporary nickname, 'Wieszatiel' (russified Polish for 'hangman'). To many nationally-minded Russians, Muraviov was a hero and the de facto head of the "Russian Party". They flooded Muraviov with congratulatory telegrams on his nameday, November 8, 1863, a form of public expression previously unknown in Russia.

After defeating the rebels militarily, Muraviov began a series of deep reforms which aimed at the liquidation of the breeding grounds for future uprisings. He strengthened the economic, educational and social positions of Orthodox peasant Belarusians who made up the majority of the Krai's population and who predominantly hadn't supported the uprising due to their previously underprivileged status under Polish Szlachta. He paid much attention to the restoration of the Orthodox character of Belarus since he regarded this as the best means against potential disloyalty and because he was convinced that he liberates ancient Russian (Rus') lands from Polish subjugation.

On May 1, 1865 Muraviov was relieved from his duties. For his vital services to the Empire, he received a comital title and spent late 1865 and early 1866 writing his memoirs. At the time of his death Muraviov was investigating Dimitri Karakozov's attempt to assassinate the tsar.

In the long term, Muraviov's policy proved mixed. In 1905 a Polish rebellion once again took place against the Russian Empire. He was however instrumental in rooting out Roman Catholicism in Belarus, prohibiting construction of new churches and converting the existing ones to Eastern Orthodox chapels. Muraviov justified his russification policies by claiming that Polish and Lithuanian administrations undertook polonization measures.

Assessment of Muraviov's activity by the educated strata of the Russian society varied from enraptured odes by Fyodor Tyutchev to caustic satires by Nikolai Nekrasov. After the suppression of the 1863 uprising, the celebrated emigré writer Alexander Herzen, whose influence on the Russian public opinion had been fatally damaged by his support for the rebels, bitterly joked that Muraviov should replace Alexander II on the throne as a more consistent and forceful nationalist. In Poland and Lithuania he has been viewed as a personification of tsarist repression and Russification.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikha%C3%AFl_Mouraviov-Vilenski
Chronologiquement
Général d'infanterie.
Gouverneur de Vitebsk,
Gouverneur de Mogilev,
Gouverneur de Grodno,
Gouverneur de Koursk,
Ministre des Biens de l'État,
Gouverneur de Vilnius,

Connnu pour sa politique de dépolonisation (russification) de la Lithuanie et de la Biélorussie
et pour ses répressions des révoltes locales.

Surnommé Mouraviev la pendaison, Mouraiveiv le Bourreau ou encore Mouraviev le cannibal par les uns (sociaux démocrates), considéré comme un dirigeant brillant par les autres (conservateurs) ce qui lui vaut l'adjonction de "Vilenski" (cad de Vilnius) à son nom.

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%87%D1%91%D1%82%D0%BD%...

За успешное подавление восстания 1863 года в бытность его главным начальником Северо-западного края (Виленским, Ковенским и Гродненским генерал-губернатором, командующим войсками Виленского военного округа (с резиденцией вВильне). 17 апреля 1865 года с увольнением от должности генерал-губернатора Именным Высочайшим указом возведён с нисходящим потомством в графское Российской Империи достоинство. Вопреки распространённому мнению, официально наименование Виленский не получил. В антиправительственных кругах был также известен как Муравьёв-Вешатель[.