Birth of Yegor F. Cancrin, statesman, Minister of Finance

27 November 1774

16 (27) November 1774 in Hanau (near Frankfurt am Main), the landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel (Germany), in the family of a specialist in the field of construction and mining was born Yegor F. Cancrin, Russian statesman, count (1829), Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire (1823-1844).

Cancrin studied at the universities of Hessen and Marburg. After graduation, not having found a job in Germany, he moved to Russia in 1796 where his father, a manager of salt-making plants in Staraya Russa, lived. In 1800 Cancrin became his father’s assistant; he also developed a draft of sheep breeding development in Russia which he proposed to the government. Three years later he started serving as a councilor of the state economy dispatch office under the Ministry of Interior, then – inspector of German colonies in Petersburg Province; he was also supervising forestry and salt business. In 1809 Cancrin was granted a rank of state councilor.

The first works of Cancrin which remained unpublished, attracted the attention of German generals from the milieu of the Russian emperor Alexander I. Following the recommendation of one of them, K. Phull, in 1811 the state councilor was appointed the provisions supervisor general assistant; during the Patriotic War of 1812 – the quartermaster general of the First Army; and during the Foreign campaign of 1813-1814 – the quartermaster general of the regular Russian Army. Besides, Yegor Cancrin was charged with settling of all military accounts between Russia and other states: he managed to organized the efficient supply of provisions to the armies, and settled with allies having proved the groundlessness of many financial claims to Russia.

In1818 Cancrin proposed a draft of serfdom abolition and gradual redemption of peasants with land at the expense of a special loan bank. In 1820 he left the post of the quartermaster general and was appointed a member of the Military Council. Having started scientific work, he issued two monographs: “About the military economics during the war and peace” (1820-1823) and “The world wealth, the national wealth and the state economy” (1821) where he criticized the policy of D. A. Guriev, Minister of Finance.

In 1823 Cancrin replaced Guriev at the post of the Minister of Finance which he had occupied for 21 years – longer than other ministers of the pre-revolutionary Russia. His main objective as the head of this agency was to put in order state finances unsettled as a result of wars with the Napoleonic France. Being a representative of the conservative Russo-German economic school and antagonist of the liberal school of Adam Smith, Cancrin considered the metallic money as the basis of the financial system. The significant devaluation of bank notes made him to carry out the three-stage monetary reform in 1839-1843: in 1839 the bank notes were devaluated and their firm correlation with silver ruble was established; in 1840 were issued state bank-notes with sound metallic backing; in 1843 paper money were exchanged for state bank notes.

Being a supporter of the state assistance to the industry, Cancrin greatly simplified the process of opening of new enterprises, contributed to the development of mining and forestry, sheep breeding, reorganized and improved the system of training of engineers. In 1828 he proposed an idea of creation in Petersburg of a higher technical educational institution – the Institute of Technology which accepted not noble persons. The same year, under the Department of Manufactures and Interior Commerce, the minister established the Manufacture Council; in 1829 – the Commercial Council. From time to time he organized commercial exhibitions in both capitals.

At the post of the Minister of Finance Cancrin pursued the policy of customs protectionism, having increased import duties. He was against the development of credit system, both private and state one, did not support the idea of spread of savings bank offices. In spite of significant expenses of state funds due to problems of the interior and foreign politics (Russian-Persian War of 1826–1828, Russian-Turkish War of 1828–1829, Polish Revolt (November Uprising) of 1830–1831), the Russian Minister managed to significantly reduce the deficit of the state budget first of all by tax increase (increase of stamp duty, introduction of tobacco tax), levy of capitation from non-Slavic population, etc. In 1838 the Minister was made a teacher of economics for the future Russian emperor Alexander II.

In 1844 Cancrin resigned due to poor health and advanced age. After that he worked on completion of his main work “Economics of human society and financial science of a former minister of finance”.

9 (21) September 1845 Yegor F. Cancrin died in Pavlovsk and was buried at Smolensky cemetery, St. Petersburg.

Lit.: Дубянский А. Н. Сравнительный анализ денежных реформ Е. Ф. Канкрина и С. Ю. Витте // Вестник СПбГУ. Сер. 5 : Экономика. 2000. Вып. 4; Коломиец А. Г. Канкрин и стабилизация финансовой системы России // Финансы. 2000. № 7; Носова Г. В. Протекционизм в России во второй четверти XIX в.: личность и взгляды Е. Ф. Канкрина и их оценка историками // Забелинские научные чтения. 2000. М., 2001; Шувалова С. В. «Немец на русской службе»: портрет министра финансов Российской империи Е. Ф. Канкрина // Культурный слой: Исследования по истории европейской культуры. Вып. 1. Калининград, 2000; Юровский В. Е. Министр финансов Е. Ф. Канкрин // Вопросы истории. 2000. № 1.

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Божерянов И. Н. Граф Егор Францевич Канкрин, его жизнь, литературные труды и двадцатилетняя деятельность управления Министерством финансов. СПб., 1897;

Взгляды русского министра первой половины XIX столетия: Граф Канкрин и его путевые заметки, изданные графом Кайзерлингом. СПб., 1866;

Дело о некоторых переменах в действующем таможенном тарифе [Дело] : начато 6 февраля : Высочайше утверждено 26 марта 1830. 26 л.;

Дело о переменах в таможенном тарифе с 1826 года [Дело] : начато 20 ноября : Высочайше утверждено 23 декабря 1825 г. 39 л.;

Канкрин Е. Ф. Всеподданейшая докладная записка Министра Финансов графа Е. Ф. Канкрина о сообщении некоторых сведений по финансовой части, необходимых для преподавания Его Императорскому Высочеству Государю Великому Князю Наследнику Цесаревичу. 1838 год // Сборник Императорского Русского исторического общества. Т. 31: Годы учения его императорского высочества наследника цесаревича Александра Николаевича, ныне благополучно царствующего государя императора. СПб., 1880;

Норцов А. Н. Архив графов Канкриных-Ламберт-Сухтелен: Общий обзор документов. Тамбов, 1910;

Судейкин В. Канкрин Егор Францевич // Энциклопедический словарь / Под ред. проф. И. Е. Андреевского. Т. 14. СПб., 1895. С. 292-294;

Шапов А. П. Очерк жизни и государственной деятельности графа Канкрина. СПб., 1864.