In Paris, in the Pere Lachaise cemetery, the burial place of many prominent figures in France, there is a modest tombstone in memory of Gustav von Schlabrendorf - a man with an unusual fate, a Republican and defender of the disadvantaged. J. W. Goethe called him a "political writer", the famous naturalist and traveler W. Humboldt - "the most worthy of respect". A German who has lived most of his life in Paris, he spent the last 10 years of his life protesting against the Bourbon restoration without leaving his home and only corresponding with many prominent people.

Schlabrendorff was born in 1750 in Stettin (now Szczecin), the son of a minister of Silesia, a province that was under the king's rule

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Frederick II of Prussia has a special administration. Shortly after a favorable peace for Prussia, which ended the Seven Years ' War in 1763, the king granted the Minister of Silesia 50 thousand thalers, and he became rich and acquired a number of estates . 1 Gustav received an excellent home education, and then studied state law, philosophy and ancient languages at the universities of Frankfurt an der Oder and Halle. After the death of his father, he received the title of count from the king. With a considerable fortune, he travels to Germany, Switzerland, France, and England.

The beginning of the French bourgeois Revolution of 1789 found him in Paris. Inspired by her ideas, he enthusiastically welcomed the events that shook Europe. Schlabrendorff gets acquainted with the humanist writer K. E. Olsner, with whom he will then have a close friendship for many years; with the revolutionary democrat, organizer of the Mainz Commune I. G. A. Forster; prominent participants in the French Revolution-the Girondists J. P. Brissot, J. A. Condorcet, L. S. Mercier. The Jacobins arrested him for his association with the latter. Not knowing what to expect, Schlabrendorff distributed almost all of his funds to other prisoners .2
Having unexpectedly found freedom, he returned to his former home, where he spent more than 30 years. It turned out that Olsner had saved a significant portion of his money .3 However, Schlabrendorf lived like a man who, apart from a daily piece of bread and minimal possessions, needed nothing, except books and socializing with people. The number of poor people he helped financially is infinite. "To look at the surrounding life philosophically, to get acquainted with the participants of the great drama on stage and behind the scenes, using every opportunity to help out, support, suggest-this was his only passion," wrote one of his contemporaries. Large sums were donated by him to a number of societies and organizations. Here is a typical case from his biography. A certain merchant from Magdeburg, owing 8 thousand francs, was jailed in Paris. His 13-year-old daughter turned to Schlabrendorf for help, who then had 4 thousand in cash; but he took out another 4 thousand in the form of a loan in his own name and helped free the girl's father During the Napoleonic Wars, Schlabrendorff spent large sums to relieve the fate of captured German soldiers.

In 1803, the Prussian government demanded that Schlabrendorf, as a Silesian, return to his homeland. As he remained in France, there was a threat of confiscation of his estates. But even this did not affect him6, and the estates were transferred to the temporary possession of a third party by sequestration. The sequester was abolished only after the Peace of Tilsit in 1807. Meanwhile, Schlabrendorf's attitude to events in his new homeland was changing. The collapse of the Jacobins, the directory, and the consulate made him dislike Bonaparte.

Schlabrendorff was one of the first to write a biography of the first consul of the republic: "Napoleon Bonaparte and the French people under his consulate" 7 . This book contained harsh criticism of the future emperor. "His wisdom," the author wrote, "is usually only the result of selfish prudence, and his character is determined by an extremely secretive and deceitful soul." 8 Schlabrendorff constantly highlights the negative features of his personality and writes: "From him... a huge number of like-minded people, but there is hardly a single friend. " 9 Emphasizing the Corsican's personal characteristics, Schlabrendorff noted that "Bonaparte values the French nation as highly as he hates it." 10
The author of the biography sharply protests against the fact that the French allowed the gains of the revolution to be trampled under foot and submitted to the dictates of a man whose actions clearly show monarchism: "How low, how bad an opinion must be

1 Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. Bd. 31. Leipzig. 1899, S. 316 - 319.

2 Varnhagen von Ense K. A. Denkwurdigkeiten und vermischte Schriften. Bd. 4. Leipzig. 1843, S. 426.

3 Niemeyer A. H. Beobachtungen auf einer Deportationsreise nach Frankreich im Jahre 1807. Bd. 4. Halle. 1826, S. 292.

4 Ibid., S. 292 - 293.

5 Varnhagen von Ense K. A. Op. cit., S. 493.

6 Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. Bd. 31, S. 321.

7 Napoleon Bonaparte und das franzosische Volk unter seinem Consult. S. 1. 1804 (on the title - without author); see also Gregor-Dellin M. Schlabrendorf, oder die Republik. Munchen - Zurich. 1982, S. 100.

8 Napoleon, S. 105.

9 Ibid., S. 80.

10 Ibid., S. 75.

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to have Bonaparte on the French nation, to dare to set it back a century... And how shameful the nation itself justifies this bad opinion, silently putting up with all this!" Schlabrendorff sees one of the main causes of the misery of the French people in the lawless actions of the new government. It strictly distinguishes between right and disenfranchisement. In the observance of laws - the basis of public consent (here the author followed in the footsteps of Rousseau). However, " what can even thousands of laws do,.. if a cruel, all-consuming tyranny... rejects and eliminates all laws? " 11 .

Goethe, having read this work immediately after its publication, placed a review in the newspaper in which he wrote:: "This work will find many readers, which it certainly deserves. It is true that it cannot be said with certainty that the author, having risen to a higher level in his views, appears as a completely impartial historiographer; on the contrary, he is a part of those who live next to him, suffer with him, and think like him; he expresses indignation towards the exceptional person who is now by his actions and successes, he astounds and confuses the whole world. " 12
Schlabrendorff could not publish such a work in France. But an old friend of his, the musician J. F. Reichardt, came to his aid and sent the manuscript to Germany, where it was published as an anonymous work. For a long time, Reichardt was credited with general authorship, although only certain fragments of art criticism belonged to his pen .13 This book had four German and seven English editions. Napoleon, who was about to be crowned king, was enraged by the book. Minister of Police Zh. Fouche made every effort to establish the author's name and track him down. Foreign Minister Charles-M. Talleyrand demanded that Prussia withdraw the book from sale.

It is characteristic that Schlabrendorff calmly reacted to the attempts of the authorities to find the author, and to Reichardt's "author's fame". Even many years later, when the reputation of being the author of an anti-Napoleonic work became very honorable, he never made any claims to this effect. The same thing happened with his pamphlet "Some remote foundations of the establishment of estates", when its author was identified as a certain Professor Hegewisch from Kiel. Schlabrendorff was happy with the fact that he gave people something to think about by outlining his views; the rest was of little interest to him.

A number of interesting information about Schlabrendorf is contained in the book "On Language" by a certain, also anonymous, admirer of him14 . It describes Schlabrendorff's views on philosophy, the state, language, the French Revolution, and so on. Of the many aphorisms Schlabrendorff wrote, only a few 15 were published . For many years he collected books and manuscripts on the history of the French Revolution. This unique collection was supposed to go, according to the collector's will, to one of the universities. Another interesting fact is a strong feeling for Humboldt's wife Karolina, to whom Schlabrendorff remained faithful until the end of his life.

Hating the Bourbons and welcoming every attempt by the French people to throw off their yoke, "Diogenes of Paris," as Schlabrendorff called himself, buried himself among books, in his cell without any comforts. Only when he became seriously ill did he agree to move to the suburbs of Paris, where he died in 1824. There was so little cash left after his death that the Prussian embassy paid almost all the funeral expenses. The will, written in 1785, was challenged by lawyers for the statute of limitations, and his library was sold at auction.

Interesting are the recollections of Schlabrendorff's contemporaries about meetings and conversations with him. The fact is that even during his lifetime, a conversation with him was considered an event. These were not so much dialogues as monologues. Thus, Y. E. Bolman, famous for his attempt to free a participant in the French Revolution, the Marquis Lafayette, from prison, wrote in 1817: "There is nothing special in Paris except, perhaps, that I heard Catalani singing and Schlabrendorf talking" 16 . L Here are the words of another person who knew Schlabrendorf intimately: "With what

11 Ibid., S. 327 - 329.

12 Cit. by: Gregori-Dellin M. Op. cit., S. 103-104.

13 Ibid., S. 99.

14 Uber die Sprache. Heidelberg. 1828.

15 Varnhagen von Ense K. -A. Op. cit., S. 449 - 455.

16 Cit. по: Faehler K. Studien zum Lebensbild eines deutschen Weltburgers, des Grafen Gustav v. Schlabrendorf 1750 - 1824. Munchen. 1909, S. 9.

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"We were silent when Schlabrendorff spoke. What a profound, thrilling touch was his earnestness, what a unique joke, and what a prophetic view of the future!" 17 .

The life of Schlabrendorff , a humanist, enthusiastic idealist, philanthropist and eccentric who tried to invent the phonograph and successfully improved the stereotype machine, is interesting for historians because he was at the origins of Napoleonic studies. This branch of historiography is extremely rich, and it is dominated by authors, especially in France, who are more than favorable to the figure of Bonaparte. In Soviet historiography, Schlabrendorff's name is usually ignored .18 There is no mention of it even in special works 19 . Of course, Schlabrendorff cannot be put on a par with the major authors of works about Napoleon. However, it is worth knowing that this was one of the very first biographers of Napoleon, who were also quite astute in their observations.

17 Niemeyer A. H. Op. cit., S. 300.

18 See: Historiography of the New Age of the countries of Europe and America, Moscow, 1967; Historiography of the new and modern history of the countries of Europe and America, Moscow, 1968; et al.

19 See, for example, Manfred A. Z. Napoleon Bonaparte, Moscow, 1971.

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