A secret committee is an informal body that was formed in March 1801 by four close friends of Alexander I. The formation of this backstage cell of power was facilitated by the preceding murder of his father, Emperor Paul I, who was the victim of a conspiracy. The Secret Committee included Nikolai Novosiltsev, Victor Kochubei, Pavel Stroganov and Adam Chartorysky.
A few years earlier
Long before the events of 1801, the aforementioned four friends, led by the future emperor Alexander, secretly gathered (so to speak, “over a cup of tea”) and talked about the future of Russia. Conversations were held on the creation of a renewed society, the principles of which would be universal equality, fraternity, justice and freedom of citizens. Alexander, being the youngest among his friends, passionately supported these ideas, collected notes with transformation projects, and hid them until better times, when a Secret Committee will be formed in a couple of years. This informal organization brought together young and literate people who wished their country - Russia, only the best.
Paul I, cautious and suspicious, did not welcome the partnership of his son with liberal-minded friends, therefore, in order to avoid a possible conspiracy, he dispersed a secret circle. This measure turned out to be temporary, until the death of Paul I and the ascension to the throne of his son Alexander.
At the initial stage of state administration, Alexander needed support, so he called on his friends, from whom an auxiliary organ for managing state affairs was created. The Secret Committee consisted of the same four friends of Alexander I, with whom he had met several years earlier.
Adam Czartoryski
The emperor was close in spirit to Adam Czartoryski, a 27-year-old Polish landowner who received a brilliant education in Europe. Burning with the desire to help his homeland - Poland - to get freedom, he boldly and openly expressed his own views. In 1797, an acquaintance with the future Emperor Alexander I took place, to which Adam was appointed adjutant. It was during this period that young people became very close and became friends. In 1799, Czartoryski was removed by Paul I from the court for the negative, as it seemed to the emperor, influence on his son and was appointed envoy of the Russian state in the Sardinian kingdom. Later, after the death of Paul I and the collapse of the Secret Committee, of which he was one of the participants, Adam Chartorysky was appointed to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this field, he saw as the main task the creation of the most comfortable conditions for the restoration of Poland's independence in its former borders (before the first partition by Russia).
Victor Kochubey
Victor Kochubey, a close friend whom the emperor trusted his most secret thoughts, reflecting the sincere desire to restore order and introduce fair laws, enjoyed no less confidence in Alexander I. With the future emperor Kochubey became close in 1792 and for a long time had a strong influence on him.
He was the head of a circle of young friends and knew better than anyone else the composition and rights of members of parliament, was familiar with the works of all English publicists. When solving the peasant question, Kochubey was not a supporter of the release of peasants without land and their transfer to the yard.
In the field of political transformations, which were discussed by members of the Secret Committee, he advocated the inviolability of autocracy and separation of powers, which he interpreted as an accurate definition of the relationship between government bodies at various levels, primarily between the Senate and ministries. He advocated the expansion of powers of ministers and the elimination of collectivity in the executive bodies of power. The first of the emperor’s young entourage received a ministerial post (from September 1801 - Minister of the Interior).
Pavel Stroganov
Pavel Stroganov, the childhood and youth friend of Alexander I, was the third in the young four who were trying to change Russia for the better. Coming from a family of one of the largest Russian rich men, who did not know the exact number of lands owned by him and serfs, the owner of a huge collection of paintings, Pavel was raised by French-Republican Gilbert Romm.
Having studied in France at the very height of the revolution, the young man was inspired by the ideas of the Jacobins, helped them financially and walked around Paris in a red Phrygian cap - a revolutionary symbol. In this regard, he was immediately returned to Russia by Catherine II, where he spent some time vegetating in the village. Later, the prince appeared in St. Petersburg and married Princess Sofya Golitsyna, a competent and beautiful woman. He began to lead an appropriate lifestyle of an enlightened lounging nobleman.
Pavel Stroganov was a brilliant and influential courtier, had a clear mind and, together with his comrades, drafted important reform projects. The behind-the-scenes Committee is a life stage that determined Stroganov’s successful self-realization and future career in government affairs.
Nikolay Novosiltsev
The Secret Committee also included a relative of Pavel Stroganov, Nikolai Novosiltsev, a specialist in political economy, law and general history. Having received a brilliant education, he took part in the war against Sweden, where he proved himself a real brave man. A dodgy negotiating diplomat and cunning administrator, Novosiltsev already in his early years was thinking about a career in state administration. In conversations with Alexander’s young friends, he was distinguished by his well-intentioned and inborn diplomacy, which contributed to finding a common language with representatives of various philosophical and political views. In the eyes of his friends, he looked cautious, attentive and thoughtful. It was a reliable, devoid of extremes and inspiring confidence position Novosilcev won the sympathy of the emperor.
During the period of dissatisfaction with Paul I, the meetings of young friends he went abroad, where he began to lead the life of an educated Russian gentleman: traveled to Europe, studied books on medical topics, attended lectures by university professors. Nikolai was impressed by the true European combination of freedom and law and order, which he could not even mentally apply to the state reorganization of Russia. After the death of Paul I, he was again called up to Russia and appointed an official on behalf of a special nature, which was the first step in his state career.
Disintegration of the Secret Committee
The Secret Committee is an informal state unit, the decisions of which in the first months of imperial rule were governed by Alexander I, and representatives of the highest nobility called her the “Jacobin gang” for trying to introduce advanced political ideas inherent in Europe, but not applicable to the Russian state with its political culture and traditions management. In constant conversations of the members of the Secret Committee, various plans of changes were discussed, the general meaning of which was reduced to the mandatory strengthening of the political positions of the young emperor, whose rise to power was not completely legitimate.
If Alexander I initially shared his plans with close friends - members of the Secret Committee, which responded to the challenges of the time and the ongoing changes in Europe under the influence of the ideas and wars of the French Revolution, then later, having entered the taste of autocratic rule, it ceased to need advisers. 
Members of the Secret Committee began to meet less frequently (starting in May 1802). Later, when the government began to implement an important ministerial reform (hotly discussed at the meetings), young friends completely stopped their meetings, not finding any sense in them. An unspoken committee is an organization that has contributed to the political career of its members without offending any of them. All of them occupied worthy posts in the formed ministries.
