“He was a titular adviser, she is a general's daughter. He timidly declared his love, she chased him away. But if he was a real state councilor, she would have thought.
In Russia, there was a classification of military positions, and the activities of government officials were not regulated. With the increase in the growth of the state apparatus, it became necessary to streamline official duties, the size of salaries, the hierarchical structure of civil servants.
Peter I developed the General Regulations, one of the sections of which was the classification system for government positions. The document was signed on January 24, 1722. It became known as the "Table of Ranks"
Structure of the Table of Ranks
In a 17th century document, the word “report card” is used in the feminine gender. The report card is a table that reflects all the military, civil and court positions valid for that period. Military positions are also subdivided according to the types of troops into naval, land and artillery positions.
Within each category, positions are categorized by grade. Posts belonging to the same class but different categories have the same status. There are 14 classes in total.
The first class includes only three categories: in the ground forces - the general-field marshal, in the naval forces - the general-admiral, in the category of state - the chancellor.
The last, fourteenth class, includes land ensigns, naval skippers and many civilians, including "assessors in provincial courts, an archivist, accountants at colleges, postmasters in Moscow and other cities." It is noteworthy that the postmasters in St. Petersburg and Riga belonged to the higher - 13th class. For each class, a different appeal was prescribed. The representatives of the first class were addressed by "Your Excellency", the representatives of the last class were "Your honors."
The report card was corrected several times and existed until 1917.
Valid state councilor versus titular councilor
The actual state councilor belonged to the 4th class. The civilian category corresponded to the military rank of lieutenant-general; he should have been addressed as "Your Excellency." The titular advisor category belonged to the 9th class and corresponded to the army rank of staff captain. The titular councilor could only count on receiving personal nobility. They addressed him as "Your Honor".
The general, whose daughter refused the titular adviser, belonged to the second class, was "Your Excellency", in the civilian category he corresponded to the rank of secret state councilor. So the actual state councilor also had little chance of getting the girl's favor.
A valid councilor of state could hold the post of governor, mayor, director of a department. The assumption of this position provided the nobility for all subsequent generations with a hereditary nobility.
