“Ivan Ivanovich came from an old noble family. He was born in 1798 and as a thirteen-year-old boy (in 1811) he was sent to the famous Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, from which so many famous literary and public figures subsequently emerged. Already within the walls of the lyceum in Pushchina, the most vibrant public interests awoke, and the acquaintance with the circle of leading Russian people of that time (Muravyov, Burtsev, Koloshin, Semenov), like the acquaintance of the lyceum comrade Pushchin, the glorious Russian poet Pushkin with Chaadaev in the same era, consolidated and shaped the views of the young man entering life. After graduating from the Lyceum, Pushchin served for some time in the Guards Horse Artillery, but, having soon been accepted by Burtsev into the famous Union of Welfare, he decided to actually implement the ideas of the Union. For this purpose, he threw off the shiny uniform of a guards officer and accepted the position of judge in the Moscow court court. One must remember the prejudices of that time in order to appreciate the full significance of Pushchin’s act and the full strength of his convictions...”