Karl August von Schütz (civil servant)

Karl August von Schütz , also Carl August von Schütz (born April 24, 1777 in Berlin , † May 6, 1837 in Cologne ) was a Prussian civil servant.

Life

Karl August von Schütz was the son of the secret finance councilor Johann Georg Schütz (1736-1809), who was raised to the nobility on July 10, 1803 together with his sons, and his wife Esther (* November 8, 1743 - † December 6 1815), a daughter of the merchant Jacob Devrient. His siblings were:

• Wilhelm von Schütz , German poet and essayist;
• Esther Wilhelmine Henriette von Schütz (1779–1794);
• Eleonore Sophie Friederike von Schütz (1781 – unknown), married to the merchant Pietsch;
• Johann Georg Ferdinand von Schütz (1783–1845), secret councilor in Minden.

After his poor academic performance, he did not receive the certificate of maturity for the higher class, so that his father decided to let him have the so-called little career, after which he could only work in a subordinate position.

In 1793 he left his parents' house and went to Ruppin as a supernumeral (candidate for civil servants) . There his thirst for knowledge, memory and interest in the sciences changed. Now he tried in his spare time to make up for all the aborted studies at the grammar school, mainly by reading scientific works, especially the natural sciences, history, geography and ethnology. Since he could not study while on duty, he used the nightly hours; in order not to fall asleep while studying, he put his feet in cold water buckets.

After a short time he was transferred from Ruppin to Brandenburg and from there in 1794 to Warsaw, which was then subject to the Prussian crown, and worked there for some time in a customs office . From there he was transferred to Szczuezyn in Prussian Poland. In 1804 he was appointed office director at the excise and customs directorate; on September 3, 1804 he was appointed Ober-Akzise- u. Promoted to customs council and provincial treasurer and was thus the successor to Johann Carl Troschel (1762–1818). In 1806 he moved with the college to Białystok and became a war and domain councilor in the middle of the year .

In the Peace of Tilsit in 1807 it was agreed that Białystok would be ceded to Russia ; the Emperor Alexander had offered to take over all Prussian councilors at the local war and domain chamber in order to turn them into a nursery school ( an institution that prepares young people for their future careers ) for the Russian civil servants' class. However, because the system of bribery prevailed in the Russian customs administration, Karl August von Schütz turned down the offer to take over and returned to Berlin after his release in 1808.

In Berlin he had no prospect of a job at first, but after a year he received the newly created position as a government councilor in Potsdam in 1809 , with the support of the government director Johann Philipp von Ladenberg , who later became the real secret minister of state, who was already director the War and Domain Chamber in Białystok was his former superior. In Potsdam he entered into official and friendly relations with the government director Karl Georg Maaßen . Together with this he was appointed to Berlin in 1810 for the state representation ( an assembly that was elected by the provincial estates and had to deliberate on the legislation that affected the personal and property rights of citizens ). After returning from there to his previous position in Potsdam, a new appointment led him to the Prussian Ministry of Finance , where he worked as a councilor in the tax deputation .

In May 1812 he was appointed to the Secret Chief Tax Council (later renamed Secret Chief Finance Council ). In the spring of 1813, together with the Real Secret Chief Finance Councilor Johann Philipp von Ladenburg and the Secret Chief Finance Councilors Heinrich von Béguelin and Samuel Ludwig Löffler, he was commissioned to bring the most important official documents from Berlin to the provinces when the French army approached. By a cabinet order he was appointed one of three special commissioners who dealt with the revision of the state administration in the provinces of West and East Prussia , "... in all departments, in the broadest sense of the word".

After Hans von Bülow had been appointed Minister of Finance on November 26, 1813, the latter asked Karl August von Schütz to accompany him to Paris in order to manage financial affairs from there. This led to the fact that he took part in the campaign to France with the headquarters .

After his return from France he was appointed to all commissions that revised the organization of the indirect tax system in the Prussian state. In addition, partly directly through the highest cabinet order, he received further orders, for example to review the compensation of officials in South and New East Prussia and to review the trade agreement concluded with Russia.

When he went to the Rhine Province on a business trip in 1823 , he liked the area, and on his return to Berlin asked for a transfer to the post of the newly created provincial tax director, whereupon King Friedrich Wilhelm III. the same transmitted. For thirteen years he headed the administration of indirect taxes in the Rhine Province in Cologne . He also contributed to the fact that the office of Provincial Tax Directorate was introduced in several of the Prussian provinces. In addition to his regular tasks, he was given more tasks, such as checking the execution of the customs union agreements with the Grand Duchy of Hesse . This task led to the fact that he gained a lot of experience, because this contract was the first concluded contract with a larger country in which many difficulties had to be overcome, but further expansion of such contracts proved to be practical, so that in the end the German Zollverein was founded. Later on, Prussia almost exclusively only recognized authorized representatives who had worked with Karl August von Schütz for some time, so that the Rhenish directorate became the authorized nursery for the authorized representatives.

After the death of the District President Daniel Heinrich Delius , he was appointed in his place as the Prussian Plenipotentiary at the Central Rhine Shipping Commission.

In 1799 he married Henriette (1773 – after 1802), daughter of the chief customs director Leyden from Szczuczyn; however, this marriage was dissolved again shortly after his return to Berlin. The marriage resulted in three children, of whom we know by name:

• Carl Georg Julius von Schütz (1802-1853), married to Dorothea, b. von Schmelin (1821–1900).

On May 9, 1812, he married Henriette (before 1812–1863), daughter of the regimental doctor Mäcker in her second marriage; from this connection too he had three children.

Freemasons

Since 1805 he belonged to the Freemasons .

literature

• Biographical handbook of the Prussian administrative and judicial officials 1740-1806 . Munich Saur 2009. p. 916.
• Karl August von Schütz in New Nekrolog der Deutschen , Volume 15, 1837, Part 1. Weimar 1839. pp. 541-550.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der Briefadeligen houses, 6th volume. 1912, Retrieved June 14, 2020 .