The New International Encyclopædia/Sievers, Jakob Johann

SIEVERS, Jakob Johann, or Yakoff Yefimovitch, Count (1731-1808). A Russian statesman, born at Wesenberg, Esthonia. He served in the Foreign Office, was secretary to the Copenhagen and London embassies, and was in active service in the Seven Years' War. Made Governor of Novgorod (1764) and Governor-General of Novgorod, Tver, and Pskov (1776-81), he introduced many important reforms. After eight years of retirement he was appointed (1789) Ambassador to Poland, and was chiefly instrumental in bringing about the second and third partitions of Poland. Recalled in 1794, he lived in retirement until Czar Paul made him Senator (1796), and in 1797 he was intrusted with the direction of water communications. The canal he built (1798-1803) between the Volkhoff and Msta Rivers bears his name. Consult Blum, Ein russischer Staatsmann. Des Grafen Jacob Johann Sievers Denkwürdigkeiten zur Geschichte Russlands (Leipzig, 1857-58).