 The poem was written in the summer of 1873 and became widely popular, having spread all around the country as a hand-written manuscript.It was generally believed at the time that the target of its satire had been Interior minister Pyotr Valuev, a conservative politician keen to create for himself an image of a liberal, by using colourful rhetoric.Later it emerged that was more of an aggregate character, at least one other minister, A.V.Golovin, having been mentioned as a possible prototype.