His father was Prince Pyotr Sergeyevich Meshchersky [ru] (1779-1856), privy councilor, chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod, chairman of the Bible Society.
Elim was baptized on 14 November 1808 in the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos on Sennaya Square, with the acceptance of Prince I. S. Meshchersky and grandmother Evdokia Dmitrievna Chernysheva.
He spent his childhood in German Weimar with his mother, where he was introduced to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and kept in touch with him all his life.
The diplomatic service did not interest him so when Sergey Uvarov, Minister of Public Education of the Russian Empire, was looking for a person who could keep him informed about "all the most remarkable things that happen in the field of sciences and arts, in particular, in the course measures taken by the French government in relation to educational institutions", Meshchersky in 1833, took the position of "personal correspondent of the minister.
In Pushkin's library there is a book by Antoni Deschamp "Dérnières paroles" (Paris, 1835), donated by the author to Meshchersky (with an autograph).
He met with the philosopher and zealous Christian, Louis Eugène Marie Bautain, to whom he confided his thoughts on the unity of the universal Church.
Meshchersky set out his views in the compilation treatise 'De la foi dans la science' (On Faith and Science), which affirmed the idea of the moral strength of the Russian people, not spoiled by rationalism, capable of becoming the center of the Christian revival of Europe, serving the unification of East and West (see East–West Schism), which Meschersky believed had caused spiritual, religious and political decline.
An ardent patriot, he wanted to give the French a true view of Russia by fostering cultural ties between the two countries.
Meshchersky also owned the anonymously published book 'Lettres d'un russe adressées à MM les rédacteurs de la Revue Européenne, ci devant du Correspondant', which spoke a lot about Pushkin and was discussed in Saint Petersburg circles and gained popularity.
To improve the image of the Russian Empire, he began to cooperate with many French metropolitan publications (such, 'Le Panorama Littéraire de l'Europe').
[14] In the magazine 'Revue européen par les rédacteurs du Correspondent' his article appeared, the author of which was listed as 'Un russe des vous abonnés' - ('Your Russian subscriber').
At the same time, he published his notes on primary education in France, on French writers and philosophers - Alphonse de Lamartine, Arnie Lacordin, a review of one issue of the magazine 'Panorama littéraire de l'Europe', notes on morality in Christianity, on the French Catholic University, and progressive religiosity in France.
The collection contains twenty-five of his translations of poems by Alexander Pushkin, Vasily Zhukovsky, Yevgeny Baratynsky, and Aleksey Koltsov.
It should be mentioned that in different years he published several poems in Russian - in Nestor Kukolnik's collection 'Novogodnik' and in the anthology 'Morning Dawn' by Vladimir Andreevich Vladislavlev.
Vasily Kuleshov notes that, in contrast to Parisian materialism, Meshchersky tried to acquaint the French with Russian literature from a monarchical position.
He brought Russian poetry to French writers not only through the publication of his translations, but also personally incessantly communicating with them in literary salons.