98 REFORM OF RUSSIA'S FINANCES AND CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION
The models which inspired Speransky in suggesting this bank are, of
course, not far to seek: the Bank of England, and more directly, the
Banque de France established by Napoleon.
The operations of redemption and reorganization of the Empire's
financial system are to be supervised by an efficient Ministry of Fi-
nance, renovated along functional lines. While the actual administration
of Russia's finances remains the function of the Ministry, the Office
of Accounts and the Treasury become autonomous i.nstitutions. Moreo-
ver, in order to check the overpowerful influence and possible arbitrary
actions of the Minister of Finance, the overall policies are to be worked
out by a Financial Council composed of the Minister, the Treasurer,
the Chief Director of Accounts (Glavnyi direktor upravleniia schetov),
and of the heads of those departments that have jurisdiction over the
specific matter under discussion at a given time. For better coordination
with the general administration of the Empire, other Ministers may
be invited to participate in the deliberations of the Financial Council. 1
The ideas and the approach Speransky presented in his Financial
Plan Qf 1810 marked a new departure in the economic thinking of theimperial government. It was the first time that such an all-embracing
program of fundamental reorganization had been proposed and
developed on the basis of the~retical and practical considerations. In
its programatic significance, in its effort at reorienting the thinking of
the Russian administration, it could be compared only to Pososhkov'so skudosti i bogatstve which had provided a theoretical foundation for
the economic policies of Peter the Great and his successors for almost
a whole century. But Speransky was much more important as an
administrator and organizer than Pososhkov had been. Only a specialist
in the economics of currency and public finance - something the
present writer is not - can give a thorough analysis and estimate of
Speransky's views and proposals. But even the historian not initiated
into the secrets of this most difficult field of economic analysis, cannot
fail to note the character and significance of Speransky's approach. As
has been pointed out earlier, without access to the archives it is im-
possible to establish satisfactorily the part played by Speransky's
professional advisers, Professors Balugianskii and Jacob in the formula-
tion of the Plan's basic theoretical principles. Many general ideas on
economics, as for instance those on free economic activity and non-
participation of the state in business enterprises, were part and parcel
of the period's general outlook shaped under the direct influence of
Adam Smith. But as Charles Rist has suggested, the ideas of Adam
1 Plan Finansov, Sees. 199-238, pp. 67-72.