REFORM OF RUSSIA'S FINANCES AND CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION 99Smith on money and credit were not distinguished by clarity and
cogency. 1 In particular, Smith had held a somewhat confused notion
about paper money, assignats, seeing in them a source of actual credit
or money, and not of state obligations. Obviously, Speransky dit not
share Adam Smith's conception on this point. For his time and place,
Speransky's emphatic assertion that, in the absence of expanding
productivity or national income, assignats were a state debt, a hidden
domestic loan that had to be repaid, was quite "revolutionary." The
only important economic thinker of the 18th century who had had a
similar understanding of the nature of assignats had been Richard
Cantillon. Another significant aspect of Speransky's thinking, was an. awareness of the importance of speeding up the circulation of money
as a form of credit, especially in a country which was poor in capital
and where it took a long time to create new capital. The idea of the
function of money and notes of credit in the speed of the circulation
of instruments of exchange had also been defended by Cantillon
(against John Law). If Charles Rist's evaluation of Cantillon's theoret-
ical position is correct, then Speransky shares with the latter the honor
of defending a most sophisticated, modern, and accurate understanding
of the principles which underlie the mechanism of credit and moneycirculation. It puts him above the popular economists of his time and
brings him close to the important views expressed in England at about
the same time by only a few specialists. Perhaps Speransky's knowledge
of English and connections with English businessmen residing in St.
Petersburg gave him direct access to the technical literature on the
subject; whereas his colleagues had to be content with reading the
French or Russian translations of the more general and popular works.
Speransky's notions about credit and money were only one aspect of
his views on political economy. As must have become apparent from
the summary of the Financial Plan, he had some very definite thoughts
concerning the foundation of a country's economic prosperity. On this
subject his views were rather syncretic, and he managed to blend the
teachings of the Physiocrats with those of Adam Smith and his fol-
lowers. He was also less of a precursor in this respect, for the theories
of both Physiocrats and Adam Smith had been known in Russia before
his time. Physiocratic notions were held by Catherine II - as one aspect
of her enlightened absolutism - and they had been popularized among
wide circles of the nobility by the Court Chaplain, A. A. Samborskii.
The theories of Adam Smith became known as early as the 1770's
through Russian students who had been sent to Glasgow and were