REFORM OF RUSSIA'S FINANCES AND CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION 117remained unbalanced. Much had been accomplished in recent years,
but it was only a beginning; nothing was fully completed. Speransky
explained why so many things had been started and none brought to a
satisfactory conclusion by pointing out that all the work had been
concentrated in the hands of a single individual, Speransky himself. 1
In order to bring to a conclusion the most important and basic reforms
and to give less of a hold to his enemies' criticism, Speransky requested
to be relieved of his secondary and temporary duties. Let the new
institutions develop normally, organically, as they should, within the
context of a reformed state structure, Speransky pleaded, and there
would be no need for his taking care of so many different things. 2 But
Alexander did not listen to the State Secretary's reasonable plea.
In any case, Speransky felt that the first steps, the most important
ones, had been taken and that the foundation had been laid for the
new structure of government. In a letter to the Emperor written from
exile in self justification, he quite correctly characterized his works in
the last years:
"Toute l'annee 1809 avait ete employee a combiner les idees eparses
sur les re£ormes et d'en faire un plan general. Ce n'est autre chose
que Ie developpement raisonne de tout ce qui a ete con/Su, medite,
et, en partie, execute par l'Empereur des l'annee 1801. 11 n'etait
base que sur la mem.e idee principale, de regulariser les pouvoirs
par les lois et d'assurer l'administration par les reglements et
institutions." 3Thus, the reorganization of the mmlstries, the establishment of the
Council of State, the renovation of Russia's financial policy, as well
as his various other secondary administrative activities, were only
parts and fragments of a larger design. The successful legislative im-
plementation of Speransky's thinking depended on the adoption of
his plan for a general· reform of the Russian body politic. But this
overall reform remained in the project-state, for when Speransky"s
career was abruptly interrupted in 1812, "his body was exiled to
Nizhnii-Novgorod, while his spiritual children were exiled to the
Archives" (Herzen).
1 The partial list of the official papers seized at his home in March 1812, on the
night of his exile, gives a good idea of Speransky's extraordinarily multiple and
various duties. N. V. Golitsyn (ed.) Opis' bumag M. M. Speranskogo 1812 goda,
Akademiia Nauk: Trudy Kommissii po izdaniiu sochinenii, bumag i pisem grafa M.
M. Speranskogo, fascicle 1 (Petrograd 1916). Unfortunately, the planned edition of
Speransky's writings never materialized, nor was the list of his papers and library
followed up.
2 "Otchet v delakh," loco cit., pp. 458, 460, 461.
3 Speranskii, "Opravdatel'naia zapiska," Russkii Arkhiv, XXX (1892) No: 1, p. 66
(the original text is in French, the italics are Speransky's).