124 PLANS OF REFORM
either, as even in the past it had been resorted to only for want of
anything better. Eventually the solution Speransky suggests comes
somewhat as a surprise from a bureaucrat of lowly origin, although it
is organically related to the arguments we have just summarized. In
fact, he proposes the creation of a squirearchy on the English model.
Such a squirearchy, or gentry, would be organically tied to the interests
of the people as its junior children revert to the ranks of commoners,
and for the gentry "to oppress the people would mean to oppress its own
children:' 1 By securing the free and unrestricted right to private
property, the class of squires - mediators - would be constantly replen-
ished from below by those who have been successful in their economic
endeavors. At first, however, only the nobility would be allowed to
own settled and tilled land. For the preservation of the fundamental
rights of private property, all cases involving property, i.e. civil cases,
are to be dealt with in jury courts, the members of the jury being
representatives of property owners. Drawing further on his English
model, Speransky distinguishes among the class of "optimates" an
upper group consisting of a few individuals, selected by the Tsar, who
transmit their special status only to their oldest male children. Their
property, however, can be divided among all children.^2 The idea of
a special group within the "gentry," came almost as an afterthought
and Speransky does not seem to have relished the idea very much, as is
evident from his arguments in its favor. Speransky himself recognized
that his "mediators" were nothing but another form of nobility when
he quoted with approval Montesquieu's dictum "pas de monarchie
sans noblesse." 3 The upper rank of this new-type nobility was to be
created to meet the objections of those aristocratic old families which
might resent being put on a par with upstarts from the bureaucracy.^4
The subdivision of the "gentry" would be more easily accepted as
there was a precedent for it in the Muscovite distinction between
boiars and boiar children (or later, dvorianins). In any case, the
creation of the class of "mediators" must proceed very gradually. At
first all nobles would be automatically selected to membership in this
new class. Their younger children would become commoners, while
1 "Pervyi politicheskii traktat," p. 72, and pp. 70-72 passim for all the preceding.
2 ibid., pp. 73, 76-77. The idea of the divisibility of property among all children
might have been inspired by the sad results of Peter the Great's efforts at introducing
'ingle inheritance into the legal rclatiom and traditions 01 the Russian nohility. It is
questionable that primogeniture rights to status alone could have been preserved
more successfully, as they too ran counter to Russian historical tradition and the
interests of the majority of the nobles.
3 "Pervyi politicheskii traktat," p. 74.
4 ibid., p. 78.