Michael Speransky. Statesman of Imperial Russia, 1772–1839 - Marc Raeff

132 PLANS OF REFORM

weakness, his conception was a valuable suggestion for his time, as in
18th century Russia the lack of clear definition had led to inefficiency,
disorder, and abuse in both the police and judiciary.^1
Our previous examination of Speransky's ideas on political economy

makes it unnecessary to go into much detail at this point. It is worth

noting, though, that his ideas were quite clearly formulated and
thought through by 1803. In the economic domain, the state's interest
encompasses everything that constitutes the wealth of the country, in
particular its twofold sources: natural resources and labor. Part of this
wealth is taken out by the government, Speransky reasons, and applied
to the needs of administration, i.e. the preservation of internal and
external security. In taking out a part of the nation's wealth through

taxation, the state musu see to it that the future sources of wealth are

safeguarded. It is the duty of the government - as he pointed out in

the Report of the Ministry of the Interior at about the same time -

to foster the economic development of the counry. Awareness of this

duty must be the guiding principle of sound fiscal and tariff policy.^2

As he has stated at the beginning of this report, Speransky feels that

the government's attention should be focused on the reorganization of

the central administration. To this end he proposes to work for the

achievement of four basic goals: 1. to base the new system of admin-

istration on a true autocratic constitution (sicl) without any separation

between executive and legislative powers; 2. to preserve and strengthen

a public opinion which will put brakes on bureaucratic arbitrariness

and tyranny by bringing the abuses to the attention of the government;

3. to make it possible to come closer to the model of a "true monarchical
   administration;" 4. to preserve those institutions whose slow evolution
   would prepare the people for a "true monarchy." 3
   Can the government start on this pedagogical task, act as a guide
   and leader in the evolution towards "true monarchical" (i.e. "consti-
   tutional") forms without a good code, without good laws, to regulate
   the relations between individuals and their property? Yes, says Speran-
   sky. A really good code cannot be written immediately, for too little
   is known in Russia about jurisprudence. Without a good theoretical
   framework all efforts at codification will be wasted, though this does
   not exclude minor improvements. The existence of a perfect code of
   laws is not an essential feature of good monarchical government, any-
   way. Look at Prussia and England: in both the laws are in great

1 ibid., pp. 132-138.

2 ibid., pp. 150-153. The "cameralist" tone is unmistakable.

3 ibid., pp. 189-190.