156 PLANS OF REFORMized by conservative thinkers after 1789 in opposition to the "atomistic"views of radicals and progressive liberals. It might be noted in passing,
that Speransky's conception of a national assembly was taken up again
by the Slavophiles; though the latter do not seem to have been aware
of their "debt" to Alexander's State Secretary. The Duma of the Empire
was supposed to be the voice of the people (sobornyi go los, Slavophile
theologians would say later), an expression of the organic harmony of
the country, in contradistinction to the representation of conflicting
private interests in Western European legislative assemblies.^1
There is no doubt that the organization of the Council, the method
of selecting its members, the enumeration and classification of its func-
tions, owe a great deal to the Conseil d'Etat created in France by the
Constitution de l'An VIII. Retaining the formal aspects of the ration-
alistic ideals and beliefs of the 18th century, the First Consul's
constitution had given virtually uncontrolled power to the executive.
For this reason it appealed greatly to the absolutist monarchies of
Europe and was often imitated, even after Napoleon's fall, as, for
instance, in Prussia in 1817. The imitation by autocratic Russia should,
therefore, not come as very surprising, and it should not be construed
as implying a liberal and constitutional orientation of its government.
No doubt, Speransky was familiar with the French model, for the
Constitution de l'An VIII had circulated widely in Europe. Further-
more, the Russian Commission on Laws, as we may recall, was in
regular correspondence with Portalis and other leading French jurists
who could provide the full text of the Constitution with valuable com-
ments. The ready availability of useful foreign models alone, however,
is rarely sufficient reason for introducing radically new political or
administrative institutions. But only the external form which Speransky
gave to the State Duma and the method of selecting its membership
might be said to have been imitated from French models (Napoleon's
Conseil Legislatit and Sieyes' electoral scheme). The origin, purpose,
and basic character of the French institutions were so vastly different
that a stress on Speransky's debt to tradition and organic and historicist
theories seems to come closer to the truth and is more rewarding for
an understanding of the full implications of his proposals.
1 Compare again with the parallel argument of vom Stein: "Die Regierung ver-
vielfaltigt die Quellen ihrer Erkenntnis von den BedUrfnissen der bUrger-
lichen Gesellschaft und gewinnt an Starke in den Mitteln der Ausfiihrung."
Freiherr vom Stein, "DenksLhrift iiber die zweckmassige Bildung der obersten Be-
horden lind der Provinzial-, Finanz- lind l'olizeibehonlen in der prellssischen
Monarchie (Nassau, Juni 1807)", Briefwechsel, Denkschriften und Aufzeichnungen
vol. II, p. 228 (cited in modernized spelling from Altmann, Ausgewiihlte Urkunden,
II. p. 23).