158 PLANS OF REFORMaffairs We have entrusted to it refer only to legislative matters,
executive affairs are referred to the Senate and those institutions which
are subordinate to it." 1 Very soon after its establishment, however,
the new Council degenerated into an organ of the judiciary, decidingcivil and administrative cases on appeal from the Senate. It ceased to
direct and unify the broad policies of the government. This evolution
might have been the result of "sabotage" on the part of the Unofficial
Committee, for the Council had been too much of a creation of the
conspirators of March 11, 1801 and of the Senatorial Party to be to
the liking of Alexander's youthful friends and advisers. Mter the
establishment of the Ministries in 1802, the Council's original purpose
was completely forgotten. However, the idea of a consultative council
to assist the monarch in deciding on legislative needs was not
abandoned.
Did foreign models and approaches play a role in orienting Spe-
ransky's search for an institutional form of an advisory and unifying
council to the Emperor? The Council set up by Maria Theresa in
1760 (and also imperfectly realized in practice) had functions that were
very similar to those of the Permanent Council of 1801 and its 18th-
century predecessors. The similarity extends also, in some measure, to
the Cabinet of Frederick II and the original design of a council of
Napoleon. From all appearance, these were parallel developments,
arising from similar needs, and based on a similar rationale. They all
aimed at combining bureaucratic efficiency and order with absolute
executive power. Perhaps Speransky was directly acquainted with
Kaunitz's creation, as his references to the financial measures of
Joseph II and Austrian law show that he was familiar with some
Austrian legislation. But unfortunately, we have no direct proof of
conscious borrowing or imitation. In any case, the Russian 18th century
forerunners, Western institutions, and Speransky's own Council of
State, were all responses - within the traditions of absolute monarchy
and enlightened absolutism - to the necessity of "streamlining" the
administration and adapting it to modern conditions, without opening
the way to representative legislative assemblies. 2
The dangers inherent in a piecemeal implementation of the proposals
contained in the Plan of 1809, dangers against which Speransky had1 The Instruction (Nakaz) to the Nepremennyi Sovet, dated 5 April 1801,
quoted by Korkunov, op. cit., II, p. 64.
2 For material on the Western Councils in the 18th century and a discussion of
their relation to enlightened absolutism and bureaucratic forms of administration,
see: O. Hintze, "Das monarchische Prinzip und die Konstitutionelle Verfassung"