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

PLANS OF REFORM 159

warned the Emperor, came true. Prepared in great secrecy, and pub-
lished out of their "natural" context, the measures based on his Plan
were misjudged and misunderstood. 1 On the whole, the Russian
public reacted unfavorably to the various refonns introduced between
1809 and 1812. This negative reaction, coupled with an ignorance of
the full scope of the Plan, led Speransky's contemporaries to draw wrong
conclusions and inferences regarding his aims and ideals.
We may first note the interesting opinion and comment of a neutral
observer whose political sophistication can hardly be doubted. John
Quincy Adams, reporting to the Secretary of State, wrote:

With this letter I have the honor to enclose a translation of the

Imperial Manifesto and New Constitution of the Council of the

Russian Empire, issued at the commencement of the present year.

It is variously considered by different persons as a new system

of government containing many features of freedom and calculated

to temper the absoluteness of the Sovereign authority. As an

imitation of the present organization of the French government,

recommended by the energy which experience has shown to possess

there - or as merely a mode of removing certain Ministers with

whom the Emperor is not altogether satisfied, but whom he does

not chose to disgrace, and of concentrating power and influence

in the present Chancellor of the Empire, Count Romanzof

[Rumiantsov]. Upon him the appointment of President General of

the Council in the absence of the Empire [sic! - Adams obviously

means Emperor] has been conferred for the present year. And the

office next in dignity, that of Secretary of the Empire, is at the

same time bestowed upon Mr. Speransky, a person whose reputation

stands very high and who has risen under the favor of Count

Staat und Verfassung (Leipzig 1941), pp. 349-379; "Der oesterreichische und der

preussische Beamtenstaat im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert," ibid., pp. 311-348; "Die

Entstehung der modernen Staatsministerien," ibid., pp. 265-310. It should be noted

that the Austrian model was particularly relevant to Russia, for the Habsburg

monarchy had similar problems arising from the fact that it was a multinational

empire.

1 The degree of secrecy surrounding the preparation of the legislation for the

Council of State can be gauged from the fact that Arakcheev was shown an outline

of the Council's statute only on the eve of its official publication. See V. R.

Marchenko, "Avtobiograficheskie zapiski gosudarstvennogo sekretaria V. R. Mar-

chenki (1782-1838)," Russkaia Starina, vol. 85 (1896), p. 485. Napoleon's ambassador,

Caulaincourt, reporting on the new Council - on 12 Feb. 1810, wrote: "(Ie nouveau

consciI) il l'organisalion dmplcl ni lui lRumianlSC\ J ni d'autrcs n <l\'aiclll Cll' appc-

U's. cl Sa Majcsll' mc dil qu'Ellc l'a\'ail formc scule dans son cabincl a\'cc :\/. Spc·

ransky et que Ie comte de Romantzoff n'en avait eu connaissance que trois jours

avant la publication des edits, et les autres ministres que Ie jour meme," Grand

Due Nicolas Mikhailowitsch, Les relations diplomatiques de la Russie et de la

France ... vol. IV, p. 281.

The complete Plan of Speransky was discussed only by a special committee

whose members were in advance favorable to it: Kochubei, Kampengauzen, Mord-

vinoy, l\alugianskii.