160 PLANS OF REFORMRomanzoff's particular friendship [?]. He' is the reputed authoI
of general public manifestoes and other state papers, the
composition of which has excited notice in the U.S. as well as
throughout Europe. 1Our documentation does not bear out Adams's supposition that the
Council was a device for settling some court intrigues and providing
an "honorable promotion" for those dignitaries who had lost the
Emperor's confidence. The American Minister's opinion that the
Council of. State foreshadowed greater freedom, the curtailment of
absolutism, and some degree of constitutionalism was shared by many
contemporaries, friends and foes of constitutionalism alike. This judg-
ment was not justified either in the light of the Plan of 1809 as a whole
or in the light of the Statute for the Council of State alone. But as it
was so prevalent an opinion among Speransky's contemporaries -
even contributing to his eventual fall from favor - and often also
maintained by subsequent "liberal" historians, it should be examined
more closely. The criticism of and attack on the Council of State made
by the Historiographer, Karamzin, provides a convenient basis for
such an examination.
Karamzin was the most articulate and eloquent - if not the most
original, logical, and best informed - spokesman for the conservative
landowning nobility. The national pride of this class had been deeply
wounded by Alexander's military defeats and alliance with Napoleon;
its economic interests had suffered a great deal from Russia's partic-
ipation in the Continental Blockade. The conservative nobility also
resented the fact that its members did not participate fully in the
government, for all the influential positions were occupied by bureau-
crats, some of whom were mere social upstarts. In a sense, the conserv-
ative gentry complai~ed that they had lost the social prestige and
political influence they had enjoyed under Catherine II. Karamzin
gave effective literary form to these somewhat diffuse sentiments of
discontent. In his famous paper (privately submitted to Alexander I)
Of Old and New Russia) he subjected to sharp criticism Speransky's
plans of reform, in particular the organization of the Council of
State. 2 Karamzin felt that the Council, and other measures taken or
1 Department of State - Russia, John Quincy Adams, dispatch to the Secretary
of State, No. 11, 31 January 1810.
2 Karamzin's paper remained unknown to the public until the 1860s. An incom·
plete version was published in 1870, N. M. Karamzin, "0 drevnei i novoi Rossii",
Russkii Arkhiv, VIII, (1870), pp. 2225-2350. A complete edition was published by
V. V. Sipovskii, ZajJi.l/w 0 rirevlwi i lIolloi Rossii, St. I'hg. 1914. R. Pipes, cd., N. AI.
l\arall/zill - A Mell/oir on Ancient and Modem Rus.lia, (The Rus;ial1 Text). Cambrid-
ge, Mass. 1!l59 and hy the sallie, "mllll/zin'.1 Me/l/oir Oil Allciellt alld Modl'rll RlIssia
(A '1 ramlation and an Analysis), Camhridge, Mass. 195!l.