PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS AND POLITICAL THEORY^221reformer over the Russian State Secretary, there already were in
Prussia - specially in its Western provinces - well developed estates
with a tradition of social responsibility and the necessary experience
for taking care of local administration. Even the nobles (Junker) of
East Prussia had functioned as the local authority for a long time and
were experienced and strong enough to take over the job from the
bureaucracy. All this was not the case in Russia. However, Speransky
did not seem to be aware of the problem and proposed nothing that
might have served to prepare the ground for an effective public
opinion. Even his economic policy put all the burden of leadership,
promotion, and guidance on the government.
In his naive and shortsighted reliance on the enlightened despotism
of an absolute Emperor assisted by efficient reliable servants, Speransky
displayed a traditional form of Russian political psychology which saw
in an autocratic Tsar the best defense against the tyranny of nobles
and the abuse of private individuals. It did not come as altogether
unexpected in the son of a village priest. Perhaps his rise along the
bureaucratic ladder had only confirmed him in this attitude, an attitude
he shared with the common people of Russia. Distrusting the nobility,
and well aware of the weakness and inadequacy of the "bourgeoisie,"
he argued for the maintenance of autocracy as best defense against
chaotic tyranny. He only wished to give the autocratic government
orderly and clear forms of procedure. "The sovereign power in Russia
is the autocratic Monarch, who combines in his person the legislative
and executive powers and who disposes without limits of all the forces
of the state. This principle has no material limitations. But it has
some mental limits, established by opinion, habit, and long practice,
namely that its power is brought into play only in a uniform way
and according to well established forms ... " ~ In truly "bureaucratic"
schwachen Fundamenten beruhende Herrschaft weniger Gutsbesitzer errichtet werden,
sondern es kommt die Teilnahme an der Verwaltung der Provinzialangelegenheiten
samtIichen Besitzern eines bedeutenden Eigentums jeder Art damit sie aIle mit
gleichen Verpflichtungen und Befugnissen an den Staat gebunden sind.
Sec. 46. Die Regierung vervieWiltigt die Quellen ihrer Erkenntnis von den Be-
diirfnissen der biirgerlichen Gesellschaft und gewinnt an Starke in den Mitteln der
Ausfiihrung. AIle Krafte der Nation werden in Anspruch genommen, und sinken
die hoheren Klassen derselben durch Weichlichkeit und Gewinnsucht, so treten die
folgenden mit der verjiingten Kraft auf, erringen sich Einfluss, Ansehen, und Ver-
mogen und erhalten das ehrwlirdige Gebaude einer freien, selbstandigen, unab-
hangigen Verfassung." Freiherr vom Stein, "Denkschrift liber die zweckmassige
Bildung der obersten Behorden und der Provinzial-, Finanz-und PoIizei-behorden
in der Preussischen Monarchie (Nassau, Juni 1807) ," Briefwechsel, Denkschriften und
Aufzeichnungen, II, pp. 219-228 passim (cited in modernized spelling in Altmann,
Ausgewiihlte Urkunden, II-I, pp. 19-23 passim).
1 Zapiska 1803, pp. 84-85. Also quoted in Istoriia Pravitel'stvuiushchego Senata,
III (St. Pbg. 1911), p. 64. It is interesting to note that Speransky's description of