GOVERNING RUSSIA'S PROVINCES 231Empire as well as develop a greater sense of responsibility and pur-
poseful activity in those nobles who resided permanently on their
estates. T~e central authorities would then be relieved of many details
and strictly local problems. The noblemen elected to local offices might
also exert a stimulating and progressive influence on the life of the
countryside (as the zemstvos did eventually).
The expectations raised by the Act of 1775 foundered on two reefs:
the indolence and distrustful apathy of the lower nobility and the
highhanded, tyrannical habits of the appointed officials. It had been
somewhat naive and rash on Catherine's part to assume that the
nobility which had fought government service for almost a century,
would change its outlook overnight. But even had there been more
willing cooperation on the part of local serf-owners, they lacked the
education, training, and traditions for the performance of the tasks set
them by the statute of 1775. Perhaps cooperation and competence could
have been developed slowly over several generations, but what was to be
done in the meantime? The Governor (and other high officials
appointed by the Crown) was usually either a career bureaucrat, who
had risen in the ranks of the central administration, or a military
figure. Both types were accustomed to seeing precise orders issued and
blindly obeyed throughout the Empire. They were not used to take
into account the desires and suggestions of outsiders. Moreover, the
Governor came invested with the personal confidence of the monarch;
corresponding directly with the sovereign, he by-passed the Senate and- after 1802 - the ministries. Under such conditions, the Governor's
power naturally became much greater than had been intended. Faced
by the apathy, lack of tradition and experience, and the personal
rivalries of the nobles, the representative of the autocratic monarch
brushed aside the "local elements" and imposed his own will; in fact
governed according to his own notions.
Even in those cases when the nobility mustered enough courage,
found a leader (usually some retired dignitary or magnate), and opposed
the Governor, it had little chance of winning the contest for power.
The Russian monarchs were rarely sympathetic to the noblemen in
the provinces. They scorned the cultural backwardness of the average
landowner, while preserving a lingering distrust of his political and
social views. As a rule, the provincial nobility had no direct access to
the ear of the Emperor, as did the governors. The latter could always
bring the matter to the monarch's attention in such a manner as
would justify his position and prejudice the sovereign against his
administres.