GOVERNING RUSSIA'S PROVINCES 235miles?" 1 On the shoulders of this unsuitable individual rested many
different matters and the responsibility for the entire district, some-
times a very large one at that. Th~ temptation to use this position for
personal advantage was very great indeed, and all too often the ispravnik
did not resist it. On the other hand, his responsibilities put him at the
mercy of the caprices and demands of the governor and other superior
officials. And while the position of marshal of the nobility might have
some attraction as a source of social prestige, the duties of an ispravnik
or of a local judge were merely burdensome impositions. They did
not attract anyone but the least qualified and worst elements of the
local nobility. Doing more harm than good, the ispravniks could not
provide the necessary firm foundation for an efficient and orderly
administration. Speransky recognized this clearly and set it as the first
task for the reformer of local administration.
For an honest man who sincerely desired to establish an efficient
and beneficient administration, the task of provincial governor was a
very arduous one indeed. He could not count on the help and support
of local society - i.e. the nobility. But, if the "elected" officials were
woefully incompetent and inadequate, the situation was not much
better in regard to the regular bureaucracy which staffed the numerous
offices of the provincial and district capitals. The governor himself had
but a handful of responsible officials to assist him in his daily work;
even to these he could not delegate much authority or rely on their
initiative. The majority of the officials were ignorant, timorous clerks
without either the power or the ability to take decisions. The circum-
stances of these clerks on whose honesty, efficiency, and energy depended
the good running of the administration were simply appalling. The
salaries were so low that the poor devils had barely enough to eat
and could not afford adequate clothing; on days of bad weather, only
half of an office staff might show up for work, as there was but one
pair of boots for every two clerks. Unmarried copyists slept in the rooms
in which they worked, for they could not afford regular lodgings.
Drunkenness was the most common remedy for drowning the humilia-
tions of such an existence. Under such conditions, the clerks were only
too willing to accept bribes and gifts. Venality started at the lowest
rung where it weighed most heavily on those who needed the protection
of the government most. Their vices, in addition to their inadequate
education and training, made it impossible to entrust to the ordinary
1 Quoted in A. Fateev, "Speranskii - gubernator Sibiri," Zapiski Russkogo
Nauchno.1ss1edovatel'nogo ob'edineniia v Prage, vol. XI, No. 82, (Prague 1942), p.
- See also the almost identical words in Speranskii, "Zamechaniia 0 gubernskikh
uchrezhdeniiakh," Arkhiv istor. i statist. svedenii, (1859), No.4, pp. 100-101.