16 THE BEGINNINGStheir respect and favor. As an illustration of his ability to deal with
difficult personalities, we may describe his first interview with the
most dreaded, most ignorant, and crudest of all the Procurator Generals
in Paul's reign, Obolianinov. Obolianinov's reputation of a worthy
counterpart to his tyrannical and brutal imperial master had preceded
him at the chan<:ery of the Senate, and all subordinate officials were
in mortal, cringing fear. Not so Speransky, who correctly figured that
Obolianinov's brutal violence only served to hide his ignorance and
incapacity; and that, therefore, he would welcome an able assistant
whom he could trust and respect. Speransky behaved accordingly when
he was first called before the new Procurator. When he entered
Obolianinov's study to make his report, he found the Procurator seated
at his desk, the back turned to the door, engrossed in the papers before
him. Without lifting his head, Obolianinov gruffly asked Speransky to
state his business. At the sound of the first words which Speransky
spoke, in a clear, calm, and pleasant matter-of-fact tone, Obolianinov
raised his head to look at the speaker. To his great surprise, instead
of the servile and colorless figure of a frightened clerk in sloppy and
tattered clothes, the Procurator beheld the pleasant countenance of a
young man, soberly yet elegantly dressed, in a respectful but dignified
posture, stating his business in a precise and self-assured manner. This
expression of dignity and confidence impressed the bully. Obolianinov
rose from his chair, politely forced Speransky to take a seat, and
listened to his reports and comments with great interest and attention.
From then on, Speransky became the right-hand man of the fearful
Procurator of the Senate, and on occasion his work and advice helped
to shield the dignitary from the Emperor's wrath.
Speransky owed his rapid rise along the hierarchic ladder not only to
his tact in dealing with the difficult personalities of his superiors, but
also to his remarkable power for work, his unusual analytic and
stylistic talents, and the speed with which he could familiarize himself
with a new problem. 1 Men of such abilities were especially sought after
in the turbulent and irregular reign of Paul I, whose eccentricities and
whims gave no rest to a harried bureaucracy. Among the numerous
anecdotes concerning the reign and actions of Paul I, the following
will perhaps illustrate the difficulties which the Emperor's caprices
created for his ministers and which Speransky was adept at solving.
One fine day, struck by some fancy, Paul I suddenly decided that Russia
needed a commercial code. Such a need existed indeed, and to meet
it would normally have required much preparation and study. But the
1 N. S. Il'inskii, "Vospominaniia" Russkii Arkhiv, 1879, No. 1~, p. 391.