PROJECTS FOR REFORMING THE PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION 287clergy and peasantry, Speransky concluded, they were not "classes" in
the real sense of estates, the former because it was too poor, the latter
because it had no property.^1 Under the circumstances, Speransky felt
justified in his scepticism of the feasibility and success of a represent-
ative assembly, be it only for local matters.
Of course, as Speransky well understood, it would be rather senseless
to regulate all minutiae of local government from St. Petersburg. It
would take too much time and add a load of papers to the already
excessive amount processed in the provincial chanceries. He therefore
argued for a greater degree of latitude for the provincial institutions
dealing with fiscal and judiciary matters. This greater freedom of
action, however, must not be allowed to increase the vast powers of the
governor and lead to his uncontrolled despotism. In order to prevent
such an undesirable result, the collegiate features of the governor's
chancery should be strengthened. This idea became the core of Spe-
ransky's proposals for the reform of the provincial administration;
and, as we have seen, he managed to introduce it to some extent in
Siberia in 1822.
As model for the collegiate organization of the governor's chancery
he used the organization of the ministries suggested by him in 1811.
The governor's office is like the Ministry of the Interior on the local
level. The Council of the governor must participate in the discussion
of all matters in which the governor does not act as the personal rep-
resentative of the Emperor (e.g., review of sentences). Except in great
emergencies, the governor should never act without the advice and
consent of the Council, although the latter's opinions need not be
binding on him in some instances. Similar to the Council of a ministry,
the governor's council is not to be merely a group of individuals more
or less closely connected with the government, but the collegiate body
of the chiefs of the several departments of the administration. While
each Council member may take independent action on routine matters
in his own department, the Council as a body is to act whenever a
question pertains to several departments or involves general policies.
By strengthening thus the role of the Council, Speransky believed that
it would become both a tool for more efficient administration and a
brake on the personal despotism of the governor. 2 He advocated asimilar arrangement for the district administration. It could be achieved
by appointing a number of Deputy Land Captains along lines of1 Speranskii, "Nuzhdy i zhelaniia," in Pamiati, pp. 816-817.
2 "Zamechaniia 0 gubernskikh uchrezhdeniiakh," loco cit., pp. 98-99.