SPERANSKY AND THE DECEMBRISTS 315mainspring of its work, the hidden driving wheel which moved the
complicated ~echanism of this extraordinary judiciary." 1 The man·
uscript papers of Speransky show that he did all of the important work
himself. The main task was to distribute the condemned into categories,
for which purpose a special committee was elected by the Court. It
consisted of Speransky (who received 47 voices, the highest number),
P. A. Tolstoi, I. V. Vasil'chikov, E. F. Komarovskii, G. A. Stroganov,
S. S. Kushnikov, F. I. Engel', D. O. Baranov, P. I. Kutaisov, and
Zhuravlev as main secretary.^2 Speransky also drew up the scheme of
the various categories of guilt according to which the defendants were
classified. Although it suffered from an excess of schematization and
a neglect of subjective factors which might enter into the picture in
individual cases, the classification was an excellent piece of work.
Without this guide the Court, composed of individuals who had no legal
co~petence and who were not all too clear and just in their thinking,
would have been unable to do its job. Finally, Speransky outlined the
schedule for the Court's labors, planning each session to be held
between June 2'8 and July 9, 1826. All of this Speransky worked out in
close consultation with the Emperor, who set the tone and indicated the
expected outcome of the trial in not too uncertain terms.
True enough, eventually the Court disregarded some of Speransky's
suggestions and thereby introduced some confusion in the classification
of the categories of guilt. The Court also decided on harsher punish-
ments than those which had been suggested by Speransky, proceeding
probably on the assumption (which proved correct) that the Emperor
would scale down all sentences. There were, in the final analysis, 11
categories of guilt; an additional five leaders (Ryleev, Muraviev, Kakh-
ovskii, Bestuzhev, Pestel) were placed beyond all categories because of
the gravity of their guilt. This group of five complicated matters some-
what. After deliberation, the Court decided (on the basis of Article 19
of the Military Statute of 1716, "incitement and participation in mu-
tiny") to sentence them to be quartered. Even Speransky voted for the
application of this law, knowing full well its horrible implications. In
all, there were 63 voices for this sentence, 1) for various milder forms
of death, 3 abstentions (the clergy), and only one - that of Admiral
Mordvinov - against any kind of death sentence. Nicholas refused to
confirm the Court's verdict as it stood, but he did not directly suggest
any changes (as he had for the other categories of sentences), and
returned it for further deliberation and revision. At the same time,
1 Ibid,. p. 74.
!I Komarovskii, "Zapiski grafa Komarovskogo," Istoricheskii Vestnik (1897), p. 455.