Michael Speransky. Statesman of Imperial Russia, 1772–1839 - Marc Raeff

28 THE BEGINNINGS

He appeared to proclaim to the world that the personal friendship

and support of the Emperor were enough for him to carry out alone

the program of reform that he felt was necessary to Russia's welfare.

This boast was perhaps justified, but ministers, high officials, courtiers

saw in it only the arrogance of a parvenu. In the final analysis, his

apparent scorn and aloofness made him more enemies at court and

among the nobility than his policies and reform measures.

In attempting to give a rounded picture of Speransky's private and

social life during the period of his greatest activity and success (ca 1806-

1812) we have exceeded the chronological limits of the "Beginnings".

We must now retrace our steps and take up the story of his official

activities from the end of the reign of Paul I. The accession of

Alexander I in March 1801, found Speransky as chief of a department

in the Chancery of the Procurator of the Senate and member of the

Commission of Provisions for the Capital. A still wider field was

opened to his talents when the young Emperor declared his desire to

"transform the shapeless structure of the Empire" and inaugurated a

decade of febrile political and administrative reorganization.

SOURCES

For the bas i c f act s 0 f t his per i 0 d 0 f S per a n sky's Ii f e see:

baron M. A. Korf. Zhizn' grata Speranskogo, vol. I, St. Petersburg 1861.

For further details on the seminary days and the first steps

in go v ern men t 0 f f ice see: Druzheskie pis'ma M. M. Speranskogo k P. G.

Masal'skomu 1798-1819, St. Pbg. 1862; A. N. Fateev, "M. M Speranskii - vliianie
sredy na sostavitelia Svoda Zakonov v l·i period ego zhimi", Iuridicheskii Vestnik,
X (1915), No. 11, pp. 133-155; N. I. Grech, Zapiski 0 moei zhizni, St. Pbg. 1886;
N. S. Il'inskii, "Vospominaniia", Russkii Arkhiv, 1879, No. 12, pp. 377-434; I.
Kalashnikov, "Zapiski irkutskogo zhitelia," Russkaia Starina, vol. 123, July 1905,
pp. 187-251, Aug. 1905, pp. 384-409, Sept. 1905, pp. 609-646; Kolbasin, "I. I.
Martynov - perevodchik grecheskikh klassikov," Sovremennik, March·April 1859;
M. N. Longinov, "Graf Speranskii," Russkii Vestnik, XXIII, Oct. 1859, pp. 337-378
and 527-576; P. M., "Iz proshlogo," Russkii Vestnik, vol. 74, Apr. 1868, pp. 438-513;
I. I. Martynov, "Zapiski," Pamiatniki Novoi Russkoi Istorii, vol. II, 1872 pp. 68-182;
D. P. Runich, "Iz zapisok D. P. Runicha" Russkaia Starina, vol. 105 (January-March
19or) pp. 47-77, 325-357, 597-633; P. A. Slovtsov, "Poslanie k Speranskomu,"
Russkaia Starina, V, 1872, pp. 469-470. The discussion and description of ecclesiastic
,semjnaries is based on: F. N. Beliavskii, 0 retorme dukhovnoi shkoly, part I, St.
Pbg. 1907; G. Florovskii, Puti russkogo bogosloviia, Parizh 1937 (Particularly Chapter
IV, section 4); Dm. Protopopov, "Neskol'ko slov 0 Speranskom" (iz pis'ma k
aka,demiku la. Grotu, 11. XII. 1861) Russkii Arkhiv, 1876, pp. 225-230; B. V.
Titlinov, Duk.hovnye shkoly v XIX st., vyp. I, Vil'na 1908; P. Znamenskii, Dukhovnye
shkoly v Rossii do retormy 1808 g, Kazan' 1881.