46 "CONSTITUTIONALISM"
approach in the Westl It is interesting to observe also that in spite
of their alleged partiality for things English, the Unofficial Committee
found the best expression of their aims and the clearest statement of
their purpose in the "constitution" of Prussia: an absolute monarchy
ruling with the help of an efficient bureaucracy according to clearly
defined laws which assured the security, life, property and freedom
of economic action of the individual citizen.
The answer to our question, what was the meaning of Alexander's
constitutionalism, is therefore quite clear. The Emperor and his close
advisers in the Unofficial Committee defined constitution as the rule
of law, and the clear, logical, hierarchical organization of the admin-
istration. Law, order, clear structure of the political machine were the
contents they put into such words as constitution, fundamental laws,
etc. At no time did they mean representative institutions, checks and
balances, abolition of the autocracy - even though these might have
been the long range dream, to come true for other generations; this
conception and definition prevailed throughout the entire government
career of Speransky.
True enough, such an approach might conceivably have brought
about a true constitutional - in the modern sense - development. In
this belief many "progressive" and truly liberal individuals in the 19th
century in Russia spent all their energies in the service of an autocratic
government. But today - with the superior benefit of hindsight - we
can say that the hopes for such an evolution were doomed to failure
as long as Russia's political transformation was directed by an all-
powerful bureaucracy and at the mercy of the whim of an absolute
ruler, with no social group or class strong enough to put a check on
their despotism.
SOURCESOn P a u 1 I consult: M. V. Klochkov, Ocherki pravitel'stvennoi deiatel'nosti
vremeni Pavla I (Petrograd 1916); S. Mel'gunov, "Istoricheskaia zagadka (pavel I),"
Dela i liudi Aleksandrovskogo vremeni (Berlin 1923), pp. 14-34; Materialy dlia
biografii imperatora Pavia I (izd. E. Kasprovicha 1874 g.), reprinted Berlin n.d.;
Memoires de l'Amiral Tchitchagoff 1767-1849 (Leipzig 1862).The literature on Alexander I and his reign is immense; the
eu ses projets divulgues d'avance, aurait agite par l'incertitude inseparable d'unepareiUe imprudence et aurait eu a surmonter l'opposition que plus de discretion
simplement eut prevenue." Comte Paul Stroganov, II (annexe VIII, Principes de
la reforme du gouvernement, No. 97: Plan general du travail avec l'Empereurpour la reforme, and No. 100: Essai sur Ie systeme a suivre dans la reformation
de l'administration), p. 8.