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

ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITlES 1802-1812

participation in the government covered only a few years (1808-1812),

we need not follow a strict chronological order in describing his work.

The reign of Alexander I looms as one of the significant periods in

the history of Russian education. The burst of energy and enthusiasm

in the first years of the reign resulted in a liberal statute for the

universities, the founding of new schools of higher learning, and the

opening of several institutions for secondary and technical education. 1

Speransky did not participate directly in these educational reforms

which were the work of the most prominent and "progressive" friends

of the Emperor, Count Stroganov and Prince Czartoryski. 2 Following

upon the reorganization of the secular school system, the government

turned its attention to the pitiful state of the schools for the clergy,

the theological seminaries. Already Paul I had indicated his intention

of improving the situation by increasing the budget for ecclesiastical

affairs, but he had had no time to go further. The problem was

particularly pressing, for it was in the schools run by the clergy that

the majority of Russians received their rudiments of learning. We
have already noted the fact that an ever-increasing number of the
lower and middle bureaucracy was being recruited from among the
students of theological seminaries. The government service's self interest
required that these seminaries furnish adequate instruction and
preparation for those who would be called to leadership, in the
spiritual or bureaucratic fields. Finally, with the establishment of
secular secondary and primary schools, the parish schools had become
the lowest rung of the regular educational ladder.
In 1807, by the decree of November 29, Alexander I established a
mixed commission of laymen and clergy and directed it to submit a
plan for the complete overhauling of the ecclesiastical system of

education.^3 It was a foregone conclusion that Speransky would be

appointed to this commission, for what other prominent official
possessed both a direct and intimate knowledge of the theological

1 For a brief summary in English of the reforms of education in the reign of
Alexander I, see William H. E. Johnson, Russia's Educational Heritage (Carnegie
Press, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1950), pp. 63-86.
2 Speransky's friends Martynov and Karazin were members of the Glavnoe
Pravlenie Uchilishch and could, therefore, have given him first-hand accounts of
this body's work and accomplishments. Cf. S. Rozhdestvenskii (ed.), Istoricheskii
obzor deiatel'nosti Ministerstva Narodnogo Prosveshcheniia 1802-1902 (St. Pbg.
1902). p. 37; M. Sukhomlinov. "Malcrialy dlia istorii obrazovaniia v Rossii. .....
Issledovanlla I stat'j po russkoi literature i prosveshcheniiu, I (St. Pbg. 1889), p. 25_
3 The Commission consisted of: Metropolitan Ambrosius, Bishop Theophilactus,
Speransky. Prince Golitsyn, Father loan Derzhavin, Krinitskii - PSZ 23,122. For
details, including a Jist of subjects taught. see Storch, op. cit., Vol. IX, No. 25
(Nov. 1806), pp. 83-85 ("Kurze Obersicht aller Bildungsanstalten fUr die Geistlich-
keit").