60 ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES 1802-1812
frequently conflicted with the original statutes. We may mention in
passing, that Speransky had occasion to advocate a similar pragmatic
and practical approach to legislation later, in connection with his
more fundamental reform projects. His willingness to put to the test
of practical life concepts and legislation based on considerations of
theory and historical experience clearly shows that the usual charac-
terization of Speransky as an abstract theoretican and ideologue must
be strongly qualified.
Unfortunately for Russia, the Church was not alone in experiencing
a lack of competent servants. The need was equally great in all branches
of the state administration, especially in the lower and middle ranks
of the bureaucracy. It was obvious that no reform or reorganization
would bring the expected results unless a serious effort were made at
educating better officials to implement them. This had been one of
the important purposes of the reform of secular education in 1803-- But only institutions of higher learning had been reformed; and
even these did not play the role destined them because of the woeful
inadequacy of the secondary schools. For this reason, the suggestion
of the Governor of New Russia, the Duke de Richelieu, to open a
lycee on the French model received a warm welcome among Alexander's
advisers. As Count Kochubei put it to Speransky - since 1809 a
member of the Administration of Schools: "it is not universities,
especially universities on the German model, that we need when there
is no one to study at them; what we need are primary and secondary
schools. " The system of the lycees is the best which can be adopted
for Russia." 1
The idea of a lycee found its expression in a creation which was to
exert a great influence on the educational and cultural development of
Russia: the Lycee at Tsarskoe Selo. For a long time there had been a
desire to establish a special school to prepare young noblemen for
careers in the civil and judicial administration, on the model of the
Cadet Schools for the military and naval branches. Such a school became
a pressing need at the end of the 18th century when a greater number
of competent and educated noblemen was required to staff the
administrative institutions created by Catherine II. An attempt at
meeting this problem was made in 1804 by the creation of a law school
connected with the Senate. But the experiment was not very successful,
and the school was soon closed. The matter received new and serious
consideration when Alexander I decided to give his younger brothers
an education that would bring them into contact with young people
1 Rozhdestvenskii, Istoricheskii obzor Ministerstva Nar. Prosv., p. 76.