242 GOVERNING RUSSIA'S PROVINCEScoincided with Speransky's own feelings. Of course, there is no denying
that in many instances unscrupulous careerists used the establishment
of branches of the Bible Society as means for gaining imperial favor.
And the zealots of the Society did often work for the supression of
science, learning, and philosophy, as witness the notorious activities
of Runich and Magnitskii. But this was certainly not the case of
Speransky in Penza.
The practical problems Speransky had to solve every day led him to
reflect on the ways and means of improving the provincial administra-
tion and for resolving the most vital social question, serfdom. Traces
of his thinking about these questions are found in his letters to Ko-
chubei. Especially revealing are the letters he wrote a propos Balashov's
scheme of Lieutenancies in 1818. In principle Speransky approved of
Balashov's plan, but only as a starting point which might eventually
lead to a general reorganization of the government. His newly gained
insight into local conditions led Speransky to advocate that reorgani-
zation should be started on the level of provincial administration, and
not at the top. But he still did not abandon his trust in the advantage
of working though well trained officials, bureaucratic committees, ratherthan elective representative assemblies. To KOchubei he repeated his
opposition to a representative assembly or council that would have
to work out a new system of administration. Appealing to the au-
thority of Montesquieu, he warned that representative assemblies are
good only for consultation, to find out the opinions and wishes of the
people. This was the role he had proposed in his Plan of 1809 for the
various Dumas. But to be truly constructive, a reform should be prepared
in' secret, by the highest central authorities with the assistance of
expert provincial administrators.l For the time being, Speransky
limited himself to criticizing Balashov's plan and did not recommend
his own solution. Not until he had gained additional experience in
Siberia, did Speransky develop fully his proposals for a reform of the
local government of the Empire. Let us therefore postpone until then
a fuller discussion of the ideas and suggestions contained in his letters
to Count Kochubei.
Speransky's duties as governor of a pre-eminently agrarian province,
and his personal concern as a landowner, served to revive his interest
in agriculture. We find him exchanging ideas and information with
his old correspondent and adviser on agricultural questions, Pol-toratskii. "I too," he writes, "preach here the idea of crop rotation
1 Letter to Kochubei, 21 September 1818, Russkii Arkhiv, III (1902). pp. 51-54.
Also quoted in Fateev, "Speranskii - gubernator Sibiri," loco cit., pp. 137-138.