GOVERNING RUSSIA'S PROVINCES 277To relate in detail the difficulties encountered in applying the stat-
utes of 1822 and the resulting perversions would take us beyond our
subject, Speransky's life and work. By and large, the law was perverted
either because Speransky had tried to implant principles for which
"objective" conditions were not fully ripe, or because he failed to
provide the proper institutional safeguards for the correct realization
of his design. The former deficiency was well illustrated in the statute
on the natives; much of its value lay in that it facilitated and fostered
the shift from one kind of way of life to another (from nomadic to
settled, for example). But this process took much longer and was
fraught with much greater difficulties than Speransky had imagined.
The second weakness - inadequate institutional safeguards - found
expression in Speransky's insistence on the role of the state in fostering
the desired changes. It opened the door to abuses and arbitrary inter-
ference by officials who were not prepared for or aware of their high
responsibilities.
Speransky's work in Siberia illustrated very clearly his major politi-
cal principle of the government's benevolent guidance of people and
country to a higher level of economic and spiritual development. This
guidance is to be the task of well meaning and adequately trained
officials whose actions and power are carefully defined and circum-
scribed by various rules of procedure. The success of the statutes rested
on the benevolence of the bureaucracy and the smooth working of
basic procedural rules. The people, of course, could not supervise and
control and administrate. It was to be self-controlling, self-restraining
by virtue of a proper operation of its rules and the collegiate advice
and guidance of the colleagues and subordinates of the chief executive
officials. As to the participation and influence of "public opinion," it
was out of the question as long as the population was not mature
enough and without an elite leadership.
Speransky gave much thought and attention to the formation of a
leadership group. He tried to stimulate it by his own example and
by the new spirit he instilled into the social and cultural life of
Siberia. In this respect he was fortunate. Unforeseen circumstances
brought to Siberia individuals who carried on his work. The exiled
Decembrists acted as a leavening ferment and became the nucleus of
a Siberian intelligentsia and professional class. Wealthy merchants.
and especially their sons, caught Speransky's interest in cultural better-
ment; and they continued to support and promote intellectual and
Iakutskoi oblasti," Zapiski Imperat. Russk. geograficheskogo obshchestva po otdelu
statistiki. vol. XII, (St. Pbg. 1912) pp. 93-94.