282 PROJECTS FOR REFORMING THE PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION
submitted before his exile, he had always kept in mind an ultimate
goal, a moral aim for the development of the nation. Although he by
no means abandoned such a long range purpose, it was no longer the
immediate basis of his proposals after 1821. It is not so much a change
in direction or final aim, as a shift to practical and immediate solutions
of concrete, specific ills. His experience as governor had convinced him
of the importance for the Empire of a proper organization of the
executive authority in the provinces and of the improvement in the
quality of the local administrative personnel. All his efforts at im-
provement and reform were now to be directed to these two points. If
a general transformation of the political system of the Empire was ever
to be brought about, he felt, it could be successful only in the measure
that a solid basis had been laid for good local administration. Speransky
stated the problem quite well in a letter to Count Kochubei written
in 1818:If one were to ask now what institutions are most needed for the
internal organization of Russia, one could answer with certainty
and without losing oneself in airy clouds: an organization or
statute for the governing of the provinces is needed most. The
present organization is not adequate to the tin:res, the range of
affairs, the population and the intelligence of those administered.
A revision and reformulation of the organization is the first need
of the provinces. As long as it remains in its present sick state,
the spirit of the people and the general moral education not
only will not progress, but will fall back from year to year. The
idea of a better provincial statute will by itself lead to other
institutions which are necessary for internal civic order. [It will
lead to] institutions which, in any case, will have to precedepolitical changes if one wishes that the latter come about
eventually solidly and profitably, without upheavals. In one word:
a good [local] administration is the first step; and in administration,
rules and institutions occupy the first place, the selection of
executives and instructions to them, the second place. Consequently,
to begin with the latter is to begin the business from its end. 1
"What was wrong with the provincial administration?", asked Spe-
ransky. And he answered, "Almost everything." From the top down,
pervading the whole structure, an absence of accountability was com-
bined in most harmful ways with a maximum of personal discretion. In
the first place, the powers of the governor, (and particularly those of
the governor-general wherever he existed) were extremely wide because1 Letter to Count v. Kochubei, dated 21 Sept. 1818, Russkaia Starina, vol. III
Guly 1902), pp. 53-54 (also cited in Fateev: "Speranskii, General Gubemator
Sibiri." I. loe. cit., p. 138).