APPENDIX 377Whether adopted to please his superiors or sincerely held by him,
several notions are common to the thinking of both Speransky and mem-
bers of the Senatorial party. In the first place, we find a common belief
that the external and formal aspects of institutions, rights, and privileges
do not adequately express their true character or role. As long as insti-
tutional forms do not reflect the attitudes and ways of thought· derived
from an historic evolution, legal guarantees and formal rights will be a
mirage, they will be structures erected on sand. "From which it follows
that the external form of administration does not determine its essence
at all; the former may be perfectly different from the inner [substance]
and even be contrary to it." 3 Not external forms, but social and cultural
realities determine the true nature of government. In the specific case
of Russia, the Acts of 1775 and 1785 do not have any true meaning, since
essentially there is no such a thing as a Russian nobility. The Rus-
sian nobleman is the creation and the creature of the Sovereign an4 as
such completely at the mercy 'of the latter's caprices. Consequently, the
first task of any program of political or social reform is to allow for
the development of a class of people secure in their rights, dignity,
and property. Speransky adopts ~Iontesquieu's dictum, "pas de noblesse,
pas de monarchie", and advocates the need for giving a solid foundation
to the nobility, nay even for at last creating such a class. Such an heredi·
tary class of individuals, who are assured of the full enjoyment of their
property, will sen'e best in guarding and protecting the rights of all the
Emperor's subjects; and it is to them also that some responsibilities of
sUl'veillance and control over the actions of officials and organs of admi-
nistration may be delegated ...
This nobility, should be solidly anchored on permanent principles, se-
cured economically (and to prevent the splintering of noble estates,
Speransky, like the Vorontsov group, advocates the introduction of pri-
mogeniture), and capable of an autonomous corporative life. Such a no-
bility could, and should, act as an intermediary between the Autocrat
and his people. ;; These ideas of Speransky are fully consonant with those
held by the Senatorial party. They aim at creating in Russia a natural
hereditary elite, the first step toward the stratification of a society
whose members had heretofore been equally devoid of rights vis a vis
their sovereign. In these notions, too, we seem to hear echoes of the
demands made by the verkhovlliki in 1730. In passing, it may be noted
that only the implementation of such a program would have created the
3 "0 korennykh zakonakh gosudarst\'a - 1802", Proekl)' i Zilpiski, p. 33
4 Ibid., pp. 38, 40
;; Ibid., pp. 3i-38