378 APPENDIX
conditions necessary for the "aristocratic reaction" for which R. R. Pal-
mer has incorrectly seen the evidence in the Charter of 1785.^6
In the second place, in memoranda he wrote in the first years of the
19th century, Speransky reflected the growing preoccupation of his con-
temporaries with the notion of historical evolution and organic deve-
lopment. Indeed, he sees in them the surest guaranty for a solid
institutional structure as well as the most efficient means for its re-
form. As much as its social and spiritual life, the political life of a
nation must be expressive of the system of values and basic principles
which have matured in the minds of the people in the course of succes-
sive generations. "Every century, writes Speransky, has its own physiogno-
my. The spirit of a nation is a complete whole of which the national
character is the dominant part." 7 Thus public life, toO', must be a true
and faithful mirror of the particular basic traits of the nation's histori-
cal and spiritual experience.
~or this reason all transformations, all fundamental changes in the
structure and in the institutions of public life must develop and mature
naturally. "Forced improvements are not durable, for they violate nature.
Nature always prepares its plans in silence, that is why its results are
true", observes Speransky. 8 Thus, a social and political structure coming
at its own good time plays a positive role. For example, the feudal system
of Western Europe, coming at the appropriate historical moment and
doing "organic" work, served as the foundation and stepping stone for
the development of liberty. 9 Speransky's perceptive historical judgment
not only illustrates and proves the growing influence of romantic histo-
ricism, it belongs also to the political theory of members of the Senato-
rial party who drew their inspiration from the example of England. 10
One may, of course, also find precursors of this orientation among the
participants of 1730 and among the high dignitaries who drafted the
projects of a charter to the nobility in 1762-1763.^11
6 R. R. Palmer, The Age of Democratic Revolution - 1. The Challenge, Prince-
ton University 1959.
7 "0 sile obshchego mneniia - 1802", Proekty i zapiski, p. 78
8 "0 postepennosti usoversheniia obshchestvennogo", Proekty i zapiski, p. 75, cf. also
p.76
9 "Eshche nechto 0 svobode i rabstve - 1802", Proekty i zapiski p. 84
10 "0 postepennosti usoversheniia obshchestvennogo", loc cit., p. 76. Edmund Burke
and his notion of the "right of prescription" naturally come to mind. For a stimula-
ting discussion of the genesis of this notion in the West cf. John G. A. Pocock. The
Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law; A study of English Historical Thought
in the Seventeenth Century, Cambridge University 1957.
11 A. N. Klllomzin, "Pervyi pristllp v tsarstvovanie Ekateriny II k sostavleniiu
vysochaishei gramoty dvorianstvll rossiiskomll", in Kalachov, Materialy po istorii russ-
kogo dvorianstva, II (StPbg. 1885) pp. 13-71. Translations of some of the relevant
documents of 1730 and 1762 in M. Raeff, Plans for Political Reform in Imperial
Russia 1730-1905, Englewood Cliffs, N, J. 1966,
Reformed in Imperial Russia 1730-1905, Englewood Cliffs, N. J. 1966