He created the Code of Laws Russian Empire, judged the Decembrists, argued with Karamzin. According to legend, after meeting with him, Napoleon offered Alexander I to exchange him "for some kingdom."

Speaking surname

Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky was born into the family of a clergyman, so he did not receive a surname from his father. Speransky was named by his uncle when enrolling in the Vladimir Theological Seminary. Even then, 8-year-old Mikhail showed outstanding abilities, and the surname, which comes from the Latin spero (that is, “I hope”), spoke of the hopes that the young seminarian gave.
In the seminary, Speransky proved to be one of the best students. There he began studying languages ​​(including Latin and Ancient Greek), philosophy, theology, rhetoric, mathematics and natural sciences. For his successes, Speransky was honored to become the prefect's cell-attendant, which gave him access to his library.

Unchosen road

In 1790, Speransky became a student of the Alexander Nevsky Main Seminary, where the best students seminaries from all over Russia. This institution trained the elite of the clergy. Among the subjects studied were many secular disciplines: higher mathematics, physics, even new French philosophy. Speransky perfectly mastered French and was seriously carried away by the work of Western enlighteners. However, the future reformer showed excellent success in all subjects.

In 1792, Speransky brilliantly graduated from the Main Seminary, he was left with her as a teacher of mathematics. Later, he also began to teach physics, eloquence and philosophy, and in 1795 he became prefect of the seminary. In the same year, Speransky was recommended as a house secretary to Prince Kurakin. When the prince received the post of prosecutor general, he suggested that Speransky give up teaching and switch to civil service. In response to this, the metropolitan, wishing to keep Speransky in the spiritual field, suggested that he take the veil as a monk, which opened the way to a high bishopric. However, Speransky preferred to refuse this opportunity, and in 1797 he was enrolled in the office of the prosecutor general.

To the top

Speransky's bureaucratic career developed rapidly. In 1797, he was a titular councilor, 3 months later - a collegiate assessor, since 1798 - a court councilor, and in 1799 - a state councilor. By 1801, when Alexander I came to the throne, Speransky became a real state Soviet. This civil rank corresponded to the rank of major general in the army, and its bearer could even hold a governor's position.

After the overthrow of Pavel Speransky, he became the secretary of state of the Privy Councilor D.P. Troshchinsky - State Secretary of Alexander I. Since 1802, Speransky carried out work on the preparation of projects government reforms at the Ministry of the Interior.
During these years, he drew up several important political projects for the tsar, the main of which was the Note on the Organization of Judicial and Government Institutions in Russia. Speransky also participated in the development of a decree on free cultivators, which was the first step towards the abolition of serfdom.

Great Reformer

In the "Introduction to the Code of State Laws" (1809), Speransky was one of the first ideologists rule of law in Russia. He advocated a constitutional monarchy, defended the principle of separation of powers and the need to grant political rights to citizens. It was proposed the creation of the State Duma, the election of judges and the introduction of jury trials, the creation of the State Council - a body that communicates the monarch with all authorities. These political transformations inevitably led to the abolition of serfdom.

According to the reformer, the transition to a constitutional order was to take place evolutionary way, therefore, his project did not directly limit autocracy, but created tools for such a limitation in the future.
But the undertakings of Speransky were practically not realized, the reformist ardor of the tsar quickly dried up, and Russia again missed the opportunity for change by slipping into reaction.

Karamzin vs. Speransky

In 1810, on the initiative of Speransky, State Council, which was conceived as the first step towards large-scale political reforms. In the same year, 1810, a manifesto on elections to the State Duma was to appear. However, the transformations ran into rejection from aristocratic circles, although Speransky's plan was initially approved by the tsar.

The nobility disliked Speransky for his attempt on habitual order obtaining civil ranks and employment government positions. Now the nobility could not write down their offspring from the cradle to the service, and in order to receive the rank, it was necessary to graduate from the university.

The war with France, the ideas of which inspired Speransky in his reforms, gave trump cards in the hands of conservatives and disgruntled officials. Slanderous rumors about Speransky's betrayal were spread, after which the sovereign sent him into exile.
The ideological leader of Speransky's opponents was famous writer Karamzin. He compiled for the sovereign "Note on the ancient and new Russia”, in which he convincingly proved the inviolability of the autocracy, denying the need for reforms.

Accession to the throne young emperor Alexander I coincided with the need for fundamental changes in many areas Russian life. The young emperor who received the fine European education set out to reform and Russian system learning. The development of basic changes in the field of education was entrusted to M. M. Speransky, who worthily proved himself in the transformation of the country. reform activity Speransky M. M. showed the possibility of transforming the empire into modern state. And it's not his fault that many wonderful projects have remained on paper.

short biography

Mikhailovich was born into the family of a poor rural clergyman. Having received good home education, Speransky decided to continue his father's work and entered the St. Petersburg Theological School. After finishing this educational institution Speransky worked as a teacher for some time. Later, he was lucky enough to take the position personal secretary Prince Kurakin, who was one of Paul I's closest friends. Shortly after Alexander I's accession to the throne, Kurakin received the post of Prosecutor General under the Senate. The prince did not forget about his secretary either - Speransky received the position of a state official there.

An extraordinary mind and excellent organizational skills made former teacher practically irreplaceable person in the Senate. This is how the reforming activity of M. M. Speransky began.

Political reform

Work in prepared M. M. Speransky for work on the introduction of political and social transformation in the country. In 1803, Mikhail Mikhailovich outlined his vision judicial system in separate document. The “Note on the Structure of Governmental and Judicial Institutions in Russia” was reduced to the gradual limitation of autocracy, the transformation of Russia into a constitutional monarchy, and the strengthening of the role of the middle class. So, the official suggested taking into account the danger of a repetition of the "French madness" in Russia - that is, french revolution. To prevent the repetition of forceful scenarios in Russia and soften the autocracy in the country - this was the reform activity of M. M. Speransky.

Briefly about the main

In political transformations, the reforming activity of M. M. Speransky was reduced to several points that would allow the country to become a state of law.

In general, he approved the "Note ...". The commission he created began to develop a detailed plan for new transformations, which was initiated by the reform activities of M. M. Speransky. The intentions of the original project were repeatedly criticized and discussed.

reform plan

The general plan was drawn up in 1809, and its main theses were as follows:

1. The Russian Empire should be governed by three branches of the state should be in the hands of the newly created elective institution; the levers of executive power belong to the relevant ministries, and the judiciary is in the hands of the Senate.

2. The reforming activity of Speransky M. M. laid the foundation for the existence of another authority. It was to be called the Advisory Council. The new institution was supposed to be outside the branches of power. Officials of this institution must consider various bills, take into account their reasonableness and expediency. If the Advisory Board is in favor - final decision will be adopted in the Duma.

3. The reform activities of M. M. Speransky aimed to divide all the inhabitants of the Russian Empire into three large estates - the nobility, the so-called middle class and working people.

4. Only representatives of the upper and middle classes could govern the country. The property classes were given the right to vote, to be elected to various bodies authorities. The working people were provided with only general civil rights. But, with the accumulation of personal property for peasants and workers, there was an opportunity to move into property classes- first to the merchants, and then, perhaps, to the nobility.

5. Legislative power in the country was represented by the Duma. The reforming activity of Speransky M.M. served as the basis for the emergence of a new election mechanism. Deputies were proposed to be elected in four stages: first, volost representatives were elected, then they determined the composition of district dumas. At the third stage, elections were held for the legislative council of the provinces. And only the deputies of the provincial dumas had the right to take part in the work of the State Duma. The chancellor appointed by the tsar had to supervise the work of the State Duma.

These short theses show the main results of painstaking work, which was awakened to life by the reforming activity of M. M. Speransky. Summary his notes grew into a multi-year, phased plan to transform the country into a modern power.

Action plan

Fearing revolutionary movements, Tsar Alexander I decided to implement the announced plan in stages, so as not to bring to life strong cataclysms in Russian society. Work to improve the state machine was proposed to be carried out over several decades. The end result was to be the abolition of serfdom and the transformation of Russia into a constitutional monarchy.

The promulgation of the Manifesto on the creation of a new authority, the State Council, was the first step along the road of transformation, which was paved by the reformist activity of M. M. Speransky. The summary of the Manifesto was as follows:

• all drafts aimed at the adoption of new laws must be considered by representatives of the State Council;
• the council assessed the content and reasonableness of new laws, assessed the possibility of their adoption and implementation;
• members of the State Council were to take part in the work of the relevant ministries and make proposals for rational use Money.

Curtailment of reforms

In 1811, the reforming activities of Speransky M. M. led to the emergence of a draft Code. This package of documents was to be the next step political transformation in the country. The separation of the branches of power assumed that the entire Senate would be divided into the Governing and Judicial branches. But this transformation was not given to happen. The desire to give the peasants equal civil rights with the rest of the people caused such a storm of indignation in the country that the tsar was forced to curtail the reform project and dismiss Speransky. He was sent to a settlement in Perm and lived there the rest of his life on the modest pension of a former official.

Results

On behalf of the king, Speransky M. M. developed projects for financial and economic transformation. They provided for limiting the expenditure of the treasury and increasing taxes for the nobility. Such projects aroused sharp criticism in society, and many well-known thinkers of that time spoke out against Speransky. Speransky was even suspected of anti-Russian activities, and against the backdrop of the rise of Napoleon in France, such suspicions could have very profound consequences.

Fearing open indignation, Alexander dismisses Speransky.

Significance of reforms

It is impossible to deny the significance of the projects, which gave rise to the reform activities of M. M. Speransky. The results of the work of this reformer became the basis for fundamental changes in the structure Russian society in mid-nineteenth century.

11:03 2012

In 1812, the Russian reformer Mikhail Speransky was dismissed, accused of treason and sent into exile.

The sudden disgrace of Mikhail Sepransky, whom everyone used to consider right hand Alexander I, the author of the program of state reforms, which, as many believed, were supposed to lead Russia to the establishment of a legal state, shocked many. Who would have thought that such a colossus as Mikhail Speransky could be brought down by the writer Karamzin's "Note on Ancient and New Russia" handed over to the sovereign - a kind of manifesto of opponents of change. When asked whether it is possible to limit autocracy in any way without weakening the saving royal power- Karamzin, challenging Mikhail Speransky, answered in the negative. Any changes, "any news in public order there is an evil to be resorted to only when necessary.” Karamzin saw salvation in the traditions and customs of Russia, its people, who do not need to take an example from Western Europe. But Speransky himself did not agree with this.

An amazing thing - a nobleman, a student of the Germans Shaden and Schwartz, Kant's interlocutor and an eyewitness of the French Revolution, stood up for "stability" and denounced the priest's son for "crowing before the West", he got the first information about the structure of the world and the place of man in it in the church, where he regularly took his blind grandfather and where he read the Apostle and the Book of Hours for the sexton.

Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky was in the full sense self made man. He was six years old when Archpriest Andrei Samborsky, the future confessor of the Grand Dukes Alexander and Konstantin Pavlovich, drove to the estate where his father served in the house church. With his light hand

Mikhail was placed in the Vladimir Seminary, where, for his outstanding abilities, he was recorded under the surname Speransky, that is, budding, from the Latin Sperare - to hope, to hope (his father did not have his own generic nickname). From Vladimir, the boy was sent to the Alexander Nevsky Seminary, where best listeners provincial seminaries from all over Russia. a little later metropolitan St. Petersburg Gabriel offered Mikhail Speransky to stay to work in St. Petersburg, and for four more years he served in the seminary as a professor of mathematics, physics and eloquence, and then as a prefect.

The Metropolitan suggested that Speransky accept monasticism, which opened the way to the bishopric. But Mikhail made a choice that drastically changed his fate - he became a secretary to a rich and influential nobleman, Prince Kurakin. Soon, when Pavel became king in 1796, Prosecutor General Kurakin became the second person in the state, and the rapid career of his former secretary began. By the beginning of the reign of Alexander I, he was already a state councilor, and in June 1801 - a real state councilor.

By that time, Speransky managed to survive his first and only earthly love, and when his young wife a year later, having only had time to give birth to his daughter, died of transient consumption, he forever closed this topic for himself and devoted the rest of his life only to serving the Fatherland, as he understood This is Speransky.

After the coronation, Alexander I united his liberal-minded friends in the "Unspoken Committee", and Speransky became a real find for young aristocrats: he worked 18-19 hours a day - he got up at five in the morning, wrote, received visitors at eight, then after the reception he went to the palace, in the evening he wrote again.

Alexander liked that Mikhail Speransky did not look like either Catherine's nobles or his friends. The young king began to bring him closer to him. Speransky was introduced to the Committee to find ways to improve theological schools and to improve the maintenance of the clergy. Peru Speransky owns the famous "Charter of theological schools" and a special provision on the sale of church candles, for which the Russian clergy gratefully remembered him until 1917 church "candle" monopoly, which soon led to the accumulation of huge sums that went to the salaries of priests, in favor of "orphans of the clergy" and to finance theological schools).

In January 1810, with the establishment of the State Council, Mikhail Speransky became secretary of state, the most influential dignitary of Russia, the second person in the state after the emperor ... And then - Karamzin with his note.

Of course, by that time Speransky had a bunch of influential enemies at court, who were slowly turning the tsar against him. The result - resignation, disgrace, exile: first to Perm, then to the Novgorod province. Mikhail Speransky returned to the capital only nine years later, in March 1821, having been before this Penza civil governor and governor-general of Siberia. Alexander again appointed Speransky a member of the State Council, granted land, made his daughter a lady-in-waiting.

And then came the autumn of 1825. The Decembrists predicted Mikhail Speransky as the first president of the Russian republic. But it turned out differently - after the failure of the uprising, he was introduced into the Supreme Court over the Decembrists. He won the trust of Nicholas I, but was completely crushed. They say when the verdict was passed, Speransky wept. Such was his payment for the last, stellar period of his ministry. Speransky taught legal sciences heir to the throne - the future Emperor Alexander II, established higher school jurisprudence, and most importantly - Speransky took up Russian legislation. By this time there were so many laws in Russia that it could be considered that they do not exist at all. For six years, Speransky, like an ant, collected them from archives and systematized them. Speransky practically wrote the first civil and criminal codes in Russia. 45 volumes have been published Complete collection, and in 1833 - Code of Laws in 15 volumes. This was major feat his life. For this work, Mikhail Speransky was generously showered with royal favors, received the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. But he said about himself: "I am a poor and weak mortal." Shortly before his death, Mikhail Speransky wrote: “Providence leads us like children on a ribbon, and only for experience sometimes allows us to get burned or pricked.”

I decided with the help of a new round of reform activities. With the cooling of the tsar towards the members of the Unspoken Committee, a need arose for new faces, who, however, had to continue the previous direction of reforms. The emperor quickly found a man who met these requirements. They became M. M. Speransky.

Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky (1772-1839) came from the family of a poor rural priest. After graduating from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, he worked for some time as a teacher, and then as a secretary for Prince A. B. Kurakin, a favorite of Paul I. When the prince was appointed Prosecutor General of the Senate, Speransky began working as an official in the Senate under Kurakin. AT short term he proved to be truly indispensable and very capable person. At the beginning of the reign of Alexander I, he was among the main actors government, although he did not initially hold major government posts.

Members of the Private Committee involved Speransky in summarizing the materials of their discussions, and then began to entrust him with drafting projects on the topics they had set. In 1803-1807. Speransky already had the post of director of one of the departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was closest to V.P. Kochubey, the all-powerful Minister of the Interior. During the illness of the minister, Speransky was instructed to personally report to the emperor on the state of affairs instead of him. These reports showed Alexander that Speransky was the man he needed. In addition, unlike the tsar's inner circle, Speransky did not oppose the Peace of Tilsit, sympathizing in his soul with the laws established in France by Napoleon.

Speransky's ascent to the heights has begun state power. From 1807 he was the emperor's secretary of state, and from 1808 he was deputy minister of justice, who was also the prosecutor general of the Senate.

Political Reform Project: Intentions and Results.

Speransky proposed the first draft of political reforms to the tsar as early as 1803 in his "Note on the Organization of Judicial and Government Institutions in Russia". He raised the question of the need for careful introduction in the country constitutional monarchy and thus preventing a "French revolutionary nightmare" for Russia. However, only after the Peace of Tilsit did the king instruct him to draft a comprehensive reform government controlled. Such a project was ready by October 1809.

They became the "Introduction to the Code of State Laws", which contained the following provisions:

State administration should be carried out on the basis of the separation of powers: legislature belongs to a new elective institution;

State Duma; executive power is exercised by ministries; judicial power belongs to the Senate;

Another new body - the State Council - was to become an advisory body under the emperor and consider all draft laws before they were submitted to the Duma;

- three main classes of Russian society were established:

1) nobility,

2) "average condition" (merchants, petty bourgeois, state peasants),

3) "working people" (serfs, domestic servants, workers);

Political rights were to belong to representatives of the "free" (first two) estates; however, the third estate received general civil rights (chief among them was the provision that "no one can be punished without judgment”) and could, as property and capital accumulated, move into the second estate; the first estate retained and special rights(buy estates with serfs, etc.);

Only persons who possessed movable and immovable property (that is, representatives of the first two estates) received the right to vote;

Elections in State Duma were supposed to be four-stage (at first, elections were held to volost dumas, then deputies of these bodies elected members of district dumas, which, in turn, elected deputies of provincial dumas. And only provincial dumas elected deputies of the State Duma);

The chancellor appointed by the tsar was to supervise the work of the Duma.

The implementation of the Speransky project was to become important step on the path to reform. This plan would eventually be developed in other transformations. ultimate goal reformer saw in limitation autocratic power king and the abolition of serfdom.

Alexander I generally approved of Speransky's project. However, it should be implemented gradually, without causing upheavals in society. With this in mind, the tsar decided first to launch the most "harmless" part of the reform.

On January 1, 1810, a manifesto on the establishment of the Council of State was published. His main task It was the establishment of order in the preparation and adoption of laws. All their projects now had to be considered only through the State Council. The Council assessed not only the content of the laws, but also the very need for their adoption. His tasks also included "clarification" of the meaning of laws, taking measures for their implementation. In addition, members of the Council were to consider the reports of the ministries and make proposals on the distribution of state revenues and expenditures.

The Council of State was called upon to become not a legislative, but a legislative body under the emperor, an instrument of his legislative power.

In 1811, Speransky prepared the draft Code of Governing Senate", which was supposed to be next step on a way political reform. Based on the idea of ​​separation of powers, he proposed to divide the Senate into the Governing (in charge of local government) and the Judicial (which is the highest court and controls all judicial institutions). This project, however, was not carried out.

Conducted in 1810 - 1811. transformations, as well as the desire to grant civil rights to serfs, caused such a storm of indignation among senior officials and most of the nobles that Alexander was forced to stop implementing the reforms: the fate of his father was too fresh in his memory.

The resignation of M. M. Speransky: causes and consequences.

Speransky, on behalf of the emperor, also developed projects economic reforms. They provided for the limitation of state spending and some increase in taxes, which affected the nobility. Opposition to reforms in these conditions began to be open. Such authoritative people as, for example, N. M. Karamzin, one of the ideologists of conservatism, joined in criticizing the government.

Alexander was well aware that Speransky's sharp criticism was, in essence, directed at his own address. Speransky was further accused of betrayal for his sympathy for the order in France, which he allegedly wanted to introduce in Russia to please Napoleon. The tsar could no longer hold back the wave of criticism and decided to dismiss Speransky. Not the last role here was played by the intention of the emperor to unite society on the eve of the approaching war with Napoleon. In March 1812 Speransky was sent to Nizhny Novgorod and then to Perm.

Despite the fact that Speransky's reforms did not touch the foundations of the feudal-autocratic system, they were almost never implemented in practice. At the same time, Speransky's reformist searches formed the basis on which new reform projects were developed in the future.

Why Speransky was dismissed

Answers:

Speransky, on behalf of the emperor, also developed projects for economic reforms. They provided for the limitation of state spending and some increase in taxes, which affected the nobility. Opposition to reforms in these conditions began to bear the nature of discoveries. Such authoritative people as, for example, N. M. Karamzin, one of the ideologists of conservatism, joined in criticizing the government. Alexander understood perfectly well that Speransky's harsh criticism was, in essence, directed at his own address. Speransky was even accused of betrayal for his sympathy for the order in France, which he allegedly wanted to introduce in Russia to please Napoleon. The tsar could no longer hold back the wave of criticism and decided to dismiss Speransky. Not the last role here was played by the intention of the emperor to unite society on the eve of the approaching war with Napoleon. In March 1812 Speransky was sent to Nizhny Novgorod, a then to Perm.