Conservative opinion was very much incensed against Alex ander's alliance with the "Corsican usurper," especially as at that very time another and more serious attempt was made to intro duce in Russia a constitutional government. Speransky, a promi nent statesman, whose views were favoured by the emperor at that time, prepared a scheme, based on the introduction of self government in four stages, beginning with electoral assemblies (dumas) in the cantons and ending at the top with the duma of the State. Each lower duma elected deputies to the upper one: cantonal dumas to district dumas, district dumas to provincial ones; these latter sent all their members to the State duma, a legislative assembly, deprived of legislative initiative but enjoy ing the right to make motions concerning the interest of the State, responsibility of functionaries and violation of fundamental laws. The Senate retained only judicial power, while the newly reformed ministries remained organs of the executive. The council of State, composed of high dignitaries and presided over by the emperor, was to prepare drafts of laws. In fact nothing except the council of State and the reformed ministries was realised (i8I0). Conservative opinion, as represented by nobility and bureaucracy, was furious with Speransky, and the tsar did not choose to defend him. On a futile pretext Speransky was dismissed from his office of imperial secretary and sent to exile (1812). His suc cessor was an extreme nationalist and conservative, Admiral Shishkov.
Nationalism and Reaction.—When the war of 1812 began, the nationalist feeling reached its pitch. It was to be a "Scythian" war—a war of retreat. "Time" and "space" were to be the chief allies of Russia, whose military forces were two or three times weaker than those of Napoleon. And indeed, the deeper Napoleon penetrated into Russia's endless plain the more equal the chances became. Alexander named another conservative, Kutusov, in stead of Barclay, commander-in-chief, and a third conservative, Count Rostopchin, general governor of Moscow, which was the final aim of Napoleon's strategy. After the bloody but undecided battle at Borodino (Sept. 7, 1812) Moscow surrendered to Na poleon. For five weeks of his stay in Moscow he waited in vain for a peace proposal. Moscow was burnt by the inhabitants. His army was in process of dissolution, and winter was approaching. Then followed the famous retreat, during which the "Grand Army" was nearly annihilated, and the "wars of liberation" of 1813 and 1814, which brought Alexander and his army to the walls of Paris. At the Congress of Vienna (1815) he figured as a saviour of Europe, and he continued to play a leading part at Aix la-Chapelle (1818), Troppau-Laibach (1820) and Verona (1822). All these events produced an enormous impression on the sensitive temperament of Alexander. "The fire of Moscow," he said later to the German pastor Eilert, "lit up my soul, I then got to know God and became another man." Alexander now found in the Bible the proofs of his mission and he proposed to his allies to establish a "Holy Alliance"—a monarchs' League of Nations based on the precepts of the scriptures. His intention was liberal, but Metternich made use of the idea for his policy of repression of a41 liberal movements in Europe.
The Revolutionary different were the impressions which the younger generation of officers who took part in the Napoleonic wars brought with them back to Russia. Many of them while abroad read political newspapers, and were present at the debates of representative assemblies. They learnt to quote the books of Delolme, Destutt-de-Tracy, Benjamin Con stant, Filangieri, Bignon, etc. After their return to Russia they were shocked by the contrast of arbitrary rule, the abuses of bureaucracy, the venality and secrecy of the courts, the suffer ings of the serfs and the indifference to popular education. Two secret political societies were formed by the most active of these officers in 1816-18: by Pestel in the southern army and by a group of guard officers in Petersburg—the Muravievs, Nicholas Turgenev. The former society—more radical—imitated the or ganisation of Carbonari; the latter borrowed their principles from the Tugendbund. Later on Pestel drafted a republican and strongly centralised constitution, while Nikita Muraviev com posed a monarchical and federal constitution on the basis of those of Spain of 1812 and of the United States. Pestel's tactics were revolutionary, while the Petersburg group intended to help the government openly in questions of education, philanthropy, economics and improvement of justice, thus preparing Russia for a constitutional regime. They expected Alexander to sym pathise with them, as in 1815 Alexander gave a constitution to Poland, and at the opening of the diet he mentioned that he was preparing one for Russia. He also acknowledged the old institu tions of Finland. However, Alexander soon ceased to distinguish between "the holy principles of liberal institutions" and "de structive teaching which threatens a calamitous attack on the social order" (his expressions in the speech mentioned). He en tirely agreed with Metternich (in 1820) that the liberal prin ciples themselves were destructive. A period of reaction began in Russia. The transition to it was marked by an attempt to impart to Russia Alexander's religious enlightenment. The min istry of public education was united, for that purpose, with a new ministry of spiritual affairs, where all religions including the Rus sian Orthodox were treated equally (1817). Prince Alexander Golitsyn, the procurator of the holy synod and the president of the Russian branch of the Bible Society founded in 1812, was made the chief of the United ministries. The consequence was that in 1819-21 the young universities recently opened were entirely de stroyed—especially by the curators of Kazan and Petersburg circuits, Magnitsky and Runich. They removed the best pro fessors and prohibited good textbooks on natural law, morals and logic, on the ground that the teaching must be based exclusively on holy scripture. For Russian church dignitaries even their mystical pietism was heresy. Golitsyn was forced to leave his office, after he had been anathematized by the archimandrite Photius, a fanatic protected by Alexander's favourite and true servant Arakcheev. During the last part of the reign Arakcheev, an ignorant and brutal man, enjoyed the power of prime minister.