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During the first weeks of his stay in Petersburg Prince Andrew
felt the whole trend of thought he had formed during his life
of seclusion quite overshadowed by the trifling cares that engrossed
him in that city.
On returning home in the evening he would jot down in his
notebook four or five necessary calls or appointments for certain
hours. The mechanism of life, the arrangement of the day so as
to be in time everywhere, absorbed the greater part of his vital
energy. He did nothing, did not even think or find time to think,
but only talked, and talked successfully, of what he had thought
while in the country.
He sometimes noticed with dissatisfaction that he repeated
the same remark on the same day in different circles. But he was
so busy for whole days together that he had no time to notice
that he was thinking of nothing.
As he had done on their first meeting at Kochubey's, Speranski
produced a strong impression on Prince Andrew on the Wednesday,
when he received him tete-a-tate at his own house and talked to
him long and confidentially.
To Bolkonski so many people appeared contemptible and insignificant
creatures, and he so longed to find in someone the living ideal
of that perfection toward which he strove, that he readily believed
that in Speranski he had found this ideal of a perfectly rational
and virtuous man. Had Speranski sprung from the same class as
himself and possessed the same breeding and traditions, Bolkonski
would soon have discovered his weak, human, unheroic sides; but
as it was, Speranski's strange and logical turn of mind inspired
him with respect all the more because he did not quite understand
him. Moreover, Speranski, either because he appreciated the other's
capacity or because he considered it necessary to win him to his
side, showed off his dispassionate calm reasonableness before
Prince Andrew and flattered him with that subtle flattery which
goes hand in hand with self-assurance and consists in a tacit
assumption that one's companion is the only man besides oneself
capable of understanding the folly of the rest of mankind and
the reasonableness and profundity of one's own ideas.
During their long conversation on Wednesday evening, Speranski
more than once remarked: "We regard everything that is above
the common level of rooted custom..." or, with a smile: "But
we want the wolves to be fed and the sheep to be safe..."
or: "They cannot understand this..." and all in a way
that seemed to say: "We, you and I, understand what they
are and who we are."
This first long conversation with Speranski only strengthened
in Prince Andrew the feeling he had experienced toward him at
their first meeting. He saw in him a remarkable, clear-thinking
man of vast intellect who by his energy and persistence had attained
power, which he was using solely for the welfare of Russia. In
Prince Andrew's eyes Speranski was the man he would himself have
wished to be- one who explained all the facts of life reasonably,
considered important only what was rational, and was capable of
applying the standard of reason to everything. Everything seemed
so simple and clear in Speranski's exposition that Prince Andrew
involuntarily agreed with him about everything. If he replied
and argued, it was only because he wished to maintain his independence
and not submit to Speranski's opinions entirely. Everything was
right and everything was as it should be: only one thing disconcerted
Prince Andrew. This was Speranski's cold, mirrorlike look, which
did not allow one to penetrate to his soul, and his delicate white
hands, which Prince Andrew involuntarily watched as one does watch
the hands of those who possess power. This mirrorlike gaze and
those delicate hands irritated Prince Andrew, he knew not why.
He was unpleasantly struck, too, by the excessive contempt for
others that he observed in Speranski, and by the diversity of
lines of argument he used to support his opinions. He made use
of every kind of mental device, except analogy, and passed too
boldly, it seemed to Prince Andrew, from one to another. Now he
would take up the position of a practical man and condemn dreamers;
now that of a satirist, and laugh ironically at his opponents;
now grow severely logical, or suddenly rise to the realm of metaphysics.
(This last resource was one he very frequently employed.) He would
transfer a question to metaphysical heights, pass on to definitions
of space, time, and thought, and, having deduced the refutation
he needed, would again descend to the level of the original discussion.
In general the trait of Speranski's mentality which struck
Prince Andrew most was his absolute and unshakable belief in the
power and authority of reason. It was evident that the thought
could never occur to him which to Prince Andrew seemed so natural,
namely, that it is after all impossible to express all one thinks;
and that he had never felt the doubt, "Is not all I think
and believe nonsense?" And it was just this peculiarity of
Speranski's mind that particularly attracted Prince Andrew.
During the first period of their acquaintance Bolkonski felt
a passionate admiration for him similar to that which he had once
felt for Bonaparte. The fact that Speranski was the son of a village
priest, and that stupid people might meanly despise him on account
of his humble origin (as in fact many did), caused Prince Andrew
to cherish his sentiment for him the more, and unconsciously to
strengthen it.
On that first evening Bolkonski spent with him, having mentioned
the Commission for the Revision of the Code of Laws, Speranski
told him sarcastically that the Commission had existed for a hundred
and fifty years, had cost millions, and had done nothing except
that Rosenkampf had stuck labels on the corresponding paragraphs
of the different codes.
"And that is all the state has for the millions it has
spent," said he. "We want to give the Senate new juridical
powers, but we have no laws. That is why it is a sin for men like
you, Prince, not to serve in these times!"
Prince Andrew said that for that work an education in jurisprudence
was needed which he did not possess.
"But nobody possesses it, so what would you have? It
is a vicious circle from which we must break a way out."
A week later Prince Andrew was a member of the Committee on
Army Regulations and- what he had not at all expected- was chairman
of a section of the committee for the revision of the laws. At
Speranski's request he took the first part of the Civil Code that
was being drawn up and, with the aid of the Code Napoleon and
the Institutes of Justinian, he worked at formulating the section
on Personal Rights.
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