The monograph is dedicated to three representatives of the "enlightened" or "liberal" bureaucracy: P.D. Kiselyov, D.N. Bludov, M.A. Korf. Using them as an example, the author examines the genesis of government reformism and shows the contribution of statesmen of this trend to the modernization of Russia, proceeding from the idea of the reign of Emperor Nicholas I as the time of preparation for the reforms of the 1860s. The central characters of the work personify the main directions in which the preparation of reforms was carried out in the second quarter of the 19th century - the peasant question, the systematization of law, the reorganization of self-government. The work highlights unknown aspects of P.D. Kiselyov's activities on the peasant question, proves that under Nicholas I the codification of judicial legislation was in full swing under the leadership of D.N. Bludov, and presents the history of the first year of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, where M.A. Korf studied, in a new light. While a significant amount of literature is devoted to Kiselyov, the biographies of Bludov and Korf are practically unstudied. This work can be considered as the first attempt in historiography to trace the life paths of these two figures.