91 April 28, Peter approved the first of a series of collegial budgets, namely a preliminary personnel and salary budget for the kamer-kollegiia, which was identical to the one proposed by Pick and which largely reflected the organizational structure of the Swedish kammarkollegium. Heinrich Pick sent the tsar a memorandum on May 9 that was to have great significance for the subsequent development of the reforms. In it he dealt with a series of questions concerning the administrative reform which, in his view, could not “be delayed, but must be solved and carried out soon if Your Majesty’s exalted and most gracious plan for state colleges is to be fulfilled and if the current year is not to end without any Peter studied the memorandum carefully, jotting down his resolutions on it as he did so.-^- Two points in Pick’s memorandum are especially interesting. Pirst of all. Pick pointed out that, for the conduct of their affairs, the newly established colleges would be dependent on the extent to which the local administrative organs adapted to the new system. He urged a certain amount of caution, however, and urged that changes should first be introduced in one guberniia, “so that nothing shall be done against nature, usefulness, and the conditions in this country.” In connection with this, Peter decided to investigate the possibility of adopting the Swedish local administrative system, and on November 28, 1718, he issued an ukaz announcing that the Russian local administration was indeed to be reorganized in accordance with the Swedish model. In keeping with Pick’s proposal, the tsar also announced that this reform was to be introduced in the St. Petersburg guberniia to begin with. In his memorandum. Pick also pointed out that “the colleges cannot conduct their business unless a mail carrier goes through all of the important towns and gubernii of the country once or twice a week,” and that TsGADA, f. 248 clelo 42 1. 17v; see below, p. 155. ZA (no. 269), 222. The chief secretary of the Senate, Anisim Shchukin, noted at the end of Pick’s memorandum the words “heard and signed according to the points with His Tsarist Majesty’s own hand, June 11, 1718.” However, this dating is questionable for two reasons. First of all, there is a copy of the memorandum dated May 11 by Shchukin, rather than June 11; Miliukov (1905), 440. It is possible that this dating is correct, since Peter issued an ukaz on May 9 concerning the planning of an upcoming reform of the local administration and coinciding with the content of Pick’s memorandum, which had been submitted that very same day; sec below, p. 247. Secondly, it seems rather strange that the tsar would wait more than a month before studying and taking a position on the proposals put forth by Pick when one considers the urgency otherwise connected with the reform. If the dating of the original is correct, however, there is no reason the tsar could not have known of its contents earlier, but only taken his final position on the proposed measures on June 11. ZA (no. 54), 63; see below, p. 253. 210 ” 211 success. 213 210 212 213
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