92 such a reform would be “one of the most important and also one of the easiest measures.” Peter responded to this point by commenting that an ordinary postal system was to be established beginning with regular mail runs between St. Petersburg and the capitals of the gubernii. It is interesting to note that Pick felt the tsar had not been given sufficient information about the Swedish administraive organization. In his memorandum he requested permission to present a description of the Swedish colleges so that the tsar would have “complete information about the entire, well-established Swedish state,” but it is not known whether Peter granted himpermission to make such an oral presentation. By way of concluding. Pick emphasized that the colleges would be able to set up their own procedures as soon as they received sufficient staffing and the requisite materials from the gubernii. As for the organization of, and the regulations for, the colleges, he felt that these tasks could be completed before the end of 1718 “so that Your Majesty in your own high person will not be bothered by this in future. But organizing the colleges was to take much longer than Pick foresaw. During the month of May 1718, the tsar devoted himself to the outfitting and launching of his Baltic fleet, which meant that he spent a great deal of time on Kotlin Island and was therefore unable to expedite work in the colleges through the force of his presence.^*^ In a letter to von Benckendorff, mayor of Riga, dated May 23, 1718, Pick complained that: cs in den wichtigstcn ReichsAngelegenheiten hier sehr langsam hergehet. Die groszen und favorites von Ihro Mayt. haben wegen der ReichsCollegien in einigen Kleinigkeiten, worinnen Sr. Mayt. Selbsteigene höchste Resolution unumbgänglich erfordert wird, binnen 4 Wochen nichtes auszrichten können, und leben noch besorget, dasz Ihro Mayt. mit der Flotte fortgehen und das eine mit dem andern, ohne Resolution liegen laszen werden, da sie doch gleichwoll bey der feszten Resolution bleiben, dasz die ReichsCollegia soweit es hier practicable ist auf den Schwedischen Fusz errichtet werden sollen und also nur lediglich von den kopfbrechenden Arbeit scheuen. If one is to believe Pick, then, the collegial reform was delayed because the presidents of the colleges were unwilling to take any initiative without the tsar’s sanction. In Peter’s absence, therefore, they preferred to allow their work to grind to a halt rather than take measures of their own ” 214 216 ZA (no. 269), 223—224. Golikov (1788—1789), VI, 87. Von Bulmerincq, I, 287. Pick’s description of the situation is confirmed by the vice president of the college of justice, Hermann von Brevern, who noted in his memoirs that “erst am 24. April 1718 erreichte ich Petersburg, und traf, als ich mein Amt antreten wollte auf eine driickende Musse. Ich fand nämlich keinen vorgezeichneten Geschäftskreis vor’’; Friedrich Georg von Bunge et al., eds., Archiv fur die Geschichte Liv~, Esth- und Curlands (8 v., Dorpat & Rcval 1842—1861), V, 249.
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