132 The section of the Treaty of Nystad concerning the release of prisoners of war was not, however, followed to the letter by the Russians. During the seventeenth century, prisoners of war who had converted to Orthodoxy were not allowed to leave Russia in conjunction with peace settlements and exchanges of prisoners,^"^ and now, in October 1721, the Senate promulgated an ukaz stipulating, among other things, that prisoners who had entered the Russian service in some capacity were not to be allowed to leave, either.^'® It was only after further negotiations that the Swedes succeeded in persuading the Russians to respect the pertinent article in the peace treaty.®’" Nor can it be denied that a certain feeling of patriotism and loyalty to what they considered their fatherland contributed to the unwillingness of the Swedish prisoners to help Russia, Sweden’s traditional archenemy, organize her governmental apparatus. In connection with the peace, the Russians made yet another effort to persuade Swedish prisoners of war to remain in Russia and enter government service. A manifesto was issued in 1721 giving Swedish prisoners of war the right to marry Russians and to settle wherever they wished to in Russia (with the exception of the border regions) on the condition that they swear an oath of allegiance to the tsar. This oath was thus given the same legal effect as baptism in the Orthodox faith had been given during the seventeenth century.®’® Those who took the oath had the same rights as other Russian subjects when it came to the acquisition of real estate and the pursuit of commerce and trade. As for the prisoners who had administrative experience, the manifesto stated that: those who are knowledgeable in accounting and economic matters, they shall send [written applications] to the kamer-kollegiia-, those who have studied law, and especially those who have served in the courts, to the iustits-kollegiia-, those who still have strength and inclination to serve in the army shall send the inquiry to the krigs-kollegiia (but no native Swede shall be forced to serve against his fatherland); those who have some knowledge of mining and manufacturing, either when it comes to the administration of these matters, or to the work itself, may make themselves known to the berg- i manufaktur-kollegiia. Is it possible, finally, to establish with any accuracy how many foreign officials served at any one time in the Russian administrative colleges? Peter decreed in March 1719 that “no one shall show any original documents concerning revenues to the foreigners in the colleges, namely in V. M. Gessen, Poddanstvo, ego ustanovlenie i prekrashchenie (St. Petersburg, 1909), 379 375 204. PSZ, VI, no. 3,839, p. 443. SÖRENSSON (1923), 179—180. Gessen, 205—206. PSZ, VI, no. 3,778, p. 384. 37» 377 378
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