372 The operation of this organ was not to last very long, however, and with the creation of the berg-kollegiia in 1718 the Rudokopnaia kantseliariia was disbanded and its functions were assumed by the new college. Peter’s collegial reform had finally created the necessary conditions for the unitary administration of mining activities in Russia. The introduction to the instructions approved for the berg-kollegiia in 1719 emphasized that, “to the advantage of the state and for all of our loyal subjects. We have graciously deigned to establish a special Bergkollegium and We have given it the power and strength to be sole authority over all affairs and persons having to do with it. founding of the berg-kollegiia. The situation concerning the source materials is the same as it was for the kommerts-kollegiia, which means that access to information about how the college developed has been very limited. At the end of 1718, the area of responsibility of the berg-kollegiia was defined in the following way: Mining works {rudokopnye zavody) and all other crafts, and their establishment and increase, and in addition to that the artillery. In other words, the college was to be responsible not only for mining operations, but also for the development of crafts and manufactories. It should be noted that the artillery, too, was to be supervised by the bergkollegiia, since the president of the college, Jacob Bruce, was also the commander in chief of the Russian artillery.^^ Jacob Bruce, a man of Scots origin, had been close to the tsar since his youth. He had accompanied Peter on his first trip to Western Europe in 1697, and he had been named a major general in the Russian artillery in 1700 at the age of thirty. Bruce was promoted to the position of quartermaster general of the Russian armies in 1704, and in 1709 he commanded the artillery at the battle of Poltava. During the later years of Peter’s reign, Bruce was entrusted with several important missions, including the joint leadership, together with Andrei Ivanovich Österman, of the Russian delegation to the peace talks with the Swedes in the Åland Islands in 1718.^“ It has not been possible to determine what role Bruce played in the development of the berg-kollegiia, but in view of the other tasks assigned to him by the tsar it is doubtful that he, personally, was able to lead the organizational work of the college at the same time.^^ As menHowever, little is known about the ” 49 Pavlenko (1953), 100—101. TsGADA, f. 9 otdelenie 1 delo 53 1. 189. PSZ, V, no. 3,255, p. 601. Pavlenko (1953), 111. 52 RBS, III, 417. 52 Pavlenko (1953), 109.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=