58 form of organization, which was currently in use in several European states. The fact is that the collegial system proved to have all the qualities and advantages required by the political ambitions of the tsar and his government.**^ First of all, collegial direction meant that the administration was systematically divided into a limited number of jurisdictions, each of which was headed by a special administrative organ called a college. Each college had jurisdiction throughout the realm within its functional area, which meant that the collegial system offered a higher level of centralization than had previously existed in Russia. In this way, then, a systematically uniform administration was created which held the promise of effectively strengthening the absolutist state economically, and thus politically, as well. Secondly, decisions were to be reached in a collegial manner. By definition, this system guaranteed that the president of the college would be unable to set up a personal regime and direct the activities of the college according to his own interests, as had often been done in the prikazy. Instead, in all matters of importance the president had to consult his college board, which was composed of a relatively limited number of councillors and assessors, and all board decisions were reached by majority vote. Another advantage of the college system was that its internal activities were marked by a sophisticated division of labor, which tended to increase each unit’s administrative productivity. A strict division of labor was a fundamental principle of production in the expanding manufacturing industry of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and as such it had also made inroads on the administrative thinking of the day. Within the college, there existed a hierarchical order, which above all made itself evident in the subordination each official was forced to observe in relation to the official immediately superior to him. Merit and ability were to be the highest criteria for advancement to higher positions, just as the holding of office was to be decisive for the ranking of civil servants according to a hierarchically arranged scale, a so-called rank order. This rank order was designed first and foremost to counteract the principle of aristocracy so that individuals were to be denied the right to claim precedence to a certain office or to a higher ranking merely by referring to the circumstances of their birth. Peter had already familiarized himself with collegial administrations during his first visit to Western Europe. During his visit in England in 1698, it seems that he met with one Francis Lee, who proposed to the tsar that he establish in Russia a central administration consisting of the following seven colleges: “1) for the Advancement of Learning, 2) for the Improvement of Nature, 3) for the Encouragement of the Arts, 4) for the Increase of Merchandize, 5) for Reformation of Manners, 6) for Compilation of Laws, 7) for the Propagation of the Christian Religion.” See Eugene Schuyler, Peter the Great: Emperor of Russia (2 v., London, 1884), I, 372. 03
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