69 Here the Swedish instructions are followed so closely that for large sections it is a matter of direct copying. This is especially true of the instructions for the College of War, but, in addition, a German draft of instructions for the chancellery, drawn up somewhat later and never implemented, shows careful agreement with the Swedish model, in this case the Chancellery Ordinance of September 22, 1661. It seems, however, that the tsar discovered the true state of affairs by the middle of December 1715. Once again we find the Swedish administrative system under the scrutiny of the Russian reformers, while the Russian sources have nothing to say about the Danish colleges being studied further. The following instructions were sent by the tsar to his ambassador at Copenhagen, Prince Dolgorukii, on December 13, 1715: Mr. Ambassador. Since the bearer of this letter has been sent by us to Sweden to study that country’s economy and (since he) will need your help in this, you shall give it to him, namely by obtaining a passport from the Danish court and other things for his trip through the country and for his return. And keep this secret. 128 Thus a secret agent was to obtain, right on the spot in the Swedish capital, the information about the Swedish administration Peter deemed necessary for the Russian collegial reform. While opportunities for gaining knowledge about Sweden’s local administrative and military allotment systems were available to the Russians in occupied Finland, and detailed information about the Swedish administration could only be obtained in Stockholm, the seat of the central administrative organs. Because of the state of war that existed between Russia and Sweden, however, no channels of information were open, and the entire undertaking had to be conducted in secrecy. There were Russian prisoners of war at Stockholm who might be employed for the task, of course, but they were not suited to the task for tw'o reasons. First of all, they were kept under constant surveillance and would be unable to undertake anything without arousing suspicion, and, secondly, they did not have the theoretical capacity to understand in its entirety, and to describe in detail, how the Swedish administrative machinery was structured and how it functioned. This task required a person not only intimately acquainted with Sweden’s internal conditions, but also experienced in the practical aspects of cameral affairs. Nonetheless, Peter did attempt to employ a prisoner of war for the task when he wrote General Prince Ivan lur’evich Trubetskoi, who had been taken prisoner by the Swedes at Narva in 1700, instructing him to send to St. Petersburg a description of “the entire establishment of the Swedish 120 systematic 2A (no. 29), 46. 2A (no. 26), 45.
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