373 the picture which has appeared hertoforth. The origin of these inspections varied - after the uprising in Dalecarlia, the question of the relation between the commoners and the local administration particularly occupied the council. The Attorney-General was commissioned to make special trips of inspection to investigate the local civil officials. The underlying purpose was composite: the commoners’ obedience and subordination was to be sharpened, but at the same time, the trips were to be seen as an expression of the state’s paternal concern for the subjects of the realm. The point of departure in 1772 was different: in August, the young Gustav III had overthrown the rule of the estates and Denmark’s preparations for war gave himan opportunity to make a longer journey through the central and western parts of the realm. State finances were, during these years, hard pressed and the central authorities in Stockholm were aware t:)f the fact that tax collection was in arrears in many places. The purpose of the trips was adjusted on this basis: the Attorney-General, who.had been appointed as the King’s representative, was to scrutinize the local administration with special attention to problems of tax levy. Even though the journeys of inspection had a different background, they partly gave the same results - unsatisfactory state of affairs in the administration which was disadvantageous for the common people was apparantly not unusual. There was a clear connection between the way the county governor exercized the duties of his office and the general character of the bailiwick’s administration. It was also shown that the tax collection in several parts of the country - among others in parts of Örebro county — was not at all administered according to the rules and that the commoners in various ways were negatively affected thereby. The debiting of the peasants’ own tax-books was mismanaged and collection of taxes often took place without proper lists of tax debts. During the course of the year, there was an almost continual collection of taxes in many places, but the collection was often postponed until the last tax meeting of the fiscal year. During the inspection trips, it also became apparent that the bailiffs often had remaining deficits and confused Grown income with private income. The county officers had problems in covering deficits in the bailiffs’ various bills. During both trips many examples of illegalities, primarily on the part of the were found — illegal fees, bribes for evading taxes and for obtaining private debt collection, etc. The trips confirmthe fact that goal-oriented ratic^nality was given priority in the local administration and was tolerated by many county governors. The goal-oriented rationality infringed on the legal rights of the peasants. It is, in fact, surprising that the peasants in certain areas seem to have been able to offer so little resistance to the local officers and that they apparantly received no support at all from the county governor. bailiffs.
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