Division II. Administrative division of the empire in the 18th century

9. Astrakhan and 10. Revel [gubernias] were not divided into provinces, and 11. in the Siberian [gubernia] it was proposed to carry out this division °). Just as the gubernias constantly changed in their number, name, and size, similarly the provinces were either reassigned from one gubernia to another, or new gubernias were formed from them. Thus, the Vyatka and Solikamsk provinces from the Siberian gubernia were assigned to the Kazan [gubernia], the Yaroslavl and Uglich [provinces] — from the St. Petersburg [gubernia] to the Moscow [gubernia] °); thus, from the Novgorod, Pskov, Tver, Biloozero, and Velyki Luky provinces, which were formerly part of the St. Petersburg gubernia, the Novgorod gubernia was formed *). Over the course of 45 years (1719–1764), the affiliation of the provinces to the gubernias changed considerably °). It sometimes happened that a province was separated from a gubernia and came under the direct jurisdiction of the Senate: thus, for example, the Ufa province, according to the petition of the Bashkirs, was separated from the Kazan gubernia in 1795 and came under the jurisdiction of the Senate; Brigadier Buturlin was appointed voivode there, who was ordered, however, to send the poll tax money from the Russian uyezd people to the Kazan governor 5). Some provinces were under the jurisdiction of central institutions, along with the gubernias: thus, in the 3rd expedition of the Kamer-Kollegia, together with the gubernias, the Narva province was also administered °). In general, as far as we have understood the relationship of the gubernias to the provinces, and of the provinces to the central government, we can note that the province was not infrequently just as independent a regional unit as the gubernia. For the most part, the decrees of the Senate were sent to the gubernias, and from there they were distributed to the provinces, but frequent deviations were made from this: if the province was located far from the gubernia town, then the decrees from the Senate were sent directly to the province, bypassing the gubernia; while some provinces (Siberian, Sviyazhsk, Vologda, Ustyug, Galich, Orel, Sevsk, Yelets, and Biloozero) constantly communicated with the Senate directly '). In 1752, it was also ordered to deliver the reports on arrears from these provinces directly to the Yustits-Kollegia °). But these were exceptions: for the most part, the gubernia served as an intermediary instance in the communications of the central institutions with the provinces, and of the provinces with the central institutions. These exceptions considerably confused and complicated the regional administration of the 18th century: they were a trace of the former confusion in the communications of administrative instances that existed in the 17th century, when assigned towns communicated with the prikazy sometimes bypassing the main towns, and sometimes through the mediation of the latter °). The provinces, in general, were divided into uyezds. However, there are exceptions: on the one hand, some gubernias were directly divided into uyezds — for example, Astrakhan; on the other hand, there were provinces that were not divided into uyezds — for example, the Pskov province of the St. Petersburg gubernia, the Suzdal [province] of the Moscow [gubernia], the Arzamas [province] of the Nizhny Novgorod [gubernia], etc. But these are exceptions: for the most part, the province was divided into uyezds. The number of uyezds in the provinces varied, ranging from 2 to 90: thus, for example, in the Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Pereyaslav, Kazan, and other provinces there were 2 uyezds each, in the Voronezh [province] — 12, in the Moscow [province] — 16, in the Bilhorod [province] — 20, etc. For the most part, one uyezd was assigned to a town, but sometimes two: to Serpukhov of the Moscow province, the Tarusa and Obolensk uyezds were assigned “°. In general, the uyezds still bore the trace of their historical origin, they were based on the scribe books. Their number, size, and affiliation to various gubernias and provinces also constantly changed. More accurately designated and div[ided]... 1 Ts. S.