Resistance, Repression, and Reform 311It would be tedious to follow the pattern or appointments through the
various border provinces. We may simply note tha1 three regions in the south-
east in which the population had shown some sympathy for Pugachev
(Astrakhan', Ufa and Simbirsk, and Orel and Kursk) were ruled by generals,
as was Khar' kov, which from,^1788 formed part or Potemkin's 'empire'. Field-
Marshal Rumyantsev was put in charge or the so-called 'old' Ukraine (Cher-
nigov, Kiev, Novgorod-Seversk) from 1781 to the end or Catherine's reign. By
contrast, the former Polish provinces of Polotsk and Mogilev were treated
gently: from 1782 they were ruled by a civilian-oriented individual, P. B.
Passek.^73
In the last years of the Catherinian era the government of the empire seemed
to be running down in bureaucratk rouline, and her s111:cessor had some
grounds for attempting a shake-up. His brief but trend-setting reign brought a
concentration of power at the summit. It also witnessed a move towards
militarization. This involved three main changes: entrusting army personnel
with certain definite responsibilities within the civil administration; promoting
an element of professionalism instead of relying so heavily on the aristocratic
elite; and improving public servants' ethos by inspiring them with the military
values of discipline, obedience, and efficiency.^74 This did not mean that the
armed forces took control of the country. Paul wanted the military and
civilian authorities to keep strictly within their respective spheres of com-
petence, which he sought to define more dearly, and to work together
amicably in ·a joint effort to advance the Sovereign's affairs'.^75 The idea was
quite sensible, but unfortunately Paul was his own worst enemy. His brutal
and arbitrary behaviour made even his reasonable measures seem obnoxious to
broad segments of elite opinion, and so his reforms did not take shape as he
desired.
In the local government sphere the Pauline spirit made itself felt in the
sudden appearance of a new official: the military governor ( voyennyy
gubernator). In effect this functionary superseded the governor-general
(namestnik), whom the emperor saw as a regrettable innovation or his mother's.
Military governors were appointed in the two capital cities and in eleven provin-
cial centres which were evidently chosen for their key geographical location.^7 b
Although they were supposed not to interfere in the business of their civil
counterparts, some military governors were soon given supervisory powers
over them, and even over the civil administrators of neighbouring provinces.^77
Characteristically, civil governors were permitted to send only 'communica-
tions', not 'orders', to military governors, but nothing was said about messages
(^73) Amburger, Geschichte, pp. 371-2, 394, 397, 403.
74 Keep, 'Paul I', p.^3 (Ragsdale (ed.), Puul l, p. 92).
75 PSZ xxv. 18400 (25 Feb. 1798); d. Sokolov,ky, 'lz i~IOrii ... Mariny', p. 358.
(^76) Amburger, Geschichte, p. 375 n. The oFFice of numestniA wa' not explicitly aboli>hed and 1hc
term 'governor-general' continu.:d to be 1i-cd. On the SI. Pcterstiurg d1icb: '11 1a1mok A. I·.
Voyeykova', /st. sbomik ... 1• /,011dtm1', ii. 123; Shil'dcr, Pavel, pp. 357. 393, 436.
77 Amburger, Geschichte, p. 374.