 However, already in 1813, the civil administration was handed to the Governor General.In 1818, reform-minded Russian tsar Alexander I passed a "Settlement of the establishment of the region of Bessarabia" which divided the legal power between the tsar-appointed Governor General (Bakhmetiev) and a 10-member "High Council of the Region" with 4 members appointed by the tsar and 6 elected by the local nobility.In lieu of the older 12 "lands", the region was divided into 6, later 9 counties.