of Kotor (). Dalmatia was divided into administrative-court districts, headed by the rectors and judge-administrators. Seats of the districts were in Cres, Krk, Rab, Pag, Zadar, Nin, Novigrad, Skradin, Šibenik, Knin, Sinj, Trogir, Split, Klis, Omiš, Brač, Hvar, Korčula, Imotski, Makarska, Poljica and Metković. In 1802, the Habsburg court officially rejected the request for the unification of Dalmatia with the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. During its short first administration of Dalmatia, the Austrian government did little to change the existing Venetian system and implemented only limited reforms in education and the judiciary. In 1803, a gymnasium was opened in Zadar. After the Austrian defeat against Napoleon, according to the provisions of the 1805 Peace of Pressburg, Dalmatia was handed over to the French, who annexed it to Napoleon's client state of the Kingdom of Italy. That ended the first Austrian administration of Dalmatia. French Administration Following the Peace of Pressburg, Napoleon sent General Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor to take over Dalmatia. In February 1806, the French occupied northern Dalmatia down to the Neretva River. The Bay of Kotor, which was also given to the French by the Peace, was held by the Russians and their Montenegrin allies. In addition, the Russians also occupied the Korčula and sought to capture the Republic of Ragusa. End of the Republic of Ragusa According to the provisions of the Peace of Pressburg, France was entitled to all of Dalmatia and the Bay of Kotor. The territory of the Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) cut off terrestrial connection between those French territories. With Napoleon's army on one side, and the weakened Ottoman Empire on other, the Republic was no longer safe. On May 27, 1806, endangered by the Russians, the Republic surrendered without resistance to the French troops. A French force of about 1,200 soldiers under the command of General Jacques Lauriston entered the city under the false pretenses. Since the entry of the French army into Dubrovnik, war operations in the Ottoman Empire, led by the joint Russian military and Montenegrin paramilitary forces, who were assisted by Serb population from the hinterland, began. At the beginning of October 1806, with the help of General Auguste de Marmont, the hostile Russian army was expelled from the territory of the Dubrovnik Republic. Shortly thereafter, the French took over Dubrovnik's government. The needs of a large number of French troops financially exhausted Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik's mercantile navy was destroyed or