The Project Gutenberg eBook of Peter the Great’s Pet Projects, by W. Gannon.

Peter the Great may justly be credited with having been the greatest civilizer of his race. To him is due the credit of nationalizing his country and inaugurating vast industries, through the medium of the Ship. So far in advance of his time was he that his startling innovations and wonderful discounting of the arts of diplomacy must have endangered his head had he not been fortunate enough to have been born a despot.

Peter’s last will and testament outlined the policy to be pursued by his successors, looking to the aggrandizement of Russia, and startling though its terms are in their selfishness, they are so thoroughly diplomatic that his successors have religiously lived up to their full meaning.

And so it comes to pass that the ever-advancing and constantly-tightening grasp of Russia on adjacent territory is alarming the Governments of the Old World and may, indeed, in the near future, somewhat concern ourselves. The Canadian Government is now urging Great Britain to erect defences on the Pacific Coast, for the reason that Russia, in pursuance of her peculiar policy, is enlarging her works and arsenal at Vladivostock, opposite British[Pg 4] Columbia; and the initiative has already been taken by Great Britain in the erection of batteries in the neighborhood of Esquimault.

As early as last May the St. Petersburgh correspondent of the New York Tribune contributed the following report of the progress of the Grand Trunk Railway through Central Southern Siberia to the Pacific Ocean and China:

And only a few weeks ago the same journal printed the following, as a sequel to the above:

The occupation of Asia, so long determined on by Russia, was a problem most difficult of solution. Many years were spent in devising ways and means to navigate the Aral Sea—the first thought being to transport machinery and material for the construction of steamers over the mountains—a project which was at length abandoned as impracticable.

But a solution was at hand. In the year 1860 a novel system for the construction of vessels was introduced in Great Britain by an American, through whose efforts a Company was formed and an extensive factory established at Liverpool. This Company, on proof of the value of its system of construction, secured a contract with the British Government to construct a number of steamers for the East India Company of Bengal—Moorshedaba.

As an evidence of the financial solidity of this company, and the class of men who invested their capital in that concern, it may be mentioned that Sir Charles Manby, the great English civil engineer, was President, while such men as Sir Robert Stephenson, President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and John Hamilton, also well-known as an eminent engineer, were members and stockholders. The entire capital and membership of the Company belonged in London—Liverpool simply being selected as a factory site.

The steamers under course of construction by this Company were 150 and 200 feet long, built on the new system of

three-sixteenths of an inch in thickness. By this system the weight of hull of a vessel was reduced one-third and the draft reduced in proportion, while the strength was increased two-fold by means of the corrugations covering the entire outer surface of the hull, which corrugations take the place of frames or timbers, thus increasing the interior capacity of a boat of given draft while vastly increasing her strength. The great utility and superior qualities of this mode of construction was fully demonstrated by the building of several supply boats for the British Navy, as well as military wagons for the Army, and other constructions on the same principle for miscellaneous purposes. The steamers built by this company were so constructed that they could be

being so arranged that they could be set up and taken apart with the utmost celerity, and without the aid of more than passable shipbuilding or mechani[Pg 7]cal knowledge. This unique and valuable system of ship construction was invented by Joseph Francis, an American born, and justly celebrated as founder of the United States Life-Saving Service, for which, at a late day, he received the

Information of this system of construction reached Russia after its value had been proved by the American, English, French, Austrian and German Governments, and Mr. Francis was invited to visit that country, where he was received by the Emperor.

In 1860, Admiral Boutakoff, of the Imperial Russian Navy, was ordered by the Emperor to proceed to Liverpool and examine the system of construction, with a view to its applicability to service on the Aral Sea, in Asia, and report as to its utility. From documents placed in possession of the writer, he is enabled to present a copy of the Admiral’s Report, as follows:

On a call from the Russian Government, the inventor submitted photographs and drawings of the steamers constructed by the Liverpool Company, addressed, according to instructions, to the Grand Duke Constantine.

After some little necessary correspondence, shorn of all diplomatic red tape, a contract was entered into between the Imperial Government and[Pg 9] Mr. Francis, for the construction of a fleet of light-draft steamers, to be pushed to completion rapidly as possible. The result was that, ere the year 1862 had passed, steamers, fully engined, and ready for service, were erected at the Liverpool factory, and taken apart again for shipment. These vessels were 150 to 200 feet in length, built on similar lines to vessels already constructed by the Company. When the steamers had been put together, tested and again set up at the factory, they were boxed for shipment, in sections, both hulls, floating dock and machinery, when they were ready for

From Liverpool they went first to St. Petersburgh—thence to Moscow—on to Nijni Novgorod—across the Volga—over the Ural Mountains—to the Aral Sea, in Asia—where they were at length unboxed, the sections once again put together and, lo, a

upreared as if by magic hands. This was the initiative in Russia’s grandest Dream of Empire. These vessels had crossed the Aral barrier, and swooped down like things of life on the insulated sea, the inhabitants of whose shores fondly dreamed they dwelt secure in Nature’s fastness. Impossible would it have been to transport vessels in their entirety over the rugged heights, and deadly impracticable would it have been to attempt their construction on the Aral seaboard, in full view of an alert and suspicious people.

Here it may be well to introduce three letters, the originals of which are in possession of the writer, and which are fully corroborative of the preceding statements.

On the launching of the steamers, the Emperor congratulated Mr. Francis on the success of the invention by which the first obstacle that[Pg 11] barred the way to the conquest of a vast territory was removed, opening an avenue to increased Empire.

After the survey of the Aral, only rendered possible by the construction of these vessels, fortifications were constructed on the shores of that sea, and the long-deferred conquest of that section of Asia was, to all intents and purposes, accomplished.

In order to still further emphasize his gratitude, the Emperor caused Mr. Francis to be created a Knight of the Royal Order of Saint Stanislaus, one of the richest decorations in the gift of royalty. Following is a copy of the parchment:

Shortly after the securing of his patents in Russia Mr. Francis disposed of a portion of his corrugated system patent to Baron Rumin, Chamberlain to the Emperor, covering Moscow and the Rivers Volga and Don.

After the contract was drawn, a request was made on the part of the Baron to include the Caspian Sea, and to which no objection was made, as little value was placed on the Caspian at that time, on account of its shallow water and isolated position, no one supposing that a

and join both the great rivers that flow into the Aral Sea, connecting commerce with the Aral and Caspian, as well as China, and so onward to the Pacific Coast.

A factory was eventually established by Baron Rumin, on the Banks of the Volga, for the construction of steamers, and practical workmen were sent to this factory from the establishment of Mr. Francis, at Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York.

This brief account of Russia’s struggle for supremacy among the family of nations, so intimately interwoven with the history of one of America’s foremost inventors in the life-saving field, is another instance of the Providence that rules the destinies of the world, through the lives of unassuming and patient workers.

From experiment came invention. The Life-Car, in this instance the outcome of extended experiment on the part of Joseph Francis, proved the value of the corrugating system, the fame of which, within a few years, spread all over the world. The Life-Car, the first construction under the corrugated system, was merely the germ of the widespread uses to which the system was and is applicable, as has been shown. Steamships, floating docks, pontoon bridges, military wagons and railway cars are only a few among the many constructions to which the Francis system of corrugated iron was applied by him and those to whom he sold the right to manufacture. The Life-Car, then, was the suggestion that led to the construction of the portable, strong, light-draft ship, which proved the most powerful implement, in Russia’s hands, of working out the vastest scheme of empire ever conceived in the brain of man. Mr. Francis, successful in all his inventions, has been honored beyond most men by foreign potentates, and now is about to receive what he holds to be the crowning honor, the bestowal of the gold medal awarded him by two Congresses, with the double thanks of this chosen body of representatives of the people.

Appendix.

The following is an authentic copy of the Will of Peter the Great, the first Emperor of Russia. This will is the supreme foundation and law of Russian politics, since his time, and was confidentially deposited in the hands of the Abbe de Bervis, Minister of Foreign Affairs, in 1757, and also in those of Louis XV. A copy is also to be found in the diplomatic archives of France, from which this translation is derived:

In the name of the most Holy and Indivisible Trinity, we, Peter, the First Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, etc., to all our descendants and successors to the throne and government of the Russian nation:

God, from whom we derive our existence, and to whom we owe our crown, having constantly enlightened us by His spirit, and sustained us by His Divine help, allow us to look on the Russian people as called upon hereafter to hold sway over Europe. My reason for thus thinking is, that the European nations have mostly reached a state of old age, bordering upon imbecility, or they are rapidly approaching it: naturally, then, they will be easily and indubitably conquered by a people strong in youth and vigor, especially when this latter shall have attained its full strength and power. I look on the future invasion of the Eastern and Western countries by the North as a periodical movement ordained by Providence, who, in a like manner, regenerated the Russian nation by barbarian invasion. These emigrations of men from the North are as the reflux of the Nile, which, at certain periods comes to fertilize the impoverished lands of Egypt by its deposit. I found Russia as a rivulet, I leave it a river: my successors will make of it a large sea, destined to fertilize the impoverished lands of Europe, and its waters will overflow, in spite of imposing dams erected by weak hands, if our descendants only know how to direct its course. This is the reason I leave them the following instructions. I give those countries to their watchfulness and care, as Moses gave the Tables of the Law to the Jewish people.

Keep the Russian nation in a STATE OF CONTINUAL WAR: so as to have the soldier always under arms, and ready for action, excepting when the finances of the State will not allow it. Keep up the forces; choose the best moments for attack. By these means you will be ready for war even in time of peace. This is for the interest of the future aggrandizement of Russia.

Endeavor by every possible means to bring in from the neighboring civilized countries of Europe officers in times of war, and learned men in times of peace; thus giving the Russian people the advanges enjoyed by other countries, without allowing them to lose any of their own self-respect.

On every occasion take a part in the affairs and quarrels of Europe; above all, in those of Germany, which country, being the nearest, more immediately concerns us.

Divide Poland, exciting civil discord there; win over the nobility by bribery, corrupt the diets, so as to have influence on the election of Kings, get partisans into office, protect them, bring to sojourn there Muscovite troops, until such time as they can be permanently established there. If the neighboring powers start difficulties, appease them for a time by parceling out the country, until you can retake in detail all that has been ceded.

Take as much as you can from Sweden, and cause yourself to be attacked by her, so as to have a pretext for subduing her. To accomplish this, sever Denmark from Sweden, and Sweden from Denmark, carefully keeping up their rivalries.

Always choose, as wives for the Russian princes, German princesses, so as to increase family alliances, to draw mutual interests closer, and, by propagating our principles in Germany, to enlist her in our cause.

England—requiring us for her navy, and she being the only power that can aid in the development of ours, seek a commercial alliance with her, in preference to any other. Exchange our wood, and the productions of our land for her gold, and establish between her merchants, her sailors and ours a continual intercourse; this will aid in perfecting the Russian fleet for navigation and commerce.

Extend your possessions toward the North, along the Baltic, and toward the South by the Black Sea.

Approach as near as possible to Constantinople and its outskirts. He who shall reign there will be the true sovereign of the world. Consequently, be continually at war—sometimes with the Turks, sometimes with Persia. Establish dock yards on the Black Sea, get entire possession of it by degrees, also of the Baltic Sea; this being necessary to the accomplishment of the plan. Hasten the decline of Persia; penetrate to the Persian Gulf; re-establish, if possible, the ancient commerce of the Levant through Syria, and make your way to the Indies—they are the emporium of the world. Once there, you can do without the gold of England.

Seek, and carefully keep up an alliance with Austria; acquiesce, apparently, in her ideas of dominating over Germany, at the same time clandestinely exciting against her the jealousy of the neighboring provinces. Endeavor that the aid of Russia should be called for, by one and the other, so that by exercising a kind of guardianship over the country, you prepare a way for governing hereafter.

Give the House of Austria an interest, for joining in banishing the Turks from Europe; defraud her of her share of the booty, at the conquest of Constantinople, either by raising a war for her with the ancient states of Europe, or by giving her a portion, which you will take back at a future period.

Attach to yourselves, and assemble around you, all the united Greeks, as also the disunited or schismatics, who are scattered either in Hungary, Turkey, or the south of Poland. Make yourselves their centres, their chief support, and lay the foundation for universal supremacy, by establishing a kind of royalty or sacerdotal government; the Slavonic Greeks will be so many friends that you will have scattered amongst your enemies.

Sweden severed, Persia and Turkey conquered, Poland subjugated, our armies united, the Black and Baltic Seas guarded by our vessels, you must make propositions separately and discreetly—first to the Court of Versailles, then to that of Vienna, to share with them the Empire of the Universe.

If one of them accept—and it cannot be otherwise, so as you flatter their pride and ambition—make use of it to crush the other—then crush, in its turn, the surviving one, by engaging with it in a death-struggle; the issue of which cannot be doubtful, Russia possessing already all the East and a great part of Europe.

If—which is not likely—both refuse the propositions of Russia, you must manage to raise quarrels for them, and make them exhaust one another; then profiting by a decisive moment, Russia will bring down her assembled troops on Germany; at the same time, two considerable fleets will set out—the one from the Sea of Azov, the other from the port of Archangel—loaded with Asiatic hordes, under the convoy of the armed fleets from the Black Sea and the Baltic; advancing by the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, they will invade France on one side, whilst Germany will already have been invaded on the other. These countries conquered, the rest of Europe will easily pass under the yoke, without striking a single blow.

Lest the reader of this WILL may form an opinion antagonistic to its author, it may be well to state that while Peter the Great was a Despot he was also a Patriot—and while a Tyrant he was yet a Humanitarian. This man, who could icily command death by the knout was the same man who yielded up his own life in rescuing a sailor who had fallen overboard in the ice-laden waters of the Neva. And Peter was, above and beyond all, a Statesman, an Inventor, a finished Mechanic and Progenerator of the Russian Life-Saving Service.

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Wonderful Development of Peter the Great's Pet Projects, according to His Last Will and Testament

Peter the Great’s Pet Projects,

PROGRESSIVE RUSSIA

Appendix.

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March 31, 1861—No. 189.